Be honest. Do you keep a spreadsheet of your holiday time? Even though the company holiday system tracks your time off and TOIL (time off in leiu)?
Everywhere I have ever gone where there is a holiday tracker (there are still companies that donât have one), Â I see employees double entering. At first I thought it was a really sinister indication of complete and utter mistrust of management and the company trying to cheat employees out of their holiday time. How horrible to be working under such conditions!
However, this was happening so often, I started asking questions. Â I discovered it wasnât (always) management, but it was ALWAYS the system. No one trusted the system.
âWow!â, I thought to myself. âWhat an excellent opportunity â since everyoneâs holiday tracking system was so bad, all I needed to do was build a good one and I could make a killing!â Yet, as I looked into it, I found out there are PLENTY of good holiday trackers out there. I mean really good!
So why the mistrust?
As I continued with my (very informal) investigation, I discovered most of these systems were implemented internally. It wasnât the system it was the time and attention the company was willing to invest in a completely internally focused system â ones that donât touch clients and donât make money.
AND it turns out it wasnât just holiday tracking systems, there were many more that faced the same fate â no or little sponsorship, not seen as a priority, under resourcing, and absence of rigour or governance. Of course these systems arenât trusted and end up with double entry!
“Small, internal, non-client facing projects are still projects!”
–Susan Tuttle
What mechanisms do you put in place to ensure your âinternally focusedâ projects get the time and attention they deserve, or do you also suffer the mistrust/double entry syndrome?
For related post about managing small projects, please watch here:
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