Unconventional Work

"If we stopped wasting people’s time, what would they do with it? We have no real concept of..."

Sat, 08 Sep 2012 18:05:08 -0400

“If we stopped wasting people’s time, what would they do with it? We have no real concept of what is possible.”

- Eric Reis, The Lean Start up

Working From Home? You're a Better Worker

Sun, 02 Sep 2012 12:54:41 -0400

Working From Home? You're a Better Worker:

infoneer-pulse:

If you’re a U.S. worker, there’s a 10 percent chance that you work from home at least once a week, and a 4.3 percent chance that you work from home most of the time. And if you’re one of those working from home, you’re likely a more productive worker, at least according to a study recently published by Stanford.

» via Wired

"It’s been this way for so long that most American workers don’t realize that for most of the 20th..."

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 08:57:46 -0400

“It’s been this way for so long that most American workers don’t realize that for most of the 20th century, the broad consensus among American business leaders was that working people more than 40 hours a week was stupid, wasteful, dangerous and expensive — and the most telling sign of dangerously incompetent management to boot.”

- “Bring Back the 40 Hour Work Week” by Sara Robinson

Scroll to the end — really interesting that our current definition of “good” workers is based on the mental illness of early Silicon Valley tech workers. Awesome.

Bit of Trivia: productivity experts agree that we’d have the original Mac a year earlier if they’d worked 40 hours instead of 90. Ha!

"And it hurts the country, too. For every four Americans working a 50-hour week, every week, there’s..."

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 08:52:01 -0400

“And it hurts the country, too. For every four Americans working a 50-hour week, every week, there’s one American who should have a full-time job, but doesn’t. Our rampant unemployment problem would vanish overnight if we simply worked the way we’re supposed to by law.”

- “Bring Back the 40 Hour Work Week” by Sara Robinson

Scroll to the end — really interesting that our current definition of “good” workers is based on the mental illness of early Silicon Valley tech workers. Awesome.

Bit of Trivia: productivity experts agree that we’d have the original Mac a year earlier if they’d worked 40 hours instead of 90. Ha!

"In fact, research shows that knowledge workers actually have fewer good hours in a day than manual..."

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 08:48:58 -0400

“

In fact, research shows that knowledge workers actually have fewer good hours in a day than manual laborers do — on average, about six hours, as opposed to eight

…

The other thing about knowledge workers is that they’re exquisitely sensitive to even minor sleep loss. Research by the US military has shown that losing just one hour of sleep per night for a week will cause a level of cognitive degradation equivalent to a .10 blood alcohol level.

”

- “Bring Back the 40 Hour Work Week” by Sara Robinson

Scroll to the end — really interesting that our current definition of “good” workers is based on the mental illness of early Silicon Valley tech workers. Awesome.

Bit of Trivia: productivity experts agree that we’d have the original Mac a year earlier if they’d worked 40 hours instead of 90. Ha!

The 4 ways sound effects us

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 14:01:17 -0400

The 4 ways sound effects us

"Open plan has its place, but forcing people to work in such environments all day regardless of their..."

Tue, 29 May 2012 11:56:14 -0400

“Open plan has its place, but forcing people to work in such environments all day regardless of their task profile and the effect of noise on them is costing business billions in lost productivity, not to mention the immense but currently unmeasured cost for employees and society of lost health and wellbeing through stress, fatigue, restricted neural development and impaired sociability.”

- “More damaging evidence on open plan offices”, The Sound Agency

"What these studies showed, over and over, was that industrial workers have eight good, reliable..."

Mon, 28 May 2012 08:58:01 -0400

“What these studies showed, over and over, was that industrial workers have eight good, reliable hours a day in them. On average, you get no more widgets out of a 10-hour day than you do out of an eight-hour day. Likewise, the overall output for the work week will be exactly the same at the end of six days as it would be after five days. So paying hourly workers to stick around once they’ve put in their weekly 40 is basically nothing more than a stupid and abusive way to burn up profits. Let ‘em go home, rest up and come back on Monday. It’s better for everybody.”

- “Bring Back the 40 Hour Work Week” by Sara Robinson

Scroll to the end — really interesting that our current definition of “good” workers is based on the mental illness of early Silicon Valley tech workers. Awesome.

Bit of Trivia: productivity experts agree that we’d have the original Mac a year earlier if they’d worked 40 hours instead of 90. Ha!

"Leadership requires authentic generosity"

Fri, 25 May 2012 12:01:28 -0400

“Leadership requires authentic generosity”

- Seth Godin, Tribes

What makes a bad boss bad?

Thu, 24 May 2012 11:56:00 -0400

What makes a bad boss bad?:

Many people I know and I have had bosses with ALL of these characteristics

Exercise and the Brian

Tue, 22 May 2012 09:50:25 -0400

Exercise and the Brian

Jason Fried on why working in an office can be unproductive

Tue, 15 May 2012 09:58:29 -0400

Jason Fried on why working in an office can be unproductive

"That output does not rise or fall in direct proportion to the number of hours worked is a lesson..."

Mon, 14 May 2012 08:54:50 -0400

““That output does not rise or fall in direct proportion to the number of hours worked is a lesson that seemingly has to be relearned each generation. In 1848, the English parliament passed the ten-hours law and total output per-worker, per-day increased. In the 1890s employers experimented widely with the eight hour day and repeatedly found that total output per-worker increased. In the first decades of the 20th century, Frederick W. Taylor, the originator of “scientific management” prescribed reduced work times and attained remarkable increases in per-worker output.””

- “Bring Back the 40 Hour Work Week” by Sara Robinson

Scroll to the end — really interesting that our current definition of “good” workers is based on the mental illness of early Silicon Valley tech workers. Awesome.

Bit of Trivia: productivity experts agree that we’d have the original Mac a year earlier if they’d worked 40 hours instead of 90. Ha!

"You may think you’re getting more accomplished by working longer hours. You’re probably..."

Fri, 11 May 2012 13:46:02 -0400

“

You may think you’re getting more accomplished by working longer hours. You’re probably wrong.

…

In the early 1900s, Ford Motor ran dozens of tests to discover the optimum work hours for worker productivity. They discovered that the “sweet spot” is 40 hours a week–and that, while adding another 20 hours provides a minor increase in productivity, that increase only lasts for three to four weeks, and then turns negative.

…

I remember a guy in one company I worked for who used the number of divorces in his group as a measure of its productivity. Believe it or not, his top management reportedly considered this a valid metric. What’s ironic (but not surprising) is that the group itself accomplished next to nothing.

”

- “Stop Working More Than 40 Hours a Week.” by Geoffrey James

I’ve seen studies that show that knowledge workers do better with 30/35 hours per week … will try to dig that up.

"A great product experience can only be crafted in an environment that encourages collaboration,..."

Tue, 08 May 2012 11:29:00 -0400

“

A great product experience can only be crafted in an environment that encourages collaboration, iteration, and risk. Working in unison, having patience and long-term vision, and being willing to fail are key factors to success.

What ultimately allows for these positive attitudes to exist and thrive in any organization is a culture of empathy.

….

Designing products is no longer enough for me. I want to design companies.

…

They say you can’t truly love another before you learn to love yourself. Organizations are no different. If we don’t love and respect and admire the people we work with every day, we can’t collectively give our customers the love they deserve. …

”

- Whitney Hess

User Experience is Not Enough