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What my metrics will and will not tell me.

So, today I started out on my path to statistical verification. My first job was to grab a small, pocket-sized notebook to keep track of my daily entries. The notebook will be kept in my pocket at work so that I can easily make entries as they are required. The idea of using paper - as opposed to some sort of technological wizardry - was forwarded by Darrell Norton who seems to be a fountain of useful information when it comes to process improvement ideas and the like... thanks Darrell!

I've started out with the categories that I suggested yesterday: Planning, Writing, Improving, Discussing, Learning, and I've added one which is simply named "Managing". These will be more than adequate for now and should give me enough data to work out which directions to head next. I'll be transferring my log-book entries to a computerized database (probably MS-Excel) either weekly or monthly (to minimize context switching) and produce some statistical graphs and other information which I'll post here under the category of "goals2004_Metrics".

One of the things which won't get picked up by this round of data is what I refer to as "context-switching" and which I would define as the time you lose when you change between tasks. Take - as an example - Justin Rogers' comment in my last blog regarding e-mail.

...For instance, I might find that I spend 10% of my day checking email...

 

"Losing" 10% of your day to e-mail doesn't necessarily seem like a huge burden to me - ( 8 hrs * 60 minutes ) / 10 = 48 minutes - although it is probably a little on the high side - depending who you are receiving from and writing to I suppose. At that level of e-mail activity I'd be starting to filter some out into lesser priority e-mail reading. One thing that I would encourage however (and yes, this does tie back to context-switching) is that you should set aside 1, maybe 2, no more than 3 blocks for dealing with e-mail. I, for example, read and deal with all my mail between 8:00am and 8:30am in the morning. I re-open Outlook at lunchtime and glance to see whether anything interesting or important has arrived, then maybe I'll peek at it again during the afternoon. By doing this I'm not constantly switching back and forth between "stuff" and e-mail. Don't get me wrong, reading a scrap of e-mail won't kill your productivity on its own but other things will.

An interesting thing seems to happen when we switch our attention between one task and another (such as blog reading, web surfing, e-mail reading, tv watching, etc)... we wander off and peek at one or two other things - similar to the "time sinks" described here: http://zhurnal.net/ww/zw?PracticalProductivity. This is the fundamental thing that I disagree with Justin on when he says:

...A great tool for managing your time is actually Outlook...

 

This may be a gross generalization on my part but... many of the people that I've observed who have tried to eek out significant informational gains from Outlook end up becoming a slave to managing Outlook (and MS-Project is pretty much the same for that matter). People who like to maintain a pristine calendar in Outlook invariably, on each trip to Outlook, stop off to also check that their contacts are up to date, that their tasks are on time, whether any new E-mail has arrived, re-synch their PDA with their Desktop and so-forth. This distraction can also often lead to some miscellaneous blog reading and webmail catching up. All-in-all, left unchecked, a trip to the Outlook calendar can leave you with a gaping 35 minute time sink!

That's the time lost to context switching and that's the time that my categories won't necessarily give me, but we'll see.

P.S.  All of this ranting just reminded me of another one of my pet productivity tips:  always keep your email inbox empty, it keeps your mind clear :-)

3 Comments

  • Thanks for the link Darren!



    I also try to keep my Inbox as clear as possible, but it serves as my "TODO" list, rather than the tasks in Outlook. I have an email and can tell once I've read it when it needs to be done. I hate switching to Contacts or Notes. I'll occasionally use Calendar, but then I copy the email body into the appointment's description (and then delete the email). Sometimes the simple processes are the best!

  • I try to carry at least scrap of paper and a pencil (or pen) around with me most of the time, in case something worth remembering catches my eye ... I can then scribble down a few words and that's (usually!) enough to bring it back to mind later, when I may have leisure to think about it at some length, transfer it to a more permanent medium, etc. ...



    I also find a daytimer-planner-notebook useful in managing my to-do list (I keep it extremely simple, and just categorize items based on urgency: "A" = "better do it today", "B" = "within a few days", and "C" = "this week or whenever") ... the silly little personal reward that I feel from checking items off the list is a helpful incentive to do my various duties. I am also forgetful enough that putting scheduled meetings onto daily/weekly/monthly pages is a good way for me to avoid embarrassment and missed opportunities ...



    So the real point of these little paper-based buffers and caches is to increase my long-term efficiency somewhat, without getting in the way of the work I need to do at the moment ...



    - ^z -

  • Thanks for that Mark, I can certainly relate to:



    ".... without getting in the way of the work I need to do at the moment"



    I think that's the key.

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