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You're taking all this a bit too seriously. It is not time efficient to log what you actually do, so what I always do is just ask my manager what percentage of

by danssig 16y ago

You're taking all this a bit too seriously. It is not time efficient to log what you actually do, so what I always do is just ask my manager what percentage of my time is supposed to go where. Once I know I just fill my time sheet out that way. The whole thing is effectively just a double booking of project spending anyway. It baffles me why everyone does this manually instead of automating it. I don't really need to be involved at all. EDIT: Thought better of it and changed my message. But I still think your manager is a moron since he's unable to point out the above, and life is too short to work for people like that.

mgkimsal 16y ago
Just for the record - this is a composite of various conversations over the years, and does not reflect specifically on any one manager I've directly reported to. Also... I'm taking it too seriously? Over a 2 month period when, say, 400 hours are logged, but one week 2 hours are not accounted for in a specified (yet unspoken, hint hint, nudge, nudge) manner, and I'm taking it too seriously?
- danssig 16y ago
  Ok, so seriously isn't the correct word. You're taking it too literally. They don't want to know how many seconds you spent typing code or thinking about code. They have a budget where some department has purchased 40 hours per week for you to work on their main project. Presumably you have smaller time bookings for other tasks. If you break this down it will come out to something like: 98% main 1% support 0.5% boss' pet task 0.5% other All they want is for your time sheet to match that because that's what they've paid for. Some managers are smart enough to just tell you that, others (like the one you appear to have) don't like to say it for some reason. They should just automate it because the numbers you plug in are completely static. It's just double booking, one side put in a "debit" for the project and now you're putting in the "credit" side saying it was paid. No one cares what you actually did because the exact moments you spent on the project shouldn't affect anything (assuming you're not a problem worker).
  - mgkimsal 16y ago
    And if you have 50+ hours on a project for several weeks, but only 38 on another week, who's taking things too literally? I still don't see it. Look for habitual slackers, look for trends, but don't hit someone who's coming off a sustained period of 'over and above' work effort with the insinuation that they're somehow slacking. Had it happen to me directly once, and seen it happen with other people. The places I've been without timesheets have generally been less stressful overall, and I think the 'fit things in to a timesheet' model contributed to that stress (for me and for others).
    - danssig 16y ago
      I still don't think you're seeing what I'm saying. I used to get stressed about time sheets, same as you. Then I had a manager who told me what they were really for. Since then I always put in the stock work week, broken down how ever it is supposed to be broken down. Regardless of what I actually work. I keep my real hours in a personal spread sheet so I know how much time I'm over or under and actually work from that. As a side note, this extra time you're working is just time thrown in the trash. No one is going to thank you for it and if everyone else is doing the same thing you wont even get any kind of promotion for it since it's not "above and beyond". I know, I used to work 60+ hours for a company. Up until the day they laid me off.

by danssig 16y ago

mgkimsal 16y ago

Just for the record - this is a composite of various conversations over the years, and does not reflect specifically on any one manager I've directly reported to. Also... I'm taking it too seriously? Over a 2 month period when, say, 400 hours are logged, but one week 2 hours are not accounted for in a specified (yet unspoken, hint hint, nudge, nudge) manner, and I'm taking it too seriously?

danssig 16y ago
Ok, so seriously isn't the correct word. You're taking it too literally. They don't want to know how many seconds you spent typing code or thinking about code. They have a budget where some department has purchased 40 hours per week for you to work on their main project. Presumably you have smaller time bookings for other tasks. If you break this down it will come out to something like: 98% main 1% support 0.5% boss' pet task 0.5% other All they want is for your time sheet to match that because that's what they've paid for. Some managers are smart enough to just tell you that, others (like the one you appear to have) don't like to say it for some reason. They should just automate it because the numbers you plug in are completely static. It's just double booking, one side put in a "debit" for the project and now you're putting in the "credit" side saying it was paid. No one cares what you actually did because the exact moments you spent on the project shouldn't affect anything (assuming you're not a problem worker).
- mgkimsal 16y ago
  And if you have 50+ hours on a project for several weeks, but only 38 on another week, who's taking things too literally? I still don't see it. Look for habitual slackers, look for trends, but don't hit someone who's coming off a sustained period of 'over and above' work effort with the insinuation that they're somehow slacking. Had it happen to me directly once, and seen it happen with other people. The places I've been without timesheets have generally been less stressful overall, and I think the 'fit things in to a timesheet' model contributed to that stress (for me and for others).
  - danssig 16y ago
    I still don't think you're seeing what I'm saying. I used to get stressed about time sheets, same as you. Then I had a manager who told me what they were really for. Since then I always put in the stock work week, broken down how ever it is supposed to be broken down. Regardless of what I actually work. I keep my real hours in a personal spread sheet so I know how much time I'm over or under and actually work from that. As a side note, this extra time you're working is just time thrown in the trash. No one is going to thank you for it and if everyone else is doing the same thing you wont even get any kind of promotion for it since it's not "above and beyond". I know, I used to work 60+ hours for a company. Up until the day they laid me off.