Good Chair, Good Lighting, and Tree Houses: Design Your WorkspaceStudies show a comfortable workspace translates into improved productivity. Of course, "comfortable" means different things to different people, but there are some workspace features that are consistently helpful for everyone. Read on for design ideas for your cubicle, home office...or tree house.
The Importance of Balance in Your Agile ValuesSteve Berczuk explores the importance of balance and the relationship between agile values and top performing teams. The connection between agile values and balancing the various aspects of our lives should not be too surprising, but balancing all aspects of agile principles is difficult.
How to Identify Disengaged Employees—and Increase ProductivityProductivity can be difficult to increase but is usually easy to decrease. Undermotivated or unhappy employees spread discontent and use idle time to sidetrack their teammates. Identifying disengaged employees and removing them as a distraction will make everyone on the team more productive.
Everyday Rituals Can Bring Creativity and ProductivityIn our neverending quest for innovation when developing technology, we often overlook the launch pad that everyday rituals provide. Rituals get an underserved bad rap. Consider that it’s not a bad thing when you make a habit of whatever ritual prompts your creativity—and productivity.
Measuring Development Time: Not the Best Way to Spend Your TimeManagers and project managers are often obsessed with measuring the time it takes to do a task. Time is useful to consider, but measuring time doesn’t always give us the information we really want or need. It's true that work takes time, but it's more valuable to measure results and value delivered.
When Smart People Do Dumb ThingsSmart people obviously do a lot of smart things or they wouldn’t be considered smart people. But smart people sometimes do dumb things too. Naomi Karten gives us the rundown on what causes otherwise intelligent people to behave in foolish ways.
How Being Active at Work Leads to Better CollaborationSteve Berczuk shares his insight on how novel approaches to being active at work can lead to better collaboration. If being active can improve collaboration, why not be active? After all, studies have shown that a healthy team is a productive one.
Learning While SleepingNapping on the job can recharge a tired mind, boost energy, and increase productivity. Now emerging research shows that people might potentially have the ability to learn new things while sleeping. Naomi Karten writes on the brain's ability to learn while resting.
