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> -----Original Message-----
> From: quills -at- airmail -dot- net [mailto:quills -at- airmail -dot- net]
> Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2002 5:50 PM
<snip my request for help>
>
> The categories sound ok, but what about administration? Don't you
> have filing, or other work that is done to complete projects that is
> not in the above categories? Organization, well as long as you know
> what you mean by it, it's fine.
>
> Just a warning, you might end up spending more time detailing your
> work, than you want to. This sort of exercise always looks good,
> until you try to put it into operation. Then the administration,
> input and keeping track of the minutes is counter-productive.
>
> And in the final analysis, what are you going to do with this
> granulation of information. If it's just nice to know, and doesn't
> add to the bottom line, don't do it.
>
> I worked at a company for ten years where we kept this sort of
> information on our time sheets, in 15 minute increments. Guess what?
>
> It was never input into any database, it was never applied to project
> hours. It was manually tabulated and the information was not
> retreivable. In short, many people wasted a lot of man-hours keeping
> track of minutiae that was not used, could not be used, and which
> management didn't use.
The company I used to work for had us track time in 15 minute increments,
and we had to record it in a database by going into each project file.
Didn't mind keeping track of my time, but I hated the data entry. I far
prefer the method we use here, were all projects are listed on one
spreadsheet so there is no wasting time searching for an individual project
in a database to enter time for it. (I know it could have been far simpler,
but the database was a beast.)
Unfortunately, our department is now being evaluated to see if we are
"value-added". We're trying to come up with "metrics" that justify our
existence. We've been process mapped. It frightens me that the mapping was
done by supervisors, supply management and a process pro. No input from the
writers was included and "writing a manual" was delegated to one box on the
map. Two writers have been cut so far. These are not happy times.
> So keep it simple!
Wish I could.
-Amanda
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