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I'll throw out a typical day for me, a data analyst: 0800 workday starts 0800-0830 daily standup 0830-0930 check and reply to emails *0930-1100 ACTUAL WORK*
by TrackerFF 5y ago
I'll throw out a typical day for me, a data analyst:
0800 workday starts
0800-0830 daily standup
0830-0930 check and reply to emails
*0930-1100 ACTUAL WORK*
1100-1130 lunch
1130-1200 check and reply to emails
1200-1300 meeting with [some product] team over
1300-1315 coffee break with colleagues
*1315-1500 ACTUAL WORK*
1500-1600 Some meeting
1600 workday ends
As you can see, that gives me less than 4 hours of "real" work toward the product. Some days there's less meetings, other days there's much more. But in any case, I'd point out meetings as the main culprit. Lots and lots of emails, too. It's pretty much a never-ending stream.
But at least with modern meetings over Zoom/Teams/etc., you're more free to do some work in the background. Before COVID, we pretty much had 100% physical meetings. Or remote meetings in conference rooms.
- ec109685 5y agoI don’t get how replying to email and attending meetings isn’t real work. If you aren’t adding value to your employer by performing those tasks, ask your manager to abstain.
- issa 5y agoI am jealous of your work experience that you can make this comment. In organizations that run really well, this isn't an issue. But there are a lot of development jobs that involve frequent touch-points with middle managers who don't bring much to the table except for taking time out of developer's days to appear busy. And I say that with no offense intended to any middle managers. Good project managers are worth their weight in gold.
- Gigachad 5y agoIt sounds like you just lack context. These people aren’t adding any value to _your_ day but they are adding value to the business. They stay informed on the status of everything going on in their sphere and use that to keep key people informed and spot when things are going wrong.
- issa 5y agoEstimating timelines is a simple but great example. If I use my experience on similar projects, I can probably give you an excellent estimate of how long it will take to build a new project in about half an hour. Or, I could break it down for you, task-by-task, and come up with the exact same number in 8 hours.
- issa 5y agoAbsolutely. Sometimes. I was trying to differentiate between the people who do contribute and those who don't. I think it's been well documented that meetings can easily become bloated at some orgs. And if you've been around enough, you have definitely come across at least one person who just does busy work.
- issa 5y agoI would hesitate to apply this in all situations, but in a lot of them, all the meetings, and maybe even the emails (although that seems excessive), help you when it comes to making decisions during the "actual" work portions of your day.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- asdff 5y agoDepends on your situation of course. If your meetings are all 100% productive and relevant to you, hats off to your manager.
- datavirtue 5y agoWhere do work where all these people are sending emails? I haven't communicated via email for at least five years. I used to and then gave up because everyone else stopped. It's all in slack or meetings now.
- asdff 5y agoIf you are dealing with outside organizations a lot you are probably doing it on email
- datavirtue 5y agoEverybody has a slack channel...even our vendors. It's rampant.
- asdff 5y agoMaybe I work with too many boomers