Best way to get people to particpate in a survey
DanielStraight: You are already starting with two preconceived notions. First that you need to quantify how time is wasted in software development. Second that you need to do a survey. I don't know what you're trying to achieve, but those may not be necessities (well unless of course what you're trying to achieve is exactly and only raw data on how time is wasted in software development as would be obtained by a survey).The use of a survey especially seems more apt to be flexible. Especially when you consider the simple fact that all survey answers are lies to some extent whether the responder intends for them to be or not. Is there perhaps an opportunity for direct observation? Can you perhaps check how time is spent by looking at commit logs of open source projects? Can you track stock values over time to see which period of time was least utilized? The list goes on.I'm not saying a survey is necessarily a bad idea, but they have lots of flaws (such as lying and not providing the right answers (or questions)).