Time is the enemy. It is also of the essence.
Posted on | July 29, 2010 | No Comments
There’s never enough time.
If you’re really busy, it’s wise to make the most of the spare time you do have.
Otherwise, you’ll just get frustrated and burn out.
Sound familiar?
Why I’m quite excited to use WordPress
Posted on | July 24, 2010 | 3 Comments
It’s been several weeks since I decided to close my CMS project – Injader. Recently, I’ve been setting up some new WordPress blogs at quite a rapid pace, even moving some of my existing blogs from Injader to WordPress.
Today, I started working on my new creative writing blog, which I’ll share when more of the content is up. I’ve suddenly realised that it’s quite exciting to be setting up all these blogs… much more exciting than when I used Injader.
This is because I am no longer responsible for the code that runs that site.
Don’t let SEO and UX take precedence over a common sense approach
Posted on | July 21, 2010 | 3 Comments
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and User Experience (UX) are two things I know some stuff about. I don’t claim to be an expert on either, so I’m not going to set up a blog on them.
Well, maybe user experience.
And if I’m being honest, a UX blog from me would probably end up being called 101 ways to screw up user experience…
Two good Mondays in a row? Surely some mistake…
Posted on | July 19, 2010 | 1 Comment
OK, I guess it’s a bit silly to categorise this post as a shiny new idea, when I’ve already suggested it. Last week, in fact. Yep, I’m stealing my own ideas. They’re just so damn good!
But it seems I’ve just managed to experience my second decent Monday in a row. Admittedly, it wasn’t perfect, but it did have a lot of the same benefits that last Monday had. I wonder if I’ve prompted a few other people to follow my example?
Smart Casual: the perfect dress code?
Posted on | July 19, 2010 | 2 Comments
I used to work for an insurance company where all staff had to be smart. Men had no option but to wear a shirt and tie, with smart shoes. This seemed a bit unfair – women had to be smart too, but they had more options than the men did.
Dressing up for an important meeting or an interview is understandable. If you work directly with your customers, then perhaps you have to wear a uniform, or dress smart to give a good impression. That’s one thing. But in a company where most staff rarely met with external suppliers let alone our customers, I never really saw the point in everyone being quite so smart.
Links to blogs, old and new…
Posted on | July 18, 2010 | No Comments
I’ve just added a new page to this blog – my portfolio.
Realistically though, perhaps it should be called “my ever-growing list of blogs”. Almost everything on the list is a blog. There’s a link to my ad network, my now-defunct CMS, and my e-book containing my best blogging tips. But that’s all the non-bloggy stuff I have. I do have my music site, which is – surprisingly enough – music-focused. It does have a blog though, so it straddles the gap.
Alarmingly, I still haven’t finished installing WordPress on all of the domains I’ve bought recently. I w0n’t do them all, but I have a few more blogs still to come. A few sites won’t be blogs at all – and some are moving from Injader to WordPress. It’s a manual process to move the posts over though – I don’t have a script to make it easier. Even with a script, I’d still need to go back through the old posts and tidy them up.
The reason for all this?
How can I improve what I can’t control?
Posted on | July 17, 2010 | 3 Comments
Speaking from my own experience, as I slowly increase the number of years I’ve been working for, and the number of companies I’ve worked for … I can see myself becoming much more aware of the problems that occur in the workplace.
When I first got a job, I was often excited to go to work. Everything was fresh and new. I mostly didn’t notice any serious problems within processes, or office politics, being too naive to notice them. Or perhaps it was because a lot of people decided that due to my young age, I wouldn’t have understood most of their moans and groans about the job. So they told me very little.
But as time goes on, I’ve found that I can quickly analyse problems and come up with good solutions, but I’m rarely given the opportunity to do anything about those problems – due to not being in management. Even if I was, part of being a manager often means you manage a team. If you manage one team, can you influence other teams? They may still do their own thing even if other managers agree with your ideas.
What I struggle with is feeling like I have a lot of the answers but absolutely no way of getting those things in place. People might say “just get on and change things for the better”. If you do introduce changes, whether you’re doing them your own way or whether you’re going through the appropriate channels, getting people to use new processes or methodologies is a tough task unless things are reviewed and/or audited. Otherwise, how will you know that everyone is doing things the “right way”?
How to enjoy Mondays
Posted on | July 13, 2010 | 5 Comments
Here’s a list of the best ideas I can think of:
- Do something fun.
- Treat yourself to a decent breakfast.
- Make bad jokes.
- Get up early. (and go to bed early the night before)
- Have a nice lunch.
- Make Monday morning your “get things done” time.
On that last point. I’ve heard people suggest that you should aim to avoid carrying any work over to the next day. Whether it’s “inbox zero”, or not leaving things unfinished… I think this idea is a load of bullshit.
The reason?
Tips or mistakes: what’s the best way to learn?
Posted on | July 13, 2010 | 2 Comments
The web is bursting with tips for doing things well, along with lists of things you shouldn’t do. Doesn’t it make your head spin? How do we keep up?
Top 10 tips for the Tube
Posted on | July 13, 2010 | 3 Comments
This is a rehash of a post from an earlier incarnation of my blog. I wrote it in November 2009, four months after I started working in London and using the Tube for part of my journey. Eight months later, and in fact, exactly 1 year after I started my job, I found myself nodding and agreeing – yes, with myself – when re-reading through my tips for the Tube.
After another fun-filled morning of people who are clearly oblivious to how much grief just one person on the wrong side of an escalator can cause, it’s high time for me to trot out 10 of my best tips for the Tube. Ignore them at your peril.
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The cynical views of a Brit who's flexing his writing muscles and probably getting a hernia somewhere down the line.
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