The Productivity Pro® Blog by Laura Stack - Time Management, Getting Things Done, How to Be More Productive

Spam can be annoying and time consuming. In a test, Northeast Netforce investigators “seeded” 175 different locations and monitored the fake addresses over the next six weeks for spam; 100 percent of email addresses used in chat rooms received spam; 86 percent of posts in newsgroups received spam. So what can you do to help reduce it? Bottom line: Don’t use your work address or personal address for open, public forums, where spammers are harvesting your email address. Create a screen name that isn’t associated with your email address or a “dummy” email address. Your ISP can automatically forward the “dummy” address to your “real” address. When spam builds up, delete the decoy. For $9.95 a year, you can get a block of 500 disposable email addresses to use from www.Spamex.com. You can also purchase spam-filtering software for your computer, which “grabs” junk email and files it in a special folder, separate from your real email in the in-box (my favorite is McAfee Spamkiller, www.McAfee.com).

I was reading an article in Information Week appropriately titled, “Eaten by the Email Monster.”  http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2006/08/eaten_by_the_em.html

It links to several useful articles on how to handle information overload.  I thought I’d add my thoughts on how to efficiently process email: the 6-D Information Management System™:

1. DISCARD = Delete it

2. DELEGATE = Forward it

3. DO = Reply immediately if it will take you three minutes or less

4. DATE = Needs work but not now.  The key is to somehow get it out of your in-box.  Pick one favorite method and try to be consistent, so you don’t confuse your brain about what you did with that email.  Options:

* Move to a process folder called “Action” or something similar.

* For emails that require action, move (NOT drag, which creates a copy) them to Tasks (or drag to the to-do icon in Lotus) by right-clicking the message and selecting Move to Folder, and then Tasks.  A new Task automatically opens and inserts the email into the text portion of the message, which can now be replied to right out of the task).  This physically removes the email from your in-box, not just create a copy.

* For time-sensitive emails (meetings or appointments), follow the same procedure above, but select Calendar after you Move to Folder, which will open a new calendar item and automatically move the email message to the text portion of the window.

* If you’d rather work with a paper copy, print the email and file it in your tickler folder. Create a personal folder called @Tickler and drag email there that requires follow-up. When the paper copy (trigger) comes up in your tickler file, you know the original is in your @Tickler folder. That will save you from having to retype the email message when you respond to it.

* Copy the email into the contact’s record in your contact management software (such as ACT or Goldmine) and schedule an activity to follow up.

* Set an email reminder (NOT a calendar reminder or Task reminder) by right-clicking in the flag area (NOT setting a flag) and selecting Add Reminder.  Fill in the day and time you want the reminder on the email, and move the email to the proper project folder.  You will get a reminder when the email isn’t in your in-box (Outlook 2003).

* Forward it back to yourself, select Options, and check “Don’t deliver before,” fill in a date and send.  Delete original.

* Drag to the proper email personal folder, and write a to-do on your paper planning as a cross-reference to remember to do it.

5. DRAWER = If no action is required, but you’d like to keep the email for reference, create a personal folder for the project or reference type and drag the email to the correct folder. Or you could create a Word or other word processing document and save it on your hard drive.

6. DETER = Unsubscribe from email lists and tell your friends to stop sending you their “joke of the day”! Or use the Office Assistant (under “Tools”) or other Rules to automatically moving email from particular people to certain folders (or just delete it then).

I hope this helps!  Force yourself to do one of the 6 D’s every singe time you look at a new email. All the email in your in-box will be new, and you will stop re-reading messages over and over.  Do a major processing spree like this at least three times a day, but do NOT check them as they are coming in.  Turn off the global alerts, set Rules to play for important people, and control your OCD trigger-happy email finger!

http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/beta/testdrive.mspx?showIntro=n

Just for my readers…a FREE test drive of the new Microsoft Office 2007!  This is BETA, but you are live in the applications.  Test the new versions of Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook, and many more! The tutorials provide lots of new ways to work in Office 2007.  You can explore the new versions of Office in this fully functional Test Drive environment.  Try this before downloading the new beta versions to your computer.  Most other support applications like ACT or Quickbooks aren’t ready for 2007, and you don’t want to hose your mission-critical business systems.  So try it—no risk—in your browser instead.

I recently participated in the “Microsoft Office System Webcast: A First Look at the 2007 Microsoft Office System” that previewed some of the new features of Microsoft Office 2007.  View it at:

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032290359&EventCategory=5&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

I’m excited about the changes I saw.  While the move from Office 2000 to Office 2003 brought us mostly cosmetic changes, there is a lot of new, improved functionality in Office 2007.  Here are some of my favorites:

·        The menu system is replaced by a “ribbon,” which is essentially a customized tool bar with buttons for each command.

·        The ribbon opens a series of “command tabs” that are contextual, meaning they only appear when you need them.  So you don’t always have your menu bar cluttered up by a bunch of icons that are meaningless at the time.  Each application has its own set of command tabs in the ribbon that applies to what that application most commonly does.  No more hunting for commands and dialog boxes!

·        A “quick access” toolbar is present on the top that allows you to add tabs and customize your application.

·        A Microsoft Office logo (very similar to what Mac users see with the Apple) now appears on the left side for commonly used commands.

·        In MS Word, a nifty “live preview” feature lets you hover over the fonts and styles to see what a change would do to your text if selected.

·        Very similar to adding signatures in Outlook, you can now add “building blocks” across all Office applications, such as footers, strings of text, addresses, etc. Think of it like a library of templates with strings of text you tend to type over and over again, kind of “structural chunks.”  AutoText on steroids.

·        In MS Outlook, there’s a cool new News Reader that helps you manage and subscribe to RSS news feeds on industry news and information important to you.

·        To solve the problem of people putting tasks on their calendar, Outlook now has a nifty “to-do” bar, which displays meetings and tasks for the day, including ones from MS Project and OneNote, all in a single view.  Flags actually automatically create a task for you depending on the selected time.  Tasks display right on your calendar, so you know when to do it and don’t get them confused with appointments with an actual set time.  The calendar has your in-box flags, tasks, meetings…everything all in one place!

·        Outlook also has a refined search function, which will save you time locating your messages.

·        To save even more time, you no longer have to open attachments in their native application (MS Word, Excel, etc.).  You can preview attached files right in the Outlook interface.

·        Customizable color categories now apply across all of Office, so you can quickly see all email, tasks, and meetings for a project.

·        Upgraded security features let you specify whether an email message can be copied, forwarded, viewed or printed, etc., very similar to setting security settings for PDF or other documents.

·        In PowerPoint, I really loved the new design feature that takes a simple bulleted list of text and uses IGX Graphics to convert it automatically into diagrams and figures.

For more information on the 2007 Microsoft Office System: www.microsoft.com/office/preview. 

Microsoft Office System Tips & Tricks:

www.microsoft.com/greattips

Microsoft Work Essentials:

www.microsoft.com/workessentials

For years, I’ve heard employees in my productivity seminars complaining about their IT departments.  Some of these complaints I believe have valid justifications, and I stick up for IT:

COMPLAINT: IT won’t let them load personal software.

JUSTIFIED! Doing so would create a staffing nightmare as workers seek help on non-supported applications.  Could also create security concerns and open the door to system viruses.

COMPLAINT: IT restricts access to certain Internet sites

JUSTIFIED! I can’t think of a good reason why employees would need to watch X-rated videos at work.

COMPLAINT: IT doesn’t upgrade their operating systems and software to the newest version for years after the release.

JUSTIFIED! You don’t need new technology for the sake of new technology.  There must be a cost-benefit analysis to determine if the new features will boost performance and productivity, commensure to the level of staff support IT is able to provide.

BUT many of the things IT does are ridiculous and I just don’t understand.  For example:

COMPLAINT: IT has removed my desktop printer, and I have to walk down the hall to the printer.

NOT JUSTIFIED! This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard of in a while.  Holy cow, I print continually.  Even electronic/PDA/Blackberry types still have piles of paper all over their desks.  It’s crazy to think about how much people make per hour times the number of employees in an organization, all walking down the hall to the shared printer, where of course they’re likely to stumble into Chatty Suzy, who wants to tell you about her nightcrawlers.  You get to the printer—CRAP!—it didn’t print out, someone took it, it’s not what I thought, margins are cut off, etc., BACK to the office to print again.  I don’t care squat about how hard it is to service all those printers.  Get a contractor to handle it.  Printers are cheap.  The cost of not having a printer on the desk top of every employee is a huge productivity and profitability drain.

COMPLAINT: My company won’t purchase a Blackberry/Treo/Smartphone for me to use. 

NOT JUSTIFIED: I know most people would be far more productive if they had instant access to their email, calendar, and contacts from anywhere.  I feel so sorry for people who are forced to print out their Outlook info, schlep it home, write on it manually, carry it back to work, and update it again, just to keep things organized.  Employees tend to stay connected at home if they have a device.  I tell people who complain about their companies not buying them a Blackberry to suck it up and buy one themselves!  But then at http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/News.asp?id=39533&cid=5 a consortium of CIOs actually came up with some "best practices" for managing PDAs. They suggest "Don’t allow the connection of privately owned PDAs to your corporate network. There will also be an issue with having proper back-ups and generally adhering to standards."  So you’re actually suggesting that people who dip into their own pockets to buy a device to aid their productivity and increase the profitability of the organization shouldn’t be allowed to do so?  Hello IT!!  Why don’t you get with all the managers and mandate they buy people one who want one, so people don’t have to connect with a privately-owned device?  You are out of touch with the business reality of what many workers are dealing with.

COMPLAINT: I’m not allowed to load personal information on my Outlook.

NOT JUSTIFIED!  People don’t simply turn off their private lives when they walk through your doors, and they don’t stop thinking about work at home, either.  You can’t have it both ways!  Do you actually expect for them to maintain two completely unrelated systems, rending their time management ability totally useless?  If your system doesn’t incorporate both your personal and professional lives, you are setting yourself up for conflicts and inefficiencies, which will ultimately affect a worker’s performance on the job.  This artcicle suggests IT should "Establish clear policies on PDA use, targeting items such as business versus personal use, playing games, downloading inappropriate material or using it to share family pictures."  Get a clue!!!  Do you think people are robots?  That they’re going to come to work and not think about their families again?  Socializing and water cooler chat are important for relationship building and is not simply a waste of time.  Connecting with co-workers on a personal level builds trust and comraderie that’s essential in building the support you need to get things done quickly.

COMPLAINT: My company makes me carry a Blackberry to check my email, but they said the phone service is too expensive, so I have to use a different cell phone, and I’m still required to wear my pager for emergencies?

JUSTIFICATION: None necessary, you can figure this one out on your own the first time you see some poor sap with three different devices strapped to his/her waist.

DO I HEAR AN ‘AMEN’?

I’m reading an article in PC Magazine June 6, 2006 edition, that makes me pause.  Think your portable external hard drive backups will save you if your computer crashes?  But what happens if a disaster wipes out your entire ofice?  Better move duplicates of your critical data over the Internet to remote servers.  One of the big excuses for not backing up to an off-site storage location is "it’s too expensive," followed by a close second, "it’s too much of a pain."  Now both of those excuses are gone with Mozy Remote Backup, which offers 2GB of secure off-site storage for FREE. You’ll pay more for additional storage, but you really only need to save your mission-critical data and important files with these services.  I backup my QuickBooks, ACT, training courseware, and book files each week.  Mozy won the PC Magazine Editor’s Choice award, so you should feel comfortable in selecting the service.  Tell it what files to protect and run your backup.  It saves all new and changed files and keeps previous versions for 30 days in case a file gets corrupted. go.pcmag.com/mozyremote16

Do you wiki? What is a wiki? A wiki is web software designed for collaboration. Unlike a traditional website where pages can only be read, in a wiki everyone can edit, update and append pages with new information, all without knowing HTML. Multiple people in same or different locations can all edit the same documents and create a shared archive. I like Jot.com. You don’t have to install a thing, and if you can use Microsoft Word, you can use JotSpot.

JotSpot’s wiki can be used in numerous ways:

• Create a corporate intranet
• Manage projects
• Collaborate on documents
• Keep a backup copy of your email by cc’ing your wiki
• Maintain the department birthday calendar

As a general tip, use your down time productively while traveling, especially on planes.  Most travelers waste hours of productive time on the airplane sleeping, watching movies, or listening to music. You, however, are going to work. Unless you’re exhausted and need to take a nap, take advantage of the uninterrupted time and get some work done.  The more you get done while you’re traveling, the more time you’ll have available to be with your family you return. Before you leave, do some planning and determine what you can complete while you’re away from home. Read business journals and trade magazines, answer emails, write thank-you letters, complete routine paperwork, review large reports and board materials, or do project and advance planning. If you feel good about what you’ve accomplished, pull out your pleasure reading. In the hotel, don’t watch television! If you’re a television person at home, discipline yourself to say, “This is my time. There’s no one else to take care of but myself. I’m going to use it to get ahead.”

At home, having a Virtual Private Network (VPN) will allow you to work at home a day or two a week from your home computer and have full access to the corporate intranet, shared files, as well as your email and calendar.  Remote Desktop technology will allow you to access files from your work computer while at home, exactly as if you were sitting at your desk.

When traveling out of town, keep up with phone calls, email, and clients, so you won’t have a pile of correspondence waiting for you when you return. To be truly productive, you’ll need the latest tools and technologies to stay connected and keep in touch with colleagues and family. Without a good cell phone plan, for example, you’ll hesitate to make long-distance calls. If you don’t have a wireless Internet connection at your hotel or a hot-spot subscription, you can’t stay on top of your email. It’s worth paying the $10.00 (or whatever the hotel charges) to get wireless access in your room! You’ll need Outlook Web Access to keep up with email and appointments or access to Web Mail on your ISP’s server.

Windows SmartPhones and Pocket PCs enable you to send and receive email when you’re on the go and can’t access the Internet from your laptop.  I carry a Treo SmartPhone and use my taxi time between the airport and hotel to check email, respond to important messages, and return phone calls.

My husband, John, and I traveled to

Singapore

, where I was to speak at several conferences and events.  We wanted to keep in touch with our three children while we were out of the country but didn’t want to pay a lot for phone charges.  So we used www.Skype.com to make free phone calls back home via the Internet and hooked up a USB Webcam on both ends, so we could hear and see each other.  It was a wonderful way to stay connected and gave us a personal touch we couldn’t get over the phone.  Webcams are also helpful for professionals working frequently from home who want to see their co-workers during phone or video conferences.

I’ve worked from home for sixteen years now.  Whether you have a home office or telecommute frequently, here are the tools of the trade you’ll need efficiently work from home:

1.            A supercomputer with lots of RAM and a large hard drive

2.            External back-up system (Zip drive, network, CD, etc.)

3.            Off-site backup of irreplaceable files (www.atbackup.com, www.godaddy.com, www.handybackup.com)

4.            Spam filter

5.            Internet security

6.            Anti-virus software

7.            DSL or cable

8.            Email accessible via Internet

9.            High-security access to your company’s computer network (intranet)

10.        Log into your home computer while traveling (www.GoToMyPC.com)

11.        Wireless headset

12.        Cell phone and/or pager

13.        PDA/SmartPhone with email access (like Blackberry or Treo)

14.        Laptop with wireless Internet and T-Mobile account

15.        Time management system (Outlook or paper planner)

16.        A printer/scanner/fax/copy machine—together or separate

17.        Sturdy filing cabinets and drawers

18.        Ergonomically correct chair

19.        Home Receptionist telephone with router and/or voice mail

20.        Integrated contact management (ACT), fax (WinFax), accounting (QuickBooks), and email (Outlook) software

21.        Searchable database (Access) for electronic information

22.        www.eSpeakers.com or other on-line calendaring software for remote client, bureau, website, and employee access

23.        www.Skype.com for instant messaging

24.        Sending large files to clients (www.dropload.com or www.yousendit.com).

25.        Shortcut “hot” keys automatically type a string or paragraph of text (www.shortkeys.com).

26.        Capture Express software allows you to easily “grab” a portion of your screen (screen shot) to add to workbooks, save as a picture, or email in lots of cool shapes besides a rectangle (http://www.wintools.com/automation.htm).

27.        Automated gifts; schedule delivery for future dates once a month.  (www.cookiepots.com or www.popcornfactory.com).

28.        Quick registration on Web sites that ask you to register (www.bugmenot.com); gives you a username and password that will work on that site.