What is taking not long

With irregularly repeated activities it is difficult to identify how long they take to complete. When analysing an operation, it is important to understand what is really going and how long those tasks and activities take.
Someone who is completing these tasks in amongst numerous other activities is unlikely to be able to provide a clear idea of time to complete.
A way to start accurately recording how long a task is going to take is a sampling. This is the process of recording what the person is doing at set intervals of usually 15 minutes. This can then be analysed and provide quantitative data. This can be viewed as a highly invasive practice making staff feel as if they are under investigation and with short tasks it may be impractical to make regular enough visits to capture timings.
An alternative approach would be to record what is being done without recording who is doing it.
The results of either method can be analysed to get an idea of how long and the difficulties of completing the tasks are.
If you are planning to employ either of the approaches is important that the person being studied is aware of what is being done, why it is being done and how the results will be used.