PRODUCTIVITY: Forcing change

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

I write a weekly ezine of news for my fellow Jaspers. In an effort to reduce the amount of time spent on it, I’ve been morphing to different strategies, tactics, processes, programs, and procedures. In an ill-measured trek, I’ve chopped it from a horrendous weekly effort of tens of hours to a hard to measure 90 minutes. One of the big strategy changes was, to instead of collecting text files on my notebook, I created a blog. Each day, when finding something, I’d put an entry on the blog. Slightly less time spent doing that. And, ensuring that I had the entire week’s collections was trivial. All I had to do was cut ‘n’ paste from the blog to the webpage. In changing platforms from LUGGABLE (a dell xps) to MCBA (Mac Book Air), I have now for the first week transitioned completely onto MCBA. Where I used to use Microsoft Word and Filezilla, I now use IWORKPAGES, NVU, and FILEZILLA on MCBA. It’s apparent to me now that I can just use NVU for everything. Next week will be even easier.

Just thought I’d share a lesson learned, just forcing yourself to a better place is often not as bad as it seems.

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Posted by reinkefj

PRODUCTIVITY: Disney’s $100,000 Salt + Pepper Shaker

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2008/07/disneys-1000000.html

Disney’s $100,000 Salt + Pepper Shaker

*** begin quote ***

The story is simple. At 12 years old, a young Randy Pausch was exploring Disney World with his family and he and his sister decided they wanted to show their parents their appreciation for the trip. So they did what any other grateful children would do—they pooled their allowance money and headed straight for the Disney gift shop. A few minutes later, they emerged with the perfect gift. A ceramic Disney salt and pepper shaker featuring two bears in a tree holding the salt and pepper (not the ones in the photo above.) Randy and his sister left the store excited to see their parents faces when they opened the gift.

Minutes later, a mini-tragedy struck when Randy accidentally dropped the shaker, breaking it on impact. A nearby adult suggested that they should take it back to the store and they did so hesitantly, not expecting a positive outcome. To their surprise and delight, the Disney employee who had sold them the items apologized for not wrapping them appropriately and gave them a new set, no questions asked.

{Article Continues}

In recent years as a consultant, Randy would often ask Disney executives this question: “If I sent a child into one of your stores with a broken salt and pepper shaker today, would your policies allow your workers to be kind enough to replace it?”

Randy says, “the executives squirm at the question. They know the answer: Probably not.”

*** end quote ***

So we know have a new Leadership meme: “Does your org support 100k salt shakers?”

Hmmm, a very hard question to answer.

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Posted by reinkefj

PRODUCTIVITY: “SLUGGING”; how do we do more of it?

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

http://bentoncrane.net/2008/09/19/avego-the-new-slugging/

Avego–The New Slugging
September 19th, 2008

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I recently moved to the Washington DC area. I experimented with various different ways of commuting. I tried driving, riding the bus, and taking a train. With some help from the locals, however, I found that slugging is my ideal way to commute.

Slugging is a funny blend of carpooling and hitch-hiking. It came about over 20 years ago as a result of northern Virginia’s HOV-3 lanes. The I-95 freeway has the typical Northbound and Southbound lanes, but unlike most other freeway systems it has a third artery down the middle.

*** end quote ***

Aren’t people smart? And, without a gooferment centralize planner to ‘processize’ the process! How could that ever be?

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Posted by reinkefj

PRODUCTIVITY: “Abandon ship” doesn’t mean “linger aound”!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

http://fseg2.gre.ac.uk/HEED/Email/safety_tips/index.html

*** begin quote ***

evacuation Information that could save your life

The World’s largest study into the 911 evacuation of the World Trade Center has just begun. However, there have been several smaller studies into the WTC evacuation based on printed accounts from WTC evacuees (for example, go to the following pages to find the UK Building Disaster Assessment Group (BDAG) analysis of the evacuation: http://fseg.gre.ac.uk/fire/BDAG_project.html). While these studies have been limited in their scope we have learnt a number of important lessons that could save your life.

Lesson One – Don’t do anything to delay your departure

Lesson Two – Know your way out

Lesson Three – Don’t stop on the way to reassure friends and family

Lesson Four – Ladies, don’t discard your shoes on the stairs

Lesson Five – Know how long it will take to get out

*** end quote ***

When I had a group in WTC, during the first bombing, the supervisor there called me for instructions what to do. My answer was quick: “Send everyone home now! Have them call me when they get home. Go home yourself, and do the same. We’ll figure it out from there. Go now!” And, I hung up on her.

I didn’t check with anyone. Didn’t have to. It was common sense.

I then called my boss to tell him what I did. “Good! At least you’re not one of the stupid ones I have working for me. But, don’t expect a medal. Now get off my phone. You must have work to do!” And, he hung up.

p.s., I got gigged in my annual appraisal for not checking with HR for the correct policy.

Seems easy to me. You can always find another job!

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PRODUCTIVITY: be better at D ‘n’ P

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

http://zenhabits.net/2007/08/
five-great-ways-to-achieve-happiness-through-serving-others/

http://tinyurl.com/35byc6

Five Great Ways to Achieve Happiness Through Serving Others
This guest post was written by Stephen Smith, editor and publisher at Business Development in Context.

*** begin quote ***

4. Keep your promises. You can create an atmosphere of service simply by doing the things that you say you will do. Dependability and punctuality are the hallmarks of the service-oriented individual. When people can trust you it creates happiness all around.

*** end quote ***

Creating trust is a common failure I see in IT all the time. Just today, I was trying to explain why a team’s participation was need in a group effort. All I heard was that the subteam didn’t feel they were getting value out of the effort. No concern over the grou[‘s perception that they were “mia” and not part of the team. I’m not sure if I got thru the self-centered objection. Sigh!

I’m going to be better at D ‘n’ P.

p.s.: oops, almost said “try”!

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PRODUCTIVITY: An envelope for the housekeeper

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

First time I ever saw it. An envelope for the maid. It even had a soft message on the front that went something like: “If you are planning to leave something for the maid and we’re not saying you have to, please use this envelope. Our people are scrupulously honest and any money they find loose in the room will be left there on the table.” What a great idea. Frau and I have decided to make up our own for all future trips.

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Posted by reinkefj

PRODUCTIVITY: Losing your email address!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

My favorite Socialist was just forced, due to exasperating availability on his cable system, (No, he didn’t have Comcast!), to switch to another Internet Service Provider. So he has to change his email address.

What folks don’t realize is the you LOSE all the people who have your email address that:

  • you don’t know about (i.e., the recruiter stores your email in the search firm’s database),
  • can’t reach (i.e., the recruiter with your dream job is unknown to you), and
  • are stored in a static form (i.e., your old resume has the old email address on it)!

You can offset the loss by have robust presences on social networking sites where you can be found or “looked up”. Like LinkedIn, Facebook, the much despised Plaxo, or even MySpace. You can somewhat compensate by a free updater like Plaxo or CardScan.

But, bottom line, there is no substitute for your own domain, with a supporting website, and your own email connected to that domain. It’s so cheap there is no excuse. It’s so easy and executive can do it.

No sympathy here!

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Posted by reinkefj

PRODUCTIVITY: You need to own your own email!

Saturday, July 26, 2008

http://www.tuaw.com/2008/07/26/
unlucky-1-percent-of-mobileme-email-users-get-some-relief/

http://tinyurl.com/59f66y

Unlucky 1 percent of MobileMe email users may get relief
Posted Jul 26th 2008 9:00AM by TUAW Blogger
Filed under: Bad Apple, .Mac, MobileMe

*** begin quote ***

Apologies are well and good — but considering the MobileMe terms of service, that’s about all you can expect to see, as Apple isn’t liable for lost business or damages due to the outage. If there’s a lesson in this, maybe it’s that mission-critical users should own their own domains and public-facing email addresses, so that they can redirect incoming mail in a crisis. Depending on a single provider for mail (even ones with a reputation for reliability) can bite you.

Written by Michael Rose. Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

*** end quote ***

I’ve ranted and raved about email control. Anyone, who is serious about computer using, needs to “own” this critical entry point into your world.

You need the capability to have a primary and alternate emil address. Buy one and use a free service if money is tight. If your primary goes out, then you need the capability to redirect to the alternative.

Note this means that your domain registrar, website provider, and email provider should NOT be the same entity.

And, you should never allow that all-importnt email address to be controlled by anyone. Companies get sold, go out of business, or just whimsically decide to change their names. You shouldn’t lose your email address because of this.

I made that mistake a long time ago with AT&T as my ISP. Never ever again.

reinke dot cc for me.

(Some day I plan to visit the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, an Australian territory.)

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PRODUCTIVITY: “Zerstreutheit” and the Attention Management Cure

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

http://www.43folders.com/2008/06/13/zerstreutheit-and-attention-management-cure

“Zerstreutheit” and the Attention Management Cure
Merlin Mann | Jun 13 2008

Linda Stone: Is it Time to Retire the Never-Ending List?

Linda Stone – who coined the phrase “continuous partial attention” – makes a thoughtful distinction between managing time and attention, deflating the misconception that making long lists and then overscheduling your day can be a bulwark against distractions, interruptions, and the crippling feeling of being overwhelmed.

*** AND ***

What did surgeons, artists, and CEO’s have in common? Most of them reported that they managed both their time and their attention. In surgery, in the studio, and in the time carved out to think through strategies and issues, these professionals reported shutting down the devices and endless inputs (email, phone, interruptions), at scheduled times, and claiming those moments to focus. In almost every case, these professionals reported experiencing “flow” (a la Csikszentmihalyi) in their work.

*** AND ***

… share this William James quote, which Stone’s post mentions in passing (my emphasis).

Every one knows what attention is. It is the taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought. Focalization, concentration, of consciousness are of its essence. It implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others, and is a condition which has a real opposite in the confused, dazed, scatterbrained state which in French is called distraction, and Zerstreutheit in German.

*** AND ***

“Zerstreutheit.” I love it when there’s a German word for my problem.

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me2!

It seems that this descibes the modern enterprise with its overbooking meetings, berry email during presentations, and just ‘no time to focus’. I heard someone (maybe Covey?) describe it as “the Important pushed out of the way by the Urgent”.

Quiet time?

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Posted by reinkefj

PRODUCTIVITY: Lessons Learned from spinning plates

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

All the productivity gurus urge doing “first things first”. But, not one of them can stuff more hours in the day. If one learns anything from my time trying to keep all the plates spinning, the key lesson is “no!”. Firmly, gently, honestly applied. “No, I have no more … not bananas, but time today”. On the first of each month, I’m going to ruthlessly prune all the task that I have taken on with an eye to eliminating them.

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Posted by reinkefj

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