What do you hope will happen at the end of the meeting? Start the meeting expressing what is on your mind and clarifying what is your purpose. Prepare ahead thinking about the actions that will need to be performed to achieve this purpose and make sure to discuss them.

Start With The End In Mind

<ul><li>Speak from your own Point of view.</li><li>Note down the exact words people say so that they feel heard when you recap. When you don’t fully understand follow up.</li><li>Be open and follow up offline to clarify any doubt or unclear item.</li></ul>

Be Open And Listen Carefully

Balance making the other person comfortable with sharing your goals.Pay attention to sentence structure:<ul><li>If you want clarity use the past + you: “What did you mean by what you just said?” </li><li>to show forcefulness use present + I/me: “I need,” “I like” and “I want.”</li><li>to go in problem solving mode and identify a common solution use future + we/us</li></ul>

Respond Appropriately 

Non verbal communication is important to reinforce your message and conflicting signals can cause lack of trust or confusion.

Make Your Body Language Coherent With Your Message 

Make sure your ideas have been fully understood and that everyone is happy with how the meeting went.In a more informal setting:<ol><li>What do you think of what I said here?</li><li>What did you think of the meeting?</li><li>In a more personal discussion, you may ask: What do you think about me?</li></ol>

Get Feedback 

The businessperson's guide to saying what needs to be said and asking questions that need to be asked In the business world, the first step to great results is good communication. Talk Lean uses original research and a fresh approach to teach businesspeople how to say difficult things and ask difficult questions in a way that is positive, effective, and comfortable for everyone involved. You'll learn how to begin meetings and conversations in a way that is succinct, empathetic, and effective, while putting people in a positive and receptive frame of mind. You'll learn how to listen and respond during meetings to maximise both productivity and empathy and how to close meetings in positive ways that lead to great results. Offers proven techniques for improving communication and making an impact professionally Written by Alan Palmer, head of Interactifs UK, which offers communication coaching to major corporate clients Ideal for executives, team leaders, entrepreneurs, and anyone whose success depends on great communication

productivity

Productivity

career

Career

motivationandinspiration

Motivation & Inspiration

books

Books

The businessperson's guide to saying what needs to be said and asking questions that need to be asked In the business world, the first step to great results is good communication. Talk Lean uses original research and a fresh approach to teach businesspeople how to say difficult things and ask difficult questions in a way that is positive, effective, and comfortable for everyone involved. You'll learn how to begin meetings and conversations in a way that is succinct, empathetic, and effective, while putting people in a positive and receptive frame of mind. You'll learn how to listen and respond during meetings to maximise both productivity and empathy and how to close meetings in positive ways that lead to great results. <ul> <li>Offers proven techniques for improving communication and making an impact professionally</li> <li>Written by Alan Palmer, head of Interactifs UK, which offers communication coaching to major corporate clients</li> <li>Ideal for executives, team leaders, entrepreneurs, and anyone whose success depends on great communication</li> </ul>

Alan Palmer

Talk Lean

"A Statement of Work outlines the scope of work to be performed and identifies the objectives, tasks, and schedule related to that work"SOW's are very detailed and binding contracts that specify all the details related to a project, including reporting hierarchies, timelines, budgets, resources and other terms and conditions related to that project or work.It is a clearly written project management plan detailing the minutest aspects of the project to bring all the stakeholders on the same page.

What is Statement of Work(SOW) ?

At times we thought that SCOPE of a project also includes details regarding that project , so whats the difference, but it is not true because:Scope of Work deals with a brief overview of the project, the list of tasks, a detailed description of services, members, or teams responsible for tasks and services, due dates, expected outcomes, and so on.Whereas, the Statement of Work encompasses the Scope of Work, plus other aspects of project management like budget allocation, financing, resources, equipment provisioning, training, payment processing, performance management, and so on.

Scope V/S SOW

A comprehensive SOW agreement defines each and every aspect of the project in clear terms to all parties involved.A formal SOW document is especially helpful when working with external resources or outsourcing projects to vendors or third parties. It serves as a legally binding contract that comes into play in case of disputes arising due to failure or breach of any terms of the project.It’s also helpful to project manager, as it provides a structure on which the project plan can be built on. The statement of work will also help to avoid conflicts in the project.

SOW in Project Management

As noted, the Statement Of Work is a detailed overview of the project scope. It’s also a way to share the project requirements, acceptance criteria, payment terms, allocated resources, finances and other requisites with those who are working on the project, whether they are collaborating or are contracted to work on the project.With detail and clarity, the SOW helps keep everyone that’s involved in the project on the same page and works to leave confusion to a minimum.

The Bottom Line

SOW is a detailed statement which includes plan, budget, finance, allocated resources and every other minute details regarding any project or work. And to execute and project or work effectively we have to take care or each and every detail related to that project .. So this makes the SOW important ... Here's a guide that gives you an idea about what is SOW and related things ..

A Statement of Work outlines the scope of work to be performed and identifies the objectives, tasks, and schedule. Here's what you need to know.

marketingandsales

Marketing & Sales

computerscience

Computer Science

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

What Is an SOW (Statement of Work)?

When you rethink a room, start with bringing natural light into darker spaces. <ul><li>Placing mirrors close to windows at a perpendicular angle will reflect light deeper into a room while bringing a reflection of the outdoors inside.</li><li>Placing a mirror on the opposite wall creates the illusion of an extra window.</li><li>Using a mixture of tints and styles creates a soulful atmosphere.</li></ul>

A mirror brightens every room

The secret to a feel-good front room is always having a handy place to set your G&T down. Invest in some additional side tables, which doubles as a place for books, bijoux objets d’art, an extra lamp or a handy spot for your own dedicated, mood-lifting minibar.

Display your drinks in style

You only need to tweak, rearrange or add a new addition to change your space. With shelves, imagine you're creating a collection. Start with your most-loved item, then build from there, connecting through colour, textile or print. Things don't need to be valuable. See what you're drawn to at markets, car boots, or secondhand.

See what you are drawn to

Good storage makes working life more serene and seamlessly productive. Instead of choosing bland or beige, choose something with a decorative flair.

Box clever with better storage

Scour Facebook Marketplace for small glass-fronted cabinets that you can tart up with some paint, and line the shelves with colourful wallpaper, or a bobbin-detail wooden shelf that can be wall-hung to display both unguents and ornaments.  Invest in a portable light in a pretty colour so that you can switch off the harsh spotlights in your bathroom before bed.

Give your bathroom an upgrade

<ul><li>Combine stones and essential oils to relax.</li><li>Give your hallway an easy refresh with a bright and breezy design that signals the fashionability of stripes.</li><li>Bedlinen could resemble the night sky with velvety comforters in midnight hues.</li><li>The bathroom is where most of us start and end our day. Indulging in a feel-good set of towels for everyday use is an indulgent mood booster.</li><li>Good art tells a story, reminding us of the place we bought it and who we were with. Treat the frame as you would fabric on a chair – it should enhance the work of art.</li></ul>

Small touches

Introduce more upbeat colours to your interiors along with colours that connect you directly to nature.  <ul><li>Painting your windows in a colour like the lively yellow Babouche will create an instant impact. </li><li>Interior doors leading to an outside space work particularly well if painted in cheerful colours such as Breakfast Room Green, a botanic shade that invites you into the garden before you have got there. </li></ul>

Choose upbeat colours

Smell is strongly tied to our emotions. Choose a scent to reflect how you want to feel in each room. <ul><li>In the kitchen, fresh and light scents such as Ssage, Llemongrass or Eechinacea work well.</li><li>For bedrooms, hints of patchouli, amber or sandalwood are sexy and mysterious, and when blended with jasmine or rose they become sensual.</li><li>Bergamot and orange blossom are the perfect scents for making guests feel welcome.</li><li>healing and uplifting scents are in demand this year, including sage</li></ul>

Reflect how you want to feel

Storage can be incorporated into your interior design. <ul><li>Go for brightly coloured bookshelves to match upholstery and freestanding box shelves that help divide areas in a room.</li><li>Repurpose your old furniture into storage solutions.</li><li>Transform that old rustic wardrobe into a secret library brimming with books.</li><li>Wall hooks can show off your scarves.</li></ul>

Make storage a display feature

Make time in your own schedule to tidy. Tidy up in one shot rather than little by little. Choose a designated home for each item and get in the habit of putting them back. When you spring clean, always work from the top. Start with dry dust and cobwebs on the ceiling and work downwards. Set yourself a few tasks over a specific time. When the time is up, call it a day.

Develop a tidying routine

Banish the gloom from every room with these 25 tips to give your house a mood-boosting makeover

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

Wake up to a happy home: how to design a feelgood house

Increasing your productivity is easy. It’s just a matter of making a few simple changes to your routine, or behaviour, or thinking, and your productivity will soar.
At least, that’s what countless online articles claim. The actual science tells a different story. Even a modest amount of research reveals that some of the most commonly touted claims about how to boost productivity fall apart in the face of the evidence.

The Advice On The Internet About Increasing Productivity

It's regularly claimed that you'll be more productive if you get up early - very early. However, there are many reasons why waking up early could be actively unproductive.
Sleep is crucial for our ability to function, and depriving yourself of it does more harm than good.

Myth 1: Waking up at 4 am will make you more productive

<ul><li>The most successful people experience 24-hour days just like anyone else.</li><li>However, the ability to use those hours productively differs tremendously from person to person.</li><li>Context is everything.</li><li>It's far easier to use time productively when you have the money and resources.</li><li>Few people have the option to use that time 100-percent productively.</li></ul>

Myth 2: We All Have The Same 24 Hours A Day

<ul><li>The idea that constantly being busy is the only way to be truly productive is the default assumption for many people</li><li>In truth, it has long been known that multitasking or 'task switching' actually erodes your productivity</li><li>The human brain has limited resources when it comes to attention and working memory - our abilities to focus on and think about things</li><li>Overworking yourself will compromise your ability to do simple tasks effectively</li></ul>

Myth 3: Keeping Busy Means Being More Productive

<ul><li>According to many people, productivity is linked to happiness - the happier you are, the more productive you will be.</li><li>However, scientific studies reveal that happy workers are only 12% more productive.</li><li>Persuading people to be happy often backfires: If people believe they must be happy, it is harder for them to achieve their goals.</li></ul>

Myth 4: You Should Be Happy in Your Work

<ul><li>As much as we might want to believe otherwise, when countless people are working equally hard for the same goals, the most important factor is actually going to be... plain old luck!</li><li>You can't tell people to 'be lucky' in the same way you can cajole them to work hard.</li><li>Our brains are sensitive to the balance between effort and reward.</li><li>When the effort we put in is not rewarded as expected, it causes stress and negative emotions.</li></ul>

Myth 5: Hard Work Always Pays Off

How much truth is behind the productivity myths touted by influencers, and do we all need to be setting our alarms for 4am?

timemanagement

Time Management

A neuroscientist debunks the biggest productivity myths | BBC Science Focus Magazine

Reading isn't easy for most people. Research shows that 23% of American adults say they haven’t read a book in a year. It takes practice to sharpen reading and writing skills. If you struggle to read consistently or want to make reading a daily habit, use your intellectual curiosity to choose what to read. Any topic you are curious about can be a starting point for building a consistent reading habit.

Curiosity drives action

Your natural willingness to learn new things can make reading easier. When you're curious and not under pressure to read, you would be more interested in gaining knowledge. Many people pick books based on recommendations, but intellectual curiosities are a better approach if you are in the early stages of making reading a habit.

Many people think reading is a chore or burden

There are four elements you need to create a reading habit:<ol><li>Desire</li><li>A Reading trigger</li><li>A place to read</li><li>Time to read</li></ol>

Elements needed to establish a reading habit

To start developing a reading habit, it’s important to know what you’re looking for. Do you want to acquire knowledge, solve a problem or want to read to enjoy your leisure time? Knowing your goal can help you become a better reader.

Developing a reading habit

Reading isn’t easy for most people. The human brain is wired to speak; it’s not wired to read or write. It takes practice to hone reading and writing skills. In fact, according to research, 23% of…

writing

Reading & Writing

problemsolving

Problem Solving

Your Intellectual Curiosity Is The Key to Cultivating a Daily Reading Habit

What is strategy? A mental tapestry of changing intentions for harmonizing and focusing our efforts as a basis for realizing some aim or purpose in an unfolding and often unforeseen world of many bewildering events and many contending interests.

<ul><li>Military leaders and strategists invest a great deal of time in developing and teaching decision-making processes.</li><li>Developed by strategist and U.S. Air Force Colonel John Boyd, the OODA loop is a practical concept designed to be the foundation of rational thinking in confusing or chaotic situations.</li><li>OODA stands for Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act.</li></ul>For example, fighter pilots have to work fast because taking a second too long to make a decision can cost them their lives.

The OODA Loop

John Boyd developed his ideas during his own time as a fighter pilot. He earned the nickname “Forty-Second Boyd” for his ability to win any fight in under 40 seconds. Boyd spent his career observing people and organizations. How do they adapt to changeable environments in conflicts, business, and other situations?He deduced that these situations are characterized by uncertainty. Dogmatic, rigid theories are unsuitable for chaotic situations. Rather than trying to rise through the military ranks, Boyd focused on using his position as colonel to compose a theory of the universal logic of war.

Forty-Second Boyd

OODA stands for Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. The description of it as a loop is crucial. Boyd intended the four steps to be repeated again and again until a conflict finishes. Although most depictions of the OODA loop portray it as a superficial idea, there is a lot of depth to it. Using it should be simple, but it has a rich basis in interdisciplinary knowledge.

The Four Parts of the OODA Loop

The first step in the OODA Loop is to observe. At this stage, the main focus is to build a comprehensive picture of the situation with as much accuracy as possible.A fighter pilot needs to consider: What is immediately affecting me? What is affecting my opponent? What could affect us later on? Can I make any predictions, and how accurate were my prior ones? A pilot’s environment changes rapidly, so these observations need to be broad and fluid.

Part 1: Observe

Orientation is frequently misunderstood or skipped because it is less intuitive than the other stages. Boyd referred to it as the schwerpunkt, a German term that loosely translates to “the main emphasis.” In this context, to orient is to recognize the barriers that might interfere with the other parts of the process.Without an awareness of these barriers, the subsequent decision cannot be a fully rational one. Orienting is all about connecting with reality, not with a false version of events filtered through the lens of cognitive biases and shortcuts.

Part 2: Orient

Orientation isn’t just a state you’re in; it’s a process. You’re always orienting

Four main barriers prevent us from seeing information in an unbiased manner:<ul><li>Our cultural traditions.</li><li>Our genetic heritage.</li><li>Our ability to analyze and synthesize.</li><li>The influx of new information — it is hard to make sense of observations when the situation keeps changing.</li></ul>

Moving Beyond Our Cognitive Bias

One needs to note incorrect assumptions and biases and then replace them with fundamental, versatile mental models. Only then can we begin to garner a reality-oriented picture of the situation, which will inform subsequent decisions.Example: A snowmobile comprises elements of different devices. The caterpillar treads of a tank, skis, the outboard motor of a boat, the handlebars of a bike — each of those elements are useless alone, but combining them creates a functional vehicle.We have to build a metaphorical snowmobile by combining practical concepts from different disciplines.

Tune Out The Noise, Find What Is   Fundamental 

Having gathered information and oriented ourselves, we have to make an informed decision. The previous two steps should have generated a plethora of ideas, so this is the point where we choose the most relevant option.First-conclusion bias:  We cannot keep making the same decision again and again. This part of the loop needs to be flexible and open to Bayesian updating. The implication is that we should test the decisions we make at this point in the loop, spotting their flaws and including any issues in future observation stages.

Part 3: Decide

While technically a decision-making process, the OODA loop is all about action. The ability to act upon rational decisions is a serious advantage.The other steps are mere precursors. A decision made, now is the time to act upon it. Also known as the test stage, this is when we experiment to see how good our decision was. Did we observe the right information? Did we use the best possible mental models? Did we get swayed by biases and other barriers? Can we disprove the prior hypothesis? Whatever the outcome, we then cycle back to the first part of the loop and begin observing again.

Part 4: Act

Fighter pilots must make many decisions in fast succession. They don’t have time to list pros and cons or to consider every available avenue. Once the OODA loop becomes part of their mental toolboxes, they should be able to cycle through it in a matter of seconds.Speed is a crucial element of military decision making. Using the OODA loop in everyday life, we probably have a little more time than a fighter pilot would. But Boyd emphasized the value of being decisive, taking initiative, and staying autonomous. These are universal assets and apply to many situations.

Why the OODA Loop Works: Speed

Uncertainty does not always equate to risk. A fighter pilot is in a precarious situation, where there will be gaps in their knowledge. They cannot read the mind of the opponent and might have incomplete information about the weather conditions and surrounding environment. They can, however, take into account key factors such as the opponent’s nationality, the type of aeroplane they are flying, and what their manoeuvres reveal about their intentions and level of training.

Why the OODA Loop Works: Comfort In Uncertainty

Gödel’s theorems indicate that any mental model we have of reality will omit certain information and that Bayesian updating must be used to bring it in line with reality. Our understanding of science illustrates this.In the past, people’s conception of reality missed crucial concepts such as criticality, relativity, the laws of thermodynamics, and gravity. As we have discovered these concepts, we have updated our view of the world. Yet we would be foolish to think that we now know everything and our worldview is complete. Other key principles remain undiscovered.

First Principles: Gödel’s Proof

This principle describes the limit of the precision with which pairs of physical properties can be understood. We cannot know the position and the velocity of a body at the same time. We can know either its location or its speed, but not both.  If a pilot focuses too hard on where an enemy plane is, they will lose track of where it is going and vice versa. Trying harder to track the two variables will actually lead to more inaccuracy! Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle applies to myriad areas where excessive observation proves detrimental. Reality is imprecise.

First Principles: Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle

In a closed system, entropy always increases and everything moves towards chaos. Energy spreads out and becomes disorganized.A  fighter pilot must be an open system or they will fail. They must draw “energy” (information) from outside themselves or the situation will become chaotic. They should also aim to cut their opponent off, forcing them to become a closed system.

First Principles: The Second Law of Thermodynamics

Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.

Using the OODA loop should enable us to act faster than an opponent, thereby seeming unpredictable. While they are still deciding what to do, we have already acted. This resets their own loop, moving them back to the observation stage. Keep doing this, and they are either rendered immobile or forced to act without making a considered decision. So, they start making mistakes, which can be exploited.

Why the OODA Loop Works: Unpredictability

We can’t just look at our own personal experiences or use the same mental recipes over and over again; we’ve got to look at other disciplines and activities and relate or connect them to what we know from our experiences and the strategic world we live in.

Ideas should be tested and then, if necessary, discarded.OODA is a feedback loop, with the outcome of actions leading back to observations. We can incorporate testing into our decision-making processes by keeping track of outcomes in <a href="https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/02/decision-journal/">decision journals</a>.Rather than guessing how our decisions lead to certain outcomes, we can get a clear picture to aid us in future orientation stages. Over time, our decision journals will reveal what works and what doesn’t.

Why the OODA Loop Works: Testing

Make decisions using strategies from the best fighter pilot.

Learn the 4-step process fighter pilots use to make split-second decisions when the stakes are at their highest.

OODA LOOP: What You Can Learn from Fighter Pilots About Making Fast and Accurate Decisions

People think stupidity is the opposite of intelligence. In fact, stupidity is the cost of intelligence operating in a complex environment.
Stupidity can be defined as overlooking or dismissing conspicuously crucial information.
It’s crucial information: You better pay attention to it. It’s conspicuous: It’s right in front of your nose and yet you either overlook it or you dismiss it.

Defining Stupidity

<ul><li>Being outside your normal environment or changing your routines.</li><li>Being in the presence of a group(social pressure).</li><li>Being in the presence of an expert or if you, yourself, are an expert.</li><li>Doing any task that requires intense focus, or fixating on a particular outcome.</li><li>Information overload. </li><li>Physical or emotional stress, fatigue. </li><li>Rushing or urgency.</li></ul>The probability of missing key information (stupidity) increases the more the above factors are present.

Seven Factors that Lead to Stupidity

Most of the factors are ubiquitous in modern-day life such as stress, rushing, and information overload. Therefore, our modern life is already susceptible to missing key information and making stupid mistakes.All factors are present in US hospitals. Medical errors are the third-leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer.

Modern Life And Stupidity

<ul><li>Recognize and know that you are in ”the stupid zone”</li><li>Pause. Just sit. Stop, before leaving your environment. If you can’t sit still for a minute, you don’t have the time not to!</li><li>Have a buddy whose job is to watch us. That is their only task, and can’t have the same responsibility as us. Have your own “pit crew”.</li><li>Don’t make decisions or do anything when in the stupid zone. For example, don’t sign a contract or drive.</li></ul>

The Solution

Stupidity is not the opposite of intelligence.

Stupidity is overlooking or dismissing conspicuously crucial information. Here are seven situational factors that compromise your cognitive ability and result in increased odds of stupidity.

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

How Not to Be Stupid - Farnam Street

Throughout the pandemic, technology decision-makers have quickly adopted new solutions to streamline remote and hybrid business processes. But this onboarding process shined a light on a long-standing problem: the inherent biases introduced to tech products by humans. Although many tech solutions are powered by AI, the tech industry has historically lacked an accountable vetting process to account for potential biases in the data these products’ algorithms are built on. The result is often scaled exclusionary practices in the companies that rely on AI-enabled tech to run their businesses.

Technology and Human Bias

Tech giants like <a href="https://blog.google/inside-google/company-announcements/commitments-racial-equity/">Google</a> and <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/08/apple-broadens-racial-equity-and-justice-initiative-with-30-million-in-new-commitments/">Apple</a> have committed to sweeping changes, offering hope for a future where inclusion and equity are standard in industry processes—especially in hiring. However, real change also requires an examination of the past and present biases humans have brought to the tech solutions companies use. Leaders must start raising awareness of inherent biases in the technology they use to make change happen.

Diversity Beyond Hiring

We’re only in the beginning stages of rooting out bias in tech, so awareness is key. But while it’s easy to blame tech for bias, bias ultimately comes from poor data provided by a human. Some factors may be out of your control when it comes to human-placed bias, but there are steps you can take to identify bias in the tech products your organization uses and hold vendors accountable for anti-bias tech offerings.

Three Ways to Evaluate Bias in New Tech

To prevent bias from seeping into tech decisions, every employee should be educated on equitable and anti-bias practices—especially if your company writes algorithms for any of its products. Make this training standard to ensure it’s part of your organization’s operational fabric. Also, apply anti-bias data checks if you leverage automated processes. You don’t want automation to scale up potential biases.

Prioritize Equitable and Anti-Biased Decision-Making

Make the transparent evaluation of data a priority for the partner companies and vendors you work with. Look for organizations with formal and proven processes that evaluate data for bias and regularly publish these findings. Public companies, like Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft, are required to publish annual environmental, social and governance (ESG) reports that document their impacts across these three areas, but private companies aren’t required to publish ESGs.

Push Vendors for Transparency

Consider differences in culture, language and disability when deciding on a tech solution because human bias exists in these areas as well. For example, Zoom is addressing language and disability by adding closed captioning with live translation to their calls, allowing non-English speakers and those who are hard of hearing to feel included. In adopting new tech, consider whether the user experience is palatable for multiple generations of workers, not just younger employees.

Prioritize Inclusive Features

As you engage in your own DEI(Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) efforts, it’s essential to root out human biases in your organization’s internal datasets and those you acquire from third-party vendors. By pushing for more transparency and accountability, adopting a more detailed purchase decision process and making inclusive products a priority, you can raise awareness and help lead the charge in eliminating human bias in tech.

Bizagi’s VP of product marketing points out what gets overlooked and how everyone can play a part in rooting out bias.


technologyandthefuture

Technology & The Future

How to spot human bias in the tech your company uses

When employees are on the clock, most managers expect them to keep busy throughout the workday. This may mean either completing tasks within their remits or finding ways to make sure their hands are in some work-related project. Even when workflows deliver some downtime, the message from management is generally clear: find a way to keep working.  Managers step in with ‘busywork’ to keep their employees occupied. Busywork is something that doesn't have a purpose. It doesn't lead towards reaching any goals, it doesn't improve the person, the operation or the culture.

The Management And Downtime: Keeping Workers Busy For No Reason

The Busywork might include compiling a pointless report, colour-coding a spreadsheet or proofreading a presentation that has already been checked. One 2016 study of 600 knowledge workers showed they spent just <a href="https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/new-study-your-employees-are-probably-spending-less-and-less-time-doing-their-ac.html">39% of their workdays</a> doing their actual jobs, with the rest dedicated to meetings, emails and busywork such as writing status reports for managers.

Busywork

Part of the busywork problem is some managers equate busyness with productivity. The perception is not just that a busy worker is engaged and making an effort, but even that their industriousness gives them a higher moral value than their less busy colleagues. This sets up a dynamic in which two office workers completing identical tasks can be judged on their busyness, rather than their results. Who appears to be more engaged: the busy worker who skips lunch to get things finished, or the efficient worker who finishes early and uses the time saved to buy groceries online?

Controlling The Worker Bees

The Busywork problem is heightened in organisations where work culture dictates that managers operate in a more traditional, authoritative style, discouraging autonomy among employees. In these organisations, managers may also feel under pressure from their own superiors to prove that their team is busy and productive. Managers are saying, ‘I need my employees to keep generating work so that I know they’re earning their salary, because somebody is watching me to make sure that I'm managing them well'.

The Problem With Old School Organizations 

Remote work has, in some cases, exacerbated this pressure. When employees first switched to remote work, many managers found the inability to visually monitor their employees unsettling. In the immediacy of Covid, bosses felt that if they couldn’t see employees working, then they weren’t working. They didn’t think employees were being productive, even if they were still delivering results.A 2020 study showed that 41% of managers questioned their employees’ motivation, and almost a third doubted that their employees had the right knowledge or essential skills to make remote work successful.

Remote Work And The Eroding Of Trust

When higher-ups doubt employees’ work ethic, one solution is to micromanage their time with an endless list of tasks to keep them chained to their desks – even if some of those tasks are pointless. Managers may not even know if an employee has finished their core work, but they are giving additional busywork to ensure that they don't finish for the day. This is to ensure that employees are working, so the manager has a sense that they are still in control.

Giving Work To Maintain Control

It is not just managers who equate industriousness with good performance, however. One study showed knowledge workers spend an average of 41% of their time at work on self-assigned busywork that could be delegated to others, in order to appear busier and more important at work.Online, the pressure to look busy remains, even if that means adding extra tasks to the workday, like sending messages to prove we are logged on. And even though many workers are able to complete their work in less time in remote-work environments, many still feel the pressure to assign themselves busywork.

Employees Know They Have To Look Busy

Some managers report lulls in work during remote set-ups have made employees uneasy. These managers start to assign busywork just to ensure that workers don't feel a void, and remain occupied.But assigning too much busywork to mitigate guilt might mean swapping one set of negative feelings for another. A 2018 study showed 42% of workers were spending half of their time on busywork, and 71% said that doing too much busywork made them feel as though their lives were being wasted.

Managing The Lull

In the long-term, frequently assigning tasks designed primarily to keep workers occupied can damage the relationship between managers and their workers. It can be very demotivating to the remote employee. It's a sign of lack of trust and lack of care. The real tragedy of busywork is in the opportunity that is lost. There’s so much that could be done within that time that would be beneficial to both the employee and the firm.

Wasting Countless Hours

Some alternatives for busywork: Assigning the worker meaningful tasks or opportunities for growth that often gets put on the back burner, such as training. A great way is to let employees take a breather. Numerous studies have proven the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2165079916653416">benefits of taking regular breaks</a> during the workday. Among them are reduced stress and <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110208131529.htm">improved focus</a>, creativity and productivity – all positives for employees and their organisations.

Taking A Break Is Good

When remote workers are putting in increasingly long hours, piling on endless busywork will have the opposite effect. The primary risk is that employees burn out and their mental wellness is impacted. This Great Resignation is the result, in part, of exhausted people who are not managed effectively in their remote work because it wasn't flexible enough.

Busywork Leads To Burnout

Apart from giving meaningful work, another approach is to give teams autonomy, which is motivating and creates a virtuous cycle, where people want to do a good job.Managers need to think harder about the kind of tasks they are handing out. The idea is to keep employees busy during work hours, but avoid busywork. Instead, they should plan for slow periods, and look for tasks they can give that will add value.

Breaking The Cycle

Ultimately, managers who feel caught in a cycle of assigning busywork should take a step back and think more broadly about what their managers want from them – rather than scrambling to keep people busy. They're probably looking for you to generate good results and, hopefully, retain people who are happy working for you.If the flexible schedules now in demand swap work hours for outcomes, they could take busywork with them, and leave healthier, happier workers in their wake.

Stop giving superficial and useless work to employees just to keep them busy.

Many managers fill up employees’ plates with inane tasks, just to keep them working. Why are higher-ups so afraid of downtime?

The managerial obsession with 'busywork'

<ul><li>Margaret Cavendish was writing at a time when the prevailing view was that only men were cut out for a life of reflection, while women were better suited to more menial affairs.</li><li>Although she was aware of the social restraints on her philosophical endeavours, Cavendish took matters into her own hands by publishing her own ideas and addressing them directly to her readers.</li><li>Her engagement with her ideas was direct, and there was no evidence of her engagement with any of her ideas from her peers or from her own experience.</li></ul>

Too Much For The 17th Century

By Discourse, I do not mean speech, but an Arguing of the mind … for Discourse is as much as Reasoning with ourselves.

This sense of thinking through an issue as a back-and-forth is something that philosophy teachers (myself included) often try to encourage in students. They should read their work and imagine someone (perhaps annoyingly child-like) asking Why? at every possible juncture. What’s the evidence for that? What argument supports that? What are the counterarguments? Those questions need to be acknowledged, if not always sufficiently answered.

A Third Person To Scrutinize

When we are thinking through an issue, the reasoning process often takes the form of a back-and-forth. Objections, concerns, and problems arise as we try to work through a point. Sometimes, this can make it feel like there is someone there, inside your head, actually responding to you.

The Reasoning Process

The aim of reasoning in philosophy is not to defend a particular piece of intellectual territory, but to get closer to the truth. Having one's commitments and assumptions pointed out and noting how they influence one's way of thinking is an important step towards this.

The Benefit Of Having Ideas Challenged

When Cavendish’s Philosophical Letters (1664) were published, epistolary writings, in which prominent figures debated the most significant philosophical issues of the day, were common. In her own Letters, Cavendish critically responds to the work of four well-known ‘natural philosophers’: Descartes, Hobbes, Henry More etc. However, the letters themselves are all addressed to an interlocutor simply referred to as ‘Madam’. It is hard not to think that Cavendish is making a point here: Since no one will respond to me, I’ll have to do it myself

Addressing Her Work To Herself

‘Discourse is as much as Reasoning with our selves’: how Margaret Cavendish harnessed the power of talking to one’s self

Margaret Cavendish and the power of debating with yourself | Psyche Ideas

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