As of now, the Kindle — although I find it professionally beneficial in the sense that I find myself reading more — doesn’t have a direct and measurable impact on my work life. I can think of a few ways apps could change that situation and make the Kindle a valuable tool in my web working toolbox. After all, the Kindle has always-on 3G connectivity and extremely good battery life, both very desirable things in a mobile platform.

A Twitter App

It’s an obvious pick. Basically any device that can have Twitter on it almost inevitably will have Twitter on it, eventually. But Twitter on a Kindle would be a good fit because it requires very little in the way of resources and processor power. It’s basically text, and if there’s one thing the Kindle does well, it’s text.

Sure, there are lots of images, videos and web links on Twitter, too, and some might feel that that was the most important aspect of the service. For my purposes on the road, though, I’m less concerned with deep engagement and more concerned with basic access. As long as I can read my stream, and, more importantly, post updates from my Kindle, I’ll be more than satisfied.

A Gmail App

Another mostly text web-based tech that would work on a Kindle is Gmail. The ability to browse your text-only email with a simple, light interface via the Kindle would actually be preferable to reading it on a computer, in my opinion, since it would make it that much easier to actually concentrate on the content of your messages.

It shouldn’t be that hard to include a simple composition component, too, since the Kindle has a full keyboard. The key to making this app really useful will be keeping it simple, so let’s hope all parties involved keep that in mind. For instance, just because the Kindle can now read PDFs natively, doesn’t mean a Gmail app needs to be able to display PDF attachments. Basic email is all I’m looking for.

A Word Processing App

I want to use my iPhone to write things on the road from time to time. I don’t want to have to get my laptop out just to jot down a basic idea, but I can’t, in all honesty, use the iPhone’s virtual keyboard for anything longer than a text message or a very brief email or tweet. It’s functional, but nothing more.

Despite the small size of the keys, I definitely prefer the hardware keyboard the Kindle makes use of. I use it all the time to make notes in the books I’m reading (a favorite Kindle feature of mine), and after an initial adjustment period, I now find it quite comfortable. A basic app that allows me to create even basic text files that I can then transfer to my PC for further editing and use in other documents is exactly what I need from a Kindle word processing app.

A To-do App

I know the iPhone (and other smartphones) sort of has this covered, but since my to-do needs are very basic, I think I’d actually prefer to do this sort of thing on the Kindle with its basic, paper-like e-ink display. It might not be as easy to navigate without a touchscreen display, but I might actually be more inclined to use something attached to my reading platform than to my phone.

No iPhone, But Not Without Merit

The Kindle isn’t an iPhone; it’s designed to be a single-purpose device. I don’t think Amazon ever foresaw a future in which it would begin offering apps for the platform when it conceived of the Kindle, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be useful. As a mobile device, the Kindle has a lot of advantages over media players and other platforms, and with the right kind of effort in the right directions by developers, it could be a very handy little web working tool.

What kind of apps would you like to see on the Kindle?

Related GigaOM Pro Research: Evolution of the e-Book Market

If the advances of the past couple of decades have told us anything, it’s that we probably can’t accurately predict the future, especially when it comes to technology. But that doesn’t mean we can’t prognosticate about general trends that might help us prepare for what’s to come.

Google Wave, but Better

Some would argue that Google Wave was the biggest online tech disappointment of the last year. It received a fair amount of hype prior to its launch, and at first just getting into the initial beta made people feel a sense of privilege and entitlement. That sense of entitlement quickly turned sour, at least in my experience and the experience of the vast majority I’ve talked to about Wave.

Google Wave itself may be a disappointment, but that doesn’t mean the hearts and minds of the team behind it weren’t in the right place. Thinking about the next step beyond email is a natural enough progression, and it’s likely that that next step will be more interactive, both between people and across media, which Google Wave most definitely is. People who think Internet communication reached its zenith with email are the same type of person who preferred the fax machine and the telegraph to their successors.

I imagine the future of the web to be built around context-based nodal communication, sort of like what’s starting to happen with Twitter and Facebook integration in blog commenting systems. I’ve no idea what the final shape of this kind of communication will look like, but it should benefit working only by emphasizing relevance and relationships over other concerns, like etiquette and immediacy.

Distributed Becomes De Facto

It’s already starting among call centers and other similar businesses operating in North America, at least, and pretty soon other employers will catch on to the fact that running a distributed operation instead of maintaining a physical office saves time and money.

That means we’ll see a lot more remote workers in the near future, culminating in a workplace that is completely home and coworking space-based by the end of the decade. It may seem hard to believe at this point, but think about how far we’ve come in this regard to date, and what people would’ve thought about it ten or twenty years ago.

Death of the Desktop

Well, not the surface itself, but the desktop computer, for all but extremely specialized usages. I realize the irony of predicting this while typing on my iMac, which I absolutely love and much prefer to my notebook computers. The fact is, though, that external monitors can now pretty much replicate all the convenience features that result in my iMac preference. I would much rather spend as much money as I can on one computer and have it suit all my needs, than spread it around to multiple, less ideal machines.

If anything, people will move more and more towards a notebook/netbook or notebook/tablet working configuration. The slate is the hottest new form factor in computing today, and though we haven’t yet had a chance to see how consumers will respond to the new, super portable touch-screen devices, I predict they will catch on quite quickly.

Greater portability will mean that business and public spaces will cater more to mobile workers, and we should be able to find a place fairly easily to plug in and reap the advantages of being able to work from wherever we are without diminished capacity. Picture a Starbucks with secondary monitors built-in to the walls and surfaces.

No Flying Cars

These predictions may seem bold, but I’m not suggesting we’ll be zipping around on sky highways here. There’s already precedents for each of the things mentioned above, and all I’m really doing is following the current trajectory of a few trends to their natural endpoint.

Where do you see web working ten years from now?

Image Credit: Lugi Novi

Time is our most precious resource, and how we spend it ultimately determines how successful we are in life and business.

There are many things that we can do in a day’s time — check our email relentlessly, scour the news and blog feeds, surf the Internet, browse the latest Twitter updates. Most of the things we do eat away at our time in small increments, almost undetectably. We begin doing one task, and before we realize it, an hour (or three) has passed.

We must find ways to firewall our time and, at all times, guard our attention. But how?

First Line of Defense: Two-hour Full Guard

I like a tip from Julie Morgenstern’s book, “Never Check E-Mail in the Morning,” which is to “earn your paycheck by 10 AM.” At least for the first hour or two of the day, completely guard your time (100 percent, no interruptions). Close your browser, do not open your email, and do not visit the social networks. Turn off all alerts, as well as your phones. For just one or two hours a day, you’re on attention lockdown.

Next, write down the most important three tasks that you absolutely must, at a minimum, accomplish today. Then, within this guarded block of time, try to get through those tasks as completely as possible.

Now, if the rest of the day is a wash, at least you’ve had some really focused time and, hopefully, checked a few things off the to-do list (ideally, the things that pay the bills).

Second Line of Defense: Email Guard

When you come out of lockdown, ideally, you shouldn’t immediately jump full force into the major distractions (email, social networks, feeds), but you may need to respond to a few important emails, so you can make an exception here (a quick exception, say 15 minutes). Check your email, but only open those that truly need your attention (quote requests, customer inquiries, important emails from clients/assistants, etc.). Leave everything else to be read later. Shut your email program again. It’s time for another focused work session.

Third Line of Defense: Protect the Mothership

If there’s one thing we all tend to neglect, it’s our blogs. The content we put on our own sites is what helps search engines find us and what new visitors explore when they’re first deciding whether or not to follow us (or give us their precious time and attention). It’s important to add high-quality content to our sites on a very regular basis if we hope to move up in the Internet world.

For the next hour of your day, focus on writing something timely and relevant that will help your target audience. If nothing else goes right today, at least you’ve posted one good article to your blog. (If you do that every working day, assuming you work five days a week and 48 weeks a year, and you’ll post 240 new articles to your site over the coming year.)

Final Line of Defense: Set a Wrap-Up Alarm

This is another tip from Julie Morgenstern, and I’ve found it to be especially helpful for maintaining balance between my personal and professional lives. Set an alarm (on your computer or cell phone) to go off an hour before you want to be out of the office. When it goes off, it’s time to start shutting it down. Respond to any last-minute important emails, write your upcoming to-do list, check your calendar, clear your desk and do any other quick tasks that will set you up to succeed tomorrow.

That’s it! The rest of your day can be used however you’d like, and no matter how you spend your remaining time, you can feel good knowing that you’ve made some progress toward your goals.

What lines of defense do you have in place to safeguard your time? In a time when our attention is being pulled in a thousand different directions, how do you make sure the important things get done?

Image from Flickr by snappED_up

I shouldn’t have been surprised — I’d told her earlier in the week that we might become more productive if we work near each other. At that time it was merely a suggestion. I didn’t think that one day I would just wake up and find it a reality. “Oh well, there’s nothing wrong with that,” I thought to myself. It’s not like we didn’t discuss it. What’s the worst that could happen? In fact, I believed we were going to be more motivated and productive.

A few days later, I realized that every benefit of coworking with my partner came paired with a disadvantage.

Inspiration vs. Distraction

As Darrell suggested in a previous post, you should pick a coworking partner that you respect and admire. I knew I could learn from my partner’s work ethic and her ability to make connections. I find her inspiring, but having her around is distracting too. Every time she moved or made a sound, I would shoot involuntary glances to her side of the room. To be fair, she told me that although she’s motivated by my passion for work she got annoyed at how loud I type.

This meant that we needed some physical barriers so that we could block out distracting movements and sounds. At the same time, we didn’t want to completely separate our workspaces. Our solution was to keep our desks six feet apart, rather than side-by-side, and place a small shelf of books in between. From where I’m sitting I can see her monitor, keyboard and hands without being distracted with the other movements she makes. Also, she can barely hear me type.

Common Ground vs. Conflicts

Having similar goals and habits can work for you, but there will always be  conflict no matter how compatible you think you are. For example, we agree on the color of the walls (orange), the position of the furniture and having a small garden behind the sliding door. Things we disagree on: everything else.

The workaround to this issue is to know your priorities as a team and as individuals. Do you need a completely silent work environment or can you adjust to soft ambient music? Is your need for a large shelf as important as her need for more leg room? There will always be compromises. Knowing your priorities can identify the compromises that will least affect you.

If you must argue, pick your battles well. An argument over who makes the coffee is not as important as a constructive discussion on how the other person’s habits interfere with your work.

Collaboration vs. Independence

It’s hard to create privacy when you’re working in one room. This can be a good thing, since you can help each other out of time sinks as well as share ideas. Too much collaboration, on the other hand, can be suffocating.

Facilitating collaboration was easy. The whiteboard in the office allowed us to write our to-do lists for the day and the rest of the week. If I need help with something, I just write it on the box labeled “Requests.” She then responds in a way that was most convenient for both of us whether it’s through email, a conversation, or Twitter.

Even then, we’d often think of a question that needed a quick reply. Asking out loud worked at first, but during peak productive moments we’d rather work uninterrupted. How would she know if it was okay to disturb me (and vice versa)?

Here’s the solution we came up with: a simple “DND” under my name in the whiteboard shows that I can’t be bothered until the “DND” has come off. The same goes for her. Now, it’s almost a reflex to look at the whiteboard and check for the “DND” before I speak.

Coworking with my partner was much harder than I expected. The good news is that with continued effort, we’re slowly getting to the point where the arrangement is making us stronger — both as a couple and as teleworkers.

Have you ever tried sharing a home office with your spouse or partner? What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?

Image by nyuszika from sxc.hu

But how do you know if your clients are abusing you? Here are a few telltale signs and tips for how to fix and avoid these situations.

The work keeps creeping in. Scope creep is the bane of many freelancers’ lives. You start with one description of what is to be done and end up doing something entirely different, or something that’s way more involved than the original task. How to Fix/Avoid It: Have a contract and a clear and agreed-upon scope and schedule for each and every phase or project. Outline exactly what is to be done and when it’s due.

The client expects immediate responses or complete availability. Occasionally, you’ll come across clients who want 100 percent undivided attention. They expect emails to be responded to within an hour and work to be completed at an unrealistic pace.

How to Fix/Avoid It: Set expectations from the start. Explain when you’re available to clients, how quickly you tend to reply to communications, and how you prefer to communicate. You may also wish to explain how you work. For example, do you generally devote a set amount of time to each project or client per day? If so, explain this to clients up front so that they know what to expect.

The client expects to be able to chat with you frequently. Some clients prefer to communicate by phone, others expect to chitchat at the start of each call, and occasionally, you’ll even find those who expect to have multiple calls per day. In any case, these clients can be a serious drain on your time, making it next to impossible to stay on schedule with your work.

How to Fix/Avoid It: Make it part of your policy to limit phone communications altogether. It may seem harsh, but phone calls and excessive meetings are actually counterproductive. Keep all phone calls to 15 minutes or less and require all calls to be scheduled in advance. Finally, let clients know your preferred communication methods so that they know what to expect.

The client frequently goes back and forth over decisions or nitpicks with minor changes. When a client is indecisive, it can make working with him a nightmare. He wants things one way one minute, the complete opposite the next. Round and round you go, until you are completely confused and way outside of the original scope.

How to Fix/Avoid It: Clearly specify the number of revisions that are included in the project, as well as the deadlines for each set of revisions. Then communicate frequently about pending deadlines so that clients understand that they must turn in all changes by that point and that any subsequent changes will fall within the next set of revisions or will require additional revisions (at a predetermined and contracted rate).

The client expects free consulting and advice. Many times, this type of client has “friends” working on things for him or her for free, so if you hear this hint early on, you might want to consider this a red flag and run the other way. Unfortunately, it’s quite common to come across bargain hunters, so you’ll have to be firm and stick to your guns if you don’t want your bottom line to suffer.

How to Fix/Avoid It: Again, the contract and scope can be a real lifesaver here. If you clearly outline what’s included in a project or job (including the number of phone calls), it will be much harder for clients to negotiate freebies.

By preparing for these common situations in advance, you can often avoid them altogether, saving yourself time, profit and sanity. Put your policies in place and then stick to them without fail so that your clients know exactly what to expect.

How do you handle difficult clients? What techniques do you use to stay on track?

Image from Flickr by ritwikdey

Recently, it’s been much easier to work from a place of desperation, taking every opportunity that comes our way and doing every marketing tactic imaginable to maintain a contracting sales pipeline. Suddenly, the “fight or flight” reaction becomes almost routine, an up and down roller coaster ride that started as an attempt to keep our businesses afloat during these tough times.

The Fight Response

When times get tough, we take a “no holds barred” approach to marketing and promoting our businesses. The goal is finding ways to stay open and survive when it’s getting harder and harder to secure new business. We create elaborate and ambitious marketing plans with the intention of doing all that we can to keep things going. We get up early. We stay up late. We work at a furious pace trying to keep up with it all until…

The Flight Response

…we burn out. All the running and pushing and fighting has caught up with us. We’re tired. More than tired, we’re exhausted and spent. We’re frustrated with the lackluster results from what seemed (at the time) like very promising plans and the best of intentions. At this point, we just need a break. It takes every bit of effort to muster up enough energy to complete the bare minimum of “must be done” tasks, let alone keep up with the ambitious marketing plan.

We take a few days to rest, and then we decide to regroup. Where do you think we go? Back to the fight response, and the whole thing starts over.

How do we end the cycle of this instinctive response? We have to recognize it and stop it before it starts. Here’s how.

Step 1 — Acknowledge that you’ve been running the “fight or flight” circle.

It may take a while to even realize that you’re doing this to yourself. After all, for many of us, this is perhaps the first time we’ve ever had to try this hard to keep our businesses afloat, so this is all very new to us. Step 2 — Find a good accountability partner to help you keep things in check.

Let your accountability partner know what you’re trying to accomplish and agree on ways that he or she can keep you on track. Have monthly (at a minimum) phone calls or in-person meetings to discuss your progress and setbacks, as well as ways to improve your efforts going forward. With each call, agree on next actions/steps to move you forward in some way.

Step 3 — Be realistic.

When you’re not stressed or thinking about the problems you are facing, sit down and formulate a realistic plan for keeping your business afloat. Determine the goals you want to reach for your business in the coming months, as well as the marketing tactics you will use to help you achieve them. Your plans should include small but consistent steps that you can take on a daily basis to achieve your goals. Remember that this is a marathon, not a sprint. Plan accordingly.

Step 4 — Plan for time off.

This is probably going to be the toughest part, but you must regularly take time away from your business to do things that restore your energy and enthusiasm. Rest is just as important for your success as the work itself. It’s important to plan for it, and (if necessary) force yourself to do it, and don’t just stay at home watching television. Get out. Get outside. Be with other people. This is especially important for web workers.

The fight or flight response is only natural. We’re finding ourselves under increasing levels of stress, and our instincts are telling us to protect ourselves. We can, but not exactly the way Mother Nature intended. By recognizing that we’re falling into this trap, we can learn to avoid it and improve our results going forward.

Have you noticed the “fight or flight” response affecting your actions in recent months? How are you learning to cope with the increased levels of stress, while still keeping your business afloat?

Image from Flickr by kevindooley

nim·ble : quick and light in motion;

Being a web worker has its advantages, and one of the biggest is that you can build a very adaptable and nimble business. Here are a few of the ways we stay flexible.

Web workers hear about developments and opportunities immediately.

The good thing about working online all day is that you have access to information as soon as it becomes available, making it easy to keep a finger on your competitors’ and customers’ pulses and adjust your services and business offerings accordingly.

Tip: To make your business a bit more nimble when it comes to staying in the loop, participate in social-networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Your competitors, clients and potential customers are there posting updates and issues they’re facing 24/7.

Web workers can jump on opportunities quickly.

Even better than just hearing about opportunities, web workers are in the unique position to take advantage of them quickly, amazing customers with their service, even before a working relationship begins.

Tip: eLance and other job posting sites are perfect places to find out about new business opportunities. As soon as customers submit their needs, you can be there to respond and provide a solution. The same is true of sites like Twitter. Using the service’s search functionality, as well as Twitter applications like TweetDeck, you can immediately see when someone is looking for your type of service or expertise and be the first in line with assistance.

Web workers can quickly adapt.

The landscape of the web is constantly changing. Businesses, applications and sites that exist today may not be around three months from now. Fortunately for the “in-the-know, always-connected” web worker, it’s relatively easy to adjust course and compensate for the changes in scenery.

If a favorite web app is no longer available, a quick Twitter query or Google search for an alternative is only a few key strokes away.

Tip: To stay agile in the ever-changing web world, be sure to always backup your files, keep your computers and applications synced, and stay knowledgeable of alternatives for all of your commonly used web applications.

If you take advantage of the tools and resources available to you online, it’s easy to build an adaptable web-based business, one that can even get a jump on the competition.

How do you keep your business agile and quick to adapt? Share your tips and experiences of the nimble web business. Definition from Merriam-Webster Image from Flickr by Ana Patricia Almeida

You don’t need a fancy set-up. You can get by with a few basic necessities (in most cases, a computer, an Internet connection, a web site and maybe some business cards).

You don’t need to quit your day job. You can keep working at your current job until your web work picks up enough to support you.

You can work around your current obligations. You can work at night, on weekends, in the mornings after you take the kids to school, or use any time you have available. It doesn’t have to be a huge commitment. Web working is a lot more flexible than most jobs, and you can get a lot done in just a couple of hours a day.

You don’t have to sell the farm. You can work where you are, without making any major lifestyle changes to compensate for the new venture. If you were starting a traditional “bricks and mortar” business, you might have to find a way to fund the business, which might include selling assets, moving to a smaller place, etc.

So, what are you waiting for? To start, you’ll need a few things:

Set up a legal entity for your business as soon as possible. This is good for tax and liability purposes, as well as maintaining personal privacy.  Be sure to speak with your accountant or tax adviser about the most appropriate entity for your business and needs.

Set up a business account as soon as you get your first check (or sooner). If you set up a PayPal or Google Checkout account that isn’t used for personal purchases, then it could serve as your “business account.”  Of course, you should always consult an accountant for assistance and advice surrounding your business finances.

A web site. Even if you just have a small site to start with, you need a face for your business online. You also need a place to post regular and frequent updates (a blog, a newsletter, or a podcast are a few examples). This will help you to start establishing your site with search engines and with building traffic. The earlier you start posting regular (and relevant) content to your site, the better off you will be. You need a way to build a list of followers who want to stay updated about you and your products and services. Aside from these few basic “must haves,” you can forgo the fancy design until you can afford it.

Create (and maintain) a consistent lead generation plan. This might consist of a lot of writing and posting online, or a cold-calling or advertising campaign.

Build a portfolio and testimonials. Do free work for family, friends, former business colleagues and nonprofit organizations. Do whatever you can do to create a respectable portfolio and authentic testimonials regarding the quality of your work.

Here are a couple of things you don’t need just yet.

A logo or “identity.” Your name or business name will do, along with a specific description of the services/products you provide and the ideal target customer you serve.

A fancy web site. While you do need a web site, you don’t have to drop the big bucks on it to start with.

The key is to start small, think sustainable, and focus on lead generation and building a following. If you have a product or service that people are ready and willing to buy, you can worry about the more complicated tasks involved in starting a business a little later on. For now, just jump!

Do you have a business success story that resulted after taking a leap of faith?  Tell us about it, and share the steps you took to get it off the ground.

Image by flickr user seanj

In interviewing people in web working careers, one fact is clear: Many of us share similar specs beyond motivation and organization. I asked some web working colleagues what it takes to make a successful web worker. Do you have the right components to become a fine-tuned web worker machine?

Containing the Right Specs

Thursday Bram: Web workers must be self-starters — it’s too easy to procrastinate if you can work anywhere or at any time.

Stephen P. Smith: Creativity — as in finding creative ways to connect and serve your clients/customers — is very important, as well as flexibility in scheduling and work locations.

Jen Slayden: Web workers must have inner support — things they do to motivate themselves.

Monica Valentinelli: The ability to adapt to change.

Lisa Tener: The ability to synthesize the information out there. What information is going to be important or optional, how much you need to know yourself and how much you can outsource.

Lorrie Thomas: Must be “can doers.” Web workers don’t have the luxury of spinning their work chair around and asking for help. The secret to web workers working anywhere and succeeding comes from a can-do attitude and a desire to solve problems independently.

Having More Than Tech Support

Jen Slayden: Outer support: Networking with people in the same boat, for example.

Mary Shaw: Must be comfortable with isolation during the workday. They also need to get offline and out on a regular basis.

Dawn Martinello: Having your family onboard. When your family knows you are right on the other side of the door, it’s easy to pop in and ask for help because it will take “a quick second.”

Mrinal Desai: Ability to stretch and sustain relationships through offline touch points — email, phone and then, if possible, meeting at conferences, coffee, etc.

Chris Burbridge: Emotional intelligence. For example, a person who gets too into the technology side of things can geek out and forget about keeping the client satisfied beyond tech needs.

Venturing Out of the Computer Box

Katherine Lynch: I think you need to get out in the world. I’ve created a wine club to go along with my blog, and it’s done wonders for getting my name out.

Reza Tehranian: Stay on top of trends and the market.

Martin Amm: Participate in social media conversations without an agenda. It builds trust and credibility.

Kathleen DesMaisons: Having the ability to see the people rather than the computer screen.

Brandon Muth: Pith, humor and the real life people skills to turn off their computer, stop tweeting and actually have face-to-face interaction with humans on a daily basis. Without these qualities you can quickly turn into an insulated, isolated weirdo who doesn’t offer much benefit to society, other than the ability to inundate us with more tweets than we could ever digest and bore us to tears about your latest late night experiment with some lame new plugin.

Working like a Fine Machine

Yaron Sinai: The ability to easily understand new tools or applications without a lot of explanation. A software developer, for example, will need to be able to quickly master new development tools and procedures without hand holding from co-workers or superiors.

Reza Tehranian: Be at the top of your industry and game.

Communicating Without Geek Speak

Stewart Mader: A strong ability to communicate about what you’re doing. If you work for a company, you need to be good at using the intranet, enterprise wiki or other social computing tools to keep others up to date on what you’re doing, ask for their feedback and make sure they know you’re available to help them too.

Amy Hoy: Ability to cultivate a generous interpretation of emails, to-do’s, meetings and the other mishaps that inevitably happen when we’re not there in person.

Cindy Alvarez: The ability to identify assumptions. I managed a team of product managers and interaction designers in India, and the single trait that the most successful ones shared was the ability to identify assumptions — the assumptions they were working under as well as the assumptions that they perceived that their teammates were working under.

Have the Right Accessories

Aaron Price: A shower and toothbrush. You may not realize it, but the first thing you do everyday should be to shower and brush your teeth.  You’ll feel more professional and you’ll get more done.

Hank Stroll: Set up your workstation with ergonomics in mind or else your office will be a pain in the rear.

Aaron Price: A good chair.  If you’re working on the web, chances are you’ll be sitting in front of the computer all day. You can actually develop a problem in your spine — a real pain in the butt — called coccydynia.

Undoubtedly, many have managed to succeed as web workers despite missing key specs. They work their “processors” harder to overcome something that doesn’t come as part of their package. This can create one short-circuited web worker, but for some, the sacrifice is worth it.

What other specs do you need to be a lean, mean web working machine?

Photo credit: Stefanie L.

This is what a day in my hectic life looks like — a never-ending game of Tetris (in which colored blocks are work and black are non-work). It’s probably a lot like yours, but with different labels:

The Millennials, for better or for worse, have grown up living like this, and apparently it comes pretty naturally to them. But what if you are from an earlier generation, or if you had crunchy granola parents who had a “Kill Your TV” bumper sticker on their old car and whose most sophisticated piece of electronic equipment was the toaster?

I think there are certain personality traits that many of us share that can help us to capitalize on the principles outlined in the Agile Manifesto. And they might not be what you expect:

1. You have to be lazy. Yes, lazy. Because lazy people find the most efficient solutions to problems in order to get the job done. (From the Agile Manifesto: “Simplicity — the art of maximizing the amount of work not done — is essential.”)
2. You have to be easily bored. Because then you’re exhilarated and stimulated by the constant turmoil rather than overwhelmed by it. (From the Agile Manifesto: “Welcome changing requirements.”)
3. You have to be curious. Because then you’ll always be increasing the breadth and depth of your knowledge, which will give you more/better marketable skills and enable you to diversify when the opportunity arises. (From the Agile Manifesto: “Continuous attention to technical excellence…enhances agility.”)

These are only a few of the principles behind the Agile Manifesto. I encourage you to read them all and envision how you can integrate these principles into your business practices.

What other characteristics do you think we need to deal with life and work in our constantly changing world?

But working with such a team can be maddening. How do you tame the time zone madness and plan your meetings as efficiently as possible? Give your team at least two options of meeting times to choose from. In one of the first virtual teams I worked with, our team leader would ask us if a specific conference time was okay for everyone. Naturally, there was never unanimous agreement. This led to several messages of, “When are you available, then?” sent back and forth to various members of the team. What a waste of time! By giving the team several choices, you’ll make it easier on yourself to set the meeting time. You could also use one of the many meeting scheduling tools that we’ve covered here on WWD. Good options to try are TimeBridge, When Is Good and MeetingMade.

Use a tool that automatically converts time zones for each participant. Automating this part prevents human error, which is likely to come when forgetting DST (Daylight Saving Time) rules or faulty counting. Tools such as The World Clock Meeting Planner and Google Calendar might help. You can also try Permatime, which Mike reviewed in a previous post. Some scheduling tools, like MeetingMade, also automatically handle timezones.

Rotate the “awkward” time slots. It’s possible that a few members of your team will have to wake up a little earlier or stay up later than usual just to participate. If this is the case, make sure that you rotate the people who receive awkward time slots. Don’t let one or two people frequently carry the burden of deviating from their regular body rhythms.

Have a clear agenda ahead. By writing down a specific agenda, you can pinpoint the reason why you’re having a meeting in the first place. Having an agenda also prevents you from wasting the time of the participants who aren’t essential to the meeting. If their input is hardly needed in the discussion, then their availability or promptness shouldn’t be a priority.

Make sure that all participants can understand or access the tools you’ll be using. This may seem like simplistic advice, but some tech savvy web workers forget that not everyone knows how to use even the most common web apps. I once worked with a colleague who didn’t have a Skype account, so I had to walk him through signing up for one and testing his sound equipment.

To avoid wasting time, look for existing help pages, video instructions, and other resources that your colleagues can use in their own time. It usually helps to send these links to everyone involved, as a group, so that it doesn’t look like you’re singling anyone out. Ask for feedback. At the end of the first meeting, send out a short questionnaire to your team, asking for their feedback. Cover all the important bases from sound quality to the faithfulness of the meeting to the agenda. The comments and suggestions you’ll receive will come in handy when planning your next meeting.

Planning a meeting with your global team doesn’t have to be that hard. With the right tools and a fair, efficient approach, it might become as easy as planning a face-to-face meeting with colleagues from a nearby building.

If you’re looking for more meeting pointers, check out Simon’s post “7 Tips for More Efficient Meetings” — the guidelines in there apply to virtual meetings just as much as regular “in the flesh” meetings. How do you plan meetings with a global team? Share your tips in the comments.

Image by stock.xchng user g-point

As web workers we spend a lot of time online using social networks, but is it potentially damaging our health?

I’m skeptical. While I believe spending excessive time online and stuck in front of my computer with no breaks might cause health problems (in particular a lack of exercise, raised risk of RSI, and back problems), I think I’ll wait to see some more concrete evidence before altering my working habits significantly.

Do you think that online networking could be hazardous to health? Share your thoughts in the comments.

I began thinking about what has had the biggest impact on my ability to be an effective web worker when I heard about a PBS “Nightly Business Report” feature: 30 Most Important Innovations from Last 30 Years. This list will be announced on the show tonight.

It got me thinking about the specific technologies that make what I do possible. Using the same criteria, I made a list of some of my own most valuable innovations for the web worker.

Here are the criteria used by “Nightly Business Report” (in conjunction with Knowledge@Wharton, the online research and business analysis journal of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania) in making their list:

1. Did it have a direct and/or material effect on quality of life? 2. Did it address a compelling need? Did it solve a compelling problem? 3. Was it a fresh, new breakthrough? Was there a “WOW” factor? 4. Did it change the way business is conducted? 5. Did it increase the efficiency of how resources are used? 6. Did it spark an ongoing stream of new innovations on top of the original innovation? 7. Did it lead to the creation of a vast, new industry?

So given that, here are my Most Valuable Innovations for the Web Worker.

Gmail – Sure, email existed before Gmail, but the massive adoption of the ubiquitous service by web workers shows they got it right. A web-based platform with powerful search capabilities allows us to harness the massive amounts of information that flows through our email.

Skype – The distributed nature of web working means we need an easy and inexpensive way to talk with clients and colleagues. VoIP solutions like Skype offer us the ability to communicate from just about anywhere. I love it when it works.

RSS – For the publisher it offers the ability to syndicate and distribute content to the masses. For the consumer, it enables aggregation and the ability to retrieve the content more efficiently and view it on demand.

Wi-Fi/Wireless Broadband – Allows us to lose the wires and lets us work anywhere. Along with the widespread adoption of the laptop computer it turned any place in to our work place. I still maintain an office but it’s great to know I can connect from anywhere and get things done. Would the coffee shop industry really be sustainable without wireless connectivity and the web worker?

Digital Media/Streaming Music – We web workers sure do love our music. The transition from physical media to digital formats lets us take our music with us anywhere, or listen online to streaming radio services like Pandora or Slacker. I know I work better with music playing.

I know this list is incomplete, and intentionally so. It demonstrates what I think is the most important benefit to all of these innovations — the power of collaboration. It is now so easy for us to work together to create and share, I thought we could finish the list together. I’ll be watching the “Nightly Business Report” on PBS to see how many of the innovations on their list are also on this one.

What would you add and why? Let us know in the comments.

(photo via Wayne Lee)

One of the main things to be aware of is that working styles differ across cultures. For example, I’m so used to working with people from the UK and the U.S. that I forget that I can’t be as upfront and straightforward with some of my Filipino colleagues. For us Filipinos, the first few minutes of a business meeting or phone call is usually devoted to idle chit-chat. Also, I can’t give them negative feedback without sandwiching it between positive statements. While I love working with people from different backgrounds, this kind of variety requires some adjustments on my part. As I work with a greater variety of people, I often have to increase the adjustments I have to make.

But doing this has its benefits. When you’re used to your own working culture, you overlook its flaws and weaknesses. By working with people who have a different working style from yours, you’ll be able to see your own flaws more clearly. The first time I worked with local colleagues, it made me see a more personal side to business interaction. This was something I needed at that time, since my communications with international clients were too matter-of-fact. The personal touch I added later allowed me to differentiate myself.

Of course, it’s entirely possible that two work cultures will create conflict, or even clash. The best way to avoid this is by managing expectations from the start. Here’s what fellow WWD blogger Pamela Poole had to say about this:

“If you find yourself working with people from other cultures, my advice is to be very explicit about your expectations and make sure you know theirs from the very start of your negotiations to avoid any misunderstandings down the line.”

Another effect of web working with an international team is that geography becomes a less important factor in business. We can increasingly focus on other factors such as quality of work, experience, and cost. This shift should allow for more equal opportunities for people to compete professionally, where they aren’t judged on nationality.

Also, working with an international team requires you to consider a new factor that you probably rarely thought of before: timezones. This is usually less of a problem for one-on-one meetings, but what if you have to organize a group conference call with members in three different timezones? At least one person on the team will have to make a major schedule change just to accommodate the majority.

To prevent such group sessions from being unfair, it’s important to conduct them only when necessary. No one wants to stay up three hours later than usual just to do collaboration that can be done using a wiki. The good news is that if your team is picky when scheduling conference calls, you’re less likely to waste everybody’s time.

Working with international colleagues may be a challenge, but this has its own rewards. As technology improves and as the global community gets more comfortable to international web work, these challenges will hopefully become non-existent. Do you work with an international team? If so, what effect does this have on your process and working style? Share your tips in the comments.

Image by Miguel Ugalde from sxc.hu

Image by sxc.hu user Zela

I called one of my friends earlier this week and asked her if we could have lunch on Sunday. I was surprised that she said she couldn’t make it, since she had to work. “What kind of evil forces are making you do this?” I asked her. Then again, who was I kidding? I was planning to write a couple of blog posts on Sunday evening. Like my friend, I was going to work during the weekend.

As I reviewed my own work habits, as well as those of other web workers, it became evident that working during the weekends is becoming more common.

The weekend is dynamic

These days, the definition of “weekend” isn’t as firm as it used to be. Many corporate employees I know say that, as part of cost-cutting measures, their employers give them a four-day work week. This leaves them three days of the week for rest and recreation. These three days aren’t fixed either, as they find themselves taking Wednesdays, Sundays and Saturdays off during one fiscal quarter, and a different combination of days the following quarter. If you’re self-employed, you even have the option of changing your work week in such a way that a weekday can be your “weekend”. For example, if there’s an event I have to go to in the middle of the week, I “pretend” that it’s a Saturday and move my schedule around to turn one of my weekend days into a working day. I also do this when I find myself sick for a couple of days. Just make sure that when you change your work days around it doesn’t conflict with anything that a client or supervisor expects from you.

Weekend warriors

In the economic downturn, it’s common for traditionally employed workers to take on a second job during the weekends. Because of the flexibility it offers, self-employment is one of the more popular options. This is also one of the reasons why the number of small businesses tend to rise during a recession.

There are other reasons why employees might opt to work during the weekend. If they want to secure their position in the company, they’ll be more willing to go the extra mile and work during the weekends if it means getting on the good side of their supervisors.

Even freelancers might find themselves working during the weekend. Apart from the economic factors, the low work-life separation makes it easier for leisure and work time to intersect or overlap. For example, I sometimes get the urge to work on non-billable tasks during the weekends. I find myself writing invoices, doing a bit of self-promotion, or trying to prepare my work for the following week. Fellow WWD blogger Dawn Foster even gets things done during the holidays.

Many freelancers might also use the weekend to pursue side projects. Often, these are non-profit or low-profit projects. We work on these things because they allow us to give back to the community, as well as explore ideas and tasks that we don’t get to do on a normal work day.

Whether it’s the economic crisis or a force of habit, there are a variety of reasons why some people work during the weekends. I just hope that no matter how productive we get during the week, we won’t forget to make enough time for rest.

Do you find yourself working during the weekend?

Image by sxc.hu user blu_arim

One of the things that I struggle with most when I’m working from home is wrapping up and finishing for the day. Quite often, I’ll mean to finish at, say, 6:30 pm, but then another email drops into the old inbox, or I’ll move onto “just one more” task, and before I know it it’s late into the night and I haven’t even started thinking about dinner.

When working from home, separating “work” and “home” is one of my biggest challenges. I’ve developed a few strategies to try to deal with this over the years.

Here are the three strategies that I’ve found work best for me:

Have a clearly defined end time and stick to it.

This is an important one for me because if I don’t, I’ll tend to find myself working later and later. Having a goal end time also means that I try to get all my tasks done for the day by that time which makes my afternoon more productive. Of course, sometimes an emergency will pop up that needs dealing with there and then, but I try to make sure that I only extend my working time for emergencies.

If you need to use the Internet after the work day is finished, don’t open your work email.

If I open my work email and see an important email, I’ll be tempted to want to open it and deal with it. By making sure that I don’t open my work account in the evening, that temptation is removed. Another tip: if you have two computers, it can be a good idea to designate one as your “work” machine and one as your “home” machine.

If possible, have a home office in separate room designated for the purpose of working in.

If you have a separate room (a study or office) that you can set aside for working in, it means that you can leave the room, shut the door, and be done with your work for the day. It also have the benefit of meaning you don’t get distracted by home chores during your working day.

Unfortunately, my current apartment is too small and doesn’t have a separate room that I can use, so I’ve got a couple of methods that I use to delineate “home” mode and “work” mode:

Use a drop leaf-table as a desk and fold it away at the end of the day.

This means that when the desk is folded away, the work day is done. It also has the benefit of saving some space in my small apartment.

Towards the end of the day, try to get out of the house and work at a coffee shop.

That means that when I finish at the coffee shop and return home, I shouldn’t be doing any more work.

Following these methods, I find that I am more productive during the day and don’t find myself working late into the night as often.

How do you clearly define “work” time and “home” time? What strategies do you use to make sure thatyou finish on time?