Ideas on measuring / tracking own productivity?

[Shane]

Do any of you measure your productivity somehow?
For example, I use Rescuetime, which automatically logs how much time I spend using what applications when I'm at the computer. This can give me some idea of how productive I'm being.

I'd like to have a few more options for this kind of measurement. For example, I'm thinking of blog posts per week or words written as a measure of productivity.

Any other ideas?

[Geek Entrepreneur]

I think it would depend on what activity you are wanting to measure.

You mentioned blog posts per week, and words written as a measurement. If you are a blogger, then the number of posts you write a week would be a solid way to measure your productivity. Same with writing X number of words a day being one way writers measure how productive they are.

For myself, I keep a work journal which is just a simple Word doc I keep open throughout the day so I can type in whatever work I've done. I also have certain milestones which I work towards during any given day or week in regards to my projects.

Hope all of this helped in some way.

Wesley Craig Green
The Geek Entrepreneur

[spirit4711]

Why do you want to measure your own productivity?

Keep it simple.
1) State goals
2) Estimate how much time it will cost you
3) Measure the actual time

If you do this, over time your estimates will get better.

[findinginspiration]

I try and gauge my productivity based on knocking things off my "to-do" list for a particular day. I focus on starting something, and doing my best to stay focused on that particular something until it is finished and off my list.

It's so easy to get distracted while at your computer, but if you can just maintain your focus you won't lose your momentum and you will ultimately be more productive....hope that helps a little

[Shane]

Counting completed to-do items is also a good idea. Thanks for the suggestions!

The reason I want to measure my productivity is so that I can try different productivity methods and measure whether they work or not. As I see it, an objective measurement is very useful because a method might make you feel productive but not actually help you get stuff done.

[FazK]

KISS

The best way is to use a to do list and tick things off.

[Rich H]

I am not convinced with the 'track number of posts per week' of 'words per week' as productivity metrics. It is a little too quantity over quality - spend 5 minutes writing some junk but classify it as being productive.

I set myself goals, and then as I meet them, I increase them. For example, I may aim to post on my blog once a day and clear my e-mail inbox by 8pm. If I achieve this then the next week I may also try and add other task I would like to do. Build this up day-by-day or week-by-week.

[Shane]

Good point. Though tasks have the same issue. Number of tasks doesn't really say how productive you were, since some tasks (e.g. pay bills) require less time and effort and are less useful than other (e.g. save the whales).

I like your method of building on existing habits.

[Brutha]

Maybe taking 5 minutes at the end of each of your day, going over the previous day and judging your productivity on a 10 point scale will give you much better results than quantative measures.

The reason I want to measure my productivity is so that I can try different productivity methods and measure whether they work or not. As I see it, an objective measurement is very useful because a method might make you feel productive but not actually help you get stuff done.

There no perfect way to measure productivity.
The idea that measuring always improves performance is a fallacy.

You lose flexibility and creativity that way but get efficiency.

If you don't get working and therefore are really bad in the efficiency part it might be a good ideas to count accomplished tasks as that's your issue.
If your problem however lies in not producing quality output, measurement might reduce your productivity.

You also shouldn't forget Goodhart's law: When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.

[Rich H]

Originally Posted by Shane

Good point. Though tasks have the same issue. Number of tasks doesn't really say how productive you were, since some tasks (e.g. pay bills) require less time and effort and are less useful than other (e.g. save the whales).

I like your method of building on existing habits.

Ah, but this is another issue entirely! There shouldn't be any dross on your task list, and a task is only done if it is done well. You need to use your discretion when choosing what to do when - it should never be a case of mechanically starting the next one. You would assess how productive you are at 'paying bills' over a month, whereas 'saving whales' (or 'saving Wales' for that matter) would be assessed over a lifetime.

[sidsavara]

I think using RescueTime you are on the right track

Another thing you may want to consider is writing down a couple big goals/dreams, and then as part of a GTD style weekly review consider the past week's progress towards the goals. For me, completing the short term tasks is easy and I'm efficient - the long term goals, I really have to keep hitting myself over the head and reminding myself of what I need to do

[Shane]

Originally Posted by Rich H

Ah, but this is another issue entirely! There shouldn't be any dross on your task list, and a task is only done if it is done well. You need to use your discretion when choosing what to do when - it should never be a case of mechanically starting the next one. You would assess how productive you are at 'paying bills' over a month, whereas 'saving whales' (or 'saving Wales' for that matter) would be assessed over a lifetime.

Good point.
I know it's kind of an oxymoron, but I want to find a way to prioritize or rate the tasks but still be efficient in setting and achieving tasks.

Originally Posted by sidsavara

I think using RescueTime you are on the right track

Another thing you may want to consider is writing down a couple big goals/dreams, and then as part of a GTD style weekly review consider the past week's progress towards the goals. For me, completing the short term tasks is easy and I'm efficient - the long term goals, I really have to keep hitting myself over the head and reminding myself of what I need to do

Same here. Currently, my main focus is on small tasks until I have a system and habit of getting those done as efficiently as possible. Then, I want to focus on the big goals in a next step (no idea how I'm gonna tackle that yet, but I'll read GTD and see if that helps).

Thanks for the input, guys, I really appreciate it.

[Tristan Lee]

I think the best way is to get a simple pen and notebook. Write down a list of things you do everyday and then ask your some questions like what you are doing is bringing you closer to your goal and how so? Keeping track of what you do and constantly improving your actions will help you boost your productivity.

[Shane]

Good idea. Though I'll do it in an excel sheet rather than a notebook.
I love using excel to track stuff.

I had the following idea: I could simply prioritize the tasks from 1-3.
1 being a mundane kind of task that just needs to get done ("take out trash", "grocerie shopping"), 2 being a more important task or something that helps my personal progress somewhat and 3 being a task that is really in line with my main goals and that challenges me personally.
Should be fairly easy to do but still give a good idea of how much actual progress I'm making.