October 10, 2012 at 9:14 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Wasting Time
October 11, 2012 at 6:36 am
Personally I find it much more productive to telecommute than to work from an office. The only downside is that you get busy and move around a lot less frequent than you do in an office.
October 11, 2012 at 7:58 am
I guess this infographic (sales pitch actually) makes a few points, but I doubt most of the actual numbers cited.
- The average employee checks their email 36 in an hour?
But that's averages out to more than once every 2 minutes. Personally, I check mine about once every 10 minutes, and that assumes I'm not totally focussed on something. It could be once every 1/2 hour or hour.
- 16 minutes spent refocusing after handling incoming email?
If someone checks their email once every 2 minutes (see above), then this estimate of time to recover is pointless.
- 39% slept during a meeting?
Really? I'm surprised the employment rate for IT professionals to so high, because some managers would consider firing someone who slept through staff meetings.
- 91% daydreamed during meetings and 96% missed meetings.
OK, fair enough. Been there done that.
😉
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
October 11, 2012 at 8:38 am
kevin.stevens (10/11/2012)
Personally I find it much more productive to telecommute than to work from an office. The only downside is that you get busy and move around a lot less frequent than you do in an office.
Me too, and I wish that were an option for more people.
I do understand that some people don't work well alone, and offices can work, but they need to be built to work well.
October 11, 2012 at 9:06 am
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (10/11/2012)
kevin.stevens (10/11/2012)
Personally I find it much more productive to telecommute than to work from an office. The only downside is that you get busy and move around a lot less frequent than you do in an office.Me too, and I wish that were an option for more people.
I do understand that some people don't work well alone, and offices can work, but they need to be built to work well.
The company I work for has has several aquisitions over the past few years, and we're in the process of closing regional IT offices and consolidating staff in Atlanta or in some cases allowing out of state staff to telecommute full time. Even those of us who have an office can at least telecommute a couple days a week. When at the office, I tend to get up and stretch my leggs about every 1/2 hour. When at home, I'll even do a few push-ups or talk to myself out loud while working through a problem, which is something I can't (or just won't) do at the office. Even on those days when working at the office, it's nice to have the things a little more quiet, there are a few less interruptions, and it's easier to find a parking spot. That will become even more important as more staff relocate here.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
October 11, 2012 at 9:26 am
Seems to me a classic case of mistakenly measuring productivity in terms of hours of work. I prefer to measure against results.
There are people in my department who spend hours seemingly slacking, but produce far more results from their "half day" than some others who're keeping their noses to the grindstone from the time they arrive to the time they leave. I know which I prefer to have working with or for me.
Semper in excretia, suus solum profundum variat
October 11, 2012 at 9:37 am
majorbloodnock (10/11/2012)
Seems to me a classic case of mistakenly measuring productivity in terms of hours of work. I prefer to measure against results.There are people in my department who spend hours seemingly slacking, but produce far more results from their "half day" than some others who're keeping their noses to the grindstone from the time they arrive to the time they leave. I know which I prefer to have working with or for me.
Totally agree with that.
What really annoys me when it comes to wasted time though, is meetings that are delayed at short notice. You know the kind of thing. You don't want to start a new task as you have a meeting in 10 minutes, they five minutes after it's due to start you're told it'll be in half an hour. Rude, really annoying, and a terrible waste of time.
October 11, 2012 at 9:51 am
majorbloodnock (10/11/2012)
Seems to me a classic case of mistakenly measuring productivity in terms of hours of work. I prefer to measure against results.
Completely agree, but improving work done and the amount of if ought to be goal of managers. Sticking people in unnecessary meetings and sending too many emails don't help here.
October 11, 2012 at 10:02 am
Tao - 6.2
Why are programmers non-productive?
Because their time is wasted in meetings.
Why are programmers rebellious?
Because the management interferes too much.
M.
Not all gray hairs are Dinosaurs!
October 11, 2012 at 11:28 am
I've thought about this topic for years because unlike other disciplines, software development requires a person to do what I like to call going into the mine. It takes a while to get all the way in and it takes a while to extract yourself. Personally, I like the idea of office hours the way professors do it.
There should be a set time of day in which meetings are held. There should be no more than one meeting per day in which developers are involved. Meetings must be scheduled at least one day in advance of having them. It is important for any professional person of any discipline to be able to plan their day at the beginning of the day and prioritize what they are going to focus on and for how long.
Rapid fire meetings and requests are the consequence of organizational reaction rather than response; it demonstrates lack of control.
Lack of control is always counterproductive.
October 11, 2012 at 2:51 pm
Actually, I have known people, with children particularly, that actually come to work because it is less noisy and less interuptions than being at home. Again, it all depends upon your situation. You can't just apply stuff like this across the board for everyone, but I can bet if you give this option to some rather than others because they can do it, there will be crap over it from the ones choosing coming to the office, for whatever reason. This kind of stuff tends to cause more dissension and strife among people at the workplace than it causes overall benefit, in my experience anyway.. 😀
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
October 11, 2012 at 4:04 pm
I have a very strict self rule on working from home, I won't. Two key reasons. Firstly as a project manager I feel I need to alwaays be available to help resolve issues. Much easier to co-ordinate things from the office where 60% of the people and resources reside. Secondly I like the seperation I get by keeping home for fun and work for work. Sure work can be fun but home is where I refresh and re-charge. I'm also known as a bit of a ludite and "old school".
October 11, 2012 at 8:40 pm
dogramone (10/11/2012)
Firstly as a project manager I feel I need to alwaays be available to help resolve issues.
dogramone for President!
This is the first time in a very long time where I've seen a Project Manager speak about being a resource and enabler rather than just a "controller".
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
October 11, 2012 at 9:07 pm
I'm constantly amazed by how many people think meetings are a waste of time.
The whole point of having a meeting is to exchange information - whether it's a staff meeting, a brainstorming meeting, a "how do we recover from this disaster" meeting, or a Scrum meeting.
If you are in a meeting and find yourself daydreaming or becoming sleepy, it might be for one of the following reasons, and you might be able to do something about it.
- you aren't paying attention. The people who invited you thought your input would be valuable, or that there is information you need to know. It's up to you to determine what your role is - ask questions, even if only to jot them on paper. Find ways to stay engaged without disrupting others (i.e. no under-the-breath running commentary unless that's normal at your workplace 😉 )
- the meeting really is that boring. (For instance, a sales pitch for the latest in vapor-ware.) If it's putting you to sleep, it's likely having that effect on others in the room. Take pity on them an yourself and raise the red flag (gently) to the presenter. Let them know what would work better: "It would really help me if you could show how your product can <insert your need here>."
- if it's a regularly scheduled meeting (staff, Scrum, etc) and it's always that uncomfortable, try a little one-on-one with the facilitator or manager and make suggestions for improvement. Challenge yourself - what would you change if you were running the meeting to make it More Productive?
- you only have a small part in a very long meeting. This may occur because you are a subject matter expert and need to be on hand in case a question should arise. Here's where telecommuters or distributed team members have an advantage; just announce that while you are "listening with one ear" you really won't be following the conversation closely - you'll be multi-tasking and working during the meeting. If they need your input someone needs to get your attention by calling your name - they can ask the question once you respond. (Yes, I telecommute and this has worked very well for me in this type of meeting.)
- you don't belong in the meeting. This doesn't happen very often in my experience (your reality may differ), but if it does, raise your hand (virtual or physical) and excuse yourself. "I'm sorry, this meeting doesn't seem to pertain to me. Do I really need to be here? I have other projects that could use my attention right now..."
I'm sure everyone can think of other examples and solutions to the dreaded non-productive meeting - and that's the kind we should all avoid. Productive meetings, on the other hand, contain great value and should be cherished, IMHO.
Steph Brown
October 12, 2012 at 3:28 am
I am not a PM dogramone but I completely agree with you and for exactly the same reasons - essentially a compartmentalist outlook. Or just mentalist. Also, I'm crap at working from home and easily distracted 🙂
I've found meeting time seems to increase (and effectiveness decrease) with size of business. We just have short focussed meetings here in a smallish shop. I can see though that as we have grown there are more opportunities to get your ear chewed by those enjoying the sound of their own voices.
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