Monday 22 September 2008

the tea-o-meter©

Today I am introducing the tea-o-meter as a system of measuring the state of my working day. The system is as follows:

Each day the tea-o-meter will generate a figure displaying the type of day (see "Day Scale" below) and the desperation factor (displayed as a percentage - the lower the percentage, the greater the desperation).
E.g. 4, 75%

The Day Scale

The day scale is a measure of the status of the day as determined by the number of cups of tea I have made.

0 - 3 cups = Fairly normal, everything pretty much ok. Nothing of note.
4 - 6 cups = Slightly stressful and/or mildly boring
7 - 8 cups = Not good. A bad day in fact, possibly including meetings. Too much crap.
8+ cups = Really should have stayed at home. Day has taken 1 year off my life span.

The Desperation Factor

The desperation factor is an additional indicator of the day's highs and lows (well only the lows really I guess).

The desperation factor is calculated thus:

(Number of teas drunk/Number of teas made) x 100

I felt the need to introduce this factor to the tea-o-meter as there are a number of reasons why tea might be made but not actually drunk:
  • Tea has been made purely for the sake of making it, i.e. as a means of getting away from the pc.
  • Tea has gone cold and therefore not been drunk due to high volume of work and forgetfulness
  • Tea has gone cold as it has been left due to a work based emergency

I shall endeavor to generate a tea-o-meter reading whenever I have a day based in the office and will update and improve the system whenever new methods and ideas come to light.

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