← Back to the calculator
305Founders · Founder Blueprint

The Founder's Two-Week Front-Line Hours Log

This log measures how much of your week goes to operating work inside functions someone else owns or should own, and how much of that work you chose. Print sheet 2 once for every day you work across two consecutive weeks, including weekends you work, and sheet 3 once.

How to keep it

  1. Record in 30-minute blocks, as you go. Check for gaps at the end of each day. A week rebuilt from memory favors the meetings you remember and misses the interruptions between them.
  2. Label every block FL (front-line), L (leadership) or O (other: personal administration, breaks, commuting).
  3. Mark each front-line block D (deliberate: agreed with your leadership team in advance, for a stated purpose) or P (pulled-in: everything else, including work you took over without being asked).
  4. Write who brought the work to you, or "self" if you started it, and why you were needed. "Refund authority unclear" gives the team something to fix; "calls" does not.
  5. Classify by the activity, never by the calendar title. Split a block when its purpose changes halfway through.
  6. Email takes the classification of the work it contains. Travel needed only for a front-line assignment counts with that function. Evening and weekend work counts in the same week.

Front-line or leadership?

ActivityLabelWhy
Following up an ordinary sales proposalFL, P unless agreedWork within the sales function
Leading a strategic-account sale agreed with the team in advanceFL, DThe team chose your involvement
Speaking with customers to inform company directionLLearning for a decision you keep
Reworking a customer deliverableFLProducing the delivery team's output
Reviewing a sample to set an acceptance standardLDefining the standard the company applies
Approving routine invoices within an agreed budgetFLA finance owner should hold it
Coaching a direct report through their reasoningLThe manager keeps the decision
Taking over a manager's staff scheduling problemFLYou took on the manager's operating work

At the end of the two weeks

Fill in sheet 3: add each function's deliberate and pulled-in hours per week, average the two weeks for your baseline, and name the function with the largest pulled-in total. That function is the first place to look for a missing owner, process or metric. Review it with your leadership team, agree who takes responsibility, and keep a lighter weekly tally on your scorecard from then on.

The full method is in our guide at 305founders.com/insights-founder-front-line-hours.html.

Sheet 1 of 3 · How to keep the log305founders.com
Sheet 2 · Daily log · Print one per working day

Daily log

Date:Week 1 or 2:Day of the log:

Type: FL front-line, L leadership, O other. D/P: deliberate or pulled-in (front-line blocks only). Brought by: a name, or "self".

TimeActivityFunctionTypeD / PBrought byWhy you were needed
Sheet 2 of 3 · Daily log305founders.com
Sheet 3 · Two-week summary

Two-week summary

Hours per function. Baseline = (week 1 total + week 2 total) divided by 2.

FunctionWk 1 DWk 1 PWk 2 DWk 2 PBaseline
Sales
Delivery and operations
Customer issues
Finance and admin
People and hiring
Marketing
Other operating work
Total front-line hours
Total hours worked

What the log shows

Function with the largest pulled-in total
What is missing there: owner, process, metric or authority?
Who will take responsibility for it
Deliberate front-line hours we agree to keep, and why
Date of the review with the leadership team
Front-line hours figure for the weekly scorecard
Sheet 3 of 3 · In the Founder Blueprint, front-line hours per week sits on the weekly scorecard directly after cash.305founders.com