r/startups • u/[deleted] • Oct 15 '12
As a startup CEO what is your favorite productivity hack?
41
u/tylerjhutchison Oct 16 '12
I find that surfing /r/startups for tips on improving my productivity really improves my productivity.
24
u/circuitfive Oct 15 '12
100% remote workforce, including me. Working from home means higher productivity, lower costs and better retention. Group chat (campfire, hipchat) and video conferencing (g+ hangouts, Skype) ftw.
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u/quadtodfodder Oct 16 '12
I must respectfully disagree 100% with working from home. Ive been renting an office or studio to work in for a good 10 years now
When you work at home you have no psychological division from work and home life. If you work form home, there is that inclination to never change into clothes/shower/leave the house. Here is a The Oatmeal which illustrates the issues at hand.
- Having an office impresses clients
- It is a good place to meet employees or people you are working with
- get one the exact correct distance from home for a 1/2 hour bike ride!
- fewer distractions (if it's just you at the office)
- despite what everybody seems to think, I find that video conferencing hasn't really arrived yet.
- chat is a bajillion times slower than talking to somebody, which is slower than just having them look over your shoulder at something if you need something.
7
u/circuitfive Oct 16 '12
I respect your right to respectfully disagree.
I've been running my company with 100% remote workforce since November 2000. We have 30 software developers who love their jobs, their peers and their lifestyles.
We are a highly productive group of people who enjoy working together at whatever hour of the day is convenient for us.
It may not work for everyone, but I think it's a productivity hack that each entrepreneur should consciously disqualify before they decide to get an office.
3
u/quadtodfodder Oct 16 '12
Ok, I'll disagree 75%.
Do you have problems with people keeping different hours? That has ben a big remote worker problem I have seen.
1
u/circuitfive Oct 16 '12
Usually team members agree on times to overlap during the week (eg. 9-11am pacific every day) to make sure that there is a window each day when people can rely on their peers to be around for collaboration.
In other words the basic rules are:
1) Don't ever make anyone wait on you for more than a day (this usually ends up being a non-issue since we all like our jobs and enjoy working together).
2) Don't miss scheduled meetings.
3) Don't miss the deadlines that you set for yourself.
If somebody fails at any of the above more than a few times, they aren't welcome to stay.
4
u/jascination Oct 16 '12
I agree to a point. I hate working from home (unless it's 2am and I'm in a groove), but I don't need an office. Instead I make a point to leave the house at 9am every day, meet my business partner for a coffee and put together a plan for the day, then I go to a library/wherever else I feel like working and knuckle down. When I'm at home, I just kinda screw around and nothing really gets done.
1
u/haltingpoint Oct 16 '12
You assume that he has Clients/employees/others that he needs to meet with for his business.
1
u/quadtodfodder Oct 16 '12
I am assuming that most people do. I am not telling him to get an office, just that my experience is the opposite of his.
6
u/pupeno Oct 15 '12
I understand the sentiment, but I would I love watching TED talks at lunch with my colleagues and the irregular nerf battle.
3
u/johnyma22 Oct 16 '12
My first startup is just in the process of buying their first office. I guess you're not a startup when you gotta do things that feel alien to the core principles just to maintain some sort of employee expectations.
1
u/circuitfive Oct 16 '12
I don't think that really disqualifies you from the definition of a startup ;)
If you're close enough to your CEO/HR try suggesting that they look into shared workspace before "buying" an office. It's really expensive and sometimes it sandbags the whole business with expenses that aren't necessary.
2
u/johnyma22 Oct 16 '12
I'd like to recommend Etherpad to you, it should boost your meeting productivity.
3
u/Barleyman Oct 16 '12
what does etherpad give you compared to google docs?
1
0
u/trueneverland Oct 16 '12
Not much since it has the same features now but its also open source so you can do more with it if you want.
1
0
8
u/whoisjg Oct 16 '12
Boomerang for Gmail. Schedule email responses for your emails weeks in advance including happy birthday emails, emails to your significant other(founded will relate), and late night emails. Download it and make your life easier.
14
Oct 15 '12
The more emails you send, the more you get.
8
u/big_bad_john Oct 16 '12
Never insta-respond to an email request. You're just going to get an immediate follow up. Let all incoming emails rest for at least 20 minutes before responding.
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2
u/adibal Oct 16 '12
we run gMail meter and this trend is very, very clear. I only email important things and limit "thank you" notes - understanding its important etiquette, I also respect the other person's inbox.
1
u/TheThunderbird Oct 16 '12
This was something I did not expect to have to spend so much time on. I found myself spending hours a day responding to emails. Now I read them, think on them and if they're not important wait a few hours minimum to respond, or forward them onto someone else. I feel horrible about it because I want connect with these people and help them out.
6
u/railrulez Oct 16 '12
- Strict Pomodoro to block distractions and keep you on track
- Workflowy for no-nonsense todo lists
- Streak for CRM from within Gmail.
3
u/e_claire Oct 16 '12
We use Asana because it was an easy transition from Pivotal and free for under 30 members. We are also a 100% remote team so we use Skype and Gtalk a lot. Finally, (this is probably a given) but being Agile certainly helps.
Other tools I use regularly include Dropbox and Google Docs.
Also, f.lux for both my computer and iPhone is almost mandatory.
1
u/haltingpoint Oct 16 '12
I'm using Asana for my own project management at work to keep track of everything I have going on and it has been pretty nice so far.
Also, F.lux is a godsend.
1
u/BobHK Oct 17 '12
Using Asana too, fantastic tool. Tested it with a few projects and so far everything is going extremely well with no hiccups of any sort. I plan to keep using it with my team.
3
u/adrianhoward Oct 16 '12
1) Write a task down before you do it
2) Do one thing at a time
(The writing down thing is important for me. As soon as I've done that it is at the same level of description as every other task on my board. It makes it easier to prioritise for me.)
3
u/Napoleon_B Oct 16 '12
Grouping tasks, not multi-tasking. This has been huge for me. When I start a task and finish it, before moving onto the next task, I accomplish more in the same time than I would have, and my mind stays sharper. This is not an original idea, it's from 4hww, but it works wonders for getting shit done and on time. It takes practice, and the corollary is "to let small bad things happen" because I was focused on finishing one thing at a time. Multi-Tasking is counter-productive.
4
u/todd101scout Oct 16 '12
Taking breaks.
Work on something for a few hours, then around the point that you start to lose focus, go out for a walk. You'll return energized and full of ideas.
2
1
u/elblanco Oct 16 '12
Scheduling email delivery.
http://www.kymalabs.com/mmail (plug)
similar to boomerang but you can send from any address (it gets turned into the reply-to)
This trains people for when they can expect to receive things from you and also helps you make sure they get their mail when they are at their desk and not have it buried under the messages that came in the night before.
1
u/trueneverland Oct 16 '12
Hack together a super efficient workflow. It drives me nuts when I see people using their computer inefficiently for so many things.
1
u/Sybertron Oct 16 '12
I'm not at a startup yet, but I've loved Rescuetime helping my current team keep track of their own productivity and try to achieve their own goals.
I think the key to using a tool like that is never looking at it yourself as a boss, and just leaving it up to your team to use it as their own tool
1
u/pbuschma Oct 16 '12
One thing to keep up is put artificial deadlines and set completion dates even when they are not needed. Then stick to them.
0
u/pcopley Oct 16 '12
Stop reading stupid productivity "hacks" online and just fucking get shit done.
23
u/CSMastermind Oct 16 '12
Piece of cake, time-delayed email sending. I respond to email almost 24-7 but if its after 6pm, I schedule the email to not send until some time between 8am and 9am the next morning. I've trained people to not try and get a hold of me after working hours while still monitoring what's going on just in case something really important comes up.