I found it quite an exciting step after being opposed to it myself for a very long time. Because what we do is creative work, which means you can't be “productive” 8 hours a day. Sometimes, as a designer, it takes an hour of daydreaming to recharge that creative battery. Or you need to visit a museum, have a chat. The cliché of “the best idea come to you in the shower” is true. But this often involves a lot of work, research and time. And trusting in the process. The fact that you might not know it yet, but that you'll be fine. In short, the creative process is difficult to summarize in time and creativity does not benefit from too much control or rigid processes; it is precisely in the messy not-knowing that our strength lies.
But: as a creative agency, you are selling your hours and therefore your time. So insight is valuable.
Not to monitor my team or use it as a surveillance tool, but rather to provide insight into what my team needs to do their best work. And to create a good and realistic estimation of a project for our customers. Now I know from previous design projects that too much controlling usually does not lead to more productivity and often raises resistance - among all people. And that can go wrong. During the implementation of this new step, we talked a lot about this with the team and discussed why we do this; not to check whether they are productive 8 hours a day, but to understand how we work as an agency and how our projects are coming along.
I wanted them to continue to feel that I trust them. But also that they feel psychologically safe in our work environment at all times.
#1. I've clearly stated that hours of daydreaming or taking a walk are totally okay, I see these as moments of recharging the creative battery, which is very necessary.
#2. At our office, it's okay to make your own estimate of the hours at the end of the day. So don't track your tasks as you go, an overview at the end of the day is fine. Sometimes you work a little more, sometimes a little less.
#3. The whole team knows that we use this data to optimize our customer journeys and not to systematize our work.
#4. I never 'check' the hours worked by employees and don't attach a 'right' or 'wrong' to them. That is business based on distrust and I want to act on the basis of trust.
So far, this has worked reasonably for us and we have more insight. Not everyone likes it and we are still figuring it out, but open communication has reduced resistance and the system works well for the Ink team.
