The Problem With Productivity Blogs
One of the great things about the internet is anyone can put information out there. One of the bad things about the internet is anyone can put information out there.
While the internet has allowed many voices to be heard, it has also propagated a lot of poor advice given by people with no experience. Today we look at the two sides to the issue, and how to tell the difference.
The Good
I was struck by this the other day when I spent a good deal of time researching a technical question. Everyone who had written an article about the issue presented the solution they had implemented. There was no speculation, no unsupported opinions, no trying to pass themselves off as experts. The solutions worked.
And believe me, if a tech person posted a solution that didn’t work, the comments quickly pointed this out. In detail. At great length. Public nerd shaming, finely tuned.
But what about productivity? Not so much.
The Unqualified
Later that day I was doing some productivity blog reading. I was truly struck by the difference. So many productivity bloggers are willing to tell us how we should structure our work hours, handle interruptions, do work at home, handle our email (voicemail, telephone calls) and apparently do it with zing and a smile.
But when we look at these bloggers, we find that they don’t work for others, can set their own schedules, pick their own software, and take off whenever they want.
Hmmm. I see a disconnect.
Let’s Not Blame The Blogger
But is it the blogger’s fault?
Well, if they’re talking out of their nether regions without any concept or practical experience, yes.
I still remember a pitch for an article I got from a high school student who tried to convince me (in poorly spelled text riddled with exclamation points) that managing a staff was just a matter of using babysitting techniques. Ummm….nope.
But most bloggers have valid points, within their circumstances.
Their solutions work for people who are in like circumstances.
I’ve always said that one of the reasons David Allen and Martha Stewart get so much done is because they have staff. It’s easy to find free time and focus on the big picture when you have a housekeeper, administrator, laundry person and chef.
Full Disclosure
Before we go any further, I want to make sure that everyone knows where I am coming from.
I work outside the home for a firm headquartered in my city. I report to a client site every day of the week. I effectively change jobs 2-3 times a year as I move between projects, but I can stay at a single client for over a year. I do not have access to outside systems during the day, and my email and tools are chosen by and monitored by the client. I have bosses and co-workers. The skills I use day to day vary, both technical and productivity. And when work is over, I go home and am wife, mom, blogger, musician, and writer.
What I talk about on my blog is the result of my real trial-and-error experience. If I try something and fail, I try to figure out why so you can avoid the same. If I use a tool, it’s because it’s effective in my current circumstances.
When my friends ask me if I ever want to become a full-time blogger, my answer is NO. Because I recognize that removing myself from the sphere of the working world would destroy the value of the message I bring.
Anyway. Back to the article.
How To Spot Disconnect Points
It’s not easy to determine if you are reading someone who is talking about things from experience, or just spouting what seems like good ideas. But it can be done by examining a few key areas.
Where Do They Work?
If you are looking for productivity advice for your job, you need to know if the blogger is in similar circumstances right now.
It doesn’t count if they worked for a company five years ago because they are no longer in touch with the rapidly changing world of corporations. If the blogger works for himself, how can he truly understand what it is like to be in a cube where your boss stops by every 10 minutes? If the blogger is the head of her own company, can she understand what it is like to be answering to five different people?
You can scan the About pages on a blog to find out where the author is coming from. If the work situation is different, you are going to need to fit any information to your own circumstances.
What Sort of Job Do They Do?
Writing books for a living is very different than managing a call center. Corporate accounting is very different from an agile programmer. The demands, workload, email and interruption rate are going to be very different between all of them. With some jobs, you can turn off your phone. With others, it is an essential part of the job.
Learn about what the blogger does to determine if their methods are going to apply. If the situation is too different, you will have to evaluate if the information even starts to apply to you.
What Technology Do They Use?
PCs and Macs are very different. If you’ve ever made the mistake of not limiting your search to a specific system, you know that you can get all sorts of different answers.
If you have to (prefer to) use a PC all day, application information from a Mac-centric blog is going to be minimally helpful. If you run a Mac, explanations of systems set up on PCs are not going to work without major tweaking.
Know what your blogger is using. It’s pretty hard to talk about technology without talking about what is used. Know if it matches what you use. Sometimes it will be in the blog information, other times you can get it out of articles. And beware roundup articles that list “10 best apps for X”. If there are 10 on the list, they’re not using all of them.
(And yes, I am PC and iPhone. Just thought I would throw that in there. It’s pointless to ask me for Android apps. I don’t use them.)
How Much Control Do They Have?
Working for yourself means you have a degree of flexibility that is not available to the majority of corporate employees.
Work for yourself and need to go to the doctor? Your options are much greater than if you have to schedule time off from work or try and fit in an exam during a holiday.
Many solutions are dependent on how much control you have over your schedule. Yes, it might be nice to be able to set a deep work time to knock out a project, but
Does This Mean Stop Reading?
NO.
Every opinion, technique, tool, etc has some value in it.
As I research coding solutions, I am very careful to make sure that the answers I try have been tested on the same type of machine, platform, programming language, and version. To not do so and then complain it doesn’t work isn’t the fault of the presenter, but my fault for not ensuring similarity.
If something doesn’t quite match, it is up to me to do the translation to make sure it does. I might replace parts of the code with more modern counterparts. I might have to translate to another programming language altogether. But I can’t take it out of the box and run.
The same applies to productivity bloggers. If you know that they work as you do with the same equipment and software, go for it!.
Otherwise, you have to translate the solution to fit your own circumstances. If you try to work it exactly, it’s not going to fly, and it’s not the blogger’s fault.
Summary
When we are looking for answers, we need to make sure that the solution will work for someone who has done it in like circumstances.
If all you have are oranges, you can’t make applesauce.
Over To You
When you are looking for help to manage your schedule/tasks/interruptions/overload/distraction/etc, are you taking advice from someone who does it themselves in similar circumstances? Or are they coming from a different place? How much do you adjust for the differences?
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Image by Aya (Aya). Licensed under Creative Commons. Text added.
