But do any of these measures actually work? Let’s take a close look at three common productivity myths and the truth behind them:

Myth #1: Block distracting websites like Facebook and YouTube so employees can focus on their work.

While it’s easy to blame lack of concentration on idle Internet surfing, a study from the University of Melbourne claims that those who surf the Internet for fun while in the office are actually more productive than their colleagues who don’t. Leisurely browsing the web at work may actually increase concentration. According to the study’s author, Dr. Brent Coker, “Firms spend millions on software to block their employees from watching videos on YouTube, using social networking sites like Facebook or shopping online under the pretense that it costs millions in lost productivity, however that’s not always the case.”

Myth #2: Conflicts provide distraction.

It’s common to think that conflicts among colleagues is distracting and encourages them to focus on office politics rather than the work they have to do. But a study from the University of Amsterdam shows that people actually become more focused and find more creative solutions when they’re conflicting rather than when they’re cooperating.

Myth #3: Group brainstorming encourages groups to come up with more ideas.

In theory, when you get a group of people together, they’ll be able to generate more ideas than they would’ve if they worked individually. This belief is what leads to several brainstorming meetings and, sadly, hours of wasted time.

Why is this time wasted? The truth is that most studies on brainstorming prove that it doesn’t work as well as we think it does. In a paper by Adrian Furnham from University College London, he claims that there are three reasons behind this:

• Since you’re working as a group, people tend to lessen the individual effort they give
• Individuals tend to fear negative feedback for their ideas
• You can only make suggestions one at a time, so you keep your ideas to yourself until it’s your turn to speak.

If brainstorming doesn’t work so well, why do businesses keep doing it? According to the same study, people see brainstorming as a way to pool resources, get general acceptance on decisions, and it allows individuals to bring their specialized expertise and experience to the table.

What common productivity myths do you think need to be busted?

Photo by stock.xchng user Szorstki

Related GigaOM Pro content (sub. req.): Enabling the Web Work Revolution

Manage incoming shipping with TrackMyShipments
First off, have you ever had to track shipments from multiple shippers? For example, you have a computer coming from UPS, office supplies that are coming via USPS, and some supplies for a client that happen to be coming from DHL. To keep track of all these shipments, you’d have to keep tabs on each confirmation email from the shipper with the tracking number, copy and paste that tracking number into each shipper’s website, and then you can see roughly where your packages are and when they’ll arrive. This seems like a tedious way to manage this information.

Enter TrackMyShipments. This handy utility will keep track of all your shipments, regardless of which shipper you’re working with or where the packages are coming from. Here’s how it works: simply forward them the shipping confirmation email that contains the tracking number to track@trackmyshipments.com. Then, the utility identifies your email address, the shipping address, and the tracking number. Simply log into the website and see all your shipments in one window. Simple and easy. See the screenshot below of what you’re shipping map will look like.

Convert documents with KoolWire

I love the Adobe’s PDF file format. With it, we can universally share documents and have the formatting look exactly how we expect it to. However, creating a PDF can be expensive (full Adobe Acrobat is hundreds of dollars) and can create a slight hassle. WebWare recently pointed us to a great utility that can ease making file conversions to PDF and a few others.

To get started, simply take a Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or Excel document and enclose it in an email to pdf@koolwire.com. Within minutes you’ll receive an email back with the PDF associated with the file you sent. With a few trials, I found it to be a slick and easy way to convert documents for sharing. If on the other hand you have a PDF that you want to convert to a word document, enclose an email go doc@koolwire.com.

Additionally, you can convert to and from wav to mp3, for audio purposes. To convert a wav file to mp3, enclose a file to mp3@koolwire.com and vice versa, to go from mp3 to wav, enclose a file to wav@koolwire.com.

Koolwire will have added value if you are a web worker who uses an email service with a high storage quota such as Gmail or Yahoo! Mail. If you fall in this category, you can use Koolwire to convert and store documents that you may want to keep around for storage reasons, or to have on hand to share with people by forwarding a quick email.

Instantly collaborate with ChatMaker

Ever have some colleagues or teammates that you want to chat with all at the same time, whether it be to collaborate on a project idea or simply plan where you’re going for dinner that night? This problem might be confounded if you all already use Instant Messaging, but are all on different networks.

ChatMaker gives you instant access to a simple chat room by visiting their website and entering in a title for your chat room. You are then provided a URL to share with whomever you want to provide it to that will allow them to join the chat.

Keep in mind that these chats are not encrypted and are not all that secure, so we wouldn’t recommend talking about company financials, but it’s a quick and easy tool to have a group conversation over chat. It’s reminiscent of IRC, but only requires a web browser to get started.

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