Managing Yourself

How productive do you really need to be?

(Photo credit @cathrynlavery)

  1. Another thing I’ve admitted to myself in pandemic times: it’s ok to admit that you’re only about 40-50% as productive as normal. Here’s some advice on how to recover: 

  2. Still struggling to get motivated? It happens to all of us!

  3. If you’re working with or managing others, you should be thinking about ways to help support your team right now.


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Managing Multiple Messaging Channels

(Photo credit @mathyaskurmann)

  1. Write down ALL the various ways that you receive messages (think email, Slack, text, FB Messenger, LinkedIn InMail, Instagram DMs, etc). Recognize that you are choosing to take in messages from multiple platforms, and decide if you want to remove any of them as an option to communicate with you. 

  2. Develop a comprehensive response plan so you’re regularly checking the various ‘inboxes’ as part of your daily/weekly workflow. 

  3. Decide if you want to attempt the almost mythical “Inbox Zero” and how you’ll tackle it each day, OR how you will use other inbox management strategies.


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Learning About AI, Bias and Humane Design

(Photo credit @photoshobby)

As individuals and companies are navigating how to respond to the robots taking over the world, it’s useful to know that according to a study of 8,370 employees, managers and HR leaders across 10 countries, 64% of people would trust a robot over their manager. “New technologies, according to respondents, will help them master new skills (36%), gain more free time (36%), and expand their current role so that it’s more strategic (28%).” While most of you are not going to bring physical robots to your workplaces anytime soon, the study shows that introducing other AI tools at your workplace might not be as hard as you thought...and that managers still have a looong way to go to earn the trust of their employees.

1. Do some reading to understand at a base level what is artificial intelligence, and how it is possible for it to be biased.

2. Look to see what your leaders know about AI, whether or not you work at a tech company, as all companies use AI these days. If you are a leader, ask yourself if you know enough about the tech to know what changes should be made.

3. When you are designing products or working with those who do, ensure they are following humane design frameworks/principles.

  • The Center for Humane Technology has a set of tech principles and a Design Guide among other resources.

  • Kat Holmes of MisMatch Design has a book, podcast, workshops & other resources to help improve inclusive design. 

4. Look for the groups doing work in AI & diversity


Amazon’s approach to building robot/human trust? Develop a weird Valentine’s video.


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