13 ms·
Try actually tracking the time using a free service like Harvest. You'll be surprised just how much longer some things take objectively than subjectively. I'm n
by m0zg 5y ago
Try actually tracking the time using a free service like Harvest. You'll be surprised just how much longer some things take objectively than subjectively. I'm not saying do retrospectives every week or whatever, but do at least a few, then take note of time sinks and weigh their utility against the time they take. I don't think one can build awareness of this without measurement, something the essay also alludes to.
- spaetzleesser 5y agoI have done this but management can’t accept that the mandatory overhead is taking that much time. They just don’t want to hear it.
- m0zg 5y agoIt is still useful for you to know. That "overhead" often does very little to advance your career or even just advance _you_ professionally. And until you measure how much overhead you're incurring, you wouldn't even know. Much like how people didn't know they're spending 4+ hours on Instagram and YouTube every day until Apple started cataloging and surfacing phone usage. When I saw my own usage I was horrified, and I have cut it down significantly since then, and closed FB and Instagram accounts entirely. To translate that into the professional domain, there may be some optional bullshit activities you participate in solely because you don't see their cost. You'd be able to identify them and cut down on your participation, possibly either improving your career situation, or improving work/life balance, or both. There was a time when I worked at a BigCo where there was so much bullshit during the day, I only could do work from home in the evenings. So I worked ~14 hours a day for years - 8 hours spent on bullshit, then another 6 at home on actual work. That wasn't fun at all.