Joblog on the Lintels: Work Summary for the Week ending Friday, 26 December, 2008

Monday, December 29, 2008

Work Summary for the Week ending Friday, 26 December, 2008

2 days summarized below


Time at AMBS:			18h 10m 15s
Time Working:			15h 39m 15s
	Planned:			3h 21m 46s
		Projects/Tasks:			0h 18m 23s
		Meetings:			1h 37m 38s
		Reading/Research:			0h 50m 2s
		Communication:			0h 32m 33s
		House cleaning:			0h 3m 10s
	Unplanned:			4h 48m 10s
		Distraction:			0h 0m 0s
		Interruption:			2h 20m 45s
		Projects/Tasks:			2h 27m 25s
	Other Work:			7h 29m 19s
		Non-work Work:			7h 29m 19s
		Community Life:			0h 0m 0s
	Unspecified:			0h 0m 0s
Personal/Break:			2h 31m 0s
Average Daily Time at AMBS:			9h 5m 7s
Average Daily Working Time:			7h 49m 37s


Time Working:			86.15%
	Planned:			21.48%
		Projects/Tasks:			9.11%
		Meetings:			48.39%
		Reading/Research:			24.80%
		Communication:			16.13%
		House cleaning:			1.57%
	Unplanned:			30.68%
		Distraction:			0.00%
		Interruption:			48.84%
		Projects/Tasks:			51.16%
	Other Work:			47.84%
		Non-work Work:			100.00%
		Community Life:			0.00%
	Unspecified:			0.00%
Personal/Break:			13.85%

*** Raw Data ***

12/22/2008 7:48:00 AM,ar,"",0
12/22/2008 8:12:50 AM,em,"",1490
12/22/2008 8:24:27 AM,iv,"asst orient",697
12/22/2008 9:00:25 AM,re,"campus tech notes",2158
12/22/2008 9:06:47 AM,bk,"mail call",382
12/22/2008 9:09:47 AM,em,"",180
12/22/2008 9:29:17 AM,iv,"various things while getting tea",1170
12/22/2008 9:49:09 AM,nw,"netbook discussion",1192
12/22/2008 9:52:19 AM,hc,"office",190
12/22/2008 12:23:26 PM,nw,"spt work",9067
12/22/2008 1:01:21 PM,bk,"lunch",2275
12/22/2008 1:05:26 PM,hr,"various",245
12/22/2008 3:20:55 PM,up,"moodle and other things",8129
12/22/2008 3:32:03 PM,iv,"various",668
12/22/2008 3:50:26 PM,tk,"various",1103
12/22/2008 5:07:31 PM,nw,"spt stuff (other things mixed in)",4625

12/23/2008 8:00:47 AM,ar,"",0
12/23/2008 8:05:30 AM,em,"",283
12/23/2008 8:06:56 AM,ps,"update fb",86
12/23/2008 8:11:31 AM,ps,"fanfoot",275
12/23/2008 8:28:51 AM,ps,"prep for day",1040
12/23/2008 9:14:51 AM,mt,"zotero",2760
12/23/2008 11:13:10 AM,nw,"spt work",7099
12/23/2008 11:40:00 AM,ip,"acct creation",1610
12/23/2008 11:53:27 AM,nw,"spt note taking",807
12/23/2008 12:08:05 PM,ip,"acct creation",878
12/23/2008 12:22:09 PM,re,"rss",844
12/23/2008 1:25:00 PM,bk,"lunch",3771
12/23/2008 1:32:51 PM,up,"media server resurrect attempt",471
12/23/2008 1:49:56 PM,ps,"carols",1025
12/23/2008 1:53:22 PM,ps,"carols",206
12/23/2008 2:45:00 PM,mt,"dig repos",3098
12/23/2008 3:15:31 PM,nw,"media conversion etc",1831
12/23/2008 3:28:16 PM,nw,"spt",765
12/23/2008 3:54:29 PM,nw,"spt",1573
12/23/2008 4:51:31 PM,iv,"well that completely interrupted my flow",3422

How to Read These Posts

These posts are posted by a perl script I wrote to parse the output of a text file created by a slightly modified version of quicklogger. Posts on Tuesday through Saturday cover one work day; posts on Monday summarize the previous work week.

The parser relies heavily on two-letter codes, visible in the raw data. These codes went into effect July 1, 2016:

ar = arrive (as in, "this is when I arrived at work")
bk/ps = break (unpaid) or personal stuff
mt = meeting
mr = meeting-related (preparation/followup)
bm = budget management (shame on you)
re = reading/research
or = ordering
tr = training (includes telling someone how to do something, not just student supervision)
su = supervision
pr = project (just a task, but longer -- I know them when I see them)
av = specific AV-related task or project
hr/tk = short task/project done immediately (hr = something someone asked me to do; tk = something I decided to do just right then without planning for it)
ro/on = routine or ongoing task/project - stuff I do regularly for whatever reason
tm = task I initiated (but planned to do at a particular time, not something I just thought of this moment)
to,ob = task initiated at another's behest, but something I scheduled to work on at this particular time (not an emergency or spontaneous "let's just get this done" thing)
nw = meta-work (recording vacation, registering for a conference, rewriting the joblogger, chatting with the colleague whose quick question turned into a longer discussion about unrelated things [pastoral care work])
cl = community life stuff (chapel, forum, breaks)
co,em = correspondence, consultation, email

These tasks often flow into one another, so a spontaneous task (tk) includes not only the work I'm doing, but also the three interruptions in the hallway (that would normally be categorized as hr or co) that I dealt with while completing it.

Additionally, the categories are not strict. Tasks (tk or tm or to) have a tendency to become projects (pr), sometimes depending on nothing more than how I feel about them.

And, lest you think I spend all my time at work logging what I do at work instead of actually working, I'll break it down for you: if I average 50 log entries per day, and if each entry takes five seconds, that's six minutes and 10 seconds of each day committed to logging. Not nothing, but also not massive. And each entry probably takes less time than that -- I'm a touch typist, so most of the time entering in the log is related to waiting on the quicklogger to wake up when I press Ctrl-Alt-L. And even then I'm not sure more than five seconds pass.

Now the time coding and re-coding and remembering to use my new codes ... well, that's different. Let's call it nw.

So why the change? The new codes fit more neatly into categories in my job description so that when annual reporting and job description review comes up I can be a bit less impressionistic.

*** Older codes follow ***

These codes went into effect January 2, 2008, and are now obsolete:

ar = arrive (as in, "this is when I arrived at work")
bk/ps = break (unpaid) or personal stuff
di = distraction (self-imposed interruption)
ic = interruption by instant messenger (chat)
ip = interruption by phone
iv = interruption by visit
hr/up = help request or unplanned task (something that comes up as a result of checking my e-mail or phone messages -- usually not the result of an interruption)
mt = meeting
ch = chat initiated by me (should be rare)
em = e-mail checking/corresponding
ph = phone (calling, checking messages)
vi = visit (initiated by me)
hc = housecleaning (office)
tk = planned task or project
re = reading and research
cl = community life (this includes various all campus events, special and regular breaks, forum, chapel, etc.)
nw = work-related non-work things (for those things that aren't exactly community life, but are also not exactly work -- conference registration comes to mind)

*** Original Codes Follow ***

Original code set (2007) - now obsolete:

ar = arrive (as in, "this is when I arrived at work")
bk = break
mt = meeting
ic = interruption by instant messenger (chat)
ie = interruption by e-mail (as in, "I was doing something else and an e-mail popped up on my screen because that's my preferred method of receiving help requests")
ip = interruption by phone
iv = interruption by visit
ch = chat initiated by me
em = e-mail correspondence initiated by me
ph = phone correspondence initiated by me
vi = visit initiated by me (presumably, if others were logging these last three things, there would be a corresponding "iv," "ip," or "ie")
ps = some personal task (as in, "Oooo ... I forgot to check the bank balance, maybe I should do that before I forget")
hc = housecleaning (as in, "I better check my e-mail, listen to my phone messages, and clean up this clutter on my desk, NOW!")
tk = planned task
re = reading and research

Joblog on the Lintels

Monday, December 29, 2008

Work Summary for the Week ending Friday, 26 December, 2008

How to Read These Posts

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