Thanks to Web Freer, Getting me out from China Great Wall

It has been four years that I cannot post new in my blogspot due to the infamous China Great Firewall (GFW).

Now the Web Freer brower gets me out and resume to hug the whole world.

Great! a short post for memory.

Cheers,

D.

2012-01-18

18 Ways to Stay Focused at Work

Over the years I have worked at many client sites and a variety of office layouts. On one project in particular, we had as many as 80 people in a project team, seated via an open plan arrangement. It was pretty difficult trying to stay focused in an environment like this. These days, the projects I’m on are typically smaller, but there are still a number of distractions which frequently interrupt my working groove. So what are some of the things we can do to minimise such interruptions and distractions?

Here’s my list of 18 ways to stay focused at work:

1). Write out a daily task list and plan your day. There’s nothing like a task list sitting next to you to keep you focused. When you have a list of the things you need to accomplish in a day, having that close to you constantly reminding you of what needs to be done is a great way of keeping on track.
2). Allocate time slots colleagues can interrupt you. In a busy work place, people are moving and talking all the time. If you play a role in a team where others need to interact with you, try allocating a time slot they can interrupt you. Instead of having people stop by your desk every 10 mins and asking you questions, let them know of a time in the day, say between 2-4pm you can be interrupted. At all other times, you can really get some work done.
3). Apply time boxing. In a previous article, I wrote about the benefits of time boxing. Instead of working at something till it is done, try working on it for a limited period, say 30 mins. By that time, the task is either completed or you allocate another time slot, perhaps in another day, to pick it up again. This way, you keep your work fresh and engaging throughout the entire working day.
4). Setup filters in your email. If you spend a lot of your time communicating and planning in front of your computer, chances are you deal with emails on a frequent basis. Setting up filters in your email client can be a great way of sorting out what’s important and urgent from personal stuff which can wait. Instead of dealing with a single Inbox with hundreds of unread email, you only need to deal with smaller folders categorised by project, priority and context.
5). Do not check personal email in the morning. Checking personal emails can be very distracting even with filters setup. This is especially true when your friends send you links to interesting articles, jokes or videos on YouTube. If you’re not careful, you can get side tracked for hours. Instead of checking your personal email as soon as you get in, try starting work straight away. This will build up some momentum as you ease into your work day. You should check your personal email only after you have a few tasks completed or underway. Also, if you don’t want to perpetuate a particular distracting email thread, just don’t reply to it until after work.
6). Set your IM status. If you use Instant Messenger, when you don’t want to be disturbed, make use of the status and set yourself as being away or busy. Your friends and colleagues will honour that. They can either send you an email or look you up later when you aren’t as busy.
7). Listen to the right types of music. Music is a great way of settling into the working routine. In addition, having music can drown out office noises like printers and background chattering. Be careful though, depending on personal preference, some types of music are not particularly conducive to productive work. For me, I can’t work when listening to songs with lots of lyrics because the words interrupt my thinking process.
8). Use the headphones but leave the music off. Some people prefer to have absolute silence when working. I think that also depends on what kind of work you are doing. If you’re doing some serious planning or something computational, having music blasting in your ears may not be the best thing for keeping focused. Try using headphones or ear plugs to block out the background noise but leave the music off.
9). Fill up a water bottle. Keeping yourself hydrated is pretty important for all sorts of health reasons. Instead of going to the water cooler with your glass every hour, try filling up a water bottle at the start of the day. This does a couple of things - firstly, it limits the starts/stops associated every time you get up for water and secondly, it avoids being sucked into lengthy discussions around the water cooler.
10). Find the best time to do repetitive and boring tasks. No matter how much you try to avoid it, you’re going to have to face doing things which are either repetitive or boring. For these tasks, I find it is best to choose a time in the day to work on them. For example, I’m more alert at the start of the day, so it’s better to work on things which require brain power early. Working on boring tasks that can be done via auto-pilot are better left towards the end of the day when I’m usually tired.
11). Bring your lunch and have it at your desk. I’m not suggesting you do this every day, but if you really have to focus and are trying to meet a deadline, having your lunch at your desk really helps. The normal one hour lunch break can really interrupt any momentum you might have built up during the morning. I find when I’m eating lunch at my desk, my lunch breaks are shorter and I can get through a few emails while I’m eating. After I’m done, I’m straight back working on the next task.
12). Don’t make long personal calls. Most of us have a good separation between our working and personal lives (or a least try to). I think we can all agree we should avoid having work intrude on our personal time as much as possible. The reverse of this also applies. Try limiting the time you spend doing personal things during work as they can be distracting and draining on your motivation. For example, you do not really want to be thinking about your weekend away with your spouse when you really need to get things done.
13). Clean up your desk. Some of you may have desks which can only be described as ordered chaos. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as long as you can find what you need without too much digging around. However, if you can’t, I suggest cleaning up your desk. That doesn’t mean having an empty desk, it just means having neat stacks of paper, all filed in the correct location. It also helps tremendously having all the things you need easily within arms reach. For example, if you need a place to write, having your pen and notepad close by and easily accessible is incredibly useful.
14). Get a good chair. If you sit for long hours at your desk and I’m sure some of you do, you might find it helpful to get a good chair. I find it’s pretty hard to stay focused when my neck and back are sore because I have a bad setup at my desk. A good chair can eliminate this, allowing you to work for long stretches without breaks and physical distractions.
15). Use shortcuts on your computer. If you find you do the same thing with your computer more than once throughout the day, you might find it helpful to look for ways in which you can do them without too much manual repetition. For example, if there’s a project folder you access all the time, try adding a shortcut to your Explorer or Finder so you can get access to it with a single click, instead of expanding folder after folder in the tree panel.
16). Close programs you’re not using. As a software engineer, I use a lot of programs important to my work. However, in most cases, I only need a few applications open at the same time. Instead of Alt-Tabbing constantly and fighting the computer to locate the program you need, try only having the applications you need open. Close everything else. For example, if you have already located a file and no longer need a particular Explorer or Finder instance open, close it. There’s no reason to leave it around at all.
17). Limit time on Digg, Delicious, news sites and blogs. I don’t think I need to say too much about this. There are so many sites on the Internet worth looking at, including this site . Digg, Delicious, news and blogs are great from an interest perspective, but they can really take you away from the work you should be working on. Try to limit going to these sites during the working day. If you really have to, try doing it during your lunch time. No, you don’t need to have your finger on the pulse every single minute of the day…
18). Change your mindset and make work fun. For me, I find it difficult to stay focused on doing things I’m not by nature interested in doing. In most cases, there’s probably nothing I can do about it. However, be mindful of the fact that your perception of work is something you can control. For my last tip here, I suggest you try changing your mindset or turning work into a game. An unfocused mind, is an unchallenged mind. So make things fun!
I hope these tips will take you closer to more focused and productive work days. If you are still in need for more tips about staying focused, you can take a look at a previous blockbuster smash hit article I wrote entitled 11 ways of staying focused. In that article, I approached the issue from a top down, rather than bottom up perspective.

Ok, good luck! If you like this article, tell your friends, Digg it or add it to your Delicious bookmarks.

Hey, what are you still doing here? Get back to work!

Technology to improve business communication

Recently, I am reading the Beijing-MBA listed schoolbook "Excellence in Business Communication" by John V. Thill and Courtland L. Bovee. Both the two authors are distinguished about their background and efforts on business communication.

As a Chinese professional people to step in the inernational play, I think this book is very valuable and makes sense to thoroghly read and learn from.

Excluding introduction with case study to some acceptable level of communication skills, technology is a new helpful base to be used to assist and improve the business communication.

Technologies such as the following have the potneitonal to dramatically enhance business communication:
- Voice technologies;
- Virtual agents;
- Mobile communication;
- Networking adances, like Peer-to-Peer (P2P) computing, Wireless networking (Wi-Fi), Short messaging service (SMS);

Even though such impressive enhancements are available, anyone who has used a computer knows that the benefits of technology are not automatic. When poorly designed or imappropriately used, technology can hinder communication more than it helps. To communicate effectively, we need to:
- Keep technology in perspective;
- Using technological tools productively;
- Reconnecting with people frequently (to fill in and balance the disadvantage only by technology.)

Indeed, recent powerful technological tools are available to enrich the communication ways:

1). Redefing the office by communicating in the office:
- Flexible workstations;
- Wireless networks;
- Follow-me phone service;
- Electronic presentations;

2). Collaborating by communicating remotely:
- Wall displays;
- Web-based meetings;
- Shared workspace;
- Internet videophone;
- Shared workspace;
- Videoconferencing and telepresence;

3). Sharing the latest information by communicating about products and services:
- Warehouse RFID;
- Extranet;
- Wireless warehouse;
- Package tracking;
- Supply chain management;

4). Interacting by communicating with consumers:
- Over-the-shoulder support;
- Help lines;
- Corporate blogs;
- Retail RFID;
- In-store Kiosks;

But, keep in mind that no matter how much technology is involved, communications is still about people connecting with people, not technology itself who only can assist and support.

The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World

Recently I read the Chinese-version book "The logic of Life, uncovering the new economic of everyting". In English, the orginal name is "The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World".

It is very interesting to tell me about the basic ecomomic theory implied in the life.

Even if you found Thomas L. Friedman's The World Is Flat a smidge, um, one-dimensional, there's something to be said for keeping it simple. The precocious columnist's only alternative is to take a bunch of neat conclusions and to try to make a larger point out of them. 　

That's what the Financial Times' Tim Harford has done with The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World. Harford, a former World Bank economist (who has contributed to Forbes), is much savvier about his beat than Friedman, and he knows it, too: one of the later chapters of the book is titled "The World Is Spiky." 　　 　　

Harford excels at making economists' studies palatable for discerning but non-expert readers. The book uses hard data to show, inter alia, why promiscuous teens are actually health-conscious, divorce hasn't gotten a fair shake, corporate bosses will always be overpaid and job prospects for minorities continue to be grim. 　　 　　

Harford also devotes a few pages to one-upping Friedman. Harford's riff is that the ease in transporting goods fuels the growth of cities, not the countryside, leading in part to taxation and gender-balance disparities between rural and urban areas. 　　 　　

Advantage, Harford. But if Harford was so hot on responding to Friedman's book, he should have done so with one of his own, rather than just scoring a few hits on such a large target. The problem with fighting Friedman's book with another is that it would be unbelievably geeky--even for an economics columnist--fun as a "Harford contra Friedman" might be. 　　 　　

"The World Is Spiky" is one of a succession of far-flung musings loosely tied together by frequent alerts on what's happened in previous chapters and what will be discussed in those to come. Most of the individual topics could, on their own, support a full book; especially insightful is the revelation that racism in the workplace persists because employers have subconsciously deduced it's more efficient to hire certain ethnicities over others. But none of the discourses in The Logic of Life is fully fleshed out before the reader is hit with the next one in line. 　　 　　

In addition, Harford, otherwise a strong writer, has an affinity for inserting into the narrative his own experiences--even though they seem to be limited to kaffeeklatsches with peers. 　　 　　The Logic of Life feels at once small-time and overly broad. Harford has a real passion for the countless studies he describes in the book. Why not take some time to set one up himself, or at least participate in one being done by a colleague? 　　 　　

There's no reason an otherwise arms-length columnist can't get his hands dirty as an author.

Here is also some comments in the website of "Tim Harford":
“Life often seems to defy logic. When a prostitute agrees to unprotected sex, or a teenage criminal embarks on a burglary, or a smoker lights another cigarette, we seem to be a million miles from what we would call rational behaviour. None of this makes sense – or does it? Tim Harford thinks it does. And by weaving stories from locations as diverse as a Las Vegas casino and a Soho speed-date together with insights from an ingenious new breed of economist, he aims to persuade you that we are all, in fact, surprisingly logical. Reading this book, you’ll discover that the unlikeliest of people – racists, drug addicts, revolutionaries and rats – comply with economic logic, always taking account of future costs and benefits, even if they don’t quite realise it. It even explains why your boss is overpaid…”

Techniques to improve group decision making

Nearly in every stage of the group development from Forming, Storming, Norming, Perofrming until Adjouring, the group decision making is routine to every members.

Edgar Schein, a noted scholar and consultant, observes that groups may making decisions through any of the following six methods:

1). Lack of response;
2). Authority rule;
3). Minority rule;
4). Majority rule;
5). Consensus;
6). Unanimity.

The choice among decision making should be made with a full awareness of both the potential assets and liabilities of group decision making.

With regard to the resource input, hot to make "best possible" decision to achieve high levels of task accomplishments, memeber satisfaction and team viability?

In order to take full advantage of the group as a decision-making resource, care must be taken to manage group dynamics to balance individual contributions and group operations. A particular concern is with the group process losses that often occur in free-flowing meetins, such as committee deliberation or staff meeting on a specific problem. In these settings the risk of social pressures to conform, domination, time pressures and even highly emotional debates may detract from the purpose at hand.


Here are some settings in which special group decision techniques may be used to improve group decision making as advantage:


1). Brainstorming;
2). Nominal Group Technique (NGT);
3). Delphi Technique;
4). Computer-mediated Application for decision making.