Let's include meetings/email as job related.
Ask HN: How much of your time at work do you spend not working?
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Re: Ask HN: How much of your time at work do you spend not working?
#2Do you count meetings as "work", or as "not work"? (I don't spend much times in meetings at my current job, thankfully, so it doesn't change the question for me.)
Honestly, my best guess is 50%, or close. I still get my work done as fast as everyone else, though. No complaints on performance reviews.
Re: Ask HN: How much of your time at work do you spend not working?
#3Do you count meetings as "work", or as "not work"? (I don't spend much times in meetings at my current job, thankfully, so it doesn't change the question for me.) Honestly, my best guess is 50%, or close. I still get my work done as fast as everyone else, though. No complaints on performance reviews.
Eh, let's assume that it's work in that you're not able to just freely browse HN or work on a side project. What would your % be then?
Re: Ask HN: How much of your time at work do you spend not working?
#4Hm. Given an average week, probably on average 35% of my day is not working. Average being a reasonably interesting bug and/or project to sink my teeth into. Somedays I'll work 10 hours. Others I'll work 4 to 6.
Unlike most people, if I finish my work in 5 hours, I go home. If I'm not going to be working, I'd rather not be working at home. I've never had any complaints about work quality or throughput. I have had one complaint about not being seen in the office.
[edit] clarified the 35% bucket
Re: Ask HN: How much of your time at work do you spend not working?
#5Hm. Given an average week, probably on average 35% of my day is not working. Average being a reasonably interesting bug and/or project to sink my teeth into. Somedays I'll work 10 hours. Others I'll work 4 to 6. Unlike most people, if I finish my work in 5 hours, I go home. If I'm not going to be working, I'd rather not be working at home. I've never had any complaints about work quality or throughput. I have had one…
How do you assess "finished my work"? Unless you are working on tickets that might stop coming in is really hard to be "out of work", specially in projects.
I ask this because I see a lot of people saying the same but there's always more work to do, being testing something that should be working, fixing bugs, refactoring that old piece of junk you left behind due to times constraints, etc.
Re: Ask HN: How much of your time at work do you spend not working?
#6It really depends on the day. Sometimes I've got basically nothing to do whereas other times I'm overloaded and there basically isn't a moment I'm not. It's hard to figure an average.
Re: Ask HN: How much of your time at work do you spend not working?
#7Pre-, during, or post-burnout?
Re: Ask HN: How much of your time at work do you spend not working?
#8Days at the office mean meetings and socializing. Its not really working but hey I get paid.
Working from home is getting things done.
Re: Ask HN: How much of your time at work do you spend not working?
#9Some days almost the entire day. I'll read, watch videos, do some tutorials. But its offset because usually when I do this it's because I'm hung up on something and it just isn't going to get solved unless the ole brain has time to do its subconscious thing.
Re: Ask HN: How much of your time at work do you spend not working?
#10Throwaway for maximum honesty: I am pretty sure I spend at least 75% of my time "at work" not working. HN, Reddit, messing around with side projects or learning a new language or framework. This has been the case for my entire working life.
I seem to get as much done as other people (sometimes better) so part of me wonders if I'm not as unusual as I feel. Part of me wonders if I should get evaluated for ADHD, since I find it such a struggle to focus on my work. And part of me is just frustrated with myself, that theoretically I could spend like 3 good hours at work each day, get more done, and have more quality time to myself.