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15 Jul 07 - 02:10 PM (#2103476) Subject: BS: Do You Keep a Personal Work Log? From: robomatic I am involved in what could loosely be called "Project Work". What is usually best overall is when I come in on a project at the inception, so I have a background understanding of what the client wants, and I get to listen to the senior engineers go about determining how we will satisfy those needs. Unfortunately, what often happens is I come in at a later stage of the project, so I am on the receiving end of the result of project stumbling blocks, disagreements, determinations made due to weather, illness, product unavailability, etc. I used to use monthly booklets to log things like important meeting notes, decisions, mileposts achieved, telephone numbers, accidents, critical expenses, but now I'm putting them into a Word document. It's too easy to misplace a booklet, and besides, as the document gets longer, it becomes easier to do a computer search for items I'm curious about later. Among the assemblage of workers in our Forum are there others who have developed a well-organized methodology for keeping track of things happening, found a neat piece of software, or otherwise have something to contribute? Thanks, Robo |
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15 Jul 07 - 02:13 PM (#2103481) Subject: RE: BS: Do You Keep a Personal Work Log? From: Peace "a well-organized methodology for keeping track of things" That lets me out. Sorry. |
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15 Jul 07 - 02:16 PM (#2103483) Subject: RE: BS: Do You Keep a Personal Work Log? From: wysiwyg I used to HAVE to deal with this, first as told to do it and later (up the ladder) as I chose to do it and still later (WAY up the ladder) as I asked others to do it to submit to me as part of their reporting. This was all before software did it for anybody.... [jealous whine] I hated it, so I jumped off the ladder. I'm flyyyyyyiiiiinnnnngggggggggggggggg................ ~S~ |
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15 Jul 07 - 02:19 PM (#2103486) Subject: RE: BS: Do You Keep a Personal Work Log? From: Alice Since 1984, I have kept work notes written and dated in bound hard cover artist sketch books. I am an artist, so I used them already for sketches. Then when I became an art director, I had notes from trade shows, presentations to clients, telephone conversations, etc., that I had to keep track of. The blank books let me also tape other things into a page, business cards, notes handed to me, clippings. It is faster than having to rewrite everything into a computer, and I can carry it with me, writing down phone notes and meetings as I have the conversations. I can go back and read the dated entries of meetings, etc. Because the books are bound and durable, they don't get lost or run out of space too quickly. Alice |
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15 Jul 07 - 02:21 PM (#2103489) Subject: RE: BS: Do You Keep a Personal Work Log? From: Severn I have one from the first tree I ever cut down, that I keep purely for sedementary value.... |
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15 Jul 07 - 02:53 PM (#2103506) Subject: RE: BS: Do You Keep a Personal Work Log? From: katlaughing LOL, Severn! One thing, which is really simple and which I found out about on Mudcat, is a wonderful program called Yeah Write! It says it is a simple word processor, but the format makes it much more, imo. Visually and in reality, it is like having several filing cabinets to fill with notes, memos, addresses, letters, etc. I've used it to keep a daily diary and easily store documents and phone numbers. You can create as many "drawers" as you may need, each with your own unique name for it, plus when you open that drawer, you see the "tabs" just as you would in a filing cabinet, with file names or first lines if you didn't designate a name. It is dead easy to use and never causes any problems. You can try the full version free for 15 days,but I would say pay the $19 and go for it. I've had it about 8-9 years now and just love it, can you tell? **bg** Their support is wonderful, too. |
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15 Jul 07 - 03:27 PM (#2103523) Subject: RE: BS: Do You Keep a Personal Work Log? From: Bill D for keeping data and notes, organized to suit YOU...take a look at NoteTab PRO & Lite versions,,, or TreePad also both free & pay versions "TreePad is a free, powerful, easy-to-use personal information manager that lets you organize your text information however you wish." Both programs are outstanding. |
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15 Jul 07 - 03:49 PM (#2103534) Subject: RE: BS: Do You Keep a Personal Work Log? From: gnu First, at least two voice activated digital recorders. One on the desk, one on your person. Then, a digital camera hooked to a VCR with an 8 hour tape in it, aimed at the chairs and door on the other side of your desk. I assume you have a speaker phone. For the written record, voice recognition software compatible with your word processor.... I use Dragon Naturally Speaking and MS Office products. The down side.... you have to tell people they are being recorded and ask them to agree, IN NAME, before proceeding. It is very disconcerting for most people. Beware of those people. Other than that, I use the old methods too.... "This is to confirm my understaning of our 2007.07.15.16:42h telecon (whatever). Please confirm the following summary or..... However you do it, remember the Golden Rule... If it ain't in writing, signed, sealed, dated, and notarized, it never happened. Some fun, huh Bambi? |
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15 Jul 07 - 03:58 PM (#2103539) Subject: RE: BS: Do You Keep a Personal Work Log? From: gnu Of course, losing thousands of dollars, or face, is much less fun. And, it can happen in an instant, with one improper, or improperly placed, word, verbally or written. |
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15 Jul 07 - 04:41 PM (#2103570) Subject: RE: BS: Do You Keep a Personal Work Log? From: JohnInKansas Beginning in Jr High School, I kept class notes in Steno books, and still have the ones from "key" courses - i.e. the ones that were really interesting and/or were taught by the exceptionally "hot" teachers. (Only a couple in the latter category.) In college, I used the same format for lecture notes, and continued some regular use later, although the large amounts of correspondence later led to using "Acco" binders for keeping important stuff * 3-hole punched "letter size" pages. I learned quite early that 3-ring binders quickly degenerated into lots of "loose pages" as the hole tore out; but with the Acco clips you only move the last pages being added while the binder is "unclipped." I have a few files from my first personal home computer dating back to 1981, but never had a computer "of my own" at work until 1992. Most of the "work" I generated on the computer, and key email etc, has been archived in collections of files since I had access to computers, but I continued the "Acco binding" method for things I handled as hard copy. A lot of the stuff I worked on was "classified" and/or "proprietary," so of course there are some major gaps in my personal archives, since large bunches of stuff simply couldn't be (legally and/or ethically) "exported" from the office(s). As I no longer, technically, "work," I've continued to keep some personal "logs and archives" but have been working toward keeping NO PAPER, scanning anything needed and shredding the originals. I've also managed, I think, to convert all of the photos I've taken since I got my first "decent" camera ca. 1970 to digital, and the prints have been shredded. (I still have the negatives, but haven't verified that any of them are still "printable.") Some of the Acco bound archives have been scanned, and the originals dumped, simply because they originally took about 8 linear feet of bookshelf space and were beginning to deteriorate; but it's an extremely time-consuming process so progress is slow. (I've reduced the backlog by about 7 inches thus far.) I find Word perfectly adequate for text, Excel for accounting, and use low-compression (low-loss) .jpg for scans. A particularly convenient feature in Word is "Insert Hyperlink" since it allows me to create an "Index" document and insert links to other documents/images where the "real stuff" is actually kept. One click, and the other thing is opened. Bookmarks within the index can also be linked to go to general categories within the index. Of course, if you move the file that's linked, the link can be broken, but I havent' found that to be a problem, as I don't usually create the index document until all the stuff has been gathered to an "Archive" folder. John |
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15 Jul 07 - 04:56 PM (#2103573) Subject: RE: BS: Do You Keep a Personal Work Log? From: Peace Good lord! Are you OK, John? |
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15 Jul 07 - 05:01 PM (#2103579) Subject: RE: BS: Do You Keep a Personal Work Log? From: JohnInKansas Let me check my notes. I'll get back to you on that. John |
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15 Jul 07 - 05:29 PM (#2103597) Subject: RE: BS: Do You Keep a Personal Work Log? From: robomatic you guys rock. I'm assuming gnu that the "on all the time" workplace is part of the English propensity to put a vidcam on every corner. Are you folks bringing that habit home, yet? JohnInKansas. Just reading your entry made my writin' hand tired but it sounds logical and useful. Bill D thanks for the software pointers. Robo, enjoying a sunny afternoon in his favorite coffee wifi joint. |
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15 Jul 07 - 05:55 PM (#2103621) Subject: RE: BS: Do You Keep a Personal Work Log? From: gnu English? Why, thank you for the compliment. But, I am a Canuck. It's just that, after about a half million dollars of projects under my belt, I learned to use whatever means necessary to protect myself. If I fuck up, it's also there. But, I don't fuck up. A vidcam on every corner? Bring it on. I got nothing to be ashamed of or to hide. But, them little fuckers down the street that wake me up at 4AM with their drugs and pit bulls... well, there ain't no government cameras here yet. Just mine. |
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15 Jul 07 - 06:14 PM (#2103640) Subject: RE: BS: Do You Keep a Personal Work Log? From: Rapparee I did, but I find it easier to tell people what's going on than to try to keep a journal for them in case I die, pass, croak, kick the bucket, bite the big one, buy the farm, or in other words, return to the bosom of the Almighty. |
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15 Jul 07 - 08:00 PM (#2103705) Subject: RE: BS: Do You Keep a Personal Work Log? From: JohnInKansas Don't overlook that my description covers about 50 years worth of "notes." And in my line of work it was not that uncommon for someone to ask about stuff that you did ten or fifteen years - or longer - ago. As to telling someone "before you croak" - if it ain't in writing, there'll be an argument about what you said. (Voice of experience.) Of course, if it is written down but they (the right ones) can't find it at the proper time, it's pretty much like not even telling anyone. But my notes are still for personal use. There ain't enough for the kids to have a decent fight about. John |
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15 Jul 07 - 08:21 PM (#2103720) Subject: RE: BS: Do You Keep a Personal Work Log? From: Rapparee Oh, I'm talking about work. And you'd be surprised how those Supervisors keep notes -- and actually some of it is recorded (not my idea). Besides, after I'm gone whoever takes over should and will run it another way. |
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16 Jul 07 - 05:57 AM (#2104016) Subject: RE: BS: Do You Keep a Personal Work Log? From: Liz the Squeak We have a computer programme (called LOMR, no idea why...) into which we enter the hours we worked and what we did during those hours. There used to be many different subjects into which you'd enter the hours and minutes you spent doing that task. In conjunction with this there was the manual version, PfW... or Planning for Work. This was based on actual output rather than time spent and was supposed to enable managers to forecast what work we could complete in the following weeks. What it amounted to was actually a 'time and motion' study which highlighted those workers who completed more tasks or concentrated on one particular duty and was used to shuffle the allocation of work. The Union got it removed because it was found to be unfair and unconstructive. Our LOMR presently has half the amount of entries - much easier. But now we're 5,000 pieces of post behind our target because no-one is monitoring who is doing what sort of work. LTS |
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16 Jul 07 - 09:24 AM (#2104124) Subject: RE: BS: Do You Keep a Personal Work Log? From: GUEST,Russ I use an excel workbook for information that I want to precisely timestamp. ctrl + ; places current date in one column ctrl + shift + ; places current time in next column text goes in third column When using excel remember: Excel cell will hold up to 64K characters but only display first 1024 I use notepad for storing lots of unformatted text that does not need to be precisely timestamped. Word and the like are overkill. Russ (Permanent GUEST) |
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16 Jul 07 - 09:34 AM (#2104134) Subject: RE: BS: Do You Keep a Personal Work Log? From: Rapparee I also found I was spending too much time writing it up. Productivity was suffering, so I decided to be productive instead of historical (which I'll be soon enough, I guess). |
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16 Jul 07 - 10:55 AM (#2104205) Subject: RE: BS: Do You Keep a Personal Work Log? From: Bee-dubya-ell "The less ya write down, the less chance somebody'll be able to pin it on ya." Anonymous Mafia Wiseguy |
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16 Jul 07 - 11:07 AM (#2104213) Subject: RE: BS: Do You Keep a Personal Work Log? From: Midchuck Gnu said: I learned to use whatever means necessary to protect myself. If I fuck up, it's also there. But, I don't fuck up. Ohmigawd! We have a member who isn't human! (Being human involves fucking up, at least sometimes.) Peter. |
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16 Jul 07 - 02:31 PM (#2104414) Subject: RE: BS: Do You Keep a Personal Work Log? From: GUEST,jOhn Everything I do at work is permanently recorded, details of all the work I give out is stored on my computer for 1 month, but stored permanentley on the companys main computer. We are covered by Data Protection Act, so can only give info to police, they ask quite often, (murder cases, robberies etc). |
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16 Jul 07 - 02:33 PM (#2104419) Subject: RE: BS: Do You Keep a Personal Work Log? From: gnu Um, not quite Midchuck. The context is in the workplace, which was specifically Engineering Design in the first post. Within same, I do NOT fuck up. I am a Professional Engineer, bound by the law and by the ethics of my profession. As far as not being human, I am sad to report that I am just as human as all of us when it comes to being human. As far as being an Engineer, some do fuck up. But, it a a very rare occurance, and we pay much more dearly for our fuck ups than you regular humans. ;-) |
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16 Jul 07 - 03:22 PM (#2104465) Subject: RE: BS: Do You Keep a Personal Work Log? From: gnu ;-) |