mikesmind's Blog
IA, US
“
http://www.effectualworking.com
I'm a project manager for an insurance company. I also run an e-commerce and web media business. My other interests are Bible study, relationship farming, web development, and music. I stir things up at work in my PM role, especially when it comes to traditional views of how work gets done.
Member For: 1 year, 6 months
Posts: 12
Posts: 12
Member of: Rowe Forum.
Top Post By mikesmind (1 thumbs up):
In the July 14, 2008 issue of Computerworld, there is a short news item called Don't Stress Out About Calling In Sick. (You have to scroll down the page to find it.) In it they talk about a tool called Voice Risk Analysis (VRA) that is supposed to be able to tell if you are lying when calling in sick. Just think about the threat this poses to the employee. VRA measures fluctuations in your voice that might indicate stress, that might indicate you are lying. Gee, sometimes being sick or having a sick child causes stress. This is sure to introduce a new kind of craziness to the workplace! What do you think?
- from the topic: Don't Stress Out About Calling In Sick
Recent Posts by mikesmind:
Re: ROWE and Scrum
October 17, 2008 by mikesmind
I ran Scrum development with all meetings optional. The interesting thing is that when I first announced that all meetings were optional, the team almost revolted. They didn't know what to say or think. Our daily scrum meetings did have an element of status but we tried to focus more on what was holding development back. Some days some developers didn't attend. Some developers called in to the conference phone. If a developer skipped the meeting, they nearly always communicated the necessary information to me using email.
Time is the most valuable of gifts
August 5, 2008 by mikesmind
Yes, I agree with the title of this article from Computerworld's July28, 2008 issue. I also agree with the content. The author, John D. Halamka, seems to be a busy man, based on the bio at the end of the article. Could he do all of this in the traditional work environment? No, he has the freedom to decide how he spends his time. As pointed out in the ROWE book, most executives work in a results only manner.
My favorite quote from the article:
The value of time has been on my mind lately, and I realized that while it's true that you can't make more time, you can make a gift of it. -- John D. Halamka
Isn't that what ROWE is about? When you control your time, you can make a gift of it. When you don't control your time, moments for gifts of time pass by and are lost forever.
Don't Stress Out About Calling In Sick
August 3, 2008 by mikesmind
In the July 14, 2008 issue of Computerworld, there is a short news item called Don't Stress Out About Calling In Sick. (You have to scroll down the page to find it.) In it they talk about a tool called Voice Risk Analysis (VRA) that is supposed to be able to tell if you are lying when calling in sick. Just think about the threat this poses to the employee. VRA measures fluctuations in your voice that might indicate stress, that might indicate you are lying. Gee, sometimes being sick or having a sick child causes stress. This is sure to introduce a new kind of craziness to the workplace! What do you think?
Re: Moving towards a ROWE.
July 8, 2008 by mikesmind
Thanks for pointing me towards SMART. It's Management 101, but usually goals are written in a squishy manner. We will work on making our planned outcomes SMART ones!
Brain Toast
June 23, 2008 by mikesmind
I follow a blog called Simply GTD. There was a new post there called @BrainToast. Read through the post and see if you see what I saw. Here's the comment I posted.
Why wait around for the boss? If your brain is fried, why not leave for the day? Is not the results you produce what's important? Perhaps you will have the great insight your company has been waiting for at 3 am Saturday morning. Do you wait until 9 am next Monday to do something about it?
I don't think that appearances are what's important. I know I wouldn't hang around on a Friday afternoon doing low-value tasks for the sake of impressing my boss with my "dedication."
What do you think?
Moving towards a ROWE.
June 23, 2008 by mikesmind
I met with my team last Thursday and introduced them to ROWE. They liked the concept. The tricky part is implementing as much as we can within the flexibility already offered at our company. Fortunately, we do have a lot of options available. The key is to produce results, which my team is already good at doing.
I have experienced “the fork” (p. 168 in the book) many times and expect to encounter it more in the coming months. I want to be able to provide ample evidence of results. This is where the book and forum have been vague. What does a focus on outcomes look like? What is a good starting point to plan for and document results? I’m not looking for a form to fill out. But, based on the experiences at Best Buy, what works?
I have experienced “the fork” (p. 168 in the book) many times and expect to encounter it more in the coming months. I want to be able to provide ample evidence of results. This is where the book and forum have been vague. What does a focus on outcomes look like? What is a good starting point to plan for and document results? I’m not looking for a form to fill out. But, based on the experiences at Best Buy, what works?
Re: Book Release
May 15, 2008 by mikesmind
I pre-ordered a copy from http://amazon.com. (You get a small discount for doing so.)
Also, there is an excerpt available. Follow the link below.
http://caliandjody.com/why_work_sucks_intro_and_chapter_1.pdf
Re: Photo Issue
May 7, 2008 by mikesmind
I was able to upload my photo using Firefox Version 2 on Ubuntu Linux.
The problem occurred for me with IE6 on XP. I couldn't see the buttons.
Re: ROWE doesn't work with retail or call centers
May 6, 2008 by mikesmind
I used to be a store manager in retail. There were always times and days when it was hard to get people to work. (Especially holidays!) I think that in order for ROWE to work in retail, we would have to change how people are compensated. If the harder to fill times are more valuable to work, would people sign up for these "prime times?" If a percentage of sales were added to their paycheck would you get more workers for the high-volume times? In other words, can you staff a store and let the employees share in the success? Can you let the employees self-organize?
Re: Photo Issue
May 6, 2008 by mikesmind
When I try to add a photo, the dialog box pops up, but I can't get to the lower half. That must be where the button is to start the upload.
Thanks, Mike
