Michael Sampson

Any Reaction to the New Daily Report Format?

At the beginning of August I changed the way I publish my Daily Report. Rather than having 3 or 4 main sections in one report, I started splitting them out by topic ... "Strategy and People", "Technology", and "Productivity and Effectiveness". Each post has a table of contents at the beginning to give you a quick overview of what's in each one. This is the latest in a string of changes to make what I publish more helpful to you.

So ... any reactions? Does this latest change make your life any easier ... or maybe just your blog reading? Would love to hear your comments.

Working with People You Can't Be With Daily Report (July 31, 2008)

The People Part of Working with People You Can't Be With

• Dennis Kennedy has a new article on collaborative technologies, about working with others around the corner or around the world. "We based the article on some of the main themes of our new book on collaboration tools and technologies. This article is designed as an short introduction to the topic of collaboration tools. The sidebar addresses the all-important issue of collaboration culture and sets out some tips for handling cultural issues in your collaboration efforts." It was co-written with Tom Mighell. See Law Practice Magazine, and the sidebar includes (1) know thyself, (2) know thy collaborators, (3) build on what works, (4) investigate team-building and collaboration strategies, (5) consider incentives and penalties, and (6) remember that culture is a moving target.


• The presence of a shared mental model among all users is a key driver to the success of collaboration software usage.


• Organize your communication around goals and actions, rather than informing.


• Scott talks about how Attensa approaches the deployment of enterprise RSS: (1) form a focused RSS initiative team, (2) define applications and use cases, and (3) implement and document use cases, and (4) build on success. He talks to two use cases: (a) market intelligence, and (b) streamlining internal communications. "Opportunities to improve group communication and efficiency by migrating existing email newsletters to a more efficient publish-subscribe service exist in every organization we work with. The same content that is being assembled into monolithic email blocks can be broken down into articles in feeds that deliver the information in a contextual and accessible format through a group blog and RSS feed format."

The Technology Trends of Working with People You Can't Be With

• Captaris is aiming to build on the popularity of SharePoint and is offering paper-capture capabilities for SharePoint. "Historically, document automation has either been the domain of large, complex enterprise applications or simply a replacement to the file cabinet where documents are captured electronically and stored. Captaris envisions documents as a central component to collaboration and sees the SharePoint platform in the same light as Microsoft, who calls it a business productivity server. With SharePoint, Microsoft is providing the infrastructure and Captaris is providing the document capture, routing, distribution, retrieval and process management."


• Calgoo switched to a free pricing model, and added Google Calendar synchronization.


• Google Calendar now supports CalDAV, enabling synchronization between Apple iCal and Google Calendar. "CalDAV is a standardized sharing protocol, allowing you to access the same set of data with others to edit and sync data changes between multiple users. On a workflow level, this means people with access to edit your Google Calendar will be able to make changes in both iCal and Google Calendar that will sync up with both."

Insights on Being Productive and Effective

• What's the reason for being productive and efficient? To have more time to think. From Barack Obama: " ... actually the most important thing you need to do is to have big chunks of time during the day when all you’re doing is thinking."


• Matt released the next edition of his IdeaLab publication, with tips for capturing ideas, a warning about big to-do lists, problems with the 2-minute rule, and much more. I love this format for keeping up with the ideas that Matt is thinking about -- excellent work!


• Peter talks about the five-tool employee, who is someone who "(1) gets things done with results to show for their effort - no excuses for failure, (2) accomplishes things that are remarkable - above and beyond what's expected, (3) exercises sound decision-making skills, acting quickly and decisively, (4) communicates well and can convince others to act, and (5) deals well with ambiguity, makes order where others see confusion." Are you one?


• If you carry an idea-capture notebook, capture one idea per page so as to give room for your ideas to grow. "Record one idea per page in your journal, capturing any details on paper that are in your mind at the time. Then, return to it days or weeks later to review it. You then have an opportunity to look upon each idea with fresh eyes, and add more color, detail and nuance to those that inspire you, much like an artist does. And because you have only recorded one idea per page, you have plenty of room to record these additional thoughts and insights."


• There are two types of tasks: those that get done or don't, and those that produce a backlog if they aren't attended to. "The real problem with backlogs is that they take you out of the present. Instead of dealing with today’s work, you are constantly trying to catch up. It’s the difference between walking along a well-defined path and walking across a muddy field. On the path you can walk freely, but in the field your boots get caked in mud and you have to put out more and more effort while going slower and slower." Mark has ideas on how to get rid of the backlog once and for all.

Other Noteworthy Insights

• Michael observes an inverse relationship between company size and a sense of urgency. "More often than not, small companies have a sense of urgency. Why? Because their very survival is at stake. If they don’t move quickly, they get squashed by larger, more established competitors. On the other hand, it is rare to find large companies that truly have a sense of urgency. Their circumstances rarely demand it. They can continue with business-as-usual and do pretty well. Nothing has to be done today or even this week. Nothing is really at stake—or so they think. Often, by the time they wake up, it’s too late." As the CEO of a big company (Thomas Nelson), he wants to change that at his firm, and outlines a four step approach.

Working with People You Can't Be With Daily Report (July 25, 2008)

The Technology Trends of Working with People You Can't Be With

• Citrix released Version 4.0 of GoToMeeting, its web conferencing software. The main new feature is full Mac presenter support. "Aimed at small to medium-sized businesses, the applications provide “one-click” web conferencing for small groups to large-scale web presentations. The company says it has seen a sharp increase in Mac use among its customers and decided the “time was right” to create OS X-native versions of both programs." This is a good development from Citrix--I have used GoToMeeting with Windows successful many times, and it will be good to test the Mac support at some point.


• DocVerse announced $1.3 million in funding for its online document collaboration service. The product is still under wraps. "DocVerse says it will offer some cool new features, including the ability to send and receive faxes, and also to collaborate using existing tools like Microsoft Outlook and Word, rather than forcing you to adapt to a new application."


• Foldera exited the collaboration market. "The Company's principal market moving forward is with the core network infrastructure of the telephone companies, cable operators and wireless suppliers. The Company has recruited a new management team with a wealth of telecom infrastructure experience and who have already independently completed much of the software development for a High Speed, High Density Carrier Grade Ethernet Switch that will be the Company's initial product launch. Along with our product development partners, we are continuing to develop the software and hardware in a closely integrated program that will result in timely implementation of the system using components that will exceed all carrier and prospective customer requirements." Now that's what you call a change in direction.

Insights on Being Productive and Effective

• Jason weighs in on sleep deprivation, and passes on some of the costs of getting too little sleep. He suggests an experiment: "Here's an idea: For 5 nights, run your own experiment: What happens when you get a "little more" sleep each night? Try coordinating your work AND your life to get into bed one hour earlier...just for 5 nights, and see what your experience is like!" The biggest "external" event that breaks my sleep is children waking up in the night. It's a bit hard to control that one too closely.


• Craig on focus: (1) stop trying to do fifty things at once, (2) get clear about what you want and don't want, (3) get serious and committed, (4) prioritize and manage your time better, (5) don't let your emotions get in the way, and (6) don't let others distract you or sabotage your efforts. I know that I get 10x as much done when I focus intently. Am I willing to embrace that reality ...


• The secret driver of innovation is spelt T-I-M-E. "The bottom line is that people need time to innovate - and Mitch shows us companies that are doing so. Not surprisingly, they're some of the most innovative companies in the world today: Gore, Google and 3M are shining examples of large organizations that have gotten over their fear of employees "wasting" time and are giving them structured time to "invest" in innovative ideas." Fully agree -- you need 'whitespace' in which to think beyond the boundaries of today.


• Nicholas offers 7 blockers to productivity (eg, #1 "too much efficiency. You need some slack") and 7 aids to productivity (eg, #1, "pencil and paper. For ease of reflection"). I love these lists. I feel myself flagging ... it must be time for a walk ...

Working with People You Can't Be With Daily Report (July 24, 2008)

The People Part of Working with People You Can't Be With

• Six ideas about working on projects with people you can't be with: (1) build trust in the person and grow that trust with clear expectations, (2) manage results, not activity, (3) schedule regular communication, (4) create communication that saves time -- not kills it, (5) create standards that build a cohesive culture, and (6) define the rules of responsiveness.

The Technology Trends of Working with People You Can't Be With

• Novell renamed the ICEcore product "Kablink", in an attempt to convey more excitement and energy. It also announced new end-user workflow capabilities. "With the Kablink release, workflow capability is being added to the ICEcore collaboration features. A business user can now create a business workflow for a process -- be it approval, development or otherwise and attach that workflow to the business objects." Kablink is the open source product that is the basis for the commercial Novell Teaming + Conferencing product. On the face of it, I don't really see the point of such a re-branding.


• Forrester is concerned about the downsides of SharePoint, especially the application development capabilities. "(A)s many shops are discovering, SharePoint is also a development platform that people both inside and outside of IT use to create intranets, outward-facing portals, electronic forms, workflows, and even dashboards. The promise of SharePoint: Your organization will be able to create and deploy collaboration applications faster and give businesspeople productive new tools. The pitfalls: SharePoint can add new unplanned demands as your teams fill the product’s gaps in application life-cycle management and enterprise integration and as they create policies to prevent a new chaos of usergenerated applications." See also InfoWorld and PCWorld. Valid concerns indeed, and Forrester isn't the only analyst firm saying to exercise caution. But SharePoint isn't alone in facing these concerns; Notes shops have had to deal with this for a long time.


• EMC announced plans to add Web 2.0 ideas and capabilities to Documentum 6.5, the next edition of its document management platform. " ... new features such as tagging, ranking, groups, Twitter-like messaging, and a vastly improved user interface [are] on the way. And the company says even more Web 2.0 features, such as wikis, blogs, RSS feeds, and social networking are coming in 2009. It’s pitching the improvements as a way for companies to tap into the innovative spirit of the Web 2.0 world without giving up control over security and workflow." Will be interesting to see how EMC straddles the strict compliance mandates that many of its customers operate under, with the more freewheeling nature of 2.0.


• Sybase added iPhone 3G support to iAnywhere, enabling users to get access to Notes Mail and Microsoft Exchange from the iPhone. "Sybase noted that it plans to add more components for push email, contacts, corporate directories and calendars in the future."

Working with People You Can't Be With Daily Report (July 21, 2008)

The People Part of Working with People You Can't Be With

• Distributed teams are just not real, so let's stop pretending, argues Tobias. "Distributed teams are not teams; they are at best a collection of people who communicate regularly. But communication is not collaboration; it is a poor relation, weak and insipid in comparison. A distributed team cannot create the kind of energy that comes from human eye contact, from shared spontaneous laughter, from physical touch. True collaboration requires all five senses, not just a voice over the telephone, or a second-hand video image. And email… don’t even go there. Distributed teams require managers, and thus can never be truly self-organizing. Time differences and delayed response times inevitably slow down conversation, hold up decisions and ultimately cripple agility. Distributed teams can never be truly Agile. So let’s stop pretending."


• Chorus shut its offices last month and turned everyone into a remote worker, saving $400K a year in various costs. "Chorus's transformation into a virtual company staffed with telecommuters hasn't been flawless, but none of the hurdles the company has encountered at this point have proven insurmountable. Through research, planning and some trial-and-error, the company addressed many of the cultural challenges associated with telecommuting and managing virtual workforces." Key lessons: (1) ensure you have the right infrastructure in place to support distributed workers -- for Chorus, that's mainly around telephony, (2) create new work-at-home policies -- eg, separate working space at home, a desk is a must-have, most equipment is supplied by the firm, and more, and (3) deliberate planning for the social aspect of work is essential -- and daily conference calls and IM are key to this. Nice case study of the challenges to overcome with being a virtual company, and how to keep people together when apart.

The Technology Trends of Working with People You Can't Be With

• Colligo released Version 3.1 of Contributor Pro, its rich client for SharePoint. New features: folder-level metadata support, new Office 2007 metadata support, German language support, and more. Available immediately. By setting metadata automatically based on folders, documents are better classified, leading to better findability for others.


• Software602 released Version 6.0 of its Groupware Server. "The all-new Groupware Server client integrates e-mail, RSS feeds, public folders, contacts, tasks, shared calendars, online document sharing and archiving into a rich browser-based interface providing access to all collaboration functionality from anywhere. With the Outlook Connector, users can continue using Microsoft Outlook without the need to invest in an Exchange Server. All e-mail and instant messages are saved to a SQL based read-only archive that cannot be modified. The full-text search engine can quickly find any e-mail, attachment, instant message, contact, calendar or document object. Create, share, and publish documents online with shared document storage accessible from a web browser, FTP client, or WebDAV." Available immediately. Never heard of it ... but sounds capable, particularly the SQL database underpinnings.

Working with People You Can't Be With Daily Report (July 17, 2008)

The People Part of Working with People You Can't Be With

• Purdue University is hosting the Conference for Collaboration and Innovation in September. "The Conference for Collaboration and Innovation will be held Sept. 14-17 in Stewart Center and will feature presentations on subjects including leadership and ethics, virtual teams, building trust in employees, managing conflict and responding to globalization .... The goal of our conference is to reach out to those in industry so they can learn new ways of organizing and managing people. With technology constantly changing the way we collaborate, and with companies working with partners around the world, this issue is more important than ever." This is one of the conferences I would love to attend in September.


• Keith shares his insights on building architectures that encourages collaboration, and on what usually happens. "They are offices that support flexible work arrangements and frequent spontaneous reconfigurations, of people, furniture, walls, and cubicles. In innovative organizations, you find a blend of solo work, work in pairs, and collaborative teams. But most of today’s offices are designed to support only one kind of work: solitary work, alone in an office (or a cubicle). In innovative organizations, people are always moving around, bumping unexpectedly into others, and stopping for a few minutes to chat. Offices that support these natural connections have chairs and tables in the hallways or near the stairways, to make such conversations easier." Where's the 'space for collaboration' in virtual team work? I think it's a "present and available" signal in instant messaging.

The Technology Trends of Working with People You Can't Be With

• Cynapse released Version 2.0 of cyn.in, its collaboration product, with a variety of new features and applications. "Spaces help managers to streamline the work and management of the teams over widely dispersed geographies and departments. Members can work together in spaces seamlessly, with a familiar set of structured collaborative applications including Wikis, Blogs, File Repositories, Galleries, Event Calendars etc." It's available immediate to install or as a hosted service. It's been a while since I wrote about cyn.in last -- staying power is a good sign for collaboration software.


• OSAF is still working on Chandler, and has released a set of user stories about the use of Chandler. Eg, Laura writes "The single greatest thing about [Chandler] is the core idea of the confluence of tasks, emails, and appointments as simple items which can interact and be managed with one other. It is SO TRUE that separating these items into hard categories with totally different interfaces makes organization more, not less, difficult. Allowing them to be listed and managed together is a huge leap forward. It has definitely already added value to my life." It looks like these have been aggregated from the Chandler Blog. Chandler is a pretty different offering, so take a look through the product tour.

Other Noteworthy Insights

• Why are you resisting writing? Perhaps you don't like writing, or maybe you're scared (of failure and success).

Working with People You Can't Be With Daily Report (July 16, 2008)

The People Part of Working with People You Can't Be With

• Andy lives the lifestyle of global business nomad, and talks extensively about how he makes it work. "Since last October I've been living the life of a Global Nomad, learning more about what works and what's best for people who need more than just email and voice mail. As a home office-based business owner, with 20 virtual team members across the USA and a client base that spans from Israel to Sydney Australia, knowing how to work virtually and successfully has led to some of the best of breed companies becoming our clients because we don't just "talk the talk," we actually "walk the walk," every day." Key tools: Covad (high-speed DSL), SightSpeed (video conferencing), VAPPS (hi-definition audio conferencing), PhoneFusion, OnSip, and more. Andy is a lead practitioner of working with people from anywhere; see what you can learn from him.


• A couple of good reminders about the problems of remote work: not everyone should do it, and face-to-face interaction is still essential. And for government agencies, data security is another one.


• Here's one way to make remote work even more green: the treadmil workstation. You know, don't drive to work while at the same time generating power for your computer by walking the treadmill. Shoe manufacturers and deoderant vendors will be the winner if this takes on!

The Technology Trends of Working with People You Can't Be With

• WorkflowPerfect released a web-based workflow tool for coordinating collaborative work. "WorkflowPerfect has an answer to that question: of course you don’t. Instead, you can use their free, multiuser, web-based business process tool to create and manage all the multiuser workflows you need. Its tools allow you to both build and manage workflows - coordinated sets of tasks that get handed off between team members and updated with custom forms." See WorkflowPerfect. Workflow has always been about (a) keeping everyone clear about what they are supposed to do next, and (b) making processes more repeatable and error-free. Using a tool like WorkflowPerfect can definitely assist virtual teams.


• Larry has been trying out Flowgrams, a new way of doing a screencast about a series of web pages, photos, etc. "The blogflow I created with Flowgram reviews several posts available to this date that cover the topic of collaboration. This was a first pass effort. However, I’d be interested in what anyone who takes the time to review it thinks of the concept as a media resource for blogs." Looks like a good tool ... I'll be signing up. Thanks Larry!

Working with People You Can't Be With Daily Report (July 15, 2008)

The People Part of Working with People You Can't Be With

• A recent survey found some disquiet about working with others at a distance. "Nearly half (48 percent) of workers polled said their jobs would be more difficult if they did not work in the same office as their supervisors. Of this group, 27 percent felt it would be much more difficult. Similarly, 58 percent of managers surveyed said it is important that all staff members work in the same location." Time and deliberate effort to make it work by explicitly talking about what is working and what is difficult is needed here.


• Jason argues that clarity over naming and therefore clear signals about called-for behavior is a key to the effective use of collaboration tools. "What I’m observing is if you are very proscriptive in how you want employees or customers to collaborate, they will respond. I’m not saying limit their options. If they want to create additional groups and collaborate more, by all means turn them loose. However, when getting things started, the more specific you can be, the better results you will achieve." Signaling what is socially acceptable in collaborative software settings helps people avoid feeling like idiots.

The Technology Trends of Working with People You Can't Be With

• Captaris is hosting three webinars in the coming weeks on Version 8.3 of Alchemy, its document management system. "Captaris Alchemy document management software creates a digital file cabinet for your organization, a trusted digital archive where you can securely store any document type and then find it within seconds, even years later."


• Unisys released free trials of its hosted Exchange 2007, Office Communications Server 2007 and Office Live Meeting services. "The trial service, implemented and managed by Unisys, will offer organizations the opportunity to evaluate the features available in the Microsoft unified communications suite, including e-mail, calendaring and unified messaging, in addition to multi-party instant messaging, and voice and video conferencing. Up to 20 accounts can be established per customer, extending the trial experience to a larger group of individuals across the company. Organizations interested in participating in a 30-day trial should contact their Microsoft Sales Executive." That's a relatively easy way to 'kick the tyres' on a hosted Unisys offering; of course, they'll hope you stay!


• Near-Time announced Connection, an integration of the Near-Time service with WebEx Connect. "The Near-Time Connection widget enables users to access new information in their communities, create wiki and weblog posts, make comments to forums, as well as receive and play podcasts. In addition to running in WebEx Connect, the Near-Time Connection widget runs on mobile devices running Safari or Opera browsers and iGoogle Web pages. Near-Time's support for rich media in its wikis and blogs makes it easy for customers to save and publish their WebEx Connect sessions and conferences privately or to the Web. The combination of WebEx Connect and Near-Time means users can span client, on-demand and mobile Web collaboration."

Insights on Being Productive and Effective

• When your brain feels stressed out and overwhelmed, take a break to calm and relax your brain. "His first message to people banging their overworked, underperforming brain on the desk is sure to come as a relief - give yourself a break. Rock says one of the key findings of neuroscience is that the brain's power is surprisingly limited when it comes to complex cognitive tasks." Hear, hear. Taking 10-15 minutes to walk outside, if that's possible, or to read something not related to work, is a great way to do this during the day. See also Recharge in Minutes, a great book related to this.


• Stephen Covey on the problems with multi-tasking: "Today the average college student or corporate worker considers themselves a “multitasker”. It’s not unusual to meet people in their 20s who are working, going to school, starting their own company, married, raising kids and enjoying hobbies. They end up with a huge list of things that fracture their attention. This isn’t wrong in any way–for the most part it’s admirable–but there is an old saying: to a hammer, everything looks like a nail. To a chronic multitasker, everything is a task. Soon, the things in life that are really important to them are in the same list as everything else, and the only tasks that get done are the ones that have become urgent, but often aren’t very important. Because of this they are driven by an addiction to the urgent and continually respond to the the four P’s—those things that are Pressing, Proximate, Pleasant and Popular—leaving very little time to do those things that are truly important." "Fracturing of one's attention" -- now there's a startling way of putting it.


• Mark outlines one way of choosing which task to do next: do the less difficult one in a toss-up between two on your list. "The idea is to work through the to do list comparing each task in turn with the next task on the list and doing the one which you are resisting the least. That way each task you do seems like the easy option, even though it may be quite difficult." But he found some problems in its implementation, so has a revision: "A simple modification makes the method work much better. Instead of comparing each item with the next item on the list, you compare the first item on the list (i.e. the oldest) with the last item (the newest) .... What I have found is that because the list is being tackled at both ends, it tends to get less bogged down than the previous method I recommended."

Other Noteworthy Insights

• Within 12 months of releasing the iPhone, Apple is setting the standard for smartphones. And it sold 1 million of the new iPhone 3G's in three days.

Working with People You Can't Be With Daily Report (July 14, 2008)

The People Part of Working with People You Can't Be With

• Dan Rose is asking people to draw what collaboration means to them -- no words! See the pictures.


• Luis calls "unwanted feedback" one of the benefits of social software. "So you see, by being able to use Quickr Entry to socially share my file with two people, I got unwanted feedback. And not in a bad way. In a very good, positive way!! .... Now that's something that wouldn't have happened if I would have used email instead of Quickr Entry to share the file!" Perhaps a better term would be "unsought feedback" or "unlooked-for feedback".


• Higher gas prices is having an impact on the way people live and work. A recent survey in Canada reported: "Among those who said they have altered their work arrangements, the most common changes they reported making include increased carpooling or ridesharing (46%), driving a more fuel-efficient vehicle (33%) and telecommuting more frequently (33%). Three in 10 said they are looking for a new job closer to home." When (if) gas prices decrease, it will be interesting to see whether these changes remain.


• Eights steps to better online meetings: (1) spend 80% of the time on topics that require interaction from everyone, (2) invite the right people, (3) meet about the highest priority items first, and more. Apart from (6) use headsets and (7) join the online meeting from your desktop, this sounds like a generic list for effective meetings.

Insights on Being Productive and Effective

• Cultured Code released a version of Things for the iPhone and iTouch, but without synchronization with the desktop edition. The latter is coming shortly. The lack of sync kills it for me -- that appears to be the critical feature.


• Eric offers a great diagram on the downward spiral of deproductivity.


• Michael has a list of 10 things that produce unintended consequences. Eg, "(1) It is much easier to get into something than to get out of it; (2) The biggest problems come from a failure to attend to the basics; and (3) It always takes longer than expected." Good to know what to look out for. How can you mitigate against these this week?

Other Noteworthy Insights

• My 12-year old son David made up this joke the other day: Why did the sick pig smoke?

Working with People You Can't Be With Daily Report (July 11, 2008)

The People Part of Working with People You Can't Be With

• Linne sets out the twelve conditions for success with collaborative work: (1) clear, real and compelling goals or tasks, (2) collaboration is really required, (3) individuals commit to collaboration, (4) organizational support for collaboration, and more. "Collaboration asks of us much discipline and commitment, but only this level of collaboration can meet the huge demands of complexity in the global market. This high level of collaboration requires extensive positive leadership power and skills." Seems to be oriented to in-person collaboration; no mention of other keys when distance and technology is involved.

The Technology Trends of Working with People You Can't Be With

• PostPath announced full support for iPhone 3G in PostPath, its email and calendaring server for the enterprise that provides a Linux alternative to Exchange Server with full Exchange Server functionality. "PostPath is the only non-Microsoft server that provides native ActiveSync support with no plug-in or middleware enabling users to take full advantage of the iPhone's intuitive UI and the productivity benefits of mobile access to email, collaboration and shared calendaring. The iPhone's Mail and Calendar applications are also supported with no plug-in, nothing to download and no modification to the device configuration." Good move, and nice timing!


• Apptix was similarly quick off the mark, announcing iPhone 3G support for its hosted Exchange Server 2007 customers. "This new mobile email service enables iPhone users to take full advantage of the power of Apptix hosted Microsoft Exchange email and collaboration services, elevating the iPhone to a true business communications tool--for any size company."


• Colligo Networks released a case study of how The Learning Trust is using SharePoint for email management (PDF), in combination with the Colligo add-in for Outlook. "After conducting a trial, The Learning Trust selected Contributor for deployment to their staff. Contributor Add-In increases user adoption of SharePoint for email and attachment management. It provides full read and write access to SharePoint document libraries and lists within the Outlook interface. Users are able to easily move or copy emails and attachments to document libraries with a simple drag-and-drop, while automatically capturing message fields (like To, From, Subject, and Date). Custom metadata can be instantly applied at the time of drag-and-drop or automatically set at the folder-level." I am a great fan of the Colligo products for SharePoint -- definitely worth investigating.


• Microsoft is readying a 2009 update of Office Communications Server, for release in the May 2009 timeframe ... apparently. It is unclear at this point what it might include ... perhaps Parlano integration?


• SharePoint Solutions is holding a 3 day workshop on branding and customization of SharePoint, in Dallas TX on July 15-17. "The course will focus on branding SharePoint sites and portals. You will also learn how to create custom themes, custom site templates and custom site definitions. You will learn how to use XSLT to customize the search results and the results returned by the content query web part. Student learning will be facilitated through a combination of instructor presentations and hands-on lab exercises. A sample company will be used in the labs to teach students how to apply SharePoint 2007 branding from concept to implementation in a typical environment." If I could teleport there and survive without sleep so I could attend, I'd be in. But other matters call ... such as getting Seamless Teamwork done!

Insights on Being Productive and Effective

• Being present is more about engagement than particles, and this is a particular concern for people that work from home. "Your family doesn’t want your body to be home - they want your heart and mind to be there. Given the choice between you being gone for 8-10 hours but home for 4 and you working from home but never being there, I’d bet most would choose the former over the latter. Don’t make them make this choice mentally or otherwise." Solution: (a) save energy for "being" at home, and (b) set boundaries in time and space for what is work and what is home.


• Five steps to achieving your goals: (1) visualize life on the other side, (2) get commitment, (3) break it into bits / smaller actions, (4) start now and make constant progress, and (5) celebrate success. The vision you create in Step 1 is particularly influential in what happens.


• HP is offering a set of 6 online classes on managing time, space and paper, including (1) Clutter 101: basic organizing rules and secrets, (3) focus on time: derailing distractions, procrastinations and lateness, and (6) focus on maintenance. "This hands-on course is a practical guide to managing your schedule and your stuff so you can get the most out of every aspect of your life. You'll learn to respond actively to life's clutter, rather than react negatively without solving the problem. We'll begin with some basic rules of organizing, then explore strategies for managing paper and time, organizing your home and family and techniques and routines to keep your life more organized. Podcast version of this class available."