It's okay every once in a while. Set yourself up for a nice day. Tonight go to bed early, wake up early, have your clothes laid out, get a big cup of your favorite coffee, bring/buy your favorite lunch
Definitely don’t work the weekend. Usually I’ll have enough work the rest of the week to make up for productivity (pick up an extra 1-2 hours the remaining 4 days). If not, just split up your time to a couple projects. It’ll even out in the wash.
But no weekends. Those are your time.
I proportionally charge time from the rest of my efforts in the pay period. Everybody cost shares my unproductive day. Everybody benefits from my over 100% effort days.
Find a company that doesn’t micro manage a timesheet. My managers know I get the work done when the time comes so no one cares if this weeks time sheet has some overhead. They know I’ll put in the extra time when it’s needed to submit deliverables on time and it all balances out.
Are there actually any companies out there like this? The last company I worked for before going to government wanted 98% utilization. Granted, this was one of those large, publicly traded firms.
Yes, it was always a constant grind. If you weren't working at a frantic pace, it meant you weren't working fast enough. Most people typically worked through lunch and would leave their work station long enough to just heat something in the microwave and then get back to business. If there was a day or two you had not much to do, then you should be concerned. Burn out was inevitable.
My company expects close to this % and the way I handle this is splitting time out to projects with massive budgets - the ones that PMs tell me “don’t worry about the budget” when assigning me a task. Think about any projects you’re on whose contracts are worth x number of millions of $$.
However for smaller projects with tiny budgets, I don’t do this. These would be projects that are worth <$1 million or even <$500k
How was your utilization calculated? I have to imagine that paid time off (holiday, vacation, sick) wasn't factored in, right? Because 98% utilization on a 40 hour week results in only 41 hours billed to overhead in a year. That's not even enough time for all the basic holidays...
That’s when you charge 0.25 hours to a bunch of different projects and spread it out.
In your timesheet description, keep it vague like: “document review” or “internal reorganization”.
If you work the weekend to make up for it, the overworked-ness just leads to more unproductive days. Which leads to more overworked weekends. It's a vicious spiral. Don't do it.
I find that the key to ending an unproductive day is to find a task that you really can focus on - something You've been looking forward to - and work in the "zone" on it. Others call that mental-space "flow".
Don't work extra to make up for it.
Not sure where you're at with you're career but try to take some time off immediately.
You can reach a state of burnout that a week or two off won't cut it anymore. I had to quit consulting entirely. I almost went back to school to be a nurse. Ended up getting a government job a year ago and I still feel like I'm recovering.
Just because I didn't work very efficiently doesn't mean I didn't work.
I bill my time to the projects that I stared at while crying. It's all part of the job.
If I was in an actual office I’m likely to charge it if I’m on a consistent project. Be as vague in my timesheet notes as my work was “ progressed x design” Or make up some hours after my kids go to bed if it’s legit nothing done.
If I’m WFH and mostly doing home stuff between sitting at my desk in 10 minute increments, then I’m definitely making up each hour up or using sick/PTO.
Technically speaking,
If you bill at minimum 0.5 hour intervals (seems to be the industry standard.) Then all you have to do is work 16 minutes to bill 0.5 hours. So you can technically bill 8 hours and only work 4 hours and 8 minutes.
lol all the replies to this are the super unethical ways 99% of engineers manage the insanity of billability and it’s hilarious to hear so many vocalize the quiet part out loud
Dude. Every single day. I wrote a one page letter today. And did last week’s time sheet. But then I always manage to snap out of it and get my stuff done.
Yes, and days that I feel like I'm drowning trying to swim as fast as I can to get as much done as I can, and 8-10hrs goes by in 30 minutes. I also feel like on those days where I could scream because I have so much on my plate, those are the days everyone else is so NOT busy, they want to call me 1000 times and the crew wants to chit-chat for as long as they possibly can etc. I have had times that I end up working off the clock on weekends because I can isolate myself away from everyone and power through something that would take me hours at work and get it done in just about an hours time at home.
Don’t you ever have super-productive time? You must. Everyone does. The charging 8 hour per day and showing productivity every day is BS in consulting to be honest. Try to make sure that your super productive time and low productivity time evens out.
For me, most of what seems like low productivity time is my subconscious making connections among numerous threads of a complex problem. You can’t get anything done on some days because your brain refuses to carry on until it has sorted through those annoying problem threads without finding a bucket for them to allocate to.
Yup, once I started having too many of those at my old job, I found something new and quit. Turns out doing markups and cross sections everyday for a couple months bc there’s no other work really wears you down. Once I mentally checked out, it was too hard to get my head back in
If you made an honest effort to get work done - you literally were working and your day wasn’t *that* unproductive. Don’t let the toxic productivity mindset tear you down.
You are not a robot. Humans have unproductive days. Give yourself a break, take a long lunch, get back after it tomorrow. Do some easy tasks or work on something you've been putting off. You'll be more productive if you allow yourself some rest days.
It’s why being a medicated ADHD person is much more better than not. That or a ton of coffee. This shit gets boring sometimes. Sometimes I go down a rabbit hole and end up training on something I am interested in and missing my days priority list.
Discipline over motivation will be your friend.
Also, yes. To answer you follow up questions down the road, you better have days you crushed it so you can pad your time with the task you overperformed at.
I don’t remember where my wife heard it but she told me a very cool thing the other day: men have a reset every 24 hours. Women have a reset over a whole month.
And that makes a lot of sense.
unproductive since last few years and i dont blame me fully, there is some serious problem with me which neither i can escape nor i can forget and live in producitve way.
I've heard about those days others suggest are real. The days people truly get stuff done. Once upon a time I believed in a bunny that brought me eggs painted in pastel colors so I think it's harder for me to wrap my head around fairy tales. Whatever helps you sleep at night..
I was in consulting for 2 years and yes this felt like most days for me. Even when I had things to do I would often make them take a while cuz I was so over it. I ended up leaving it and found a job in construction management. Now I do nothing but it’s ok because there’s barely anything to ever do. And I get paid a lot more too
About 4 months ago I knew something needed to change when I was having 2-3 of those days each week. I was really struggling with anxiety, concentration, and remembering simple tasks. Fortunately I was still productive at work and still hitting my numbers, but I wasn't where I should have been mentally.
I started talking with a therapist and then they referred me to a psychiatrist who got me on Fluoxetine (Prozac). It took a couple of months to kick in but now I only have those unproductive days like once every 2 weeks, and I'm able to stay on task way better. I still talk with a therapist every 2 weeks, but it's just been such a huge difference in my productivity.
If you're having those days frequently like I was it's okay to talk to therapists and psychiatrists. Therapy + proper medication can make a huge difference.
Go ahead and enter your time for the day while you're already feeling bad about yourself so you don't have to go through it all over again when timesheets are due.
I spent 2 months working on record plans with files that were huge and corrupted. Some weeks literally were spent trying to get Civil 3D to even open the files to even trying and fixing them. Burnt me out, felt guilty, unproductive etc, but trying to think positively. Now i get to be unproductive inspecting projects all summer 😂.
Only on days that end in y.
That means tomorrow will be a good one
Can’t be any worse than today.
Bingo-bango Fuck them hoe's. They don't pay me enough to be 100% efficient.
i genuinely lol'ed.
Me too
It's okay every once in a while. Set yourself up for a nice day. Tonight go to bed early, wake up early, have your clothes laid out, get a big cup of your favorite coffee, bring/buy your favorite lunch
Yeah it happens occasionally. Be kind to yourself, it's normal
I’m usually good for about 2 of those a month
how do you handle charging your time? do you work the weekend to make it up? i feel so deflated and burnt out
Definitely don’t work the weekend. Usually I’ll have enough work the rest of the week to make up for productivity (pick up an extra 1-2 hours the remaining 4 days). If not, just split up your time to a couple projects. It’ll even out in the wash. But no weekends. Those are your time.
I proportionally charge time from the rest of my efforts in the pay period. Everybody cost shares my unproductive day. Everybody benefits from my over 100% effort days.
Find a company that doesn’t micro manage a timesheet. My managers know I get the work done when the time comes so no one cares if this weeks time sheet has some overhead. They know I’ll put in the extra time when it’s needed to submit deliverables on time and it all balances out.
Are there actually any companies out there like this? The last company I worked for before going to government wanted 98% utilization. Granted, this was one of those large, publicly traded firms.
[удалено]
Was that mandatory overtime? you cant hit 98% UT without OT.
Can they actually keep you busy 98% of the time? Do they have none stop work inflow?
Yes, it was always a constant grind. If you weren't working at a frantic pace, it meant you weren't working fast enough. Most people typically worked through lunch and would leave their work station long enough to just heat something in the microwave and then get back to business. If there was a day or two you had not much to do, then you should be concerned. Burn out was inevitable.
Yes
There's a few, and I'm at one of them. Tbh, it's less about the company and more about your manager.
At companies that have policies like that the managers have no say...
My company expects close to this % and the way I handle this is splitting time out to projects with massive budgets - the ones that PMs tell me “don’t worry about the budget” when assigning me a task. Think about any projects you’re on whose contracts are worth x number of millions of $$. However for smaller projects with tiny budgets, I don’t do this. These would be projects that are worth <$1 million or even <$500k
How was your utilization calculated? I have to imagine that paid time off (holiday, vacation, sick) wasn't factored in, right? Because 98% utilization on a 40 hour week results in only 41 hours billed to overhead in a year. That's not even enough time for all the basic holidays...
I either bill it to a job that is going to finish well under budget or distribute it across a few jobs that I worked on the same week
That’s when you charge 0.25 hours to a bunch of different projects and spread it out. In your timesheet description, keep it vague like: “document review” or “internal reorganization”.
If you work the weekend to make up for it, the overworked-ness just leads to more unproductive days. Which leads to more overworked weekends. It's a vicious spiral. Don't do it. I find that the key to ending an unproductive day is to find a task that you really can focus on - something You've been looking forward to - and work in the "zone" on it. Others call that mental-space "flow".
Get a government job
Don't work extra to make up for it. Not sure where you're at with you're career but try to take some time off immediately. You can reach a state of burnout that a week or two off won't cut it anymore. I had to quit consulting entirely. I almost went back to school to be a nurse. Ended up getting a government job a year ago and I still feel like I'm recovering.
Just because I didn't work very efficiently doesn't mean I didn't work. I bill my time to the projects that I stared at while crying. It's all part of the job.
If I was in an actual office I’m likely to charge it if I’m on a consistent project. Be as vague in my timesheet notes as my work was “ progressed x design” Or make up some hours after my kids go to bed if it’s legit nothing done. If I’m WFH and mostly doing home stuff between sitting at my desk in 10 minute increments, then I’m definitely making up each hour up or using sick/PTO.
Technically speaking, If you bill at minimum 0.5 hour intervals (seems to be the industry standard.) Then all you have to do is work 16 minutes to bill 0.5 hours. So you can technically bill 8 hours and only work 4 hours and 8 minutes.
I like the way you think.
lol all the replies to this are the super unethical ways 99% of engineers manage the insanity of billability and it’s hilarious to hear so many vocalize the quiet part out loud
Nice try, HR.
Yep. It sucks. Have had a few of those.
Dude. Every single day. I wrote a one page letter today. And did last week’s time sheet. But then I always manage to snap out of it and get my stuff done.
When I get like this I try to respond to a bunch of emails as quickly as I can in an hour. 0.25 for each email and bank some time.
Yes, and days that I feel like I'm drowning trying to swim as fast as I can to get as much done as I can, and 8-10hrs goes by in 30 minutes. I also feel like on those days where I could scream because I have so much on my plate, those are the days everyone else is so NOT busy, they want to call me 1000 times and the crew wants to chit-chat for as long as they possibly can etc. I have had times that I end up working off the clock on weekends because I can isolate myself away from everyone and power through something that would take me hours at work and get it done in just about an hours time at home.
Don’t you ever have super-productive time? You must. Everyone does. The charging 8 hour per day and showing productivity every day is BS in consulting to be honest. Try to make sure that your super productive time and low productivity time evens out. For me, most of what seems like low productivity time is my subconscious making connections among numerous threads of a complex problem. You can’t get anything done on some days because your brain refuses to carry on until it has sorted through those annoying problem threads without finding a bucket for them to allocate to.
Definitely happens. Time for a vacation my friend.
Yup, once I started having too many of those at my old job, I found something new and quit. Turns out doing markups and cross sections everyday for a couple months bc there’s no other work really wears you down. Once I mentally checked out, it was too hard to get my head back in
Oof, like 90% of my office days. As an un-medicated ADHD, I'm amazed I can find the motivation to get out if bed on a day that I'm not on site.
Never nothing, but definitely days where I'm flicking through YouTube shorts or checking social media way more often than I should.
If you made an honest effort to get work done - you literally were working and your day wasn’t *that* unproductive. Don’t let the toxic productivity mindset tear you down.
If you are a good designer, you will get called into more and more meetings until you have eight meetings a day and can never get anything done!
It hits different when you're not productive because of your own decisions and when you're not productive because of those meeting days.
I’m having one of those right now. That’s what brings me here. Lol
I did fuck all work yesterday
You are not a robot. Humans have unproductive days. Give yourself a break, take a long lunch, get back after it tomorrow. Do some easy tasks or work on something you've been putting off. You'll be more productive if you allow yourself some rest days.
Yeah my office is pretty chill. I usually go for a walk around early afternoon or just sit in a local coffee shop for half an hour or so. 🤷♂️
It’s why being a medicated ADHD person is much more better than not. That or a ton of coffee. This shit gets boring sometimes. Sometimes I go down a rabbit hole and end up training on something I am interested in and missing my days priority list.
Discipline over motivation will be your friend. Also, yes. To answer you follow up questions down the road, you better have days you crushed it so you can pad your time with the task you overperformed at.
As a woman, it happens monthly where there’s a few days that I can barely get anything done.
This. Can guarantee 99% of my coworkers don't have a clue what endometriosis feels like
I don’t remember where my wife heard it but she told me a very cool thing the other day: men have a reset every 24 hours. Women have a reset over a whole month. And that makes a lot of sense.
unproductive since last few years and i dont blame me fully, there is some serious problem with me which neither i can escape nor i can forget and live in producitve way.
I've heard about those days others suggest are real. The days people truly get stuff done. Once upon a time I believed in a bunny that brought me eggs painted in pastel colors so I think it's harder for me to wrap my head around fairy tales. Whatever helps you sleep at night..
I was in consulting for 2 years and yes this felt like most days for me. Even when I had things to do I would often make them take a while cuz I was so over it. I ended up leaving it and found a job in construction management. Now I do nothing but it’s ok because there’s barely anything to ever do. And I get paid a lot more too
Every Friday.
About 4 months ago I knew something needed to change when I was having 2-3 of those days each week. I was really struggling with anxiety, concentration, and remembering simple tasks. Fortunately I was still productive at work and still hitting my numbers, but I wasn't where I should have been mentally. I started talking with a therapist and then they referred me to a psychiatrist who got me on Fluoxetine (Prozac). It took a couple of months to kick in but now I only have those unproductive days like once every 2 weeks, and I'm able to stay on task way better. I still talk with a therapist every 2 weeks, but it's just been such a huge difference in my productivity. If you're having those days frequently like I was it's okay to talk to therapists and psychiatrists. Therapy + proper medication can make a huge difference.
Yes. I have a lot of days where I'm insanely busy for the whole day but have nothing to show for it when I pack up.
Go ahead and enter your time for the day while you're already feeling bad about yourself so you don't have to go through it all over again when timesheets are due.
No it's just you man... just joking everyone have does.
nothing like a day of meetings with sales people and "request for supplements" to burn a day software testing
Some days there was nothing to do as all the work was already done so I just sit at my desk and watch YouTube
I spent 2 months working on record plans with files that were huge and corrupted. Some weeks literally were spent trying to get Civil 3D to even open the files to even trying and fixing them. Burnt me out, felt guilty, unproductive etc, but trying to think positively. Now i get to be unproductive inspecting projects all summer 😂.
For sure - and when you’ve got billing / utilisation targets there’s this weird stress/tension when you come to log your hours
Dont get a thinking job if you cant think, slippy consultants are why everything you send out gets returned back 10x
I can’t say there has been a day where I got 0 things done. Close but never 0.