From the start

Most of us try to organise our working day to maximise performance and efficiency. Yet for many of us that day can be ruined before it really starts. 

If we rise and start worrying about what we should wear (which tie?) and then have a stressful commute, we have drained some of our precious potential energy.

So start your working day the night before. Plan your wardrobe, plan your commute (including the distractions from the stress - your music, podcast or reading material). 

Smile at your fellow commuters ... you will get smiles back and feel better.

Arrive at work ready to go and hit the ground running by attacking an agenda you established before you left yesterday.

A good start is so important.  (And a good finish, of course!)

Rule number 7

If you want the real secret to productivity development, it is ...

Well, the most important factor is to always, always remember rule number 7 - train and develop your staff, and treat them well.  They really are your most important resource - the source of your innovation, your improvement, your quality.

What about rules 1 to 6, I hear you ask.   They don't exist - but the one true rule is so important it needs a number like 7 ... and I guarantee you are more likely to remember it because it is rule number 7.

So, start practising it, today. remember it, use it. You know it makes sense!

Backup

We all know he importance of backing up the work we do on computer - even if we don't always practise what we know we should.

We also know we should have some form of backup service for the primary services and technologies we use - this can be expensive however, to maintain services we will hopefully never use.

Like all 'insurance' you have to weigh the risks with the costs and take rational decisions. What you must not do is to pretend the problem /issue does not exist and fail to plan.

If you have staff waiting around because core systems are not working, it can be very expensive.

Work on the right agenda

When giving talks to people about productivity, I often express my amazement - and my worry - that governments spend a lot of time working on the wrong things.

For example, in the UK at the current time, Brexit has been dominating the time of Parliament  and the Cabinet.

Brexit is important- but it doesn't solve any of the UK's underlying productivity problems.

Government needs to do what we all have to do - sort out the urgent from the important - and make sure longer-term planning is not forgotten for the sake of short-term expediency.

Open for Business

This week is The Open Golf Championship - what Americans like to call the British Open but is is THE Open.

The Open obviously has the best golfers in the world - and as with most majors recently rends to be won by an American golfer.  This leads t=you to believe that American golfers are the world's best.

Yet, Europe regularly beats America in the Ryder Cup - a team event. 

Successful teams need more than individual talent.  Whether in sport or in business, building an effective team needs individuals to be put together so they are complementary - and on top it needs team spirit and motivation.

Whoever wins this Open, I would still bet on Europe for the Ryder Cup.  The US college golf system makes US players competitive but not good team players.

So, recruit good individuals - but build them into effective teams.  That's good management!

Take care when reading

I am quite used to seeing strange suggestions for improving personal productivity - often tied to an app someone is trying to sell me.  But the one I saw the other day 'takes the biscuit'.

It is based on the fact that some people think they are more productive working from a coffee shop rather than working from home (fewer - or at least different - distractions).

(Of course whether they really are more productive is probably debatable to say the least.)

A new app - Coffitivity - plays you the ambient sounds of a coffee shop for those occasions when you can't actually get there. It comes with a range of coffee shop sounds and claims to boost your creativity.

So, take care when reading promotional material. You may get suckered in to something like this - on the fact of it, plausible... but do we really believe it?

Most of us believe that technology has a good track record in improving productivity.

But there have been many promised futures that did not come about.  Think 'the paperless office' for one.  This was first mooted back in the 1960s and every decade or so, someone promotes the concept again (normally scanner manufacturers).

Well, mindful of stepping onto a burning platform, I think - finally - the time might be nigh.  Scanners - yes! but more so -cheap storage ... especially cloud storage, accessible from anywhere in the world - could be the real key.  Add in effective search mechanisms to find the documents in that cloud and we might have a winning formula.

Oh, and of course we have a generation of users brought up in the digital era - who are quite used to reading things off screens.

A perfect storm?

The same is true of technology in your business.  Beware the promises made by sellers of technology. You just have to wait till the time is right. And recognise the time - of course.