timdaniels.com

2007-01-01

The Zone

An oldie but a goodie from Joel on Software:

Here's the trouble. We all know that knowledge workers work best by getting into "flow", also known as being "in the zone", where they are fully concentrated on their work and fully tuned out of their environment. They lose track of time and produce great stuff through absolute concentration. This is when they get all of their productive work done. Writers, programmers, scientists, and even basketball players will tell you about being in the zone.

The trouble is, getting into "the zone" is not easy. When you try to measure it, it looks like it takes an average of 15 minutes to start working at maximum productivity. Sometimes, if you're tired or have already done a lot of creative work that day, you just can't get into the zone and you spend the rest of your work day fiddling around, reading the web, playing Tetris.

The other trouble is that it's so easy to get knocked out of the zone. Noise, phone calls, going out for lunch, having to drive 5 minutes to Starbucks for coffee, and interruptions by coworkers -- ESPECIALLY interruptions by coworkers -- all knock you out of the zone. If you take a 1 minute interruption by a coworker asking you a question, and this knocks out your concentration enough that it takes you half an hour to get productive again, your overall productivity is in serious trouble. If you're in a noisy bullpen environment like the type that caffinated dotcoms love to create, with marketing guys screaming on the phone next to programmers, your productivity will plunge as knowledge workers get interrupted time after time and never get into the zone.

Labels: ,

2006-12-20

Micromanagement

Sooner or later, every small business owner falls prey to the dreaded accusation of micromanagement. From your standpoint, you've done nothing wrong. After all, it is your business and at the end of the day you are the one who is responsible for its success or failure. So what's the big deal?

The big deal is that although it is your business, you need a team to make it work. If your team is going to succeed, you need to learn how to work together - as a team. To do that, every member of the team needs to understand their role and know they are making a valuable contribution to the team's goals.

Micromanagement undercuts the whole team concept because it tells employees that their contributions are insignificant. Even worse, it leaves them with the impression that you don't trust them to do the job you hired them to do, and without trust you're going to have a hard time achieving success.

Cut the cord

If you've fallen into the habit of micromanaging your employees, the good news is that you can change. The first step toward change is making a conscious decision to cut the cord - to give your employees the freedom they need to do their jobs without constant supervision. This may be uncomfortable for you at first, especially if you're used to keeping very close tabs on your workforce. But keep at it! Before long, employee morale will improve and your productivity will go through the roof.

Stay positive

Sometimes what employees interpret as micromanagement is really just a lack of positive reinforcement from their boss. When an employee does a good job, don't be stingy with your praise. If your employees know you are proud of the job they are doing, they will be less defensive when you stop in to check out their progress.

Give them the freedom to fail

Failure is a fact of life. So the question isn't whether or not your employees are going to make mistakes (because sometimes they will), but rather how you react to those mistakes when they occur. Any inventor will tell you that failure can be a great learning experience. If you treat your employees' mistakes as learning experiences, they will respect you for it. But if you use their mistakes as an excuse to micromanage your company, they will resent you. The choice is yours. Choose wisely.

(Excerpt from gaebler.com article.)

Labels:

2006-10-28

Get Real

How do you get a year behind schedule?
One day at a time.

Later is eternal, now is fleeting.

Getting Real, or "how to get yourself organized, prioritized, and get stuff done."

Labels: