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This is actually a lot easier than you might think.
Most people track their major projects when asked
to account for hours, but neglect to allow for all the
time consumed by attending unrelated meetings,
sorting through the mountain of useless emails they
receive every day hunting for ones that are actually
relevant to their work, maintaining and improving
department "infrastructure" (document templates,
department processes, etc.), and, of course,
responding to requests from management for
reports on budgets and productivity.
I'd be surprised if you couldn't reduce the time you
actually devote to your real work by at least one hour
per day just by accounting for these activities. That's
an instant 12.5% productivity increase, but don't
use it all up in one reply if you don't have to, and
apply some creativity to not telling management that
it's their fault you're not more "productive" because
they have so many useless meetings, send out so
many useless emails and keep asking for "productivity
gains" from people who already don't have enough
hours in the day to get all their work done.
Gene Kim-Eng
----- Original Message -----
From: "Allan Ackerson" <alackerson -at- msn -dot- com>
> Management here just popped us with an annual
> requirement to show "productivity gains"! I can
> think of some tweaks here and there which would
> make our operation leaner and meaner, but as far
> as general document production goes, nothing
> comes to mind that will meet the goals they want.
> Would anyone care to share initiatives they used
> in similar circumstances?
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