Comments on: We’re All Time Wasters, But Whose Fault Is That?

By: James

James — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:57:19 +0000

Thanks for the comment Rai. I’d be curious to know why you consider your goals to be unattainable? What is it about other people’s behavior that holds your work back? Delegating something to someone represents in itself a completed task, even if you still have to wait on their response to take further action.

By: Rai

Rai — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:27:34 +0000

Hmm. I envy people who run out of work! I basically manage myself and my job’s goals are basically unattainable (because it involves changing a few thousand people’s behavior). Nevertheless, I try very hard to constantly progress. This means there is always something to do. If I have free time, I start a new program or initiative. Now I have so much to do (after over five years on the job) that I am in complete paralysis. I have been coming to work and doing nothing, just because I am overwhelmed with how much I have to do. I am not lazy and I like my job but I am lost.

By: James

James — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:23:41 +0000

Exactly, Kevin. I think that’s the way schools here in Britain work as well. When my school went from doing fifty minute classes to forty minutes, all the teachers had a crazy time trying to figure out how to fit those missing ten minutes of each class into the school schedule. In the end we had shorter classes but longer days.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:58:37 +0000

Here in the Netherlands, schools have to give every student 1040 hours of lessons. Bullshit! Don’t they understand that the amount of things we have to learn can’t be measured in time?

By: LJ

LJ — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:56:38 +0000

I was always ticked off by having to sit extra hours at work. I was always consistently finishing my jobs quicker than my colleagues. So I negotiated with my boss, and now work part time with a bump in wages as a special productivity rate and consistently do in 30 hours what my colleagues manage in 40. I still have to sit at my desk for the 30 hours, but at least I get the 10 hours to do what I want, outside of work.

By: James

James — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:48:18 +0000

Glad you liked the message of this post, I enjoyed writing it.

Anna, that’s a good question. I could speculate on a few ideas here but I don’t think that’s fair to the subject matter. However, I will give it some serious thought and follow up with another post suggesting my ideas…

By: Anna

Anna — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:07:49 +0000

Well, that’s interesting, but I’d love to see a more constructive opinion. How else would you see work and school organized?

I went to one of the best high schools in Poland and time was well spent there. Not always, of course, but I don’t see how it could have been done better.

At work, I do have some stuff to do. If there is a lot of it, I make extra hours that I can later take back when I’m finished with my bugs. If I screw something, I have to stay in longer without extra credit. I never need to look busy.

By: Productivity Hacks

Productivity Hacks — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:01:16 +0000

By: Armen Shirvanian

Armen Shirvanian — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:02:02 +0000

Hey James.

You have a modern and relevant message here. A lot of time is lost simply due to time architecture that isn’t fitting for the current day and age. The class times are certainly limiting to many students, and it can be somewhat debilitating until classes of that type are completed, and those students can then break free. It doesn’t need to be this way, and I can imagine schools trying different methods that are not as time-based, although I can also imagine very little change showing up.

The people who work hard and play hard are the ones who have the toughest time with extending their work over many hours for no reason except to look productive.

Thanks for this.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:16:38 +0000

That’s exactly the point, very well written. Measuring work in hours or days is necessary for a software developer like me, but getting paid by the amount of time I sit at my desk is plain and simply wrong. You seldom get a reward for being effective at work, even more so if you are paid for X hours a week and not the real work you have done.