Mr System

16/12/2020

How often do you step outside your comfort zone at work?

🚫 One of the biggest obstacles in developing better, more effective ways of working is inertia. Many people resist change on the basis that the new way feels somehow more difficult.

And of course, who can blame them? If it's more difficult, what's the point? Might as well stick with the old way, right? We're already too busy as it is without slowing ourselves down.

But here's the kicker...

🤔 It's easy to confuse difficulty with unfamiliarity.

^ Read that again ^

When we confuse the two, we unwittingly write off potentially game-changing improvements to our workflow for the sake of not having to expend extra effort in learning something new.

The solution is to think holistically about whether a process is objectively better in the long run (i.e. once we have overcome the inevitable learning curve).

Don't confuse unfamiliarity with difficulty. Always be open-minded and willing to challenge the status quo. Question the established ways of working. You'd be surprised how much time and stress you can save yourself...

27/11/2020

There has been a growing backlash against workplace communication tools like Slack in the last few years. It seems they aren't helping us to collaborate like they should.

In fact, a number of prominent voices have branded them as disorganised, addictive, time-consuming, non-stop chatrooms that silently ruin productivity.

Ouch!

So what went wrong?

Despite what many people say, these tools are not inherently bad. The problem is that they are too easily misused and abused.

When we open the floodgates and introduce new technology to our team without guidance or rules to govern its use, is it any surprise that we become cluttered and overwhelmed?

“Let’s use this” can be a recipe for disaster.

“How should we use this?” is the necessary question.

In this article I outline some of the root causes of "Slack overload" and what your team can do to regain control of their time, attention, and - frankly - sanity.

📰 Read the full post below

Team communication tools aren’t inherently bad. They are just too easily misused. Here is how to fix the 9 most common Slack mistakes.

02/10/2020

I recently sat down with TextExpander to talk about... you guessed it... TextExpander! Thanks for having me folks =]

Dave J. Mason (a.k.a. Mr. System) is a consultant who works with organizations and teams to adopt the tools, processes, and methodologies necessary to eliminate waste and do their best, most fulfilling work. He is also an Asana Solutions Partner. We caught up with him to find out more about his work...

24/09/2020

Using TextExpander will save you hours of time. Helping your team to use it could save weeks of time.

Here's everything you need to know...

Using TextExpander will save you hours of time and your team weeks of time. But that's not the only reason it's fantastic...

13/08/2020

At work, it’s crucial to stay up to date. Unfortunately, this can mean diving into long, cluttered email threads or arranging time-consuming status update meetings.

Ain’t nobody got time for that!

Here’s how to easily stay up to date with Asana's Inbox feature.

Staying up to date with what’s happening day-to-day means we can do our job better and avoid problems and delays. Here's how the Asana Inbox can help.

06/07/2020

Inevitably, while concentrating, great ideas and important tasks will pop to mind and distract us.

Here's how to quickly dump them into Asana so you can get straight back to work.

Inevitably, while concentrating, great ideas and important tasks will pop to mind and distract us. Here's how to quickly dump them into Asana.

03/07/2020

Without regular updates and pruning, task lists become increasingly challenging to manage.

Here's how to keep control over of your to-do list in Asana.

Without regular updates and pruning, task lists become increasingly challenging to manage. Here's how to keep control over of your to-do list in Asana.

01/07/2020

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when your to-do list in Asana is huge.

The answer? Ensure your “My Tasks” list only displays what you plan to work on today.

Here's how...

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by a huge to-do list. The answer? Ensure your “My Tasks” list only displays what you plan to work on today. Here's how...

29/06/2020

Panic-stricken working doesn’t have to be the status quo. A little extra consideration with due dates can go a long way when planning your work schedule.

Here's how to go about setting important task deadlines in Asana:

Panic-stricken working doesn’t have to be the status quo. A little extra consideration with due dates can go a long way when planning your work schedule.

26/06/2020

Setting realistic expectations is critical when planning your day's work. But at a glance, to-do lists have no clear way to distinguish effort.

Here's how to use Asana to plan your day based on the required effort.

Setting realistic expectations is critical when planning your day's work. But at a glance, to-do lists have no clear way to distinguish effort...

24/06/2020

Collaboration flourishes when work is visible and accessible.

Asana tasks are private by default, but they inherit the visibility settings of projects.

Learn more in this short 1-minute post:

Teams flourish when work is both visible and accessible. Nothing kills productivity and collaboration quite like teams working in silos. Here's what to do.

22/06/2020

Disappointing results are often the result of not giving clear instructions or setting clear expectations.

Use my CREDIT™ Framework to help write clearer task descriptions in Asana

Read the whole post and get the copy+paste template:

Use my CREDIT™ Framework to help remember the 6 key elements of effective delegation