I’m Productive is a tool which helps you predict project delivery dates accurately and thereby ensure predictable revenue. From big to small, many tools are used in this process. One of the simpler- but not any less important- tools is the productivity bar.

A productivity bar is a straightforward entity- as the name implies, it shows how productive you are. However, as is the case with anything simple, for it to be efficient, it should be designed with thoughtful considerations.

We will shortly see what makes the productivity bar in I’m productive efficient. But before that, let’s look at what is included in it.

 The elements in the productivity bar

The following elements are included in the productivity bar:

Current task: The name of the current task is given, along with whether it needs to be finished or is completed.

The total time required to finish the task: This is mentioned in hours as the unit.

The time worked on the task so far: Given in hours as the unit.

Color coding: In a blue backdrop, the amount of work done so far is visually represented as a horizontal white line. The work yet to be done is an extension of that line though that part is given in grey. This makes it easy to glimpse your progress without even checking the other metrics.

 What makes the progress bar in I’m Productive efficient?

I’m Productive’s progress bar is not only simple but also efficient. It is, in fact, an ally that helps you finish tasks on time. There are two reasons for its effectiveness.

Thinking lean

Lean thinking is a principle that’s adopted in various operational scenarios. It is applied in industries as varied as manufacturing and entertainment.

It is a method of optimizing processes by which only those elements which are required for a specific outcome are included in a process.

That may sound like an obvious thing to do. But the fact is that many processes have steps which could either be clubbed with another step or avoided entirely. Lean thinking helps identify the ‘waste’ in the process so that you can remove them.

This principle is applied in the design of the productivity bar in I’m Thinking.

The idea of a productivity bar is to help team members know how they are performing on their current tasks. Many elements could be included in a bar in response to that idea. For instance, you can have sub-tasks would the notion that would give a team member a more comprehensive view of progress. Or you can include the percentage of efficiency with which someone has been working on a task so far.

But the problem with such scenarios is that the added elements mostly just distract the team member rather than help them streamline their work process.

Adding sub-tasks in the productivity bar is unnecessary, for instance. The use of a progress bar is to see how you are coming along in a task. Having the progress notation for each sub-task would only overwhelm the user.

The efficiency of the work done so far is not helpful either. Past performance is not a foolproof indication of future performance. For example, the part of the task that’s been done so far may have been inherently more challenging than what’s to come. In this case, it is only natural that the efficiency per cent would be marked as lesser as it would have taken a long time to perform.

Such problems make a case for lean thinking to be applied in the very design of the productivity bar. In I’m productive, this is exemplified by the fact that only the relevant elements- the current task, the total number of hours required to finish it and the number of hours worked so far are presented in the productivity bar.

Accuracy of analytics

In the above section, we talked about lean thinking. But such powerful practices wouldn’t be of value if it is not backed by accurate analytics. Analytics- if done the right way- would prevent the need to rethink when a task would be finished.

I’m Productive uses advanced measurement software to ensure that the analytics that you get is precise. For example, look at the time that has been spent on a task- one of the metrics in the productivity bar.

I’m Productive ensures the accuracy of this metric by measuring only the time someone has actually worked on something, not counting the times they went on a break.

Whenever they take a break, the time counter comes to an automatic halt. The counter would resume only when the team member resumes the task.

As you can see, measuring such metrics wrongly can have serious implications, like assuming the task would be finished earlier than it actually would be.