Our First Flexwork Chat on Twitter

On Wednesday, February 17th we had our first Flexwork Chat on Twitter.  I was joined by Jasper
Westerway (@JasperWestaway), CEO of OneDrum, and Lokesh Datta (@LDatta) of AllCollaboration.com as well as a bunch of other great twitter folks who were eager to discuss and debate the current state and challenges of flexible work.

The discussion centered around some of the findings from One Drum’s recent flexible work study.

We discussed a number of topics including:

• How can flexible/remote working can make you more productive?
• What are some of barriers to productive remote working?
• What should businesses consider when choosing tools to facilitate remote working?

View this post on the One Drum blog for a summary of some of the key points and a full transcription is available in PDF form here (Thanks Chip!).

It was fun, exciting, and informative and we are planning to make this a fairly regular event.  It looks like we will be doing one again next Wednesday so I hope you will join us!

What is a tweet chat?
For those of you unfamiliar with this online discussion format, a tweetchat is simply an organized group chat that takes place using the Twitter platform. Participants use an assigned hashtag (in our case #flexworkchat) for their tweets during the discussion. For more information on Tweet chats check out this short article.

You can follow along, or participate, by visiting http://tweetchat.com/room/flexworkchat or simply following the #flexworkchat hashtag on twitter.

If you want to know about upcoming chats (and other events) please subscribe to our email newsletter (on the right hand side of any page of this blog) or follow me on Twitter!

The Lost Art of Focus: Multi-tasking vs. Mono-tasking

Further research continues to indicate that focusing on more than one task at a time actually decreases productivity and may jeopardize the fundamental quality of our work and communication. But this data seems to contradict what many people hold as the vision of a fully engaged and adapted 21st century worker.

The people who engage in media “multitasking” are those least able to do so well, according to researchers. This recent BBC article examines the results of a study done at Stanford University.

And this NPR radio segment also highlights some enlightening research into multi-tasking.

But in today’s workplace, and even just in our day to day lives in the information age, a certain amount of multi-tasking is unavoidable. So it seems the skill to develop is knowing when, where, and what to multi-task. Ali Hale weighs in with what I feel is a reasonable and well thought out opinion in her article ‘Multi-Tasking vs. Mono-Tasking’:

So how do you know when you should “multi-task” and when you should “mono-task”? And how do you manage to do the latter? Some things lend themselves brilliantly to multi-tasking. These tend to be activities which are purely physical, or which by their nature take a set amount of time to complete – however well you focus.

All of this has given me food for thought – as I am a person who is prone to multi-tasking and have convinced myself that I am pretty good at the juggling routine. In fact, I half-jokingly said to my brother just the other day, ‘I’ve got to focus, no more multi-tasking, from now on I’m only going to do two or three things at a time.’

So, here’s a little eye-opening challenge if you feel the same way: try this online game called MULTITASK and see if it might start to change your opinion.

Starting or Growing a Virtual Assistant Business

We got a comment on one of our Podcasts from a visitor named Collette Schultz. Her question about the Virtual Assistant industry is one we get pretty frequently, so I thought I’d include my reply here as a post.

Collette Schultz on October 26th, 2008 11:21 pm

As a new virtual assistant subcontractor I’m getting into researching the VA industry through podcasts. I listened to this one last week and am bound to hear more. What I find most frustrating is knowing where to start. Do you offer a beginners series to help getting started?

While we have never blogged or done a segment specifically on Virtual Assisting, I do not believe it differs greatly from other types of internet based businesses: that is to say that it relies mostly on abilities and training, networking, and marketing.

There are several places people can obtain training to become a virtual assistant or, as in Collette’s case, improve their existing skill base; some of them offer certification:

Certification Programs

• AssistU
• International Virtual Assistants Association (IVAA)
• VA Certification
• Certified Virtual Professional (Thanks to Collette for this resource!)

Our Jumpstart Kit is also intended to improve people’s fundamental skills with virtual teamwork and remote work technology. Also, Phil wrote a book called Lose Your Commute about finding legitimate work-from-home opportunities in general and it contains a lot of insights and resources. Read more

Save time and automate your web searches with Google Alerts

If you’re like me you probably spend a good deal of time on the web searching for information. It might be  industry news, mentions of yourself or business in the press, news stories for your blog or newsletter, or how to get ink stains out of your rug.  Let’s face it the web, for most people, has become the first place we go to look for news and information.

What if I told you that you could have the equivalent of a team of researchers keeping their eye on the web for you and finding all of the latest information on all of the searches you need to do – and they would email this valuable data to you either weekly or daily right to your inbox – all for free? Interested?

Well I’m going to let you in on one of the most useful automation tools I’ve discovered – Google Alerts.  Google has expanded way beyond their normal basic search function.  They offer a staggering array of software, services, and online tools.  One often overlooked gem is Google Alerts – which is a service they offer that notifies you by email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic. Read more

Instant Messaging – Essential business tool or time waster?

I have long felt that Instant Messaging (IM) is an often overlooked tool for remote collaboration and keeping virtual teams connected.  What was once a tool used by kids to chat with their friends now offers useful business features such as file transfer, video conferencing, multi-person chats, and document sharing.

For many knowledge workers IM has become a mission critical business tool, like the phone or email, for keeping in touch with team members and coworkers. However for many it is yet another digital source of interruptions that eats away at productivity when working in your virtual office.

Although it is often speculated that IM leads to increased interruptions and decreased productivity – A recent study by researchers at Ohio State University and University of California, Irvine found that workers who used instant messaging on the job reported less interruption than colleagues who did not. Read more

Send email, text messages, and reminders with your voice

If there is one thing I’ve learned 17-months into fatherhood, it’s that I no longer seem to be able to keep a thought in my head! Between running a busines, working with clients, the endless list of things to do around the house, and frolicking with my little boy – my brain is often full.  So I realized that if I don’t write things down immediately – within seconds – whooosh – it’s gone.

The problem is that many times when I think of these things I am driving, on line at a store, or somewhere else where it’s just not practical to write down my reminders.  My savior and solution has come through exploring some new services available that let you use your cellphone to easily send yourself a reminder, or send emails and text messages to others all with just your voice! Read more

Small Adjustments = Big Changes

Most of life’s plainer truths are universal. But plain is not always simple, and simple is not always easy. One of these truths, and a mantra here in The Anywhere Office, is that small adjustments can produce big changes. You hear this professed repeatedly in talk about weight loss and fitness, and in professional sports. You know, ‘20 minutes twice a week’ and you can lose 10 lbs. in a month, or the interview with the ball player who just changed the way he gripped the bat and doubled his batting average.

Read more

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