SCRUM?

Never heard of it. One job I had we had to track our time to the 15 minute interval everyday on an excel spreadsheet. Filling out the spreadsheet could take 15-20 itself sometimes if the day was complicated enough.

Still a good idea though. It is good to be conscious of what's getting done. Our office was more factory-line production oriented. I don't know what the average was, but I would estimate we each got about 7 hours of work done on an eight hour shift (usually less for management, we had this one manager that drove out to staples every other day) on a good day. Being able to see very plainly where our time was going was a great help in an effort to improve efficiency.

What we were doing was a little more streamlined than writing code. Tasks were very straight forward. We compiled features from 3d aerial imagery for mapping. There were also some editing tasks, data format transfers and qcqa. Basically, it was a data entry job, but actually pretty fun as the data was 3d and you felt like you've been flying above the earth all day, mentally at least.

Actually, what we were inefficient about is when we had to do stuff like writing code or building custom tools for our software (CADD and GIS programs). That's ok though, because anything you can do to automate things will save time in the end. Writing code requires lateral thinking. Sometimes you have to back out of it and look for a way around your specific problem.

Now here's an idea about how maps can save energy. I would encourage anyone to get a road map of the place and surrounding area of where they live and put it on their wall. Use a marker to draw over all the routes they take in a week. Draw lines thicker every time you drive it in a week. Also keep a table of where you went, and how much gas, money and time you burned up.

When you see it laid out in front of you, sometimes you might see more efficient routes to take, and ways to combine trips. Sometimes, just seeing how much money you have to spend laid out in front of you will help you squeeze more efficiency out of your travel. I've had a few jobs where I drove a longer way because I didn't realize until later that there was quicker way. Google maps has a pretty easy setup for planning and examining different routes.

Even 2 less miles (or less 15 minutes idling in traffic) twice a day can add up. 

Well, now you can get directions from Google Maps at the pump, so why carry a map?

actually, i think it is Mtn. View only.

Sure, freeway is better, assuming your not in stop-n-go traffic on the freeway -- However in the case (like my commute) side streets are less impeded, then it makes more sense, even though time-wise it is about the same.

there's also http://freebombs.com if you prefer. For every IQ test you fail, they drop 10 bombs on a 3rd world country.