ScottDock.com

Quest for Increased Productivity

scottd — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:58:50 GMT

Hello, my name is Scott, and I have recently become productivity-challenged. The first step in resolving the problem is admitting you have a problem, right? :p

The Problem:

Ultimately, I’m just not satisfied with where I am according to my personal and professional goals. I’ve realized that after taking my old “system” for a test drive these past few weeks, it does not support today's workload.

I’m reminded of this at times – the signs are evident. I take notice when team members preface their questions/requests with, “I know you’re busy…” and “Just wanted to check on status…”, and “bump/ping” emails… Also, “feeding the email monster” has become a constant habit – and is driving the majority of the work week. (You would think that all this time spent on email, our inboxes would be empty, right? Wrong.) I looked around the office and opening the laptop bag, I realize that have too much stuff - files, papers, post-it-notes, digital pictures of notes from the dry erase boards. All of a sudden, files and information weren’t as organized as I would have liked – and finding specific bits of needed information took longer than 30 seconds to find. Projects continue to find their way on your plate more frequently than the completed ones.

Sound familiar? Regardless of our line of work, everyone has “stuff to do”. We have goals, projects, tasks, deadlines, deliverables, and need to effectively communicate with others. To be effective, we must be able to get in front of our jobs - email, tasks, update to-do lists, assist & inspire fellow team members, follow-up & respond to email, reach out to customers, etc…

How To Resolve:

I am on a quest for Productivity Utopia. I want to accomplish much more with family, work, health, volunteer activities, hobbies, etc.. Over the next 60-days, I am going to take blog readers down a journey with the goal of “Becoming my own Personal Productivity Zen-master.”

I've been motivated by such blogs as 43Folders and Life Hacker. (Gina Tripani's book, Life Hacker, is a MUST read for all professionals that like to flex their technical muscles. ). They have such a positive, motivating message - focusing on helping readers reach their inner "producivity zen". It's come time to soak all of them in – share with others - and find what works. I need to find a "system" that is easily and consistently repeatable and share with those who are interested in reading.

Why blog this journey?

· To share my thoughts, findings, and “things” (technology, or otherwise) that I discover or learn during the journey with others

· To learn how others have tackled improving their systems – how they have accomplished, and maintained efficiency and improving their productivity & performance.

· To motivate others who might be having the same conundrum but resist taking the next step – due to their already full plate.

Please join me with my Personal Productivity series, found here - http://scottdock.com/productivity/ . If you are so inclined, please share your thoughts - what does/does not work for you - and recommendations for others.

Intel Capital invests $20mm in Telligent

scottd — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 05:52:00 GMT

This post is much of the reason why I have done a poor job at blogging (will correct that soon enough)

Today is the day - we can finally shout it from the rooftops...

Official Announcement: http://telligent.com/news-and-events/news/intel-capital-to-acquire-20-million-stake-in-telligent/

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 23, 2008 – Intel Capital, Intel’s global investment organization, today announced an agreement to acquire a $20 million stake in Telligent Systems, makers of social computing solutions and business intelligence tools. Based in Dallas, Telligent will utilize the funds to expand its sales teams and territories, including growth in international markets, as well as increase its marketing and advertising initiatives and product development plans.

In September of 2004, Rob Howard reached out and asked me to chat about joining newly-formed Telligent. While jumping around like a kid in a candy store, I was also terrified at the thought of being grilled technically by Rob Howard & Jason Alexander. (I think I ate 2 bites of lunch and threw up afterwards :p). However, instead of an in-depth technical interview, our discussion was around a larger vision. With Scott Watermasysk, Rob & Jason talked about their plans to build a Telligent as a solutions company - focusing around our Products and Service offerings. Back in 2004, Rob & Jason talked about their vision of a product called Community Server, which would serve as the online collaboration platform of the future - bringing blogs, forums, galleries together in one platform to better facilitate collaboration. With our second child on the way, I was a little nervous going to a start-up company. However, my strong belief in their vision, commitment to the business, and demonstrated leadership qualities - along with my strong desire to build a world-class Professional Services organization, I accepted the position and became Telligent Employee #5. I am proud of our company - and have our team members to thank.

4 years later, here we are talking about an investment. This is a huge day for Telligent. We're extremely excited for the possibilities and the next steps for our company. We've been hard at work planning this investment for quite a while now, and it is exciting to be able to blog about it. We're going to aggressively expand many of our our teams (including our Professional Services team - who is set to almost double in the next year alone). Our leadership team is laser focused on continuous improvement of our business and better servicing our customers.

To our customers, thank you for your trust and partnership with Telligent. To our team members, THANK YOU for your hard work and dedication.

As Jason said, "hold on to your hats", it's going to be a fun ride.

Welcome (again) to ScottDock.com!

scottd — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 05:50:00 GMT

My personal blog site is finally up! w00tas. I've had this domain for a long time now, and embarrased that I just put it to use. After countless days/months/years of ribbing by members of the Telligent team (fact that I work for a community company but my blogging slowed down to a turtle's pace) - I decided to get back on the blogging train. I'm embarrassed to work for a Collaboration & Social Networking company - without a web presence of my own. Instead of making bold claims with the blog (i.e. daily blog post), I promise to post thoughful, informative, funny, and/or intriguing items that are worthy of sharing.

I previously blogged at http://weblogs.asp.net/scottdockendorf, and will keep that blog as reference for previous posts. I decided to start anew with this blog, taking a fresh look at topics that interest me in the Technology, Software Development, Personal Productivity, Business, and other categories (with some Green Bay Packers, Dallas Stars, and other sports related items thrown in :) )

With this site, I'm "dogfooding" Telligent's new product, Graffiti CMS, which we will RTM in the very near future. If you are in need of a "Content Made Simple" solution, please give Graffiti CMS a try.

The site is being hosted with the fine folks at OrcsWeb. If you are in need of a hosting company, definitely consider them. They have offerings that are sure to fit your needs.

Thanks for your interest, and I hope to positively impacting the blogging community.