Ask HN: How do you track your work contributions effectively?

2 points by 2bor-2n 1 year ago | 1 comment

I'm looking for better ways to track my work contributions and progress, both for my own reference and for communicating with my team/manager. Currently, I struggle with:

Remembering all the small but important contributions I make throughout the sprint/quarter Quantifying impact in meaningful ways Keeping track of indirect contributions (helping others, reviewing PRs, mentoring)

What systems/tools/methods have worked well for you? How granular do you get with tracking? And how do you present this information during performance reviews or 1:1s? Particularly interested in hearing from both ICs and managers about what they find most valuable in contribution tracking.

drfunk 1 year ago |

Use a journaling app, and write a few notes on what you did everyday. Each week, write a summary, grouped by topic: on project A, did 3 MRs, assisted pre-sales team on product X... At the end of the quarter, review the weekly summaries. Done.

I've been doing a version of this for the past 14+ years. Every manager I've had always told me I have the most detailed yearly review. It's been invaluable to me, as my work has usually been very fragmented on different topics / activities.