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Tag: Productivity

  • The Evolution of the 50/25 Meeting Format: Why Starting Late is the New On-Time

    Introduction: An Updated Perspective on Time Management In a continuous quest to boost workplace effectiveness, it’s useful to revisit our approaches. Ten years ago, while working as CTO at The New York Times, I advocated the 50/25 Meeting Format. The premise was straightforward: shave off a few minutes from each meeting to enhance focus and…

  • An Executive’s Daily Routine for Productivity and Balance (Summer 2023)

    My friends occasionally ask how I keep a mostly even keel despite the pressures of an industry that needs to do more with less, and how I’ve managed to complete an intense workout every day for more than 1234 consecutive days.1 Juggling the myriad responsibilities of an executive role while still making time for personal…

  • Why I Recommend Using Spike for Email, Instant Messaging, and Video Chat (Review)

    Background I care deeply about the people in my life. I value my relationships with them. I cherish in-person, face-to-face conversations. In my personal and professional life, I rely on video conferences, email, and instant messaging. In some cases, I might communicate with you frequently, in others once in a while. Like it is for…

  • Activities, Outputs, and Outcomes — A framework for your job

    This is a framework for understanding, describing, and performing your job duties, roles, and responsibilities. You can use this as a template to create a useful job description that you would actually use while you are in a job. It divides a job into three categories: activities, outputs, and outcomes. To be successful in your…

  • An Example of Respectfully Declining a Meeting at Work That is Already in Your Calendar

    Here is an example of how to respectfully decline a meeting to make time to work on a higher priority. We occasionally find ourselves in meetings when our time could be better spent doing something else of greater value. I previously wrote about how to respond to and politely decline meeting invitations. This post is about…

  • 7 minus 1 reasons why technology/engineering teams should work on projects

    Here are 6 reasons that should be used to justify, prioritize and classify projects engineering teams work on. The 7th item is not a valid reason to be used. Deliver products, features and services as driven by business priorities (#product) Improve time to market (#speed) Improve quality of experience (#quality) Improve efficiencies and reduce costs…

  • Dear Makers, On Fridays My Office is Yours — An Experiment

    Dear Makers, On Fridays My Office is Yours — An Experiment

    Some senior leaders choose to work alongside their teams in cubicles, eschewing private office rooms. New York City’s former mayor Michael Bloomberg is an example. Facebook’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is another. Intel’s former CEO Andy Grove is often credited for setting this example. As I’ve worked at various news media companies, I have…

  • 3 Roles of a CTO: Culture. Technology. Operations.

    This is a guide for CTOs, VPs of Software Engineering and other technology managers responsible for a software engineering organization. The purpose of this checklist is to help the CTO cover the areas of culture, technology and operations in their teams. It is presented in the form of a memo to direct reports. Dear Tech…

  • Posted Signs for Productive Meetings

    You can post these slides as signs in your meeting rooms and offices or include them at the start of your presentations.   You can also open the original Google Slides document to print or leave comments.

  • Suggested Template For Requesting a Meeting

    Every time someone calls a meeting, they should consider using this simple template. [ meeting-invitation-template begins ] The desired outcome of this meeting is: e.g. Come to agreement on solution for issue X e.g. Make a decision about Y. e.g. Share announcements about topic Z. e.g. Continue to grow a good working relationship with each…

  • Templates for Replying to Meeting Requests & Polite Ways to Decline Meetings

    By default, we should only attend meetings where we are active participants, not passive attendees with not much to contribute to the desired outcome of the meeting. There are some exceptions to this like training sessions, educational presentations or others where the purpose for attendees is to learn something. When I receive a meeting request, I…

  • When to have and when not to schedule meetings

    Companies should, by default, avoid scheduling meetings that start before 10am or end after 5pm. If an employee comes to the office at 8am on some days, it is often to use the two hours of the morning before meetings to catch up and/or get a head start on the day. Meetings that start before…