Modifying your behaviour with a simple Twitter bot
About two weeks ago I created a simple twitter bot: @timetostretch. Stretching every two hours or so when you work at a computer has clear benefits. I wanted a simple tool to remind me to do this. Playing around with the Twitter API was a really quick way to build such a tool. In addition - I was interested in testing the idea of twitted reminders - if effective perhaps I would build a more complex and ambitious system…
Thanks to Grackle and Ruby building the bot was dead simple. I wanted the reminders to tweet me a video link to different sets of stretching excerices… and finding good stretching videos on youtube is by far what took the longest.
The bot quickly proved completly ineffective in modifying my behaviour. The reasons for this were:
- A lack of clear conscious descision on my part to actually stretch at regular interval. Taking a break and stretching remains a thing I think it would be “nice” to do rather than something I am actually committed to doing.
- There was no sound to act as an alarm / audio cue to stretch.
- The reminder to stretch was drowned in the flow of tweets. It was too easy to ignore the call to stretch if a more interesting tweet drew your attention. In fact overall random web surfing was a more likely outcome than stretching
- Despite that the bot used Twitter, there was no social aspect to the activity of stretching. I failed to build a support group that would share and support my goal of stretching at regular intervals throughout the work day.
What I’ve learnt:
- The merits of a quick “sketch” of a simple idea. Building a rough unpolished prototype allows you to test the validity of an idea and allows you to: “Fail early. Fail fast.”
- I’d like to code more fun stuff that don’t neccerally have to result in an amazing finished product. Experiment, try new ideas…
TimeToStretch a simple twitter bot
Sitting in front of a desk and computer all day isn’t very good for you. That’s why I’ve just created a simple twitter bot that reminds you to stretch every hour: http://twitter.com/timetostretch . Click on the links in the tweets and follow the exercises in the videos.
The TimeToStretch bot is a simple script that makes use of the Grackle gem for the Ruby programing language and runs as a cron job.
Keyboard Shortcuts as Kaizen
Kaizen focuses on small continuous improvements. Learning keyboard shortcuts is a great way to make small but significant improvements in productivity for those who spend a lot of time working at a computer.
Save Time and Increase Productivity
Using a keyboard shortcut instead of the mouse is much faster. Repeated many times this represents a great boost in productivity. Bruce Tognazzini, the founder of the Apple Human Interface Group and a renowned usability expert about using the keyboard vs. using the mouse is clear on this point:
- Test subjects consistently report that keyboarding is faster than mousing.
- The stopwatch consistently proves mousing is faster than keyboarding.
Because not using the mouse take so much more time than using the keyboard – it should be considered Muda - wasteful
Prevent Repetitive Stress Injury
Carpal tunnel syndrom is a form of repetive stress injury that particularly afflicts computer users (more than 10% complain of carpal tunnel syndrom symptoms). According to a 2007 report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, carpal tunnel syndrome was associated with the second longest average time away from work (28 days) among the major disabling diseases and illnesses – it’s an issue you should take seriously both personally and as a business. Learning to use keyboard shortcuts reduces the repetitive stress on your mouse hand. Occupational therapists recommend you use keyboard shortcuts as much as possible as possible in order to avoid repetitive stress injury. As such taking measures to promote the use of keyboard shortcuts can be seen as part of the so called 6th S – Safety of the Toyota Production System 5S framework.
Identify the programs you use the most
Identify the programs you and your team use the most. Remember the pareto principle. You’ll spend 80% of your time just using two or three programs. Focus on learning shortcuts for those programs to start with. Email is a good place to start: the average office worker spends 49 minutes managing emails each day, whilst the stats go up to 4 hours per day for senior managers. Do you spend a lot of time using a specialist application? What about Word and Excel?
Learning the shortcuts
- Print and display a nice cheat sheet of shortcuts next to every computer.
- Announce and organize an office quiz on shortcuts at the end of the month. The prize will serve as an incentive, whilst the quiz will introduce an element of fun which is important for learning and team bonding. Make this a monthly event – maybe focusing on different software each month. The quiz is also a good way of measuring and monitoring results which is an important part of Kaizen.
- Think of other ways to promote the learning of new shortcuts. For example use Tweeter to tweet a shortcut everyday to your team members. You can also display a different shortcut everyday on your intranet homepage…
Links to shortcuts cheat sheets
- General OS Shortcuts: Windows, Mac, Ubuntu
- Emailing: Outlook, Gmail
- Internet Browsers: standard browser shortcuts, IE, Firefox
- Office: Word, Excel
- Photoshop: pc, mac
- Shortcuts for geeks: gedit, aptana studio, eclipse
Not quite Inbox Zero? Tips to help you get there.
Archiving , labelling and deleting old emails is a straight forward process that if ruthlessly applied will get your email inbox close to zero. If you develop the positive habit of doing regular sweeps to process your new emails it’s fairly easy to maintain that near zero state. However getting from the 10 or 5 emails you’ve still got in your inbox to inbox zero is much harder. Normally these last few emails will fall into one of three categories:
A) Emails with content or attachments you’ll need in the near future
These are the emails with the excel file you are going to need tomorrow or on Wednesday. The reason why you are finding it difficult to deal with these emails is that you don’t believe that you’ll be able to find them easily if you archive them. Sure, it probably won’t be that difficult to find, but it’s likely that you’ll waste a couple of minutes looking for tit. The reason for this is that most people send emails with really bad titles that don’t relate to the content of the email or the attachment: emails with titles like ‘Re:meeting’ or ‘Re:bug’… Even if the original title of an email was meaningful – people are lazy when using the reply button and the email you need might be the 8th in a thread of 10 emails whose content has evolved dramatically compared to the original title. Tips for dealing with these types of emails:
- Forward the email with the attachment you need to yourself with a title that better describes the content of the email so that you’ll be able to identify it quickly.
- When forwarding an email to yourself as described above, add a reference to the title for example ‘task3045′. Make a note of this reference in your calendar or to do list and you’ll be able to find the email immediately when you need it – simply by searching using this reference.
- Don’t hesitate to fork discussions by changing the title of emails to something more descriptive when replying to them.
- If you’re a manager train your staff to use better more descriptive email titles – your entire organization will benefit.
B) Emails that need action
These emails tend to linger in your inbox because you are using it as an ad hoc to do list. And the reason why you are doing that is that you don’t trust the task management system you’ve got in place. Your inbox is not your to do list. Deal with these emails by:
- Converting these emails into actionable items on your to do list.
- Dealing with any underlying fundamental issues with your to do list system so that you have increased trust in it.
The second problem with these types of emails is that more often than not you want to reply to them to inform people that the relevant task or problem as been completed or solved. Tips A1 and A2 above will help you here.
C) Emails that need decisions
The third type of emails that will linger in your inbox are emails that require you to make a decision. These are the toughest emails to deal with. Ask yourself these questions:
- What is preventing me from making this decision? Do I need more information to make the decision? Do I simply need to schedule some time to think about this issue? Convert your answers into concrete and scheduled action steps and archive the email.
- Have I already made the decision but am I afraid to commit? You’ve made your decision: act on it and archive the email!
- Is this a decision I cannot afford to make? Are the consequences of making the wrong decision too high? Acknowledge the fact that you are not prepared to make this decision and archive the email.
By identifying these three types of emails: ‘emails with content you need in the near future’, ‘emails that need actions’ and ‘emails that need decisions’ and following the tips above you’ll be able to get and maintain your inbox at zero. Just remember Zen comes with discipline…
Inbox zero is an action based system for emptying your email inbox inspired by gtd. For Merlin Mann’s original series of posts on inbox zero, click here.
Give presentations like Steve Jobs – a recipe for mere mortals.
Ever wish you could give a great presentation that captivates and inspires your audience?
Well let’s take a look at how Steve Jobs, one of the most charismatic public speakers in the world, does it. First we will look at some of the key techniques he uses. Then at how you can use them in an office meeting or pitching context.
Steve’s recipe for an electrifying presentation:
Key techniques:
- Make your theme clear and consistent
- Create a headline that sets the direction for your meeting
- Provide the outline (I’ve got four things I’d like to talk with you about today…)
- Verbally open and close each section with a clear transition in between
- Be enthusiastic and energetic. Be excited about your company, your product or what your talking about.
- Make numbers and statistics meaningful and use them sparingly
- Rehearse, rehearse and rehearse some more!
Additional techniques:
- Wow your audience. Treat your presentation like a show with ebbs and flows, themes and transitions. Identify the memorable moment in your presentation and build up to it.
- Analogies help connect the dots for your audience
- Paint a simple picture that doesn’t overwhelm… Be short on bullet points and big on visuals!
- Include video clips, demonstrations and guests
- Sell an experience
Communications coach Carmine Gallo goes over these techniques in the video below:
Using Steve’s recipe in an everyday office context
A share-holder keynote extravaganza is, let’s face it, not something most of us get to do everyday. So let’s take a look at how Steve uses these techniques in a more simple office context. In these amazing videos from the early 1990s, Steve uses a simple whiteboard as his prop.
Steve begins by setting out a clear outline of the three things he wants to talk about. His transition to the first thing he wants to speak about is clear and smooth and is underlined by his use of space: he gets up from his chair and walks to the whiteboard. It’s very clear that Jobs has practised extensively. He does not hesitate when drawing his diagrams – they are clear and he draws them in a precise fluid manner. He has identified the key point he intends to make and from the very beginning, the way he draws the diagram is planned to allow him to make a dramatic visual point later on. His entire presentation is extremely visual and builds up gradually to a complete view of the market he is explaining. His use of numbers is succinct but they are used very clearly to powerful effect. With just a few numbers you are left with an inspiring vision of an extremely fast growing marketplace where Next has the opportunity to capture significant market share. Perhaps pause the video and reflect on all the numbers Steve does not mention ( the size of the traditional workstation market, the size of desktop pc market…) Steve does not lose focus, he doesn’t bombard his audience with facts.
Steve transitions to the next section of his presentation with a clear verbal cue: ‘Now lets examine….’ Each subsection his very clear. Steve does not waffle. You could say he uses verbal bullet points, for example (“for more…., for more …., and for more …). Each of these verbal bullet points is punctuated by a hand gesture. His next transition his also very clear: ‘Now we want to address….’ Notice how enthusiastic and energetic he is throughout the presentation. His conclusion is clear and definite - looking back at the key sections of his presentation with the help of a quick flash back to the key visual for each.
There is another lesson in these videos – apart from Steve’s formidable presentation skills. That’s his understanding and clear definition of the market place where he is operating; his understanding of what’s important to his customers, and his appreciation of his key competitive advantage compared to his number one competitor. You might want to reflect wether you and you’re staff have such a clear understanding of the market place where you are operating…
12 Zen wallpapers to boost your productivity
Soft on the eyes and not overly funky, this series of beautiful desktop wallpapers will help you stay concentrated and focused. If your desktop looks messy, try having a spring clean using this Japanese method. You’ll end up with a totally Zen computer…
Garden Buddha by ileen4justice
Spring wheat by Alexander Kirichev
Hidden Falls by Digital Blasphemy
Sunset Thunderstorm by National Geographic (photo by Gary Crabbe Alamy )
Swans in Flight by National Geographic (photo by Mike McElroy)
A Day at the Beach by Chris Gin
Two and a Half Trees by Chris Gin
Monastery Garden by Kenneth Moyle
Hustling for a cool videocast location
I’ve just been checking out Gary Vaynerchuk’s new venture: Obsessed with Samantha. My first impression was the incongruity of the TV like opening credits sequence on the web. Whilst undoubtedly they give the show credibility and a high class feel, I just found them annoying – I just want to get straight to the content. The fact that I’m viewing the show on the Obsessed with Samantha website already gives me context, so the credits are not necessary. The site uses Viddler as its video platform and the quality of the HD stream is very impressive. In full screen mode on my laptop, it’s just like watching TV. I was not convinced by the ‘Oprah’ format of the videocasts, and felt the conversational tone of the half-hour interviews lacked energy – however I’m clearly not part of the target audience.
However the site has a great lesson for all videocasters and everyone should be inspired by Gary’s extraordinary hustling skills. Gary has made a deal with Caffe Notte Wine Bar. In return for banner space and a dedicated page on the site showcasing the venue, he gets to shoot the episodes of Obsessed with Samantha there. This is a classic example of a win-win deal. From the venue owner’s point of view, the page showcasing the bar and its video is fantastic. It really makes you want to go there, and is immediately more appealing than the picture of the bar you get from its ageing website. In addition, the venue gets significant exposure. For Gary and Samantha, this high class location gives a professional feel to the show and projects quality and credibility. Now think: -where could you negotiate to shoot your videocasts?
Transformative Change at Dell
Jeff Jarvis has published a very interesting article in Business Week reviewing the changes made by Dell to become a company that engages with its customers online. The transformative changes were initiated after a 2005 public relation disaster when a blog storm engulfed the company. Among the transformations made is the launch of a dedicated series of community sites targeted at the Dell user community. Dellcomunity.com is a forum site where customers interact with Dell staff to help each other fix product related problems. Dell is also making its customers part of its product development strategy via the ideastorm.com website. Among the products that have resulted from this initiative is a range of Linux PCs. Dell has also set up a dedicated bogging site: direct2dell.com , it’s publishing on average 2 blog posts a day on the site. Most bravely it is allowing its customers to directly review its products on its websites.
An extended version of the article that appeared in Business Week can be found on Jeff Jarvis’ blog: buzzmachine.com .