Jumping on the data bandwagon (where ‘analytics’ seems to be the new ‘big’) Microsoft’s offering – MyAnalytics – was made available to me in my organisation this week (having previously been part of the ‘Delve’ branding). Here’s Microsoft’s own introduction:
This data basically shows what you’ve been up to in Office365 – such as time spent in meetings, how much time you’ve spent in Outlook when you should be in “quiet” time (i.e. when you should be at home with your feet up), etc.
Aggregated, this data would be pretty powerful. For the individual, at least for me, it seems to just reinforce what you probably already know – how quick you reply to emails, how much you work on those “quiet days” and who your “top collaborators” are. At an aggregate level this covers some ground where research has been done in the past – for example the collaborators data is effectively network analysis and could well highlight other things that are happening in your organisation, for example the hidden influencers who are top collaborators but perhaps not in positions of traditional organisational power in the hierarchy/matrix. Unfortunately this isn’t possible, albeit for understandable reasons:
Data privacy
None of a user’s personal information is shared with their co-workers or managers.
MyAnalytics adheres to compliance regulations, such as the GDPR.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/workplace-analytics/myanalytics/overview/mya-for-admins
I used something similar a while back at the desktop level that highlighted time spent in active applications – at the time it was nearly all Firefox and Outlook but also highlighted how much time I actually used Articulate Storyline and other things. The Microsoft solution seems quite good in going beyond the desktop to the use of the services across devices. However, for those with international roles the concept of working hours is, of course, very tricky. Yes, you might ‘normally’ work 9-5 in Europe but those 7am calls with Australia would, from an Analytics perspective, count towards working outside your hours and cutting into “quiet times”.
For those really struggling with focus at work and allowing email to run their time, however, the data sets, suggestions and goal setting tools are likely to at least offer some help. Nice list of what is included here. Ultimately this can be useful for personal reflection, for example in agreeing outcomes as part of team behaviour change in improving work life balance.
Whose Education Is It Anyway? 