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Statistics/data on productivity
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Posted by Dr Andus
Jun 18, 2018 at 10:32 PM
Dellu wrote:
>But, I am very skeptic of your manual logging: I don’t think that is a
>reliable, object means of acquiring data. It might be better than
>nothing; but nowhere close to the reality.
Maybe we have a different definition of what “work” means. In my line of work it’s quite simple: I am either engaged in a productive activity (call it a pomodoro) or I am on a break. It’s a binary system.
So I only measure “pure productive work”, by which I mean that I am engaged in focusing on solving a task (usually on the computer).
Tracking it is quite easy in Google Sheets. I already have a template set up, so all I need to is type a number (“1” etc.) at the start of the row, which represents the session number (kind of like Pomodoro 1, 2 etc.), to start a session.
Then when I’m done, I just hover the cursor over the “last changed” indicator, and it tells me how much time had passed since I typed “1”. Then I record the time elapsed (e.g. 40 min), and this automatically starts the break time.
When I’m back from the break, I just check how much time had passed, record it, and type “2” to start the next session, which starts/resets the clock.
Google Sheet tracks the time for me automatically, I don’t need to look at a clock or stopwatch at all.
BTW, getting stats about my software usage is not very useful for me because it doesn’t tell me whether I was using it for work or pleasure.
Posted by Paul Korm
Jun 19, 2018 at 01:48 AM
Dellu wrote:
>
>Paul Korm wrote:
>
>Do you mean Qbserve?
Oops. No. I wrote “Findings” but meant “Timings”.
Posted by MadaboutDana
Jun 19, 2018 at 07:41 AM
Hey, Paul - Timings 2 resolves that irritating “always wanting to report” problem and is a superb background logging tool.
Hey, Dellu - thanks for the very honest self-assessment; very interesting in a productivity setting. I agree, I’ve found my own productivity vastly less stellar than I thought it was. Kind of embarrassing, but also kind of predictable…
I’ve not tried Qbserve - I’ll have to take a look.
Cheers!
Bill
Posted by Dellu
Jun 19, 2018 at 10:43 AM
>report” problem and is a superb background logging tool.
>
>Hey, Dellu - thanks for the very honest self-assessment; very
>interesting in a productivity setting. I agree, I’ve found my own
>productivity vastly less stellar than I thought it was. Kind of
>embarrassing, but also kind of predictable…
>
>
>I’ve not tried Qbserve - I’ll have to take a look.
Thank you Bill.
Timing 2/3 has pretty much copied Qbserve. They are almost identical now. You don’t need Qbserve if you own Timing.
I find them totally indispensable.
Posted by Dellu
Jun 19, 2018 at 10:47 AM
Dr Andus wrote:
>BTW, getting stats about my software usage is not very useful for me
>because it doesn’t tell me whether I was using it for work or pleasure.
That used to be my problem when I was using RescueTime. But, that is not a problem in Qbserve and Timing because you can exactly tell the application which of the websites are for productive works (Google docs) and which are non-productive (facebook). But, if you use the same website for both fun and work, yes, the software can’t tell.