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

The European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was adopted in April of 2016, forever altering the global digital privacy landscape. Designed to unify the data protection laws across EU member states, GDPR has impacted every entity that holds or uses European personal data both inside and outside of Europe. This means that nearly every website and application in the world has been affected.   Almost every aspect of people’s lives now revolves around data. Services people use every day, like social media and bank applications, collect, store, and analyze personal data. Under GDPR, organizations must ensure that they gather data under strict conditions and protect it from misuse. Lack of compliance could lead to hefty fines of up to €20 million or 4% of annual turnover. Non-compliance

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