{"title":"My First Task productivity research compilation","reviewed":"2026-10-14","methodology":"Editorial compilation of external research, not original customer research. Cite the source publisher and retain each reporting period and population.","sources":[{"id":"microsoft","publisher":"Microsoft WorkLab","title":"Breaking down the infinite workday","url":"https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/breaking-down-infinite-workday","published":"2025-06-17","period":"Telemetry ending February 15, 2025; survey February–March 2025","scope":"Microsoft 365 activity and a 31-market knowledge-worker survey","methodology":"Aggregated telemetry excludes education and EU tenants. Survey: 31,000 respondents. Telemetry and self-reported experiences measure different populations."},{"id":"gallup","publisher":"Gallup","title":"State of the Global Workplace 2026: Global Data","url":"https://www.gallup.com/workplace/697904/state-of-the-global-workplace-global-data.aspx","published":"2026-04","period":"2025, with a separately labeled 2024 comparison","scope":"Employees worldwide in Gallup's workplace research","methodology":"Annual employee survey. Engagement, wellbeing, emotions and job-market perceptions are separate measures; they are not task-completion metrics."},{"id":"pmi","publisher":"Project Management Institute","title":"Pulse of the Profession 2024","url":"https://www.pmi.org/learning/thought-leadership/future-of-project-work","published":"2024-02","period":"2023 survey; report published 2024","scope":"Project professionals and senior leaders worldwide","methodology":"Survey of 2,246 project professionals and 342 senior leaders. Methodology adoption is reported use, not proof that an approach causes better outcomes."},{"id":"asana","publisher":"Asana","title":"U.S. Anatomy of Work Report 2022","url":"https://resources.asana.com/americas-anatomy-of-work-report-2022","published":"2022","period":"2022 report","scope":"U.S. report drawing on 2,000+ U.S. knowledge workers","methodology":"Survey research also involved 10,000+ knowledge workers worldwide. These historical coordination-time estimates are not current global benchmarks."},{"id":"hybrid-study","publisher":"Bloom, Han and Liang · Nature","title":"Hybrid working from home improves retention without damaging performance","url":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07500-2","published":"2024-06-12","period":"2021–2022 experiment","scope":"1,612 employees at Trip.com in China","methodology":"Six-month randomized trial of two home-working days per week. Results describe one company and policy; they do not establish effects for all remote teams."}],"facts":[{"id":"daily-email","value":"117","label":"Average daily emails received in Microsoft's telemetry","source":"microsoft","period":"2025","category":"Communication","interpretation":"Use a task owner and deadline instead of treating every incoming message as a new priority."},{"id":"daily-chat","value":"153","label":"Average Teams messages received per weekday","source":"microsoft","period":"2025","category":"Communication","interpretation":"Agree which updates belong on a task and which need an immediate response."},{"id":"ad-hoc-meetings","value":"57%","label":"Meetings described as ad hoc calls without calendar invites","source":"microsoft","period":"2025","category":"Communication","interpretation":"Before starting a call, check whether a written update and decision deadline would work."},{"id":"fragmented-employees","value":"48%","label":"Surveyed employees describing work as chaotic and fragmented","source":"microsoft","period":"2025","category":"Focus","interpretation":"Review interruptions and blocked work before adding more tasks to an already busy day."},{"id":"fragmented-leaders","value":"52%","label":"Surveyed leaders describing work as chaotic and fragmented","source":"microsoft","period":"2025","category":"Focus","interpretation":"Make the next decision, its owner and its deadline explicit in shared projects."},{"id":"late-meetings","value":"+16%","label":"Year-on-year change in meetings starting after 8 p.m.","source":"microsoft","period":"2025","category":"Remote work","interpretation":"Set a shared response window and rotate inconvenient meetings across time zones."},{"id":"engagement","value":"20%","label":"Employees globally classified as engaged","source":"gallup","period":"2025","category":"Workplace","interpretation":"Use workload conversations to understand context rather than judging engagement from task counts."},{"id":"thriving","value":"34%","label":"Employees globally classified as thriving in life","source":"gallup","period":"2025","category":"Workplace","interpretation":"Keep wellbeing discussions separate from delivery dashboards and respect individual privacy."},{"id":"stress","value":"40%","label":"Employees reporting substantial stress the previous day","source":"gallup","period":"2025","category":"Workplace","interpretation":"Check commitments against actual capacity and make it easy to raise a blocker."},{"id":"anger","value":"22%","label":"Employees reporting substantial anger the previous day","source":"gallup","period":"2025","category":"Workplace","interpretation":"Use retrospectives to discuss process friction without turning a survey result into a diagnosis."},{"id":"job-market","value":"52%","label":"Employees saying it was a good time to find a job locally","source":"gallup","period":"2025","category":"Workplace","interpretation":"Build durable project context so a change of owner does not erase decisions or responsibilities."},{"id":"previous-engagement","value":"21%","label":"Global engagement in the preceding reporting year","source":"gallup","period":"2024","category":"Workplace","interpretation":"Compare like-for-like measures and periods instead of combining unrelated survey percentages."},{"id":"project-performance","value":"73.8%","label":"Average project performance rate across PMI respondents","source":"pmi","period":"2023","category":"Project delivery","interpretation":"Use your own completion criteria and baseline; this rate is not a universal on-time delivery target."},{"id":"hybrid-methods","value":"31.5%","label":"Reported use of hybrid project approaches","source":"pmi","period":"2023","category":"Project delivery","interpretation":"Choose the workflow to fit the project instead of forcing every job into a single method."},{"id":"predictive-methods","value":"43.9%","label":"Reported use of predictive project approaches","source":"pmi","period":"2023","category":"Project delivery","interpretation":"Explicit milestones can be useful where sequence, approvals or external commitments matter."},{"id":"technical-skills","value":"64%","label":"Senior leaders saying teams need new technical skills","source":"pmi","period":"2023","category":"Project delivery","interpretation":"Make time for training when estimating available sprint capacity."},{"id":"coordination-time","value":"58%","label":"Workday spent on coordination activities in Asana's U.S. report","source":"asana","period":"2022","category":"Coordination","interpretation":"Track a week of actual coordination work before trying to reduce it."},{"id":"manager-coordination","value":"62%","label":"Manager workday spent on coordination activities","source":"asana","period":"2022","category":"Coordination","interpretation":"A short shared status update may remove repeated requests without replacing important discussions."},{"id":"hybrid-retention","value":"−33%","label":"Relative reduction in resignations in the hybrid-work trial","source":"hybrid-study","period":"2021–2022","category":"Remote work","interpretation":"Evaluate a specific work arrangement against your team's role requirements and delivery evidence."},{"id":"hybrid-attrition","value":"7.2% → 4.8%","label":"Control versus hybrid-group attrition in the trial","source":"hybrid-study","period":"2021–2022","category":"Remote work","interpretation":"The change is 2.4 percentage points, distinct from the 33% relative reduction; both describe the same result."}]}