I love this:
QUALITY vs quantity, UX process.
Check email ONLY:
- 10AM
- 1PM
- 4PM
Send any time
Set email to check every 3 hours.
NO email on evenings.
NO email on weekends.
EMERGENCY? = Use phone.FOCUS 1-3 Activities max/day
LOG 1-3 Succinct status bullets every day on team wikiMINIMIZE chat
MAXIMIZE single-taskingOUT by 5:30PM
~No excuses~
I’ve been trying to live by many of these principles at work for the last few months. The highlights:
I have to say, I feel much more productive using this system. Way more, in fact. Checking off all your to-dos each day (well, most days) is a very satisfying exercise and positive reinforcement. This process has really changed the way I work and think about tasks/projects.
I highly recommend single tasking over multi-tasking to produce quality, high focused work. (Multi-tasking is a myth, except for real low-level activities, btw.) I also highly recommend the Moleskine diaries.
And you may be thinking, you only get a small handful of things done each day? And I say, you are confusing ‘doing’ and ‘done’. You may DO more things each day, but how much do you actually get DONE? You’d be surprised. Actually finishing three things each day is quite an accomplishment. And those three things pile up very quickly as each day passes.
[hat tip: Smarterware, Gina Trapani's new blog]
Tags: getting things done, multitasking, productivity, work
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A much needed reminder from 37signals:
This isn’t a breakthrough, it’s just a reminder. If you want to do great work, focus on one thing at a time. Finish it and move on to the next thing. It means some things aren’t going to get done as fast as some people may want. It means some people aren’t going to get your full attention for a while. But doing a bunch of crappy work, or making a bunch of poorly considered decisions just to get through the pile isn’t worth it.
via Multitasking is the fastest way to mediocrity – (37signals).
Tags: 37signals, multitasking, work
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From the “Mavericks at Work”:http://www.mavericksatwork.com/?p=108 blog written by Polly Labarre. The post is titled ‘Freedom = Success (And not the other way around)’… that alone got me interested.
She contends that the old adage of “time put in + physical presence + elbow grease = RESULTS” is a myth and that employers are _slowly_ starting to get the gist that in today’s world (technology enabled communication and the work-from-anywhere possibilities) many employees are looking for freedom in their career.
bq.. Old version: work hard (for a very long time), achieve success, earn freedom (to retire and do all the things you missed out on while you were working)
New version: find work that affords you freedom = success
p. What does that mean? She says:
bq. I would argue that the organizations and leaders that find a way to build freedom (freedom from the time clock, freedom from the cube, freedom from the org chart, freedom to create) into work will be the winners in the future. Freedom is a bigger game than power. Power is about what you can control; freedom is about what you can unleash.
Sounds good to me! As someone who can do their job virtually anywhere, I think this is beyond obvious and a logical progression. Some employers agree. Most don’t, unfortunately.
Polly points to Best Buy and their ROWE initiative, which stands for Results Only Work Environment. As long as you get your work done and produce, you can do what ever you want. Go shopping at 2pm? Come in late? Leave early? Go to the movies with co-workers? All acceptable.
bq. Our assumptions about how work works, where we work, and when we work are relics of the industrial age.
As someone who works for a company that pushes results based pay increases (AKA pay for performance), wouldn’t this approach be more logical than trying to con us into thinking a 5% pay increase every 14 months or so is great? I think so. The results speak loudly:
bq. The results have been spectacular: an average 35% boost in productivity in divisions working in ROWE and a decrease in voluntary turnover by 52-90% depending on department.
The archaic idea that more hours, more meetings, more face time, more sitting at your cube, means more success has got to go.
Give me freedom.
[hat tip: "Seth Godin":http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/]
Tags: freedom, productivity, work
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Me at work with no hope of getting out early. Happy New Year!
Tags: 2007, moblog, new year, work
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