Joblog on the Lintels: Brent Graber's Monthly Job Log

Thursday, March 1, 2018

Brent Graber's Monthly Job Log

An imprecise, but accurate on the whole, job accounting.

37 days summarized below.

Summary in Hours
Time at AMBS:				324h 1m 10s
Time working:				295h 42m 9s
	Administration:				90h 25m 10s
		Meetings:				21h 5m 1s
			Proper:				12h 50m 9s
			Related:				8h 14m 52s
		Budget:				8h 55m 32s
			Planning/Monitoring:				8h 55m 32s
			Ordering:				0h 0m 0s
		Budget:				3h 7m 38s
			Training:				3h 7m 38s
			Supervision:				0h 0m 0s
		Reading/Research:				31h 6m 41s
	Operations:				174h 56m 5s
		Projects:				51h 59m 21s
		AV:				14h 34m 6s
		Help Request:				101h 33m 24s
		Routine:				5h 1m 21s
		Impromptu Task:				0h 0m 0s
		Planned Task:				0h 0m 0s
		Miscategorized:				1h 47m 53s
	Non-prescribed Work:				27h 13m 16s
		Meta-work:				5h 28m 40s
		Community Life:				7h 15m 51s
		Communication:				14h 28m 45s
	Break/Personal:				28h 19m 1s

Percentages
Time at AMBS:				100%
Time working:				91%
	Administration:				31%
		Meetings:				23%
			Proper:				61%
			Related:				39%
		Budget:				10%
			Planning/Monitoring:				100%
			Ordering:				0%
		Budget:				1%
			Training:				100%
			Supervision:				0%
		Reading/Research:				34%
	Operations:				59%
		Projects:				30%
		AV:				8%
		Help Request:				58%
		Routine:				0%
		Impromptu Task:				0%
		Planned Task:				0%
		Miscategorized:				1%
	Non-prescribed Work:				9%
		Meta-work:				20%
		Community Life:				27%
		Communication:				53%
	Break/Personal:				9%

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

Thursday, March 1, 2018

Brent Graber's Monthly Job Log

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