Posts tagged productivity
Years ago, when I was researching an article on research into stress, one social scientist passed on a simple tip: “At some point every day, you have to say, ‘No more work.’” No matter how many tasks remain undone, you have to relax at some point and enjoy the evening.
Fun to compare :)
whiteboards at 4 NYC tech companies
Last Friday, I zipped around the city from one NYC tech start-up to another for the annual Walkabout NYC, a wonderful way to get a glimpse into some of the cities most innovative “small” companies. (Small in quotes because Gawker isn’t exactly pint-sized.)
I was able to pop into Gawker, Harvest (the Walkabout organizer), Squarespace and the folks right here at Tumblr.
Of course every single one of these companies has the requisite, brainstorm-enhancing, list-making, org chart-explaining whiteboard…or 10. But what goes on said whiteboard(s), where they live and how they look can be very, very different. See above.
Before we can find the answer — before we can even know the question — we must be immersed in disappointment.
When we tell stories about creativity, we tend to leave out this phase. We neglect to mention those days when we wanted to quit, when we believed that our problem was impossible. Instead, we skip straight to the breakthrough. We tell the happy ending first.
The danger of this scenario is that the act of feeling frustrated is an essential part of the creative process. Before we can find the answer — before we can even know the question — we must be immersed in disappointment, convinced that a solution is beyond our reach. We need to have wrestled with the problem and lost. Because it’s only after we stop searching that an answer may arrive.
Prioritize projects through this simple lens: Each dot represents a potential project or feature. Scoring would work such that;
Green = justification for immediate completion
Yellow = decide based on subjective views
Red = justification to wait
As an organization grows, this allows you to weigh the ideas and complexities of partner requests with that of folks who have longer term (cross quarter) projects currently in motion. Things like engineering hours, PM resources, and design may play a role in the score and color of a dot. Previously running projects have probably the highest impact, but provide justification on a high impact low difficulty project being pushed off a month.
Harvest is enabling me to be successful. I feel confident that I can accomplish tasks. I know that when the clock’s ticking, I need to stay focused on the project at hand. I value the time I spend on projects in a way that I never have before. And, when I’m asked to do something, I’m asking the most important question of all: “How much time do you expect this to take?
Solutions Come From Unexpected Places
The InnoCentive Web site, started by an Eli Lilly executive in 2001, has shown that solutions to difficult scientific problems (which are posted online, with a monetary reward attached to each challenge) are often solved by people working at the margins of their fields, who were able to think outside the box.
Jonah Lehrer says: “Chemists didn’t solve chemistry problems, they solved molecular biology problems, just as molecular biologists solved chemistry problems. While these people were close enough to understand the challenges, they weren’t so close that their knowledge held them back and caused them to run into the same stumbling blocks as the corporate scientists.”
Being able to step back and view things as an outsider, or from a slightly different angle, seems to promote creativity, Mr. Lehrer says. This is why travel frequently seems to free the imagination, and why the young (who haven’t learned all sorts of rules) are often more innovative than their elders.
It’s not that I’m so smart, said Einstein, it’s that I stay with problems longer.
Giving someone 4 hours of interrupted time is the best gift you can give anybody at work
Jason Fried, co-founder of 37signals and co-author of Rework, has an interesting comparison of work to sleep when thinking about why stretches of uninterrupted time are important.
“[S]leep and work are phase-based, or stage-based, events. So sleep is about sleep phases, or stages … There’s five of them, and in order to get to the really deep ones, the really meaningful ones, you have to go through the early ones. And if you’re interrupted while you’re going through the early ones … you don’t just pick up where you left off… .
You’ve got to go through these phases and stuff, and if you’re interrupted, you don’t sleep well… . Why do we expect people to work well if they’re being interrupted all day at the office? … .
Giving someone four hours of interrupted time is the best gift you can give anybody at work.”
On taking risks
Bosses should encourage workers to take big chances, even if it means they crash and burn from time to time, says Tracey Matura, general manager at Mercedes-Benz USA’s Smart car unit. Workers need to know their bosses would “rather pull you out of the wall than have to push you through it,” Matura explains. “The wall hurts everyone, but if you stop short every time you see the wall, we don’t really evolve.”
Thank you Elite Web Labs, we’re so happy to hear it: 25 Months, 987.74 Hours Billed, 0 Complaints!
this is a manifesto we can get behind: “inspiration should follow you from hobby to career, home office to corporate headquarters.”
The mission of The Roger (on twitter @therogermag ) A new digital magazine focused specifically on office spaces and creating beautiful, productive and inspiring ones.
Happiness is not a destination
well said!
Tony Chu, MFA candidate, turns around a Quora answer for first-time entrepreneurs that answers “what part of the process are people often completely blind to?”
An idea is not a design,
but it is an invitation to a journey.
A design is not a prototype,
but it is a plan for moving forward.
A prototype is not a program,
but it is a test for your assumptions.
A program is not a product,
but it is a milestone towards progress.
A product is not a business,
but it is the first fruit of an idea.
A business is not profits,
but it is a team behind your back.
Profits is not an exit,
but it is validation of your work.
And an exit is not happiness,
but happiness is not a destination.
Happiness is a journey.Thanks to Tony for a reminder that what is can be turned around.
Thinking Time: In 2008, 300 engineers and managers at semiconductor giant Intel participated in a pilot program where, for four hours every Tuesday morning, they set their e-mail and IM clients to “offline,” directed phone calls to voice mail, avoided scheduling meetings, and isolated themselves from visitors by putting “do not disturb” signs at the entrances to their workspaces. This “thinking time” program was run by engineer Nathan Zeldes, who reported it enhanced “effectiveness, efficiency and quality of life for numerous employees”; 71% of participants recommended that it be extended to other groups.
TIME IS MONEY: On average, a CEO spends 18 hours in meetings.
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