Category Archives: WorkVitamins

Getting things done

From David Allen‘s book called Getting Things Done

From 43 folders:

“The book describes a relatively simple methodology for dealing with the “stuff” in your life, where “stuff” may be things to do, people to talk to, appointments to keep or projects to manage and complete. The book has a strong focus on what is termed the Next Action: the very next thing you have to do on a given project or activity.

The core of GTD consists of a sequence of routines for dealing with incoming claims on your time. These routines are intended to provide a system for dealing with tasks that takes things off your mind by being external and trust-worthy:

  1. The Collection stage is where all stuff is gathered together in an unstructured manner. This stage involves writing down whatever things one can think of that needs doing (possibly using trigger lists), and all places where relevant information might accumulate, such as in folders and drawers, are emptied into one place.
  2. The Process stage is where these items are sorted, and the further activity needed by them is decided. For each item, one asks:
    • Does the item require further action? If so, we can either (i) do it now, recommended for tasks that can be completed in under 2 minutes, (ii) delegate it and place it on a monitor list, or (iii) defer it, by assigning a next action to it and placing it on an action list.
    • If not then we should look for any value the item has. Might the item suggest future action given further thought? Then we shouldincubate it, putting it on a sometime/maybe list. Does the item have archive value? Then file it.
    • If the item demands no action, is not a spur to future thought, and does not have reference value, then it is junk and you can junk it.
  3. The Organize stage takes these sorted items and puts them together in a form than can be used through the day for allocating tasks to time.
  4. Regular Reviews ensure the organisation is a system that can be trusted, by scheduling collect & process stages to ensure that nothing escapes, ensuring that projects are associated with sensible next actions, pruning action lists of irrelevant actions, and looking over sometime/maybe lists for new spurs to action.
  5. Finally, through the working day, the Do stage uses the organised task lists to get things done.”

Why do we work?

Why indeed? A question I posed at Linkedin. Todd Gates is posing a lightly different question when he asked: “Why do we have to work” in his book Hunting, Gathering and Videogames. Watch him explain his ideas below, very interesting indeed.

“PART I: WHY DO WE HAVE TO WORK?

Chapter One
*Hunting, Gathering, & Videogames* gives a historical overview of why we’ve always had to “go to work,” tracing the common link between the workday of the prehistoric hunter and gatherer, the first millennium B.C. farmer, the first century A.D. pottery-maker, the nineteenth century assembly line worker, and today’s videogame programmer. ”

 

Private office or not?

Why should companies have private offices? 

According to this post the benefits of a private office are:

* Fewer distractions.

* Ability to personalize the space, to make yourself more comfortable, without distracting others with your personal preferences.

* Ability to have a radio/MP3 player running, for background noise (and filtering out others’ noise), without bothering anyone else.

* Ability to use speakerphone if you need to type while you’re talking, without bothering anyone else.

* Ability to close the door and put a “DO NOT DISTURB” sign up if you’re working on something critical and need to work without interruption.

* Ability to close the door if you’re working on a Security-related item, instead of having to take who knows how long going to who knows where to a secure workstation setup”

We have challenged many of our clients whether they should have a private office or not. The arguments that it all depends on the line of work is only an excuse I think. We discussed the issue with law firms, consulting companies and banks. Apart from the need of physical separation (Chinese walls) required by FSA regulations, the need for a private office is quite often only a status confirmation. I believe that we should look at the job performed and the needs rather than status, thus confidential calls could be made in meeting rooms close by, how many private telephone calls are managers making anyway?

The benefits of not having a private office:

* Managers more approachable to the staff,

* Reduced real estate costs, often managers are spending most of their time in meetings, visiting clients etc… we noticed that the occupation levels of private offices is actually quite low. 

* Less hierarchy, many companies talk about a flat organization, but the lay out of an office often says it all. Directors in private offices, managers sitting on desks slightly away from the team and team leaders sitting at the head of the table. 

* Better communication, for example studies in call centres have shown that when managers, sit on the floor with their teams to have a significant impact on production and motivation.

 

Happiness (part 2)

Can we fake happiness? 

According to the excellent presentation by Dan Gilbert:

Our “psychological immune system” lets us feel real, enduring happiness, he says, even when things don’t go as planned. He calls this kind of happiness “synthetic happiness,” and he says it’s “every bit as real and enduring as the kind of happiness you stumble upon when you get exactly what you were aiming for.” 

According to this article in Times:

“We’re wired to be optimistic. Most people think they’re happier than most [other] people.” And even if you aren’t part of that lucky majority, Bates says, there’s always that other 50% of overall life satisfaction that, according to his research, is not genetically predetermined. To feel happier, he recommends mimicking the personality traits of those who are: Be social, even if it’s only with a few people; set achievable goals and work toward them; and concentrate on putting setbacks and worries in perspective. Don’t worry, as the saying goes. Be happy.”

 

Happiness

Why is it more fun to work for one company compared to another? Obviously it has to do with the office environment. With that I don’t mean only the way the office looks. Although the office design will help tremendously to convey a message of “can-do attitude” or energy, it will not be the main key to happiness in the office.

First and foremost it is the lack of management: with this one in particular:

“Management doesn’t have or take the time to clarify goals and decisions. Therefore, it rejects work after it was completed, damaging the morale and esteem of those who prepared it.”

According to this article the key is for management to provide the employees with so called “strokes”:

“Here’s a true story that explains the source of the term, ‘stroke.’ An orphanage in Romania had 50 infants with only two nurses to care for them night and day. It took all the nurses time and energy to prepare the formula and feed the babies. They had to prop the babie’s bottles up on a pillow, insert the nipple in their mouth and go on to the next baby. The babies were well fed, they were warm and kept clean. Outside of this, they received no attention. The mortality rate was enormous. 

A solution was found When Renee Spitz studied the problem at this and similar orphanages. Autopsies of deceased infants revealed that the baby’s spines were shriveled up. The doctors prescribed physical stroking for new babies. Volunteers came in and simply stroked each infant. These babies survived. From these studies, the term ‘strokes’ was conceived. Although the strokes given the infants where physical, the term was expanded to include psychological strokes because they have effects similar to physical strokes. A psychological stroke is any kind of attention — a greeting, a look, a word, a gesture, or any act that says “I know you’re here.” 

Strokes are essential Not only for high self-esteem, they are essential for emotional and physical health. The power of strokes varies from a weak nod from a stranger to intense love between lovers. 

People hunger for strokes And will go to surprising lengths to satisfy that hunger. You need to have your stroke hunger satisfied to feel good about yourself and have high self-esteem. ”

Managers should learn to use positive strokes and employees should learn to deal with the negative strokes. I guess this all is another way of describing WorkVitamins.

Is the paperless office an Urban Myth? (Answers)

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Here are some of the best answers from my Linkedin Question: (I received a total of 28 answers)

"It would be a myth if most people actually believed it was possible, but their actions dictate that they don’t. Ironically, the technology is available now to make the paperless office a reality, but it will require a cultural change and a change in work habits to be fully realized. With software available for electronic archiving, email, digital signature, workflow, electronic forms, versioning, collaboration, retention, annotations, bate stamping, RFID, and a host of authenitication and security features, it is conceivable that an office could be paperless today. One of the biggest challenges for those pursuing a paperless office is that they do business with so many people who are NOT pursuing a paperless office. But they continue to do their part — I know of companies that have removed staplers, printers and copiers and I even know of one company who will terminate any employee caught printing email. Those who are serious about being paperless are enforcing their policies and slowly changing the corporate culture. These companies who have invested in the right technology and enforce policy are seeing a financial return in both hard and soft dollars."  Tom Talamantez

"I think what we will see is that paper will become a very transitory medium, rather than a medium of storage for information. People like to deal with paper. It is portable (for the most part), you can read it with no technology, and you can easily mark it up. You don’t have to charge a battery, upgrade software, or wait for paper to boot up. There is an ease of use and oftentimes, a very nice user interface, in the rawest sense of that term.From a legal standpoint, the electronic version of a paper document will become the evidence that is required. electronic records are easier to search and you can cast a far wider net more efficiently with electronic records. So from a legal standpoint, I suspect that electronic records will be preferred.

Therefore, over time, I expect that the long term retention of paper records as records of an organization will decline. But people will continue to print documents for review and portability."  Patrick Cunningham

 

" Switch the focus from paperless to paperlight.

As a paperless office consultant, my philosophy is to enable businesses to take steps towards this ideal by gradually phasing as much paper as possible out of their day-to-day business processes. I call it going paperlight rather than paperless – by which I mean that a business can dramatically reduce its paper consumption (and all the wasted time and resources that accompany it) just by re-educating people and streamlining their paper handling processes.

Ultimately, every business is keen to save time and money – many are now also more aware of their environmental impact or carbon footprints – and going paper-light is the solution to all of these common objectives. Despite common misconceptions, it IS easily achievable and not at great expense.

I believe that many of the current paper-based processes and documents in every average office will eventually become obsolete as people increasingly become aware that you can achieve twice as much in half the time by handling things electronically. Unfortunatley, many people are discouraged by the concept of going paperless since they think it is an all or nothing committment which it does not need to be. In my opinion, with a little awareness and training, every business has much to gain and nothing to lose by embracing a paper-light approach to everyday business practices." Carrie Bradley

Thanks to all the others who answered.

Office at home

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I have been preaching this for some time: the office should feel like home. Interesting to read this at our friends at Shedworking:

Office transformation specialist Morgan Lovell claim there is a new design trend for homely comforts in the office which is "turning the traditional world of British business on its head". They claim that introducing homely touches such as comfy sofas, chill-out areas, staff snapshots – and even a games console – can aid motivation and act as a platform for innovation. MD David Henderson said:

“The ‘office at home’ style is designed to instill team spirit, make employees more comfortable in the workplace and create an innovative atmosphere. The concept has come to the UK from the USA where it has been used to create inspirational environments, particularly in hi-tech industries such as IT.”

This boils down to:
* ‘break out’ areas with low level lighting and booth style seating
* television screens and decorative wall coverings to create a sense of lounge living plus displaying locally produced art in domestic style shelving and bookcases with a broad range of titles
* members of staff are also encouraged to bring pictures of themselves as youngsters for a family-style notice board, while another area includes comfy sofas and a games console where staff can exercise their competitive spirit.
* smaller desks have been introduced to encourage greater interaction and meeting rooms built to enable informal, impromptu meetings.
* fruit platters are prepared every day and lunch is brought in on the first Friday of every month so that everyone can get together and talk

 

Q&A

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Linkedin, the social website that is more business network orientated, has an interesting new feature, where members can ask, as well as answer questions. As I have more of a Question-asker kind of mentality, I wondered "why most work environments are so ugly?"

I rated Pieter Van Der Elst‘s answer as the best. This is what he wrote:

" Dear Martin,

I completely understand the reason of your question.

People around the world put time/ effort and money in creating a home-interior that reflects their personality.
But when it comes to office-interior, most organisations tent to make "safe" choices.

In my opinion, there are 2 main reasons for this.

1st, an office environment needs to fit for each and every employee who’s working at that site.
Person A will love that fresh,flashy green wall and person B will hate that ugly, yet exactly the same, colour.
Therefore, most employers will go for a safe choice, the type of office that you, me and most of us reading this answer have probably seen a thousand times.

Secondly, I think there’s an historical fact as well.
Our society has moved from a production-environment to a "knowledge environment". Thus, the role of "the employee" has changed from producing to communicating.
Just think about the way our parents used to work, and the way you are working today. Even better, think about the way our children will work in a few years time.

(You might want to read "The New Office" by Francis Duffy on this topic)

Unfortunately, the working-environment hasn’t changed as quickly as the job we do.
Communication technology as a good example; has evolved at an amazing speed, (mobile-phones, email, WIFI…) so people can work virtually anyware, yet most companies have not yet taken the step to create that environment that enhances the communication between colleaugues, departments…
And is that not exactly what we do, every single day at work. Communicate?

And this is where you have a valid point when asking your question.
This is exactly where companies have to take the next step and adapt the working-environment they offer their (future) employees.

It is my believe that offering an attractive office will create a huge benefit for most organisations to improve their retention-rate, and to attract a talented workforce…(An issue that is rising for many companies) and enhance their productivity.

Best regards,

Pieter"

Pieter had it spot on, as he understood why I asked the question in the first place. I was not looking for solutions, as I believe that to be one of the reasons why so many of the offices we see to be so ugly in the first place. It is not (only) about design, it is about company culture, communication and team dynamics. Design will not be able to cover the lack of that.

…to be continued…