It Didn’t Happen If You Didn’t Write It Down

"if you didn’t write it down, it didn’t happen.

That applies along multiple axes. If you think of a good idea and don’t record it somewhere, you’ll forget it. Inevitably. If you need something done by a certain time and don’t record it somewhere, you’ll miss it. If you learn something while roaming through code, or exploring a new tool, write your experiences down. You’ll thank yourself later."

http://designbygravity.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/methods-of-work-it-didnt-happen-if-you-didnt-record-it/

Don't Redesign Your Company's Performance Appraisal System, Scrap It!

"At a time when many corporations are engaged in unrelenting searches for ways to improve operations and reduce costs, there is one aspect of organizational life that has largely escaped scrutiny: Performance Appraisal. Perhaps this is because performance appraisals have become an unquestioned fact of life in most large organizations. As with most unquestioned facts, a critical examination can prove beneficial.

In this article, the author points out that the hard costs of operating formal performance appraisal systems are measured in billions of dollars annually and that the soft costs might be even higher. The primary offsets to these costs are the purported benefits of performance appraisal systems. Upon inspection, these appear to range from non-existent to minimal.

Here, then, is a situation rife with opportunity for organizations willing to challenge the status quo."

http://home.att.net/~nickols/scrap_it.htm

Workplace web bludging 'good for productivity'

"Melbourne University's Dr Brent Coker says workers who surf the internet for leisure, known as 'Workplace Internet Leisure Browsing' (WILB), are more productive than those who don't.

A study of 300 employees found 70 per cent of people who used the internet at work engaged in WILB.

"People who do surf the internet for fun at work - within a reasonable limit of less than 20 per cent of their total time in the office - are more productive by about nine per cent than those who don't," said Dr Coker, from the university's Department of Management and Marketing."

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/technology/workplace-web-bludging-good-for-productivity-20090402-9ktm.html

Total quality or performance appraisal: choose one.

"Most advocates of total quality believe that total quality management (TQM) and performance appraisal are incompatible. For them, company managers can choose to promote either of these two approaches but not both. Since fundamental TQM requirements contradict the basic elements of performance appraisal, it would be impossible to combine them. Thus, companies may have to reexamine their approaches to corporate leadership."

http://deming-network.org/files/tqmorpa.txt

"At the center of the case against performance appraisal are the fundamental values and principles of TQM. TQM requires customer-consciousness, systems-thinking, an understanding of variation, an appreciation of teamwork, a mastery of improvement methods, and an understanding of the process of personal motivation and learning. These very requirements of TQM are subverted by performance appraisal. TQM requires us to understand, control, and improve processes for the benefit of the customer. Performance appraisal aims at controlling an individual's behavior to the satisfaction of his or her manager. The two approaches represent a fundamental choice for leaders: one or the other; not both. "

[...]

Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule

"There are two types of schedule, which I'll call the manager's schedule and the maker's schedule. The manager's schedule is for bosses. It's embodied in the traditional appointment book, with each day cut into one hour intervals. You can block off several hours for a single task if you need to, but by default you change what you're doing every hour."

"When you're operating on the maker's schedule, meetings are a disaster. A single meeting can blow a whole afternoon, by breaking it into two pieces each too small to do anything hard in."

http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html

There really is no secret

http://www.therereallyisnosecret.com/

Telonu Gives Employees A Place To Vent

"Telonu is a service that allows you to post “tells” or reviews about a company you currently work for, previously worked for, or wished you worked for. Not only that, you can also ask questions like, “When’s the last time you got a raise?”, or, “Are we allowed to wear jeans to work?”. Telonu also creates the same atmosphere for schools, brands, and people."


http://demogirl.com/2008/12/17/telonu-gives-employees-a-place-to-vent/

Ashes to ashes: Smoking ban one year on

"Chaos was predicted when the smoking ban was first introduced on 1 July last year. But apart from a drop in nicotine-addicted regulars down the pub, it seems there was smoke without fire in the majority of workplaces. Louise Druce looks at the law a year on."



http://www.hrzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=185514&d=1063

Utah Shifts To A More Sustainable Four Day Work Week

"Around 17,000 or 20 percent of all Utah state workers will shift to a new four-day, ten-hour work schedule beginning in August as part of the state’s one-year "Working 4 Utah" pilot program to save energy and money. By shutting down 1,000 buildings statewide on Fridays, an estimated 3,000 metric tons in carbon emissions will also be cut. Admittedly, though the energy and fuel savings is not as great as telecommuting, the idea of a four-day work week is probably more appealing to reluctant employers who are willing to test more moderate, but still viable, alternatives."

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/06/utah_four_day_work_week.php

More people want less responsibility in their jobs

"A recent study from the Families and Work Institute reveals that the percentage of college-educated workers who want more responsibility in their jobs has dropped in the last few years."

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/career/?p=357&tag=nl.e101

Telecommuting is Green and Saves Money, but Most Employers still Resist it

"In these days of increasing environmental awareness and rising oil prices, telecommuting is gaining mindshare. Yet employers are still reluctant. According to CIO Insight Research's Mobility Survey: "51 percent of CIOs and other senior IT leaders surveyed said their companies discourage fulltime telecommuting. An equal number of the 237 respondents—24 percent each—said their firms encourage fulltime telecommuting or remain neutral.""

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/06/telecommuting-statistics-information-surveys.php

The Myth of Multitasking

"In one of the many letters he wrote to his son in the 1740s, Lord Chesterfield offered the following advice: “There is time enough for everything in the course of the day, if you do but one thing at once, but there is not time enough in the year, if you will do two things at a time.” To Chesterfield, singular focus was not merely a practical way to structure one’s time; it was a mark of intelligence. “This steady and undissipated attention to one object, is a sure mark of a superior genius; as hurry, bustle, and agitation, are the never-failing symptoms of a weak and frivolous mind.”"

http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-myth-of-multitasking

A Sample Blogging Workflow

"Your company has decided to launch a blog, and you’re the lucky blogger. Maybe you’ve even asked for this pleasure, suggested it to the boss yourself. Only now, you have to deliver, and you have to stay consistent. It’s not always easy to keep up a steady blogging pace, and there are days when you might run into a roadblock or two that might keep you from delivering on your schedule. Here are some ideas on how to build and maintain a steady blogging rhythm, be it for your personal blog or your business blog. We’ll cover goals, tasks, tools, and some bonus secrets."



http://www.chrisbrogan.com/a-sample-blogging-workflow/

How to Enjoy Your Job

"Before you can enjoy your job, you have to figure out what "enjoyment" means to you. Doing that will not only help you enjoy your job, but it will help you more fully enjoy life in general. Here are some ways you can improve your satisfaction – job related and otherwise. This is not a quick fix; it will take some time, but the effort will be incredibly rewarding."

http://www.wikihow.com/Enjoy-Your-Job

You Weren't Meant to Have a Boss

"... we are clearly not meant to work in groups of several hundred. And yet—for reasons having more to do with technology than human nature—a great many people work for companies with hundreds or thousands of employees."

http://www.paulgraham.com/boss.html

Why Zappos Pays New Employees to Quit—And You Should Too

"The fast-growing company, which works hard to recruit people to join, says to its newest employees: “If you quit today, we will pay you for the amount of time you’ve worked, plus we will offer you a $1,000 bonus.” Zappos actually bribes its new employees to quit!"

http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/taylor/2008/05/wy_zappos_pays_new_employees_t.html

101 Tips to Help You Make Money Doing What You Love

"1. Cut Out TV Time – Instead of watching other people doing what they love (actors, athletes, etc.) while you sit on the couch, why not invest the time into becoming an Inspired Money Maker. The average US home has the TV on for over 3,000 hours per year. A 40 hour/week job is only 2,000 hours per year."

http://www.inspiredmoneymaker.com/2008/05/23/101-tips-to-help-you-make-money-doing-what-you-love/

Lazy Productivity: 10 Simple Ways to Do Only Three Things Today

"How can laziness work? Well, if you only want to do three things, just do three things. But here's the key: make those three things count."

http://blog.liferemix.net/lazy-productivity-10-simple-ways-do-only-three-things-today

Brain Rules

"How do we learn? What exactly do sleep and stress do to our brains? Why is multi-tasking a myth? Why is it so easy to forget—and so important to repeat new knowledge?"

http://www.brainrules.net/

Sabotage manual from 1944 advises acting like an average 2008 manager

"(1) Insist on doing everything through “channels.” Never permit short-cuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions. ..."

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/06/11/sabotage-manual-from.html