3 ms·

I'm not sure that I buy the billable/not-billable distinction as a useful measurement of productivity and progress. I spend a lot of time reading up on new conc

I'm not sure that I buy the billable/not-billable distinction as a useful measurement of productivity and progress. I spend a lot of time reading up on new concepts and programming languages, and it gives me a lot of new ideas. It's probably not "billable", but it's work because it makes me better at my job. I'd say that I average 45 hours of actual work per week, discounting the time I'm "at work" but goofing off, while including the time I spend working at home, even if that "work" is studying or discussing programming languages with other hackers to trade ideas.

lsc 18y ago
there is a difference between increasing the value you can provide in the future and directly providing value to your customer. The lines blur some if you are salaried and unlikely to leave your employer or if you are learning things specific to your employers needs.
shimon 18y ago
The billable/non-billable distinction isn't the only one, nor always the best. But it is useful: being able to crank out a lot of them is immensely useful at crunch time. On the other hand, an organization entirely filled with people who primarily value billable hours could well be pathologically unimaginative.