Do you know how many Microsoft Teams calls your employees participate in?

Studies reveal that your managed service provider (MSP) team spends a hefty chunk of their time in internal video calls—often over 30% of their work week. This surge in internal meeting times is not just a number; it translates to diminished hours spent on client-focused tasks, technical problem-solving, and proactive service enhancements.

Without insight into their meeting habits, your team can't gauge if internal Microsoft Teams calls are enhancing efficiency or hindering customer service (which should be their primary focus).

Today, we'll unveil steps to empower your MSP technicians to reclaim their time.

The first problem your team faces is that they don’t know how much time they lose in meetings. This often leads them to over-commitment from workers and them viewing Microsoft Teams calls as a necessary evil.

, most workers (83%) automatically accept calendar invites received in their inbox. And more than half of them feel they are obligated to attend the meeting regardless of the agenda or their involvement in the discussion.

By accepting most meetings, workers spend up to a third of their working hours on calls that offer little positive impact on their main responsibilities.

When this type of meeting occurs regularly or with more attendees, the cumulative cost can be significant. Of course, this calculation does not account for the additional time required to prepare for a meeting, which on average can take an extra hour. Nor does it include the time needed 

after a meeting to decompress and refocus

Your MSP team was hired to provide technical support and assistance to clients, not be in internal meetings. And engaging in frequent Microsoft Teams meetings can detract from their core function.

But you’re saying that participation in team meetings may be necessary. And while we agree (in a way), we should still examine what’s happening by asking these questions:

How much time is your team spending in internal meetings?

How do you know if meetings are even necessary?

How do you know if the right people are attending?

How do meetings impact the rest of their workday?

What guidelines do you have to ensure that the meetings are productive and actionable?

If you don’t know the answers to these questions, you’re not alone. We’ve spoken with hundreds of MSPs and most admit to not knowing.

The negative ripple effect of ineffective internal meetings

When a team member is in a meeting they don't need to attend, they often become disengaged.

 during meetings, while 41% admit to frequent or constant multitasking.

MSP employees often multitask during meetings due to a combination of high workloads, feeling that the meeting isn't relevant to their roles, and the fact that it’s not hard to do.

Although it may seem like they are doing more, their work completed during a meeting will often be of lower quality. That only adds more time to the task in the long term, and it ultimately leads to higher costs.

There must be a policy in place that enables team members to freely decline meetings so they can focus on work without being ridiculed. Or they must be provided an option to 

engage with the content of the meeting asynchronously

To do that, we must provide them with data so they can point to the problem and then measure what changes are needed to improve their day.

Help your team understand and take control of meetings

Empowering individuals to take control of their internal meeting time is crucial for several reasons.

First, it fosters a sense of ownership and accountability, encouraging individuals to actively manage their schedules. With 

, they gain valuable insights into their time allocation and can identify opportunities for optimization.

Next, empowering individuals to set boundaries and decline unnecessary meetings helps to reduce meeting fatigue, 

Last but not least, taking control of meeting time encourages a culture of respect. This leads to more purposeful and efficient meetings that drive meaningful outcomes.

By providing your workers with insight into how they spend their day, they can take more responsibility for their time at work, reclaiming over 90 minutes per person lost to meetings each day.

Want to learn more about the hidden time your MSP team loses to internal Microsoft Teams meetings? Schedule a call with our productivity experts to access essential data and create a customized meeting plan tailored to your organization's needs.

Give your team Produce8 to understand their workday

Before taking drastic measures like clearing everyone's calendar, it's crucial to gauge the extent of the issue within your organization. Assess whether there are excessive meetings, if the meetings are too long, if the correct individuals are attending, or if there are other ways to communicate.

 offers MSP teams resources, coaching, and digital work analytics that put Microsoft Teams calls under the microscope. With the right data, you and your team can point accurately at the problem, make changes, and then begin to design a better workday.

 your employees engage with daily. This empowers them to prevent burnout and prioritize tasks that add value to the organization.

After acquiring insights from your team, the next step is to compile the feedback and put it into action. You’ll want to design a meeting policy that helps your workers reclaim their day.

Negative feelings about meeting policies usually arise from fears of reduced flexibility and stifled creativity. But a well-crafted policy will streamline communication and boost efficiency, dispelling such concerns.

A clear meeting policy empowers employees by offering guidelines on scheduling Microsoft Teams meetings, participant involvement, and efficient communication alternatives. A policy also minimizes disruptions, enabling workers to focus on core tasks.

Employees can decline irrelevant meetings, thus boosting morale. Essentially, a well-crafted meeting policy reflects a commitment to valuing time, promoting operational excellence, and prioritizing employee well-being.

Want help designing a meeting policy? Download our 

Summary:

Do you know how many Microsoft Teams calls your employees participate in?

Studies reveal that your managed service provider (MSP) team spends a hefty chunk of their time in internal video calls—often over 30% of their work week. This surge in internal meeting times is not just a number; it translates to diminished hours spent on client-focused tasks, technical problem-solving, and proactive service enhancements.

Without insight into their meeting habits, your team can't gauge if internal Microsoft Teams calls are enhancing efficiency or hindering customer service (which should be their primary focus).

Today, we'll unveil steps to empower your MSP technicians to reclaim their time.

Solving the first problem of meetings

The first problem your team faces is that they don’t know how much time they lose in meetings. This often leads them to over-commitment from workers and them viewing Microsoft Teams calls as a necessary evil.

According to a report from Otter, most workers (83%) automatically accept calendar invites received in their inbox. And more than half of them feel they are obligated to attend the meeting regardless of the agenda or their involvement in the discussion.

By accepting most meetings, workers spend up to a third of their working hours on calls that offer little positive impact on their main responsibilities.

When this type of meeting occurs regularly or with more attendees, the cumulative cost can be significant. Of course, this calculation does not account for the additional time required to prepare for a meeting, which on average can take an extra hour. Nor does it include the time needed after a meeting to decompress and refocus, which can take up to 21 minutes.

Your MSP team was hired to provide technical support and assistance to clients, not be in internal meetings. And engaging in frequent Microsoft Teams meetings can detract from their core function.

But you’re saying that participation in team meetings may be necessary. And while we agree (in a way), we should still examine what’s happening by asking these questions:

How much time is your team spending in internal meetings?

How do you know if meetings are even necessary?

How do you know if the right people are attending?

How do meetings impact the rest of their workday?

What guidelines do you have to ensure that the meetings are productive and actionable?

If you don’t know the answers to these questions, you’re not alone. We’ve spoken with hundreds of MSPs and most admit to not knowing.

So, let’s find out.

The negative ripple effect of ineffective internal meetings

When a team member is in a meeting they don't need to attend, they often become disengaged.

According to a study, 92% of employees admit to multitasking during meetings, while 41% admit to frequent or constant multitasking.

MSP employees often multitask during meetings due to a combination of high workloads, feeling that the meeting isn't relevant to their roles, and the fact that it’s not hard to do.

Although it may seem like they are doing more, their work completed during a meeting will often be of lower quality. That only adds more time to the task in the long term, and it ultimately leads to higher costs.

There must be a policy in place that enables team members to freely decline meetings so they can focus on work without being ridiculed. Or they must be provided an option to engage with the content of the meeting asynchronously.

To do that, we must provide them with data so they can point to the problem and then measure what changes are needed to improve their day.

Help your team understand and take control of meetings

Empowering individuals to take control of their internal meeting time is crucial for several reasons.

First, it fosters a sense of ownership and accountability, encouraging individuals to actively manage their schedules. With Produce8, they gain valuable insights into their time allocation and can identify opportunities for optimization.

Next, empowering individuals to set boundaries and decline unnecessary meetings helps to reduce meeting fatigue, prevent burnout, and promote overall well-being.

Last but not least, taking control of meeting time encourages a culture of respect. This leads to more purposeful and efficient meetings that drive meaningful outcomes.

By providing your workers with insight into how they spend their day, they can take more responsibility for their time at work, reclaiming over 90 minutes per person lost to meetings each day.

Want to learn more about the hidden time your MSP team loses to internal Microsoft Teams meetings? Schedule a call with our productivity experts to access essential data and create a customized meeting plan tailored to your organization's needs.

Give your team Produce8 to understand their workday

Before taking drastic measures like clearing everyone's calendar, it's crucial to gauge the extent of the issue within your organization. Assess whether there are excessive meetings, if the meetings are too long, if the correct individuals are attending, or if there are other ways to communicate.

Produce8 offers MSP teams resources, coaching, and digital work analytics that put Microsoft Teams calls under the microscope. With the right data, you and your team can point accurately at the problem, make changes, and then begin to design a better workday.

We deliver detailed insights into the meetings and calls your employees engage with daily. This empowers them to prevent burnout and prioritize tasks that add value to the organization.

Why your MSP needs a meeting policy

After acquiring insights from your team, the next step is to compile the feedback and put it into action. You’ll want to design a meeting policy that helps your workers reclaim their day.

Negative feelings about meeting policies usually arise from fears of reduced flexibility and stifled creativity. But a well-crafted policy will streamline communication and boost efficiency, dispelling such concerns.

A clear meeting policy empowers employees by offering guidelines on scheduling Microsoft Teams meetings, participant involvement, and efficient communication alternatives. A policy also minimizes disruptions, enabling workers to focus on core tasks.

Employees can decline irrelevant meetings, thus boosting morale. Essentially, a well-crafted meeting policy reflects a commitment to valuing time, promoting operational excellence, and prioritizing employee well-being.

Want help designing a meeting policy? Download our Effective Meetings for MSP eBook.

The Hidden Impact of Microsoft Teams Calls on Your MSP’s Efficiency

Leading work analytics platform allows MSPs to visualize calls, calendars, and organizational metrics to maximize workday productivity. 

, a leading work analytics vendor, today announced a significant new release of its flagship app, designed to give Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and their customers unprecedented insight into the impact of meetings on productivity and wellbeing. New features include the ability to capture employee sentiment; integrations for video call data; calendar and schedule integrations; and organizational metrics to measure the financial impact of time spent in calls and meetings. 

Physical meetings and virtual calls demand significant time and resources, including the salaries of attendees and the productivity lost when attention is diverted from tasks such as providing customer service. The wasted costs from unnecessary meetings are estimated to reach 

“We recognized a fundamental issue in the MSP industry: excessive time spent in meetings is eating into productive work hours. Our new release tackles this issue head-on,” said Joel Abramson, CEO of Produce8. “By empowering each employee to understand their workday, we aim to boost efficiency, allowing more work to be accomplished in less time—a win for all.”

The latest Produce8 app integrates with Google Calendar and Outlook, and leading virtual meeting platforms, including Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Slack. This feature enables MSP teams to track the time spent in both internal and external meetings, allowing them to compare the planned workday with what actually transpired. The goal is to help MSPs reduce time wasted in unnecessary and poorly planned meetings, boosting productivity and profitability.

The release also features an executive-level dashboard that displays how much time and money the company and individual teams spend in meetings and calls and the associated cost of employee salaries. This gives MSP owners a clear picture of the time and resources they are investing in meetings, and where improvements can be made.

Produce8 now enables team members to rate and comment on each day, helping organizations and managers identify patterns or trends in team morale and well-being.

These innovative new features enhance the already powerful existing platform, which includes:

 Receive actionable data to enhance productivity, manage time more effectively, and foster a healthier work-life balance.

 Measure the time spent on applications and websites, distinguishing between impactful work and potential distractions.

Reinforce better habits related to virtual meetings, technology usage, or other aspects of the workday.

“Since its launch to the MSP market in mid-2023, Produce8 has witnessed swift adoption by leading providers,” said Marco La Vecchia, Chief Revenue Officer of Produce8. “In 2024, we are building out our current partner program to help position MSPs to become strategic advisors for their clients on the subject of employee experience and productivity.”

Beyond offering top-notch analytics to improve meeting efficiency, Produce8 delivers a suite of educational and coaching resources. 

 with their team of productivity experts to learn more.

Subscriptions to the SaaS-based platform are available at 

Leading work analytics platform allows MSPs to visualize calls, calendars, and organizational metrics to maximize workday productivity. 



Vancouver, BC, Canada (Apr 23, 2024) - Produce8, a leading work analytics vendor, today announced a significant new release of its flagship app, designed to give Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and their customers unprecedented insight into the impact of meetings on productivity and wellbeing. New features include the ability to capture employee sentiment; integrations for video call data; calendar and schedule integrations; and organizational metrics to measure the financial impact of time spent in calls and meetings. 

Physical meetings and virtual calls demand significant time and resources, including the salaries of attendees and the productivity lost when attention is diverted from tasks such as providing customer service. The wasted costs from unnecessary meetings are estimated to reach $25,000 per employee each year.

Virtual Calls and Calendar Integrations

The latest Produce8 app integrates with Google Calendar and Outlook, and leading virtual meeting platforms, including Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Slack. This feature enables MSP teams to track the time spent in both internal and external meetings, allowing them to compare the planned workday with what actually transpired. The goal is to help MSPs reduce time wasted in unnecessary and poorly planned meetings, boosting productivity and profitability.

Organizational Metrics for MSPs

The release also features an executive-level dashboard that displays how much time and money the company and individual teams spend in meetings and calls and the associated cost of employee salaries. This gives MSP owners a clear picture of the time and resources they are investing in meetings, and where improvements can be made.

User Sentiments for Individuals

Produce8 now enables team members to rate and comment on each day, helping organizations and managers identify patterns or trends in team morale and well-being.

These innovative new features enhance the already powerful existing platform, which includes:

Personalized daily reports: Receive actionable data to enhance productivity, manage time more effectively, and foster a healthier work-life balance.

Real-time workflow metrics: Measure the time spent on applications and websites, distinguishing between impactful work and potential distractions.

Goal setting: Reinforce better habits related to virtual meetings, technology usage, or other aspects of the workday.

Beyond offering top-notch analytics to improve meeting efficiency, Produce8 delivers a suite of educational and coaching resources. Schedule a free consultation with their team of productivity experts to learn more.



Subscriptions to the SaaS-based platform are available at www.produce8.com.

The mobile app is available in the iOS App Store and Google Play Store.




Produce8 Unveils Major Platform Advancement to Boost Productivity in MSPs

“Free for a quick chat?” An ironic phrase, because there is nothing “free” or “quick” about ad-hoc meetings on Microsoft Teams.

We've all been guilty of requesting impromptu calls from our team without fully grasping the consequences. But it's not entirely our fault! Up until now, we lacked the necessary data to quantify these issues. Today, that changes.

In this article, we'll equip you with the insights you need to understand the frequency of ad-hoc meetings within your team. We’ll also provide everything you need to make changes and start recovering all the time, energy, and money lost to “quick chats.”

The time spent in Microsoft Teams meetings globally more than doubled between February 2020 and February 2021. And since then, it has 

Interestingly, the most common meeting duration is 30 minutes. This duration accounts for 

, whereas 15-minute meetings account for 31%. Meetings lasting a full hour represent only 20%. This trend towards shorter, more frequent meetings contributes to meeting fatigue, consistent task-switching, and limited opportunities for meaningful collaboration and decision-making.

Because it has been easier than ever to pull together for a quick conversation on Microsoft Teams, unfettered collaboration is taking control of our days. And that comes with a huge financial cost.

The frequency and impact of ad hoc meetings must be addressed.

Sending a casual message like "free for a quick chat?" may appear innocuous, but recent research on meeting attendance highlights its potential detrimental effects. Unnecessary meetings could impose significant costs on your company. In fact, the sunk cost of such meetings is estimated to be 

Ad hoc meetings are unexpected and often unstructured. While they may be brief, it is the act of pulling employees away from pressing work that has its consequences. Even though these ad hoc meetings could be as short as 15 minutes, it can take up to 21 minutes for an employee to regain their focus once the meeting ends.

Thirty minutes doesn’t sound like a lot — but it’s 6% of the workday. If an employee has just three ad hoc meetings per day, that can add up to 18% of their day. Making matters worse is the fact that a meeting doesn’t happen alone. Two or more employees often join, meaning they also lose 18% of their workday. This is time that is either lost completely or that will need to be made up after hours.

Of course, the size of the problem multiplies with every additional video call and every additional attendee. Suddenly, what began as a “quick chat” has escalated into a problem that could be costing an organization with 

It’s obvious that Microsoft Teams has become indispensable for collaboration and coordination among teams. However, amidst the convenience and connectivity offered by such platforms, there lies a hidden cost that many organizations overlook: the unchecked expenditure of time spent on Microsoft Teams calls.

So, how do we fix this? First, we must come to understand the scale of the problem.

Microsoft Teams Doesn’t Provide Enough Data

Microsoft Teams does not readily serve up detailed analytics on call durations or meeting frequency. And while admin tools may offer some data, this information often fails to reach individual employees or teams, thus hindering their self-awareness regarding their meeting habits. Consequently, the lack of accessible data within Microsoft Teams acts as a barrier to users striving to manage their time better and optimize their collaboration practices.

Another challenge workers face is the need for more insight into their tech stack (i.e., the relationship between their collaboration tools and productivity tools). The repercussions of this unawareness are far-reaching, making it difficult for employees to gauge how much time they devote to meetings versus actual work.

The truth is that you and your team are not aware of the harm caused by ad-hoc video calls. And when there is no way to share the data, there is no way to identify the problem and fix it.

Your team must pinpoint the barrage of Microsoft Teams calls contributing to heightened stress levels and burnout among employees. Moreover, they need quantifiable data to address multitasking and distractions. This data will help them make informed decisions to regain control of their day and prevent further exacerbating the issue.

 is a digital work analytics platform that enables individuals and teams to measure their time spent in virtual calls, including ad hoc meetings. Additionally, the platform allows them to see their work habits and gauge the impact unscheduled calls have on their focus and well-being.

With Data, We Can Recover Productivity and Profitability

Produce8 offers insights to help you understand your organization's virtual meeting practices. Once you have the data, you can empower your team to recover lost time. For instance, here are a few actions you can take:

 Encourage team members to allocate specific time slots on their calendars for focused or deep work sessions. This practice reduces interruptions and discourages spontaneous meetings during these periods. (Learn more about 

 Grant team members the authority to make independent decisions or 

 through chat or email. Reserve meetings for discussions that necessitate consensus-building or collective decision-making.

Cultivate a culture of accountability by stressing the importance of respecting colleagues' time and minimizing unnecessary disruptions. Encourage team members to consider the necessity of scheduling ad hoc meetings before messaging “quick chat?”

Once your team has had the opportunity to work with these new changes, they can determine which are effective in increasing focus.

Produce8 enables individuals to set specific goals and shows them the desired outcomes if they decrease their time spent in Microsoft Teams calls and reallocate it to meaningful work applications.

It is the mission of Produce8 to help you recover 90+ minutes every day for each of your team members. We will be with you all the way.

Design a Virtual Meeting Guideline for Everyone

As we know, collaboration is essential. However, we cannot ignore the cost of all the meetings we hold. An hour-long meeting with five attendees can 

. If we proceed to conduct unnecessary ad hoc meetings, the repercussions can escalate, potentially affecting work quality, delaying deadlines, increasing employee burnout, and detrimentally impacting the organization's profitability.

We all have stakes in reducing unnecessary video calls on Microsoft Teams. And it’s up to the company to take proactive measures to combat the issues of collaboration overload. This doesn’t mean micromanaging! It means providing data to individuals so they can make the best decision for themselves.

Produce8 takes into consideration that every individual, team, and organization is unique. By acquiring personal insights, employees will be empowered to take ownership of their workday.

For leaders, this strategy is invaluable. It allows you to establish clear meeting policies, such as limiting the frequency and duration of calls and implementing initiatives to reduce the reliance on meetings as the primary way to collaborate. There are endless opportunities to improve your organization’s meeting culture, and it all starts with understanding how collaboration is currently conducted.

Ready to begin? Let us assist you in crafting a customized plan tailored to your organization's needs. Schedule a complimentary consultation with our team of skilled coaches, and we'll show you how to reclaim over 90 minutes each day that would otherwise be lost to unproductive video calls.

Summary:

“Free for a quick chat?” An ironic phrase, because there is nothing “free” or “quick” about ad-hoc meetings on Microsoft Teams.

We've all been guilty of requesting impromptu calls from our team without fully grasping the consequences. But it's not entirely our fault! Up until now, we lacked the necessary data to quantify these issues. Today, that changes.

In this article, we'll equip you with the insights you need to understand the frequency of ad-hoc meetings within your team. We’ll also provide everything you need to make changes and start recovering all the time, energy, and money lost to “quick chats.”

The time spent in Microsoft Teams meetings globally more than doubled between February 2020 and February 2021. And since then, it has continued to rise steadily.

Interestingly, the most common meeting duration is 30 minutes. This duration accounts for 36% of meetings, whereas 15-minute meetings account for 31%. Meetings lasting a full hour represent only 20%. This trend towards shorter, more frequent meetings contributes to meeting fatigue, consistent task-switching, and limited opportunities for meaningful collaboration and decision-making.

Because it has been easier than ever to pull together for a quick conversation on Microsoft Teams, unfettered collaboration is taking control of our days. And that comes with a huge financial cost.

The Cost of Ad-Hoc Virtual Meetings

The frequency and impact of ad hoc meetings must be addressed.

Sending a casual message like "free for a quick chat?" may appear innocuous, but recent research on meeting attendance highlights its potential detrimental effects. Unnecessary meetings could impose significant costs on your company. In fact, the sunk cost of such meetings is estimated to be $25,000 per employee annually.

Ad hoc meetings are unexpected and often unstructured. While they may be brief, it is the act of pulling employees away from pressing work that has its consequences. Even though these ad hoc meetings could be as short as 15 minutes, it can take up to 21 minutes for an employee to regain their focus once the meeting ends.

Thirty minutes doesn’t sound like a lot — but it’s 6% of the workday. If an employee has just three ad hoc meetings per day, that can add up to 18% of their day. Making matters worse is the fact that a meeting doesn’t happen alone. Two or more employees often join, meaning they also lose 18% of their workday. This is time that is either lost completely or that will need to be made up after hours.

Of course, the size of the problem multiplies with every additional video call and every additional attendee. Suddenly, what began as a “quick chat” has escalated into a problem that could be costing an organization with 100 employees $2.5 million annually.

It’s obvious that Microsoft Teams has become indispensable for collaboration and coordination among teams. However, amidst the convenience and connectivity offered by such platforms, there lies a hidden cost that many organizations overlook: the unchecked expenditure of time spent on Microsoft Teams calls.

So, how do we fix this? First, we must come to understand the scale of the problem.

Microsoft Teams Doesn’t Provide Enough Data

Microsoft Teams does not readily serve up detailed analytics on call durations or meeting frequency. And while admin tools may offer some data, this information often fails to reach individual employees or teams, thus hindering their self-awareness regarding their meeting habits. Consequently, the lack of accessible data within Microsoft Teams acts as a barrier to users striving to manage their time better and optimize their collaboration practices.

Another challenge workers face is the need for more insight into their tech stack (i.e., the relationship between their collaboration tools and productivity tools). The repercussions of this unawareness are far-reaching, making it difficult for employees to gauge how much time they devote to meetings versus actual work.

Gain Awareness of Meetings

The truth is that you and your team are not aware of the harm caused by ad-hoc video calls. And when there is no way to share the data, there is no way to identify the problem and fix it.

Your team must pinpoint the barrage of Microsoft Teams calls contributing to heightened stress levels and burnout among employees. Moreover, they need quantifiable data to address multitasking and distractions. This data will help them make informed decisions to regain control of their day and prevent further exacerbating the issue.

Produce8 is a digital work analytics platform that enables individuals and teams to measure their time spent in virtual calls, including ad hoc meetings. Additionally, the platform allows them to see their work habits and gauge the impact unscheduled calls have on their focus and well-being.

With Data, We Can Recover Productivity and Profitability

Produce8 offers insights to help you understand your organization's virtual meeting practices. Once you have the data, you can empower your team to recover lost time. For instance, here are a few actions you can take:

Implement Time Blocking: Encourage team members to allocate specific time slots on their calendars for focused or deep work sessions. This practice reduces interruptions and discourages spontaneous meetings during these periods. (Learn more about time blocking here.)

Enable Decision-Making Autonomy: Grant team members the authority to make independent decisions or seek input asynchronously through chat or email. Reserve meetings for discussions that necessitate consensus-building or collective decision-making.

Promote Accountability: Cultivate a culture of accountability by stressing the importance of respecting colleagues' time and minimizing unnecessary disruptions. Encourage team members to consider the necessity of scheduling ad hoc meetings before messaging “quick chat?”

Once your team has had the opportunity to work with these new changes, they can determine which are effective in increasing focus.

Produce8 enables individuals to set specific goals and shows them the desired outcomes if they decrease their time spent in Microsoft Teams calls and reallocate it to meaningful work applications.

It is the mission of Produce8 to help you recover 90+ minutes every day for each of your team members. We will be with you all the way.

Design a Virtual Meeting Guideline for Everyone

As we know, collaboration is essential. However, we cannot ignore the cost of all the meetings we hold. An hour-long meeting with five attendees can cost an organization $388 in salary. If we proceed to conduct unnecessary ad hoc meetings, the repercussions can escalate, potentially affecting work quality, delaying deadlines, increasing employee burnout, and detrimentally impacting the organization's profitability.

We all have stakes in reducing unnecessary video calls on Microsoft Teams. And it’s up to the company to take proactive measures to combat the issues of collaboration overload. This doesn’t mean micromanaging! It means providing data to individuals so they can make the best decision for themselves.

Produce8 takes into consideration that every individual, team, and organization is unique. By acquiring personal insights, employees will be empowered to take ownership of their workday.

For leaders, this strategy is invaluable. It allows you to establish clear meeting policies, such as limiting the frequency and duration of calls and implementing initiatives to reduce the reliance on meetings as the primary way to collaborate. There are endless opportunities to improve your organization’s meeting culture, and it all starts with understanding how collaboration is currently conducted.

Ready to begin? Let us assist you in crafting a customized plan tailored to your organization's needs. Schedule a complimentary consultation with our team of skilled coaches, and we'll show you how to reclaim over 90 minutes each day that would otherwise be lost to unproductive video calls.

How Many Ad-Hoc Meetings Do You Have on Microsoft Teams?

Unnecessary virtual meetings cost small managed service providers (MSPs) at least 

 and MSPs with over 100 employees an average of $420,000 per year.

To solve this problem, we will provide you with an impact plan to recover time lost to virtual meetings. This plan provides crucial steps to evaluate and diagnose the current state of work; design an initiative and implement change; assess the effectiveness of the change; iterate and adjust the plan as needed; and establish a process of maintenance and continuous improvement.

By following this plan, you and your team can streamline communication, ensuring that video calls serve a clear purpose and have a significant impact.

Video call apps such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Zoom have become ubiquitous for MSP team communication, collaboration, and decision-making.

While these interactions are essential for maintaining productivity and fostering teamwork, there comes a point where the sheer volume of virtual meetings becomes counterproductive — and costly.

The Negative Cost of Excessive Virtual Meetings

Video calls require a substantial commitment of both time and resources. That includes the salaries of attendees and the lost productivity from diverting attention away from duties like providing customer service. Studies show that each year, about 

To determine whether meetings are productive, you must first acknowledge the number of video calls consuming your MSP. Take a 25-person team, for example. Twelve hours of calls each week per person adds up to a staggering 300 hours weekly! Factor in that the average employee costs $40 per hour, and that’s $12,000 weekly in video calls.

On top of that, research indicates that employees can spend 

 preparing for status update meetings. And after each meeting, workers may require up to 21 minutes before they refocus on their tasks.

The evidence is clear. Excessive virtual meetings incur serious costs and affect the hours preceding and following the meeting. This includes the time spent preparing for the call and the period for decompressing and refocusing afterward.

The goal is to reclaim as much time back as possible. And to do that, you must shift the culture of meetings.

Hold on a second. Before you go and cancel all your virtual meetings, we must get some hard data. Otherwise, biases and opinions may influence the result of your changes.

 is more than a work analytics tool. We provide resources and coaching to help you collect insights, analyze results, and take action both individually and as a team. After working in Produce8 for just a few seconds, you can see how many video calls you had, how long they lasted, and how the time spent collaborating impacted your focus, productivity, and well-being.

By gathering data into your current video call habits, you can learn what changes to make. And you can have more productive discussions with your team about how time spent collaborating is negatively affecting their work and, ultimately, your MSP’s profitability.

Produce8 assists MSPs in optimizing their meeting efficiency by analyzing data on video call frequency, duration, and participant engagement. This allows MSPs to identify and eliminate unproductive meetings and reveal significant opportunities for cost savings.

By simply identifying the problem, your MSP can slash video calls in half in as little as two weeks. Is the problem poorly designed meeting structure? Too many ad-hoc calls? Or perhaps meetings with too many people? We can show you.

According to Steven Rogelberg, a professor of organizational science management at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, reducing the number of unnecessary meetings could save your MSP approximately 

. For a workforce of 100 individuals, that can accumulate to a staggering $2.5 million in yearly savings.

It’s time we took the excessive collaboration problem seriously. Here’s how Produce8 will help you fix it!

Acquire a deep insight into your team's meeting schedule to identify and act on opportunities to reduce or consolidate meetings. This strategy enhances individual autonomy, enabling team members to decline unnecessary video calls that don't serve their primary objectives.

Track the impact of meetings on individual and team productivity. This helps your MSP schedule meetings during less disruptive times. The data provided offers flexibility for employees to manage their schedules and allocate time for focused work.

 Receive smart recommendations to help drastically improve video call efficiency and employee productivity in as little as one workday. These recommendations will enable leaders to define clear guidelines for when and how video calls should be scheduled, including preferred times, maximum duration, and the necessity of pre-circulated agendas. By having a company meeting policy and a document that guides the organization, you can ensure that video calls don’t cause disruptions to workers’’ workflow.

Every MSP team requires a unique strategy to overcome collaboration challenges. By first understanding how many hours are spent in video calls and measuring the impact those calls have on your team, you can enact changes that conserve time and energy. These changes will also catapult your team's efficiency and morale to new heights.

Ready to get started? We can help you create an effective virtual meeting guideline specific to your MSP. Book a free consultation with our team of expert coaches to start recovering 90+ minutes of your workday every day.

Summary:

Unnecessary virtual meetings cost small managed service providers (MSPs) at least $18,000 per year and MSPs with over 100 employees an average of $420,000 per year.

To solve this problem, we will provide you with an impact plan to recover time lost to virtual meetings. This plan provides crucial steps to evaluate and diagnose the current state of work; design an initiative and implement change; assess the effectiveness of the change; iterate and adjust the plan as needed; and establish a process of maintenance and continuous improvement.

By following this plan, you and your team can streamline communication, ensuring that video calls serve a clear purpose and have a significant impact.

Video call apps such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Zoom have become ubiquitous for MSP team communication, collaboration, and decision-making.

While these interactions are essential for maintaining productivity and fostering teamwork, there comes a point where the sheer volume of virtual meetings becomes counterproductive — and costly.

The Negative Cost of Excessive Virtual Meetings

Video calls require a substantial commitment of both time and resources. That includes the salaries of attendees and the lost productivity from diverting attention away from duties like providing customer service. Studies show that each year, about $37 billion is wasted due to ineffective meetings.

To determine whether meetings are productive, you must first acknowledge the number of video calls consuming your MSP. Take a 25-person team, for example. Twelve hours of calls each week per person adds up to a staggering 300 hours weekly! Factor in that the average employee costs $40 per hour, and that’s $12,000 weekly in video calls.

On top of that, research indicates that employees can spend four hours per week preparing for status update meetings. And after each meeting, workers may require up to 21 minutes before they refocus on their tasks.

The evidence is clear. Excessive virtual meetings incur serious costs and affect the hours preceding and following the meeting. This includes the time spent preparing for the call and the period for decompressing and refocusing afterward.

The goal is to reclaim as much time back as possible. And to do that, you must shift the culture of meetings.

Get Hard Data About Your Video Calls

Hold on a second. Before you go and cancel all your virtual meetings, we must get some hard data. Otherwise, biases and opinions may influence the result of your changes.

Produce8 is more than a work analytics tool. We provide resources and coaching to help you collect insights, analyze results, and take action both individually and as a team. After working in Produce8 for just a few seconds, you can see how many video calls you had, how long they lasted, and how the time spent collaborating impacted your focus, productivity, and well-being.

By gathering data into your current video call habits, you can learn what changes to make. And you can have more productive discussions with your team about how time spent collaborating is negatively affecting their work and, ultimately, your MSP’s profitability.

Quantifying Savings with Produce8

Produce8 assists MSPs in optimizing their meeting efficiency by analyzing data on video call frequency, duration, and participant engagement. This allows MSPs to identify and eliminate unproductive meetings and reveal significant opportunities for cost savings.

By simply identifying the problem, your MSP can slash video calls in half in as little as two weeks. Is the problem poorly designed meeting structure? Too many ad-hoc calls? Or perhaps meetings with too many people? We can show you.

According to Steven Rogelberg, a professor of organizational science management at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, reducing the number of unnecessary meetings could save your MSP approximately $25,000 per employee annually. For a workforce of 100 individuals, that can accumulate to a staggering $2.5 million in yearly savings.

It’s time we took the excessive collaboration problem seriously. Here’s how Produce8 will help you fix it!

Produce8 provides:

Video Calls Analytics: Acquire a deep insight into your team's meeting schedule to identify and act on opportunities to reduce or consolidate meetings. This strategy enhances individual autonomy, enabling team members to decline unnecessary video calls that don't serve their primary objectives.

Focus Hours: Track the impact of meetings on individual and team productivity. This helps your MSP schedule meetings during less disruptive times. The data provided offers flexibility for employees to manage their schedules and allocate time for focused work.

Actionable Insights: Receive smart recommendations to help drastically improve video call efficiency and employee productivity in as little as one workday. These recommendations will enable leaders to define clear guidelines for when and how video calls should be scheduled, including preferred times, maximum duration, and the necessity of pre-circulated agendas. By having a company meeting policy and a document that guides the organization, you can ensure that video calls don’t cause disruptions to workers’’ workflow.

Every MSP team requires a unique strategy to overcome collaboration challenges. By first understanding how many hours are spent in video calls and measuring the impact those calls have on your team, you can enact changes that conserve time and energy. These changes will also catapult your team's efficiency and morale to new heights.

Ready to get started? We can help you create an effective virtual meeting guideline specific to your MSP. Book a free consultation with our team of expert coaches to start recovering 90+ minutes of your workday every day.

The Steep Financial Impact of Too Many Video Calls in an MSP Workday 

How much time do you spend each week on video calls? What other tools do you use during those times? Have your attempts to make virtual meetings less disruptive to your workday been successful? Now you can measure it with 

We are super excited to announce the release of our Calls integrations and related features.

This new set of features provides insights into the time you dedicate to calls, huddles, and virtual meetings across various collaboration platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Zoom.

This addition allows us to distinguish between your App Views (having an app in focus on your device) and Calls (participating in a virtual call), allowing you to gain a deeper understanding of your time allocation and tool engagement patterns.

The new Calls feature helps answer workplace questions like:

Are you joining too many unplanned or sudden calls?

What’s the best time to schedule team meetings?

When do you have the most calls during your day, and how does it compare to your team's schedule?

Are these calls using your time wisely, or are they making you work longer hours?

Are you fully focused during these calls, or are you multitasking with other apps?

You can now view real-time call statuses directly in your Produce8 activity stream while you're engaged in a call on platforms like Slack, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams (with more to be added soon). This is more helpful in shared workspaces.

On your Timeline, you'll notice two swim lanes: Views and Calls. When these lanes overlap, it indicates that you're engaging with other tools while on a call. Whether you're screen sharing, presenting, or simply multitasking with other work tools during a meeting, you'll now have visibility into your activities.

If you use multiple tools for your Calls such as using Zoom meetings and Slack huddles, then you’d want aggregated call data so that you know how much time you’ve spent in Calls altogether.

This feature enables you to track the total time spent on Calls for each day, week, and month. Simply click "Time in Calls" in Your Daily Insights to delve into your trends further.

We've added calls to the App Metrics tab, offering individual data for each of your apps, such as Time in Calls, Call Interactions, and Avg Call Durations. This enables you to compare your call time across different apps.

How much time are you spending in Zoom compared to Slack huddles? Now you know!

Last but not least, when you select a virtual meeting app, you will find App Metrics. Here you find a breakdown of Time in Apps and Calls for Zoom, Slack, and Microsoft Teams independently.

Create a Better Meeting Culture for Your Organization

Calls consume a significant amount of time during the workday. By gaining insights into the virtual meeting habits of yourself and your team, you can take steps to regain control of your schedule. Don't let meetings, calls, and huddles consume your time and energy anymore — see what’s working and what isn’t with Produce8’s Call!

How much time do you spend each week on video calls? What other tools do you use during those times? Have your attempts to make virtual meetings less disruptive to your workday been successful? Now you can measure it with Produce8!

We are super excited to announce the release of our Calls integrations and related features.

Let us show you how it works.

What are Calls in Produce8?

This new set of features provides insights into the time you dedicate to calls, huddles, and virtual meetings across various collaboration platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Zoom.

This addition allows us to distinguish between your App Views (having an app in focus on your device) and Calls (participating in a virtual call), allowing you to gain a deeper understanding of your time allocation and tool engagement patterns.

The new Calls feature helps answer workplace questions like:

Are you joining too many unplanned or sudden calls?

What’s the best time to schedule team meetings?

When do you have the most calls during your day, and how does it compare to your team's schedule?

Are these calls using your time wisely, or are they making you work longer hours?

Are you fully focused during these calls, or are you multitasking with other apps?

Live Statuses of Your Calls

You can now view real-time call statuses directly in your Produce8 activity stream while you're engaged in a call on platforms like Slack, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams (with more to be added soon). This is more helpful in shared workspaces.

View Calls in Timeline

On your Timeline, you'll notice two swim lanes: Views and Calls. When these lanes overlap, it indicates that you're engaging with other tools while on a call. Whether you're screen sharing, presenting, or simply multitasking with other work tools during a meeting, you'll now have visibility into your activities.

See Total Calls from All Apps

If you use multiple tools for your Calls such as using Zoom meetings and Slack huddles, then you’d want aggregated call data so that you know how much time you’ve spent in Calls altogether.

This feature enables you to track the total time spent on Calls for each day, week, and month. Simply click "Time in Calls" in Your Daily Insights to delve into your trends further.

App Metrics for Calls

We've added calls to the App Metrics tab, offering individual data for each of your apps, such as Time in Calls, Call Interactions, and Avg Call Durations. This enables you to compare your call time across different apps.

How much time are you spending in Zoom compared to Slack huddles? Now you know!

App Level Metrics

Last but not least, when you select a virtual meeting app, you will find App Metrics. Here you find a breakdown of Time in Apps and Calls for Zoom, Slack, and Microsoft Teams independently.

Create a Better Meeting Culture for Your Organization

Calls consume a significant amount of time during the workday. By gaining insights into the virtual meeting habits of yourself and your team, you can take steps to regain control of your schedule. Don't let meetings, calls, and huddles consume your time and energy anymore — see what’s working and what isn’t with Produce8’s Call!

Get Insights into Work Calls, Video Meetings, and Huddles 

Produce8 is happy to announce that on Feb 5, 2024, we achieved SOC 2 Type 1 compliance in accordance with American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) standards for SOC for Service Organizations also known as SSAE 18.

The SOC 2 Type 1 certification affirms that the design of our system controls adheres to the stringent standards delineated in the "System and Organizations Controls" (SOC) framework for security and privacy compliance.

These credentials serve as a testament to the adoption of industry-leading security and privacy practices for SaaS platforms like Produce8. Crafted by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the SOC standards offer businesses assurance regarding the security measures and integrity of platforms and vendors in safeguarding data privacy.

Why is SOC2 Type 1 important to Produce8?

At Produce8, ensuring data security and privacy has always been a fundamental aspect of our product development ethos. Engaging in SOC 2 audits and obtaining certification allows us to tangibly demonstrate this commitment to our valued customers, partners, and team.

“Achieving SOC2 certification is a great step forward for Produce8 as a company and for our customers,” said Geoff Affleck, Director of Engineering at Produce8. “It’s a testament to the great work our team has been doing all along to ensure that we treat customer data with the highest levels of security and meet or exceed industry best practices.”

We are committed to protecting customer data: 

SOC 2 Type 1 compliance demonstrates to customers that Produce8 takes data security and privacy seriously. It assures that the company has implemented the necessary controls and safeguards to protect their data.

Our partners entrust us with their confidence: 

We uphold a high standard for identifying and mitigating risk. SOC 2 Type 1 compliance ensures that Produce8 is taking the necessary steps to safeguard the trust placed in us, mitigating potential data breaches.

Produce8 has a smart, dedicated team that is working tirelessly to make digital work better for everyone. Achieving SOC2 Type 1 compliance guarantees that every member of the Produce8 staff undergoes security awareness training and advocates for best practices in handling sensitive data.

Getting SOC 2 Type 1 certification entails undergoing a rigorous evaluation by a third-party auditor. Produce8 was audited by Prescient Assurance, a leader in security and compliance attestation for B2B, SAAS companies worldwide. Prescient Assurance is a registered public accounting in the US and Canada and provides risk management and assurance services which includes but is not limited to SOC 2, PCI, ISO, NIST, GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, and CSA STAR. For more information please visit 

An unqualified opinion on a SOC 2 Type I audit report demonstrates to Produce8’s current and future customers that they manage their data with the highest standard of security and compliance.

Produce8 is happy to announce that on Feb 5, 2024, we achieved SOC 2 Type 1 compliance in accordance with American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) standards for SOC for Service Organizations also known as SSAE 18.

What is SOC 2 Type 1 compliance?

The SOC 2 Type 1 certification affirms that the design of our system controls adheres to the stringent standards delineated in the "System and Organizations Controls" (SOC) framework for security and privacy compliance.

These credentials serve as a testament to the adoption of industry-leading security and privacy practices for SaaS platforms like Produce8. Crafted by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the SOC standards offer businesses assurance regarding the security measures and integrity of platforms and vendors in safeguarding data privacy.

Why is SOC2 Type 1 important to Produce8?

At Produce8, ensuring data security and privacy has always been a fundamental aspect of our product development ethos. Engaging in SOC 2 audits and obtaining certification allows us to tangibly demonstrate this commitment to our valued customers, partners, and team.

We are committed to protecting customer data: SOC 2 Type 1 compliance demonstrates to customers that Produce8 takes data security and privacy seriously. It assures that the company has implemented the necessary controls and safeguards to protect their data.

Our partners entrust us with their confidence: We uphold a high standard for identifying and mitigating risk. SOC 2 Type 1 compliance ensures that Produce8 is taking the necessary steps to safeguard the trust placed in us, mitigating potential data breaches.

We care for each other as a team: Produce8 has a smart, dedicated team that is working tirelessly to make digital work better for everyone. Achieving SOC2 Type 1 compliance guarantees that every member of the Produce8 staff undergoes security awareness training and advocates for best practices in handling sensitive data.

How Produce8 got certified

Getting SOC 2 Type 1 certification entails undergoing a rigorous evaluation by a third-party auditor. Produce8 was audited by Prescient Assurance, a leader in security and compliance attestation for B2B, SAAS companies worldwide. Prescient Assurance is a registered public accounting in the US and Canada and provides risk management and assurance services which includes but is not limited to SOC 2, PCI, ISO, NIST, GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, and CSA STAR. For more information please visit our Security page for more details.

An unqualified opinion on a SOC 2 Type I audit report demonstrates to Produce8’s current and future customers that they manage their data with the highest standard of security and compliance.

Produce8 Announces SOC2 Type 1 Certification

“Eat the Frog” is a popular method for checking off the most important tasks on your to-do list. But how effective is it?

In this article, we will help you understand Eat the Frog and anticipate challenges that may arise while implementing it. Then we will show you how to use Produce8’s digital work analytics to make data-driven decisions and improve the process.

Ready? Then click here to make the most of "Eat the Frog" 👉 

How effective is the "Eat the Frog" method?

“If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first.” - Mark Twain

The Eat the Frog method is a personal productivity hack that will help you prioritize your work. 

Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time.

The concept is simple: tackle your most challenging and important task—the "frog"—early in the workday. Then everything else will fall into place.

The Eat the Frog method is useful because it prompts you to prioritize your biggest and most important tasks first. Because these tasks are often challenging or complex, they are the ones you're inclined to procrastinate on, which only makes completing your goal harder as the day goes on. Practicing Eat the Frog can enhance your ability to focus on these tasks with greater impact.

Here’s how you can perform the Eat the Frog technique in a few simple steps:


To begin, check your to-do list. Is there a task that feels tough or that you’ve been putting off? That is your “frog!”

Break it down into smaller steps if needed


If your frog requires more than half a day of work, break it up into smaller, more manageable steps. Each step becomes a new frog to eat.

Establish a routine of tackling your "frog" first thing every morning


Make a habit of focusing on your main task early in the day. This starts your day on a positive note and ensures you handle important tasks promptly.

Are you ready to supercharge your productivity and unlock your full potential?

To measure whether Eat the Frog is working for you, timely feedback is essential. Real-time data and daily reports provide a clearer understanding of areas that need improvement.

In a perfect world, performing the Eat the Frog technique would work 100% of the time. Unfortunately, in the real world, we face internal and external obstacles that can throw our workday into chaos. Some common challenges of the Eat the Frog technique include:

When you don’t have a structured schedule, distractions can get in the way. And if managers or colleagues constantly dictate your workday, practicing Eat the Frog becomes challenging. To combat this, 

We don't exist on an island. Sometimes we have to assist others with their tasks. Focusing solely on important tasks (your frogs) might lead to neglecting urgent ones.

"Eating the Frog" requires you to perform unpleasant tasks that may not excite or motivate you. So, you may deviate and work on something else and then not return to the initial task until much later.

 Interruptions caused by notifications, updates, and invitations can make it difficult to concentrate on your frog.

Recognizing these challenges will allow you to build awareness around your work habits and make changes to take back control.

 offers real-time insights to evaluate the effectiveness of productivity techniques like Eat the Frog. Let me show you how to analyze whether the technique is working or not.

Use Produce8 to determine if Eat the Frog works for you

Forming a habit takes time. And you want to ensure your efforts are not going to waste.

Produce8 shows you how you interact with various work tools. This helps you find the right fit of productivity methods and allows you to reinforce your work habits. For instance, Produce8 shows:

View the Timeline to see whether you are effectively prioritizing your most important tasks.

In the filter, select all the apps you use for a specific task. This way you can analyze how the day looks with the tools grouped. If you are planning to get your work done in the morning, you should see a consolidation of interactions with that planning app. However, if you are consumed by 

 early in the day, you might see something like this:

You will find all your work apps in the Metrics tab. Click on Trends to assess your individual app usage over days, weeks, or even months. You will also see the average intensity of your workday in the 

You will find your Top Five Apps on the User Home Page. This will give you a quick view into whether you are spending quality time in the day with the tools you want to be using.

 You’ll also find your Daily Insights on the User Home Page. You can click on each Score to dive deeper into the metric. Note your Focus Score on days when you used the Eat the Frog technique. You may notice that on those days, your Focus Score was higher.

Setting up Produce8 is easy! To start, just connect the tools you use for work and download the Browser and Desktop Extensions. This will enable Produce8 to stream your activities within those apps and provide data in your Workspace.

Before you can see if the Eat the Frog technique makes a difference, start by collecting what we call your “

.” All you have to do is go about your usual work routine for a few days with Produce8 turned on.

During this time, Produce8 will work in the background. Feel free to pop in at the end of each day or get the 

How often did you switch between tasks? Use collaboration tools? Stay focused during work hours? Did any of it surprise you? Make note of these observations for later reference.

“Eat the Frog” is a popular method for checking off the most important tasks on your to-do list. But how effective is it?

In this article, we will help you understand Eat the Frog and anticipate challenges that may arise while implementing it. Then we will show you how to use Produce8’s digital work analytics to make data-driven decisions and improve the process.

Ready? Then click here to make the most of "Eat the Frog" 👉 How effective is the "Eat the Frog" method?

What is Eat the Frog?

The Eat the Frog method is a personal productivity hack that will help you prioritize your work. Brian Tracy popularized the method in his book, Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time.

The concept is simple: tackle your most challenging and important task—the "frog"—early in the workday. Then everything else will fall into place.

The Eat the Frog method is useful because it prompts you to prioritize your biggest and most important tasks first. Because these tasks are often challenging or complex, they are the ones you're inclined to procrastinate on, which only makes completing your goal harder as the day goes on. Practicing Eat the Frog can enhance your ability to focus on these tasks with greater impact.

How to Eat the Frog

Here’s how you can perform the Eat the Frog technique in a few simple steps:

Identify your "frog"
To begin, check your to-do list. Is there a task that feels tough or that you’ve been putting off? That is your “frog!”

Break it down into smaller steps if needed
If your frog requires more than half a day of work, break it up into smaller, more manageable steps. Each step becomes a new frog to eat.

Establish a routine of tackling your "frog" first thing every morning
Make a habit of focusing on your main task early in the day. This starts your day on a positive note and ensures you handle important tasks promptly.

How effective is Eat the Frog?

To measure whether Eat the Frog is working for you, timely feedback is essential. Real-time data and daily reports provide a clearer understanding of areas that need improvement.

In a perfect world, performing the Eat the Frog technique would work 100% of the time. Unfortunately, in the real world, we face internal and external obstacles that can throw our workday into chaos. Some common challenges of the Eat the Frog technique include:

Not having control of the day: When you don’t have a structured schedule, distractions can get in the way. And if managers or colleagues constantly dictate your workday, practicing Eat the Frog becomes challenging. To combat this, time block your day.

Balancing important vs. urgent tasks: We don't exist on an island. Sometimes we have to assist others with their tasks. Focusing solely on important tasks (your frogs) might lead to neglecting urgent ones.

Struggling with personal discipline: "Eating the Frog" requires you to perform unpleasant tasks that may not excite or motivate you. So, you may deviate and work on something else and then not return to the initial task until much later.

Managing distractions: Interruptions caused by notifications, updates, and invitations can make it difficult to concentrate on your frog.

Recognizing these challenges will allow you to build awareness around your work habits and make changes to take back control.

Produce8 offers real-time insights to evaluate the effectiveness of productivity techniques like Eat the Frog. Let me show you how to analyze whether the technique is working or not.

Use Produce8 to determine if Eat the Frog works for you

Forming a habit takes time. And you want to ensure your efforts are not going to waste.

Produce8 shows you how you interact with various work tools. This helps you find the right fit of productivity methods and allows you to reinforce your work habits. For instance, Produce8 shows:

Batch App Metrics: View the Timeline to see whether you are effectively prioritizing your most important tasks.

In the filter, select all the apps you use for a specific task. This way you can analyze how the day looks with the tools grouped. If you are planning to get your work done in the morning, you should see a consolidation of interactions with that planning app. However, if you are consumed by excessive collaboration early in the day, you might see something like this:

App Usage Metrics: You will find all your work apps in the Metrics tab. Click on Trends to assess your individual app usage over days, weeks, or even months. You will also see the average intensity of your workday in the Heatmap.

Top App Reports: You will find your Top Five Apps on the User Home Page. This will give you a quick view into whether you are spending quality time in the day with the tools you want to be using.

Focus Score: You’ll also find your Daily Insights on the User Home Page. You can click on each Score to dive deeper into the metric. Note your Focus Score on days when you used the Eat the Frog technique. You may notice that on those days, your Focus Score was higher.

Set up Produce8

Setting up Produce8 is easy! To start, just connect the tools you use for work and download the Browser and Desktop Extensions. This will enable Produce8 to stream your activities within those apps and provide data in your Workspace.

Get your baseline data

Before you can see if the Eat the Frog technique makes a difference, start by collecting what we call your “baseline.” All you have to do is go about your usual work routine for a few days with Produce8 turned on.

During this time, Produce8 will work in the background. Feel free to pop in at the end of each day or get the Produce8 mobile app to see what your workday looked like.

How often did you switch between tasks? Use collaboration tools? Stay focused during work hours? Did any of it surprise you? Make note of these observations for later reference.

Schedule time to Eat the Frog

Now that you have your baseline data and a good understanding of your current work habits, let’s see if implementing the Eat the Frog technique improves your workday.

Remember, Eat the Frog is a habit-based technique. That means it should be something you are using as consistently as possible in the morning. Aim to work with it for one work week and then build from there.

Make it easier by scheduling time directly into your calendar. This way you are setting expectations and letting your team know that you will be committing to a change in your routine.

By pairing the Eat the Frog technique with time blocking, you can better allocate time in the day. That way you can have a game plan right from the start.

Analyzing your Eat the Frog performance

After a week of working with the Eat the Frog technique, you can assess the data.

Aspects you’ll want to review include:

Are you making a habit of eating your “frogs” early in the day?

Do you know if you’re maintaining focus during those periods?

Have you identified the distractions that are keeping you from getting the job done?

Answering these questions will allow you to set goals that help you achieve a better workday. Let’s break it down.

1. Is it a daily habit?

If you regularly engage with productive apps at a specific time, Produce8 can visualize this pattern.

Simply click on the work tools you use while Eating the Frog in the Produce8 app. There, you can view your App Trends and identify how frequently you interact with specific apps.

Below, the Heatmap illustrates the times of the day you use the app the most. This provides a clear understanding of whether you're consistently Eating the Frog every morning as intended.

2. What is stopping you?

Can’t get the Eat the Frog technique to stick? Then figure out why. Are you moving away from important tasks too often? Or context switching too much? Whatever the case, you can identify what is dragging you down by looking at your Timeline.

3. How long have you been working?

Next, let's assess how much time you spend using specific tools for Eating the Frog. This helps you see how your day is divided.

Compare your time in the apps you use to Eat the Frog against other tools in your tech stack. How do you feel about how your day is broken up? Do you want to spend more time in your productive apps? Well, to do that, you need to extend your time Eating the Frog!

4. What does a great day look like?

Setting goals ensures you hold yourself accountable. It will help you complete crucial tasks and establish a better morning routine.

If your goal is to Eat the Frog daily, add an “App Views” or “Time in App” Goal in your App Usage on Produce8. This simple step can help boost your motivation.

Your next steps in building great work habits

Examining your day through the lens of a data-driven approach can enable you to explore different productivity approaches. And you can tailor these approaches to your goals to improve your performance and overall well-being.

For those interested in gauging the effectiveness of the "Eat the Frog" technique (or other productivity techniques like the Pomodoro Technique and time blocking), Produce8 is here for you.

The Hidden Impact of Microsoft Teams Calls on Your MSP’s Efficiency

Produce8 Unveils Major Platform Advancement to Boost Productivity in MSPs

How Many Ad-Hoc Meetings Do You Have on Microsoft Teams?

The Steep Financial Impact of Too Many Video Calls in an MSP Workday

Get Insights into Work Calls, Video Meetings, and Huddles

Produce8 Announces SOC2 Type 1 Certification

Create Better Habits with the “Eat the Frog” Productivity Technique

Produce8 Announces Marco La Vecchia Appointment as Chief Revenue Officer

Recognize Signs of Burnout at Work

Never miss an update from us. Join our community of business leaders and professionals navigating work and life in the digital-first era.

Why Produce8

Product

Resources