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9,999 people out of 10,000 telling you "don't do this, if your manager doesn't know what you did 10 months ago, the manager isn't doing their job" would have di

9,999 people out of 10,000 telling you "don't do this, if your manager doesn't know what you did 10 months ago, the manager isn't doing their job" would have difficulty telling me what they had for breakfast last Tuesday. Keep a log of your work. In fact, keep a log of everything you do. It gives you a sense of accomplishment, it gives you an idea of where your year went, and it lets you refer back to key highlights during your negotiations for a raise or promotion. You think your memory is bad? There is not an organization out there that will ever recognize anything you ever did beyond the last sprint planning session or Jira ticket you closed. I've yet to work for a manager, ever, that hasn't required a hard push to hit a deadline for months on end, only to then forget that effort and opine that you took off early on Friday. They'll remember the extended lunch you took yesterday, they'll forget you worked 19 days straight without a day off, whether it is a large tech organization or a small start-up of six people. I am sure many of you will no doubt attempt to regale me with tales of awesome managers who made sure to give you "atta boy" pats and remembered that thing you did when it came to year-end review, but those stellar managers are few and far between, and most of us will never get to encounter such a rare shiny creature. So don't be like all those times in college when you thought to yourself "I don't need to write this down, I'll remember it", because you won't.

jdudkeidnn 3y ago
> Keep a log of your work. In fact, keep a log of everything you do This is exactly how contract work is done. If you’re doing this as a full time employee you’re underpaid (assuming it’s for your employer - doing it for yourself is a great idea!)
- ChrisMarshallNY 3y ago
  I had an employee that did this (I was his manager), and I was quite grateful. He wasn't our most productive or "rockstar" engineer, but he was highly organized, and I appreciated it.
  - chiph 3y ago
    I ran a query against Azure Devops to produce a list of workitems that I had worked on for the year and gave it to my manager. It took maybe five minutes to dump it into Excel and format it to look good. I got a raise because I did this - I had hard numbers showing how productive I was for the year, and other devs didn't so he had to guesstimate their contributions.
- justinlloyd 3y ago
  I do it only for myself, and as supporting evidence when it comes time to negotiations, or a CYA moment, and if it has reached a CYA moment, I am usually putting one foot out the door anyway because the working relationship is probably deteriorating.
nrr 3y ago
As something of a corollary, set a timer to go off every 15 minutes (or otherwise regularly enough that it isn't obtrusive to you) such that you're poked to checkpoint what you're doing throughout the day. This was necessary when I worked for a professional services organization and had to fill out timesheets, but I've kept the practice since. I'm low tech and prefer to use a notecard with a grid on it, the squares of which bear enough space for only a word or two maximum, but you can just as easily use a spreadsheet or something fancier. It makes putting together a better summary at the end of your day a lot easier, and it also helps with future forays into time estimation since you have a clearer picture of how long things take. It also helps show when it's time to go take a walk.
- avikalp 3y ago
  Every 15 minutes would be excessive. I follow Pomodoro, so that kind of check points my progress. But when I document my daily progress, this rarely comes in handy. The daily update in the spreadsheet is extremely useful though.
- troad 3y ago
  >> Keep a log of your work. In fact, keep a log of everything you do. > Set a timer to go off every 15 minutes I realise this won't be a popular point of view with the folk who are always 'life-hacking' or what not, but my goodness that sounds mortifying to me. I have worked in professional services too, and I had to bill for my time in 6 minute intervals, but I found it much easier to just switch between set of running timers when I changed tasks. No need to put together any timesheets at the end of the day, just note/submit the final times. I think a repeating 15 minute timer would literally cause me to go insane. I'm all for people staying on top of their schedules, but I doubt that for most people the benefits of something like recurrent 15 minute timers could ever outweigh the costs (concentration, flow, mental health).
  - nrr 3y ago
    The odd part is that the recurring timer actually calmed me down. I can't perceive the passage of time, so having a prosthetic that forces me to ground myself periodically in the moment has been a blessing. I use an Apple Watch, and it's a gentle tap on the wrist that's perceptible to me and basically no one else.

jdudkeidnn 3y ago

> Keep a log of your work. In fact, keep a log of everything you do This is exactly how contract work is done. If you’re doing this as a full time employee you’re underpaid (assuming it’s for your employer - doing it for yourself is a great idea!)

ChrisMarshallNY 3y ago
I had an employee that did this (I was his manager), and I was quite grateful. He wasn't our most productive or "rockstar" engineer, but he was highly organized, and I appreciated it.
- chiph 3y ago
  I ran a query against Azure Devops to produce a list of workitems that I had worked on for the year and gave it to my manager. It took maybe five minutes to dump it into Excel and format it to look good. I got a raise because I did this - I had hard numbers showing how productive I was for the year, and other devs didn't so he had to guesstimate their contributions.
justinlloyd 3y ago
I do it only for myself, and as supporting evidence when it comes time to negotiations, or a CYA moment, and if it has reached a CYA moment, I am usually putting one foot out the door anyway because the working relationship is probably deteriorating.

nrr 3y ago

As something of a corollary, set a timer to go off every 15 minutes (or otherwise regularly enough that it isn't obtrusive to you) such that you're poked to checkpoint what you're doing throughout the day. This was necessary when I worked for a professional services organization and had to fill out timesheets, but I've kept the practice since. I'm low tech and prefer to use a notecard with a grid on it, the squares of which bear enough space for only a word or two maximum, but you can just as easily use a spreadsheet or something fancier. It makes putting together a better summary at the end of your day a lot easier, and it also helps with future forays into time estimation since you have a clearer picture of how long things take. It also helps show when it's time to go take a walk.

avikalp 3y ago
Every 15 minutes would be excessive. I follow Pomodoro, so that kind of check points my progress. But when I document my daily progress, this rarely comes in handy. The daily update in the spreadsheet is extremely useful though.
troad 3y ago
>> Keep a log of your work. In fact, keep a log of everything you do. > Set a timer to go off every 15 minutes I realise this won't be a popular point of view with the folk who are always 'life-hacking' or what not, but my goodness that sounds mortifying to me. I have worked in professional services too, and I had to bill for my time in 6 minute intervals, but I found it much easier to just switch between set of running timers when I changed tasks. No need to put together any timesheets at the end of the day, just note/submit the final times. I think a repeating 15 minute timer would literally cause me to go insane. I'm all for people staying on top of their schedules, but I doubt that for most people the benefits of something like recurrent 15 minute timers could ever outweigh the costs (concentration, flow, mental health).
- nrr 3y ago
  The odd part is that the recurring timer actually calmed me down. I can't perceive the passage of time, so having a prosthetic that forces me to ground myself periodically in the moment has been a blessing. I use an Apple Watch, and it's a gentle tap on the wrist that's perceptible to me and basically no one else.