Cyberslacking

A recent survey by online compensation firm Salary.com showed about six out of 10 employees in the United States acknowledged wasting time.

In the article by Connie Heller entitled Cyberslacking 101, she details how people goof off at work. It reminded me of the Sean Morey classic, Screwing around at Work “I’m a model employee, I always clean the glass, when I’m finished making copies of my…..”

It used to be hanging around the water cooler or the coffee room, for some it is taking a smoke break, but employees find a way around working. I wonder if blogging about cyberslacking is in that category??????

What I found as the real dichotomy was that the tech tools we developed for productivity are the ones doing the major damage at distracting us. It seems that the internet and all of our new tech gear is just another avenue to skip out at work for some. Facebook and MySpace are listed as distractions, yet Facebook (here’s mine) and LinkedIn are social networking sites that we are trying to promote as ways to better interact.

The real eye opener was how much people are goofing off by doing personal email, with almost a third of the cyberslacking attributed to this activity with non work messages. Then there are the crackberry addicts clicking away. I’ve personally sat in meetings where no one is really paying attention to the presenter, rather they were going through their various distractions.

So is it human nature to goof off? I dunno as work at home to avoid most of the distractions at work. What’s your cyberslacking method?

Update: Second Life now counts also. 

Sprint offers BAD SERVICE ONCE AGAIN

Not only is service bad and they won’t help me, but dealing with their customer no-service department is a nightmare.

I went to their Sprint buy back program after being told I could return an old phone to a sprint store, then was re-buffed at said unhelpful store,

Store Details and Map

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SPRINT STORE-323
2226 WALNUT ST.
CARY, NC 27511
(919)859-7500

but their credit which was supposed to be $25 came back as only $15.

 

I’ve now been on the phone for 45 minutes and am on my 6th sprint representative, none of which understands the sprint programs or can help me.

 

After finally reaching someone who supposedly will escalate the credit due to the fact that since I filed it they reduced the rebate, I have to now wait 4 more weeks to hear if they will give me the contracted amount.

 

I’m not expecting any help or customer service as usual, and can’t wait for the end of my contract, if I can wait that long.

 

It is unbelievable that a company can stay in business that cares so little for their customers.  They must make it up on corporate gouging programs.

 

developerWorks content on the iPhone

With the upcoming announcement of Gizmo’s (gadgets/widgets) which are easier to syndicate, and are available for everyone, comes a cool iPhone application. This content can be re-syndicated and is updated automatically even if you pass the gizmo on to another device.

Here is the link to understanding gizmo’s and how to syndicate the dW content…..pretty cool stuff

IQ of Beauty Contestant? Room Temp.

Unfortunately, she didn’t get the question she prepared for. I wonder if this will be the same in the upcoming elections?

Was it Something I Said?

How to be a an Extrordinary Employee

From Michael Masterson’s book.

If you want an extraordinary income, you have to transform yourself into an extraordinary worker. Here are six ways to do that:
1. Get in early.
There is no better way to demonstrate your commitment to your company than by getting to work earlier than everybody else. Getting to work early sends a good message: “I’m here! I am eager to work! I’m ahead of the crowd!”
2. Understand your responsibilities.
Until you understand how what you do affects your boss’s bottom line, you’ll never be able to make good decisions about which projects to focus on. The best way to do that is to make an appointment with your boss and ask him, “What are the top 10 ways I can make your job more successful?”
Don’t worry about seeming like a kiss-up. Tell him that you realize your chances of success depend on his success. “I’m not asking for specific to-dos,” tell him. “Once I know your main objectives, I will be able to make good decisions on my own. That’s why I’m asking. Because I want to make sure that my work plan is in gear with yours.”
3. Focus on what’s important.
List your boss’s top 10 priorities. Then identify two of them that will have the greatest impact on his success. (Keep in mind that he may not know what is most important for him. After working with him for a while, you may have a better idea than he does.)
4. Never say “No.”
Employees often wonder whether saying “yes” to every request will make them look weak or dependent. The answer? No. Your boss wants a “yes” to every request he makes of you. Saying “no” - though sometimes warranted - may sound to him like you are moving against him.
But … if you have already established a list of priorities by taking steps two, three, and four, you’ll have no problem identifying requests that are low on his list. When asked to do something of that nature, tell your boss that you will be happy to get to it at some time in the future, but at the moment you are working on things that you believe he’d rather see done. Then tell him what those things are. Chances are, he’ll modify or even drop his request. If he doesn’t, you can expect there is a good reason why.
5. Improve your skills.
Unless you keep growing - in terms of your knowledge and skills - you can’t expect your income to keep rising. Ask questions about every aspect of your business that is related to what you do. Find out what you can about the other areas - especially sales and marketing. Read executive memos. Take work-related courses. Have regular chats about business with the power people in your business. Implement what you learn in your work.
6. Communicate your progress.
Unless you let your boss and other powerful people at work know about your accomplishments, you can’t be sure they will help you. Make it a habit to update your superiors, in writing, on the challenges you face and the accomplishments you’ve made. In promoting yourself professionally, follow these three rules:
Tell the truth. False promotion is worse than none at all.
Be generous with credit to others.
When reporting accomplishments, be specific and keep your ego in check. 

My Favorite Calvin and Hobbs Cartoon

Why Analysts are Important to Us

I can make a list that is comprehensive as to every reason, but I wil speak in relative terms.

For perspective, what was the lead news story 3 years ago? 3 months ago? 3 weeks ago? 3 days ago? That’s just it, I don’t really know either. Unless it is at the level of Hiroshima or 9/11, it goes in and out of our brains like text messages. We are bombarded by information overload that we can’t keep track of. Plus, we have many communications disciplines in a big company including PR, AR, Internal/Executive and Investor Relations. Let’s not forget that advertising pounds us with messaging also.

Conversely, when an analyst writes a report, it stays for 12 months, and if it’s really bad or good, it’s in the minds of the customers for even longer. The report goes out in communications to customers, it’s quoted in internal and external presentations and even used in performance reviews up and down the ladder. So in essence, we are married to the report. Bear in mind, that this is a double edged sword that cuts both ways.

This puts added incentive on us to get our strategy correct as we will be judged on it.

Dealing with the press and some other constituencies is also more of a one shot deal. While there are relationships, when presenting a story, news is news once when it is news…then it is old news or no news if it is not good enough. Also, you can’t say everything you know as the journalist may not have deep knowledge of the subject, or one doesn’t want to be misquoted so the discussion is guarded.

By the time the press hears of our announcement, we’ve likely spent months with the analyst community getting the messaging and strategy in line before we bare our souls to the public. Many times we’ve been either cautioned, corrected or sternly warned because of the deep knowledge that comes from the analyst community. We have open discussions about things we couldn’t say to the other constituencies.

So while I could go on ad nauseam about the subject, that is a succinct description of why analysts are important to us. I welcome other comments why they add value.

New Lotus Notes announced - Why One Specific Feature Matters to me

Here is a synopsis of the announcement from TheNewsMarket.com:

IBM has launched its Lotus Notes and Lotus Domino 8 software applications for businesses. The two software systems function by integrating e-mail, instant messaging and office productivity applications. Lotus Notes 8 and Domino 8 arrives - IBM’s new collaboration software, now available - is designed to help users spend less time managing email and more time on real collaboration. New features include enhanced e-mail that can gather and review e-mail threads more easily, enable users to view their collaboration history with specific individuals, and retrieve certain messages sent to the wrong person. The systems also feature integrated office productivity tools, composite applications, support for activity-centric computing, and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and Atom feeds. The Lotus Notes and Lotus Domino 8 software systems are currently available by electronic means only, and are expected to be released for physical distribution Sept. 21.

Heres why I care the most - You can CALL BACK EMAIL YOU DIDN’T MEAN OR WANT TO SEND!!!

I, along with most people who use email have sent something they would have liked or died to have back.  It was either embarrassing,  sent to the wrong person or groups, or perhaps it was sent in a fit of email road rage and you’ve since cooled down.

I could have used this years ago.  This perhaps is the most innovative email feature I’ve heard of, because were human.

I wonder if this is going to send the rats scurrying around the room late at night to catch up to this???????

Is Delusions the company of the top Analyst Relations Bloggers?

I read recently via ARmadgeddon that Forrester is conducting a review of which blog do you read for Analyst Relations. To my surprise, Delusions of Adequacy was on the list. I’ve never tried to consciously do the tricks that score you high on the reader list. To the contrary, I violate many of the rules of top bloggers, especially staying on subject. While I do cover quite a bit about the profession, I also throw in humor (click on the category to see for yourself) and other issues a lot of people other than the A/R crowd care about.

In the blog stats, I get a lot of hits on the Day Lilly named after my Mother and Competitive Eating of all things.

Anyway, here is the list of A/R blogs to read. Good for those other guys, maybe one day we’ll actually be A/R professionals if we keep reading and writing.

• Analyst Insight by David Rossiter (UK)
• Analyst Equity by Duncan Chapple (UK)
• ARcade by Hill & Knowlton (US)
• AR Insider newsletter by Knowledge Capital Group (US)
• ARmadgeddon (US)
• Outsell Now (US)
• Tekrati.com The Industry Analyst Reporter (and companion blog) (US)
• Delusions of Adequacy by John Simonds (US)
• Infuse by Duncan Brown (UK)