Productivity is how I get things done. If I’m managing other people, I can specify how we get things done together, but I can’t extend that over their entire lives. They have to work that out for themselves.

Spoken like a man who has spent many years managing others.

New managers try to micromanage methods and details. I certainly did, and it made the first couple years painful for everyone. Experienced managers manage results and only consider details or methods when results are not being met.

There is this new web app currently in beta called Flow. Its project management app based on GTD methodologies with an emphasis on delegation. After some spending some time with it, I’ve come to two conclusions:

1. Its a beatifully designed app.
2. I question its long-term viability because it requires teams or companies to unilaterally adopt a complicated productivity system. Read  the rest of Randy’s article to better understand why this is an issue.

I prefer simple tools, like Basecamp, where people have a lot of freedom to integrate their tasks with their own ways of getting things done.

[via Randy Murray - You Are Not Responsible For Other People’s Productivity.]

I don’t really think it’s “cool” to go to a salon or a barbershop and wait for long periods. I don’t think it’s particularly “awesome” to spend $15 minimum to have someone else use a pair of scissors when I’m fully capable of doing it myself. As a fully functional human being, I’m quite capable [...]

Delegate or die: the self-employed trap. | Derek Sivers: Because my team was running the business, I was free to actually improve the business! I moved to California, just to make it clear that the running of things was up to them. I was still working 12-hour days, but now I was spending all my [...]

“For me, the objective has always been: How do you improve per-hour output to the greatest extent possible? And how do you concurrently design the lifestyle that you want to have? Because I do believe that life is intended to be enjoyed. For many people, they love what they do, but they don’t want to [...]

9. Pay someone to do it. This flies in the face of some theories: “Why work an extra week at your job to afford to hire someone to paint your living room? Work less and paint the living room yourself.” Um, no thanks. My theory is this: earn your money doing something you’re passionate about, [...]

Recent conversations with some friends have helped me solidify one of my personal “sweet spots”, a value that tends to drive many of the decisions I make. Some people are minimalists. Others are problem solvers. Me? I’m on a mission to eradicate friction from my life. If it’s not as smooth as it could be, [...]

I’m a creative professional. My job as a designer is to solve problems creatively for my clients. My job as a writer is to find thoughtful, inspiring ideas to dialog and share with you, my readers. Whether I’m branding a company or drafting a simple piece for my blog, I’m creating something new. For me, [...]

I woke up this morning with a tickle in my throat that has developed into a painful sore throat. This is a familiar beginning of a cold or flu will likely hit me full force tomorrow… Today is the Sunday of my Thanksgiving break and impending sickness must be my punishment for enjoying four peaceful [...]

The focus of The Cranking Widgets Blog will have much more of an entrepreneurial bent going forward. I collect companies and business ideas like many productivity lovers collect pens and notebooks. Entrepreneurship is in every fiber of my being. My record is far from spotless, but if I judge my performance against the statistics I’ve [...]

I’m a huge fan of Ruby on Rails because of how fast it enables techies to get a new project out the door and into the hands of users. For non-programmers Ruby on Rails is a development framework brought to you by 37Signals that powers some of your favorite sites, like Basecamp, Twitter, LinkedIn and [...]