Measuring Improved Productivity

In the final step of the 7 ways to Improve Productivity, you must establish ways to measure your productivity. This will make it easy to see areas where improvement is needed.

There may be many ways you can measure your productivity, but I will limit this blog to two ways I have separated into qualitative and quantitative measurements. Both have their advantages, and depending on your industry, you should select whichever way suits your business and personal preference. However, I recommend implementing both measurements to get a more complete picture of your improvements.

Qualitative Measurement

You've spent weeks on improving your productivity by now, ideally yielding more time spent in your day on constructive tasks. Measuring how well these steps have worked qualitatively requires more subjective judgment than the latter. While the quality of your improvements is based on your views of what "increase" means in your line of work and the projects you've separated into smaller tasks, you should be able to immediately see improvement,  considering the following questions:

• Are you a better time manager throughout your workday? More respectful of your working time?
• Can you place projects into their respective time slots and transition from one task to another more easily? 
• Are projects being completed sooner, since you began breaking them into smaller tasks?
• Can you take on more work as opposed to before within the same time?

This is not to see how fast you work, but rather your ability to stay on task, block out distractions, stay committed to your new schedule and ultimately deliver quicker. Is this not the goal? 

Quantitative Measurement

Now consider actual numbers you can count, you can see in your schedule. Your 4 hour workday should see substantial gains in time spent working as well. From 4 hours to 6 hours, then finally on to 8 hours and beyond. You will become accustomed to the time working if you are satisfied with your production level. Times may be split between breaks but cumulative time spent working should be increased, numerically! Some questions to ask:

• How many tasks can I complete in one time slot / one day / one week?
• How long does it take me to complete project X,Y, or Z (is this faster than before)?
• Is my weekly completion of tasks more than before?
• Do I have time to spend on other tasks?
• How much time do I actually work everyday?
• How much "free" time do I have per day / per week?

Notice the way you view these questions; remember the goals you set and compare. Take this step seriously because only with measuring your productivity can you see if the process has been effective or not. Also, this final step will help you see how far you have come and further improvements you may have to make. Without measurement, you've wasted your time implementing the other steps and cannot actually tell whether or not you've actually wasted more time or increased the efficiency in which you spend it. 

Improving productivity will take time and increase will come in stages. As you become comfortable with completing tasks in a particular order or on certain days, you will begin to see why the old way was such an impediment to your productivity and use this knowledge to develop new ways to take on more projects. Success is in the details and execution of tasks. I sincerely hope this series has been beneficial and proved more than a good read but actual improvement in your workplace, whether you're a sole proprietor or a small workforce. Increase in your productivity will expose how actual time can turn into actual money!

Chrissy