how do you measure productivity

How do you measure productivity? [PMP #241]

We all want to be more productive. We all want to get more done and achieve our goals as fast as possible. And there are loads of tools, techniques, habits and strategies we can use to try and improve our productivity. But how do you know if it’s actually working? When you set up a new project management tool, or start meditating in the morning, how do you know if these changes are helping? How do you measure productivity?

Don’t want to read this post? Listen to the podcast instead:

Effectiveness vs. Efficiency

Before you can begin measuring your productivity, it’s important to understand what productivity actually means.

Whenever I see people define productivity, it usually comes down to two things:

  • Effectiveness – Effectiveness is WHAT you do. You need to be working on the right things that are advancing you towards your desired outcome. e.g. If your goal is to lose weight, then eating chocolate bars isn’t very effective. But exercising is!
  • Efficiency – Efficiency is HOW you do the work. Ideally, you do the work as quickly as possible without sacrificing quality. e.g. When driving to a destination, you take the most direct route possible. Taking a slow or longer route isn’t very efficient.
When tracking our productivity, we can measure effectiveness or efficiency. If you can be more effective in what you choose to do, or more efficient in terms of how you do the work, then you have improved your productivity.Click To Tweet

Quantitative Metrics

I’m a numbers person, so whenever I want to measure my progress, I try and use data to evaluate how I’m going. And it’s the same with productivity.

When we talk about measuring productivity, most people instantly think about time tracking. i.e. tracking how many hours you spend on different tasks or types of work. Time tracking helps you to track the efficiency part of the productivity equation.

In order for time tracking to be truly useful, it’s important to establish a baseline to try and improve upon. For example, through time tracking, you identify that you spend the first two hours of your day answering emails. Once you’ve established this baseline, you can experiment with tools and habits to be more efficient and bring this number down.

I use tools like Timing (affiliate link) to track how long I spend on different types of work (e.g. client work, planning, content, sales) so that I always have a clear sense of where my time is being spent.

But as we’ve seen, productivity isn’t just about doing things quickly. You need to be working on the right things in the first place. Tracking effectiveness will be different for everyone depending on their goals and project outcomes:

  • If your goal is to grow revenue, then you can collect sales data to track the effectiveness of your marketing or sales efforts.
  • If your goal is to improve customer satisfaction, you could conduct regular surveys and track your Net Promoter Score (NPS). Or you could track the volume of support requests.
  • If you’re trying to reduce cost, you could track the volume of product returns and refunds.
  • Even the meditation app I use, Headspace, asks you to complete a survey to track how meditation may be affecting your happiness.

The most important thing when it comes to tracking quantitative metrics is that you collect enough initial data to establish a reliable baseline. From there, you can streamline your systems and automate your processes to be more productive. Then you’ll be able to take a new measurement and see whether you’ve moved the needle from that initial baseline. It’s very hard to do the tracking in reverse and collect all the data after you’ve already made the changes.

Qualitative Measurement

Sometimes, it just isn’t possible to track productivity using quantitative data. Or maybe you have the data but you can’t draw a reliable conclusion because there are too many changes taking place at any one time to determine what caused the improvement.

For example, when implementing a new project management tool like Asana, how do you know it’s working? You could track everyone’s time spent on different types of work but how do you if any change in productivity is due to the project management tool or due to something else?

Sometimes you need to use more qualitative measurements to track improvements in productivity.

  • What is the culture in the team like? Are people communicating more efficiently? Is the team feeling more or less stressed out than before?
  • Are customers happier? Or has there been a change in how customers talk to you?
  • Are you happy with your progress? Do you feel proud of and satisfied with the work you’ve done? Or do you feel you could have done better?

These are things that are much harder to measure with numbers. Instead, effectiveness and efficiency may only be measured by talking to your team, to customers or by evaluating yourself. Going with your ‘gut’ is a little less black and white but can still be a useful way to measure progress. I think the best solution is to use both quantitative and qualitative data to make an informed decision.

How do you track your productivity? Are there any tools or techniques you use to measure progress? Let me know in the comments below!

Don’t want to read this post? Listen to the podcast instead:

Effectiveness vs. Efficiency

Before you can begin measuring your productivity, it’s important to understand what productivity actually means.

Whenever I see people define productivity, it usually comes down to two things:

  • Effectiveness – Effectiveness is WHAT you do. You need to be working on the right things that are advancing you towards your desired outcome. e.g. If your goal is to lose weight, then eating chocolate bars isn’t very effective. But exercising is!
  • Efficiency – Efficiency is HOW you do the work. Ideally, you do the work as quickly as possible without sacrificing quality. e.g. When driving to a destination, you take the most direct route possible. Taking a slow or longer route isn’t very efficient.
When tracking our productivity, we can measure effectiveness or efficiency. If you can be more effective in what you choose to do, or more efficient in terms of how you do the work, then you have improved your productivity.Click To Tweet

Quantitative Metrics

I’m a numbers person, so whenever I want to measure my progress, I try and use data to evaluate how I’m going. And it’s the same with productivity.

When we talk about measuring productivity, most people instantly think about time tracking. i.e. tracking how many hours you spend on different tasks or types of work. Time tracking helps you to track the efficiency part of the productivity equation.

In order for time tracking to be truly useful, it’s important to establish a baseline to try and improve upon. For example, through time tracking, you identify that you spend the first two hours of your day answering emails. Once you’ve established this baseline, you can experiment with tools and habits to be more efficient and bring this number down.

I use tools like Timing (affiliate link) to track how long I spend on different types of work (e.g. client work, planning, content, sales) so that I always have a clear sense of where my time is being spent.

But as we’ve seen, productivity isn’t just about doing things quickly. You need to be working on the right things in the first place. Tracking effectiveness will be different for everyone depending on their goals and project outcomes:

  • If your goal is to grow revenue, then you can collect sales data to track the effectiveness of your marketing or sales efforts.
  • If your goal is to improve customer satisfaction, you could conduct regular surveys and track your Net Promoter Score (NPS). Or you could track the volume of support requests.
  • If you’re trying to reduce cost, you could track the volume of product returns and refunds.
  • Even the meditation app I use, Headspace, asks you to complete a survey to track how meditation may be affecting your happiness.

The most important thing when it comes to tracking quantitative metrics is that you collect enough initial data to establish a reliable baseline. From there, you can streamline your systems and automate your processes to be more productive. Then you’ll be able to take a new measurement and see whether you’ve moved the needle from that initial baseline. It’s very hard to do the tracking in reverse and collect all the data after you’ve already made the changes.

Qualitative Measurement

Sometimes, it just isn’t possible to track productivity using quantitative data. Or maybe you have the data but you can’t draw a reliable conclusion because there are too many changes taking place at any one time to determine what caused the improvement.

For example, when implementing a new project management tool like Asana, how do you know it’s working? You could track everyone’s time spent on different types of work but how do you if any change in productivity is due to the project management tool or due to something else?

Sometimes you need to use more qualitative measurements to track improvements in productivity.

  • What is the culture in the team like? Are people communicating more efficiently? Is the team feeling more or less stressed out than before?
  • Are customers happier? Or has there been a change in how customers talk to you?
  • Are you happy with your progress? Do you feel proud of and satisfied with the work you’ve done? Or do you feel you could have done better?

These are things that are much harder to measure with numbers. Instead, effectiveness and efficiency may only be measured by talking to your team, to customers or by evaluating yourself. Going with your ‘gut’ is a little less black and white but can still be a useful way to measure progress. I think the best solution is to use both quantitative and qualitative data to make an informed decision.

How do you track your productivity? Are there any tools or techniques you use to measure progress? Let me know in the comments below!