Five key tips to save time at work
27 January 2011
Read by 1791 persons
Long phone calls, countless emails, endless meetings, interminable commutes… You will certainly recognize one or more situations in this list that regularly make you lose a lot of time. However, with a little organization, you can easily regain control of your schedule.
The forty tips in this month's file tackle the main black holes in our schedules: internet surfing, email management, acute "telephonitis", cascading meetings and travel time. You will no longer be able to say "I don't have time". A selection.
1. Scan the web with Pickanews
To find out what is being said about you, a competitor or a product, on the web but also in the written press, there is an incomparable tool. Pickanews.com constantly monitors 50,000 websites, blogs, newspapers and summaries of radio and television programs. Better: by entering the keyword(s), the site invites you to leave an email address to automatically receive a comprehensive press review every morning. By subscribing for 19 euros per month, it is even possible to directly consult newspaper articles in PDF format from the Press Index database, one of the professional leaders in media freelancing. Pickanews does not scan social networks? Another site offers a similar service that is very practical for keeping an eye on Twitter, Facebook and Viadeo: Kurrently.com transmits the results of its investigations daily by email.
2. The Gmail Priority Inbox
This is THE big new feature of the moment. On Gmail, activate the "priority inbox" in the "Settings" menu. The messaging system analyzes your mail and offers three levels of classification: important messages, those requiring further processing ("tracked messages") and others. After a few days of adjustments, the tool no longer makes mistakes. No more emails piling up by the dozens. During the day, you only have to monitor the Priority Inbox, and deal with the rest later. If you use Outlook 2010, the "Clear context" application performs the same function: it prioritizes messages from your most frequent correspondents.
3. Quick stand-up meeting
"Organizing long meetings is the best way to ensure that participants arrive late, since everyone knows they have time!" says Jean-Louis Muller, associate director of the Cegos group. In a three-hour meeting, arriving twenty minutes late is not serious, latecomers think. But three minutes late for a fifteen-minute meeting is much more serious! Therefore, favor short formats. No more than twenty minutes around a paperboard. Another tip: don't provide chairs. "Standing up, people are in a hurry to finish," says Jean-Louis Muller. "No question of slumping and letting your attention wander."
4. Unavailable appointments
Unless you work in a profession related to health or nuclear risks, you rarely need to be reachable 24 hours a day. "Especially since systematically answering the phone gives your contacts bad habits, making them think you are always available," notes Laurence Einfalt, head of the Jara organizational consulting agency. Discipline yourself: turn off your mobile phone when you don't want to be disturbed. You can also ban the phone during certain time slots. Stéphane Ambrosini, CEO France of Adconion Media Group, unplugs his phone during the first two hours of the day. The rule can extend to the entire company, as in this purchasing center of a major chain of stores. "The phone is forbidden there before 11 a.m. In the meantime, an answering machine takes messages, including those from the CEO," says coach Gérard Rodach.
5. Getting real-time traffic information
At Aéroports de Paris, "Flight Info Alert" sends an email warning of any changes (delay, terminal change, cancellation). On iPhone, the "MyAirport" application provides practical information, itineraries and flight schedules. "My SNCF Alert" does the same for high-speed trains and TER trains. "RATP Premium" provides smartphone users with a traffic bulletin for buses, trams, RER and metro trains, and calculates the best routes. The free RATP "flashcode" allows, after visual recognition by the smartphone of a barcode on the bus shelter, to follow on your mobile the arrival times of the next two buses or trams on your favorite line or stop.
Published on January 27, 2011
Posted online on January 27, 2011
capital.fr
The forty tips in this month's file tackle the main black holes in our schedules: internet surfing, email management, acute "telephonitis", cascading meetings and travel time. You will no longer be able to say "I don't have time". A selection.
1. Scan the web with Pickanews
To find out what is being said about you, a competitor or a product, on the web but also in the written press, there is an incomparable tool. Pickanews.com constantly monitors 50,000 websites, blogs, newspapers and summaries of radio and television programs. Better: by entering the keyword(s), the site invites you to leave an email address to automatically receive a comprehensive press review every morning. By subscribing for 19 euros per month, it is even possible to directly consult newspaper articles in PDF format from the Press Index database, one of the professional leaders in media freelancing. Pickanews does not scan social networks? Another site offers a similar service that is very practical for keeping an eye on Twitter, Facebook and Viadeo: Kurrently.com transmits the results of its investigations daily by email.
2. The Gmail Priority Inbox
This is THE big new feature of the moment. On Gmail, activate the "priority inbox" in the "Settings" menu. The messaging system analyzes your mail and offers three levels of classification: important messages, those requiring further processing ("tracked messages") and others. After a few days of adjustments, the tool no longer makes mistakes. No more emails piling up by the dozens. During the day, you only have to monitor the Priority Inbox, and deal with the rest later. If you use Outlook 2010, the "Clear context" application performs the same function: it prioritizes messages from your most frequent correspondents.
3. Quick stand-up meeting
"Organizing long meetings is the best way to ensure that participants arrive late, since everyone knows they have time!" says Jean-Louis Muller, associate director of the Cegos group. In a three-hour meeting, arriving twenty minutes late is not serious, latecomers think. But three minutes late for a fifteen-minute meeting is much more serious! Therefore, favor short formats. No more than twenty minutes around a paperboard. Another tip: don't provide chairs. "Standing up, people are in a hurry to finish," says Jean-Louis Muller. "No question of slumping and letting your attention wander."
4. Unavailable appointments
Unless you work in a profession related to health or nuclear risks, you rarely need to be reachable 24 hours a day. "Especially since systematically answering the phone gives your contacts bad habits, making them think you are always available," notes Laurence Einfalt, head of the Jara organizational consulting agency. Discipline yourself: turn off your mobile phone when you don't want to be disturbed. You can also ban the phone during certain time slots. Stéphane Ambrosini, CEO France of Adconion Media Group, unplugs his phone during the first two hours of the day. The rule can extend to the entire company, as in this purchasing center of a major chain of stores. "The phone is forbidden there before 11 a.m. In the meantime, an answering machine takes messages, including those from the CEO," says coach Gérard Rodach.
5. Getting real-time traffic information
At Aéroports de Paris, "Flight Info Alert" sends an email warning of any changes (delay, terminal change, cancellation). On iPhone, the "MyAirport" application provides practical information, itineraries and flight schedules. "My SNCF Alert" does the same for high-speed trains and TER trains. "RATP Premium" provides smartphone users with a traffic bulletin for buses, trams, RER and metro trains, and calculates the best routes. The free RATP "flashcode" allows, after visual recognition by the smartphone of a barcode on the bus shelter, to follow on your mobile the arrival times of the next two buses or trams on your favorite line or stop.
Published on January 27, 2011
Posted online on January 27, 2011
capital.fr
