Comments on: Making every hour count (or how to stop counting) http://triggersandsparks.com/blog/making-every-hour-count-or-how-to-stop-counting/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=making-every-hour-count-or-how-to-stop-counting Beautiful graphic design for web & print Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:06:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: What I’ve learned from broken bones and painkillers | TRIGGERS & SPARKS http://triggersandsparks.com/blog/making-every-hour-count-or-how-to-stop-counting/comment-page-1/#comment-223 What I’ve learned from broken bones and painkillers | TRIGGERS & SPARKS Fri, 21 May 2010 12:22:01 +0000 http://www.triggersandsparks.com/?p=885#comment-223 [...] briefly mentioned this before, but I still do believe that charging flat-rate for the majority of my work (I switched over almost [...] […] briefly mentioned this before, but I still do believe that charging flat-rate for the majority of my work (I switched over almost […]

]]> By: Cedric http://triggersandsparks.com/blog/making-every-hour-count-or-how-to-stop-counting/comment-page-1/#comment-151 Cedric Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:49:36 +0000 http://www.triggersandsparks.com/?p=885#comment-151 I'd say the debate is a gamble whose outcome varies across industries, a word of advice if you already have a crazy chargeable budget, we do 60% of our yearly revenue in 4 months, I'm dead in the middle of it right now, you should not have time for too many Not for Profits. What did I sign up for? Oh well get 'er done. And inevitably it all depends what kind of shape the client gets it to you ;p I’d say the debate is a gamble whose outcome varies across industries, a word of advice if you already have a crazy chargeable budget, we do 60% of our yearly revenue in 4 months, I’m dead in the middle of it right now, you should not have time for too many Not for Profits. What did I sign up for? Oh well get ‘er done. And inevitably it all depends what kind of shape the client gets it to you ;p

]]> By: sarah semark http://triggersandsparks.com/blog/making-every-hour-count-or-how-to-stop-counting/comment-page-1/#comment-133 sarah semark Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:36:57 +0000 http://www.triggersandsparks.com/?p=885#comment-133 I'm not quite sure about "stress free", but certainly "stress reduced", which is always a boon! I'd agree re: hiring contractors, and I'd expect that if you're in the reverse position (of being hired for work, that is), people are more comfortable with paying for a service rather than an indeterminate number of hours. As a provider, this also gives you more flexibility with how you set your rates (ie, this will be fun, so I'll charge less, or this is going to be a nightmare so I'll charge more; essentially evaluating tasks based on value rather than on time-to-completion) and either way you win out--without having to refuse a job! I’m not quite sure about “stress free”, but certainly “stress reduced”, which is always a boon!

I’d agree re: hiring contractors, and I’d expect that if you’re in the reverse position (of being hired for work, that is), people are more comfortable with paying for a service rather than an indeterminate number of hours. As a provider, this also gives you more flexibility with how you set your rates (ie, this will be fun, so I’ll charge less, or this is going to be a nightmare so I’ll charge more; essentially evaluating tasks based on value rather than on time-to-completion) and either way you win out–without having to refuse a job!

]]> By: ryan cameron http://triggersandsparks.com/blog/making-every-hour-count-or-how-to-stop-counting/comment-page-1/#comment-132 ryan cameron Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:52:32 +0000 http://www.triggersandsparks.com/?p=885#comment-132 Completely agree, flat rate is best, and if you are paying contractors, pay for services, not for hours. You'll get your moneys worth and stuff will tend to be delivered more quickly as the contractor needs to complete the task before they can expect the $$. This means efficient people who get their work done quickly have stress free lives, and people who leave things to the last second ... well, they lose out. Completely agree, flat rate is best, and if you are paying contractors, pay for services, not for hours. You’ll get your moneys worth and stuff will tend to be delivered more quickly as the contractor needs to complete the task before they can expect the $$.
This means efficient people who get their work done quickly have stress free lives, and people who leave things to the last second … well, they lose out.

]]> By: sarah semark http://triggersandsparks.com/blog/making-every-hour-count-or-how-to-stop-counting/comment-page-1/#comment-131 sarah semark Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:40:09 +0000 http://www.triggersandsparks.com/?p=885#comment-131 I read somewhere that after you work over a certain hourly threshold, the actual quantity of work you're capable of producing diminishes. So if you work eight hours, you get eight hours of work done, but if you work twelve, you're only actually doing ten hours. It's VERY easy to get caught up in hour-counting and being a workhorse, especially when running a business, and it's something I've been fighting for years. (As a side note, I have had under four hours sleep every night this week, but I now sleep almost every single night, so that's new!) In work that's so deadline-driven, sometimes overworking and undersleeping is unavoidable, but I'm really glad that people are starting to recognize (and educate the crazy workaholics in the house!) that this isn't necessarily a sign that you're a better worker. I read somewhere that after you work over a certain hourly threshold, the actual quantity of work you’re capable of producing diminishes. So if you work eight hours, you get eight hours of work done, but if you work twelve, you’re only actually doing ten hours.

It’s VERY easy to get caught up in hour-counting and being a workhorse, especially when running a business, and it’s something I’ve been fighting for years. (As a side note, I have had under four hours sleep every night this week, but I now sleep almost every single night, so that’s new!)

In work that’s so deadline-driven, sometimes overworking and undersleeping is unavoidable, but I’m really glad that people are starting to recognize (and educate the crazy workaholics in the house!) that this isn’t necessarily a sign that you’re a better worker.

]]> By: Matthew Riley MacPherson http://triggersandsparks.com/blog/making-every-hour-count-or-how-to-stop-counting/comment-page-1/#comment-130 Matthew Riley MacPherson Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:04:49 +0000 http://www.triggersandsparks.com/?p=885#comment-130 37signals' "Getting Real" and "Rework" books explore this notion, and talk about placing limits on time spent working yielding incredibly better products. And it makes sense; a lot of people running small businesses/startups love to brag about sleeping two hours a night, but to me it just sounds like "Check out how incompetent I will be tomorrow due to my lack of rest." And as is rarely pointed out, that isn't a "lose a bit of sleep, lose a bit of productivity" trade-off; the trade -off is that your productivity suffers greatly when you sleep less or are always focused on (direct, billable) work. Glad to hear you write about this. 37signals’ “Getting Real” and “Rework” books explore this notion, and talk about placing limits on time spent working yielding incredibly better products. And it makes sense; a lot of people running small businesses/startups love to brag about sleeping two hours a night, but to me it just sounds like “Check out how incompetent I will be tomorrow due to my lack of rest.”

And as is rarely pointed out, that isn’t a “lose a bit of sleep, lose a bit of productivity” trade-off; the trade –off is that your productivity suffers greatly when you sleep less or are always focused on (direct, billable) work.

Glad to hear you write about this.

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