Business Productivity Hacks

Small changes or additions to your work environment can make a big impact on your productivity.

The following is a short list of items and behaviors that have helped me produce at my highest level possible; often times achieving what takes others 2 days in a matter of hours.

Whiteboards

This is by no means a new concept, but I still walk into businesses that are not using them, or not using them correctly.

Whiteboards are not just for board and meeting rooms, they need to be present wherever you do your work and need to be productive.

I have a whiteboard in every location I work:

Here’s my warehouse office:

Here’s my Old City office:

And here’s my home office:

Yes, my home office is small, but there is a reason for that - it’s modular. I can take it with me when I go to meetings, when I want to work on the deck, and I can put it away when it’s not being used.

Whiteboards are often undervalued, when in reality it’s like the ultimate brainstorming space; you have a slate you can literally wipe clean as often as needed.

Almost every application I have ever designed has been done on a whiteboard, often times going through multiple iterations of workflow, experience, and interface in a matter of minutes.

What if we do this? Well then this would have to be here; wipe it off and move it. Get feedback. Iterate and improve.

Working in Sprints

Again, not a new concept. I’ve written before about how important this is to me - but it’s worth mentioning again.

I’m guilty of not stopping when my time is up, sometimes it’s really hard to break away from a task when you’re “plugged in,” but this is when it is most critical.

A full break from production; walking away from your desk, and out of your office, will improve your performance and ultimately lead to better work.

Research has found that:

deactivating and reactivating your goals allows you to stay focused - Science Daily

and the sam dynamic work environment can increase productivity when the breaks are taken as a group

In general when we look at what makes people happy and effective at work, it’s being able to spend time with a close group of people,” Dr. Waber said. “You need to structure work in such a way that people have those opportunities. - New York Times

I have found with my own team that group breaks not only improve productivity, but help us to define and refine our culture as a company. Whether the breaks are a walk around the block for a macchiato, a spontaneous Nerf war, or happy hour - they positively affect the group dynamic and increase the depth of our relationships.

Use One Computer For Work

I’ll admit I have several machines, but only this year did I dedicate one to work only.

This is not just to remove distractions from my hard drive (which it does), but is for a list of specific reasons:

1. You have access to all of your local files at all times. I realize this is easily achievable with many cloud-based back-up programs (I use SugarSync), but there is a general convenience factor.
2. Develop a level of comfort within your virtual workspace. I used to switch between desktops at my offices and carry a laptop, I never thought much of it until I started to realize that files and folders were not uniform between my machines, and on occasion, the files I needed were not on the machine I was working on.
3. Reduce the amount of software you have to maintain. That is a bit of an over-generalization, but having a dedicated work machine means that I only have to worry about keeping my work production software up-to-date on one machine, streamlining the need to save files to older versions and update software across several machines.

Dual Monitors

It seems insane to me that I still meet people who use only one monitor, more so, when I meet developers who use only one monitor.

The common reasoning is ‘multiple desktops dude,’ but it’s not the same; you can’t see multiple desktops at one time - you can look at one and work on the other simultaneously.

It’s been found that dual monitors can increase productivity between 9 and 50 percent depending on the tasks at hand.

I’ve found that it allows me to create a more uniform workspace (as I mentioned earlier); I keep the same 23" Asus LED 1080p monitor at all 3 of my offices - I get into the office, plug the HDMI cable in my MBP and I’m off to the races.

Buy a Nice Chair

A study at the end of 2012 that pooled data from 18 other studies encompassing results from 794,577 people found that

the average adult spends 50 to 70 percent of their time sitting.

Furthermore, not only can a proper, form-fitting chair assist in pain relief, better circulation, and improved muscle support - it can improve your concentration, by limiting your discomfort and the distractions caused by it.

And because the average employed American spends 7.7 hours per day working, many of which whom do so starring at a computer screen, why not work in comfort?

Small Changes Make a Big Difference

I’m at a point in my career where time is a commodity, measured in units of production.

Any advantages I can gain to save time and increase production, directly result in a higher quality of life.

What are some of your productivity hacks?