To me, those numbers are depressing, especially if you're associated with the 176 and 144 numbers.
As was I.
Except for a couple of two-year projects, I've been doing the same job for over a decade. For the most part, the job has stayed the same. When you do something for 20,000 hours (a year of full-time work is just over 2000 hours, multiply that by over ten years...), you get to know the job. I pride myself on completing my work every week. My work week is complete when both those numbers, 176 and 144...
Are zero.
Another interesting thing about the numbers is the first one, the higher one, represents work that needs to be done in the given week. The second number is the work that's late. These numbers greeted me when I returned from a week off.
When faced with a lot of work, I can react in one of two ways. I can get mad, or I can roll with it. Getting mad was my first choice. The problem I had is that there was no one at which to get mad. Our department had 1/7 of our team quit in December, our team is training their replacements, and of course, in December people need time off for family and other obligations. Add to the mix a flood of work thanks to ObamaCare and you have a perfect storm...too much work and not enough people to do it.
It took a couple of weeks, but when I logged off for the last time in 2023, both my numbers rang up a big fat 0. I should say that while I was out for a week last month, others on my team chipped in and worked on my cases, even though their numbers resembled mine. Since I came back I tried working on co-worker's assignments. I was able to help out a little bit. I'm glad December is over...work wise.
I have no idea what numbers I'll find when I fire up the computer tomorrow morning. I doubt they'll look anything like they did a few weeks ago. Plus, there's always the blessing that I have a job, a job I feel comfortable doing, a job that I feel is important.
Here's to 2024...may the numbers always be low!
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