The case for daily reviews

Increasingly regular fortnightly 121s and daily retros have increased my daily reflection.  This article from CGMA makes the case even better.

Notes from podcast: Simplicity in Computing by Brett Kelly

Focus area: making messaging more efficient

Actions

Turn off Linked in notifications

Check if Spam Sieve could be added to my email system

Think about quick responses to emails - extend use of Breevy

Use text expander for iPad (like Breevy)

Use Breevy for addresses and email addresses

Start shortcuts with single dot or end with double dot

Create structure for shortcuts

Shortcuts for Evernote tags 

Email gate?  If not known sender gets them to type code

Consider out of office that says 'will not be read, pls resend when I get back if still an issue'

Things to look at one day

Sane box (mail client)

Mail mate (mail client)  - Evaluates mail and learns

Spam sieve - Works on user defined rules

Tweetbot- allows muting

Book review: The Checklist Manifesto - how to get things right, Atul Gawande

Summary
An easy holiday read with a serious message: check lists work- they let you concentrate on the skilled work without forgetting the routine tasks.

Atul Gawande is a surgeon who was tasked by the Wold Health Organisation (WHO) to find a way to dramatically improve medical safety with a very small budget.  The Checklist Manifesto follows his story making and improving check lists with interesting case studies from aviation, construction and investment as well as medicine.

The result?
Trials in 8 hospitals (four in rich countries) showed a 47% reduction in deaths and 36% reduction in major complications.

Is this transferable?
It certainly is.  There are 2 types of lists: those where you think you have completed the tasks, you pause with your team and check before continuing, and those where you work down the list - read then do.  I have found check list invaluable from everything from month end procedures to what kit to take sailing.  My experience (and the conclusion of the book) is that even though you may know a subject inside out, the list is vital since in concentrating on fixing problems, we can often miss routine steps without the discipline of a check list.  Big extra bonus - the results of the trial also showed a strong improvement in team cohesion.

Worth the read?
Yes.  193 pages.

How to Perform Under Pressure

Read How to Perform under Pressure (The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most) by Hendrie Weisinger and J P Pawliw-Fry.  The authors are business coaches and Olympic athletic coaches and the book is well referenced with research as well as their experience.

Key points:

1. Visualisation works not by 'I can see myself winning' but by 'I can see myself winning, so what I do I need to do to ensure I make that happen' ie plan ahead and anticipate what will be required.
2. Key factors to succeed in a pressure situation (these can be practised): Confidence, Optimism, Tenacity and Enthusiasm.  Look around - it's surprising how accurately this describes the high performers that I know.

Excel name box tips

Handy tips from the LinkedIn group 'Excel Gurus'.  Ever been at the bottom of a long spreadsheet, scrolled up to read the title but lost the column before you got to the top?  Typing c in the name box will select the whole column containing the active cell.

Caffeine: The Silent Killer of Success

Caffeine: The Silent Killer of Success:

Especially interesting is that caffeine has a half life of 6 hours - so your lunch time coffee is 25% still active after 12 hours.

Further facts from Wikipedia: 
1 Decaffeinated drinks contain typically 1–2% of the original caffeine content, and sometimes as much as 20%.
2 A generally accepted statistic is that a cup of normal black (often called red in China; as distinct from green) tea contains 40–50 mg of caffeine, roughly half the content of a cup of coffee.

'via Blog this'

Speed reading book review

A short book so a quick read (even for a slow reader).  Key points are:

• Consciously use different speeds of reading for different tasks: proof reading is slow, reading for understanding is medium, skimming to find the important bits, for an overview or to remind can be fast.
• Do not 'verbalise' each word, even in your head.  Read chunks not words so that your eyes bounce say twice on each row.
• Decide why you are reading the piece first so that your objectives are clear.  Bearing in mind your objectives, read the intro, chapter heads and conclusion first to check the rest warrants reading and if appropriate, just read the parts that achieve your aims.

How to Speed Read: Faster Reading, Improved Comprehension and Becoming a Better Reader: A Very Easy Guide (30 Minute Read)

How to use google to search a single website

I am sure this will be a really handy tool on occasions.

Person Action Object (PAO) memory system

This page gives a good explanation and some ideas for creating a PAO system.  Obviously a fair amount of work is required to create one's own PAO and of course to learn it before it can be used.

Memory book - brief review

Moonwalking with Einstein, the art of remembering everything by Joshua Foer.

An enjoyable and educational read.  Written by a young journalist learning about memory techniques who was told 'anyone can learn this' - so he tried.  He agreed to practice for an hour a day in exchange for tips from an expert thinking about making a business out of teaching the techniques.  Within a year, the journalist won the US Memory Championship.

Interestingly, he still forgets where he left his car and still writes phone numbers down but can remember many things and names when he chooses.  Concentration and actively storing the data seems to be key.  a good overview and basic introduction to some of the techniques.

The Seven Imperatives to Keeping Meetings on Track - Amy Gallo - Harvard Business Review

Useful tips, especially if your meetings meet the committee definition (take minutes and last hours):

The Seven Imperatives to Keeping Meetings on Track - Amy Gallo - Harvard Business Review:

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Tracking changes in Word (warning) and PDFs

Interesting discussion about risks of track changes in Word and recommendation of using pdfs instead

Track Changes option | LinkedIn:

Working in a Virtual Team

Some useful thoughts about working virtual teams:

Working in a Virtual Team - Career Development From MindTools.com:

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Transferring an Outlook mail folder to another user

Handing a task or role over to someone else?  You probably have an Outlook folder full of emails that might one day be useful.  Here's how to hand a copy over.

Flexible Working Infographic: Win-Win For Employers & Employees

Useful statistics for anyone thinking of introducing (or withdrawing) flexible working:

Flexible Working Infographic: Win-Win For Employers & Employees:

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Speed Reading - Study Skills from MindTools.com

While researching a potential new role, found this very useful article on speed reading (only takes a minute or 2 if you speed read it).

Speed Reading - Study Skills from MindTools.com:

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Everything you ever needed to know about dropbox in seven minutes or less. | Dotto Tech

For anyone not already using Dropbox for backing up, syncing and sharing, this is well worth 7 minutes of your time.  It could just save you that sinking feeling the next time someone says to you 'when did you last make a backup'?

Everything you ever needed to know about dropbox in seven minutes or less. | Dotto Tech:

If you do decide to give it a try, I'd appreciate you using this link so that Dropbox gives me some extra free storage in case I ever need it.

Evernote reminders (for Android, iOs and web but not Windows yet)

This video shows you how to use the new reminder feature on Evernote but note you may need to download the latest updates first for Android (it's one that you need to do manually).

About Google Hangouts (video chatting and conferencing across different platforms)

http://smallbiztrends.com/2013/07/google-hangouts-collaborate-any-device.html

Trello - could be useful for tracking team meeting actions or audit follow ups

Trello is a web based app for collaboratively keeping track of tasks.  It's a crowded market place but here is what makes it different and what task it might be really good for:

What's it like?
Think of being in a team meeting with a pack of post its.  You write a task on each post it and stick it on a board in a column called 'to do'.  There is another column for 'doing', another for 'done' and you can add others for 'waiting' or 'for review' if needed.  The post its (or cards) can easily be dragged from one place to another.

To the cards can also be added further details, checklists, attachments, links, due dates, owners and comments.

What would it be good for?
In a team meeting, a group could brainstorm ideas, allocate them to people with a due date.  The group members can then work on items after the meeting but also add comments later as they think of ideas or as scenarios change. Any invited member of the team can see who made which comment and when and see the progress as a whole.

What else could it be good for?
Suppose an organisation has a list of improvements to implement.  Each item could be added as a separate card with a summary of what needs to be done.  The task can be allocated an owner and due date.  The owner can add comments and then attach evidence when the task is complete, giving a good audit trail.

Other thoughts
It is possible to have different boards for different subjects (separate sharing for each) and boards can be filtered.  Cards can have categories allocated to them within boards.  According to the web site, works on PCs, Android and iOS.

Cost
The basic version (that would do this) is free.