8 ms·

For all metrics my rule of thumb has always been to just do my job as best as I can and ignore the metrics. If a manager ever says anything about them, I ask t

For all metrics my rule of thumb has always been to just do my job as best as I can and ignore the metrics. If a manager ever says anything about them, I ask them what they think of my actual performance. Then when they say they are happy with my performance, I suggest that they are looking at the wrong metrics. The few times that has failed i flatly tell them that I will not do anything to game the metrics, and I'm just going to keep doing my job as best as I can. So far that has always kept them busy until I got a promotion, switched companies, or the short sighted manager got fired.

iamkroot 6y ago
I agree with this. I think it's also important to regularly check it with your manager and ask about how your performance is being perceived and if there is anything they could suggest that you improve upon. Keep the feedback loop tight so that both of you can address any problems as quickly as possible.
- dec0dedab0de 6y ago
  Absolutely. I left that part out, but if there is something I need to change to do my job better, I most certainly do that as best as I can. The thing is that those conversations have never been directly tied to metrics.
  - iamkroot 6y ago
    Of course, they're almost always very qualitative discussions. If you have a track record of discussing improvement points, hopefully both you and your manager will be able to agree that any metrics that might appear during year end reviews are mostly extraneous.
JamesBarney 6y ago
I tried that strategy for a little bit. I also tried the strategy where I prioritized hitting all the metrics (which usually takes very little work relative to your job) and then did my job. The second strategy led to better reviews, faster promotions, being more well liked by my boss, and an overall more pleasant work experience. I recommend the second strategy.
- prewett 6y ago
  There's a third strategy for the no-BS, independent types: opt out. Contracting/consulting avoids a lot of that. You're not a worker bee that the company "owns/rents", you are a vendor providing a service. It's usually fairly concrete what you're providing, and it's fairly clear if they are satisfied (if they aren't, they stop paying you). As a bonus, it's expected that you set your schedule (as a 1099 requirement), so you get a lot of flexibility. Of course, if you're contracting for a company that thinks in terms of "resources" that will trickle down into contractors, too. Sometimes team perks like the quarterly see-a-random-movie are "members-only", which doesn't feel great. But then, nobody complains much if you take three weeks off to go hiking.
  - toyg 6y ago
    Been there, done that; the problem is the hassle over unrelated overhead (like chasing payments, in one case for almost a year...) and the uncertainty (it’s feast or famine, most of the time).
  - SkyPuncher 6y ago
    Contracting/consulting comes with an entirely different set of problem/challenge, though. I feel like this suggestion is akin to remodeling your house simply because the walls are the wrong paint color.
  - Nursie 6y ago
    A good part of the reason I'm independent these days is hatred of the annual review. Of course the pay bump helps :)
  - intricatedetail 6y ago
    That no longer will be possible in the UK next year as government changed IR35 rules. Clients to be safe will declare you a deemed employee and as a bonus they'll be able to use tools used on employees plus you get no employment rights.
    - tonyedgecombe 6y ago
skohan 6y ago
I think the issue with this can be when the metrics are being consumed by people you don't directly work with
6gvONxR4sf7o 6y ago
I think this works for some roles but not others. The CEO can choose what criteria to use, and so the people reporting to the CEO can make your argument. The manager of a team of CX reps might not have that power to chose the criteria, so the people reporting to that manager are just as powerless. Then there’s the whole spectrum in between. This is actually one of the privileges I’m most thankful for. That I have been able to make it work in an industry where I (and my managers) have the agency to decide how I should be evaluated. I have friends who aren’t so lucky, even when they push hard for the people below them to be evaluated more sanely.
m463 6y ago
f*ck that. block as much as you can. delve.office.com and I think it was vortex.data.microsoft.com umatrix lets you block lots of other parts. Microsoft sites are a cesspool of tracking and cross-tracking. I wish there was a comprehensive list. I also wonder how much CCPA and other laws could help with these issues. All privacy policies say you are entitled to make a privacy request, but none of them provides guidance or a form. It would be nice to have CCPA advice or even form letters.
- benhurmarcel 6y ago
  In the kind of company that uses that, you also don't get to install anything you want on your computer. For example I can only log into my company's online office suite from the company-provided Chrome installation, and no addon can be installed unless whitelisted by IT.
  - acuozzo 6y ago
    Then a DNS Sinkhole it is! Pi-hole on the Raspberry Pi 0W is tiny.
    - leesalminen 6y ago
      I’d imagine the company owned laptop doesn’t let you set custom DNS servers.
      - mpfundstein 6y ago
        what about filtering outnthose requests on the router?
        benhurmarcel 6y ago
        You don't have access to the company's router obviously. And you're usually not working from home in that case, and if you are you're connected to the company's VPN.
    - 6y ago
akudha 6y ago
This can be applied to other areas in life too. As an example, Instead of using a smart watch for tracking sleep we can simply base our decisions on how our body feels, intuitively. I feel like we are losing touch with our own bodies, feelings, nature and other people. We are relying too much on data for a lot of things where it doesn’t make sense
radoslawc 6y ago
> For all metrics my rule of thumb has always been to just do my job as best as I can and ignore the metrics. If a manager ever says anything about them, I ask them what they think of my actual performance. I was like this once. But metrics are not always going in pair with actual performance or logic for that matter. And sometimes manager's hands are tied, even though your performance might be good, manager sees your good work etc. That happened to me actually, long story short I was given a lot of complicated cases which resulted in "bad performance" based on case/time ratio and by newly implemented corporate performance enhancement program I was downgraded "temporarily" to do grunt work that I magine was like in primary school punishment: "so I had time to think about my behavior". After a month I've given my resignation letter, without even having next job (which turned out great move, but that's other thing) I was so fed up.

iamkroot 6y ago

I agree with this. I think it's also important to regularly check it with your manager and ask about how your performance is being perceived and if there is anything they could suggest that you improve upon. Keep the feedback loop tight so that both of you can address any problems as quickly as possible.

dec0dedab0de 6y ago
Absolutely. I left that part out, but if there is something I need to change to do my job better, I most certainly do that as best as I can. The thing is that those conversations have never been directly tied to metrics.
- iamkroot 6y ago
  Of course, they're almost always very qualitative discussions. If you have a track record of discussing improvement points, hopefully both you and your manager will be able to agree that any metrics that might appear during year end reviews are mostly extraneous.

JamesBarney 6y ago

I tried that strategy for a little bit. I also tried the strategy where I prioritized hitting all the metrics (which usually takes very little work relative to your job) and then did my job. The second strategy led to better reviews, faster promotions, being more well liked by my boss, and an overall more pleasant work experience. I recommend the second strategy.

prewett 6y ago
There's a third strategy for the no-BS, independent types: opt out. Contracting/consulting avoids a lot of that. You're not a worker bee that the company "owns/rents", you are a vendor providing a service. It's usually fairly concrete what you're providing, and it's fairly clear if they are satisfied (if they aren't, they stop paying you). As a bonus, it's expected that you set your schedule (as a 1099 requirement), so you get a lot of flexibility. Of course, if you're contracting for a company that thinks in terms of "resources" that will trickle down into contractors, too. Sometimes team perks like the quarterly see-a-random-movie are "members-only", which doesn't feel great. But then, nobody complains much if you take three weeks off to go hiking.
- toyg 6y ago
  Been there, done that; the problem is the hassle over unrelated overhead (like chasing payments, in one case for almost a year...) and the uncertainty (it’s feast or famine, most of the time).
- SkyPuncher 6y ago
  Contracting/consulting comes with an entirely different set of problem/challenge, though. I feel like this suggestion is akin to remodeling your house simply because the walls are the wrong paint color.
- Nursie 6y ago
  A good part of the reason I'm independent these days is hatred of the annual review. Of course the pay bump helps :)
- intricatedetail 6y ago
  That no longer will be possible in the UK next year as government changed IR35 rules. Clients to be safe will declare you a deemed employee and as a bonus they'll be able to use tools used on employees plus you get no employment rights.
  - tonyedgecombe 6y ago

skohan 6y ago

I think the issue with this can be when the metrics are being consumed by people you don't directly work with

6gvONxR4sf7o 6y ago

I think this works for some roles but not others. The CEO can choose what criteria to use, and so the people reporting to the CEO can make your argument. The manager of a team of CX reps might not have that power to chose the criteria, so the people reporting to that manager are just as powerless. Then there’s the whole spectrum in between. This is actually one of the privileges I’m most thankful for. That I have been able to make it work in an industry where I (and my managers) have the agency to decide how I should be evaluated. I have friends who aren’t so lucky, even when they push hard for the people below them to be evaluated more sanely.

m463 6y ago

f*ck that. block as much as you can. delve.office.com and I think it was vortex.data.microsoft.com umatrix lets you block lots of other parts. Microsoft sites are a cesspool of tracking and cross-tracking. I wish there was a comprehensive list. I also wonder how much CCPA and other laws could help with these issues. All privacy policies say you are entitled to make a privacy request, but none of them provides guidance or a form. It would be nice to have CCPA advice or even form letters.

benhurmarcel 6y ago
In the kind of company that uses that, you also don't get to install anything you want on your computer. For example I can only log into my company's online office suite from the company-provided Chrome installation, and no addon can be installed unless whitelisted by IT.
- acuozzo 6y ago
  Then a DNS Sinkhole it is! Pi-hole on the Raspberry Pi 0W is tiny.
  - leesalminen 6y ago
    I’d imagine the company owned laptop doesn’t let you set custom DNS servers.
    - mpfundstein 6y ago
      what about filtering outnthose requests on the router?
      - benhurmarcel 6y ago
        You don't have access to the company's router obviously. And you're usually not working from home in that case, and if you are you're connected to the company's VPN.
  - 6y ago

akudha 6y ago

This can be applied to other areas in life too. As an example, Instead of using a smart watch for tracking sleep we can simply base our decisions on how our body feels, intuitively. I feel like we are losing touch with our own bodies, feelings, nature and other people. We are relying too much on data for a lot of things where it doesn’t make sense

radoslawc 6y ago

> For all metrics my rule of thumb has always been to just do my job as best as I can and ignore the metrics. If a manager ever says anything about them, I ask them what they think of my actual performance. I was like this once. But metrics are not always going in pair with actual performance or logic for that matter. And sometimes manager's hands are tied, even though your performance might be good, manager sees your good work etc. That happened to me actually, long story short I was given a lot of complicated cases which resulted in "bad performance" based on case/time ratio and by newly implemented corporate performance enhancement program I was downgraded "temporarily" to do grunt work that I magine was like in primary school punishment: "so I had time to think about my behavior". After a month I've given my resignation letter, without even having next job (which turned out great move, but that's other thing) I was so fed up.