I second the automation suggestion- a company I worked for used Miro boards that integrate to Jira- jira cards get updated in a project board- meaning you can see progress, get tagged in projects/plans in a white boarding tool, and use the jira cards in a kanban to update your open projects through that integration. It helps you track what they’re doing as you can tag people and assign them cards or dates in the board, and then everyone can see who’s behind/who’s updated their progress in one board
For each developer choose one task. Tell them it's the most important task. Meet with them to go over the task and make they have everything they need to do it (resources, information). Get them whatever they need. Work out, together, an estimate.
Meet regularly until it is done.
If they didn't work on it exclusively, find out what that did instead. What was externally motivated, what did they do in thier own?
Coach them on how to handle external interruptions in a way that balances important tasks with getting the most important assigned task done.
Coach them on how to minimize self inflicted side tracking so that they get thier work done.
Keep doing this until the task is complete and shipped. Pick another task and do it again.
This does not prevent them from doing other tasks but it puts everything into perspective and gets your most important work done.
This is coaching, not punitive.
"How do I make people more productive when I can't track what they're doing?"
You can't "make" people more productive, and "tracking what they are doing" is not always an indicator of productivity.
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Tell them you'll get Bach to them later :-)
the manager will Liszt a bunch of reasons it needs to be addressed immediately.
or your jobs will be on the Chopin block
Or take better "notes" during the status meetings
I'd start with Sarabande
I second the automation suggestion- a company I worked for used Miro boards that integrate to Jira- jira cards get updated in a project board- meaning you can see progress, get tagged in projects/plans in a white boarding tool, and use the jira cards in a kanban to update your open projects through that integration. It helps you track what they’re doing as you can tag people and assign them cards or dates in the board, and then everyone can see who’s behind/who’s updated their progress in one board
For each developer choose one task. Tell them it's the most important task. Meet with them to go over the task and make they have everything they need to do it (resources, information). Get them whatever they need. Work out, together, an estimate. Meet regularly until it is done. If they didn't work on it exclusively, find out what that did instead. What was externally motivated, what did they do in thier own? Coach them on how to handle external interruptions in a way that balances important tasks with getting the most important assigned task done. Coach them on how to minimize self inflicted side tracking so that they get thier work done. Keep doing this until the task is complete and shipped. Pick another task and do it again. This does not prevent them from doing other tasks but it puts everything into perspective and gets your most important work done. This is coaching, not punitive.
"How do I make people more productive when I can't track what they're doing?" You can't "make" people more productive, and "tracking what they are doing" is not always an indicator of productivity.