Field Theory

Personal Productivity - Part 2

bradka — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 03:12:18 GMT

This post on "productivity pr0n" has been doing the rounds, but following my post on Multitasking for Productivity I thought it might be a nice follow-on. In particular I like the idea of not keeping a schedule - that's brilliant!

Given customer commitments and what-not, it may be hard to drop my schedule completely, but I think the underlying principle is sound. One of the chief causes of stress is not having control or influence over our workload and I would concur that a highly structured schedule actually diminishes one's ability to do the things you want/need to.

Note that the other key point here is not that you should abandon all work or obligations, rather that a looser schedule allows you to focus on what is most important at the time. I hate to think of all the times I've been dragged into a standing meeting while far more important matters were on the boil.

I think I'm actually going to try this.

Multitasking for Productivity

bradka — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 07:39:38 GMT

Anne Zelenka makes a very good point with here recent posting on Multitasking for Productivity. Most of today's productivity fetishists harp on about isolating one's self from distractions (i.e. input) in order to "get things done" - I think the issue has been overblown.

As Anne correctly points out, there are a limited number of specific activities that do in fact require sustained periods of intellectual work, such as complex programming or writing a book. However, modern life is more about connecting people and data together, as opposed to locking one's self away to complete your masterpiece.

Even programming is changing, with more widespread acceptance of techniques like Pair Programming, which leverages social effects to improve the breed.

This piece just struck a chord with me - am a bit sick of all the Lifehacker and GTD productivity pr0n.

Busy by Default

bradka — Wed, 02 May 2007 06:01:11 GMT

What the difference a default makes.

Upon joining Microsoft I know have the pleasure of using Office Communicator as my primary IM client, as opposed to Lotus SameTime while at IBM. Nothing inherently wrong with that since basic IM functionality is pretty well established across the board.

The interesting thing is how Office Communicator handles presence information - in particular integration with one's Outlook calendar. By default Communicator looks into your calendar and, if you are scheduled to be in a meeting or otherwise occupied, sets your presence status accordingly.

In theory this is a great idea and offers tight integration between calendar and IM functions. In practice it has the effect of making one seem more busy than perhaps you really are. Meetings don't always happen as planned, or take as long as planned - similarly, assuming I have my laptop with me I may very well be able to exchange brief IM messages, as opposed to phone calls or e-mails.

Maybe it's just me, but I find this default behavious acts as somewhat of a collaboration disincentive. Of course I've now learned to just go ahead and "ping" people anyway - even if they're shown as busy.

Windows Live Writer

bradka — Wed, 02 May 2007 05:06:01 GMT

Well - Finally getting out from under the deluge of information, training, and work that constituted my first few weeks at Microsoft. Of course the first thing I need to do is set up some kind of editor so I figured I'd give the Windows Live Writer Beta a try. Previously blogging efforts had entailed using ScribeFire/Performancing with Firefox, but it's probably more appropriate to try out some of our new technology. See how it goes, I guess.

Becoming Microsoft

bradka — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 07:01:00 GMT

Well - this has been a long time coming. I'm finally working at Microsoft, which has been a long-held goal for me. It's been a circuitous route, with significant stints at awesome companies such as PricewaterhouseCoopers and IBM, along with an ultimately less pleasant tour with Excite@Home. I'm not sure what to expect, and the first few days have been a blur of meeting new people, getting set up, and learning about the business, but I'm genuinely excited to be here.