Here is the laundry list of stuff I missed…

• I have more phone numbers stored on my smartphone from my personal directory. That when I needed to make a couple of calls (unlisted numbers) during the day at work, I did not have the numbers. Getting them after hours only meant I will have to wait 24 hours.
• Using unplanned time (or stealing time) for many things.. You know those times you are stuck in traffic, the supermarket, shopping or sitting at home and don’t want to fire up the PC.
  • Emails – this is a great way to get the inbox under some control. Filling empty time with answering email. Or giving someone the answer to their question.
  • Facebook – nothing like keeping family and friends up on your doings. Or finding out what is happening with them.
  • Twitter – those random thoughts that pop into your head. Or those weird things that are happening out in the world that need to be shared. There is much that happens that is not planned.
  • LinkedIn- since I am busy looking for employment after my retirement, I had 3 days without any instant contact. I don’t plan time to sit down and review LinkedIn and the groups I follow.
• Foursquare- No checkin’s over the past 3 days. I was already ousted from one mayor-ship. Oh no, I may lose a few more… Maybe some of my “friends” may think I am stuck at the last checked in place for 3 days. Well, maybe not, no one came to rescue me…
• No way to take down or record notes on potential blog posts. Missed opportunities!
• Ran into an old friend while eating lunch on Monday. I did not have a way to just point and click – he has my contact information (and I get his). I felt pretty alone asking for a pen and paper…
• Trying to locate a restaurant that you know the name, but just not the location. Search the web – get the directions or phone number to get directions.

 It has been a rough couple of days… I missed my smartphone…

Overall the topic was pretty well received. Except for a couple of barking dogs (the meeting was held at Chandler Fashion – downstairs from the pet store). I discussed the changes that my team and I are attempting to do – we are moving to more of the enterprise 2.0 tools and capabilities.

We discussed some of the barriers that I have encountered along the way. Many of those were echoed by the folks that are trying as well. Barriers that I shared were:

• Company fears – just like everything new, there are fears that have to be addressed. Email, internet and IM all had to have their time in the hot seat. Social computing is now in the hot seat. Many feel that these capabilities could have a scary effect on the company culture. For me, I hope so – I hope that the company culture continues to evolve in a positive direction.
• Culture of sharing information – simple facts are you get what you reward. If I was rewarded for sharing my wisdom, knowledge and experiences – then I would share more and more… I get rewarded for what I do and what I know (sharing is not part of that). I don’t really care – I was to leave a mark when I am gone, the only way to do that is share!
• These capabilities seem generational in nature – just for the young folks. Well, I am here to dispute that, I am a grandfather, 30 years in the workplace. Sure there are plenty of the baby boomers in the workplace that just don’t want to learn something different or try these capabilities. There are some that do! I really enjoy them.
• I also brought up some of the barriers from my team’s standpoint. Using these capabilities has to somehow match up with the individuals work flow. Don’t ask for something special. Value needs to be proven to some folks. Many have that wait and see attitude towards trying something different. Why? You moved their cheese. Not a very popular thing, change. Lastly, with every new capability – there are more choices. Need to limit choices in order to insure that the team is focused.

After I was done, may folks came up to share their thoughts. Some challenged me – that this really was reducing workload. Others were knee deep in getting their management to at least look at these capabilities. I spent about 30 minutes afterwards talking and discussing whatever anyone had to say. It was definitely an exciting time for me. I was energized and ready to do it again!

Thanks to the Chandler PMI folks for letting me spend Friday morning with them.

Here is what I have done the last two weeks. I logged every meeting. I took a note during and after the meeting to highlight my level of participation, value of the meeting to me, and graded the meeting – with yes or no (yes – meaning I was multi-tasking and from time to time not paying attention and no – I was fully engaged).  The results were as expected. I have way too many useless, non-value added meetings that I get nothing out of. Did someone else get something from the meeting – I certainly hope so. But, for me – I could have easily used that time for something else.  Some real key moments after the two weeks that I observed:

• Very few meetings are less than one hour. Must be a standard item – need a meeting, has to be an hour!
• Agenda’s and purpose of the meeting are definitely a rarity. We have an effective meetings training class that everyone needs to attend, but don’t follow one of the key steps.
• Meetings usually start 5 minutes late. This could be due to be booked back to back, technical issues with some of the collaboration tools and just plain wasted time.
• Meeting minutes were rarely published or posted. No minutes, then most meetings were a waste. If there is nothing to report back from the meeting – did the meeting happen?

What to do about this?

There are a series of questions that first popped into my head.

• It is my calendar, I should control it?  Who is controlling whom?
• What are all those meetings for? Why? Who is scheduling?

I have started my personal campaign to reduce my meetings.

•  I have already started to push back on organizers to get a better hold on frequency and length of the meeting.  Especially those meetings that could be on a cadence.
• I have declined many meetings – flat out – as in the past, I have gotten nothing from the session. I let the organizer know that I am not going to attend any longer – due to the lack of my participation in the meeting.
• I have marked meetings tentative – with a reply back that there is no agenda or purpose of this meeting – and I will not accept the meeting without it. Right now – I have marked this meeting tentative – to hold your spot. If no agenda or purpose is listed shortly or another meeting with an agenda or purpose comes in – I will have to decline this meeting.
• On many meetings, I am asking do we need an hour? And those that are 2 or 2+ hours… I just laugh and wonder if I can sit that long. Sometimes, it is not worth pushing back.. But, I know going in, that this meeting is going to be tough.
• I am trying to limit the number of meetings that I schedule. I can control that.. And need to make sure that I am following my rules.
• Move much of the work related meetings to a more async approach. Use my team space as a working repository for working collaboratively.

This should be an interesting journey…  I have to give myself at least a month or so of trying, before I try something else.

Do you have any ideas on how to fix this?

We spend a lot of time in our jobs communicating with other people, whether it’s sending someone an e-mail or zapping them an instant message. Just because we have multiple channels of communication available to us, however, doesn’t mean we’re using them in the most efficient manner.

Take me, for example. For the longest time, I was a prisoner to my inbox. I was checking and responding to e-mails all the time. When I wasn’t in the office, I was glued to a smartphone. It seemed like I was spending more time reading and sending messages than getting actual work done.

Earlier this year, I decided to streamline the way I communicate with others. This meant learning to use old tools in new ways and familiarizing myself with some new methods of communicating. Here are three techniques that helped me get my weekends and evenings back and communicate in a more timely and efficient manner. Perhaps they can work for you!

Prioritize your methods

Constant instant messages (IMs) flashing at the bottom of our screens, voice mails to answer, e-mails in our inbox—how do we manage it all? One of the things many of us are looking for is not just another way to communicate, but a better way to use the means we already have and ultimately cut down on the amount of time we spend communicating.

The first thing I did was prioritize how I use each channel of communication:

• Instant Messaging and Telephone Calls: These are for emergencies only. If I need to get a hold of someone immediately and convey time-sensitive information, I use IM and the phone.
• E-mail: Our primary channel of communication should be used to convey information that, while important, does not require an immediate response.

The above represent our traditional channels, but I encourage you to consider alternative means of communication, specifically blogs and wikis. I use these two channels for sharing information that isn’t time sensitive, thus sparing coworkers the hassle of responding to an IM or responding to an e-mail.

Since I manage a team – our Monthly report is always an email mess. I decided to use our companies internal social computing tool to form my team site. We know have a discussion section for our monthly bullets for each member to add. This has reduced email by at least 10 per person. 

Overcome redundancy

One obstacle we face in our communications is what I call a “redundancy mindset.” How many times have you sent someone an e-mail and then sent them an IM to let them know you just sent them an e-mail? This wastes your time and theirs.

Similarly, sending an e-mail that repeats information you’ve posted on a blog or a wiki also wastes time. In order to streamline the way you and your team communicate, you’ll need to change set behavior patterns and start looking for information in new places.

I require all members of my team to check the team’s group blog or discussions on a regular basis for important information. Instead of relying on e-mail notifications, I require members of my team to install a Real Simple Syndication (RSS) reader to help them monitor updates to the team’s group. Tame the inbox

E-mail is what I call the “King Distraction.” If you open your inbox the moment you sit down at your desk, you can waste an hour working on e-mail without tackling the more important tasks you need to get to. Here are steps I’ve taken to tame my inbox and reclaim a lot of my time:

• Three times a day: I open and check my e-mail at 9 a.m., noon, and 3 p.m. Before I adopted this schedule, I was checking my e-mails during meetings and wasn’t paying attention. I was getting work done but letting potentially more important tasks fall by the wayside.
• Keep it brief: When I send e-mails, I keep them short and crisp; you’re never going to get a dissertation from me in your inbox. If there’s a lot of information I need to share, I’ll use a blog or a wiki.
• Think before you send: Remember, for every e-mail you send out, you’ll likely get a response. If you CC 15 people on an e-mail, there’s a good chance 15 extra e-mails will end up in your inbox. Only copy other people if it’s completely necessary. If you find you’re e-mailing back and forth a lot on a certain subject, arrange a meeting or post information on a blog.

I only respond to e-mail when I have something worthwhile to say and have offloaded much of my e-mail production to blogs and phone calls. I also don’t bother with “Thank you” e-mails. If someone asks me to send them something, I don’t need an e-mail saying “Thanks” zapped back to me. It takes up inbox space and doesn’t serve any important purpose.

I’m sending less e-mail and receiving less. It’s funny how that works. I began my new approach to e-mail in February. Here’s how things panned out after 90 days:

• E-mails received: Before, I averaged 150 e-mails a day; I now average 86.
• E-mails sent: Before, I sent 95 e-mails a day. Now, I send 40.