Discussing Innovation at Silicon Valley Product Camp
, I headed to another event – Silicon Valley Product Camp – for a day of interesting discussions on designing better products. It has become a good tradition for me to attend this get-together, and this year my company, Wrike, was one of the sponsors of the Product Camp. Since at this “unconference” the participants themselves vote for the topics they want to hear, it was a pleasure for me to have my proposal chosen on the event day. As usual, the camps are much more interactive than a typical conference, so it was fun. The audience loved the topic and brought up great questions and ideas. People were especially interested in mobile, game mechanics, conversion optimization and launch, all important topics on their own, so I might develop some follow-up presentations later. By the end of the hour, almost everyone in the room was engaged in the discussion, which, in my opinion, is the best thing about such events as the Product Camp. Do you have a story or tip of your own to share on packaging great innovations in an easy-to-adopt product?
Tips for Creating a “Comfort App” Shared at Web 2.0 Expo
I’ve posted my presentation at Slideshare. So if you didn’t attend the event, you can still get highlights from the talk and find out what I believe to be the key things for an app’s success. It’ll be very interesting for me to hear your opinion on the topic. What do you think makes business software comfortable and drives its adoption? Please share your ideas in the comments to this post. Be Innovative, Yet Familiar: How to Create a Comfort App People Will Actually Use View more presentations from Wrike com
Looking forward to MLab Roundtable on Evolution of Management Innovation
. Today the discipline of management is pressed by numerous factors, like globalization and shortening strategic lifecycles. Management is developing and embracing the benefits of openness, emergence, adaptability, and many other principles countering those of the management status quo (e.g., hierarchies, command control, bureaucracy) that companies have institutionalized over the past century. Organizations like Management Innovation Lab help to create “tomorrow’s best practices” today. I’ll be happy to add my 2 cents.
The Importance of Project Management: Q&A with PMO Leader Robert Kelly
For many business professionals, project management is often in the back of their minds. Building business and ROI are two of the top priorities for executives, while project management is generally not on their radar. Most people are unaware that not having a proper work management process in place is actually costing them money. We spoke with Robert Kelly, PMO leader and Managing Partner of Kelly Project Solutions, LLC, about the value of project management and the impact it has on business. We also discussed ways to combat chronic low productivity, the evolution of PM technology, and what he predicts project management will look like in 2020. Read the full interview below: 1. Tell us a bit about yourself. I am a proud father to three wonderful children and a blessed husband to my wife Jasmin, for going on 12 years now. Professionally, I am an accidental project manager who continues to perfect the craft after 15 years. As the co-founder and host of #PMChat on Twitter, I am always collaborating with some of the best minds from around the world on leadership, project management, and other business topics. Lastly, I am a Managing Partner of Kelly Project Solutions, which is a consulting firm that focuses on Project Management and Communications Leadership for small and medium-sized businesses. 2. What are the top issues you face as a PMO leader? I believe there are several challenges facing the PMO leader, which are shared across the organization: 1. Quality Talent. The productization of project management (turn-key templates, magic-bullet methodologies, etc.) have watered down the talent pool with candidates that can really speak the jargon. It makes it difficult for general recruiters to truly find a solid project leader. 2. Investment. Too many PMOs are still viewed as a cost center, rather than a source of revenue. Regardless of your business, project management is a Service. Your project management has significantly more touchpoints with your customer (especially external) than sales or an internal executive. Research from Technology Services Industry Association (TSIA) shows an engaged sales model (albeit managed IT services) has 15:1 touchpoint, compared to sales. Retention revenue and CSAT all drive up double digits, with sales cycles and customer acquisition costs driving down drastically. Companies must invest in the training of the project managers, client facing tools, and travel budgets to build the relationships. This applies to internal facing PMOs as well. 3. Identity Crisis. PMOs have long faced the challenge of choosing to be a resource pool or a governance body, and that has only become more challenging with the growth of “shadow IT.” PMOs must get clear direction from the CIO or this will continue to be a major challenge in 2016. 3. As a PMO thought leader, do you think it's imperative that companies embrace standard PM methodologies? Why? With caution and a focus on “-ies”, I would say yes. If you look across Lean Six Sigma, traditional stage gate, Agile, MS Dynamics Implementation, etc., you will be able to develop a toolkit of core processes and tools that are customized to fit your business and the common project types you deliver. With that said, keep the variations to a minimum because a core benefit of project management includes scalable, repeatable process that can be learned and implemented quickly across the organization. When there is a common methodology, associated lexicon project managers, team members, and partners can be brought up to speed quickly. Lessons learned and measurements can be baselined and compared for an environment of continuous improvement. 4. How can poor project management affect business? At the risk of sounding dramatic, your business can crumble as a result of poor project management. Poor requirements can result in a horrible product brought to market… affecting brand equity for years! If you are in a heavily regulated environment, then lack of process documentation could set you back years in penalties, loss of licenses, etc. If you consider the day-to-day, without solid project management, organizations typically see duplicate efforts, poor resource utilization, wasted dollars on change requests, wasted time on lack/poor communication, and so on. [inlinetweet prefix="" tweeter="" suffix="— @rkelly976"]"Your business can crumble as a result of poor project management"[/inlinetweet] 5. How is technology changing project management and the way people perceive it? Technology is providing project managers with tremendous tools to improve collaboration, planning, and efficiency on their projects. A single platform to plan, communicate, track budgets and time saves hours each week! For the PMO, many PPM platforms are allowing management to better track/plan resource utilization, view dashboards on project status and issues, etc. These PPM tools allow management to get out of the way of the project teams with status questions and allow them to DO the work. 6. What are 3 tips you would give someone who struggles with productivity at work? 1. Finish your day with some organization time. Review the day: do you owe anyone anything before you leave? Consider tomorrow: what does the calendar look like? What are my key action items do over the next 24-48 hours? This will reduce the "gotchas" that creep in during the day and gets you mentally prepared for the next day. 2. Leverage reminders. Regardless of whether or not you have a sophisticated project platform, almost every email platform has reminders. Set dates and times, with reminders to pop-up when things are due. 3. Get away. In today’s world of open cubicles, sometimes you just need to book a conference room for 30 minutes to catch up and stay focused and uninterrupted behind closed doors. 7. How do you think project management will change (or stay the same) in 2020? I think it will go one of two ways. If we don’t get away from the turn-key checklist approach, then PM will become a life skill that any employee within a department will leverage. As more and more technology is shifted to self-serve, cloud automation becomes an even greater risk. I know, someone has to develop the self-serve platform… just like large hosting farms only require a few engineers, those platforms won’t require as many PMs. The other way this could go is that we PM professionals get past the project charter and process to develop leadership and business skills. If we can bring more value to the table, as a profession/discipline, then we will begin to handle more business-aligned, strategic initiatives. When we start bringing more business value, then we will be tied more closely to the CIO and CEO of the organization. 8. What's a big new trend that you see coming that people aren't paying enough attention to? PMO as a Service. Organizations have long leveraged the PM consultant, because there often isn’t enough activity to fund a full-time employee. Unfortunately, the churn associated with new consultants and getting them up to speed eats into the project benefits a company is hoping to receive. In today’s society, people only want to pay for what they consume, but they also want personalization. A PMO as a Service model accomplishes that. An organization can tap into this PMOaaS when they need it and the Service Provider can re-assign the same PM or be required to ‘onboard’ them for readiness. The company doesn’t have to spend money on certifications, level of PM, licenses for PPM software, etc. We have seen a lot of interest in this model. How has a successful project management process impacted your business? Share your before and after story in the comments. We hope everyone can learn from one another. Save your company money and improve project outcomes by starting your free trial of Wrike today! Bio: Robert Kelly has been managing projects and project teams for 15 years. His project teams and results have spanned 40+ countries and a diverse portfolio of projects; including sales, marketing, and IT initiatives across a number of industries. Robert is a Managing Partner at KPS, a project management consultancy in Raleigh, NC. He is also the Co-Founder and Host of #PMChat, a global community of project managers and business leaders that discuss best practices and lessons learned via Twitter. Follow him on Twitter @rkelly976
Wrike's Success Story to Be Showcased at Web 2.0 Expo!
Andrew’s proposal has been picked by the tough committee out of hundreds other competing proposals submitted by experienced business, marketing and technical professionals. So the visitors to the biggest conference and trade show that highlights the latest Web 2.0 business models, products and strategies will a get a chance to hear the first-person perspective of Wrike’s success story. In Wrike project management software, the modern Web 2.0 technologies were brought together in a powerful mix with email, the most ubiquitous communication and collaboration tool. As a result, Wrike’s team has created a social project management solution that helps thousands of big and small project teams boost their efficiency. Andrew will share his experience and discuss how mixing brand-new and well familiar technologies allowed us to develop a really helpful app that you and your peers use with true comfort. Andrew will present his speech at Moscone West, San Francisco, on March, 29. See you at Web 2.0 Expo!
"Be Innovative, Yet Familiar" – the topic of my presentation at the upcoming Web 2.0 Expo SF
What we are facing today is that people, who made Facebook and Twitter an integral part of their personal life, are still often reluctant to use Web 2.0 tools at work. My presentation will explain how vendors should approach Web 2.0 solutions, so that business users can quickly adopt them from day one. The point of focus there is recognizing the existing user behaviors and fitting into their current workflows. There are many examples in the industry where this worked well, and there are also examples where great ideas that didn’t follow this simple rule stumbled along the way. We’ve followed this approach at Wrike, our project management software, and it proved to be very effective, so I wanted to share it with my peers. Wrike is now used by thousands of corporate and SMB teams worldwide. We took on a very complex problem (everyone who tried to implement Microsoft Project Server in their organization knows what I’m talking about) and came up with an elegant solution that people love and instantly adopt. A big part of it was relying on existing behaviors, like sending e-mail, which is the backbone of the majority of online project communications today. So we zealously focused on closing the gap between e-mail and project management. During my presentation, I plan to share how this was done and other examples of making an app that’s comfortable to use, instead of trying to revolutionize people’s working experience in one big leap. As you probably know, Web 2.0 Expo is the biggest industry event that showcases the latest Web 2.0 business models, development paradigms, products and design strategies for the creators of the next-generation Web. This is where industry leaders share new ideas, experiences, case studies, techniques and tactics to reshape reality by means of technology. I hope to see you at the conference. Are there any particular questions you think I should cover in my talk? Go ahead and post them in the comments.
New Integration with IBM Connections Presented at IBM Connect in Orlando
This week, the Wrike team is taking part in IBM Connect conference that is held January 27-31 in Orlando, FL, under the motto “Get social. Do business.” We’re proud to let you know about the main reason we’re there: we’ve announced our integration with IBM Connections, the leading social software platform for businesses. This morning, our CEO showcased the new integration at the keynote session of the conference in front of 4,000+ attendees.This week, the Wrike team is taking part in IBM Connect conference that is held January 27-31 in Orlando, FL, under the motto “Get social. Do business.” We’re proud to let you know about the main reason we’re there: We’ve announced our integration with IBM Connections, the leading social software platform for businesses. This morning, our CEO showcased the new integration at the keynote session of the conference in front of 4,000+ attendees. Here's Andrew’s first-hand comment about the exciting news right from the event floor: “The distributed workforce is quickly expanding, so mobility is a No. 1 priority for CIOs these days. One of the core ideas behind our integration with IBM Connections is to make the management of mobile workers better, while making them more productive.” “Making work management software inherently social brings a wealth of benefits, from smooth collaboration to real-time visibility, into the work status. Embraced by Connections, the OpenSocial standard glues enterprise social platforms together, providing a fluid user experience and adding to our connected work graph vision.” So, how exactly does the integration work, and what does it bring to mobile workers? Wrike’s extensive task management features are provided as an embedded experience right in the IBM Connections interface. This will help employees get a clear overview of their responsibilities, focus on the priorities and distribute their efforts between assignments. With Wrike’s real-time project updates embedded right into the newsfeed, visibility into work progress is increased for the whole team. So even if colleagues are working from different offices, cities or countries, they will be able to keep up with the progress, while the management gets a clear picture of the current work status across all projects. Wrike’s Gantt chart, workload view and other features for project management also are accessible in IBM Connections. They will help managers and teams accurately plan and execute those plans, whether they are small task lists or large-scale projects.
The Secrets to Work-Life Balance: Interview with <i>Overwhelmed</i> Author Brigid Schulte
Most Americans consider a 37.5-hour work week short, and respond to days of low productivity by multitasking. We may be working hard, but are we working smart? Research shows America is not the most productive country; Norway takes the cake for that one. America is actually tied with France for most productive countrymen — and they have 30 days of paid vacation, paid parental leave, and after-hours email is outlawed. Compare that to the fact that 1 in 4 working Americans has no access to PTO of any kind, and it seems we're actually losing to France as well. What are we doing wrong? We spoke with author and retired workaholic, Brigid Schulte, about her book Overwhelmed and asked her to share some work-life balance tips she's picked up that can help you, and why remote work is so hard for many to embrace, but why it's worth it. Her research studying workplaces around the world proves that the U.S. is driving their employees to burn out, resent employers, and hate their jobs. Read our Q&A with her to learn how to take back leisure time, find out which companies are the most/least productive, and why multitasking does not exist. 1. Tell us a bit about yourself and your book Overwhelmed. I’m a writer and long-time journalist. I’m a wife, mother of two, sister, daughter, and friend. I love Spock, decaf nonfat lattes, and any day I can get outside where there’s more green than concrete. The book is really an accidental book. It stemmed from leading a crazy busy life, stressed out all the time, never sleeping, feeling that life was passing me by, not knowing why, and thinking things couldn't change. It all started when I’d broken out in a wicked case of stress eczema and had packed on about 30 extra pounds because I never felt I had time to get to the gym. A time-use researcher told me I had 30 hours of leisure a week, like all women, and men had 40. I about fell out of my chair. I told him he was nuts. He challenged me to keep a time diary, and Overwhelmed was born. I wrote a Washington Post magazine story about the attempt to find my elusive leisure time — and thought I’d be exposing myself as a disorganized neurotic underneath a somewhat professional, put-together veneer. I was bowled over by the response; hundreds and hundreds of people wrote me and said things like, 'You climbed into my head and wrote about my life.' That’s when I decided to look deeply into the way we’re living now. The book asks two questions: Why are things the way they are? And how can they be better? The book is really a journey from what I call "Time Confetti" toward "Time Serenity" — that space where you feel that there is enough time to do what you both need and most want to do. I was hit early on by something the Harvard psychologist Erik Erikson said: 'The richest and fullest lives make time for the three great arenas of life — work, love, and play.' So I decided to ask my two questions in each of these great arenas. And that became the basis for the subtitle of the book. It’s really in search of The Good Life in the modern age. 2. Why is "leisure time" so important? To be perfectly honest, when I began this journey, I didn’t think it was. I was like most Americans, I thought time always had to be productive — that I had to be doing something, anything, always driving forward, on the way to somewhere else, somewhere undoubtedly better. Leisure was for lazy people, losers, and slackers. The word even conjures up slick, sleezy, leisure suits. I definitely think we need a better word to describe what I’ve come to see is really the essence of being human. The Greek philosophers like Aristotle said, 'We work to have leisure, upon which happiness is based.' Which was all well and good if you were a man of high status. They’re the ones who’ve had access to this kind of uninterrupted space to think, dream, imagine, contemplate, daydream, experiment. Psychologists now call this kind of time “flow”, or peak human experience. And it wasn’t until I read a book by the philosopher Josef Pieper, Leisure, the Basis of Culture, that I realized that it is in this third space, if you will, away from the drudgery of work and the pressures and joys of family, that civilization has been created. Art, music, literature, philosophy, scientific discoveries and breakthroughs, and inventions all happen in this time out of time. And when you think about it that way — that creativity and innovation require time — it’s not hard to see why all the museums and great libraries are filled with the works of those high-status men who had access to this kind of time. I think that’s really important to remember. Now that we’re in an age of information overload, and everyone’s time is becoming interrupted and fragmented, we have to not only preserve this kind of timeless flow space, but broaden it so that everyone can experience it. Neuroscience now is making the case even more imperative. We’re discovering the high cost of multitasking and distraction for our brains. Emerging research is finding that to create the conditions for the "A-ha!" moment, we need to be calm and relaxed, not overwhelmed. We need to allow our brains to be idle and daydream before flipping back into a more focused mode. And that takes uninterrupted, concentrated time. [inlinetweet prefix="" tweeter="" suffix="—@BrigidSchulte via @Wrike"]"In an age where time is fragmented, we need to preserve&broaden it so it's enjoyable."[/inlinetweet] 3. What's happening to "leisure time" in the U.S.? Are we getting more or less, and why? It’s funny, as I was reading about leisure (something I’d never, ever thought I’d ever do) — I came across articles in the Harvard Business Review and other publications in the 1950s predicting a coming age of leisure, where we’d work six months out of the year, four days a week, and retire at age 38. Some prognosticators of the day were worried about it! They didn’t know what people would do with all this abundant leisure time. Others said it would usher in a golden age where people would have the time and space to become most fully human, and a version of their best selves. I interviewed one leisure researcher for the book who said he’s spent his entire career trying to answer one simple question: What happened?! If you look at averages in time diary data, (collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics) you could argue that work hours have been falling and leisure time is on the rise. But if you talk to just about every person in the country, they’ll laugh at you and say that’s not their experience at all. What’s really happening is that people’s time and experience of work and leisure is dividing. College-educated professionals are working longer hours than ever; even more extreme hours than professionals in other countries. They have virtually no leisure time, and research has shown that when they do they often will choose to work. Some say they work on weekends, evenings, and vacations because they’re anxious they’ll be seen as expendable if they don’t. Some work because they dread seeing their overstuffed email inboxes upon their return. And some work because it’s become a habit, an identity like a second skin, and they’ve lost the ability to imagine doing anything else. At the same time, work hours for low wage workers have indeed dropped off, so they scramble around cobbling together several different unpredictable jobs trying to make ends meet. They do have more leisure time, but it’s unwanted leisure, because they’d rather be working, because there’s the stress of not being able to pay the bills. Economists are finding that our culture, starting in the 1980s, began glorifying not just hard work, but overwork, and that’s when overwork hours — and the financial reward for them — started to climb. We’re the only advanced economy with no paid vacation policy. One in four Americans has no access to paid vacation. Those of us who do, have about 10 to 14 days on average. We don’t take them all, we leave among the most unused vacation days on the table, even though we don’t have that many to begin with. And surveys show that many of us take work along with us, so we’re never truly away, never unplugged, never not thinking about work, never giving ourselves the opportunity to find out what would happen if we sank into a flow state. So it’s not surprising that we have polls showing high rates of disengagement and burnout. We are. And we don’t value taking the time to refresh not only our energy, but our souls. [inlinetweet prefix="" tweeter="" suffix="—@BrigidSchulte via @Wrike #worklifebalance "]"1 in 4 Americans has no access to paid vacation."[/inlinetweet] 4. How do you think "leisure time" differs between women and men? Between managers and employees? It’s interesting, the very first research study done looking at men and women’s experience of time was called Divergent Realities. And a lot of that has to do with our cultural conditioning, and what we still expect men and women to do to conform with traditional gender roles. That was surprising to me, as I was researching the book, how much I had automatically bought into what I intellectually knew were outdated stereotypes. Yet I didn’t even realize how much I was automatically following them. Why did I just automatically assume I had to make all the kids’ doctor’s appointments, take them to the dentist, stay home when they were sick, find child care and summer camps, buy the clothes, clean out their closets, make the Holiday magic, etc.? Was I was afraid the Bad Mommy Police would show up? I guess I was. I’ve met the Bad Mommy Police, and it is us. We police each other in so many subtle ways. The snarky comments on the playground, the disapproving looks... it can be hard to see past that. What I didn’t realize was that I was trying to work the way my Dad did, because he was my only role model. And I was trying to be an at-home mother (like my mother) because that’s all I knew. I found out it’s impossible to live both of those lives at once, but by insisting that I had to, and feeling guilty and inadequate when I couldn’t, I was also keeping my husband at arm’s length; not letting him become the full partner and parent that we’d promised each other we’d be — keeping me in a perpetual state of overwhelmed. It wasn’t good for our kids, either, having such a stressed out parent, always slightly resentful of having to do it all, without realizing how I’d created part of that. These cultural expectations are strong and often unconscious. And the first step toward change is to pause, become aware of them, and how they play on you. Begin to disrupt the automatic thoughts and behaviors, and practice taking a breath so you can begin to hear your own voice, and follow your own internal compass. When it comes to leisure, Americans tend to distrust it. The Protestant Work Ethic and 'idle hands are the devil’s workshop' are a strong undercurrent. But interestingly, women in particular feel they don’t deserve it, research has shown. They feel they have to earn it. And the only way to earn it is to get through a very long to-do list. Which, let’s face it, never ends. 5. What are the 3 biggest roadblocks to having "leisure time"? Work Mindset The Culture of Busyness Work: Americans not only value hard work, which is essential, but we’ve come to value overwork. We financially and psychologically reward those who sacrifice all for work. In such a work-devoted culture, leisure loses all value. It becomes something almost to be ashamed of. Something only weak people require. Mindset: Because of that work-first attitude, our mindsets are firmly set against the importance of leisure and play. Even when we want it, we don’t think we deserve it, or that we haven’t earned it, or somehow can’t give ourselves permission to have this kind of time. And even when we do, because we’re so uneasy about it, we don’t fully enjoy and embrace the time. Which ensures we won’t reap the full benefit of having that third space that can refresh the soul. The Culture of Busyness: We’ve made busyness a competitive sport in our busyness as a badge of honor culture. We brag about how tired and exhausted we are, how much stuff we cram onto our calendars, how we’ve run around and been so productive and crossed so much stuff off our to-do lists, and yet have so much more to do. It’s become so ingrained, we don’t realize we’re doing it! In that kind of culture, leisure is for losers, and people who can’t keep up with the Busy Joneses. 6. You argue in one of your articles that the more fluid and flexible work hours a workplace provides, the happier and more productive the employees are. However, people argue that when they have more flexible work hours, they tend to work more. What are your thoughts on this? This is why culture, not just policy, is so important. In a work-first culture and a work-first organization, of course people are going to use any flex time to work more. The interesting thing is, this tendency is really prevalent among white collar workers. And it tends to reinforce traditional gender roles. There was a fascinating study done that found that nurses tended to use their flexible work hours to do all the traditional “women’s work” of caregiving and housekeeping. And doctors who had flexibility tended to use that time to work more, thus solidifying their traditional breadwinner/distant provider role. At the same time, EMTs, other blue collar workers, and shift workers use their flexibility to be more available at home. Men were organizing and driving the carpools on their off hours, making dinner, and doing laundry while their wives were working. So I think we can all learn a lot from blue collar families who may not be talking the talk of gender equality, like white collar workers do, but are certainly walking the walk. 7. Are companies and individuals naturally at odds on the topic of work-life balance? Is this just a tug-of-war and the companies are winning? Companies and individuals are, truthfully, on the same side of this. And you don’t have to go much farther than the research that Henry Ford did on his factory floors to understand that: healthy, well-rested, happy employees treated fairly do good. I was reading an interesting paper by Stanford economist John Pencavel on the rise in work hours, and how employers continue to think that if only workers just put in more hours, they’d be more productive and make employers more money, and how utterly irrational that is. His research found what he called a “productivity cliff” — the longer we work beyond 40 hours a week, the steeper the productivity drops. We become burned out, exhausted, make more mistakes, and take two and three times as long to get anything done. Research has found that people who continuously work more than 60 hours a week make more mistakes, sometimes life threatening ones, they’re more likely to be injured. They take two and three times as long to perform simple tasks and they become burned out, fried, crispy around the edges and are unable to come up with a fresh idea. You are basically a butt in a chair. Not a great position to be in for a knowledge economy where you’re only as good as your next idea. A recent survey found that more than half of all workers feel burned out. Gallup reports that about 70% of all US workers are disengaged at work or actively HATE their jobs. This blew my mind because I am a recovering workaholic. International comparisons of productivity per hour finds that, despite all those long hours of work, the U.S. is NOT the most productive per hour. That’s Norway. Want to know a country about as productive per hour as we are? France. With their 30 days of paid vacation, paid parental leave, subsidized child care system, short work hours by law, after hours emails outlawed and their, heaven forbid, café culture. And you know who’s at the bottom of the list? Japan and South Korea, countries traditionally known to be full of hard workers. The research is compelling. Healthy, happy workers are more productive. Just being in a positive mood triples creativity, research has found. Productive energy rises 31%, the likelihood of promotion rises 40%, sales by 37%, and doctors make better and faster diagnoses. So it is in employers’ best interests to make sure that workers are primed for optimal performance. And to be primed for optimal performance, you need to create a culture of flexible, but bounded work hours that values time off. [inlinetweet prefix="" tweeter="" suffix="—@BrigidSchulte via @Wrike"]"People who continuously work more than 60 hrs/week make more mistakes."[/inlinetweet] 8. After traveling around the world and observing different work cultures, have you found the secret to a healthy work-life balance? Where do they do this best? I spent time in Denmark and, though a vastly different country, there are two lessons: They are about as productive per hour as we are in the U.S., yet they work what we would consider short work hours — 37.5 hours a week. But when I went to work places, you don’t see people surfing Facebook at work. You don’t hear a lot of chit chat around the water cooler. People do their work. If you work long hours, the culture doesn’t reward you, everyone just thinks you’re inefficient. They truly value gender equality. So much so that they have a Minister of Gender Equality in the government in the cabinet, held in the same regard as the Minister of Defense and other cabinet members. The entire country recognizes that when the entire population is engaged in both the business, or work of the nation, and the caregiving of the next generation at home, it makes for a happier, healthier more productive economy and life. It’s no surprise that Denmark is often rated first or in the top rungs of international indices of happiness, well-being, gender equality, and productivity. And people really do value leisure time for both men and women. In the U.K., one of the very first studies of leisure was called, “Women’s Leisure, What Leisure?” In it, men said it was perfectly natural for men to enjoy leisure, to get together with their mates at the pub, or have outings. But if women were to try to do something with their friends, or on their own, the general sense was something was wrong. That was not at all the case in Denmark. Instead of beginning sentences with, 'What do you do?' they ask, 'What do you do for fun?' They belong to sports clubs. They swim in the ocean before work. They spend time out in the country, not in fancy houses, but rustic little cabins. And every fall, every house receives a host of catalogues of free or inexpensive classes on just about any subject you can imagine — languages, getting a hunting license, swimming, public speaking, cooking. And on the top of one of the catalogues read the mission: “For the Wisdom and Enjoyment of Humanity.” What’s not to like about that!? 9. What are 3 tips you would give someone who struggles with productivity at work? Pause. Disrupt the cycle of busyness and reactivity and really get a sense of what’s most important — both to the mission of the job, and to YOU. Burn your to-do list. Think of it as a brain dump. Get all those stray thoughts running around your brain down on paper. That gives your brain a rest. Then give yourself permission, in your pause, to look at what you’ve written, and with your top priorities in mind — for the day, for your life — choose ONE thing that’s most important to do. And do it first thing in the morning. Shut off your email. Do NOT start your day answering email, or you’ll spend your day in reactive mode putting out fires. Turn off your phone. Set your timer for 30, 45, or 90 minutes and do that ONE thing. The rest of the day is a win, rather than feeling behind. DO NOT MULTITASK. You are not multitasking. You are task-switching. The brain can only pay attention to one thing at a time. And every time you switch tasks, you deplete your energy, willpower, and hit decision fatigue. A study at King’s College, London University found that multitasking makes us as stupid as being stoned. We lose 10 IQ points. So ONE THING at a time! [inlinetweet prefix="" tweeter="" suffix="—@BrigidSchulte via @Wrike"]"@KingsCollegeLon found that #multitasking makes us lose 10 IQ pts."[/inlinetweet] 10. How do you think work-life balance will change (or stay the same) in 2020? If it gets worse, what should we be doing to preserve our precious leisure time? By 2020, we’ll be that much closer to Millennials, now the largest living generation, making up the majority in the workplace. And Millennials, survey after survey shows, want flexible work hours and time for life. Technology will continue evolving, giving all of us more opportunity to control the time, manner, and place of how we work, and coordinate more creatively with team members, not just for blue collar workers, but for low-wage workers as well. At the same time, Baby Boomers who’ve worked like maniacs most of their adult lives, are living longer, are healthier, working longer, but they want something different. There’s a new life phase between retirement and death that’s emerging where meaning and purpose are becoming paramount. And in this new life phase, people, too, are searching for ways to work differently to have time for life. And neuroscience and human performance science will continue to show how to optimize productivity, as well as the importance of mindfulness and deliberate rest. I have hope! 11. What's big new trend that you see coming that people aren't paying enough attention to? Work-life enrichment. We hear all the time about the negative consequences of work-life conflict. They are many, and they are real. But there is a growing body of research on work-life enrichment — on the very real benefits of both men and women having multiple roles in the public and private spheres, from skills that transfer from one dimension to the other, to positive mood, greater energy, a sense of fulfillment, deeper and richer relationships. I think this is really important work, because it spins the argument forward and toward solutions. We’ve been stuck for too long in an ambivalent no-man’s land; surveys show we’re still very uneasy about the proper role of mothers and whether they should work, even though a majority do. That ambivalence has kept us all frozen, and now it’s time to devise real, rational, and supportive work cultures and policies and fluid career paths for both men and women. We need work cultures that recognize excellent work gets done when people have time for their lives, and that raising the next generation, or caring for the previous one, is as valuable as any market work we may do. That’s an exciting and positive way forward! Your Turn: What are your thoughts on work-life balance? What are some of your secrets to obtaining a healthy work-life balance? Having leisure time at home is essential to being productive at work. Share your best tips on how you obtain and manage your own leisure time in the comments! About Brigid Schulte Brigid Schulte is the author of the New York Times bestselling book on time pressure, Overwhelmed: Work, Love & Play when No One has the Time, which named one of the notable books of the year by the Washington Post and NPR, and won the Virginia Library Association’s literary nonfiction award. She has spoken all over the world about the causes and consequences of our unsustainable, always-on culture, and how to make time for The Good Life by rethinking how we work, by re-imagining gender roles for a fairer division of labor and opportunity at work and home and, instead of seeking status in busyness, by recapturing the value of leisure. She was an award-winning journalist for The Washington Post and The Washington Post Magazine and part of the team that won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize. She now serves as the founding director of The Good Life Initiative at the nonpartisan think tank, New America, and director of The Better Life Lab, both of which seek to elevate the conversation, explore transformative solutions and highlight how work-life issues are key to excellence, productivity and innovation, as well as a full, authentic and meaningful life. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with her husband, Tom Bowman, a reporter for National Public Radio, and their two children. She grew up in Portland, Oregon and spent her summers with family in Wyoming, where she did not feel overwhelmed. Sign up for her occasional newsletter, Toward Time Serenity, on the art and science of The Good Life: brigidschulte.com. Join the ongoing discussion about making time for work, love, and play on her Facebook page and on Twitter @BrigidSchulte.
20 Things We Learned at Collaborate to Drive Success in 2020
In October 2019, Wrike hosted two Collaborate user conferences in Nashville and London, where speakers from Wrike, customers, partners, and thought leaders shared insightful information to help organizations of any size. Read our list of 20 amazing things we learned at Collaborate that can drive success in 2020.
Attend Our 2017 Dublin Tech Summit Panel: "Collaboration as Competitive Advantage"
We're excited to announce that Wrike will be attending the 2017 Dublin Tech Summit in Ireland on the 15-16 of February, held at the Convention Centre Dublin. We're thrilled to take part in the first DTS and help promote innovation, technology, and leadership. If you're attending, come see our booth (stand B33), and meet all the experts on our Ireland and UK team.
Wrike at Integrated Live UK: Helping Marketers Navigate New Trends
Over the course of two days, the Integrated Live conference in the UK brought together 120+ speakers hosting a large number of workshops and seminars, all aimed at helping marketers better navigate the quickly shifting world of marketing, technology, and marketing trends. And Wrike was there, helping spread the word about our project management software.
Adobe MAX 2016: Awesome Prizes Await You at the Wrike Booth
This year, Wrike will be at Adobe MAX. Look for us at booth #306 all three days of the conference. Stop by for a chance to win one of our awesome raffle prizes, or simply have your portrait done by our on-site digital caricature artist.
Top 3 Takeaways from the Marketo Marketing Nation Summit 2016
It's the tail-end of the Marketo Marketing Nation Summit 2016 and despite the 90-degree Las Vegas heat, this year's Marketo summit has brought together some 5,000 marketers and thought leaders from around the world to discuss best practices and learn about marketing trends in over 100 sessions and networking events. Some of the information gained was too valuable NOT to share, so we figured we ought to blog about it. Here are our top 3 takeaways from the 2016 Marketo conference.
Top Project Management Conferences to Attend in 2016
2016 is brand new, and now that you've started a fresh calendar, you're probably eager to find exciting events to fill it with. Look no further than our list of top project management conferences for 2016. Stay up-to-speed on the latest industry developments, pick up tips from respected experts in the field, meet other project management professionals, and have some fun learning new tricks of the trade away from the office. North America Global Scrum Gathering April 18-20, Orlando, FL Scrum experts gather to share their current best practices and creative applications to help your Agile team run more efficiently and effectively. Agile and Beyond May 5-6, Ann Arbor, MI Featuring Lean leadership expert Dr. Jeffrey Liker as a keynote speaker for their 2016 event, this conference focuses on Agile product development best practices. Boston University's Project Management in Practice Conference May 13, Boston, MA This year’s conference focuses on developing the technical skills central to project management success, from scheduling to risk analysis and budgeting. The event, hosted by Boston University, also features notable keynote speakers and hands-on workshops. Change Management Conference May 15-18, Dallas, TX Learn and sharpen the skills you need to lead your organization through effective change management, discover the latest trends and tools, and connect with your peers. Project Management Institute Mega SeminarsWorld June 27-30, Orlando, FL These in-depth seminars hosted by PMI help both novice and experienced project managers advance their careers. Real-world projects and small group sizes mean hands-on learning and valuable professional development. PMI Global Congress - North America September 25-27, San Diego, CA PMI’s annual Global Congress provides insight into current project and business challenges and strategies. This year’s conference will focus on globalization’s effect on the project management industry. PMO Symposium Nov 6-9, San Diego, CA Get a special peek into some of the world’s leading PMOs’ successful processes and strategies to improve your own results. International IPMA Expert Seminar February 18-19, Zurich, Switzerland This high-level seminar focuses on advanced project management topics, from business orientation of projects to strategic project management and more. It will bring together over a dozen international project management leaders to give presentations, lead workshops, and discuss trends, case studies, and research results. RICS and APM Project Leadership Conference February 23, London, England Good project managers recognize and develop talent in others. This conference teaches project managers how to create a talent, leadership, and people strategy for both project and team success. APM ProgM Conference: Equipping Programme Managers for Global Success March 10, London, England Program management is an increasingly digital field, with more tools and techniques emerging every day. ProgM brings together internationally-recognized leaders in program management to discuss the latest trends and ensure attendees have the skills they need to succeed. APM Project Management Conference April 21, London, England The 2016 edition of this award-winning conference will focus on how project managers can develop a world-class mindset as an individual, organization, and profession. This year’s speakers include notable program managers Steve Elliott, Richard Palczynski, and Paralympian gold medalist Marc Woods. PMI Global Congress - Europe May 9-11, Barcelona, Spain PMI’s 2016 international conference will focus on this fact: successful projects aren’t enough for businesses to thrive — initiatives must be aligned with larger strategic objectives. Keynotes from industry experts, product demonstrations, and educational presentations give attendees real-world solutions to the emerging challenges facing project managers. Project Management Africa Conference August 29-30, Accra, Ghana This year’s African conference focuses on applying project management principles for better business results. Attendees will benefit from learning new skills to advance their business, networking opportunities, and a thorough understanding of current tools and best practices. ProjMAN October 5-7, Porto Region, Portugal Academics, scientists, and project management professionals from around the world are invited to submit papers, share their experiences, and debate new ideas at this international conference. What Project Management Conferences Will You Attend? Which events will you add to your calendar? Do you have a favorite conference that we didn't include in this list? Let us know in the comments below!
Highlights from Web Summit 2015 in Dublin
Our CEO and founder Andrew Filev has just returned from Web Summit 2015 hosted in Dublin, Ireland. It was a super-energetic and frenetic gathering of 40,000+ people, including inspiring tech leaders and speakers from around the globe. Wrike CEO Andrew Filev being interviewed at Web Summit, Dublin A photo posted by Eliza (@e_dubs11) on Nov 7, 2015 at 4:14pm PST What Wrike Shared at Web Summit 2015 During a lively discussion at the fully packed Startup University Stage with Upwork CEO Stephane Kasriel and Fast Company contributor Ross Kingsland, Andrew spoke on hiring for startups and what’s working for today’s companies. Andrew shared insights into hiring in a very competitive environment where small startups must compete against tech giants like Facebook and Google for talent. His main piece of advice for startups: [inlinetweet prefix="" tweeter="" suffix="@wrike"]"Find what makes your company a unique and compelling proposition, and compete on that."[/inlinetweet] You may not be able outcompete Google with Google-like offerings (those snacks are pretty darn good!), but not everyone is looking for a Google-size company. Many candidates are keen to make a big difference at the early stage of a company. Determine what makes your company different and awesome, and look for people who want to be part of the vision and mission you are creating. In light of the conference, Irish Tech News published a full interview with Andrew on how to hire. You can read it here. If you attended Web Summit 2015, share your top takeaway from the conference in the comments below. We want to learn from you! Roundtable chats with @andrewsthoughts from @wrike on 'How to Hire' @WebSummitHQ #websummit #dublin pic.twitter.com/YgJ7kwFKr6 — Emer (@EmerLeBeamer) November 4, 2015 Here's @Upwork @FastCompany & @wrike talking about How to Hire in 2016. #Wexfordhour #websummit pic.twitter.com/Fpaf8N57Gk — Wexford Hour (@WexfordHour) November 3, 2015 How to hire in 2016 and beyond now with @skasriel @andrewsthoughts @RossKingsland1 #websummit pic.twitter.com/NjrutNrXKz — Marta Ghiglioni (@MartaGhiglioni) November 3, 2015 'Be ready to invest a lot of mental energy' @wrike at #websummit pic.twitter.com/cc2GMu7eVn — Denise M. Whitmore (@DolmenDigital) November 3, 2015 'You have to make sure everyone is on the same page' says @andrewsthoughts of @wrike at #websummit — Denise M. Whitmore (@DolmenDigital) November 3, 2015
Wrike CRO Kicks Off European Tour in Belfast with EnterConf 2015 Panel
Technology enthusiasts from 22 countries travelled to Belfast’s Titanic Quarter last week for EnterConf 2015. The new enterprise technology conference, run by the organizers of the popular Web Summit, made its Belfast debut at T13 Hub on June 18-19 and featured talks on cybersecurity, cloud computing, future of SaaS, and big data from 70 renowned speakers including Wrike Chief Revenue Officer Seth Shaw. Seth joined David Hale, CEO at Gigwalk, and Margaret Canning, business editor at Belfast Telegraph, at the conference for a panel discussion on “Worklife Balance for the Mobile Employee”. While in Belfast, Seth appeared as a guest on BBC’s Good Morning Ulster and caught up with business reporter Clodaugh Rice about EnterConf, the role technology is playing in Wrike’s business, and the opening of Wrike's new European office. “Technology plays a huge part in what we do," he told Rice. "We’re helping teams move faster, and that’s really important as the rise of mobile technologies have changed the workplace for many workers." Belfast was the first stop on Wrike's European tour. Stay tuned for more on our international expansion activities in the coming weeks.
Meet Us at Google Enterprise Global Partner Summit 2014
This week, Google hosts its second annual "Enterprise Global Partner Summit" in San Francisco, where its partners from around the globe gather to learn about the latest innovations and upcoming Google releases. Our CEO and champion, Andrew Filev, is excited to be attending once again, representing Wrike as one of the top Google partners in the productivity and project management space. We have a long-term relationship with Google, and we were recently one of the first independent software vendors to transition into their relaunched Apps Marketplace experience. "I look forward to seeing everyone at the Google Partner Summit, catching up with our friends across the world, and hearing Google's announcements," says Andrew. "It's cool to touch base with such a great group of companies that are changing the way the world does business." Wrike keeps you connected with sources such as Google, which we know so many of you rely on daily at work. Our Gmail widget helps you work in Wrike without leaving your inbox. With Google Drive integration, you can attach files to tasks right from your Drive. You also can minimize the chance of projects slipping through the cracks by synchronizing your Wrike and Google calendars. We are always eager to meet more of our friends and customers, so if you're going to the event, get in touch with us. We look forward to seeing you there!