Why is Productivity Beautiful?

Ever spent a whole day at work and not really accomplished anything? Read some email, factor in a couple of unexpected phone calls, toss in a few meetings. Before you know it, eight hours have passed and you haven't checked anything off of your list. You can always stay late (along with everyone else) but doesn't your family or your pet deserve some attention too? Didn't you promise yourself that you'd get some exercise? What about that book you never started?

I've found that my work time during the weekend is far more valuable than during the week. Why? Not because I particularly enjoy spending Saturday in front of a computer. It's because my perspective is totally different. During the week I feel an obligation to spend a certain number of hours working. Sometimes those are productive hours, sometimes they aren't. But I fit myself into the mold, whether or not it makes sense. On the weekend, however, I just target one or two discrete tasks. If those tasks take me five minutes, great! I walk away with a sense of satisfaction. If they take a couple hours, that's OK too. The point is that that weekend allows me to focus on what I'm trying to accomplish, not how long I spend doing it.

That's really what WorkWyze is about, too - allowing you to put everything else aside and focus on what needs to get done. It provides you with a 'work repository', a place to remember why you were hired. Why not give it a shot? Complete a Work Item. Feel that sense of satisfaction as it moves to your Archive folder. Maybe even assign a Work Item to someone else. Then go home and take your dog for a walk.

Email: The Black Hole

Twenty years ago, email was virtually unknown outside of academic and scientific settings. Today, it's so widespread that you might be shocked to find someone who doesn't use it. What an amazing transformation for such a short period of time.

In the workplace the change has been even more dramatic. Email has become the default means of communication, stealing market share from the telephone, hard-copy memorandum, bulletin board, hallway conversation and meetings. The problem is, it has been a little too successful.

Twenty years ago you never would have dreamt of having a lengthy debate with a colleague via pencil and paper. You wouldn't have called a meeting to look for your missing stapler. You wouldn't have used the bulletin board to monitor your team's performance. Today, though, email is used for all that and more; it's often the be-all and end-all for office information and communication. It's ubiquitous, easy to use, and fast. But it's also abused.

How many times have you had the following internal conversations, with more than a hint of frustration:

• "I'm positive he sent me that link, but I just can't find it. Or was it Joe that sent it? Forget it, I'll just ask the whole group if they know."
• "Ahh ... performance reviews, my favorite time of the year. What did Jane accomplish in the last 12 months? I know she was really productive, but I need specifics. I'll just go into Outlook and review all her emails. Yikes ... there are 454? Better get some coffee."
• "Why do they keep copying me on these messages? I don't care what they do in Sales unless it's going to impact me, or unless they need my help."

Email has become a dumping ground. Good luck separating the wheat from the chaff!

It's time to pull back a little and carefully consider where you store your important information. Work requests, status updates - your critical day-to-day information - should be accessible outside of email. Consider a separate work management system that will provide you easy access to the data that's most critical to your team. Has your team completed the work that you assigned to them? Do you remember what your boss asked you to do in the last meeting? Those are questions that you need to able to answer ... easily.

WorkWyze, offered by our start up Aquamarine Networks, is just one option. See what's out there and choose one that works for you. But whatever you do, don't just send an email.

WorkWyze - simplify how you manage your team

After many years of managing people and projects in organizations of all sizes I came to realize that there is a common thread; when two or more people get together to collaborate, chaos seems inevitable.

"I thought I told you that we needed it by Wednesday..."
"No, actually, I've been working on that..."
"This is so frustrating, I need to know who is assigned to this, and what the status is"

The thinking was that it shouldn't need to be this way. Myself and a couple of friends have built WorkWyze. WorkWyze is simple online tool that is designed to make is easier to manage teams, and enable team members more easily manage their work.

Our beta release is up and running. I'd really appreciate you stopping by WorkWyze.com and see if you'd like to try it out with your team. It's free! You can also check our brief video of at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njt3wGO7yy0

Productivity is beautiful!