Productivity?

Hint: you can click on the cartoon to enlarge it

Your Reflection?

Comments

[Adlai]

the boss has a basic behavior problem, he is bothering his employees asking "Are you done yet" all the time...

if you give the instant message (IM) technology to this boss, it isn't an improvement, it actually makes things worse, because it is enabling him to bother the employee even more!

i guess it's the same story with lots of technology. new technology + old bad behavior = more bad behavior

[micro CEO]

This is a serious problem I find at my company (and probably many others). I am equally guilty.
Getting so wrapped up in meetings, emails, and now IM conversations, that not a lot of "real work" actually gets done.

Granted, work would also be quite tough and ineffective without those tools. But it sometimes borders on a kind of addiction... "Oh no, I have no meetings this afternoon, no new messages in the inbox; What am I going to do with my time?"

[Daniel]

As one of my friends would say "Giving modern day tools to a micro-manager is like giving a staircase to a monkey." when monkey finds a staircase, it goes up and down without a meaningful purpose because it a a new toy to tinker.

Same with micro-managers, they find the new toy to tinker employees and impact productivity.

[Kaka dog]

As an employee, sometimes i have to face to this situation. If unfortunately I have a key task then things will be even worse. many bosses will ask qustions about that or give some instructions, but actually not all of them are value added. I was bothered by that at beginning, but recent years i get accustomed to that, maybe part of my pay is for that!!

[Levi's]

Both employee and boss may consider that, should we die tomorrow, we should hope that our obituary does not read,
"...Was a hard worker who dilligently replied to hundreds of IM and email messages every day at work..."

Quoting from The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry):
“I know a planet where there is a certain red-faced gentleman... And all day he says over and over…‘I am busy with matters of consequence!’ And that makes him swell up with pride. But he is not a man-—he is a mushroom!”

[Mark Dennen (rcvd emial;Posted by Anand)]

I responded to the post, but as you know, it asked for the letters in the box (there were none in the box), so I could not enter them. Maybe it didn’t like my response?

Mark

In a sense, this cartoon reminds me of myself. If I have a serious personal problem, weighing heavily on my mind, I have been taught to "offer it up to God and let Him handle it." My wife will often point out, "Yes, you offered it up, but if He doesn't work on it fast enough to suit you, you take it back." And so the worrying continues.
I began in this industry working for a start-up. People often think working for a start-up is glamorous, but no business will soon take its toll. I would work all the time, going to bed early to escape, but also praying for some (any) business. It worked out for me, but for many, who work even harder, it does not. Today, so much is expected.
Mark Dennen

[ES (Shanghai)]

it is so good to receive messages from you, hope everything is fine with you.

please let me know if you travel to shanghai，it should be great to talk to you.

take care,

[BHSC]

A very appropriate Friday Reflection, given some of the current topics we were discussing this week!!!!

I hope you have a very enjoyable 3 day weekend.

Best regards

[Bobby]

I think there needs to be a balance in communication. However, it is hard to communicate what that "balance" should be for an individual.