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Only about 20% of my time per week is productive - that includes analysis (i.e., learning). Where does the rest of the time go? In my current assignment, I am driving enterprise-wide integration efforts (i.e., I am doing a bunch of essential data flow diagrams). I have to talk with a large number of analysts, managers, etc to tie their automation efforts together. (Their documentation of what they are doing is largely useless: I want to know what they are doing, and all they ever want to document is how they are doing what they are doing.)
Soooooo much time is wasted in trying to get answers to my questions (i.e., not on learning, but in getting the learning inputs). There are two main reasons for this:
* Most people spend just about all of their time focused on things that are either are non-relevant, or that should not be considered until much later in a project. These people - often senior level - are basically incapable of answering questions about some of the most important things for which they are charged.
* Some people are very turf conscious. They feel that if I know the essentials of what they know that it subtracts from their power base.
This is the way the work world works except in some rare, highly-focused efforts - people working 41 or MORE hours per week focused on the trivial - and taking forever to get some minor thing done.
Richard Lewis
Kevin McLauchlan <kmclauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com> wrote:
On Behalf Of Richard Lewis wrote:
> I work a max of 40 hours a week. Of that, only about 20% of my time is
> productive.
Ah, but remember that old joke:
Homeowner has plumbing problem and calls plumber.
Plumber arrives, surveys situation for a couple of minutes, hauls out a big
pipe-wrench and hits the pipe hard.
"That'll be $200", sez the plumber.
The homeowner is outraged. "Whaddya mean $200!? All you did was whack the
pipe! I could have done that!"
Plumber ponders for a few seconds, scribbles on a pad and hands homeowner an
itemized bill ~
"Hitting pipe ... $5.00
Knowing where to hit ... $195.00"
At least some of that other eighty percent of your time is where you learn
all about "where to hit". Yes?
Kevin
---------------------------------
Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha!
Play Monopoly Here and Now (it's updated for today's economy) at Yahoo! Games.
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