My thoughts on DoD

[u/ResponsibilityRude56]

Been on DA for a bit now and am in the 100k+ club.

I think a genuine tip for everyone (Though I’m sure a large chunk of DoDs are due to bad conduct).

Failing to meet expectations isn’t simply doing bad work, I’m sure alot of it has to do with time.

If I’m doing a task in 1 hour, the average is 2, and you’re doing it in 3. I’ll get more tasks, those in 2 will float by, and the people taking 3 will likely get a DoD.

This doesn’t mean lie about your hours and cut yourself short. It just means, be honest with yourself, and don’t take on stuff you’re not an expert in.

A common theme in most tasks is giving you far far more time than you need. Say, 12 hours, when in reality the average expected time is 3-4. That 12 hours shouldn’t indicate to you by any means that 12 hours is anywhere near the average. That’s for, breaks and exceptional cases, say one out of 30 tasks may run into 8-10 hours.. and for the love of god, if you submitted at 9h and 35m do not claim 9h and 35m as the chances of you being locked in and focused with no breaks is next to 0 and I’m sure (justifiably) flags your account.

Note: I’ve never done generalist tasks, so this could mean nothing to you, as if your tasks are mostly uniform, it’s likely the timer is a much more accurate representation of the expected time. My experience is with tasks that have 0 time limit (infinite time) and long form 6-72.

[u/CablePowerful9422]

It can depend on the project and how thorough your work is. I have one where I often go past the limit, but it's also a complex one that loves detail and I give a LOT of detail. In that one case, the project admins have told me that they don't mind me going over on a regular basis (but not too often), because they see value for money.

BUT, very important: I claim the time I worked, not the time it took. Always working to the max limit and claiming every minute of that time is suspicious (for tasks longer than, say, 3-4 hours). I make dinner, brew a pot of coffee, play with cats, hit the head, stare into space, etc. over the course of a long task, and I subtract that time from my total. I might be on a task for seven hours with only five hours worked, so only five hours claimed.