Going Topless!!!

Now that I have your attention. Been in a meeting recently where people were more engaged with their PDAs, phones or laptops than they were in the meeting? Thought so. It can be extremely frustrating. In response some companies have gone "topless" at meetings. No laptops during the discussions. Other companies have chosen to include IPhones and other personal devices that are so common in the workplace.

The article brings out several critical points both pro/con for the idea. They include:

• Partial attention due to using the devices during the meeting leads to partial results.


• Using the devices has created a mindset of "continuous partial attention." There is no point at which one is fully engaged in just one event or activity.


• Etiquette has not kept up with technology.


• The root problem may be that people just hate meetings.

Read the entire article at http://www.mercurynews.com//ci_8688897?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com

Stepping Up To The Plate

Learn to Play the Guitar, Write a Novel, Sky Dive, Take Flight Lessons, Try Out for American Idol, Visit the Pacific Islands, Buy a House, Start a Family, Go Back to Graduate School...

Sometimes our "To Do List" seems to us to be more like a "Wish List". Especially as we get older. Time, money and resources seem to be barriers that get in the way. The quote below from Kathy Seligman offers a good strategy:

You can't hit a home-run unless you step up to the plate. You can't catch fish unless you put a line in the water. You can't reach your goals unless you actually do something.

It is that easy! Do something. Begin! Layout out a plan and get started. Anything worth achieving is going to take effort and require sacrifice so put on the waders and get fishing.

Unfounded Risks

While reviewing the headlines of the New York Times, I spotted the quote of the day and it really caught my attention. It read:

The very success of immunizations has turned out to be an Achilles heel. Most of these parents have never seen measles, and don't realize it could be a bad disease so they turn their concerns to unfounded risks. They do not perceive risk of the disease but perceive risk of the vaccine.
-Dr. Mark Sawyer, an infectious disease specialist at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego

Unfounded risks. I talk with people so often who are unwilling to make a change in their work or personal routine because of perceived risks that have little or no basis in reality. Sometimes they voice them while other times you can see the fear in their eyes.

The next time you are considering changing the acts in your lineup, seek out those individuals who have suffered from poor productivity or feeling overwhelmed and made changes in their routines that got them more standing ovations. You might just find that the pain of change is worth the cure.

One Easy Way to Fail

I enjoyed an article in Inc Magazine recently titled, "How Hard Could It Be?: Five Easy Ways to Fail" by Joel Spolsky. The article mentioned five reasons technology projects go wrong. In line with the message of Juggling Elephants was "Mistake No. 5: Work till midnight". Some highlights from the article are:

• "There's a whole body of literature establishing that working more hours doesn't produce software any faster. Edward Yourdon, the software entrepreneur and author, dubbed this kind of project the 'death march.'"


• "Software development takes immense intellectual effort. Even the best programmers can rarely sustain that level of effort for more than a few hours a day. Beyond that, they need to rest their brains a bit."


• "Compelling employees to spend even more hours sitting in front of a computer won't really translate into more output--or if it does, it will be the wrong kind of output."


• "Running a death march is not the only way to make a project late and a budget buster. But it is a surefire way to do so."

I think the same concepts apply to "non-programmers" as well. A lot of times we feel that if we work longer hours we will be more productive and get more done. The reality is that the law of diminishing returns applies. We need to take daily intermissions and "rest our brains a bit". We need to maintain a good performance in all the rings of our life. A good, focused, 8 hour day will deliver better results in the long run.

Great Quote About Focus

I came across this quote today by Edgar F. Roberts:

Every human mind is a great slumbering power until awakened by a keen desire and by definite resolution to do.

What acts in your lineup today do you have a "keen desire" to complete? If there are none or very few, maybe it's time to take a quick intermission and consider making some changes to the lineup-or to revisit your purpose for doing them.