We recently interviewed a group of businesspeople about their experiences with going "paperless." For some people, things went very well. For others...interesting mishaps ensued. However, each response would be helpful information to anyone that is looking into setting up a paperless office. We have been working toward a paperless office for some time, we try to do all contract exchanges and paperwork electronically, and generally this works very well. However, one requirement in our business space is that we have to have a copy of an ID document for each guests who rents accommodation from us (Europe wide law, applies too to hotels). We used to take a copy of an ID document at time … [Read more...] about Paperless Office Stories
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Productive Airplane Rides
Today I heard an interesting statistic: One hour of work on an airplane is equal to three hours of work in the office. Wow! Sounds incredible, doesn't it? If that is true, then basically, you'd get just as much done if you spent three hours every day on a plane and take the rest of the time off. Offices of highly paid workers would be better off if they would stop leasing expensive floorspace and just get everyone airline tickets every day. Okay, so maybe it doesn't scale to something you can do every day of the week, but if you've ever worked on a long plane ride, this statistic doesn't sound completely unreasonable. Planes offer the following: A bunch of people you probably … [Read more...] about Productive Airplane Rides
Home Office – Effective Design
I work from my home office. My commute is a 30-second walk down the hall, down the stairs and into the portion of our house dedicated to my business. As we've moved around, I've built 7 or 8 different home offices. My home offices have ranged from a small corner in a bedroom in downtown Durango, Mexico where the chair would collapse several times each day and we had to be wary of scorpions, to my current, spacious 1000 sq foot office with its own bathroom, fireplace and outside entrance. I've found a lot of things that work well and a lot of things that didn't work out so well. In this post, we are going to discuss some of the issues and planning that should go into setting up an effective … [Read more...] about Home Office – Effective Design
Paperless Office – Reducing Paper Creation
When people think of a paperless office, they usually focus on how to store documents in a digital form. This is important, but it misses the real point of going paperless. The real benefit comes from creating documents in way that they are digital for the entire lifetime. Once a document gets printed out, you've broken the paperless life cycle. This is why scanners are simply a stop-gap solution for paperless offices. If your paperless system is set up right, scanners should only be needed to handle documents from people who aren't yet paperless. So how do you create documents that can remain paperless for their entire life cycle? Here are some areas to think about: How will others … [Read more...] about Paperless Office – Reducing Paper Creation
10 Timesavers for Office Workers
If you work in a traditional office, you need specific strategies to help you make the most of your time. This post looks at a number of simple things you can do to save time at work. Most people can easily free up another 15 minutes per day, simply by following a few of these strategies. In the ideal world, your boss would let you cut out early with those 15 minutes you saved, but unfortunately, our society seems to be more focused on how much time you put in rather than value. Even if it doesn't translate into more time away from work, these tips can help you use your time more effectively so you can get more done and out-perform your peers as you advance your career. If you … [Read more...] about 10 Timesavers for Office Workers
The Right Space for the Job
My work area has a comfortable chair, a nice desk, a computer, a large monitor, a phone, etc. It is easy for me to get stuck at my desk and not want to go to other parts of the house because everything I need is right there. However, when I just stay in my office, I miss out on some of advantages of the other parts of the house. In fact, sometimes the tools that make me feel so productive actually get in the way of what I'm trying to do because they are distractions. Trying to sit and think while I'm sitting right next to my computer is kind of like the teenager trying to do Algebra in front of the T.V. My email is right there along with all of my other online tools. Reading is the … [Read more...] about The Right Space for the Job
Moving a Home Office
We bought a house and I've been working on getting my office moved. Here are a few things I've learned in the process: Set up new internet before switching off the old. If you want to minimize downtime, don't turn off your old office's internet until you have everything set up and running in your new space. Vacuum, vacuum. If you have the floors cleaned before you move in, make sure you give yourself time to vacuum two or three times before you start moving your stuff in. Pack by what you need. Make sure the things you are going to need access to are easy to find. I put all the stuff I needed for the next week or so in my laptop bag where I knew I could find it. Don't set … [Read more...] about Moving a Home Office
Fall Cleaning & Organizing
As the summer draws to an end, it is a good time to consider arranging your surroundings to maximize your productivity. 1. Purge Old Files If you still have paper files, it may be time to get rid of some of the older ones to make things easier to find. Even with paperless digital files, there are times where it makes sense to delete or at least archive off the older files to reduce the amount you have to look through. 2. Take Stuff Home Whether your office is in a spare bedroom or in a skyscraper in downtown New York, there are always going to be items from home that migrate to work. Taking a few minutes to identify these items and move them back to where they belong in your home … [Read more...] about Fall Cleaning & Organizing
People Who Come to Distract You
If you work in a traditional office, it is likely that you deal with a lot of traffic in and out your door that is little more than distractions. Here are a few tips for keeping distracting people out of your office. Don't have a place for them to sit -- If you have a chair, put a stack of books or papers on it. You can also keep a folding chair behind some furniture for the times you need it. It is much more difficult to get someone to leave once they have found a seat. Stand and come out from behind your desk -- If you conduct your conversation standing, it will likely be much shorter. This is a good thing to do before you know if they have something valuable or if they are … [Read more...] about People Who Come to Distract You
Interview: Home Office
Despite the popular misconception that working from home is simple, creating an effective work environment in your own home can be quite a challenge. Dealing with interruptions and distractions is something that every job holder faces, but for the home worker, these distractions are often more abundant and become very detrimental to productivity. We asked experts for advice on the following topic: What is your best piece of advice for creating an effective work environment in your home office? The single most important productivity strategy is equipping the home office to facilitate the work. Today, in fact, a (used!) Steelcase desk system is being delivered here. The U-shaped work … [Read more...] about Interview: Home Office
Ways to Deal with Distraction
Focus and dedication are things that everyone must master in order to be successful and productive. We've gathered a list of articles intended for various audiences on the subject of focus. Working in a cubicle Dealing with Distractions-Dawn Foster Those that work in close proximity with others know that even small things can become major distractions. This article points out a few ways to deal with this problem. Sounding off on Cubical Survival Tips-Office Smurf This article gives some sound advice (pardon the pun) for eliminating or coping with a loudness in the workplace. Noisy Coworkers: 5 Ways to Deal with Them-noisycoworkers.com When the cacophony becomes to bad, … [Read more...] about Ways to Deal with Distraction
Lotus Symphony
IBM has released a free office suite called Lotus Symphony. It runs on Windows, OS X, and Linux and includes a wordprocessor, presentation software, and a spreadsheet. If you are looking for an alternative to Microsoft Office, it is worth checking out along with Google Apps, Open Office, and iWork (OS X only). We will do a review of it in the near future once we've had more of a chance to play with it. … [Read more...] about Lotus Symphony
Three Things You Didn’t Know About Excel
Excel is really a "swiss army knife" type tool. I have used it for all kinds of odd things including HTML for long lists, creating a checkerboard, analyzing server log files, projecting cell phone usage and analysis whether people preferred live or telecast music at a church overflow room. Excel has so many hidden little features that it is easy to overlook some of the capabilities that let you do a complicated task quickly. This video demonstrates three capabilities of Excel that the average user does not know about. Three Things You Didn't Know About Excel from Productivity501. (If you have trouble seeing the video, turn on HD. You'll have to go to Vimeo, but you can watch it … [Read more...] about Three Things You Didn’t Know About Excel
Office in a Bag
Over the past four years, I haven't had an office at my job. The organization I was working for was running out of space, so I volunteered to go without an office and let the space be used for other things. I would work from wherever I could find space. Sometimes this was an empty office, the desk of a co-worker, or even sitting on the floor. Since I was rarely in the same spot, I had to keep everything I needed in my computer bag. In addition to roaming within the building, I spent a good amount of time traveling. In time, I refined what I needed in my bag down to the items that I found made me most productive, whether I was working from a quiet spot I found on the floor in a … [Read more...] about Office in a Bag