Warning sign

Don't take the stairs - I think it's a trap!

A few useful tools

It's been a while since I highlighted some tools here, so how about it?

Mp3cutter (any platform) - free

The iPhone is a bit of a pain when it comes to creating free ringtones from songs you already own (seems they want you to pay, and pay, and pay...) but if you're using just about any other smartphone, you can use any .mp3 file for a ringtone. The challenge is getting just the right portion of the .mp3 file so that it sounds as awesome as you want it to be.   

The answer? the online tool "mp3cutter"  which provides a web interface to clip your .mp3's down to just that part you want to hear when someone special calls. It's pretty straight forward, and very much free. One note: it seemed temperamental when using it with Safari, but seems to work fine with Internet Explorer and Firefox.

Go through the editing and cutting process, save it to your local computer, copy it to your phone, and you're in business.

Fresh (Mac) - free to try, $9 to buy (and worth every penny)

Fresh is a cool app. It sits unobtrusively at the edge of your Mac OS X desktop as a gray tab. It's job is to hang on to recently accessed files for you, as well as things you'd like to have available for immediate access.

When you click on the tab, Fresh extends out into the desktop (screenshot below) and has two main panels

"Fresh Files" (the top one) - this is a list of the most recently opened or accessed files. It's very handy when you realize you just closed something you weren't finished with. You can not only open the files, you can right click on them and take other actions. Pretty handy. And if there is a type of file you never want to see there (like temp files or your iTunes database), you right click and tell it to stop showing you that file (or that type of file). Pretty slick.

"The Cooler" (the bottom one) - this is a list of files you've selected. You drag files, folders, etc. there and it hangs on to them so you can get to them quickly. You can drag them from Finder, the Desktop, or even from the Fresh Files pane and they stay there til you remove them. This is handy for keeping things that you want to get to in a couple of clicks - such as your "stock" presentations, files or folders related to your current projects, etc.

This was the surprise hit of the spring for me and has saved me more time than I'd have imagined.

Fences (Windows) - free basic version, Pro version for $9.99

On my Windows system, I've developed a nasty habit of putting things I want to get to quickly on my desktop. That means a messy Windows desktop. When I discovered Fences, I loved it immediately. I actually have Fences Pro, and I think it's worth the $10 - at least for me.

What does Fences do? It helps you organize the icons and shortcuts on your desktop. You create "Fences" which are little corrals that icons live in. You can show or hide each Fence, which allows you to hide icons you don't care about at one moment, but bring them back instantaneously when you need them again.

My favorite feature is the "Quick Hide" capability. By double-clicking on a clear area of the desktop, you automatically hide all the icons on your desktop so you can instantly clean up before a presentation, a demo, or when you just want to focus.

What's that you say? There are a few icons you don't want to hide? Easy. Just right-click the icon when it's visible, click "Exclude from auto-hide" and that icon will stick around when you hide everything else. It may not sound like much, but try this for a day and you'll be hooked.

The Pro feature has an additional function I really like - you can set a default Fence for new icons. For example, I created a fence for documents that automatically "collects" any .doc, .docx, .pdf, and .xps file that I save to my desktop. Snazzy.

Gadgets, Personal Productivity

Whose is this?

In the new team I'm leading, I'm really beginning to appreciate the value of clarity.

Historically, I've been very comfortable with ambiguity - in fact, I've really enjoyed taking advantage of ambiguity as a means to have more freedom. After all, when nobody is sure what is supposed to be done, how can they challenge what you're doing?

In my new role, however, I am becoming very disciplined about documenting commitments, and ensuring that there is one, clear owner for each item. This is a rusty skill for me, and I've learned a lot over the past few weeks.

One throat to choke

They say, "When multiple people own a problem, nobody owns the problem." I think that's true, based on some fire drills caused when multiple people thought someone else was handling an issue. Quite often, everybody things someone else has the ball, so nothing happens.

I'm being very deliberate about driving to one name as the owner of each issue. This has two effects - both good. One, I always know exactly who to ask when I want to know what's going on. Two, I can "let go" of the task because I have it cleanly docked with someone else - this has greatly shortened my task list.

On a side note - I am tracking all the commitments and owners in a spreadsheet, and mark each one red, yellow, or green to indicate whether they are on track or not. Any task without an owner is automatically "red" until an owner is identified.

Let's be clear

For this to work well, clarity is essential.

1. Be very clear about ownership - I like it when the owner clearly says "I own this." Seems like a small thing, perhaps, but there is power in saying the words.
2. Be very clear about expected outcomes - for most of the things I assign, I have no clue what the solution is. However, I usually know what criteria will be met when the task is "done," or I can articulate what questions I need to be able to answer when things are complete, and when it needs to be done. This avoids the "bring me a rock" frustrations that we've all been part of at one point or another.
3. Be clear about guidelines and protocols - This is the part where you provide guidelines on when the owner needs to check in with you. Some examples:
   • "Your budget is $1000 for this project. Check in with me before you exceed the budget."
   • "I want to know if you hit any roadblocks you can't overcome, or anything that would cause the date to slip."
   • "If you have to do anything that pisses off one of the Sales guys, I want to know as soon as possible."

Respect the boundaries

Another thing I've learned is that people do awesome work if you get out of their way. This is why it's so important to be clear about the expectations and boundaries, but not tell people how to solve the problem. After all, if you stay involved, you get no benefit from delegation. It is also very liberating. Of the 43 open items currently on my tracking spreadsheet, I am the owner of exactly one of them - which means I can spend my time helping people clear roadblocks, working with customers, and monitoring the health of the business. And the people in my team actually like not having me in the details. Other people in my company would benefit from this kind of approach. Which brings me to my last topic...

Don't undermine the trust

The surest way to "unempower" people is to start questioning how they are doing things you delegated. Bad mojo. Especially if you "skip levels" and start digging into the tasks that are owned by the people who work for people you manage (i.e. you've just gone around your direct reports). This erodes trust at all levels in your team. You only get the power of this approach if you honor the boundaries, let people own their commitments, and get out of their way.

If thigns aren't working, I suspect you have an issue with one of the elements of clarity I talked about in the "Let's be clear" section.

Sanity check

OK - how does this match your experience? Am I smoking hope? Any other elements you've learned from your own experience?

Bring it on - let's learn from each other.

leadership, management, micromanagement, Delegation

Master Your Work Day - Now!

I've just finished reading Michael Linenberger's book "Master Your Work Day Now!" You may recall I've reviewed Michael's previous book, "Total Workday Control Using Microsoft Outlook," (TWC) here in the past. You'll also recall that I'm a big fan of his views on productivity and focus, as well as the framework he's created to achieve both. His methods are very consistent with David Allen's "Getting Things Done," but he definitely has his own (pragmatic) spin on the techniques, plus some changes that may make the methods easier to implement.

This book was timely, at least for me. I loved Michael's last book, which focuses on using Microsoft Outlook as a productivity hub; however, I am using a Mac for most of my work these days which means I use Entourage which is very different from Outlook. The result? My old tools, tips, and tricks have to be adapted to a new platform. This book works well for that, since it is system-agnostic. In fact, the basics of the system Michael takes you through are demonstrated using a couple of sheets of paper (yes, ye olde paper).

At first I was wondering whether this was just a rehash of Michael's last book. Verdict? It's not. While I recognized a lot of the core concepts that carried forward from TWC, but this is by no means a re-hash of the previous material.

Layers of work

There is a hierarchy in Michael's view of the world from most "important" to most "optional" -

• Critical Now: Must do today
• Target Now (would like to do today)
• Significant Outcomes (SOCs): Achieve or make progress toward, within this week
  
• Opportunity Now (start this week or next; review daily)
  
• Over the Horizon
  • Review Weekly
  • Review Monthly
  • Review Every 3 Months
  • Review Every 6 Months
  • Review Every 12 Months

My favorite new concept here is the "Significant Outcome," or "SOC." A SOC is used to keep your attention on a "milestone" toward a goal - you can think of it as a way of identifying something as "I want to make progress on this area this week" - it's not a specific task, just a specific zone of activity you want to move forward in a given week. This is a good reminder so you can move things ahead when you have a few moments here and there.

To make this easier to jump into, Michael also provides a great set of free resources on the Master Your Workday Now! web site. These resources include a workbook, some Word and Mind Manager templates, and other resources to help you apply the techniques in the book (you can sign up now, just by providing your email address - which isn't shared with any other organizations).

The bigger picture

One other thing I loved in this book was the section (and the tools) that deals with how to create a Vision, Goals, etc. These are not new concepts to me, of course, but I never can seem to write goals or visions that feel "right" to me. Finally, from this book, I have found a process I can actually use.

As a visual person, the many examples in Michael's book really helped me "get" the concepts faster - in addition to the mindmaps he shares, there are examples of goals, projects, filled-in templates, and other visual artifacts.

The book also guides you through very specific steps to connect your actions to your goals & aspirations, and take specific steps to "activate" your goals so they are more likely to stick.

In summary, I was expecting this book to be more of the same with regard to productivity, email management, "Getting Things Done"-like techniques, etc. I found it to be way more than that, and recommend it to anyone looking to use their time more effectively and more meaningfully.

If you read Master Your Workday Now! I'd love to hear what you think.

book reviews, Books, gtd, Personal Productivity, productivity, Productivity

Phones, PDA's, and Bad Habits

I landed in London today and am happy the volcano seems to be calm for the moment. On my flight over, I read Michael Linenberger's new book and about half-way through writing the review. Meanwhile, I wanted to share an interesting article by Francis Wade on Stepcase Lifehack. The article, "Fight Bad Cellphone Habits for Better Time Management," touches on some interesting points - and some interesting observations.

Francis starts off talking about how a percentage of students in the time management classes he teaches just won't turn off their cell phones, PDA's, etc. for the duration of the class.

None of the people sitting in my classes are emergency room surgeons, firemen or policemen. I am not delivering these programs in a war zone, during a hurricane or in the middle of a tornado.

Yet, they find it absolutely essential to be checking their email every few minutes.

Sounds like an addiction, to me! I know - I've been there - that's why I got the Foursquare monkey off my back a month or so ago (I just noticed I did that on April 1, but it was no joke):

(By the way - haven't touched Foursquare since then and I'm still the mayor of 17 place as of today. Yes, I was hooked.)

Can't get enough...

But it's not just fun stuff like Foursquare, Facebook, and those sorts of things that create compulsive behaviors. Work does just the same thing, and some managers make it worse:

For aspiring micro-managers, it’s easy: simply give the employee the gift of a Blackberry. Then, send them “important” emails at odd hours (5pm is a good choice.) When you don’t get a response within minutes, make a critical comment, and mention their need to improve their time management skills. Praise them for their responsiveness as they inevitably knuckle under in time, and thank them for becoming a good “team player.

I know - I've been on the non-manager end of that, including a written policy from one of my past managers:

It is not my expectation that each person work 100 hours a week, although some weeks may seem like it. I do expect that each of you invest enough hours to get your work done, and done well. I also expect you to ‘check-in’ on e-mail during the weekend, busy periods and when we have critical international activities underway that you may be involved in. We are in a ‘Sun never sets’ mode.

Needless to say, people were obsessively attached to their company-provided Blackberries. And "check in" meant more than that - it meant we were expected to answer within a couple of hours, any time - day or night. Woohoo.

Inspect what you expect

So this article was a good reminder to me to think about:

• What message am I sending when I get caught up in obsessive email management?
• What expectations am I sending to my team with my actions?

We shouldn't have to freak out when we aren't on email for a day - do you?

Personal Productivity

Become a better manager in 5 weeks (and it's free for now)

This week, I downloaded Rosa Say's free ebook "Become an Alaka‘i Manager in 5 Weeks" and transferred it to my Kindle (it's also available in a bunch of other formats - one will definitely be right for you).
Today, I spent all day at a volleyball tournament which gave me a lot of down time to read it between matches. The bottom line: I really liked the book.

So - what does the title mean, and who's the book for? The ebook defines that:

"Alaka‘i is the Hawaiian value of leadership, and thus we refer to those who learn and practice the Managing with Aloha philosophy as Alaka‘i Managers. You have the potential to be an Alaka‘i Manager if you feel you have the calling to be a manager or leader, and you are ready to answer that calling."

As I mentioned recently, I'm in a new role at work and one of the things I want to ensure is that I not only manage effectively, but I also become a better leader - that desire drew me into this book. I'm also very familiar with Rosa Say & her work (she's a friend of mine) and love the fact that her recommendations are rooted in values and principles, which means they can adapt to any situation.

I like the 5 things the book describes as the "Alaka'i Toolbox," as well:

• Don't Add. Replace.
• Be a Finisher; Finish Well.
• Finish Conversations with Mutual Agreements.
• Lessen Task Work. Focus on Partnerships.
• Choose Positive Expectancy.

I don't really understand the nuances of these (especially that last one), but some of the others are things I recognize I need (and want) to improve in my leadership style.

I read this book on the Kindle, but I will order the hard copy (when It's available) anyway. Some of the worksheets are pretty tough to replicate without a hard copy (and they are worth doing).

And I'm going to be a better manager in about 5 weeks. Get the book, and you can too!

Note: The reason I say "...free for now" in the title is that Rosa says SmashWords, the company distributing the ebook, may start charging - so I suggest you get your copy now.

Update: Rosa assures me the ebook will stay free, so don't worry. (But what are you waiting for?)

Books, leadership, management