Modern workplaces seem antagonistic to efficient working and productivity.  They are noisy, stressful, full of constant chatter. constant interruptions from telephones, streams of emails and so on. Perhaps its time to turn the clock back.  Get rid of some of the technology. Start to think about the workers, not the kit. We know that productivity

Most of us try to organise our working day to maximise performance and efficiency. Yet for many of us that day can be ruined before it really starts. If we rise and start worrying about what we should wear (which tie?) and then have a stressful commute, we have drained some of our precious potential

If you want the real secret to productivity development, it is ... Well, the most important factor is to always, always remember rule number 7 - train and develop your staff, and treat them well.  They really are your most important resource - the source of your innovation, your improvement, your quality. What about rules

We all know he importance of backing up the work we do on computer - even if we don't always practise what we know we should. We also know we should have some form of backup service for the primary services and technologies we use - this can be expensive however, to maintain services we

When giving talks to people about productivity, I often express my amazement - and my worry - that governments spend a lot of time working on the wrong things. For example, in the UK at the current time, Brexit has been dominating the time of Parliament and the Cabinet. Brexit is important- but it doesn't

I read a piece the other day on the use of productivity measures for academic staff. The measures were all about output quantity (presumably with the proviso that papers wouldn’t be published if they didn’t meet quality criteria). However what matters is not quantity of output or quality of output but the impact of that

This week is The Open Golf Championship - what Americans like to call the British Open but is is THE Open. The Open obviously has the best golfers in the world - and as with most majors recently tends to be won by an American golfer. This leads you to believe that American golfers are

I am quite used to seeing strange suggestions for improving personal productivity - often tied to an app someone is trying to sell me.  But the one I saw the other day 'takes the biscuit'. It is based on the fact that some people think they are more productive working from a coffee shop rather

Does technology improve productivity? Silly question, isn't it? Well no. If you could monitor what your staff are 'working' on all the time, you would find that many book holidays, contact their medical practitioner, look for theatre schedules - and so on ... all in your time. They work more productively on task perhaps but

Most of us believe that technology has a good track record in improving productivity. But there have been many promised futures that did not come about.  Think 'the paperless office' for one.  This was first mooted back in the 1960s and every decade or so, someone promotes the concept again (normally scanner manufacturers). Well, mindful