Area51, here be raliens

Initially this was supposed to be a story about how to bother people less with instant messages that are not worded properly. As I started going down to the roots, I realized that I was dealing with an iceberg - the problem was much more complex than I initially thought.

Information overload is real, and today I understand that it is a serious condition that I have. If the lion's share of your day consists of Alt+tabbing, looking at the "new messages" icon, checking the RSS feeds every other minute, and so on - this story is for you.

The first step is to acknowledge that you have this problem.

Read more »

Whenever you do something that relies on previously acquired knowledge, make sure you know the rationale behind each decision. This is especially important if you trust the information that came from other sources, and less important when you rely on conclusions previously established by yourself.

Here's why:

Read more »

Look at your to-do list, if you are like me, you'll see that most of the items have the "pending" state (sometimes noted as "x% complete" or "almost done" or "final review required").

Look at the age of each entry, if you are like me, you'll see that most of the "pending" tasks are quite old. If you don't see that, it most likely means that your to-do list lacks a "date" or "age" field ;-)

Zoom into each entry and see where exactly you got stuck. You'll be surprised that in most cases you are "almost there". What are you waiting for?

Read more »

Another funny and insightful story for office dwellers.

Homework: think about ways to avoid such things from happening within your company.

In the Beginning was the plan.

Read more »

This is a funny story I've heard a long time ago, and today it has reached my mailbox again. It is not only funny, but also insightful; a great entry for the "office space" section.

Homework assignment: analyze your corporate/academic/family/personal habits, and find examples of "that's the way its always been around here". Naturally, the other assignment is to do something about it!

Start with a cage containing five monkeys...

Read more »

Work is going to kill you if you don't enjoy spending time at the office. If your work-day is keeping you focused on "time left until the lunch-break" or "how many days there are until Friday" you're very likely not to be enjoying your job.

Why does that happen? Is the problem in you? Is it the job itself? Should you get a new one?

Let's see what the typical problems are, and get a better picture.

Read more »

I stumbled upon a discussion about a book, which had a reference to a verse in Russian. Few of the readers of that site are speakers of the Russian language, so some wondered what the meaning of the verse was.

I realized that answering their question was not trivial, because translations are always tricky when you want to do the job well.

Here is how the challenge was described: Please translate this into English, without asking me anything. Just translate it as you think is better, preserving the artistic value.

Ya poet, zovus' Neznaika,
ot menya vam balalaika.

Я поэт, зовусь Незнайка,
От меня вам балалайка.

You can see several problems already:

• Neznaika is a character known to people with exposure to the Russian culture, others have no clue who he is;
• Balalaika is a Russian musical instrument, there is no translation for this word;
• No context is given, and it is emphasized that no questions should be asked - therefore the translator will have to fill in the blanks with something (I believe this is the coolest part of the challenge).

Before you continue reading, try to come up with your own version.
What is ahead? Different people's interpretations, an analysis of the task, as well as a new challenge.

Read more »

Language is the #1 tool of the social engineer; I believe that in a company, anyone who is dealing with customers should have some basic social engineering skills:

• This protects the company against being exploited by other social engineers, who are looking for sensitive data;
• This places the company in a better light because people will have a positive impression after interacting with the company's personnel.

Today's trick is the use of passive voice when delivering news other than good news.

Warning: shifting blame, as described here, is a psychological effect that makes a problem seem less aggressive, which makes you seem less guilty. The objective is to avoid angry clients, and psychological traumas for company employees. Do not, under any circumstances, push things onto someone else's shoulders. Sooner or later your ass will be busted, and your lies will have to be paid for. If you are one such person, stop reading and go away.

Read more »

If your job places a great emphasis on communication (especially email), you will sooner or later realize that you can get more things done if you set your priorities correctly.

Below is a strategy I devised after many moons of intensive social labour. It is fine-tuned for my company and my job, so it will probably have to be reviewed before you say "great, I'm going to do this too!".

Each entry is highlighted with a keyword, so that you can remember it easier; if you see the keyword or think about it, you'll have enough clues to remember the other related details.

If you are careful enough, you might find some points very similar to the principle of "cover-your-ass security" described by Bruce Schneier. In one way or another - this is true, but in the long run things are different. This is done to keep processes as fast as possible, and eliminate bottlenecks in the workflow (i.e. it is done for the sake of optimization, not for the sake of shifting the blame on someone else).

Once again, this is just a set of recommendations that helped me, but your mileage may vary.

Read more »