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Developing a Set of Consistent Principles

By Melissa Leon on January 26, 2010 7:57 AM | 2 Comments | No TrackBacks
Recently I have been reading the Starfish and the Spider, a book I have been meaning to readstarfish.jpg for a while now.  Finally I started it and I am half way through.  As I was reading the first couple chapters there were a few things that made me think of workshifters.  In the first section of the book there is a discussion about decentralized organizations, this is where I started to see direct correlations to workshifters.  

In the book, Brafman and Beckstrom make the point that in a decentralized organization, a starfish organization, to be productive there needs to be a core set of principles that remain constant.  The best example for this is the reference to Alcoholics Anonymous.  Anyone can start a group.  However, the recovery process is exactly the same.  The core principle is the recovery process, but anyone can start a group in any place they want.  This should remain the same for any workshifter.  We should have a consistent set of core principles and/or behaviors regardless of where we are working.  

For instance, in our company, we ask all our employees to log their time in Less Time Spent so that we can manage client hours, we use Basecamp to manage projects and we meet on Skype daily with our project manager to discuss what's on deck for the day.  Those are our core principles that remain constant no matter where we are workshifting.  This is what allows us to be starfish workshifters, no matter what environment we are in we can work productively keeping our core principles in tact.

If you are thinking of allowing your team to start workshifting, you should develop a set of  guidelines that remain constant such as work product or work process.  This will allow your team to workshift while still remaining productive.  

What are the core principle that remain the same for your workshifters?

Photo Credit: Topyti

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Categories: Guidelines, Managers, Productivity, Workshifting Tags: guidelines, managers, principles, productivity, workshifting

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2 Comments

Author Profile Page Melissa | January 26, 2010 12:17 PM | Reply

When my workshifting staff (which consists entirely of ... ME) start to get distracted, I really have to bring the hammer down. ;)

Seriously, I find myself working all over the place. Different cities, in hotels, unfamiliar offices, coffee houses, you name it, so I have to maintain a routine regardless of where I am. Otherwise, I'd never get anything accomplished. I make sure that my schedule is flexible, so that I have the ability to meet the needs of my family, but when I'm working, I have to keep my eye on the ball.

I make sure that I have well-laid-out goals for any project, so that I'm not "winging it". I like to have a plan of action to which I can refer when working. I use Freshbooks to help me manage my time and billable hours, log to dos, reminders, notes (and pretty much everything else) in Evernote, organize conference calls with TimeBridge (GREAT service), connect with clients via Skype and, more recently, Google WAVE. Each of these tools helps me stay focused with my eyes on the prize.

Great first post, Meliss! Keep it up!!

caracol cream | March 11, 2010 2:14 PM | Reply

That is good stuff. Anyone should distribute it to Delicious.

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