I started using Rescuetime today. It seems to be a pretty sophisticated tool for time tracking and requires virtually no work to set up. This ties back to my post two weeks ago about how to boost productivity, which outlined several ways to track the places that time goes, so that you can later make a judgment about the best way to budget or manage time for improvements in productivity. This tools seems on the surface to be a much easier way to accomplish the task.
I'll keep you posted with a full review at a later date, but please post a comment if you have any experience with the tool.
What do I do with these KPI's?
Once you start to develop a few KPI's the real questions start. The urge will be to want to do something at every time the KPI is below the average. It's estimated that 95% of variation in a system is caused by the system itself. So, since the whole reason for having the KPI is to know when something is out of whack, you'll be doing nothing 95% of the time. Want to know how to create a crisis? Try to find out why your KPI is "below average" every single time is goes below the line. The goal here is to know what is normal variation and what is out of whack variation. You are the best one to know this, but try to know it before you react. There are many statistical methods for coming up with the limits to normal variation, but for a quick a dirty start to managing your first KPI try to eyeball the line chart and estimate the usual high and low points for your system. Now, every period that you look at your KPI, you have to ask is this inside the normal system? If the answer is yes, then your response should be, ok, everything is normal and I should not do anything. So many times, managers want an answer to the reason the KPI is above or below the average every week when their team reviews their performance, when the real answer is everything is normal and that is why the number is what it is. It's up because its up and not because you are a star, or its down because its down and not because someone screwed up.
Google OS available NOW, but now quite
Google announced today that it's new OS will be a cloud computing web appliance, which is a little different that what was expected. It won't really be an OS, but instead will be more like a portal for full blown cloud computing. They are releasing the source code, as well, starting immediately, but the Google release of the end product won't be until next year. This news is a little disappointing seeing that cloud computing is still so young. It could still make improvements in productivity, by allowing traveling persons to have a quick and mobile OS, but probably will do little for more stationary persons.
See more info, from this article from infoworld.com, about Google.
See more info, from this article from infoworld.com, about Google.
WSJ follow up to Flyblown Crisis Article
The WSJ today nicely summarized the top time management systems, including GTD, Pomodoro and Covey. The article was perfect timing to compliment the article on this blog today about multitasking. Personally, I love GTD and think that Pomodoro is a great add on for keeping on task. Both are great systems that promote single-tasking.
From the WSJ:
• Getting Things Done: The reigning gorilla of time management, "GTD," as its followers call it, was created in the 1980s by David Allen, an Ojai, Calif., consultant whose coaching, training materials and seminars can be found at davidco.com. Mr. Allen has since sold more than one million books about GTD and attracted 1.2 million followers on Twitter. GTD's aim is to corral all the projects and tasks floating around in your head into an organizing system you update weekly. No matter what chaos erupts, the system in theory enables you to quickly identify the next step to take on every front to keep all your projects moving forward, while keeping your mind clear to relax, think and be creative.
• The Pomodoro Technique: This quirky method had me working in intense spurts guided by a kitchen timer shaped like a tomato—or pomodoro, in the inventor's native Italian. Developed by Francesco Cirillo, director of XPLabs, a software design firm based near Rome, this technique is spreading via Twitter and other social networks. It can be learned in a few hours from a free guide at pomodorotechnique.com; making it a habit takes up to 20 days.
From the WSJ:
• Getting Things Done: The reigning gorilla of time management, "GTD," as its followers call it, was created in the 1980s by David Allen, an Ojai, Calif., consultant whose coaching, training materials and seminars can be found at davidco.com. Mr. Allen has since sold more than one million books about GTD and attracted 1.2 million followers on Twitter. GTD's aim is to corral all the projects and tasks floating around in your head into an organizing system you update weekly. No matter what chaos erupts, the system in theory enables you to quickly identify the next step to take on every front to keep all your projects moving forward, while keeping your mind clear to relax, think and be creative.
• The Pomodoro Technique: This quirky method had me working in intense spurts guided by a kitchen timer shaped like a tomato—or pomodoro, in the inventor's native Italian. Developed by Francesco Cirillo, director of XPLabs, a software design firm based near Rome, this technique is spreading via Twitter and other social networks. It can be learned in a few hours from a free guide at pomodorotechnique.com; making it a habit takes up to 20 days.
Stop multitasking!!!
For years now, the idea of multitasking has been seen as a productivity enhancing activity. But, anyone who has tried to talk to someone on the phone who is also doing their email knows that they are not either productive or effective at either task. We should think of multitasking as doing multiple tasks badly. You don't save any time usually, and most often it will add time to your overall day. AND, you'll have to redo many of the tasks because there will be so many errors, because your attention cannot be on two tasks at once. I have been in call centers before when people were trying to answer technical support calls and read a book at the same time. How well do you think that support rep understood the customer that was on the phone?
We should be clear that there are delays in some processes, and during those delays filling that time with something productive is a good thing. THIS IS NOT MULTITASKING. This is time management, which is good and will enhance productivity. Start enhancing your effectiveness today, by not jumping to a new task anytime that your computer system has a 10 second delay (10 seconds isn't enough time to switch to a new task!), making to-do lists and staying on each single task until it is complete and please, for the sake of all of us, don't talk on the phone and do email at the same time.
This idea also transfers to talking on the phone and driving at the same time!!!!
We should be clear that there are delays in some processes, and during those delays filling that time with something productive is a good thing. THIS IS NOT MULTITASKING. This is time management, which is good and will enhance productivity. Start enhancing your effectiveness today, by not jumping to a new task anytime that your computer system has a 10 second delay (10 seconds isn't enough time to switch to a new task!), making to-do lists and staying on each single task until it is complete and please, for the sake of all of us, don't talk on the phone and do email at the same time.
This idea also transfers to talking on the phone and driving at the same time!!!!
Upgrade to Windows 7
I upgraded my OS to Windows 7 today. from Vista. It took a lot longer than I anticipated, but it was seamless. It took nearly 4 hours, but after the delay I didn't have to do any updating of software and only had one peripheral that needed to have updated drivers, which was my Brother label printer. I think that windows finally got one right. I'm still playing around with it, but the nag screens are way down, and things seem to be much easier to get to. I love the dock that they copied from the mac.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
