Meeting your bodyguard

This summer one of my favorite higher education news sources, Inside Higher Ed, is running a series on summer writing productivity.  Although it's a pretty niche audience, these posts have relevance for anyone seeking to boost productivity.

Today's post, Meet Your Bodyguard, contains many useful tips on starting writing projects, but I think the biggest tip this post offers is that YOU are responsible for your own productivity.  Most people who I meet who are productive know this, and that's what makes the difference.  Those who blame outside forces (my job is too much for me, my family is too demanding) often don't have the sense of responsibility for their time necessary to make the most of it.

Check out the series and think about how you may be standing in the way of your own productivity.

How computers mess up your brain

A large part of my book dealt with multitasking and dealing with the always-connected nature of the workspace, especially for information workers like us.  Last week the New York Times ran a great article called "Your Brain on Computers: Attached to Technology and Paying a Price" that reflects these themes and shows the potential negative impact of an always-on attitude.  Very interesting reading!

Hippos and customer experience

For this week I have a post from the Good Experience blog.  The author, Mark Hurst, wrote Bit Literacy, which I referenced in my book as a system of productivity.  His excellent blog focuses on providing and promoting good customer experiences, something most librarians can get behind.

This particular post discusses how the most highly paid person in the room (the HIPPO) usually has his or her opinion implemented regardless of all other data.  The buy-in of this person on projects is crucial, and this person's view of the organization sets the mood for all actions.  Consider the HIPPO when dealing with issues of customer service, workplace productivity and motivation.

The search world is flat

An article burning up the twittersphere this morning called "The Search World Is Flat," discusses the information search cycle but has some implications for productivity thinking too.  Students were given 50 minutes to write a researched 2 page paper on the use of computers in education, and the overwhelming majority turned to Google or other familiar sites rather than library resources--a familiar tale.  However, the post also discussed the time involved in the research process and the time that can be saved by using library resources and search techniques--things that are near and dear to productive librarians' hearts.  Productivity isn't just about our work, but it can be about our users' work as well.  Food for thought for this month!