GigaOM » planning

Survey finds status meetings don’t help work get done

Charles Hamilton — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 12:00:35 +0000

It will probably come as no surprise to WebWorkerDaily readers that a recent survey found that 70 percent of information workers don’t believe status meetings help them accomplish work tasks. Additionally, almost 40 percent of respondents feel that such meetings are a waste of time, even though 55 percent of respondents spend one to three hours per week attending such meetings.

The survey also found that 67 percent of respondents spend between one to four hours per week just preparing for status meetings, and 59 percent said that preparing for status meetings often takes longer than the meeting itself. In addition, 57 percent of those surveyed indicated that they multitask during status meetings — so maybe there’s more work getting done than one might think!

The survey was conducted online within the United States from June 6–8, among 2,373 information workers. It was undertaken by Harris Interactive on behalf of Clarizen, the project management system that Thursday covered a few months ago. The survey defined a status meeting as one in which team members are updated on progress and completion of tasks. Brainstorming, strategy and planning meetings were not included.

If you’re finding your meetings unproductive, there are a number of tools available to help, including meetin.gs and yaM. Many of the project management apps that we cover are intended, among other things, to help keep team members updated on project status and what their colleagues are doing and so reduce the time spent in meetings. And there are some techniques, like the Google system that Imran reported on last year, for making meetings more productive.

How much time do you spend in meetings? Are they productive?

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3 tips for getting more done in fewer hours

Jessica Stillman — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 12:01:09 +0000

With the ability to work whenever we wish, web workers face ever-increasing work hours. We slip in “just one email” after dinner or fail to resist the pull of our smartphone before our morning workout. But one blogger is arguing that longer hours actually usually mean less productivity.

Writing on Freelance Folder, Lexi Rodrigo cites Parkinson’s Law as the underlying rationale for her argument. The principle, first recognized in regard to the ever-expanding British civil service in the 1950s, declares that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”

For web workers, the principle means that however many hours we allot ourselves to work, we will find activities to fill them. And the opposite, Rodrigo contends, is equally true. Limit your hours, and the time it takes you to complete tasks will shrink to accommodate the new boundaries. Set yourself a deadline and you’ll feel more urgency, more adrenaline and less perfectionism.

Rodrigo backs up her ideas with arguments that would be true for a baker or cobbler, but there’s evidence that quantity does not necessarily translate to quality, especially for knowledge workers. Happiness-at-work expert Alexander Kjerulf, for instance, has rounded up research that shows that knowledge workers “are the most productive when they work 35 hours a week” and “productivity decreased by half after the eighth hour of work.”

So how can we shorten our workdays? Rodrigo offers several suggestions, many of which are classic time-management techniques that we’ve covered before. But three of her ideas are particularly pertinent.

Keep your deadlines challenging but realistic. A too-generous deadline won’t make you more productive. On the other hand, a deadline that’s impossible to meet is counterproductive as well. When you feel you’re too late for something, it can de-motivate you from working faster and more efficiently. So you want a deadline that puts pressure on you but that is still humanly manageable.
Reward yourself for meeting deadlines. Imagine all the other things you could do if you had a shorter workday. You could go to the gym, hang out with friends, play video games, work on your novel. What would you do if you didn’t have to work? Plan to do some of that after your work is completed every day. And I mean put it in your schedule … Type it into your Google calendar. That’s the only way it will get done.
Stick to your deadlines — but remain flexible. Of course, deadlines only work if you actually stick to them. Yet at the same time, you need to have some flexibility. Unexpected things come up, often through no fault of yours. If it’s necessary, adjust your deadline.

These tips merge well with some that we’ve talked about before:

How do you manage your work schedule?

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How to Raise Your Prices

Charles Hamilton — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 20:00:11 +0000

Let’s face it: even during the economic downturn we’ve faced in the last couple of years, expenses haven’t stopped going up. So in order to survive, at some point, we web workers, business owners and managers have to think about raising prices. But how to do it without annoying and losing our customers?

We all know that it’s better to keep existing customers than to spend the time and effort getting new ones. Recently, a friend and fellow business owner asked me for advice on how she could raise her prices. Here’s the procedure we came up with:

Calculate the price increase you need. You probably know which of your clients are likely to go elsewhere when prices are raised, so run some scenarios on a spreadsheet and see what pencils out. Try to plan at least a couple of years in advance, since you don’t want to have to raise prices too often.

Create two tiers of pricing. You can generally raise prices for new customers right away, as soon as you’ve updated whatever published price lists you may have, and changed your internal systems to reflect the new rates. Keep your current clients at your old prices for now.

Schedule the price increase. Pick a date, at least a couple of months away, for implementing the increase for current customers. To simplify record keeping and tax reporting, I prefer to schedule increases at the beginning of a new year or quarter.

Notify current customers what you plan to do.

Explain why the increase is needed. For service businesses, you may want to tell customers that the increase will be used to give the folks they deal with well-deserved raises.
Explain that because they are valued customers, you have continued to charge them at your old rates until now. You might also want to offer the ability to pre-pay for your services at the old rates for up to 6-12 months.

Be prepared to politely deal with upset customers, in person, by phone, by email, and on social media. Try to respond to such customers individually if you can, and avoid canned responses. But be firm, and don’t negotiate special deals.

My friend and I have both followed these steps for our respective businesses in the last few months, and we’ve been happy with the results. We both lost a few clients, but fewer than we expected, and the increased revenue more than made up for the losses. And frankly, the lost customers were those with small budgets and big needs; it’s often true that those with the smallest budgets need the most hand-holding.

Have you raised your prices recently? How has it impacted your business?

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The Emotional Labor of Building a Business

Amber Singleton Riviere — Thu, 06 May 2010 16:00:20 +0000

I’m fascinated by successful people, those who say, “This is how I want my life to look,” and then they go create it. I find them interesting because most people don’t live like that. Most people, myself included, settle. We settle, and we aren’t willing to put in the work, the “emotional labor” that Seth Godin describes in his book “Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?“

What Is Emotional Labor?

Emotional labor, as Godin describes it, requires:

Working without a map
Vision and the willingness to do something about what you see
Staring into the abyss of choice and picking a path

Emotional labor is hard. I was thinking about that very fact recently, when I was asked the question, “What would you do if you won the lottery?” I didn’t feel like answering the question, and then I stepped back and wondered why. Was it because I think planning my future, my success, and my happiness on the probability of winning the lottery is not a good idea? Maybe. No offense to the lottery, but I’d rather put my attention and effort toward something that I actually have a decent chance at achieving. The real question for me was whether I didn’t feel like answering it because I didn’t want to put in the emotional effort in order to do so. That was a little scary, because it then made me question whether or not I put in enough emotional labor on a regular basis to actually build the life and business that I want to create.

How Do You Move a Mountain?

If you wanted to answer the question, “What is it that I want for my life and business (lottery or no lottery)?,” it’s going to take quite a bit of emotional labor to come up with a response and an actionable plan to make it happen. It’s going to take even more effort to get out of the bed every morning and do the work to achieve it. Penelope Trunk wrote about this recently; she said that “the most triumphant moments are the days when I have no idea how I’m going to fix anything, but I get out of bed anyway. On the other hand, the moments of huge achievement are not actually that hard to get to. By the time you’re close, you are so motivated to get there that it doesn’t feel like work at all.”

So, maybe that’s the answer. Moving the big rocks is actually easier than figuring out what rocks you want to move in the first place. In fact, I know that to be true. On the days when I’m disconnected from my vision, I’m floundering, and I’m not sure what to do, everything is a struggle, even getting out of bed. The real work, though, comes when I decide, “OK, I’ve got to get my mind around this.” I sit down and commit to doing the emotional work of reconnecting with my vision and figuring out my next move (without a map). That can take hours sometimes, days even, and it’s not easy. There are times when it’s very tempting to quit. It requires digging deeper and being brutally honest, but at the end of all of that, I know what rocks I want to move.

Then the work becomes unbelievably easy. All of a sudden, I can move mountains in no time flat. It becomes fun and engaging, and it’s amazing to see the progress I’m able to make and the passion and energy I have for my life and business.

Now Go Move It

Most days, we get so caught up in the habitual doing that we don’t take the time to connect with our real reason for being, the real purpose that should drive our lives and businesses. Connecting with that real purpose, figuring out what you want your life and business to look like, and deciding the core role you need to play to achieve that vision is actually the hardest part. Once you take the time and put in the emotional work to figure all of that out, the rest becomes obvious and much easier.

Do you feel that you put in enough emotional labor on a regular basis to build the life and business you really want?

Photo by Flickr user Richard0, licensed under CC 2.0

Doing Super-sets: Applying Workout Logic to Web Work

Darrell Etherington — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:00:27 +0000

I maintain my sanity (just barely) by leaving my fortress of solitude each day during the work week and venturing forth to the gym located a block away. If I didn’t do this, I’d probably stop doing work altogether and just give in to the massive temptation to just lie on the couch and grow slowly larger and more rotund. The gym allows me to blow off steam, interact with others in the real world, and provides me with enough energy to get through even the longest of work days.

That’s not all I get from the experience, though. Dedicated gym-goers use some tried and tested methods to make their workouts more efficient and effective. As usual, what’s good for the goose is also good for the gander, and a lot of these same strategies can apply quite well to professional workflows, too. What is work, after all, besides a prolonged workout of your professional muscles?

Super-sets

It’s understood that after a set of one type of exercise, you’ll take a short break before doing another. But that’s time-consuming, and it’s almost always possible to do another kind of exercise that emphasizes different muscles in between sets in order to be more efficient with your workout. This also has the benefit of keeping your heart rate up, which will help your weight training provide some cardio advantages, too.

Applying the super-set principle to your web working routine will help you make the most out of your working hours, minimize downtime, and open up larger chunks of usable free time for you to really enjoy yourself. To do it, break up your work into smaller, more manageable chunks. Work out small units of tasks and plan ahead, interspersing different types of work together. Block tasks you dislike back-to-back with those you do enjoy in order to keep your motivation level high, and try to ensure that things that are placed next to each other are different enough that you won’t become bored by repetition.

Plan Your Pace

People who are very used to doing extended cardio workouts know what their limits are, and are very good at planning how to pace themselves to make it to their time or distance goal. Marathon runners are a perfect example of this kind of energy conservation. Likewise, if you have 30 minutes to do a weights session, you’ll probably do it differently than if you had a whole hour.

Work is the same. If you don’t take the time to accurately anticipate how long a project or project component will take to complete, you’ll be much more likely to burn yourself out early by working too hard and then becoming frustrated when it takes longer than you’d imagined. Get a better idea of how long things take by monitoring your experiences as you go and logging them, and then do comparisons with your past projects when you take on new ones so that you can then pace yourself accordingly.

Journaling

Many workout addicts are also obsessive record-keepers. They track their progress with every visit to the gym, carrying around notebooks or clipboards for the purpose, or just using an iPhone app to log things. It helps you make sure you’re moving forward instead of back, and you won’t be doing the same work on the same muscles over again by accident.

Keeping a detailed record of the work you do will have the same effect with your online professional activity. It’ll help you make sure you don’t ever redo any work you’ve already done, and it’ll make sure you learn from your mistakes and grow and improve as a web worker over time.

Just like working out your body will help you live a longer, happier life, so too will working out your professional side allow you to enjoy a much more fulfilling and long-lasting working life.

What tips from the gym can you apply to your professional life?

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How to Build Conversations in Social Media Using the 3 P's

Meryl K Evans — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:00:08 +0000

Are you just getting the ingredients together to start a business? Or are you in the process of making your dessert — taking your business from new to sweet? In either case, you can take your business up a notch with social media.

Building conversations anywhere in the world of social media develops relationships, grows brand recognition and expands expertise. The formula for starting and building a community around your topic calls for a heap of passion, a large scoop of planning and a big bowl of promotion – the three P’s.

Passion

In “Man v. Food,” a Travel Channel TV show, Adam Richman ends every episode by taking on an eating challenge. It could be eating the fieriest food or a ginormous dish that can feed five people. In one episode, he faced an ice cream tower known as the Kitchen Sink Sundae, a two-gallon sundae with eight giant scoops of ice cream. He had to eat the whole thing within an hour.

You could almost feel Richman’s pain past the halfway point with his droopy eyes, slumped body and bowed head. The taste became too much for him that he ordered French fries to cut the sweetness. In the end, the man with passion for food won the challenge. Of course, he has lost a few battles with food, but that doesn’t stop him from trying again and again.

The groups and chats that flourish online have leaders behind them who show similar passion for their topic. Picking a topic to discuss, just because you think that’s what people want or because it’s a moneymaker will lead to burnout and boredom. Working with a topic means constantly staying on top of it, talking about it, researching it and living with it for hours, days and months. Without passion, the fire will never truly catch, but with it you can develop a thriving conversation. For example, Wine Library TV’s Gary Vaynerchuck oozes passion; people see it right away on his show, in his talks and in his book, “Crush It!“

Planning

The creators of the Kitchen Sink Sundae thought ahead by creating the sundae and setting boundaries with two rules: The challenger must eat everything within one hour. Without those boundaries, challengers could easily win by slowly eating the whole thing throughout the day.

The restaurant behind the sundae most likely added this to their menu to challenge people, promote the restaurant and to be a “purple cow.” “Hey, have you heard about the bottomless sundae at San Francisco Creamery?” makes for great word-of-mouth promotion.

You need similar planning in order to build successful conversations in social media. How does the topic fit in with your business goals? How will you benefit from the topic? Setting boundaries keeps the discussion tight and on track. Discussions without boundaries lose control and interest.

Promotion

San Francisco Creamery extended the life of the Kitchen Sink Sundae promotion with a new contest. It gives you a chance to win free ice cream for a year if you finish the sundae within 30 minutes. Unless challengers can finish the sundae, they’ll have pay for the $39.95 ice cream.

Conversations allow you to share your passion with others. But without promotion, no one will show up to share that passion with you. Hard selling makes many people uncomfortable, so focus on their needs. If they stop by your community, what will they get out of it? Use that to promote your topic. Promote it in the right places such as on social media profiles, in your email signature and via any colleagues who are willing to help spread it through their networks.

These three steps can work for many areas of social media. You can apply the three P’s to a blog, a Twitter chat, a Facebook page, a LinkedIn group, or wherever your community waits for you and your passion.

What ingredients make up your conversations around your passion?

Photo credit: Swamibu

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Thursday's Plans and Hopes for 2010

Thursday Bram — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:14 +0000

In the last year, I had the pleasure to work with some amazing clients, bring out my first e-book and attend some great conferences. I saw my own blog grow and even if there was a disappointment or two, I managed to buy a house, so I think 2009 went pretty well.

While I don’t have any resolutions, I’ve made some big plans for the new year, though — and I’ve already made some progress on them!

I’m My Own Client

I’ve been operating several small sites as passive income sources for quite a while, but they tend to get neglected in favor of the work I do for clients. Don’t get me wrong — I love the writing and blogging I do for my clients — but I want to make sure that my projects don’t get ignored. To that end, I’m working on changing my frame of mind: when it comes to my own projects, I’m just as much of a client as everyone else I work for. I’m tracking the time I spend on my own projects and treating them just like any other project a client asks me to work on.

Busting Out of the Short-form Rut

I write a lot, but the majority of my writing is on short projects: blog posts, articles, a page or two of web copy. But I learned last year that I enjoyed working on longer projects — even though I don’t get to work on them that often. I’m planning several long-form projects, including more e-books. I’ve even already brought out a new e-book this year, so I’m well on my way to meeting that goal.

I’m also experimenting with other forms of writing, like scripts for a web series. Right now, I’m not really concerned about finding a successful project, but I’ve found that changing up the projects I work on makes a big difference in my ability to write. It’s also one of the fastest ways past writer’s block that I’ve found. In order to explore some of those options, I’m also planning on taking a class or two.

Attend More Conferences

Most of the conferences and events I attended last year were local, but I’m looking for opportunities to get out on the road in 2010. I’ve already got a ticket for SXSW and I’m looking for a few other conferences to put on my schedule. I’ve started looking specifically for conferences in places I want to visit, where I can meet clients that I’ve been working with for years in person. Of course, I’ll keep on going to local events as well — it’s one of my favorite ways to get out of the home office.

I do have some non-work travel planned. I’m actually expecting to be on the road pretty much constantly from March through June. I’ll be taking the laptop along with me and working from wherever I happen to find an Internet connection.

How about you? What are you planning for 2010?

Image by Flickr user Doug88888

While I don’t have any resolutions, I’ve made some big plans for the new year, though — and I’ve already made some progress on them!

I’m My Own Client

Busting Out of the Short-Form Rut

I write a lot, but the majority of my writing is on short projects: blog posts, articles, a page or two of web copy. But I learned last year that I enjoyed working on longer projects — even though I don’t get to work on them that often. I’m planning several long-form projects, including more ebooks. I’ve even already brought out a new ebook this year, so I’m well on my way to meeting that goal.

I’m also experimenting with other forms of writing, like scripts for a web series. Right now, I’m not really concerned about finding a successful project, but I’ve found that changing up the projects make a big difference in my ability to write. It’s also one of the fastest ways past writers’ block that I’ve found. In order to explore some of those options, I’m also planning on taking a class or two.

Attend More Conferences

Most of the conferences and events I attend last year were local, but I’m looking for opportunities to get out on the road in 2010. I’ve already got a ticket for SXSW and I’m looking for a few other conferences to put on my schedule. I’ve started looking specifically for conferences in places I want to visit, where I can meet clients that I’ve been working with for years in person. Of course, I’ll keep on going to local events as well — it’s one of my favorite ways to get out of the home office.

Image by Flickr user Doug88888

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Nancy's Plans for 2010: A Year of Projects

Nancy Nally — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:00:24 +0000

A while back I wrote that I don’t believe in resolutions. But I did suggest that the new year was a good time to evaluate your goals, especially business ones. Events the past few months have made it an especially good idea for me to do that this year, so I decided I’d join other members of the WebWorkerDaily staff in sharing them.

Gear

I accumulated a lot of new gear in 2009, but that doesn’t stop me from still having some gear goals for 2010. One of those goals I already fulfilled by purchasing a Canon 270ex flash for my Canon XS last week. I can now avoid the recurring expense of renting a 430ex ii when I attend trade shows, and the 270 will do the job with less weight to carry.

Like Simon, I’m looking forward to an upgrade to my iPhone 3G when I’m eligible this summer, right after the traditional new model rollout time. I’ve also been shopping for EVDO card options after our Christmas week Internet outage (and another one caused by our cold snap this week in Florida) made me realize I needed a better Internet access back-up plan. So far, I’m leaning toward a MiFi from Verizon.

I’d also like a 15” MacBook Pro to upgrade the MacBook I bought as a refurb last April. I didn’t anticipate that machine becoming my primary computer (it waved goodbye to my Vista desktop once I got my hands on that MacBook) and the 13” screen gets a little cramped. But that may have to wait until 2011.

Work

My business and career were expanded greatly in 2009. I aim to continue to carry that momentum into 2010 in several ways.

The first goal was already met, with the successful relaunch a few days ago of the scrapbook audio show that I co-host online called Paperclipping Roundtable. I also am working on constructing a brand web site for my media company, and plan on rolling out some additional web properties for the company during 2010. Unlike previous properties the company has experimented with, these properties will offer content somewhat related to the main Scrapbook Update topic, part of a move toward a more cohesive vision for the company.

My goals also include making progress toward becoming an established speaker in the areas that I work in. I also hope to have the opportunity to travel more so that I can do more in-person professional networking.

Personal

Like several other WebWorkerDaily folk, one of my 2010 goals is to get a lot of reading done. I also wish to spend more time on my scrapbook hobby, instead of just on my scrapbook job. Another goal is to simplify our home to more easily accommodate our busy schedules. And perhaps most important of all is my goal for my autistic six-year-old daughter, which is to finish the process of toilet training her. We’ve made major progress on that in the past six weeks and fully achieving that would be a major milestone in her development.

If a few of these sound suspiciously like the resolutions I’ve said I abhor, then I’ll tell you that I think of them as projects. And my Things is loaded down with projects for 2010. It’s going to be a busy year, but I think it’s going to be a really good one.

Does using the term “project” make a goal seem less intimidating to you?

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Will's Plans for 2010

Will Kelly — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 00:00:24 +0000

2009 was a challenging year for me professionally, but I learned a lot and am applying those lessons to have a successful 2010. Some good things happened in 2009, too, like joining the WebWorkerDaily team, meaning I am greeting this year with some renewed focus.

Renewed Focus on my Work

Work with multiple, diverse and interesting clients. When I was growing up my father always worked more than one job, which is how I’ve usually defined my work ethic. To date, anytime I’ve deviated from the definition, like in did in 2008/2009, trouble has ensued, so 2010 is going to see me going back to what works. Oh well, my dream of only getting one or two federal tax forms at the end of the year is no more.
Improve the proper care and feeding of my social media presence. In 2009 most (if not all) of my professional reconnections and potential writing opportunities came via LinkedIn or Facebook. My blog also helps people find me, so I am planning to regularly write posts for it rather than it just containing links to my WebWorkerDaily posts.
Stay professionally nimble and decisive. This is important because my local job market has been hit by the perfect storm: a down economy, the federal government wanting to “federalize” contractors, commercial company budget cuts.

Renewed Focus on my Life and Spirit

Get better at venting stress. 2009 was a stressful year, so the gym remains an important part of my schedule and I am learning the value of letting things go.
Make the time to volunteer more and resume donating to charities important to me.
Work only with organizations with ethics, honesty and a mission I support. I’ll also avoid working with people who are draining.
Start reading more for enjoyment. I just finished Wil Wheaton’s “Just a Geek” and Paul Carr’s “Bringing Nothing To The Party: True Confessions Of A New Media Whore” and enjoyed both books immensely.

What are your hopes and plans for 2010?

Artwork by stock.xchng user: ljleavell

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Celine's Plans for 2010: Continued Progress

Celine Roque — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 23:00:16 +0000

I enjoyed 2009, especially when it came to blogging projects. It was a great way for me to meet new people to share stories and ideas with; I even had a face-to-face meeting with a WWD reader from another country. Though I had fewer clients, I thoroughly enjoyed working with them all. This was probably a result of my effort last year to learn how to say “no” to prospects who showed signs of being difficult.

Because of these positive experiences from 2009, my goals and plans this year aren’t really about starting new things, they are more about continuing some long-term projects that I started last year.

Productivity and Workspace

I was very productive in 2009, so I hope to continue at the same level this year.Also, like Simon, I have a new office. I’ll be spending January and February fixing it up. Hopefully, the results will be good enough that I can share it with you, WWD readers.

Finances and Job Security

At the beginning of 2009, I had an emergency fund worth 6 months of my family’s living expenses. Because of some financial emergencies, I exited 2009 having only a 4-month fund. In 2010, I hope to get it back up to 6 or 7 months again. A healthy emergency fund is especially important for freelancers like me who don’t have a steady, predictable income.

I also have a few projects in the works. I’m still collaborating with a graphic design team and setting up an illustration business with them. I also plan to redesign my professional blog and my writing web site later in the year to better reflect my services.

Other Passions

Though I love writing for my clients and blogs, there are other hobbies and passions that I like exploring during my downtime. The lessons and insights I gain from these experiences also help me with work, so I always take the time to do them.

In late 2009 I finished my first short story in 5 years and submitted it to an anthology. This was part of my goal to write fiction again. The story ended up being shortlisted. Though this seemed like half a rejection, this has inspired me to write more fiction in 2010.

I’m also an avid language learner. This tends to be fun, especially when I try to communicate with my friendlier clients who speak other languages. This year I hope to pass a Spanish proficiency test and perhaps study another language.

Relaxation

With all the work ahead, I know I’ll be needing some time off. One of my mundane ways to unwind is to read. I also have a recurring goal of reading at least 30 books, which I know I’ll reach this year (as I always do).

I also want to take a 2-week trip this year, since I love traveling and working from the road. Overnight or weekend trips rarely do it for me, but my financial obligations last year prevented me from traveling more.

How about you, what are your hopes and plans for 2010?

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