Recent quotes:

Biometric devices help pinpoint factory workers' emotions and productivity: Researchers explore the links between happiness and productivity at a factory in Laos -- ScienceDaily

In the study, 15 workers answered a questionnaire and wore a device on their wrist with built-in sensors to detect movement, pulse waves, environmental ultraviolet light, body temperature, and sound through which it continuously recorded physical activity, beat-to-beat pulse intervals, skin temperature, and sleep. The device, Silmee(TM)W20, is produced by the TDK Corporation Tokyo, Japan. Employees' emotional states were measured for three working days through a complex process of beat-to-beat pulse intervals via custom software developed by NEC Corporation Tokyo, Japan. The researchers followed a common model in the field -- Russel's circumplex model -- to measure employees' emotion in four states: happy, angry, relaxed, and sad. Using a random effect panel regression model, they found people's happy emotional state was positively related to their productivity. Meanwhile, no other emotional states were found to be related to productivity.
#mobile #happiness #productivity #wearable - sciencedaily.com

Seeking the Productive Life: Some Details of My Personal Infrastructure—Stephen Wolfram Blog

Could one actually work like this, typing and everything? After my “heart-rate discovery” I decided I had to try it. I thought I’d have to build something myself, but actually one can just buy “walking desks”, and so I did. And after minor modifications, I discovered that I could walk and type perfectly well with it, even for a couple of hours. I was embarrassed I hadn’t figured out such a simple solution 20 years ago. But starting last fall—whenever the weather’s been good—I’ve tried to spend a couple of hours of each day walking outside like this:
#walking #productivity #experiments - stephenwolfram.com

Collaborative video games could increase office productivity: Team video gaming increased effectiveness of newly-formed teams by 20 percent -- ScienceDaily

A new study by four BYU information systems professors found newly-formed work teams experienced a 20 percent increase in productivity on subsequent tasks after playing video games together for just 45 minutes. The study, published in AIS Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction, adds to a growing body of literature finding positive outcomes of team video gaming. "To see that big of a jump -- especially for the amount of time they played -- was a little shocking," said co-author and BYU associate professor Greg Anderson. "Companies are spending thousands and thousands of dollars on team-building activities, and I'm thinking, go buy an Xbox."
#managing #synchronize #collaboration #games #vr #productivity - sciencedaily.com

13 Signs That Someone Is About to Quit, According to Research

Their work productivity has decreased more than usual. They have acted less like a team player than usual. They have been doing the minimum amount of work more frequently than usual. They have been less interested in pleasing their manager than usual. They have been less willing to commit to long-term timelines than usual. They have exhibited a negative change in attitude. They have exhibited less effort and work motivation than usual. They have exhibited less focus on job related matters than usual. They have expressed dissatisfaction with their current job more frequently than usual. They have expressed dissatisfaction with their supervisor more frequently than usual. They have left early from work more frequently than usual. They have lost enthusiasm for the mission of the organization. They have shown less interest in working with customers than usual.
#managing #productivity - hbr.org

8 Ways to Read (a Lot) More Books This Year

A good friend once told me a story that really stuck with me. He said Stephen King had advised people to read something like five hours a day. My friend said, “You know, that’s baloney. Who can do that?” But then, years later, he found himself in Maine on vacation. He was waiting in line outside a movie theater with his girlfriend, and who should be waiting in front of him? Stephen King! His nose was in a book the whole time in line. When they got into the theater, Stephen King was still reading as the lights dimmed. When the lights came up, he pulled his book open right away. He even read as he was leaving. Now, I have not confirmed this story with Stephen King. But I think the message this story imparts is an important one. Basically, you can read a lot more. There are minutes hidden in all the corners of the day, and they add up to a lot of minutes.
#reading #time #productivity - hbr.org

What is a Product Manager?

I’ve always defined product management as the intersection between the functions business, technology and user experience (hint — only a product manager would define themselves in a venn diagram). A good product manager must be experienced in at least one, passionate about all three, and conversant with practitioners in all.
#managing #innovation #productivity - medium.com

Random to dos weigh us down

Just having the opportunity to multitask is detrimental to cognitive performance. Glenn Wilson, former visiting professor of psychology at Gresham College, London, calls it info-mania. His research found that being in a situation where you are trying to concentrate on a task, and an email is sitting unread in your inbox, can reduce your effective IQ by 10 points. And although people ascribe many benefits to marijuana, including enhanced creativity and reduced pain and stress, it is well documented that its chief ingredient, cannabinol, activates dedicated cannabinol receptors in the brain and interferes profoundly with memory and with our ability to concentrate on several things at once. Wilson showed that the cognitive losses from multitasking are even greater than the cognitive losses from pot‑smoking
#managing #IQ #productivity - theguardian.com

Affluence = time more valuable = multi-tasking

So being busy can make you rich, but being rich makes you feel busier still. Staffan Linder, a Swedish economist, diagnosed this problem in 1970. Like Becker, he saw that heady increases in the productivity of work-time compelled people to maximise the utility of their leisure time. The most direct way to do this would be for people to consume more goods within a given unit of time. To indulge in such “simultaneous consumption”, he wrote, a chap “may find himself drinking Brazilian coffee, smoking a Dutch cigar, sipping a French cognac, reading the New York Times, listening to a Brandenburg Concerto and entertaining his Swedish wife—all at the same time, with varying degrees of success.” Leisure time would inevitably feel less leisurely, he surmised, particularly for those who seemed best placed to enjoy it all. The unexpected product of economic progress, according to Linder, was a “harried leisure class”.
#work #productivity #calendar - economist.com