Up until fairly recently, my job was mostly writing code and it was quite easy to measure how I did each day by how much code I wrote. On days that I didn’t write much code, I didn’t think I was all that productive. Work product was simple to define; it was the code that I produced and the applications I wrote.
This past spring, my role at work (and possibly my career route) has changed such that writing code is now only a small part of what I do. I’m now overseeing some projects, designing how things work, and provide guidance to other developers about the projects I oversee. I can no longer measure a successful day on how much code I write as some days I don’t write any code (or even documentation)! This is a huge change for me and is making me come up for a new definition of “work product”. My success is now basically measured on the success of others; if I help other projects succeed, then I can be considered successful as well. However, that still doesn’t help me with my definition. What is my daily “output”?
While code is not tangible, there is at least a clear definition. My “work product” is now thoughts and conversations; that’s a pretty big change that is going to take some time for me to become comfortable with it.