Laura Stack - The Productivity Pro, Time Management, Getting Things Done, How to Be More Productive

66 Rules to Boost Personal Productivity -- Steve Pavlina

I recommend subscribing to Steve Pavlina's blog.  He recently posted two fun articles on 33 Rules to Boost Your Productivity volumes 1 and 2 (66 total).

His first tip "Nuke it" gives you a flavor of the list.  (I call this one "Purposeful Abandonment"---it's an essential productivity tool---always asking yourself, "If I didn't do this at all, would anyone notice?")  There isn't really any new thinking here (it's a compilation of common tips in book report style he's titled something different), but it's a good summary.  Not all of his tips will work for you, of course, but approach it like a cafeteria: take what you like and leave the rest.

The Top 50 Productivity Blogs

Check out this great resource of the Top 50 Productivity Blogs.  Leo is a smart guy (I'm on his list).  :-)

The Crackberry: A Corporate Noose or Time Leveraging Tool: Time Management and Blackberries

I enjoyed this post about how to be more productive with your Crackberry, I mean Blackberry.

Especially true is Nakagawa's comment, "...the people who are the most productive don’t seem to have them." 

I'm sure you have your beefs about Blackberry usage in your organization (or by your spouse, for that matter).  If you were king or queen of the world, what "rules" would you create about Blackberry usage?  In addition to the 10 the author lists, I'll add the following from personal experience:

1.  Do not pretend you are listening to someone by brainlessly mumbling "uh-huh" while you are answering an email on your Crackberry.

2.  Pay attention to the presenter during training sessions rather than using the time as your personal Crackberry play time.

3.  Use codes in the subject line when emailing, so Crackberry recipients can get your message without having to open it: "Do you know what the June budget figure is for professional services? END"  (AR = Action Required, END = End of message, LONG = read later etc.)

4.  Set your Crackberry to delete your email off the server when you delete it from your handheld (so you don't have to do it twice).

5.  Turn your Crackberry off when you are standing in line for the Matterhorn at Disney World with your poor children tugging at your arm.

What are your rules?

The 3/2 Rule of Employee Productivity

A reader just turned me on to Allan Engelhardt's October post called "The 3/2 Rule of Productivity."   Wonderful.  Fascinating research with data showing the more employees your company has, the less productive each person is.  Basically, in terms of profit per employee, when you triple the number of employees, you halve their productivity (the 3/2 Rule).  Allan supposes the causes could include self-selection, relationship friction, a shared vision, and the ability (or lack thereof) to collaborate.  If I could toss in my two cents, from what I hear employees of large corporations complaining to me about, it's:

* a huge volume of email to deal with and some moron replying to all with a 50-person distribution list and 100 spams each day

* meetings that run on and on with no purpose and no apparent outcome

* interruptions by co-workers who have nothing better to do than waste their time

* waiting...and waiting...and waiting...for an answer from someone who was supposed to deliver it days ago, and now the poor worker has to implement reminder systems just to babysit the lazy butt

* work arounds for IT departments that only allow a laughingly-small amount of storage space for pst files

* several layers of bureaucracy to dig through to get the slightest irregular expenditure approved.

What else?  Please add to my list or tell me I'm not on target.

Email etiquette

I love this post: Hacking Email: 99 Email Security and Productivity Tips, especially the section on email etiquette.  Many of the tips provided by the IT Security Staff point to one common theme: DON'T WASTE PEOPLE'S TIME with your email.  The objective is to get your message read, not to slow down your reader.  Sending an email with a blank subject or a subject like "Hi" is sure to get it deleted.  Be detailed in the subject line, so they don't have to read three paragraphs to understand what you want.  Don't send chain letters.  Don't forward your motivational saying of the day.  Don't "Reply to All" on a CC with 43 people.  Take the time to cut the most relevant sentence from the message to which you are responding and answer specifically, so the reader doesn't have to review the entire string to figure out what part you're answering.  Be brief; if not, provide a summary before the text.  Bottom line: use common sense and courtesy.  Don't cut corners to save yourself time and put the burden on the recipient.  Ask yourself, "What could I do to save my reader some time?" before sending.

Daily PlanIt Blog

Here's a blog I like called Daily PlanIt.  Has a great list of top ten time management and personal development blogs/sites.  I trust his opinion...mine is listed ha.

Get Organized with Home Helpers cites two main time management resources: Work Wonders and Home Helpers.  Check out http://dailyplanit.wordpress.com/2006/10/28/get-organized-with-home-helpers/ for a helpful list of resources.

Leave Early Fast Company blog

Keith Hammonds posted a comment on the Fast Company magazine blog:

"Are you still in the office? In New York, it's nearly 6 pm on the eve of a holiday weekend. What are you doing there? (What am I?)

What's keeping you from going home? Right now? Do you really have so much work that has to get done, or did you spend too much time in useless meetings, or responding to needless emails? Or, you know, checking the stats for your Roto league?

I got a note from the PR rep for someone named Laura Stack, who calls herself "The Productivity Pro." Stack apparently "has declared June 2nd as National Leave the Office Earlier Day. This national holiday encourages workers to eliminate time wasting behaviors and improve productivity habits. With better behaviors, workers can leave the office earlier and get home to their family and friends."

So, ok, this is an unusually shameless publicity ploy. And it worked--whatever.

What's the reality? If you were a lot better about organizing your work and your time, could you reduce a 10-hour workday to 8 hours? How would you start doing that? (We've written about one guy, David Allen, who might help you think that through.)

Or is there simply more work than a so-called standard workday can contain?

Now, go home. Seriously."

Check out his posting to see the responses to the question, "What's keeping you at home?" and post your own: http://blog.fastcompany.com/archives/2006/04/14/leave_early.html