Productive Magazine 05

8/8/2019 Productive Magazine 05

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4Cultivating Good Habits

4Getting Focused Easier

4Making Meetings Work

4Productivity on the iPad

Luis Miguel Urrea Guia Michael Hyatt Leo Babauta Jocelyn Glei Stephen Smith Howard Flomberg James Mallinson Andrew Filev Michael Sliwinski

magazine

Exclusive Interview

S p o n s o r e d b y

#5 (August 20www.ProductiveMagazine.com

LuisMigueL

urreaguia
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Our Magazine joins

Productive Firm to receiveregular updates

From the Editor

By Michael Sliwinski, Editor

Iam very happy to oer you this

newest, th issue o your Productive!

Magazine. This is a breakthrough

issue as I believe we have nailed the

way this magazine will be published in the

uture and its going to be an exciting time

or you and or our small team.

We have some really antastic authors

publishing regularly or us and we decided

to give you a new issue o the magazine

every two months until the end o this year.

In December, based on your eedback,

readership and the experience gathered

publishing this magazine, well decide how

oten to publish issues in 2011.

We want to give you more productivity-

related content, not only with this

magazine but also through short videos,

additional in-depth articles and books.

This is why we are launching a new

productivity membership site called

Productive! Firm and both this magazine

and my Productive! Show will now be

a part o this site. Im sure youll love it.

Members o Productive Firm will also

receive inside scoop beore the magazine

gets published, will be able to read

the entire, uncut interview with each

issues guest and more. Speaking about

our guests, this time we decided to try

something dierent and you probably

dont know the person on the cover o

the magazine. But believe me, you want

to get to know him.

I got many emails rom people saying

I ocus too much on celebrities like David

Allen and Guy Kawasaki... and I should

be interviewing people who are highly

productive... but are regular people like

you and me. So I chose one o my closest

riends and one o the most amous

Spanish sculptors Miguel Guia.

Luis Miguel Urrea Guia (thats his

complete name) is a sculptor, an artist who

also runs a series o successul companies

in Madrid, Spain. We used to work closely

together on some projects and I was

always amazed how he got stu done. He

quickly became my productivity guru and

actually he inspired me to build the rst

magazine

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version o Nozbe my GTD productivity

app. In the interview Miguel Guia explains

his way o approaching productivity and

cultivating good habits that help him get

more done.

Continuing the theme o successul

entrepreneurs and productivity in small

companies, weve got great articles by our

regular contributors like Leo Babauta (who

was our eatured guest in the last issue o

the magazine), Michael Hyatt and others...

Hope you like the new changes to the

magazine and how it is coming together.

Im sure youll love this issue o your

avorite productivity magazine and now,

without urther ado I encourage you

to prepare a beverage o your choice, sit in

a comortable armchair, and grab the iPad

to read this new issue o the Productive!

Magazine. Enjoy!

Yours productively,

Michael Sliwinski (@MichaelNozbe)

Founder, Nozbe Simply Get It Done!

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05Michael SliwinskiDitch the bad habits andcultivate the good onesInterview with Luis MiguelUrrea Guia

08

Leo BabautaFrictionless Work:How to Clear Your Lieo Non-Essential Tasks

10

Michael HyattScheduling Time in theAlone Zone

13Howard FlombergQuick&Dirty Guide to:Meetings how to makethem work

16James MallisonGetting Things DoneFASTER

18Stephen SmithKanban Changes thePerspective 22

Michael Sliwinski7 ways the new AppleiPad will increase yourproductivity

ableo contents

20Andrew FilevFocusing on GettingThings Done with ProjectManagement 2.0

Productive!Magazine

www.ProductiveMagazine.com

Sponsor:

www.Nozbe.com

Your Online tool or Getting Things Done

available in your computer browser, mobile phone and

on your iPhone.

Chie Editor:

Michael Sliwinski

[email protected]

Technical Editor:

Maciej Budzich

[email protected]

www.blog.mediaun.pl

Editorial Team:

Lori Anderson

Delna Gerbert

Dustin Wax

Tribute:

Marc Orchant (1957-2007)

The Productive!Magazine is dedicated

to the memory o a productivity guru,

great blogger and a very close riend,

Marc Orchant who passed away on 9th

December 2007.

All articles are copyright by their respective authors.

Productive!Magazine is copyright by Michael Sliwinski.

Getting Things Done and GTD are the registered

trademarks o the David Allen Company.

24Jocelyn Glei10 Laws oProductivity

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Q: Who are you and what do you do for living?

Im Luis Miguel Urrea Guia and Im a sculptor and painter

known under a nickname Miguel Guia and Im also an owner o

several businesses and a senior semi-proessional athlete Im

the residing champion o Spain in hammer throw my senior age

category.

Q: Please tell me more about what inspires you as an artist?

My passion is to make art accessible to everyone with sense o

beauty, as a sculptor and painter Im completely in love with art

and as a second generation o an artisan amily, throughout the last

ten years, I have intended to bring back more dignity o art pieces

to homes in all over the world.

Productive! Magazine Interview with Luis Miguel Urrea Guia

by Michael Sliwinski

Ditchthe badhabitsandcultivatethe goodones

magazine

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Q: What is the rhythm of your day? How

do you work?

I have intense days, although or a while

I have been organizing my time well. I get

up early and spend my day on advancing

all the necessary matters. My work order is

to prepare ideas early, analyze what steps

need to get done to achieve my daily goals,

and concentrate totally on these since the

very start.

Q: Spain is famous for siesta a mid-

day 2-3 hour nap. I heard you didnt

believe in them?

Well, it is not really a matter o belie, its

a Spanish custom and I respect it. I know

there are people who cant live without it. I just

personally preer to sleep well during nights

and use every minute o the day constructively

(and simply enjoy the whole day).

Q: What is your system of productivity

like? How do you use it on daily basis?

So, to start with I have a notebook

always on my table and I write down all the

things I want to do on a given day. I do my

best to see them all through and i I cant,

I postpone them or the ollowing day.

As I have said beore, I write down the

topic and the main points o each action,

i I have to call I add the phone number,

some commentary about the person and

the main purpose o the call. Now, at

the time o the phone call I have all this

inormation right here in my notebook.

The most important part o my system

is a blue or green marker once a task

is done, I cross it with the marker. This is

very rewarding as it relaxes me as the day

progresses to see the page ll in with green.

As a sculptor and painter Im completely in love

with art.

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Q: I know you are an early riser. Why is

getting up early so important to you?

For many years now I have preerred

to enjoy the light, peaceulness and good

vibration ater good rest. No one bothering

me with daily things. Im the rst person

in the oce and Im getting a lot done

beore anyone shows up. This way Im

progressing very well throughout the

day. I have an expression that perectly

describes this: i you dont get up early,

youll keep on running the whole day with

your tongue out o your mouth trying

to catch up with everything.

Q: How did practicing sports influence

your way of working and self-

organization?

Since early childhood I have been

practicing sports that required a strong

discipline and compromise with the

trainer and colleagues rom team.

With years, this routine translated

into a certain way o living. You have

to schedule your day to have enough

time or work, trainings and enjoying lie.

This kind o physical and psychological

tness is required in sports like athletics

or american ootball. They help you

develop your will to make the extra eort

and to pursue your goals.

Q: What differences are there between

being a boss of a company, sculptor and

sportsman?

As a boss and an artist Im a bit o

Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde, although

none o them wins. My artistic vision does

not allow the company part to destroy

the artistic essence o our projects, and

the business part does not allow the

business topics infuence the ormer. As

a sportsman, as I have said beore, all the

eort and dedication that is used in this

eld helps me to work better with my team

at work, too.

Q: What tips would you give to people

who do not know how to organize

themselves and do not know where

to start?

I have been giving little hints all though

this interview. To organize work well, it is

essential to prepare all the topics in the

morning and work through them beore all

the interruptions and daily oce lie makes

you resolve them improperly.

In this lie it is all about habits, good

ones.. or the bad ones. You just really need

to get rid o all those bad habits and pick

up new ones that will help you in your path

to an organized lie. Getting up early, sports

and strength o will are always a good

start. Its about a conscious decision how

you want your lie to be and how you want

to live it.

You have to schedule

your day to have

enough time for work,

trainings and enjoying

life.

Luis Miguel

Urrea Guia is a

amous sculptor

and painter,

a national

athlete and a

businessman. He lives and works in

Madrid, Spain in Europe. His mission

is to bring world-class art to every

home (under nickname: Miguel Guia)

and hes committed to getting it done.

He takes inspiration rom masters like

Picasso, Dali or Chillida among others.

His web site: MiguelGuia.com

About Miguel Guia

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Scheduling imein the Alone Zone

You schedule time for large meetings, small meetings, conference calls, and phoneappointments. If you are like many leaders, you often feel that your life consists of nothing

BUT meetings. As a result, there is no time to complete the work you volunteer for, agree to,

or are assigned in those same meetings. What can you do? Simple: Schedule time for you.

by Michael Hyatt

Y

ou need time or what Jason

Fried and David Heinemeier

Hansson, authors o Rework,

call the Alone Zone:

Long stretches o alone time are when

you are the most productive. When you

dont have to mind-shit between various

tasks, you get a boatload done. (Ever

notice how much work you get done on

a plane since youre ofine and there are

zero outside distractions (p. 105).

But this kind o alone time doesnt

happen by accident. Like everything else

in the leaders lie, you must be intentional,

i you want to be eective.

I personally schedule our kinds o alone

time:

1. Morning time. I typically get up at 5:00

a.m. I do my most important tasks right

away, including exercise and reading.

I also try to get done my single most

important to-do item beore I leave

or the oce. Why? Because I know a

thousand interruptions and distractions

await me once I arrive.

2. Weekly appointments. I literally block

out time on my calendar with the clever

title o Oce Work. I generally do this

on Sunday night as I prepare or the next

weeks meetings. When I am really on the

ball, I do this a month in advance. The

beautiul thing is that when someone asks

or that time slot, I can legitimately say, Im

sorry, but I already have a commitment

then. Its a commitment to mysel.

3. Quarterly reviews. I schedule a day and

a hal by mysel each quarter. I have

written about it on this blog beore, so

I wont repeat mysel here. However,

this is a time when I can refect back

over the previous quarter and then look

orward to the coming quarter. Its an

opportunity to poke my head above the

clouds and see where I am going with

my businessand my lie.

4. Travel time. I am never more productive

than when I am in an airplane. However,

I have to be very intentional. I upgrade

when I can. I thats not possible, I get

an exit row seat. (Its dicult to be

productive when the person in ront

i you has their seat reclined, and

their head is practically in your lap!)

Specically, I try to work on projects

that require extended creativity. I plan

in advance which projects I am going to

tackle.

I am sometimes asked, How do you

get it all done? Part o the secret is by

scheduling time to get it done. What about

you?

Michael Hyatt

is the President

and CEO

o Thomas

Nelson, the

largest Christian

publishing

company in the world and the seventh

largest trade book publishing company

in the U.S. Michael has written our

books, one o which landed on the

New York Times bestseller list. Hyatt

serves as Chairman o the Evangelical

Christian Publishers Association

(ECPA). He has been married to his

wie, Gail, or twenty- eight years. They

have ve daughters and two grand

daughters and live outside o Nashville,

Tennessee.

Michaels blog: MichaelHyatt.com

Michael on Twitter: @MichaelHyatt

About Michael Hyatt

Long stretches of alone time are when you are the

most productive.

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ime and Project Managementor Busy Proessionals and their eams
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10/26

Frictionless Work:How to Clear Your Lie oNon-Essential asks

Its not the work which kills people, its the worry. Its not the

revolution that destroys machinery its the riction.

~ Henry Ward Beecher

by Leo Babauta

How much o your day is spent

doing administrative tasks,

and not creating or doing other

important work?

How much time do you spend responding

to emails and IMs and social networks,

making payments, doing paperwork, ling,

sitting in meetings, driving, doing errands,

and so on? How much o that could be

cleared up or more important work?

Imagine this or a moment: you have no

administrative tasks, only the core work that

you love doing. Your day has been cleared

or creating, building, doing high-impact

projects. Isnt it lovely?

Is this a pipe dream? Perhaps or some,

who have little control over their work. But

i you have a larger degree o control, lets

explore the idea o rictionless work or

even rictionless living.

I you have little control, consider a

change.

My Frictionless Business

I know I dont have a typical job, but that

didnt happen overnight and I did this on

purpose. Today, I have a ew successul

blogs and a handul o successul books.

Only a year ago, that required a lot o

administrative work so much so that I

hired an admin assistant to help out, and

outsourced other work.

But assistants, employees, delegating,

and outsourcing are not hassle-ree each

comes with work o its own: email or phone

Imagine this for a moment: you have no

administrative tasks, only the core work that you

love doing.

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calls, ollowing up, checking the quality o

work, doing contracts, reviewing terms,

clariying, ring, searching or a better

employee/contract company, paying, lling

out tax ino, and on and on.

The better solution is to simpliy. Eliminate

non-essential tasks. And so I did, slowly:

- I eliminated comments rom Zen Habits,

cutting back on a huge amount o work

or me. Comments turn a major blog into a

orum, where the blogger is the moderator.

It takes hours to moderate a major blog, and

while I outsourced that or months, it was

always a major headache that required a lot

o work. Eliminating comments, which only

a tiny minority o readers used, eliminated

my need or that admin work or or hiring a

moderator.

- I stopped doing work that required me

to do paperwork or admin work. That meant

losing some income rom consulting and

other business, but it also meant a lot more

ree time or what I love doing.

- When a guest writer submits a guest

post, I no longer ormat the post but require

the writer to ormat it and submit or my

review. Mostly now I just need to read over

the post and hit publish.

- I got out o a bunch o ad networks

that were always asking me to do admin

work. That was a loss o income, but it also

simplied my website. Now I sell one ad a

month (which Im also eliminating), and do

almost no work the advertiser presses a

Paypal button to reserve the ad, and emails

me the ad image and link code.

- I eliminated email, or the most part,

except or collaborative projects (which are

ew and ar between). My email time went

rom hal my day to a ew minutes a day.

- I sell ebooks automatically through

e-junkie, and aliate payments are also

computed automatically.

- I now have almost no admin work to

run my blogs: I write, and publish. Once a

month I log into my Paypal account, send

out aliate payments, and transer money

to my bank account (and rom there, my

bills are automatically paid and money is

automatically transerred to savings).

This is not to brag. I know I have it easy

compared to most, but this has all been

done gradually and on purpose. I created

this rictionless work.

What Are Your Admin Tasks?

Take inventory o your work: what admin

tasks take up your time? Add to this list

over the course o the next couple o days,

because youre probably orgetting some.

Now ask yoursel: which o these can be

eliminated? Many o you will probably answer,

Very ew, because youre used to the way

things are done. This is how things are done.

But thats an articial limitation instead, ask

yoursel how it can be changed. How might it

be possible? Think radically dierent.

To eliminate tasks, you might have to

make major changes over time, but the

beauty is that youll also be reeing up time.

Consider some examples:

I you do a lot o paperwork, can you

require orms to be lled out digitally,

perhaps online? This will eliminate a lot o

work, and i the database is set up right,

eliminate ling.

I you spend a lot o time on calls or

email, can you provide other ways or

people to get ino or get things done?

Perhaps put up an FAQ online, so common

questions are answered (like Google does

or its product support), or provide web

pages where people can automatically

download products or get other things

done without you as the bottleneck? Or

can you route those requests to someone

else?

Also unsubscribe rom newsletters and

notications and so orth, so you dont

have to spend time processing them in your

inbox. Consider each email that comes

in and ask yoursel: How could this be

eliminated?

Can you eliminate meetings, or at least

get out o them? How can you get the ino

By radically rethinking your work, you might be able

to eliminate a lot of admin tasks.

Paulus Rusyanto - Fotolia.com

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12/26

without meetings? How can projects get

done without the meetings?

I you worked at home, you wouldnt

have to commute, or do a lot o other tasks

associated with working in an oce. Its not

always possible, but oten you can work

towards that goal.

Can you drop clients or parts o your

business, losing a little income but

eliminating all the admin work that goes

with it? The ree time could be spent

creating something that would more than

make up or the loss o income.

Can you eliminate eatures that arent

completely essential, so you dont have to

do all the work to support those eatures

(similar to how I eliminated comments)?

Can you stop worrying so much about

growth, customers, competitors, statistics,

and so orth and ocus instead on what

you love doing? A great quote by web

designer and developer Sam Brown: I

used to stress a lot about my business, my

clients, the amount o work I was doing and

my competitors but the minute I stopped

worrying about all o that and ocussed on

just doing great work that I was happy with

it really made a big dierence, to me and

my business.

I you think a task is necessary under the

current conditions, consider changing the

current conditions.

These are just a ew ideas and

questions to get you started, but you can

see that by radically rethinking your work,

you might be able to eliminate a lot o

admin tasks.

And ree up time or what truly matters.

Frictionless Life

This concept o eliminating admin work

can apply to your personal lie as well.

Imagine your personal time with as

ew chores, errands, paperwork, and

commitments as possible. Youd be ree to

well, do what you love most.

I cant claim to have done this

completely, but I have made huge progress

towards a rictionless lie. O course, I still

have chores to do (washing dishes, laundry,

etc.), but Ive eliminated a lot o personal

tasks:

I dont pay bills anymore. I either

pay them in advance i I get a big lump

payment, or I set up automatic payments

each month. In act, because all my

transactions are electronic, I never go to the

bank.

I dont le personal paperwork anymore.

Ive gone paperless, so all documents

that I needed to keep are scanned, and

everything else is already digital. Even

contracts are done digitally.

Housework is minimal. Admittedly, my

wie does the laundry, but we share in

cooking and cleaning duties, and most

o it is painless as we have a pretty sparse

home. Its airly clean all the time.

Errands are minimal too. Mostly its

going to the grocery store or post oce,

and we moved last year so those are within

walking distance. So we oten walk to

those errands, getting a nice workout and

enjoying the outdoors in the process.

There isnt much else we have to do,

except things with our kids and each other.

The un stu. Much o the riction o living

has been eliminated.

A Warning

Its not always easy to change your work

and your lie to get rid o the riction o admin

tasks, but once you do, its simply lovely.

However, there will likely be a temptation

to ll up your reed time with more email,

social networking, blog reading, and so

on. Im not saying you shouldnt do this,

but beore you do, consider how you really

want to spend your time. Do you want to

remove the riction just to ritter it away with

distractions?

Im a big an o doing nothing, o

solitude and relaxing and playing. So i

thats how you use your ree time, Im

jumping with joy. You might, however,

spend this time creating, and thats one o

the true wonders o creating rictionless

work and a rictionless lie. Spend your

time doing what you love, living your

passion, making something new and

beautiul. Youll be glad you did.

The world is wide, and I will not waste

my lie in riction when it could be turned

into momentum. ~ Frances E. Willard

Leo Babauta

lives in Guam

(soon moving to

San Francisco)

and is married

with six kids.

Hes a writer and a runner and a

vegetarian and he loves writing Zen

Habits - his blog that in a couple o

years became one o the top blogs

on the Internet with 100K+ readers

subscribed and counting. Hes a

published author o a bestselling book

Power o Less

Leos blog is Zen Habits

Leo on Twitter: @Zen_Habits

About Leo Babauta

I now have almost no admin work to run my blogs:

I write, and publish.

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13/26

Quick&Dirty Guide to:Meetings how to make them workTerri, theres a product meeting at 3 oclock

3 oclock on a Friday? What lamebrain set it up?

Check the Email, Terri

Oh.by Howard Flomberg

- Terri adds insult to injury by asking

Greta to take notes.

- Marv wonders where the coee is

- Ernie wants to talk about the monthly

status report

- Terris boss ollows Ernie down that path.

Ater the prerequisite hour, Terri tries to

call the meeting over, her boss, however

has decided that since everyone is here

lets talk about the Christmas party.

Sound familiar?

It is said that a camel is a horse designed

by a committee (*1). This saying sums

up the popular opinion o committees

and meetings. The general consensus

is that a committee can do nothing

successully. Let me rephrase that: an

unorganized committee can do nothing

successully. You can easily substitute the

word meeting or the word committee

they are essentially interchangeable as

So Terri, Ernie, Terris boss, Greta

and our or ve o their closest

riends go into the meeting.

Heck its only been scheduled

or one hour. What can possibly go wrong?

Shall I list problems that come up?

- Terris boss takes over the meeting

- Bill and Brett want to know why this

meeting was called.

Kelly Young - Fotolia.co

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14/26

6. Dont schedule meetings on Fridays

please! Especially during the spring and

all. 10:00 in the morning is always a

good meeting time its long enough

beore lunch so that they can still sneak

out or an early lunch. 1:00 is deadly.

People will straggle in. they will be

sleepy and non-participatory. I you

schedule a meeting or 3:00 (especially

Friday at 3:00) you will get what you

deserve. I I am an invitee Ill totally

orget it.

7. The memo must go out at least one

ull business day beore the meeting.

Two or three days would be much

better. More than three days would

invite people to conveniently orget.

When you see the person in the

hallway, you might remind him(*2)

once. Any more than that and you will

see him avoid you like the proverbial

plague. One o my avorite ways to

remind someone is to joke Dont

orget Terri, youre bringing the booze

to the meeting.

8. At the beginning o the meeting review

the agenda. I someone wants to add

something relevant to the agenda ask

i everyone agrees. I its not relevant,

see the discussion below on the

parking lot

9. Do not allow the meeting to go or more

than one and a hal hours. Schedule

another session i there is a need.

Heres why you have six (?) people

in a small room. In todays oces you

need a wrecking ball to open a window.

O course you close the door. Now you

have a bunch o Homosapiens all busy

converting oxygen to carbon dioxide in

a room with poor ventilation. And you

wonder why you get sleepy? Its oxygen

deprivation(*3)

ar as accomplishments. Most qualitative

methodologies and decisions involve

(evolve in?) meetings. In many, i not most,

cases meetings become massive time

wasters. In an uncontrolled environment,

meetings can and requently do become

conrontational. People tend to go o in

tangents and the reason or the meeting

rapidly becomes lost. So, how does one

control a meeting? Or can a meeting be

controlled?

Memorandum

To: H. Aardvark, C. Jones, L. Lopez,

M Miles, P. J. Peterson, S. Sutra and Z.

Zaplitney

From: H. Lee

Date: 07/04/76

Re: Corporate strategy, 07/05/1776

Meeting Room A. at 10:00 a.m.

We will be meeting next Thursday to

discuss the orientation o our new product,

the American Revolution. The Specic

Topics to be discussed are:

Tactics will we ght in an open plain or

shall we be hiding behind trees?

Uniorms Mr. Washington has

requested Bu and Blue, however Mr.

Rogers-Clark insists that orest green

would give us a decided advantage

Living quarters shall we have the

men supply their own tents or can we

standardize? I we standardize, we need to

appoint a subcommittee to recommend a

supplier and pricing.

Rank Structure Mr. Washington insists

on traditional military ranks; however our

Boston contingent eels that the men

should elect their own leaders.

How shall we decide these issues?

Please email your acceptance to the

meeting. I you cannot make this meeting,

please tell me who will be representing you.

- Lighthorse Harry Lee

Heres how you do it:

1. Prepare an Agenda. Without an agenda

you are wasting everybodys time.

The agenda should spell out, in some

real level o detail, the reason or the

meeting as well as the topic to be

discussed. See the example above.

2. The names in the agenda

memorandum are in alphabetic order.

Yes there are people who look at these

things as an indication o political

power. Head that one o. As a matter

o act, alphabetize the names in all

memos that you write.

3. Topic, time, date and location are

prominently placed at the top. Insure

that everybody knows the location o

the meeting. A ast email the day beore

the meeting containing this inormation

is not a bad idea. Sending out more

than one email IS a bad idea.

4. Each topic has a brie description.

I there is to be a decision, indicate

the choices. Any more detail is not

needed. This is your guide or the

meeting. Stick to these issues. Putting

too much inormation just invites more

discussion.

5. When you send the agenda out, ask

or an RSVP. I you are emailing

generate a return receipt. You want

to head o the I didnt know about

the meeting. I they approve a return

receipt, theyll show up. I your

company uses a scheduling program

like Outlook use it.

An unorganized committee can do nothing

successfully. You can easily substitute the word

meeting for the word committee.

Without an agenda you are

wasting everybodys time.

magazine



15/26

Howard is a

Retired Systems

Analyst, Adjunct

Proessor and

Author. He lives in

Denver, Colorado.

Howard on Twitter: @hfomberg

About HowardFlomberg

Set up a Parking Lot. Have a place to record

topics that need resolution outside of the

meeting.

10. The Parking Lot. So Terri brings up

her avorite complaint the striping

in the parking lot. She is concerned

that someone might trash her 71

Gremlin. Set up a Parking Lot. Have

a place to record topics that need

resolution outside o the meeting. It

should be either a black/white board

or a large sheet o paper in plain view

to everyone. So you now say: Terri,

we really do need to discuss that,

lets put it in the Meeting Parking Lot.

This is your secret weapon! You can

get poster sized yellow stickies (*4)

rom your oce supplies vendor. Stash

them somewhere. Once someone nds

out that you have the stickies, they

will disappear. Take one sheet and

put it on the wall. Label it Parking

Lot. The parking lot is where you put

those items that will take you down

the wrong path. But by posting them

you have assuaged Terris ego. Her

idea has been recognized and not

ignored. Youll nd that in a relaxed

environment, ater a while when

someone brings up an item that is not

appropriate, youll hear a chorus o

parking lot and laughter.

11. Danger Will Robinson! I at all possible,

do not invite your manager (or your

managers manager or that matter).

I you do, the meeting becomes his

meeting. I you must invite him

establish privately the procedure that

you are going to ollow and get his

support. I he reuses to ollow your

wishes get your resume in shape. This

one can be a career ender i handled

poorly. Try and make that discussion

with your boss light. Review the agenda,

ask or his opinion, let him know youll

give him a ull report, beore he says

hell be there.

12. Again, i a topic is brought up that

is not on the agenda steer the

conversation back to the agenda

reschedule a meeting to discuss that

point or put it on the parking lot.

13. I you notice each item in the agenda

is phrased as an Action Item For

example: Living quarters shall we

have the men supply their own tents or

can we standardize? I we standardize,

we need to appoint a subcommittee

to recommend a supplier and pricing.

Discuss each item. I it is too large or

important to settle at the meeting have

someone ollow up on it or schedule

another meeting. I you ask, Who

wants to ollow up on this? in most

cases you will be greeted by a wall o

silence. Ask someone with an interest

in the topic to ollow up. Terri, can

you ollow up on this? Everyone is

relieved that you didnt ask him or her

and is staring at Terri. You now have

peer pressure working or you. At the

end o the meeting, review the action

items. Note who has taken the action, i

an action has not been resolved either

schedule a meeting to discuss it, or

appoint a volunteer.

14. Ensure that every issue is either

resolved or assigned to a person at

the meeting or resolution. Ater the

meeting, review each Parking Lot

item. Have someone assigned to it. A

sneaky way to control these items is to

ask: Terri, you brought up Parking Lot

Striping can you ollow up on it? Terri

will never do that again.

15. Another real important item I you

must ask someone to take notes

NEVER ask a woman. She will hate you

or the rest o your lie.

16. Ater the meeting send out a memo

promptly reviewing the decisions and

any topics assigned to someone. Send

this memo out immediately, even i you

have to stay late to do it. List each action

item, who it is assigned to and how will

it be reviewed. Dont orget the use a

return receipt. I you ask: Please let me

know i you disagree you probably will

not get any response until its too late,

and someone has been ticked o. More

successul is the language: I assume

that i no one responds by the end o

the week then there are no corrections.

Always take an active position.

17. One last point Spell check the damn

thing! One learns by screwing up. We

all do. When I was interviewing or a

consulting spot, one o my avorite lines

was Ive been doing this or many years

and Ive made a gazillion mistakes. You

get them all or ree Hopeully Ive saved

you rom some o them.

*1. I really love camels :-)

*2. Is my use o him oensive to

anyone? I so please accept my apology.

*3. I am NOT a doctor or a chemist. This

is a totally non- -scientic guess but its

based on years o experience

*4.I call all Post-its Yellow Stickies no

matter what color they are. That should

be my worst habit..

magazine

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16/26

GettingTings

DoneFASER

When it comes to maximizing how productive you can be there is a lot o talk about adopting

rameworks like GTD or Coveys Seven Habits, cutting down your projects list to the essentials,

fnding the right tools, avoiding procrastination etc. However in this article I want to discuss

another point to increasing your productivity that tends to get overlooked speeding up your work

so that that you will be getting things done aster (or the purposes o this post lets call it GTDF).

by James Mallison

Imagine a manuacturing plant. The

quicker products can be brought

through the construction line to

completion, the more productive the

plant is considered to be. Why can the

same approach not be applied to your

own work? You may not be a machine

who works 24/7, but the benets are still

clear get your work done more quickly

and it will leave you with more ree time to

play with.

O course there is a catch to all

this. We also dont always have to

work quickly through our work, though

with our jobs becoming stressul and

demanding it is becoming increasingly

important to achieve more in less time.

Also, some projects dont suit well to

being done aster, especially those

that require lots o brain power and/

or creative thought. However there are

those projects that you can work at more

Pick a set time on a

clock or stopwatch

and then see how

much you can get

done beore the time

runs out.

Vivid Pixels - Fotolia.co

magazine



17/26

out-dated it slows down the entire

production. Likewise you need to have

systems in place that help you achieve

your goals with minimal complications.

GTD is very reliant on speed, with David

Allen stating that i you cant add a

next action to your system within a ew

seconds you simply wont do it. The same

applies whether you are trying to clean

dishes with poor quality washing liquid,

or trying to save les over a poor quality

network. Find and develop the right tools

or all the jobs in your workfow and i

something doesnt work quickly enough

or you, replace it!

Lay the groundwork

Imagine again, the setup o a

manuacturing plant with its mass

production setup. It is a nely tuned and

intricate system which is able to create

a set number o products quickly and

eectively. You can mirror this by having

habits, approaches and best-practices

in place in your lie that encourage ast,

ecient unctioning. Knowing what works

or you and continually optimizing that

approach is key to getting things done

aster. That way you dont let your bad

habits, like procrastination, and lack o

knowledge, like not having had any training

to use a particular sotware, slow you

down.

quickly with negligible loss o quality,

or as David Allen would call them, the

widget cranking projects.

With all this in mind, lets look at how we

can work aster

Set time limits

One o the most basic but eective ways

to speed up your work is to set time limits.

There are two undamental approaches to

using time to your advantage:

The more traditional approach is to see

how quickly it takes you to do the task or

project, log the time, and then regularly

challenge yoursel to beat that time. Its a

simple but eective way o keeping your

motivation high using your competitive

drive, while allowing you to gradually

improve your overall speed and eciency

over time.

Pick a set time on a clock or stopwatch

and then see how much you can get done

beore the time runs out. This is useul i

you have limited time and want to become

more disciplined with how you use it. For

example, recently I decided to clean out

the storage cupboard. However I had to

t it in with my other work, so when I had

some spare time I gave mysel a thirty

minute time limit and set a challenge to

see how much I could clear out beore the

alarm went o.

Keep focused

Manuacturing plants are active most

o the time, i not 24 hours a day and

though you obviously cant be expected

to be that active, it is important you stay

ocused as long as possible on what you

are doing so as to build up momentum

and in turn speed up your work. For

instance, i you have the TV on in the

background as you do your work (as I

am doing while writing this) its dicult

to keep ocused long enough to get

any momentum (hence this is taking

longer to type than it usually would). As

much as possible nd a chunk o time

to work where you wont be interrupted,

disconnect the phone and turn the TV o.

While it is dicult to keep ocused or

any length o time, or those periods we

are able to shut the rest o the world out,

its important to take advantage o it.

Maintain energy levels

Well maintained machines dont get tired or

have o-days, and though we as humans

cannot maintain 100% energy levels all the

time, there are measures we can take to

stay as alert and energized as possible and

not try to work at an high pace when our

energy levels are low (you wouldnt try and

drive a car on an almost empty uel tank

would you?). Discussing ways o keeping

energized and alert is a topic worthy o

its own post so I wont discuss it in detail

here, however in brie:

Get enough sleep. The average person

needs around eight hours to gain the ull

benets, though this can vary rom person

to person. Note, that getting too much

sleep can be nearly as bad as not getting

enough.

Each person naturally eels more alert at

dierent times o the day, which is where

the night owl and early bird terms come

rom. For instance, i you do your best

work in the morning, you can also do your

quickest work.

Eat healthy and take exercise. This

doesnt really need much explanation but

i you are physically healthy youre also

mentally healthy and this really helps with

your energy and ocus levels.

Use the right tools

Manuacturing plants have huge, oten

complex systems in place specically

designed to do their job quickly and

productively. I one machine is old and

Get enough sleep. Eat healthy and take

exercise.

James Mallinson comes rom the UK

and is an aspiring author. He started

Organize IT nearly two years ago ater

he began dabbling in productivity,

and wanted to share his tips and

experience.

Blog: Organize IT

James on Twitter: @JMallinson

James Mallinson

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18/26

Kanban Changes the PerspectiveFrom Wikipedia: Kanban is a

concept related to lean and

just-in-time (JIT) production.

The Japanese word kanban

is a common term meaning

signboard or billboard.

According to Taiichi Ohno, the

man credited with developing

JIT, kanban is a means

through which JIT is achieved.

by Stephen Smith

or implement the Kanban process.

I personally like to use index cards but

you can use slips o paper, sticky notes, or

even digital applications online or or your

mobile device.

For the purposes o this article, lets think

about our Tasks and Projects as index cards,

then you can translate the concept to your

own version o this system. First, imagine

that each card contains a single Task or Next

Action to be completed. Everything on your

list can be written on a card which will then

be put on the Kanban board in one o two

zones: The Queue or Work in Progress (WIP).

In the image o the bulletin board, above,

you can see that it is divided into three

Zones: the let-hand side is or storing

cards that are yet to be acted upon;

the center area is or cards that you are

working on, or have prioritized to be part

o your list o things to do; the right-hand

zone is or collecting and organizing the

Tasks and Next Actions that have been

completed, these things are Done.

How Tasks Enter the Kanban System

My process or generating Next Action and

Project cards is quite basic, they usually come

to me while I am making my daily Journal/

Morning Pages entries, or when I am reading.

Cards are also generated by tasks that are

assigned to me, or to someone on my team,

via an input mechanism such as telephone or

e-mail. Each new card then simply goes into

the Queue and each morning I can assess the

situation, choose the tasks that I eel are most

important (or urgent), and move them into the

Work In Progress (WIP) zone.

I would like to mention an important

caveat here the Kanban board is not

a replacement or your calendar when it

comes to the time-specic inormation

that you need to manage. Remember

that according to the principles o Getting

Things Done only three things are to be

entered into your calendar:

1. Time-specic actions

2. Day-specic actions

3. Day-specic inormation

Thats it. Because your calendar is a tool

that you use to tell you where you need to be

and when you need to be there, or when

something is scheduled to happen. Your

Kanban board is where you manage Tasks.

Use these two tools together or planning

your activities. For example, during your

Periodic Review you may decide that there are

some Most Important Tasks that you would like

Kanban is a signaling system

to trigger action. As its name

suggests, Kanban historically uses

cards to signal the need or an item.

However, other devices such as plastic markers

(Kanban squares) or balls (oten gol balls) or

an empty part-transport trolley or foor location

can also be used to trigger the movement,

production, or supply o a unit in a actory.

It was out o a need to maintain the level o

improvements that the Kanban system was

devised by Toyota. Kanban became an eective

tool to support the running o the production

system as a whole. In addition, it proved to be

an excellent way or promoting improvements

because reducing the number o Kanban in

circulation highlighted problem areas.

The wikipedia article on Kanban is

a good one, showing how the Kanban

system can be used to manage enormous

projects and collections o tasks, such as

an automobile actory. Most o us dont run

car actories, but we can still benet rom

the basic principles o Kanban which are

so simple that they will amaze you.

Create a System That You Enjoy Using

As the above article excerpt mentions,

there are many ways to do Kanban,

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19/26

Write the date o generation on any

card that you put into the Kanban system.

This will aid you in deciding i an item has

gone stale, is not not as important as you

once thought, or perhaps its urgency has

increased.

Write the date that a card was moved

rom the Queue zone into the WIP zone, or

the same reasons listed above.

Write the date that the Next Action

was completed, in order to make periodic

reviews more eective, especially in

tracking your accomplishments.

Make cards or Next Actions that have

been delegated to others, and keep them

in the WIP zone, with the date that the task

was assigned and the date that it is due.

Use a spatial reerence or prioritizing

Next Actions, more important tasks should

be placed in the top let o the appropriate

zone, as this is where your eye is trained

to look rst when scanning a page o

inormation.

This is just the tip o the iceberg when it

comes to the useulness o the Kanban system

or your productivity practice. Searching

Twitter and Flickr can give you plenty o

inspiration or enhancing your own system.

Please consider sharing your thoughts and

experiences with Kanban, Ill be happy

to publish a summary or ollow-up article.

to assign as time-specic (or set a deadline or

completion). Enter these in your calendar, or

create a Next Action Card with a due date on it.

Put that card in the Queue zone.

When the assigned time arrives, and

your calendar reminds you o the Task,

move that card rom Queue to WIP. This

method will work whether you use a paper

planner or a digital calendar/PDA.

When you are Done

One o the best eatures o this system, or

me, is in the moving o Next Action Cards

into the Done zone. This gives me a simple

and easy way o reviewing exactly what was

accomplished in the previous period (day,

week, month, whatever scale you operate

on). The real beauty o this system is that it

replaces messy handwritten lists and gives

an instant overview o what is happening

right now. This is especially helpul in

recognizing when there are simply too many

things happening at once. The concept o the

overview provides a tool or managing your

current workload and the backlog o Tasks in

the Queue and creates a Pull mechanism

or adding new tasks to the WIP zone.

The Pull occurs when a task is

completed and a space is created when

the card is moved to the Done zone. As

the cards move rom let to right across the

board I am able to see and measure the fow

o work that is being completed. This visual

sense o accomplishment is very gratiying!

Kanban and Delegation

I use a Kanban board both in my home

oce, and in my oce at work (I manage

a restaurant in a small resort hotel). As you

can imagine this system comes in very

handy or delegating tasks to my team.

Each o my supervisors takes a look at the

Kanban board at the beginning o their shit,

in order to see which tasks or Next Actions

have been assigned to them or the current

work period, and they can also see what is

planned or them in the uture (in the Queue).

For example, projects can be completed

by multiple people as they can assess

each upcoming Next Action by evaluating

the time required to complete it, their

own energy level, and the external

circumstances then choosing those Next

Action Cards that t the situation.

I am nding that this system o managing

our activities is very helpul to actual

productivity. A daily assessment o Next

Actions to be completed keeps priorities in

perspective, avoiding the mindless churn

that so oten happens when we get caught

up in the day-to-day routine o handling the

res and interruptions. It is very important

to be able to prioritize our activities, because

the tasks and projects shown on this board

are things that we do to support the main

objective o our jobs to ensure that our

guests have a superior dining experience.

This happens out on the restaurant foor, not

in the oce or at a computer.

Moving from Lists to Next Action Cards

Changing your personal productivity tools

can be a cause o stress and anxiety, so

I recommend starting slowly, perhaps

with a ew sticky notes on the wall used in

conjunction with your current system. Learn

to capture inputs onto these sticky notes, or

perhaps in a similar ashion on your digital

device or smartphone. Then take some

time to practice and learn the technique o

assessing the Tasks and Next Actions that are

in progress, or are simply waiting to be started.

A list with tens or hundreds o items

it unwieldy and in drastic need o

perspective. Simple space limitations

will remind you that one can only work

on so many things at one time. Filling in

the Queue and WIP zones can orce you

to prioritize your Next Actions, assess their

validity, and perhaps push them back into

the Queue or a more appropriate time. Or

simply decide that a particular item on a list

is not worth doing ater all.

Tips for Maintaining Perspective and Next

Action Value

Here are a ew tips or making your

transition more painless and benecial:

Simple space limitations will remind you that one

can only work on so many things at one time.

Stephen Smith

is currently

a restaurant

manager who

uses basic

productivity

principles to

enhance the guest experience.

His Blog: StephenPSmith.com/blog

Stephen on Twitter: @hdbbstephen

About StephenSmith

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20/26

Focusing on GettingTings Done with ProjectManagement 2.0

Lets have a look at a typical project managers day. In the morning, he comes to his ofce and

checks his e-mail or messages with project updates. He then spends hours calling his team

members, e-mailing them or meeting them in person to collect all the inormation he needs and to

make sure that everything is well and on track... by Andrew Filev

... and ater that, the manager has to

merge these updates into the project plan.

The updates also need to be communicated

to the upper management. So the project

manager has to make reports and hand

them in to the companys executives to

keep them aware o the projects progress.

The manager also has to ollow up on

clients eedback or partners actions.

During the course o the day, he constantly

has to resolve issues through another

endless series o e-mails, phone calls and

meetings.

Looks amiliar, doesnt it? E-mail is still

the most popular project communication

tool. An employee on an average project

gets between 30 and 100 e-mails per day.

The majority o these e-mails contain tasks,

change requests and discussions, so its

hard to overestimate the knowledge buried

in e-mail inboxes every day. This knowledge

oten bypasses project management tools

like Microsot Project.

Have you ever missed an important e-

mail? Or orgot to send a reply to an urgent

request? Was it ever easy or you to nd an

indispensable piece o inormation buried in

the thousands o messages that you have

in your inbox? What i you werent CCd on

that e-mail? It gets even worse when you

need to quickly share inormation thats lost

in your inbox with a newcomer.

This knowledge, buried in e-mails, causes

project managers in too many organizations

today to waste hours on transerring

inormation rom e-mails into their project

management systems and back. As a

result, their productivity and eciency are

damaged by this unnecessary routine.

Instead o being a project leader, a project

manager turns into a project secretary.

Traditional project management systems

oten are not integrated with e-mail.

Systems like Microsot Project are designed

with the top-down project management

approach in mind and arent suited well

to leverage collective knowledge in an

easy way. It means they create dozens

o needless, routine jobs or the project

manager. Thereore, instead o helping

project managers, these systems make the

managers workload even bigger.

What i managers could bring this

project secretary job to a minimum and

concentrate on the leadership part o the

management job? How much more ecient

and productive would the whole team

become as a result? Experts say this is

possible.

The change comes with the growing

popularity o Enterprise 2.0 principles

applied to project management. Project

Management 2.0 relies on the same

concepts as Enterprise 2.0. The power o

many, also known as collective intelligence,

helps to build, maintain and evolve an up-

to-date picture o operations. Flexible

Project Management 2.0 tools merge this

picture rom various pieces, giving a perect

example o what enterprise social sotware

researchers call emergent structures. The

sotware supporting these two concepts,

collective intelligence and emergent

structures, open new opportunities or

boosting your own eciency and your

teams eciency by cutting the daily routine

and leaving more room or creativity and

leadership. They make a project managers

lie easier by bringing three major benets:

magazine



21/26

Andrew Filev

has been

managing

sotware teams

since 2001

with the help

o new-generation collaboration

and management applications.

His best practices are based on

implementation o Enterprise 2.0

sotware in project management.

Now Andrew is an expert in project

management, a successul sotware

entrepreneur and the CEO at Wrike.

com. Andrews ideas about improving

traditional project management

are refected in his popular Project

Management 2.0 blog.

Visit Andrews Project Management Blog

Andrew on Twitter: @andrewsthoughts

About Andrew Filev

Reducing routine work

Project Management 2.0 practices and

supportive tools eliminate the need or

extra meetings, phone calls and e-mails,

thus saving you time and letting you ocus

on getting things done. The best tools in

this area are integrated with e-mail. They

dont break the habitual workfow, allowing

project participants to communicate via

e-mail messages. At the same time, they

automatically absorb inormation rom e-

mails, which usually bypasses project

management systems and is traditionally

buried in the teams inboxes.

With project management 2.0 tools,

this knowledge is shared and available to

everybody on the team at any given moment

in time. Just imagine: theres no need to call

and ask your peer to nd the important e-

mail rom a customer who wanted to make

changes in a project schedule. Tasks, clients

requirements, status updates, ideas and

project discussions are all captured by a

single system, are shared among the project

participants and are available at any given

moment in time. So even i you need the

inormation when nobody is in the oce,

you can still get it immediately. No need to

call your employee on Saturday evening

when you suddenly need to know where the

project stands. Besides, theres no need or

the manager to manually adjust project plans

and individual team members schedules.

Project Management 2.0 lets you to

avoid micromanagement by allowing team

members to mark updates o their part o

the project work in the shared collaborative

environment. This gives the project manager

the up-to-date picture o where his team

and the project stand. The top-down

control comes in when the project manager

aligns and guides those activities. Project

Management 2.0 practices and tools let

you gain harmony between top-down and

bottom-up management styles.

Providing multiple project views

Besides giving an up-to-date picture

o internal project operations, the new-

generation technologies enable managers

and other members o the project team

to view projects dierently. Project

participants can pick any reasonable sub-

set o tasks, create a view with these tasks

and share the view with someone who

needs it. It means that more people can

collaborate and contribute to the project

work productively.

Each o these views can be changed

by team members as the organization

and its environment changes. The whole

structure evolves with time. Managers, who

have access to more perspectives and to

broader views, can align multiple projects,

avoid scheduling conficts and set the right

priorities. Flexible, many-to-many structures

that allow creating, sharing and easy

merging o views are an important part o

the Project Management 2.0 approach. This

approach enables collective intelligence

and leads to collaborative planning. In turn,

collaborative planning makes organizations

more productive and transparent.

Giving the complete picture of all projects

Upper-level managers can access the

global organizational view, which gives

them a clear picture o where the business

stands. Project Management 2.0 tools

merge individual employees to-do lists

into one picture that is always up-to-

date. It means that corporate executives

are constantly in the loop with whats

going on in the project. The inormation

is always at their ngertips. As a result,

the organizations leaders can adjust

strategic plans to changes in the business

environment much aster. It becomes easier

or them to rapidly and cost-eciently

recognize changes and adapt to them. The

whole organization becomes more agile

and thereore more competitive, thanks

to very simple tools and the powerul

practices o Project Management 2.0.

The key to the making the whole

organization more productive lays in

gaining eciency or the project manager

and his team. Project Management 2.0

tools and practices become a catalyst to

important innovations on the organizational

level. They let everybody rom team

members to project managers and

corporate executives ocus on getting

things done and spend less time on

routine tasks. Naturally, sotware will not

do the whole job alone, but it empowers

people and multiplies their eorts. Project

Management 2.0 democratizes project

management, bringing it outside o

enterprise project management oces to

other departments, as well as to small and

midsize businesses. It makes companies

more agile, projects more controllable and

people more productive.

Naturally, software will not do the whole job alone,

but it empowers people and multiplies their efforts.

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7 ways the new Apple

iPad will increase yourproductivity

With the iPad many believe the era o traditional computing is over. The PCs

and Macs are not going to be mainstream. The iPad-like devices are. They

are great or mass content consumption and... productivity. Heres how.

by Michael Sliwinski

The Apples iPad is still causing

lots o controversy all over the

Internet and since its just been

shipped, one can already nd

a number o ways the iPad will improve

your productivity:

1. Theres no right way to hold it, it

rotates automatically to adjust to you

iPhone users know this already, but

or many olks this can be a new

thing - you can just grab the iPad and

it rotates to adjust to the way you

grabbed it. It doesnt orce you to think

how to hold it - just grab it and start

playing with it.

2. Pinch and zoom photos, tap articles

to make them bigger and better for

reading

Again, nothing new or the iPhone

users, but on this kind o device its

unprecedented - just pinch and zoom or

simply tap to read an article better, to see

more details, to make sure your eyes are

not working too hard. This will make it a

perect computing device or people with

sight problems.

3. Process email inbox to zero beautifully

The beautiul all new interace to email

will make processing messages to zero

un and cool. Youll be inclined to process

more messages at the time just because

o the cool interace o the new email

app - the paper-like eel to the email

messages and ease o use will encourage

you to get email done. O course, the only

thing problematic here is the perormance

o the on-screen keyboard, especially

or people like me who are touch-typing.

But you can get a bluetooth keyboard or

some serious writing.

4. Single-tasking will improve your focus,

its a feature, not a bug!

People complain about the act that you

can be in one app at a time on the iPhone

and will do the same on the iPad... but

magazine



23/26

Michael Sliwinski

is your chie

editor o the

Productive!

Magazine and

now a host o

the new Productive! Show site. Every

day hes trying to help people get

more done with his web application

Nozbe.com - now also available as a

native iPhone or iPad app.

Michael on Twitter: @MichaelNozbe

Michaels Blog:MichaelNozbe.com

About MichaelSliwinski

this actually helps boost your ocus and

decrease distractions. Youll get more

done, one app at a time.

5. One email message at a time in vertical

view

Similar to the point above, iPad has

another ocus-boosting eature in its email

client - when you rotate the screen you see

the email message in a beautiul vertical

view and you see only this message, no

inboxes, no olders, no clutter, just the

message that you can give ull attention

to. Similarly other iPad apps work this

way, making the iPad the ultimate ocus

machine.

6. Beautiful calendar will encourage

planning your Weekly Review

The calendar app on the iPad is incredibly

similar to the good old-school paper calendars

we used to carry around with us. Im sure this

app will encourage more order and better

planning... and who knows, maybe well nally

be able to schedule your GTD Weekly Review

more oten than once a month? Lets hope so!

7. Books will encourage readership -

youll read David Allens book again!

The iPad is to serve as an eBook reader.

You can get all o the issues o this

magazine on the iPads iBooks sotware

and read it on the go. It is the most elegant

eBook weve seen so ar. Itll help you

read more and learn more... also about

productivity!

Elegance helps getting things done

Ive highlighted many times in this post

the iPads aesthetics and the act that the

apps coming with it also look gorgeous

and Im telling you - interacting with

pretty tools makes you want to use

them more. I should know, Im us ing the

Macbook Air and enjoy working on it

every day.

How will the iPad improve our

productivity? Will the apps really deliver on

the iPad? Time will tell, but since its just

a bigger iPhone/iPod Touch, Im sure this

device can be a real productivity booster

or everyone. It already is or me!

Interacting with pretty tools makes you want to use

them more.

The beautiful all new interface to email will make

processing messages to zero fun and cool.

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24/26

insidious habit can make it impossible to

ever really complete anything. The best

way to avoid it is to write down a simple

statement summarizing your objective

at the start o each project. (I you have

collaborators, make sure there is agreement

about the objective.) And then this is the

part we overlook! revisit it regularly. When

scope creep starts to happen, youll notice.

5. Work on your project a little bit each day.

With projects that require a serious inusion o

creative juice developing a new business plan,

writing a novel, or just learning a new skill its

incredibly important to maintain momentum.

Just as when you run everyday, the exercise

gets easier and easier, the same thing happens

with your brain. Stimulate it regularly each day,

and those juices start to fow more reely. As

Jack Cheng argues in a great blog post, Thirty

Minutes A Day: the important thing isnt how

much you do; its how oten you do it.

by Jocelyn Glei

10 Laws oProductivity

Here are 10 laws o productivity

weve consistently observed

among serial idea executors:

1. Break the seal of hesitation.

A bias toward action is the most common

trait weve ound across the hundreds o

creative proessionals and entrepreneurs

weve interviewed. While preparing

properly as you start a new project is

certainly valuable, its also easy to lose

yoursel in planning (and dreaming)

indenitely. We must challenge ourselves

to take action sooner rather than later. The

minute that you start acting (e.g. building

a physical prototype, sharing a nascent

concept with your community), you start

getting valuable eedback that will help

rene your original idea and move

orward with a more inormed perspective.

2. Start small.

When our ideas are still in our head, we

tend to think big, blue sky concepts. The

downside is that such thinking makes the

barrier to entry and action quite high. To

avoid blue sky paralysis, pare your idea

down to a small, immediately executable

concept. Can you trial the idea o a multi-

day estival with a smaller perormance

series? Take an idea or a skyscraper and

model it in miniature? Work out the fow

o an iPhone app by sketching on paper?

Once youve road-tested your idea on a

small scale, youll have loads more insight

on how to take it to the next level.

3. Protoype, prototype, prototype.

Trial and error is an essential part o any

creatives lie. As Ze Frank says, usually when

we execute an idea or the rst time, it kinda

sucks. The important thing is to synthesize the

knowledge gained during the process to rene

the idea, and create a new-and-improved

version. Serial idea-makers like Jack Dorsey,

Ben Kauman, and Studio 7.5 all attest:

Prototyping and iteration is key to transorming

a so-so idea into a game-changing product.

Rather than being discouraged by your

ailures, listen closely and learn rom them.

Then build a new prototype. Then do it again.

Sooner or later, youll hit gold.

4. Create simple objectives for projects,

and revisit them regularly.

When working on in-depth projects, we

generate lots o new ideas along the way.

This can lead to a gradual expansion o

the projects goals, or scope creep. This

You might think that creatives as diverse as Internet

entrepreneur Jack Dorsey, industrial design frm Studio 7.5,

and bestselling Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami would

have little in common. In act, the tenets that guide how they

and exceptionally productive creatives across the board

make ideas happen are incredibly similar.

Break each project into smaller chunks that only

take a few weeks or a month to complete.

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25/26

J.K. Glei is

the Director

o the 99%,

Behances think

tank, which

ocuses on what

happens ater inspiration, researching

the orces that push ideas orward.

She also regularly consults with a wide

range o creative clients to assemble

strategic plans addressing concept,

design, execution, workfow and

stang to acilitate the launch and/

or growth o content-driven ventures

both online and in print.

Web site: The 99%

99% on Twitter: @the99percent

6. Develop a routine.

Part o being able to work on your project

a little bit each day is carving out the

time to do so. Routines can seem boring

and uninspiring, but on the contrary

they create a oundation or sparking

true insight. In his recent memoir, What

I Talk About When I Talk About Running,

amed Japanese author Haruki Murakami

writes about how a rigorous routine

rising at 5am and going to bed at 10pm

every day is crucial to his impressive

creative output. (In a side note: Alex Iskold

derives a series o lessons or start-up

entrepreneurs rom Murakami here.)

7. Break big, long-term projects into

smaller chunks or phases.

To help manage expectations and stay

motivated or year-long or even multi-

year endeavors, break each project into

smaller chunks that only take a ew weeks

The beautiful all new interface to email will make

processing messages to zero fun and cool.

About Jocelyn Glei

or a month to complete. The dual benet

o this approach is: (1) making the project

eel more manageable, and (2) providing

incremental rewards throughout the

project. Its crucial to pause periodically to

take stock o what has been accomplished

even i theres a long way to go.

With projects that require a serious

inusion o creative juice, its incredibly

important to maintain momentum.

8. Prune away superfluous meetings

(and their attendees).

Few activities are more o a productivity

drain than meetings. I you must meet

(and this should be a big i), make

sure everyone knows what needs to

be accomplished rom the outset. I

people are present who dont help out

with achieving that objective, let them

leave. Qwest COO Teresa Taylor, recently

interviewed in the NYTs Corner Oce,

starts her meetings with the question,

Do we all know why were here? and

then ollows with, Does everyone need to

be here? To trim the runtime o internal

meetings, you can also try the standing

meeting.

9. Practice saying No.

Creative energy is not nite. Seasoned

idea-makers know that they must guard

their energy and their ocus closely.

Take author Jim Collins or example. His

books Built to Last and Good to Great

have sold millions o copies. His business

acumen and insights are in demand.

Yet, even though Collins demands over

$60,000 per speech, he gives ewer than

18 per year. More than that and Collins

wouldnt have enough time to ocus

on the research and writing that yield

those bestselling books. When youre

in execution mode, keep in mind that

unexpected opportunities also mean

distraction rom the work at hand. Saying

no is an essential part o the productivity

equation.

10. Remember that rules even

productivity rules are made to be

broken.

Did we say develop a routine? This and

other tips here should only be ollowed as

long as they are working. I orward motion

has become impossible with your current

routine, try something else. Whether

its taking a long distance trip, popping

into the art museum, walking around the

block, or talking to a perect stranger,

make sure you occasionally shake up your

normal routine. Breaking habits oers new

perspective and helps recharge us to head

back into the ray.

To avoid blue sky paralysis, pare your idea down to

a small, immediately executable concept.

Illustration by Oscar Orozco

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