Things That Are Work

This is just a running list of things that I consider work, this list is unordered as there isn’t an inherent prioritization in these items. However, they should all be considered in the total set of things that should be valued as ‘work’.

This list is not exhaustive.

Things

• Reviewing code
• Thinking about code
• Making a spreadsheet
• Reading e-mail
• Responding to e-mail
• Organizing your calendar
• Helping someone fix a problem, bug, etc.
• Cleaning up your workspace
• Having a face to face conversation (in-person or on video chat)
• Reviewing team, personal, organizational goals
• Taking time off from work
• Writing code
• Leaving/answering comments in a document that someone thought to send to you
• Organizing an event
• Mailing something to a distributed teammate
• Providing feedback
• Helping with hiring in literally any way
• Eating lunch
• Defending your calendar
• Saying no to things
• Organizing your todo list
• Realizing that you haven’t made progress on something and getting up to go for a short walk
• Flying to collaborate with co-workers in different places

All of these things are work.