Let’s Form a Community

What would a community of the busiest one percent look like? Could it benefit those who find themselves alone,  looking for company among those of like practice? And, could they also learn what practical approaches could be used to make a tangible difference at the same time?

If you believe there’s value in answering the above questions,  you may also know that no such group exists.

But it may be coming soon here at 2Time Labs.

Recently, I had the experience of creating an online community of HR practitioners across the Caribbean. In fact, I have been building an active mailing list of such professionals for over a decade. Now that the technology exists to bring them together, I started climbing the learning curve last year to bring them together on a single platform.

The community just left Beta testing and its success leads me to think that we can do the same here at 2Time Labs.

Interested? Contact me here and let me know why, and whether you would like to be part of the team that pulls this vision together in the next six months.

Let’s change the game.

 

Quora Update – Recent questions I’m Answering

I continue to enjoy Quora – the question and answer website in which thought-leaders can interact with other users in a close, social network.

It’s a great opportunity to bring the latest research, plus the ideas here at 2Time Labs, with a much wider audience. Here are some of the questions I have answered recently. Take a moment to go through them and find and read the responses. Then, take a moment to Follow me on my profile page if you’d like to see my responses in the future.

What are some time management and task organization apps to replace Timeful when they shut down?

How should I manage my time properly?

Collective Intelligence Wins

My experience consulting and working in office environments in different countries tells me that the environment plays a very strong role in determining how productive the individual can be.

Some research from MIT seems to back up this hunch.

It goes further and says that the presence of women (or men) who have good social skills help the group’s performance to improve.

What I’d like to know if there’s been any research done to show the effect of higher skilled team members on group performance.  In other words, is there a collective intelligence that applies to time management skills?

 

Speaking at the IIE Conference

I have just been accepted to speak at the Institute of Industrial Engineers Conference in Reno, Nevada. I’ll be presenting on May 25th.

The topic will be related to time management 2.0, of course and I’ll be echoing many of the themes that can be found on this website.

I’m excited to be able to share my ideas with others in the field, and am hoping that I can help to carve out time management as an important topic for learning and teaching.

Hopefully one or two blog subscribers can make it to the speech?

A New Home for Discussions

Hopefully, third time’s a charm.

I have tried at different points in this website’s evolution to set up a decent discussion, but the technology never seemed to cooperate to make things work the way I wanted.

All I have wanted is a secure location that is easy to use for subscribers to this website, free of spammers and also free of cost.

Now, I think I have found a home for us to talk about all topics related to Time Management 2.0 over at LinkedIn, and we’ll be kicking off the new forum with a discussion.  It will be all about the ways in which Microsoft Outlook can be improved so that it moves from being an email management program to something that supports what most people are doing — using it to manage time demands.

We’ll use Time Management 2.0 principles wherever we it makes sense, and this will be just the first of what I hope will be some interesting conversations that move us  forward in our thinking, and in our daily practice.  Click here to be taken to the LinkedIn group.

Question and Answer Page on Facebook

I just put up a new page on Facebook in which I have an opportunity to answer questions from the general public on any topic related to time management.

I’d love to hear from those of you who have any questions that I could help answer from a Time Management 2.0 perspective, or just to hear another perspective that could be useful.

Click on the graphic or on the following link to be taken to the Facebook page — Q: time management
[email_link]

Your Invitation to the Discussion Group

istock_000006428830xsmall.jpgFor the next two weeks, I’m opening up registration to my first discussion group here at the 2Time blog.

This online group will discuss some of the latest-breaking ideas in the area of time management that I hope to incorporate in the next version of MyTimeDesign, which should start early in the new year.

If this sounds like a plea for some help, then you’re on the right track … in part.

I am looking for some useful input on better teaching users new time management skills online.  I think that I should make that clear.

But I’m also seeking to create a temporary community in which we can talk about Time Management 2.0 and the idea of creating your own time management system. While I do have a forum here on the blog, I find that it scares off many users who aren’t used to interacting with people in this unfamiliar environment.

I’ve had more luck creating email groups in the past, so I thought that I’d set up this experimental discussion group to kinda see what happens.

The group will start today and end on November 30, 2009.

The discussion group will be moderated, and I’ll make sure that no spam makes its way through.

So — consider yourself invited!

You can join at http://discussnow.info/mailman/listinfo/2timedev_discussnow.info

New TimeMgt 2-0 Twibe Formed

I took the liberty of forming a new twibe — TimeMgt2-0.

If you think that’s some kind of typo or a Loony Tunes imitation of Elmer Fudd, rest assured it’s not — as I learned only fifteen minutes ago.

Twibes are collections of people who want to twitter together on a single subject.  Or in other words, tweet.

Now, I only have a vague idea what I’m talking about here, but if you have a clue, you might want to join me in spreading the word that there is a time management twibe out there, and all who are interested are welcome to join.

Here is the twibe’s address:  http://twibes.com/TimeMgt2-0

I’ll have to admit that twittering, tweeting and belong to a twibe is taking a little getting used to, and I am wondering if this is some kind of cute fad that will disappear.

Hopefully, it’s not all a waste of time.  Perhaps I should be concerned about doing that here in a time management blog!  LOL

P.S. My Twitter address is http://twitter.com/fwade

Promises – A Productivity Hole

hole-normal_p1010044.jpgI am working on a project that involves multiple promises being made in every direction, and I am struck by an area of my own system for productivity that is underdeveloped.  While it’s not a time management issue, per se, it does appear to be a problem that results in wasted time.

What do you do when someone makes you a promise that you need to make sure they fulfill?

Here are some options I have seen or tried in the past, none of which I am altogether happy with.

Capturing

Once the initial promise is made, what exactly happens next?  Is it committed to memory, with a hope that things won’t get so crazy that it then gets forgotten?

Or do you send an email to the person (if you can) as a way of putting the promise in writing?

Is it written onto a capture point like a paper pad?

Do the above actions depend on the person who is making the promise and your prior experience?  I have used good Promise Management software to help me in this regard, but it requires proximity to a computer and the intranet.  There may be PDA-based promise management software, but I haven’t found any yet.

Emptying

Whatever enters a capture point must at some point be removed, in keeping with good time management habits.  A promise is a bit difficult to work with, however, as I can’t see a perfect place to out this particular time demand.

Option A:  After Emptying, add it to a list (Listing)

A user could maintain a list of items that have been promised by others, and track the list frequently to ensure that  no promises are being forgotten.  This action of checking the list would have to be placed in a schedule to ensure that it actually gets reviewed, also.

Option B: After Emptying, place a reminder in a schedule (Scheduling)

Place an item in the schedule that acts as a reminder to expect the item by a particular due date.  The item would also need a reminder for this to work, so that it pops up and interrupts the action at the right moment in time.

Neither of these options are elegant, in my opinion, and I’d love to learn some other alternatives.

This strikes me as a hole in my productivity system, and it’s one that I think many share, and would love to solve.