Project Time Consumption

I recently did a small research project for a company. I started about 7:30 in the morning, finished up about 1:30 in the afternoon, so that means 6 hours “went by.” However, I wasn’t fully dedicated to the project this whole time, I handled a few other things in some gaps.

During this roughly 6 hours, I spent precisely 2.5 hours of measured, “on the clock,” time on the project.  (Which begs the question what did I do with the other 3.5 hours?!, but won't go there now.)

The greatest value in this project (other than my summary report, of course) came from three brief phone calls of probably 10 minutes or less each, so theoretically, instead of 6 hours, instead of 2.5 hours, there was a very high-value 30 minutes spent.

So, how much time did I really “work?” Could the 30 minutes have happened without the 2.5 hours? Could the 2.5 hours have been effective without the elapsed 6 hours? I think there was some similar lesson in one of my favorite books from many years ago, The Mythical Man Month, which, highly paraphrased, came to the conclusion that projects had their own time lines, regardless of people and resources applied.

So, can I do a project for you that has 30 minutes of extreme value, 2 ½ hours of effort, 6 hours of elapsed time, charge your for half a day, and have you be thrilled? If you’re thrilled with the results, does the time consumed matter?

Comments

[Kevin Miller]

I think you bill for the cumulative total .5 + 2.5 + 6 = 9 hours billing time.