Setting up Work Environments for the type of work you’re doing

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This is the first in what will become a series I’m calling “Getting it together” for lack of a better immediate title.

Recently, I decided on a whim to pick up The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin at my local bookstore. In it, the writer, a journalist by trade, decides to spend a year of her life in a systematic approach to increase her general happiness. What I loved about her approach was that it combined a really solid amount of navel-gazing (a personal obsession of mine) with a set of really practical tools that actually make it feel like a *project.* There’s nothing flowery or New-Agey about it – it entails creating a set of Personal Commandments that guide the process, choosing one particular focus for each month, and then creating a Resolutions chart with 5-10 things that you’re going to use to achieve your focus for the month – and ticking off each day that you succeed, and tallying up at the end of the month how well you did.

As someone who requires an equal balance of conceptual and analytical, this approach seems to be just what I needed. After establishing my “personal commandments,” I’ve decided to tackle the issue of productivity.

Lately, with the growth of the zen kitchen and all the exciting new stuff that’s been going on (which, of course, we’ve had no real time to talk about – but we will. Soon. We promise.), I’ve been noticing odd shifts in my productivity. I’m procrastinating more, finding it harder to focus, realizing at 6:30 that I’ve only managed about three things on my to-do list. For years I’ve dealt with a mind that shifts from one thing to another constantly and found ways of managing that, but this was something different. Something that was actively preventing me from getting anything done, let alone the work that we need to do for clients.

At first, I responded to this by getting frustrated, and even starting to beat myself up. I started reading productivity blogs all over the place talking about how to “get things done” and organizing books on how to set up environments to be as productive as you can be. I tried a bunch of things, including rearranging my office (which I do with enough frequency that my fiancé Nick just laughs at me when I tell him “Look! I rearranged my office!”). I tried going for something sparse. I tried cluttered. I tried elaborate organizational systems, and multiple journals, online and offline software resources, just about everything you could think of. Nothing worked well enough to keep me effective for more than about a week. Something would shift, and I’d be back in “I can’t work” mode.

Not all work is the same

What I realized as I started paying close attention to how I really did things, is that most productivity systems handle “work” as this generic, homogenous thing; the tools they recommend behave as if everything that you do during the day can fall into one framework. What I realized during my examination of my own workstyle was that most of what I do falls into four distinct categories:

  • Thought Work: this is the work of coming up with concepts and strategies for clients, of writing articles and doing research. About 50% of the work I do falls into this category on most weeks – and it’s been the hardest one to find the right environment for.
  • Business Development: This is the work of meeting new prospects, talking them through their project’s challenges and writing proposals, closing sales, etc. The big challenge to this one is that the environment needs to be flexible; it can happen from anywhere.
  • Media Consumption and Online Networking: This is the time I’m spending building relationships online, reading articles that people point me to, and managing my and the studio’s presence online. This is a significant portion of the work I do, and how we market the studio and stay current on what’s happening in the industries that we’re involved with.
  • Production Work: This is the actual work of making things. Writing code, making logos and print documents, extending clients’ brands across multiple channels. This is actually only about 25-35% of what I’m doing in an average week; most of the work that goes into an effective design actually happens in the Thought Work side of things.

The challenge with this is that each of these types of work has a unique set of requirements, and a unique mindset. I realized that what I’d been considering “procrastination” was actually Media Consumption – an essential piece of the work that I do to build the business, maintain relationships and keep myself current. But, I found that I would often find myself ending up in Media Consumption mode in the middle of Production Work – when most of the production work happens in the same browser, it’s incredibly easy for your fingers to start sending you to twitter and clicking on interesting looking links that your friends are posting. By the time you’ve gotten your head out of the latest interesting article on HTML5, almost an hour has gone by and you still have all that production work staring you in the face.

Separate Media Consumption from Production Work

The first strategy I tried, a while back when I first started realizing the issue, was installing Leechblock on Firefox and blocking Facebook and Twitter from opening at all during the workday. If I wanted to visit those sites, I would have to use Safari, which I hid in the Applications folder. This ended up not working for three reasons:

  1. I was viewing the work I did online as “wasting time,” and not realizing its value;
  2. if, as I often did, I found myself needing an immediate answer to a pressing question and posted it on twitter (which also updates my Facebook status), I wouldn’t be able to check the links that friends would send me as answers to the problem, because Facebook was blocked;
  3. I was approaching it from an angle of punishing myself for being “bad.” Have you ever responded well to someone telling you you’re doing something horribly wrong? Didn’t think so.

This time, I decided to honor the value that Media Consumption brings to my life and my business, but accept that, in order to maintain my focus, I needed to create a distinct environment for web surfing that was separate from the environment that I use for production work. So, taking a tip from my previous experience, I installed Google Chrome on my Macbook (honestly, I hate Safari – sorry, I do), and put it directly under the Firefox icon in my dock. When I’m in production mode (building websites, updating projects in Basecamp, etc.), I’m using Firefox; when I want to surf the web or check out an interesting link, I use Chrome, and I close out of the browser when I’m done.

It sounds like an odd and rather obvious thing to do, but I have to say that in only three days of trying this, I’ve felt less stressed out, and felt more accomplished at the end of every single day. Plus – and this is a great bonus – I have been getting more joy out of my work than I can honestly say I’ve felt in months.

It’s amazing what a simple shift in perspective can accomplish.

April Fool’s Joke, or Menu Innovation?

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If you’ve ever been to a Boloco, you know why it’s awesome. They provide a very interesting, and (often) healthy twist on classic burritos, and are one of my favorite places to eat in the Boston area when I need something quick but don’t want to deal with the aftermath of fast food. Beyond just the burrito and smoothie options (and quite delicious coffee, which you wouldn’t expect from a burrito shop), one of the best things about the company is their employees, and their attitude towards the brand – it’s simple, bold and clean, with tongue placed firmly in cheek, just the way I like it.

As a fairly loyal customer, I get occasional e-mail updates (happily) from them letting me know what they’re up to. Every year, they send out a mailing on April Fool’s day that borders on brilliant. Generally, it deals with some knock that they’ve had in the media, or “major change” they’re rolling out, and this year was no exception. What was an exception, however, was that the “major change” they were talking about actually seemed like a great idea. From the campaign:

But here’s why all of this matters… we’re pulling out of the “bigger is better” race.  Yes, officially, we give up. Even though our recent test size “XL” and our recently implemented “Original” size (larger than large) had some fans saying to themselves “Wow, boloco finally gets it”, we’re just tired of playing a game that can’t be won – by anyone.  Therefore, we’re going to make a hard, swift, 180 degree turn effective immediately. Beginning today, boloco is no more. We are now:

Miniloco logo 4-1-10And we EXCLUSIVELY sell only mini things in all of our restaurants. Mini burritos, mini bowls, mini shakes, mini salads, mini wraps, mini smoothies, mini chocolate chip cookies, mini breakfast burritos, mini everything.

Here’s the thing: I love burritos, but one of the things that keeps me from going to places like Anna’s and Chipotle et al. is that for whatever reason, these restaurants think that a normal burrito has to be some oversized bohemoth of rice and meat that no human should actually try to fit into their stomach all at once. This is one of the things I love about Boloco, in fact – the fact that their “regular” size is actually a normal human-size burrito, and the fact that I can ask them for things like “half rice, twice the veg” and, for the most part, they understand and gladly accommodate.

So why not put a mini-burrito on the menu? Not the snack-size burritos that they normally make (which, while delicious, are rarely quite what I’m looking for), but an actual, half-size burrito? When I handled the food for Design4Drupal in Boston last year, they gave us buckets of said mini-burritos, which gave the attendees the option to sample different flavors, and also the option to have a snack later if they needed it. Why not make it a permanent addition to the menu (if they haven’t already)? I’ll bet there’s a bunch of people out there like me who would love to see that when they’re hungry, but don’t necessarily need a huge meal.

The lesson (for me, at least): Sometimes the best ideas come when you stop taking yourself so darn seriously.

Behaviorgraphics Humanize the Social Web

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Social Technographics were designed to help businesses engage in social media with a more human approach, catering to individuals where, when, and how they are participating and contributing to the social Web. According to Forrester research…

Many companies approach social computing as a list of technologies to be deployed as needed – a blog here, a podcast there – to achieve a marketing goal.  But a more coherent approach is to start with your target audience and determine what kind of relationship you want to build with them, based on what they are ready for. Forrester categorizes social computing behaviors into a ladder with six levels of participation; we use the term “Social Technographics” to describe analyzing a population according to its participation in these levels. Brands, Web sites, and any other company pursuing social technologies should analyze their customers’ Social Technographics first, and then create a social strategy based on that profile.

The hierarchy was presented as follows:

Creators, those who publish web pages, blogs and other social objects – 13%

Critics, individuals who comment on blogs or post ratings and reviews – 19%

Collectors, those who use RSS and/or tag Web pages – 15%

Joiners, people who are active in social networks – 19%

Spectators, content consumers who read blogs, watch user-generated videos, and listen to podcasts – 33%

Inactives – 52%

Today I was pointed to a great post by Brian Solis about Behaviorgraphics – a way of visually representing the behaviors of people who use social media. The data is pretty interesting – whereas some “experts” would have you believe that everyone and their brother is creating online content, the actual numbers suggest quite differently. While most people are participating in social activity online, it’s often at much more of a spectator level – they’re reading content and listening to podcasts, or they’re joining into conversations already in process.

How does this affect your social media strategy?

Perspective: why no business should be involved in social networking

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The problem is that for the last couple of years, experts have continuously preached that the success of a business is dependant on participating in online social networking.  They will try to convince you that you need a Facebook page, that you need to regularly update your Linked In profile, that you should post articles to a myriad of resource sites, and of course let the world know you are doing all this by Twittering at least 5 times a week.

What every expert has forgotten to share with you (or just don’t know to) is that this is not social networking.  There is in fact nothing social about it.  You are not trying to make friends, get in touch with old school chums, or keep tabs on the ex.  You are trying to grow your business.

So maybe it’s time to stop referring to all this as social networking and start seeing it for what it really is: social marketing.

This morning I came across a fascinating perspective on social media in business from Marc Gordon, a marketing consultant from Toronto. His assertion, which I consider to be a correct one, is that many businesses who engage in social networking online make the mistake of thinking that they’re “networking” when what they’re really doing is marketing their business through social media channels.

In my experience, though, social media is really about blending the two worlds: both networking and marketing.

Perhaps it’s because I’m in a relationship-based business where clients are buying our personality as much as our talent and expertise, but I find that I get the most success out of online networking by carefully balancing personal and professional.

For example, in an average day I might tweet about a project that the studio just launched or share a blog post (such as this one, for example), but I’ll also make comments about the weather, or a new recipe I’m creating, or share a bit of snark about something that I find ridiculous. It’s all part of the relationship I’m building with the people who connect with me, and it all feeds into the overall strategy.

Does this approach work for every business? Not necessarily. Major brands, like Starbucks and Whole Foods, may find it easier to keep their social media activity related to specials and information about the industry, as well as responding to consumer comments. It makes sense, and it’s more than likely why people are following them in the first place. But for smaller firms, especially where part of what you’re selling is the experience of being in a room with you, this approach is not only extremely common, but it’s extremely effective in helping you do what you’re online for – build relationships with people who are interested in who you are and how you can help them.

The TUT Redesign: A great example of how technology and design can feed the brand.

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I've been a fan of Mike Dooley's Notes from the Universe newsletter for a couple of years now. A couple of times a week, Mike (who refers to himself as TUT, or The Universal Truth) sends a quick, helpful affirmation that reminds you that the Universe has your back, and you know what you're doing. It's one of the few newsletters I look forward to and read every time it comes no matter what - in part because it's mercifully short, but also because it brings an enormous smile to my week every time I read it.
Recently, the Tut site (formerly very plain and just really a link to the newsletter, if I recall) was completely revamped and presented as Tut's Adventurer's Club, an intensive and FREE (if you're signed up for the newsletter) resource for subscribers which allows folks to keep track of long term goals, post bits of gratitude and affirmation in short Twitter-like bursts, and even create your own vision board!
Mind you, if you aren't familiar with or fond of The Secret, or the idea that Thoughts Become Things (which is the name of Dooley's movie, and a fairly commonly held belief among yogis), this will likely not be your thing. But as an exercise in creating technology to support a brand, the design of this new site is inspired. While there are certain things about the aesthetic that could be fine-tuned (the navigation is a bit blocky, and the cherry blossom in the header looks horribly out of place), the overall vibe works very well for the audience it's after: folks who are familiar with and attuned to the Law of Attraction, vision boards, holistic therapies, self-help and the like and want support for putting it to work in their lives.
Another great thing about the site is the copy - it's concise, friendly, pithy and most of all, welcoming. All of this supports the primary idea that the site represents - that the Universe is there with you, for you, supporting you. The site also integrates with Facebook, allowing you to post random nuggets of gratitude to your Facebook friends (obviously, you can choose not to do this if you prefer to keep your posts a bit more formalized), and the vision board feature is just fun to work with. You click on whatever photos you want to work with from the sidebar, and once they're added to the board, you can drag and drop them as you want to to create your vision board and save it to your profile. Creating goals is similarly easy; just add them to the cute little notepad, and then you can check them off once you've accomplished them. There's even a section that shows you all the things that you've accomplished!
Now, the question, of course, is does a site really need all these bells and whistles? Not often, no. But for the community that Dooley's looking to create, and the brand that he's established, the bells and whistles work together beautifully to create a user experience that's supportive, inspiring, and just plain fun.
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