Measuring Productivity

Subject: Measuring Productivity
From: Marilynne Smith <m -dot- smith182 -at- GENIE -dot- GEIS -dot- COM>
Date: Wed, 9 Nov 1994 12:14:00 UTC

>> Communicators (the creative types that we are) don't like being
>> linked to productivity.

I certainly agree with that. Are engineers tracked for productivity?
Programmers? When part of your job is creating something or solving
problems, the productivity measurements fall flat.

I was once required to list daily how many pages I edited (simple, medium,
difficult), how many I proofed (simple, medium, difficult), how much time I
spent at each task, etc. I spent what seemed to me a large amount of time
counting pages and time for the productivity people. Eventually, wanting to
spend more time doing my work, I would lift the stack, guess at the mean
percentage, guess at the number of pages, add a fudge factor, and go back to
doing the work I was hired to do. My boss would tell you I was also hired
to do the productivity measurements.

However, I felt it was more important to translate engineereze into nice
readable copy. I was really good at that.

Was I wrong? Did you ever have to count pages?

Marilynne
m.smith182


Previous by Author: To flame or not to flame;
Next by Author: Re: Measuring Productivit
Previous by Thread: Measuring Productivity
Next by Thread: Re: Measuring Productivity


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads