1. INCREASING
EFFECTIVENESS TO
MASTER OFFICE LIFE@kevinduncan

2. MODERN OFFICE LIFE

3. INFORMATION INUNDATION
Average professional gets 300 emails a
week
People check their phones 150 times a day
They spend 28 hours a week on email
Executives interrupted every 8 minutes,
losing over 2 hours a day
It takes 15 minutes to get back to what you
were originally doing
Sources: Atlassian, Internet trends, University of California,
Basex, Microsoft

4. WORK EMAIL HABITS
“I often or sometimes check my email...
 On weekends 63%
 On holiday 58%
 Immediately when I wake up 49%
 In bed 34%
 Before 7am 66%
 Before I go to bed 54%
 During commute 33-61%
Source: APSIS, YouGov

5. ATTITUDES TO TECHNOLOGY
 48% of executives “cannot live without
email.”
 26% of men “could not live without their
laptop.”
11% of men “could not live without their
BlackBerry.”
Source: Reed

6. WHAT SCIENCE SAYS
 Average attention span in 2000: 12 seconds. 2015: 8
secs.
 We can handle 3-4 cognitively demanding thoughts
at once.
 When you think you’re multitasking you’re actually
switching back and forth between different tasks.
 There’s a switch cost. It takes the brain 15-25
minutes to get back.
 Digital devices have a negative effect on prolonged
focus.
 The only way to be productive is to switch off
devices.

7. OUT OF HOURS WORKING
 93% of employees continue working when
they have left the office
…for a total of over 3 and a half hours a
week
…or 15 hours a month
…or 183 hours a year
…or 23 extra working days a year
Source: YouGov

8. THE WORST
ASPECTS OF
OFFICE LIFE
@kevinduncan

9. EXCUSES AND WAFFLE

10. The excuse culture

11. DON’T MAKE EXCUSES
 Get things done
 Don’t be vague or evasive
 Don’t use jargon
(unless with specialists who know the
lingo)
 Don’t use bullshit
 Keep politics to a minimum

12. Spotting waffle

13. HATE WAFFLE
 Waffle is the enemy of a clear decision
 Take the time to think first
 Think straight then talk straight
 Don’t do spontaneous word dumps
 Ask for five minutes of their time
 When’s convenient for you to talk?

14. PROGRESS NOT PERFECTION

15. PROGRESS NOT PERFECTION
 Perfectionist bosses demoralise staff
by consistently redoing their work
 Perfectionists in a team take too long
agonizing, putting pressure on colleague
 Go for highest standards & finish the job

16. Quantitative v Qualitative tasks

17. DO IT FAST OR DO IT PROPERLY
 Quantitative tasks can neither be done well
nor badly
 Get them done fast with minimum fuss
 Qualitative tasks need time and thought
 By having clear set times for the quant,
we can think harder about the qual.
 Mornings for creative, deeper thinking work
 Am I just doing it, or am I doing it well?

18. Just doing it, or doing it well?

19. TAMING TECHNOLOGY

20. The one-touch approach

21. A NEW EMAIL ETIQUETTE
 Never touch an email more than once
 Read it, then action it, file it, or delete it
 Use a different medium if you can
 Don’t be an email thief and steal time

22. A NEW MEETING ETIQUETTE
 Only call meetings when really
necessary
 Make them short
 Turn up, prepare properly, stay on
theme
 Shut up and listen

23. Make it work for you,
not the other way around

24. BREVITY AND DELAY

25. Do the worst first

26. Brevity equals intelligence

27. SHARPER, SMARTER, FASTER
 Brevity equals intelligence
 The shorter the better
 Edit first before wasting others’ time
 Tasks do not improve if they are delayed
 So do the worst first
 Free up time for important stuff
 Concentrate on qualitative tasks

28. PERFECT LIST WRITING

29. Personal priority

30. Emotional importance

31. Reason for doing

32. Financial value to you

33. Everyone else’s priorities

34. Chronological sift

35. Time shifts

36. Try them out
and create your own style

37. TOWARDS A
MANIFESTO
FOR A
BETTER WAY
OF WORKING

38. NO EXCUSES
PROGRESS NOT PERFECTION
MEETING & EMAIL ETIQUETTE
SHARPER SMARTER FASTER
HATE WAFFLE
DO IT FAST, DO IT PROPERLY

39. Kevin Duncan
www.expertadviceonline.com
Twitter: @kevinduncan
07979 808770

40. Tripwires and fail-safes