Many people dream of working from home. They can say goodbye to their dreadful commute, wear pajamas all day, sip on homemade coffee, and zip through tasks without the distractions of an office. Better yet, remote working could even mean working from exotic destinations, such as a tropical beach, with just your laptop. Despite its obvious advantages, working at home can bring a number of distractions and downsides.   Concentration Suffers Having difficulty concentrating on work issues is a common complaint for those who work from home. Everything from unexpected visits, to noise from children or pets can make it very distracting to work from home. Other people may also have a hard time accepting the notion that you are busy, even though you

Agile development was originally designed for teams that are co-located in the same office. The agile methodology recognizes face-to-face communication as being the most effective way to share ideas and collaborate with colleagues. The benefits of in-person communication include having the ability to sketch on a whiteboard or on post-it notes, so you can clarify your ideas and minimize the amount of time it takes to get a message across. But these days, many businesses have distributed teams that work on agile projects across time zones. If you strictly adhere to the agile methodology, it’s hard to follow a lot of its practices without being face-to-face with your colleagues. Some of the unique challenges facing agile teams include the following:  Building rapport with teams

A meeting room’s design can have a strong impact on employees and clients. Depending on its design and layout, a meeting room can help teams come up with fresh, creative ideas, or it can stifle them and make them feel uncomfortable and distracted.  Traditional conference rooms tend to consist of a long table dominating the room. While this style of room is appropriate for board of directors’ meetings and the like, modern meeting rooms tend to be more focused on comfort and creating a relaxed atmosphere. Well-designed meeting rooms help to put people at ease, improve collaboration, and enhance creativity.  If you want to infuse your meetings with productivity and innovation, consider following these tips to improve the look and feel of your meeting rooms.

Meetings are an integral part of business life. Whether you’re having difficulty coming up with an action plan, aren’t sure what to do on a project, or want to bounce ideas off of your teammates, scheduling meetings is the default response in most business situations.  Holding a meeting can be the right decision in some cases, but not all. The following are some factors to consider when deciding whether or not to schedule a meeting.   Have You Done Strategic Thinking About the Project?   If you aren’t clear about what you’re doing for a project, you might feel like you want to schedule a meeting with the stakeholders involved to gain clarity. This has the potential to waste your time and that of

Meetings are meant to improve productivity and efficiency. It is a time when people gather to get on the same page, create awareness of what needs to be done, and hold each other accountable to ensure that tasks get completed. If not planned out well, however, meetings can be a waste of time, and ultimately, hurt your company’s bottom line.    It’s important to schedule meetings for the right amount of time and with the right people, always starting with a clear objective in mind. Assigning someone to lead the meeting is key to ensure that it doesn’t go off the rails. But it’s not just the meetings themselves that can hurt efficiency and productivity if not carefully planned out.  The process of scheduling meetings, inviting