Thursday, July 4, 2019

Painting Analytics - First Half 2019

Figure 1
As alluded to in my previous post, I finished off the first half of 2019 with 619 figures painted and transferred over to the "Completed" side of the ledger.  Given that my 2019 painting plan targeted a completion of 900 figures for the year, I am well on my way to reaching that goal. 

Figure 1 illustrates the mix of periods tackled and shows that I am doing a satisfactory job of sticking to my forecasted project mix too.  The 15mm 1859 Franco-Austrian War and 1799 Suvorov projects account for nearly 60% of the output.  With attention trained on fielding Celts for a Telamon battle, 84 Celts were added during the first half of the year.  Still a lot more Celts in The Lead Pile to add during the second half of the year. 
Figure 2
Figure 2 demonstrates that my effort was focused on 15/18mm projects for much of the YTD.  Nearly 71% of total output was concentrated on this size.  For me, this is a respectable output and puts me on track to reach goals set in January.  I may consider revising my total production goals for the year, however.  Either that or leave the goal at 900 figures and switch to seeing more 28mm figures in the painting queue.  Still, seeing the heavily laden bins of 15mm figures being drawn down in The Lead Pile motivates me to continue hammering away at the smaller scale.
Figure 3
Figure 3 shows the monthly production by ERA on an unadjusted or actual figure count basis.  While the early months of 2019 saw below average production due primarily to travel for work and leisure, spring saw a "spring" in painting productivity.  Will that higher productivity survive the tests of summer?  Probably not since July and August are shaping up to be busy with family activities.  We will see what summer holds.  
Figure 4
While Figure 3 provides a raw count of the figure totals, Figure 4 takes those raw figure totals and adjusts them for scale.  The result is a monthly tally on an adjusted Painting Points basis.  Seen in this light, February and March totals look quite anemic in comparison to April and June.

In the first half of 2019, nearly 50 BMUs or units passed over the painting desk.  Of my favorites, I must count the French Ligne battalion of 20mm Les Higgins' figures painted for Tony at Prometheus in Aspic.  That was a fun exercise in applying paint to a figure not seen before.
Tony's Les Higgins' French

34 comments:

  1. Seeing everything together in a couple of charts is a good reminder of how diverse your army collections are and also what a prolific painter you are. Goal setting and bench marking certainly give some emphasis to focus.

    Amongst all that diversity, has there been a favourite unit pass across your bench this year?

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    1. Quite right, Norm, regarding goal setting and benchmarking to maintain focus. It helps me manage all of the projects and collections.

      As for favorite unit, I really enjoyed painting the 20mm Les Higgins' French infantry sent to me by Tony. Something different and something old.

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  2. Is it possible, that you love statistics?

    Or it is just, that you don't do something halve-hearted?

    Impressive numbers...

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    1. I am firmly in the camp of "you cannot manage what is not measured." As for love of statistics, that is part and parcel of my work as Data Scientist/Statistician!

      Good to see you leaving a comment!

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  3. Your graphs are as colourful as your figures.

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  4. Excellent progress and I like your mix of periods and scales.

    Those Higgins figures have character.

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    1. The Les Higgins' figures have much character, for sure. Being from the '70s, it is even more impressive how they have withstood the test of time and progressions in the state of the art. Fine figures!

      The painting mix keeps me from getting bored or burned out at the painting desk.

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  5. Echoing others tremendous progress , of course as I don’t have a goal I can neither succeed nor fail ........🤔

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  6. I'm always deeply impressed at your analytics and goal setting--it's enough for me to come up with a tally at the end of the year. I'm not sure whether to be inspired or discouraged to read that painting either 52 or 63 figures in a month (and done very well) might be considered "anemic" :)

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    1. The goals help me to keep plodding forward. Without it, I may lose all direction.

      No need for discouragement. We all paint at different rates and you have been churning out some real, customized beauties!

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  7. Impressive production (and charts) as we have come to expect! :-)

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  8. Good luck in the next part of the year! I always enjoy watching your works with pleasure :)

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  9. Nice charts, great numbers, I'm happier with a vague plan, that way I don't beat myself up about failing to achieve, clearly works very well for you!
    Best Iain

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    1. I use planning sessions and metrics as a Guiding Hand not an Iron Fist. It works for me.

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  10. Very productive and great work on the charts which serve as a nice reminder of what we have seen over the past six months.

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    1. These charts work as a reminder for me as well. With units crossing over the workbench at a steady ate, it is easy to become myopic and lose sight of the bigger picture.

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  11. Seen and very much enjoyed, I should have said.

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    1. Lawrence, glad you enjoy following along the painting trail!

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  12. 619 figures is a pretty impressive total Jonathan and on such a diverse range of armies.

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    1. Thanks, Mark. My totals are modest compared to your output.

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  13. Clearly the 15/18mm size is the best. I always count 3 of those as 1 bc I go by bases..
    Not that it matters bc I have no where near the outpyyou do. As I said last time; impressive numbers and diversity all around. Remarkable really, and I stand in awe. I probably don’t have 600 painted figures in my entire collection. 😀
    Well done, you are a painting machine! Lol.

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    1. Stew, it is support and encouragements like yours that help keep me motivated.

      As for Painting Machine, many surpass my output but that is ok. I have a friend who, years ago, nicknamed me "el Machino" for my painting productivity. Now, I am not even the fastest painter within a 30 mile radius!

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    2. I find that hard to believe. I think some charts are in order to prove such a silly thing. 😀

      I’m gonna move inside that radius so I wouldn’t have to paint anything again and just play with other peoples huge armies.

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    3. Within 80 miles, these two gaming buddies paint me under the table...

      https://dartfrog06mm.blogspot.com/ (80 miles away)

      http://macpheesminiaturemen.blogspot.com/ (30 miles away)

      You are welcome to move north then you never have to paint again!

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  14. Very impressive break down as usual Jonathan!

    Christopher

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  15. Excellent output so far, good luck finishing out 2019 strong.

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    1. With two-thirds of the 2019 goal in the books, I should hit 900 figures without difficulty.

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  16. I love these posts. LOVE them. It really speaks to my inner bean-counter!

    I was going to say "You're a stats-guy, huh?" but I see you've already answered that in your reply to Amtmann B's comment.

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    1. Glad to see you enjoy my “bean-counting” posts! I enjoy them too and these exercises gives me a chance to assess exactly what has been accomplished.

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