Startup Kitchen
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Manager and his time: who has a monkey on shoulders?

wrote this on Фев 12, 2016

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It seems like the burden of tasks being done by employees lies on a manager’s shoulders in the end. We’ll tell you how to get rid of this burden.

This article was initially published in Harvard Business Review in November-December 1974 and since then it’s one of the 2 most often republished articles of the magazine.

In order to republish in “Classic” section, Harvard Business Review has trusted Stephen Covey with writing a comment to it. Why in many cases managers lack time while their subordinates don’t have enough work? The article describes the importance of time-management and how to divide it among managers, directors, colleagues, and subordinates.

Importance of time-management in game development

wrote this on Сен 1, 2015

Без имени

TGS has written a tremendous article on how essential time-management is. And here's the translation.

A great many of books tell us that we should do what’s interesting for us, turning your hobby into an income source and main business. A starting point (boring life, uninteresting environment) and a final point (making your life better, feeling happiness and so on) are described everywhere. But there’s nothing said about the difficulties you’ll have to overcome in order to get from point “A” to point “B”.

We have also tried to make a business out of our hobby. It all started in 2013 when I and 4 my friends decided to develop games. We spent approximately 6 months on studying graphics, programming nuances and so on. An idea occurred to us during the learning process. It seemed so huge and large-scale that it would take months and even years to realize it. And resources… big resources which we didn’t have. We decided that we should start from the simplest variant — an indie-game with many endings. We rented an office on the outskirts of our city as we tried to minimize expenses. Economy allowed us to get an experience of working “at all costs” and “in any circumstances”: we had to work on the project in an atmosphere unsuitable for it. So, searching for a project development catalyst, we faced several barriers.

Time-management for irrationalists

wrote this on Июл 17, 2015

Без имени

This article is for irrationalists. The ones whose life changes constantly. Who can’t work monotonously, step by step.

Many years ago serious and consistent people have agreed on considering themselves ideals and life standards. And they consider people different from them to be abnormal. Biases and traditional ideas of upbringing indicate directly that each child should develop extreme inner order. And mood changes is a result of an irresponsible parents’ attitude towards their responsibilities.

Neither irrationalists nor their parents are to blame for irrationalism. It can’t be cured or changed.

Overtime? What about the results?

wrote this on Апр 21, 2015

Без имени

It’s quite a widespread situation when at the end of a working day you linger at the office just because your colleagues haven’t left yet. You stay at work, doing nothing so nobody would think you’re a slacker.

It’s sad to admit but efficiency is seldom rewarded at work. Most of the firms bill by the hour so it may work against really productive people. There is an advantage of billing by the hour from the law firm’s perspective. If the work needs more time, it shifts all the risks from the company to clients. Such practice encourages lawyers to over-staff and over-search cases. But those people who work efficiently are risking to be underpaid.

Time management

wrote this on Апр 14, 2015

Без имени

Time is relentless, though it’s temporary. For the majority of people time management task means doing more things faster. From the point of view of efficiency it’s a right approach, although quality aspect of the problem is much more important than the quantity aspect. Unproductive waste of time is especially intolerable for a leader striving for efficient activity. In many cases, it’s better to do nothing than take actions without proper planning. Often it’s more preferable to spend some time thinking over this or that question, rather than act thoughtlessly, risking to provoke chaos or an acute conflict.

Your Best Just Got Better

wrote this on Июн 25, 2014

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"Your Best Just Got Better" is a book about how to deal with problems and not to spend all the power on them. The author Jason Womack is a Master of pedagogy and psychology, business coach and the author of two books.

Jason once described his ideal morning: "I wake up in a country house, look through the list of important tasks, work for 80 minutes, then have a 7 km morning run. When I return home, my wife is awake and cooking breakfast".

Several years passed and Womack lived out his perfect morning in every detail. Then he realized that it's high time to raise the bar.

Procrastination

wrote this on Июн 23, 2014

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Procrastination is a new word, but the phenomenon is not entirely new. It is an unconscious delaying of the unpleasant tasks with the help of other tasks.

Everyone procrastinates. Students - on the last night before the exam, junior managers - before calling an unpleasant customer and their bosses - before  firing one of them. If you are not made of steel, you also procrastinate.

May be you are procrastinating right now.

Multitasking

wrote this on Июн 20, 2014

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Multitasking and stress resistance are buzzwords in any company. Who does not cope with multitasking is ineffective. Who is not stress resistant, won't work for long. Previously we believed in it. Today we'll tell about how multitasking interferes with life.

Earned value project management

wrote this on Июн 11, 2014

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We’ve decided to write this article for two reasons:

The first one is undeservedly little attention of business leaders and project managers to such a powerful management tool as earned value project management.

The second reason is that the lack of knowledge on this issue doesn’t allow the members of the project team to fully use this method on the level of performance in order to provide managers quality information on the status of the project.

All this leads to the fact that the earned value project management (EVPM) is often perceived as complex, requiring special training and unnecessary in improving the efficiency of project management tool.

Live to work or work to live. Part 10. TM-manifesto: from the tool to the ideology

wrote this on Май 7, 2014

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Live to work or work to live. Part 9. TM-bacillus: how to convey the idea of time management to other people 

Let us digress for a short time from the techniques of planning and management tasks and talk about more sublime things - the ideology of time management.

"Sublime things" - are not necessary "impractical". As the saying goes, "nothing is as practical as a good theory". And a good ideology is even more practical. Technology without ideology is dead and helpless. Therefore, in the last article, we summarize the ideological worldview of the time management.