Thursday 4 February 2010

What’s your time worth?

It’s a funny old question, what is your time worth? Do you know the monetary value of your time? Do you believe the figure and use it in your day to day thinking? Some do, but not too many.

In some ways valuing your time as if it were money is spot on. But at the same time it implies we are spending a small fortune as we relax watching TV, or take an hour or two to go to the gym. Yet both activities are needed unless we intend burning out early in pursuit of the holy grail of time management.


Whatever you think your time might be worth; very few think it is worthless.

Time is the basic building block on which we create value for each other and the companies we work for. Relatively few people, however, measure their time in the same way that they measure money. Yet as Jim Rohn pointed out “Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but cannot get more time.”

One of the reasons we don’t measure what we do with our time is that it is difficult. If someone came up with some software we could set running in the background that measured how we spent each minute we would find it quite illuminating – shocking even.

And what abut the time we spend thinking about problems – in the shower or driving to and from work. Half-time, if you like: half-thinking, half-driving, half-working and half-listening to the radio. Your maths teacher wouldn't like the arithmetic, but it’s pretty much how the brain works.

I routinely spend days recording my time in fine detail. It is always instructive. But it always takes some effort to do, and as I get more tired I find it more difficult to measure my time on tasks accurately.

As software developers we have to log the time we spend on project work. There are many other professional services companies who do the same – consultants, accountants, and solicitors all have to know how long they spend on each client’s work. Certainly our time records provide valuable insights into how long things actually take, rather than how long we would like them to take.

So measuring time can be a valuable addition in the armoury to improve performance. Either occasionally to gain insights into how you work, or systematically so you can see where everyone’s time goes.

Measuring time certainly poses some big challenges, but equally could reveal some big performance lessons. And it can be a great help in figuring out why something or someone isn't performing as they should.

15 comments:

  1. Nyallpurposepaving.com offers Paving Contractor, Parking Lot Repairs, sealing, striping, Oil and Stone Driveways at Riverhead NY, Quogue NY, Hamptons NY, Southampton NY, Sag Harbor NY, Green point NY, Wading River NY, East Moriches NY, Center Moriches NY, Mannorville NY, Miller Place NY , Mt. Sinai NY,Greenport NY

    ReplyDelete
  2. Diskdatadestruction.net offers hard drive destruction, Paper shredding at Hauppauge NY, Suffolk County NY, Long Island NY, Ronkonkoma NY, Melville NY, Huntington NY, Garden City NY, Farmingdale NY, Westbury NY, Bohemia NY, Stony Brook NY,
    and Nassau County NY

    ReplyDelete
  3. geffnerkersch.com Divorce Attorney Nassau County NY, Prenuptial Agreements Nassau County NY. Call us now: (516) 268-9898

    ReplyDelete
  4. Atopcommercialpaving.com offers Commercial Paving, Asphalt Contractor, and Parking Lot Resurfacing at Queens NY, Nassau County, Bayside NY, Jamaica NY, Middle Village NY, Ozone Park NY, Howard Beach NY, Little Neck NY

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jettonsgrading.com offers Grading, Excavation and Paving Contractor, Land Clearing Services, Septic Systems, Retaining Walls and Driveways, Drainage Systems, Construction Site Clean-Up, Demolition Contractor at Walhalla SC, Seneca SC

    ReplyDelete
  6. Bedbugprocpc.com offers Bed Bug Exterminator, Bed Bug Inspections, Bed Bug Elimination, Bed Bug Inspection for Hotels and Residential and Commercial Bed Bug at Palo Alto CA, San Mateo CA, San Jose CA, Belmont CA, San francisco CA, Redwood City CA, Sunnyvale CA

    ReplyDelete
  7. reliablecommercialpaving.com offers Parking lot paving, walk way construction, Commercial paving, asphalt, Parking Lot Repairs, Parking Lot Striping, Commercial Blacktop, Parking Lot Repairs, Commercial Paving Contractor, Commercial Asphalt Contractor at New Jersey at Hanover NJ, East Orange NJ, Newark NJ, Morristown NJ, Summit NJ , Union NJ, Hackensack NJ, Patterson NJ

    ReplyDelete
  8. Complete-pest-control.com offers Pest Control, Exterminator, Rodent Control, Rodent Elimination, and Pest Elimination at Palo Alto CA, San Mateo CA, San Francisco CA, Redwood City CA, Sunnyvale CA, and Belmont CA

    ReplyDelete
  9. Davispestmanagement.com offers Pest Control, Exterminator, Bed Bug Removal, Inspections, Rodent, Pest Elimination, Commercial, Residential, Professional, Licensed Exterminator , Scorpion, Bee Hive, Hornet, Fire Ant Removal by Service Area, Las Vegas NV

    ReplyDelete
  10. Realestatebydavidschoelles.com offers David Schoelles Real Estate, Cash for Homes at Arizona, Scottsdale AZ, and Phoenix AZ

    ReplyDelete
  11. Best Car Wash on Long Island, Detailing Centre at Copiague NY, Lindenhurst NY, Amityville NY

    ReplyDelete
  12. David Schoeless Plumbing, David Schoeless at AZ, Scottsdale AZ, Phoenix AZ

    ReplyDelete
  13. Carpet, upholstery cleaning, carpet stain, odor removal, carpet steam, ceramic tile, commercial carpet cleaning at mobile al

    ReplyDelete
  14. Kitchen cabinets and Kitchen cabinet supplier, remodeling, countertops, New Kitchen Cabinets, Wood Kitchen Cabinets

    ReplyDelete
  15. norwalkfloorsanding.com offers Wood Floor refinishing, Installation, Oak Floor Refinishing, Staining, Flooring Contractor, Wood Floor Sanding, Residential Wood Flooring in Norwalk CT

    ReplyDelete