Things we learned by visualizing our work hours
reflect.io
reflect.io
Years and years ago, I worked as a blackjack dealer. We had 20 minute breaks every hour. It seemed ludicrous to me at first, but the job has essentially two main components - solving a lot of very simple math problems quickly and without errors, and customer service. By keeping all of the dealers fresh, the casino was able to ensure that problems were minimized. Adding cards up to 21 isn't exactly mental gymnastics, but do that at a rate of up to 280 times in an hour and it's actually kind of surprising that more mistakes aren't made.
I've often wondered about how that kind of schedule would play in software development. I find that my own code is better when well rested, but even after all these years I've never been able to force myself to take breaks that frequently.
The side effect of frequent and scheduled breaks was social interaction that was usually work-focused.
my best productivity comes from dividing efforts piecemeal and then allotting an hour for each task
the relatable bit is that if the task takes me 15 or 40 or however many minutes to finish the rest of the hour is mine to do with whatever i want
i could go for a walk, make some tea, pick up a book
if the task is unfinished at the end of the hour, i move onto the next task and return to it at the next hour block
even though it creates my most productive circumstances, like you said, i still find i rarely 'force' myself to follow it
A hyper-focus on productivity metrics (like hours spent coding) plus no regular, scheduled breaks seems like a recipe for burnout to me.
Still, it's something to be aware of. The accelerator's going to do your company little good if you're all so exhausted that you can't work efficiently afterwards.
(Note that I'm not necessarily saying you're going that direction; only you know the answer to that question.)
Well, not if you're gold plating, but if you're honest with yourself about the work you're doing then this shouldn't be a problem.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_plating_%28software_engin...
Unfortunately, they do not offer in-depth analysis of the data.
I build my own tool to print customized charts and I would appreciate hearing your opinion on this..
Here is the repo: https://github.com/ilbonte/rescuetime-again and this is an output example: http://i.imgur.com/PptwdMU.png
https://medium.com/@vojto/fixing-rescuetime-charts-458edd86a...
tldr: https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/1*_IbFy8gq6Fqmu1ZZX...
And also keep in mind that hours spent being distracted isn't the only metric. Another important thing is how often you interrupted your work for something unimportant.
For that purpose we built a mini app: http://focuslist.co/escape/#
Edit: Also, they claim insights about what influences productivity. However the visualizations shown (after you disable adblocking) do not reflect the claimed insights.
Edit2: Downvote this all you want. I assume you have a personal stake, and I doubt you will make it disappear -- they are valid criticisms. Maybe responding would be more constructive.
Edit3: Hey Colby, thanks for responding (can't respond directly). Turning uBlock off and reloading may have been coincident with visualization showing back up. Maybe overtaxed servers with the front page HN spot? (Congrats btw).
Check this out! https://gyrosco.pe/myusuf3/2016/4/26/