Productivity Blogs Dedicated to Improving Life In General

Here's a quick list of some of the greatest blogs dedicated to raising productivity and potential to improve life in general:

• Lifehacker
• Stepcase Lifehack
• Zen Habits
• Derek Sivers, founder of CD Baby
• David Allen, author of Getting Things Done
• 43 Folders
• Productivity 501

To keep up with these and other sites, set yourself up with Feedly.

Collaboration - Focus 15 Minutes on New Tools

This post is not for early adopters. It's for the late majority.

It doesn't take long to get overwhelmed by the advancement of technology, does it?  You hear about "the cloud" and "distance collaboration," but you're so busy, you shrug it off for another day. Well, if the tools you're using for collaboration are basically the same ones you were using one or two years ago, take a deep breath. Chances are, you're way behind your competition.

I can empathize. After all, time spent learning anything outside your core business is time away from it. Fair enough. The good news is that, as a late adopter, the time to learn should be reduced by improvements made, as tools have matured. Translation: It will take you less time to learn than the first users.

Try this rule of thumb. If you can't be convinced of the value of a new collaboration tool after 15 minutes of using it, move on. Try another.

Heads up!

Here's the catch: You actually have to pay attention when you're learning it. If you're multitasking—eating lunch or juggling windows between email and calendar, you won't learn it. 

So what tools am I talking about? Well, there are a million out there for a million reasons. But, here's some low hanging fruit that everyone with a collaborative team should at least understand:

Sharing documents & files:

• Google Docs - Simultaneous work on one copy of a file, while viewing each other's edits in real time. Share with the world, or keep it private with limited rights.
• Drop Box - Synchronize files across various computers.

Distance meetings:

• WebEx - Nice audio and video integration. Advanced collaboration tools, like white-boarding, that most don't use. 
• Adobe Connect - Similar.
• Lync Online - Similar.
• GoToMeeting - Simple desktop sharing.

Chat, SMS and voice communication:

• GroupMe - A group chat app that works seamlessly between cell phones and computers. Instant group phone conference feature as well.
• HipChat - Multiple rooms that log chats 
• Google Voice - Can ring multiple phones, transcribes voicemails to SMS or email.

Secure Social Collaboration:

• Chatter - Like Facebook for your company, with effective project management and document sharing features.
• Google+ - Similar, but with the concept of "Circles" and "Communities," sharing can be expanded and contracted to your liking. IMHO, this sleeping giant will likely swallow the competition when it awakes.
• Yammer - Also similar. Bought by Microsoft in 2012

Please feel free mention other tools you've had success with in the comments.

How to Make and Use a Team Strengths Document

Managing a team that takes care of a wide variety of work, and inspired by research that argues a person's best work is achieved in their areas of strength and interest, I created a Team Strengths Document, which helps everyone understand our highest areas of potential and weakness, both as individuals and as a team.

Team Strengths Doc

The first column is a list of various aspects of the work - some specific, some over-arching. The first row is each team member's name with two rating columns under each name. In the first column under each name, the team member rates his/her interest in each area of work on a scale of 1-10. In the second, the team member rates his/her own performance in that area. In the last two columns, the whole team's ratings are averaged for each area. Ratings are color coated by rules to make the data more digestible.

For individuals, the greatest areas of growth opportunity are those with the highest scores in both the interest and performance columns. After that, look for high interest ratings that are next to low performance ratings. Most of the time, the person hasn't had the chance to learn and practice that kind of work to reach their potential. Together, the team can help each other with training, shadowing & experience to shore up those numbers.

For the team, the averages can show areas where you might be able to expand, others where you can seek group training, and others where you may need to focus your recruitment efforts. It's also been a great reference for discussions among the team and one on one.

To use the template, make sure you have a Google account and copy the sheet to one of your own Google spreadsheets, so you can edit and share it with your team.