Metrics: The kick in the ass that is the key to productivity

Posted by Nick on 7/12/2010 filed in analytics, Getting Things Done, Organization, Productivity

What you can measure, you can manage.

I just watched a new video from Giles where he talks about how you can improve your programming productivity. Its a really good short video that hits the nail on the head. If you want to make a change, guessing about what to fix won’t cut it. You need to measure what you are doing, and then adjust accordingly.

The quote at the top was in the video, and I have to say I don’t think I had ever heard it before. But as soon as I heard it I knew it was 100% correct. Think about it: everyone who is in charge of things in you life (bosses, teachers, parents, etc.) track what you do to some extent. When you step out of line, they know about it and are able to let you know. Why? Because they are “measuring” you progress via grades, work done, chores completed, etc.

So if it works for them, why can’t it work for you? Track the things that are important to you, and see if you can make a positive change.

I’ve been hemming and hawing lately about tracking things like my programming projects or seeing if my neighborhood association really is increasing the house values. The time for action is now.

My first step: Putting widget on this blog to track my BitBucket RSS feed. If I’m going to work on a project out in the open why not let everyone know about it? This way if I’m not being productive, it will be pretty visible.

(As a side note, this is something that Giles has mentioned before that I really believe in: If you are a programmer, you should have some project out in the public eye. Open source is a good thing. Contributing to open source is a great thing. Being known as a programmer who contributes to open source software is the best thing.)

My next step: Start treating time tracking on my projects as a first class citizen. I’m starting a new sprint tomorrow: I’m going to track my time better. Also, I’m going to add some tasks to my Satellite Tracking project so I can make sure I’m on task when I’m working on it.

Thanks Giles, that video was a good kick in the ass. :)


One Response to “Metrics: The kick in the ass that is the key to productivity”

  1. How to identify what to measure — Possibility and Probability Says:
    July 13th, 2010 at 8:36 pm

    [...] My last post about metrics really got me thinking. Most GTD programs don’t really talk about improvements from a dead stop, they are more concerned about changing your process. But altering how you implement your process can have a huge impact. [...]