Internet Business Productivity

TEDx event - passion is all around us... and so the feeling grows

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:45:11 -0800

Last Friday I went to a local TEDx event. "X" stands for the independent TED event, and if you don't know what TED is, check out their web site and watch some cool and inspiring videos of some global leaders talking about their passions. The event lasted an entire day... and it was a blast!

Great way to spend a day

I was very skeptical about the event. If you watch TED videos, the presentations there are almost always top-notch and it was hard for me not to have high expectations for our local TED event... and on the other hand doubt that for an entire day of speakers, not everyone will be that great.

Passion was all around us...

My high expectations were met. Of course there were better and a little "less good" speakers, but overall everyone was prepared and was talking about their passion, their ideas and global as well as local problems and issues. For a guy who's mainly going to tech-only conferences, it was a refreshing change.

Passion is infectious

It really is. My GTD notetaker wallet was full of notes after the whole day. The passion coming from speakers resulted in my brain working overtime... I could relate what they were saying to my work, my ideas, my industry... I had new ideas attacking me from all over the place... It was exhausting... and inspiring. And I learned a lot about stuff I normally knew nothing about.

Can't wait for next TEDx event

When the next event is coming, I'm definitely attending. It's worth it. Processing all of my notes from this event took me more than two hours... and I'm normally processing my inbox really quickly. The videos from this event are online now, so I can refer to them again. Cool.

Question: Have you ever been to a TEDx event? Or better yet, a TED event? Did you feel inspired?

--> I'm Michael Sliwinski and I'm an entrepreneur who's also the...
.. Founder of Nozbe.com - a time and project management web application
.. Editor of Productive! Magazine - a global PDF publication on productivity
.. and a blogger as well as a producer of a weekly 2-minute Productive! show.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Power of e-readers and audiobooks - productivity for the impatient

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:35:56 -0800

The Productive Magazine is almost ready, we'll be compiling it this week, and we'll be working on an iPhone friendly version too. When talking about the magazine, someone asked me about my take on Productivity and e-readers (kindle, ebooks, audio) and my usage of those. Here goes:

My iPhone is my ultimate "reading" device and I love it

I don't have a Kindle, I don't have an iPad (yet :-) but I have an iPhone... and here's why it's boosting my productivity and readership:

1) I can read anywhere, anytime

I'm an impatient person and when I'm on the move, in the car, I still try to be productive and get stuff done. I hate waiting in the lines and I need to get anything done when I can. Now that I have my iPhone connected to a 3G network with me, I can do several things:

- I read news and blogs with Google Reader

- I can read ebooks in PDF format (and Kindle if I want)

- I can read books online (I read the Count of Monte Cristo recently... and it's a very big one - all on the iPhone!)

2) I can listen to stuff when I'm doing something else

When I drive, I get a lot stuff done, while I have my iPhone plugged into car audio system:

- I call people in my @Phone context in Nozbe

- I listen to podcasts

- I listen to audiobooks

Digitalization of content is great, I'm loving it.

I know that the book is meant to be read in a quiet environment, on a comfortable armchair, near a fireplace, etc... but guess what? While I still try to get this kind of environment, having all the content in a digital form helps me read a lot, helps me consume a lot more and learn a lot faster.

I have the content with me in this one small device

Another thing is the fact that it's all in one device - my iPhone - my phone - so I don't have to carry anything extra to read or listen to. I have it all in this device... all of the time.

Considering audio content even more

Since I'm going to gym more often now, travel a lot more by car and by subway, the audio content becomes my main way of consuming content now. That's why I recently blogged about it and that's why Productive Show is now available in a form of a video podcast.

Currently I have an extensive list of books I want to purchase from Amazon... and I may choose the audio route instead and by them from Audible. Still struggling but the audio content makes it more probable that I'll eventually consume these books...

Still reading old-school books, but not that many anymore...

Yes, I'm still reading books in a traditional way... but the barrier of entry is getting bigger and bigger for me there... I prefer to just grab my iPhone and read something there when I have a spare minute... rather than searching for a book, schlepping it with me and reading it when I can...

Question: How do you consume books and content? Do you use mobile devices? Will you buy Kindle or iPad? Or do you still die-hard prefer old-school book reading?

Permalink | Leave a comment »

CEO of a small company needs to eat his dogfood. It's yummy!

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 08:33:43 -0800

A few days ago we launched Nozbe Translation Platform - a way for our users to help us contribute to Nozbe translations and help us bring our productivity app to their countries in their native language. As I've lived in Spain and speak Spanish fluently, I decided to contribute and help with the Nozbe translation to Spanish... and I've found very interesting things in the process...

I'm the CEO who does the actual work, too

Nozbe is being run by a small team of three, there's me (CEO), my lead developer Tom (CTO) and my assistant Delfina (CHO - Customer Happiness Officer :-) so we're all working on Nozbe together. Resources are scarce by design - I love running a small company and getting the actual, meaningful job done - I know it may not be what they teach you in the management books, but for me a good manager delegates what others do better and does what he does best... and contributes where he can and is always there to help his team.

By doing the actual work, I became a translator myself...

That's the thing. By doing the translation myself, I became a translator, I've put myself in the translator's shoes and experienced all the positives and negatives of our translation system. I very quickly found out where the system is not clear about the translation, where things can be improved, how the whole thing works.

By becoming a translator, I quickly knew how to improve the system

The translation platform is an "app within the app", so it's a separate application within Nozbe, and it has to rock. After all folks are devoting their private time to help us translate and we should do everything we can to make their job easier and faster.

If I didn't try it, I wouldn't know about any of this

Translators would eventually send us their feedback, some already have... but it would take a lot more time and a lot of folks would get discouraged. By having me on board as a translator, I knew about the most important things first hand, sent my feedback to my CTO and we posted the improvements to the server today already!

Eating your dogfood is crucial to your success as a startup

I use Nozbe every day. We (the entire company :-) use Nozbe every day. I know all about the features there, bugs, glitches and because I use it daily for my projects and actions, there are no mission-critical bugs there and the most annoying bugs get fixed pretty quickly and the rest of them are being done in their due time, too.

Launch, use it, test it, iterate and keep on using

We launched the translation system, I've been using it, our customers have been using it, we quickly solved the first glitches and will keep on improving as we use it and bring more translations on board. It's fun, and it's really productive and makes sure our translators (myself included) do a great job.

Bringing Nozbe to the folks in your country is something I'm excited about!

I'm very psyched about this project. It's something I've always wanted to do: to bring the concept of Simple Getting Things Done to people all around the world who don't even know who David Allen is (and what GTD is). Nozbe will be the first truly global productivity app that will teach people the power of "Next Actions", "Contexts" and "Projects" and a regular "Review". I can't wait to make it all happen!

Sidenote: Don't worry about my Spanish :-)

OK, so I do speak Spanish very well, but I'm not native... but don't worry, my very good friend, artist Miguel Guia is helping me by going over my translations and correcting them for proper Spanish if necessary, and we've got other translators helping me out as well. Thanks everyone, you're doing a great job! It's a community effort and it's fantastic :-)

P.S. If you're interested in translating Nozbe, watch this video and read the tips and tricks I posted today.

Question: As a CEO/Manager, do you do the actual work? Do you sometimes get the real work done, aside from managing people? How does it feel? What does it teach you?

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Getting the Productive Magazine ready... finally almost there

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 08:54:06 -0800

Last year I wanted the Productive! Magazine to be released every two months but due to life-changing events happening in my private life, I had to focus on Nozbe and the business in my work time and didn't have both the time and the drive to make the Productive! Magazine happen... until now.

Today I finished preparing the Productive Magazine issue 4 for digital print. Now my team of editors (Dustin and Lori) will help me make sure the magazine is readable in good English and we're good to go.

Early March the new (free as always) PDF-formatted Productive! Magazine is coming to the computer (and iPad?) screen near you. Stay tuned!

Today I posted a lengthy blog post with quotes from my "editor's note" on the Productive Magazine page, so make sure to check it out and let me know what you think.

If you still haven't - go and get the three issues of the magazine, featuring guys like David Allen, Guy Kawasaki and Michael Bungay-Stanier.

Here's to making the magazine more regular in 2010!

Need your feedback: What did you like particularily in the past issues of the magazine? What is it that you did NOT like? Help me make the magazine better! Thanks!

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Friday readership: On writing books, worrying and multitasking

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:04:00 -0800

It's Friday and it's time for my typical blog post compilation and this time I had hard time choosing 3 articles for this one as there were quite a few that caught my attention, but here they are in no particular order:

Multitasking is Overrated by Patrick Hunt

Reminds me of the discussion we had on my iPad blog post and multitasking. Here's Patrick's take: What Apple is really doing is making technology disappear, surfacing content in a very human way. Even if processing power and battery life are currently capable of delivering multitasking, I’m not sure Apple will implement it in the way we think of multitasking today...

Wait To Worry: Procrastination at Its Best by Gail Hyatt

Something I tend to forget and something my wife should practice, too... we shouldn't worry too much, it leads to bad things happening. Here's what Gail says about it: As a mom, when my girls go to a place of worry, I do the only thing I know to do. Since I can’t take it from them, I encourage them to “wait to worry.” Just postpone it. This is procrastination at its best.

Why write a book? by Seth Godin

As I'm contemplating writing a book about bootstrapping a startup, I took Seth's article very seriously: The goal isn't always to spread an idea. Sometimes the goal is to make change happen. A book is a physical souvenir, a concrete instantiation of your ideas in a physical object, something that gives your ideas substance and allows them to travel.

Do you worry too much? Do you really multitask? Do you want to write a book? Yet alone a blog?

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Double-backup Luggage in Airplanes - ProductiveShow.com

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:01:59 -0800

Another one of my quick-and-dirty 2-minute productivity shows (this one is even shorter than 2 minutes!) recorded during my trip to the USA. This one was recorded before embarking on a long flight back home to Europe.

How to travel with laptop in both your main and your hand luggage? Double-backup it all:

How do you prepare yourself before long flight? What are your tips and tricks for efficient and productive traveling?

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Why are so many smart people re-inventing the wheel?

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 06:24:56 -0800

If you're getting old as quickly as I am (I was in my 20s one year ago!) you start to understand more and more about life and start seeing your own past mistakes in other people's lives. What I've recently found out is that you can fall for a trap of seeing some really smart people "discover new things" and believe them... when all they are doing is re-inventing the wheel. And the wheel has been round of thousands of years now... and it still works!

What do I mean by "smart people re-inventing the wheel"?

I'm a blogger myself and I read lots of blogs. Every Friday I post some of the coolest things I've learned from other bloggers and I really have learned a lot from them. These guys are really smart. However, what I've recently found out is that some of them are taking "new approach" to some rather explored and sound principles... and I caught myself believing that these smart guys have really discovered a new approach.

What they are actually doing is re-inventing the wheel. Why? Because after a while you see that their "new approach" was trying to find something that doesn't work for the problem they were solving. Solution was there the whole time and whether they liked it or not, there was no "better" or "other" solution so seeking new way of building the wheel was a simple waste of time.

Let me give you three real-life examples:

1. Ad-supported business rocks. No it doesn't, unless you're Google.

Having an Internet company I meet lots of startups and they very often say things like "with our new model we don't need to charge people for our service, we'll serve ads in these very innovative ways and this will bring us great revenues". I even believed some of these statements as the guys running these companies were really sharp and smart people.

When I met them 12 months later they'd ask me how to charge for a service, because the ads are not bringing in any money. The wheel remained round. My users happily pay for Nozbe because they know how much value and how big of an increase in their productivity it gives them... and they know we're running a profitable business that won't vanish anytime soon. Good old model that's worked for companies for ages... and works for me as well.

2. Venture Capital money will suddenly make our business great. No it won't. It will make you burn cash and fail.

The other thing startups founders are re-inventing the wheel at, is the VC money. They just believe when they get the funding they'll have great companies overnight. Oh really? Like spending loads of cash will suddenly give you a great product and lots of great customers? Spending money vs. actually getting money from real customers is a different dynamic. It will make your product inferior and although it'll give you loads of eyeballs, it'll not make your company great.

On the sidenote, VCs don't care about your startup. They want to sell it to someone bigger as quickly as possible to get their money back with hefty profits. They want the eyeballs and great valuation based on the eyeballs. They couldn't care less about the quality of your startup.

OK, let me give you a third example unrelated to a startup business:

3. Mid-life crisis with a different label. The new label won't make it any different

There is one blogger that I really liked reading but who's values and ideas I don't always share. And it's OK. But last year when he decided he was in search for a new love, because he achieved everything he could with his current wife, I knew he was bluffing. And now I know for sure. He gave it a new label called, "polyamory" and said that he wouldn't have to divorce his wife, that she'd be OK with him seeking new love objects and their two kids were cool with that as well.

Apparently his wife and kids are special. No they aren't. After half a year they got a divorce. Nothing new there. How many men in mid-life crisis have ended up in a divorce in the past? The new label didn't bring any new magic there. The wheel keeps on being round.

Later that same guy said he was happy being a bachelor and wanted to discover a "new way" of being with women without labels like "girlfriend", "fiancée" or "wife". These labels created constraints he said.

He started his "explorations" and "new way of being with women" and guess what? After a few months he's tweeting that he's going somewhere with his new "fiancée". Now, isn't that a label? Isn't that same-old, same-old? The wheel is round. People are people. Mid life crisis, broken marriages, new girlfriends, etc. have been there for ages. No label will make it different or special.

Let's look at the wheel and make sure we understand why it's round.

When I look at my life I remember at least a few times I've been trying to re-invent the wheel. After recent observations I started to be more cautious. I started to analyze every "new approach" I see and quickly "catch" if there is a new kind of wheel over there. And watch out for these new "names" and "labels". They usually are same old things with different names.

Here's to all of us reinventing less wheels in the future!

Did you happen to re-invent the wheel in the past? What have you learned from it? How did it make you smarter? Do you see other people/companies reinventing the wheel?

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Avatar - massive usage of Apple iPads and Touch Computing

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:42:46 -0800

Today finally I got to see the Avatar movie by James Cameron in my local Imax movie theater. I've heard mostly positive reviews about the movie and since I'm very much into both sci-fi and fantasy, I enjoyed it immensely. I really liked the 3D effects and great CGI... and massive usage of Apple iPads, just have a look:

OK, these were not really iPads Steve Jobs unveiled on their Apple special event, but the basic assumptions about the "fictional" devices the protagonists were using are exactly the same as the ones that constitute the foundations of the Apple's gadget.

Touch interface is everything

I've got an iPhone for a few years now and I've written how iPad will improve your productivity and I strongly believe the touch interface will make a huge difference on the way we use our computers in the future.

Touch means flexibility

Touchable (is that a word?) interface will be ultimately flexible because it will adjust the interface (and input devices like keyboard) to the task or app at hand. It's like with the iPhone - they keyboard pops up when you need it and the layout of the keyboard depends on the context, too!

Touch is natural

We love touching. I'm using a Magic Mouse now and I love it. No buttons, just gestures and a surface I can touch. Same for the iPhone. We love touching things, not pressing them.

Touch is cool

Watch The Avatar again and focus on the places they show the cool touchable screens and the iPad-like devices and they are just stunning. They look great and they seem to feel great. And cool.

Have you seen Avatar? And the kinda-iPads in there? Did they draw your attention?

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Adam Malysz - my perfect, humble and inspiring role model

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 09:51:37 -0800

On Saturday I watched the Ski-jumping contest on the first day of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and a short, humble guy from my home country of Poland got a silver medal in the individual ski-jumping competition. This guy is Adam Małysz - one of the greatest sportsmen in the ski-jumping history, of the biggest sports figures of my country and definitely the greatest one of my time.

Chances are you haven't heard of Adam, go on, read his biography on Wikipedia, this guys has practically won it all. Now, at the age of 32 he still won the olympic silver medal, beating a decade younger athletes, showing that his passion for winning and spirit is still in a very good shape.

Why is Adam Małysz a role model fro me? (and for millions of people in my country!)

There are several reasons for that. I believe anyone who wants to achieve something in their lives, should look at Adam and learn from him these several things:

1. Adam loves ski-jumping. He enjoys every single jump he makes.

He just loves it. I mean really loves it. When asked before jumping what's his goal, what length of jump he wants to achieve, how high, etc.... he's answer is always the same: "I just want to perform a very good jump". That's all he cares about.

I remember when he was on the very top of his game and had only one opponent: German guy named Sven Hannavald and they were very close points-wise to the overall World Championship standing. There was this one competition when they jumped only once and Adam was winning. Due to bad weather conditions the judges wouldn't allow for the second jump, so the results from the first jump where final. Adam won. Yet he was angry. Why? Because he didn't care about the points. He didn't get to jump again. All he cared was to jump again. He loves it so much. He doesn't calculate the points, he's not a mathematician. He's a jumper.

2. Adam is humble. He's never too bold or too proud.

He's just this nice guy who is constantly smiling, thinks about the positives and never says he's the best. Although he is. He really is one of the best (if not THE best) in the ski-jumping history.

The journalists just love doing interviews with him, because he's nice, polite and easy to talk to, and he's never proud or showing anyone he's better. Incredible.

3. Adam never gives up.

Leaders change, idols change, people give up on their idols. Adam never gives up on himself. He's constantly on top of his game... and even when he's not, he's working hard and... he comes back!

He was dominating in 2001, 2002 and 2003 where he won 3 World Championship Cups in a row... and then he didn't.... until 2007 when he won it again.... and now people said he should stop... and he comes back and takes the olympic silver medal sending his much-younger competitors home.

4. Adam keeps on training and improving.

Even during the Summer season he still jumps in the Summer Cup. He loves jumping so much he always finds the time and place to practice. He keeps his form, shape and is still on top.

He's persistant and it pays off. Big time.

5. Adam is a family man.

With all that fame in Poland, so many fans and so much money, he still lives in his home-town Wisla, with his wife and his kid. His wife very often comes along for the tournaments to support him.

He knows his priorities and he knows that family comes first. And he's always known that.

I want to be like Adam!

He's my role model because I also want to love my job as much as he does his, I want to be the best and be humble about it. I never want to give up, I want to keep on improving and be as persistent as Adam, I also want to be a family man like him.

I'm very close to the ideal, but there is still room to improve. It's great I have Adam as inspiration.

Who's your role model? Why?

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Re-discovering productivity-boosting podcasting

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:45:20 -0800

OK, many people have been listening to podcasts for years now. I actually have had an iPhone for more than two years now and I never "got" this whole podcasting thing... until recently when I subscribed to several podcasts which I'm listening to whenever I'm on the move (subway, car)

I've listened to several audiobooks on my iPhone, but podcasting has its great advantages:

The content is fresh, new and really great

There are some really fantastic podcasts out there. Really passionate people are creating great content with lots of value and many tips and tricks on almost any subject. I stick to my two favorite categories: productivity and startup/business.

iTunes makes updating podcasts and sending them to the iPhone a snap

Whenever there are new episodes, they are downloaded right away and synced seamlessly to my iPhone so when I leave home I know there is always something new to listen to.

It sounds obvious, but it's just a fun way to learn new things

I know, I know, most of you have already tried podcasting and I'm kind of new to it, but unlike radio, where there are more ads or irrelevant news, or music which I don't always feel like listening, with podcasting I'm always exposed to new and fresh content where I usually learn something new with each new episode.

I even created a video podcast using iLife (iMovie + Garageband + iWeb) of my Productive! Show

Video podcasting is really cool. I thought I should only use YouTube to distribute my Productive! Show but I created a video podcast and the episodes look really great on my iPhone:

Would you recommend me some podcasts?

As I'm exploring productivity and startup/business podcasts, do you have any favorites? Any recommendations?

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Google Buzz not buzzing with me (and my email) all that much

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:21:52 -0800

OK, so Google launched Google Buzz yesterday. Their next attempt to do something about this whole social media stuff that they never managed to pull off. Facebook and Twitter are growing like crazy and the search giant (well, all the giants, including Yahoo and Microsoft) seem not to comprehend the social craziness.

People seem to like buzz, but I have mixed feelings about it:

Integration with Gmail adds noise to my email

Google decided to use their Gmail user base to make sure the buzz is being used... so now everyone has buzz in their Gmail account. I get enough messages in my email inbox that it distracts me from my work, so I don't need more noise.

Furthermore, if someone comments on a buzz, I get it to my inbox... I don't want more stuff in my inbox. I grew up in the "Inbox zero" world and it's hard enough to keep it up anyway... Luckily there is a hack for that :-)

New profile, new followers....

So I had to set up a new Google Profile, and it seems I need to set up new followers and following! No thank you, I've been working hard enough on my Twitter following and I have more than 8K+ followers (thanks guys and gals!) and I don't feel like building it all again.

My current social media flow...

My main hub is my Twitter account. Statuses from there go to my Facebook profile and Linkedin profile... I occassionally use comments on Facebook and I use Llinkedin strictly for business related stuff. Why do I need Buzz? Can't find any real use for that.

Can you convince me to give Google Buzz a try? Like it? Hate it? What's your take?

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Friday Readership: Apple Mac by Microsoft guy, Business advice and Birthday

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:24:06 -0800

This Friday will not be about the Apple iPad, but the fruit company will remain anyway. Here's the roundup of articles that caught my attention, you can browse the other "Friday readerships" here:

From MSFT evangelist to Mac enthusiast - the other side of the road by Don Dodge

I had a pleasure of meeting Don personally twice during my most recent USA trip, we talked and laughed and I asked him about how it feels to be a Google guy after many years of being a Microsoft guy. This post explains it all and shows the conversion from purely Microsoft products to Google and Apple powered ones.

Business Advice In Three Words by Neil Patel

Neil did an interesting post on three-word business advice and most of it is really worth reading several times. He starts with "Time is money" and later continues with "listen to customers" or "use social media". Really great read. One of the people commenting added my favorite ABC: "Always Be Closing" (a sale).

Basecamp turns 6 by Jason Fried

37signals is my "guru" company and I admire them for what they are doing and how they've inspired me and other startup founders in the world. It's their Basecamp and Backpack apps that inspired me to do a GTD web app called Nozbe and find my passion in running it. Basecamp is double the age of Nozbe which just turned 3 which says a lot about how much time these guys are already making it all happen. Congrats guys and thanks again for... basically everything!

Are you also a Microsoft-to-Apple convert? What's your favorite three-word advice? Are you a Basecamp, Backpack or Nozbe user?

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Efficient Traveling and Switching Planes - ProductiveShow.com

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:21:44 -0800

I just came back from my two-week USA tour in the New York City, Boston and the Silicon Valley and in the meantime recorded several episodes of my Productive! Show. I'll be posting the shows in the forthcoming weeks, yesterday I posted my first show on my ProductiveShow.com blog:

Efficient Traveling and Switching Planes

What are your tips for quick and efficient traveling? Hand luggage tips and tricks?

Permalink | Leave a comment »

3 productivity tips and tricks for open space workers in California's Silicon Valley offices

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 04:58:53 -0800

If you've been following my Twitter feed lately, you can see I've been traveling in Silicon Valley in California, visiting headquarters of the companies like Facebook, Yahoo, Google, Techcrunch, Plug and Play Tech Center and others... and most of these companies have office spaces that look like this:

"Open to everyone"... and everything - including distractions

All of the companies say this kind of office setup is cool and promotes openness... but what they don't tell you is that it's really hard to concentrate and get things done in a setup like this. The funny thing is that most of the guys who designed offices like this are brilliant people who might have even read the book "Peopleware" but they somehow forgot about the key advice from this book...

How to get stuff done in an "Open" environment?

OK, let's be constructive about this situation and embrace the "openness" and give some solutions as to how to be effective and productive in this kind of environment:

"Solution" 1 - use headphones

Yes, I've heard that before - developers and office workers use headphones to clear the noise, but many studies have already shown that programmers do a better and more creative code when they are sitting in silence than listening to the music. Music is usually a distraction as well.

"Solution" 2 - use 3 display monitors... or more!

The problem with working in a place like this is the fact that even if you've cleared the noise with headphones, you can still see everyone around you. To make sure you won't be tempted to look around and stare at other people, get as many display monitors as you can... and as big screen displays as can be - this way you won't be able to see people around all that much.

Using multiple monitor setup is actually a great productivity booster as such, but in an open environment it gives an additional benefit of being a barrier between you and the guy in front of you.

"Solution" 3 - embrace it (like you have a choice)

That's right, embrace the fact that most (if not all) companies in Silicon Valley prefer open spaces. That Venture Capital firms which invest in startups don't want them to "waste" money on private offices. Be proud of the fact that you work for Facebook in an open environment - after all it's the most over-valued and over-hyped startup in the world and they are allowed not to care about your working environment.

Finally, enjoy the good weather in California, maybe other programmers at companies like Fog Creek have great private offices, Aeron chairs and a overall fantastic environment (I know, I was there)... but they are located in the cold New York City.

The "solutions" described above won't help all that much

This is why they are written with ' " ' sign - these are not solutions but key problems I have with open spaces. Aha, and did I mention that it's really hard to get stuff done in an office because people can poke you and distract you all of the time? Well, in an "open" office constant poking is guaranteed.

I don't like open spaces and I think they're a contradiction to productivity. I'm just not THAT open - what do you think?

Permalink | Leave a comment »

7 ways the new Apple iPad will increase your productivity

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:03:12 -0800

The Apple's iPad is still causing lots of controversy all over the Internet and since it's not been shipped yet to the Apple stores, hardly anyone has ever played with it. However, looking at the iPad's page and the promo video, one can already find a number of ways the iPad will do to improve your productivity (if you get one of course):

1. There's no "right" way to hold it, it rotates automatically to adjust to you

iPhone users know this already, but for many folks this can be a new thing - you can just grab the iPad and it rotates to adjust to the way you grabbed it. It doesn't force you to think "how to hold it" - just grab it and start playing with it.

2. Pinch and zoom photos, tap articles to make them bigger and better for reading

Again, nothing new for the iPhone users, but on this kind of device it's unprecedented - just pinch and zoom or simply tap to read an article better, to see more details, to make sure your eyes are not working too hard. This will make it a perfect computing device for people with sight problems.

3. Process email inbox to zero beautifully

The beautiful all new interface to email will make processing messages to zero fun and cool. You'll be inclined to process more messages at the time just because of the cool interface of the new email app - the "paper-like" feel to the email messages and ease of use will encourage you to get email done.

4. Single-tasking will improve your focus, it's a feature, not a bug!

People complain about the fact that you can be in one app at the time on the iPhone and will do the same on the iPad... but this actually helps boost your focus and decrease distractions. You'll get more done, one app at a time. The only thing I'm concerned about is the performance of the on-screen keyboard, especially for people like me who are touch-typing.

5. One email message at a time in vertical view

Similar to the point above, iPad has another focus-boosting feature in its email client - when you rotate the screen you see the email message in a beautiful vertical view and you see only this message, no inboxes, no folders, no clutter, just the message that you can give full attention to.

6. Beautiful calendar will encourage planning your Weekly Review

The calendar app on the iPad is incredibly similar to the good old-school paper calendars we used to carry around with us. I'm sure this app will encourage more order and better planning... and who knows, maybe we'll finally be able to schedule your GTD Weekly Review more often than once a month? Let's hope so!

7. Books will encourage readership - you'll read David Allen's book again!

The iPad is to serve as an eBook reader and from what I'm seeing on the video, it'll be the most elegant eBook we've seen so far. It'll help you read more and learn more... also about productivity!

Elegance helps getting things done

I've highlighted many times in this post the iPad's aesthetics and the fact that the apps coming with it also look gorgeous and I'm telling you - interacting with pretty tools makes you want to use them more. I should know, I'm using the Macbook Air and enjoy working on it every day.

How will the iPad improve our productivity? Will the apps really deliver on the iPad? Time will tell, but since it's just a bigger iPhone/iPod Touch, I'm sure this device can be a real productivity booster for everyone. What do you think?

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Friday Readership: No one really likes the Apple iPad?

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:12:20 -0800

OK, so this was Apple's week big time. They first announced their best quarter results ever and two days later they launched the new computing/lifestyle device/gadget - the Apple iPad. What it is is just a bigger iPod Touch and folks have been asking questions if this device really makes sense...

So here's a roundup of my favorite Apple iPad articles (and at the bottom of everything I'll add my 2 cents):

First Impressions of the New Apple iPad by Walt Mossberg

"It’s about the software, stupid. While all sorts of commentators were focusing on how much Apple’s new $499 iPad tablet computer looks like an oversized iPhone, the key to whether it can be the first multi-function tablet to win wide public acceptance probably lies in whether consumers perceive it as a suitable replacement for a laptop in key scenarios."

So Walt was pretty objective, but most of geeks and gadget reviewers/bloggers didn't like the device:

What's missing from the iPad by TUAW's Mel Martin

While all the final info is not out yet, there were a few major omissions from the iPad hardware. Here's the highly desireable stuff that came out missing: No Camera, No verizon, No notifications, No TV content, No multitasking...

The Problem with the Apple iPad by Lifehacker's Adam Pash

The iPad, much like the iPhone, is completely locked down. The user has no control over what she installs on the hardware, short of accepting exactly what Apple has approved for it...

8 Things That Suck About the iPad by Gizmodo's Adam Frucci

A lot of people at Gizmodo are psyched about the iPad. Not me! My god, am I underwhelmed by it. It has some absolutely backbreaking failures that will make buying one the last thing I would want to do...

But not all reviews were so bad, some liked it:

The iPad Is Like Holding The Future. But Only Because I Graduated From iPhone School by Techcrunch's MG Siegler

Most people won’t yet, but as long as Apple has its base that will buy and use the iPad, they have plenty of time for either themselves or third-party developers to create the killer uses that make the iPad a must-have product for a broader range of people ... there will be no shortage of people willing to splurge on the device just to see what all the fuss is about. They’ll get hooked too.

And I'd like to finalize this post with quote from my favorite NY Tiimes journalist:

The Apple iPad: First Impressions by NY Times' David Pogue

"My main message to fanboys is this: it’s too early to draw any conclusions. Apple hasn’t given the thing to any reviewers yet, there are no iPad-only apps yet (there will be), the e-bookstore hasn’t gone online yet, and so on. So hyperventilating is not yet the appropriate reaction.

At the same time, the bashers should be careful, too. As we enter Phase 2, remember how silly you all looked when you all predicted the iPhone’s demise in that period before it went on sale."

What do you think about the iPad? Love it? Hate it? Will you buy it (i.e. vote with your wallet)?

Permalink | Leave a comment »

On stage like Apple's Steve Jobs: 3 Mistakes to avoid when presenting

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:58:52 -0800

Today we're all enjoying Apple's Keynote presentation where Steve Jobs is showing off their new gadget called iPad (let's hope this thing ships today, 'cos I already want to buy it). Watching Steve deliver his presentation reminded me of three fundamental mistakes people make when delivering a keynote presentation....

Photo courtesy of gdgt

Delivering a good and solid presentation is not a rocket science, just avoid these three mistakes and you'll be closer to Steve's perfection than you think:

1. Don't start with an apology - it's not funny

I've noticed many people start presentations saying:

- "I'm sorry I'm not really prepared"

- "This presentation is crap, I've just finished doing it"

- "I did this presentation 5 minutes ago when on the plane/train"

- "This presentation will be boring to you"

- "Sorry for this/that, I didn't have the time to..."

What you're doing is actually saying: "I can't understand why you came to this event/conference and paid for it (with money, time, travel) to listen to me, as I obviously don't care about you at all to bother preparing myself for this speech."

Is it really the message you're trying to convey? Do you really think it's funny? No it isn't. Don't say anything like this even if you're really unprepared. Don't say upfront you'll be wasting people's time. Just don't.

2. Use dark background color and BIG white letters, 30 pixels minimum. Don't paste entire paragraphs.

Guy Kawasaki has this 10/20/30 rule when pitching Venture Capital firms saying - your presentation should have max 10 slides, last max 20 minutes and the smallest font size you're allowed to use is 30.

Many people use white background (Microsoft Powerpoint default) which is really not that elegant. Plus if the projector/beamer is crappy, the presentation looks crappy too. However this is nothing compared to the fact that lots of folks simply paste entire paragraphs to a presentation! I mean, come on, you're there presenting and you want me to read your presentation from the end of the hall when it's all written with the font size 8?

Unfortunately MS Powerpoint's presentation defaults encourage this mistake so remember this - change background to dark and don't use smaller fonts than 30. Ever. Don't make people read your presentation and distract them from your keynote speech.

3. Look at the public, don't read slides

OK, this is a fundamental mistake yet so many people do it! Both Powerpoint and Keynote (my tool of choice) have "presentation mode" where you can see the slide in front of you on your computer and you don't have to watch the slides behind you.

It's the people you should be talking to, not the slides. If you've applied the trick you've learned in #2 (using min 30 pixel font size) you won't be encouraged to read your slides anyway.

This is the worst thing that can happen - a guy delivering a presentation by standing back to the public reading his own slides. Can you offend the audience more than that?

That's it, just don't do these 3 mistakes and you'll be delivering keynotes like Apple's own Steve Jobs. It's that easy. You don't have to be charismatic to do that.

What are your tricks to deliver great presentations? Tools? Ideas? Experiences?

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Friday Readership: Less conversation, more iPhone for kids... and clarity

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:39:52 -0800

If you're following my Twitter feed this week, you know I've been busy traveling between New York City, San Francisco and the Silicon Valley, but I'd like to give you a portion of cool articles I've found this week (I do this every Friday, so check the rest of my Friday blog posts here)

I Gave My 3 Year Old an iPhone: Have I Created a Monster? by Patrick Hunt

I'm missing my daughter right now (will not see her for another week before I return home) and although she's only one year young... she's a daughter of a geek (guilty!) so I'm sure I'll be doing the same as Patrick did: "My three year old daughter now has her own iPhone, though without service so it is effectively an iPod touch. And how did I create a monster, you might ask? Easy. Her first words upon waking from sleep are “Where’s my iPhone?”...

A little less conversation by Joel Spolsky

Joel writes about productivity, focus and he has many valid points there: “As companies expand, the people within them start to specialize. At such a point, some managers will conclude that they have a ‘keep everyone on the same page’ problem. But often what they actually have is a ‘stop people from meddling when there are already enough smart people working on something’ problem.”

11 Ways to Gain Clarity by Steve Pavlina

You can agree or disagree with many of Steve's posts, but this one is really good: "Fortunately there are many actions you can take and mental adjustments you can make that will help you shift from uncertainty to certainty. Here are 11 tips for infusing your life with more clarity: ...."

What did you find interesting this week? Link it up! or @MichaelNozbe me!

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Serious Corporations use "serious business language". They don't speak English

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:25:32 -0800

The problem with many startups and small businesses is that they want to be big... they want to sound big, because they believe that showing an image of a "big company" makes them more serious and trustworthy. While that can be the case in some situations, trying to imitate a big company can sometimes work against you... especially in the way you deal with your customers and language you use.

"We're sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused"

Big corporations use this language to "apologize" for a server downtime. Just read it again. "Any inconvenience"? Users can't get to their data, they are furious! "We're sorry"? Sorry doesn't mean anything - "apologize" means you really take the blame, how about this: "We truly apologize for the server downtime, we know you really need to get to your data and we're working hard to make sure we're up and running again and that this kind of error won't happen in the future. Please bear with us just another minute.". Take the blame, be apologetic, suck it up and be human. People understand if you talk their language.

The official online forms with lots of data and no sentences

Just because your "big" competitor has a signup form asking for a user's favorite color, doesn't mean you have to. Make the signup experience as simple and short as possible. When you sign up for Nozbe, I only ask for Name, Email and ... that's it. I ask for password only after you've confirmed your email address... and I ask for rest of the data on "as-needed" basis. Why ask for country or city? You can get this data from the users's IP address if you really need it. Don't make the barrier of entry too high for your startup!

Same with the lack of sentences - "Sign me up" looks a lot better on a signup button than "Save" or "Submit". Explain what you mean, speak English, not Corporate'ish.

The corporate way of treating people - bureaucratic customer support

Just have a look at how your mobile phone company is treating you. How your cable tv company is ignoring your requests. Look at these big companies and ask yourself, do I want my customers/users to be as upset as I am right now when this big company is sending me a letter I don't understand? A letter? In 21st century?

The other day I had a problem with incorrect invoices on my mobile phone bill, I called their call center and they said I had to write a formal letter to get this correction done (it's them who screwed up, and it's me who has to write the letter?)... so I wrote the letter. After 3 weeks they sent me a letter back saying, that in my letter I forgot to mention this and that data and I needed to send the letter again. Couldn't just they've called me? They know my number, after all they are my mobile phone company! Was this helpful? Was I upset? Is this the way to act if it's the company who makes mistake?

The Bottom line:

Don't be like big companies, use English language, take the blame even if it's not entirely yours. Just like Kennedy said: don't ask what your user/customer can do for you, ask what you can do for them.

Disclaimer: in the past I also admit I used some of the "corporate" phrases in my correspondence with my users... I apologize, this won't happen again, I will speak English.

Which of the companies you work with treat you well and with respect? What is there still to improve? How do you improve your company to server better your customers?

Permalink | Leave a comment »

New Year's Resolutions as GTD Projects - ProductiveShow.com

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:04:13 -0800

My Friday's compilation of New Year's Resolutions advice was quite popular so I recorded a video for my Productive Show blog, explaining how I approach New Year's Resolutions:

Simply put, as incremental goals that are verifiable and they I keep on constantly working on.

What's your take on New Year's resolutions?

Permalink | Leave a comment »