What We Do\nTime Doctor is a work insights company that tracks and analyzes how companies use their time to provide clear direction on how to improve performance and productivity

Time Doctor

I am excited to introduce you to the PARMA project that’s been brewing. A revolutionary healthcare application designed to streamline patient record management for healthcare institutions. I built it with the goal of empowering providers to efficiently manage their processes while maintaining details, accurate, and secure profiles. 😀 : With a deep understanding of both front-end and back-end technologies, James is the driving force behind our app's technical architecture. His passion for delivering a seamless user experience across web and mobile platforms is infectious. James Koduah Full-stack Developer : That's me! I bring to the table a versatile skill set that allows me to tackle various aspects of this project. From crafting elegant front-end interfaces to optimizing back-end functionalities, I'm here to ensure our app shines on all fronts. Farai Ushe: Full-stack Developer Why this project? It all began when I was testing datasets for a school management system, a job that seemed worlds away from healthcare and disease prevention. Zimbabwe, particularly in the southern region, faces its fair share of health challenges. Diseases like cholera and malaria often rear their ugly heads, causing suffering and loss. The local healthcare system, while valiantly striving, is undeniably stretched thin. It was against this backdrop that the spark for our project was kindled. My thoughts often drifted to how technology could make a difference in the realm of healthcare, especially in a place like Zimbabwe. I couldn't help but wonder if we could harness the power of data and machine learning to predict and prevent disease outbreaks before they spiral out of control. While the Zimbabwean healthcare system may have its challenges, it's also filled with dedicated individuals working tirelessly to make a difference. Diseases like cholera and malaria can be curbed if we have the right tools and insights at our disposal. This project isn't just about coding; it's about making a meaningful impact on the health and well-being of my community and beyond. It's about taking the skills I've learned and using them to address real-world challenges. It's a reminder that sometimes, the most unexpected journeys lead to the most rewarding destinations. Together with my amazing teammates, James, and our shared vision, we're determined to make a difference, one line of code at a time. Accomplishments with the HealthCare App Project One of the key achievements of our project is the successful implementation of robust authentication and authorization mechanisms. I've ensured that only authorized users can access patient records and other sensitive data within the application, enhancing security and privacy. Authentication and Authorization: I've developed a set of APIs that enable crucial functionalities within the HealthCare App. These APIs allow for booking patients, registering new patients with Medical IDs, and providing doctors with a dedicated dashboard to view booked patients, queued patients, and the next patient in line. This feature streamlines the workflow of healthcare professionals, making patient management more efficient. API Development: Our application's database architecture is designed for both performance and data integrity. I've employed a primary database for write operations, ensuring data consistency and durability. Additionally, I've implemented a replica database to distribute read traffic, improving overall system performance and providing data redundancy for failover scenarios. Database Architecture: To ensure optimal utilization and responsiveness, I've integrated a load balancer into our architecture. This load balancer evenly distributes user requests across multiple identical servers, enhancing the application's scalability and reliability. Load Balancing: Technologies and Technology Choices: For the front end, I opted to use HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript without additional frameworks. This choice allowed us to focus on solidifying our understanding of JavaScript and create a responsive and user-friendly interface. HTML, CSS, JavaScript (Vanilla): For the backend, we chose Flask Python due to its simplicity, flexibility, and efficiency. Flask's lightweight nature made it an ideal choice for rapid development and scaling as our project expanded. Flask Python: As our primary database management system, MySQL provides the data consistency and durability required for our healthcare application. Its relational database structure suits the nature of patient records and medical data. MySQL: Notable features: I've implemented a secure and user-friendly authentication system, ensuring that only authorized personnel can access sensitive patient data. Authentication and Authorization: Our system allows healthcare providers to efficiently book patients, streamlining the scheduling process and improving patient care. Booking Patients: Doctors have access to a dedicated dashboard that provides essential information about booked patients, queued patients, and the next patient in line, enhancing their ability to manage patient appointments effectively. Doctor's Dashboard: Challenges I faced In our HealthCare App project, I grappled with the task of dynamically selecting available doctors for patient appointments. However, the API consistently threw a "Doctor not defined" error, hindering our ability to recognize the values being passed. Our challenge was clear: enable nurses to efficiently select doctors actively logged into the system for patient appointments. This necessitated real-time availability tracking and a seamless user experience. To conquer this obstacle. Firstly, I introduced real-time doctor availability tracking, monitoring login and logout activities. This updated doctors' statuses to "Available" upon login and "Unavailable" upon logout, supported by an extended data model. Secondly, I adapted API calls for nurses' interfaces, enabling them to filter doctors based on their up-to-the-minute availability status. Nurses received clear, real-time feedback on each doctor's availability status, empowering informed scheduling decisions. Our solution succeeded. Nurses could now effortlessly select from a list of actively logged-in doctors, streamlining patient appointment scheduling. Technical takeaways Implementing real-time doctor availability tracking was a significant technical challenge. It taught me the importance of data synchronization in real-time applications and how to design systems that can handle constant data updates efficiently. Extending the data model to accommodate real-time status updates for doctors was a valuable lesson in database design. It showed me how a well-thought-out data model can simplify complex application features. This project is reinforcing my belief in the power of collaboration and teamwork. Working closely with my teammates, each with their unique skills and perspectives is instrumental in overcoming technical challenges. Being open to trying different technologies and approaches, as we did with real-time tracking, can lead to innovative solutions. Questioned Beliefs While I held the belief that planning is essential, this project reaffirmed that adaptability and agility are equally crucial in the fast-paced world of software development. It's essential to strike a balance between planning and the ability to pivot when needed. LINKS My LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/farai-ushe-b29368109 Landing page: http://parma.jaskin.tech/ Github: https://github.com/James-koduah/parma

Future of Telemedicine: Lessons I've Learnt From Building my  HealthCare App MVP

Historically, medical records have been considered the property of clinicians or health institutions. However, a study conducted by Yale researchers found that only of hospitals allow patients to receive their complete records. 53 percent This lack of patient access makes sharing sensitive medical records between hospitals and healthcare providers or facilities complicated by bureaucratic hold-ups and patient frustrations. As a result, patients experience unnecessary delays in receiving care, directly impacting the quality of care. It is essential that tools are developed that can enable the sharing of medical records directly with patients in the healthcare system. The Importance of Patients Having Access to Their Medical Records There are several reasons why hospital patients should have access to their medical records. For one, having access to their healthcare records can help patients stay informed about their health and medical conditions. This can be especially important for patients with chronic or complex medical conditions requiring ongoing treatment and monitoring. Additionally, accessing their medical records can help patients track their progress and better understand the effects of any treatments they receive. Access to their healthcare records can help patients communicate more effectively with their doctors and other healthcare providers. When patients have access to their medical records, they can provide their doctors with accurate and up-to-date information about their health, which can help the doctors make more informed decisions about their care. Additionally, accessing their medical records can help patients ensure that their medical records are complete and accurate, preventing misunderstandings and errors in their care. In addition to the benefits for individual patients, having access to medical records can also improve the overall quality of care in a hospital. Patients' access to their medical records can help reduce duplication of testing and other unnecessary medical procedures. This can save time and resources and help prevent patients from being exposed to unnecessary risks. Providing hospital patients with access to their medical records can help improve the quality and effectiveness of their healthcare and help medical patients take more steps towards improving their role in their health. How one digital platform can tokenize and provide medical records to patients Platforms like , a blockchain-based, smart-document SaaS provider, provide hospitals with and , solutions to empower patients with complete ownership and control over their medical records, offering a glimpse into Web3’s potential to drastically improve healthcare delivery. ShelterZoom DocuWalk Document GPS By leveraging ShelterZoom’s document tokenization tools, hospitals empower their patients to take full ownership of their sensitive medical records to improve communication between patients and relevant parties and, ultimately, improve healthcare outcomes. In addition, ShelterZoom shields patients’ medical data from cyber breaches and allows them to bypass bureaucratic hurdles by delivering their own medical records directly to a specialist or clinic. With Document GPS, ShelterZoom’s newest product, the sender has a timestamped log in their interactive attachment library built into their email interface. This empowers senders to track how recipients interact with each file. In addition, ShelterZoom built Document GPS on the same innovative blockchain technology powering its entire platform, allowing users an extra layer of security integrated into the system. “In addition to empowering patients to own and control their own medical records, they will also benefit from unprecedented levels of security due to them being tokenized via the blockchain,” says Chao Cheng-Shorland, CEO of ShelterZoom. “This allows patients to share the necessary parts of their medical records with a clinic or pharmaceutical company and then revoke access when it is no longer relevant.” Additional benefits of giving patients access to their medical records There are many other benefits to providing hospital patients with access to their medical records. For example, having access to their medical records can better help patients understand the instructions and advice given to them by their doctors. This can help patients follow their treatment plans more effectively, improving the chances of a successful outcome. Access to their medical records can also help patients keep track of the medications they are taking and any allergies or sensitivities they have. This can help to prevent dangerous drug interactions and other adverse reactions. Additionally, accessing their medical records can help patients prepare for medical appointments by reviewing their medical history and making a list of any questions or concerns they want to discuss with their doctor. In addition to the benefits for individual patients, providing patients with access to their medical records can also help to improve the overall functioning of a hospital. For example, when patients have access to their medical records, it can help reduce the time doctors and other healthcare providers spend on administrative tasks, such as tracking medical records and answering patients' questions. This can free up more time for doctors to spend on direct patient care, improving the quality and efficiency of healthcare in the hospital. Another benefit of providing hospital patients with access to their medical records is that it can help to improve the accuracy and completeness of medical records. When patients have access to their medical records, they can review them for accuracy and completeness and provide their doctors with any missing or incorrect information. This can help ensure that medical records are accurate and complete, preventing misunderstandings and errors in care. Additionally, providing patients with access to their medical records can help to promote transparency and trust in the healthcare system. When patients see the information in their medical records, it can help build their trust in the healthcare system and their doctors. This can encourage patients to be more open and honest with their doctors, improving their quality of care. There are many compelling reasons why hospital patients should have access to their medical records. Providing patients with access to their medical records can help to improve the quality and effectiveness of their healthcare and can help to empower patients to take a more proactive role in their well-being. Closing Thoughts When patients have access to their medical records, they will be fully informed about their health and medical history. This can help them to make more informed decisions about their care and treatment and can also help them to better understand their health status and any potential health risks that they may face. Additionally, having access to their medical records can help patients more easily coordinate their care with multiple healthcare providers and make it easier for them to track their health over time. Providing patients with access to their medical records promotes transparency, improves communication between patients and their healthcare providers, and ultimately leads to better overall health outcomes.

Why It's Important for Patients to Have Access to Their Medical Records

The past year has created a tremendous shift in the way the majority of businesses in the world operate. Remote work has become the main way for organizations worldwide to continue forward with their business. People that previously worked in a specific location, like in an office, could now transition to from the safety of their homes. From being the prerogative of flexible tech companies, remote work became the reality of everyone, including large corporations from conservative industries, such as banks and government organizations. working remotely As the supply of vaccines increases and more people become vaccinated, organizations are thinking ahead to what future workspaces will look like. But now we know things that weren’t clear before 2020. The last year served as a test case, which showed that it’s possible to conduct business with a large segment of the workforce doing so remotely. Moreover, companies were able to significantly cut down on the costs of maintaining extremely expensive offices in city centers during the pandemic. Finally, a large share of employees prefers to work remotely at least part of the time and sees this as a competitive advantage for their employer. So, no matter how much we would like to forget the madness of 2020, there’s no going back to the pre-COVID times. Most companies will never be able to completely return to the office. As they’re working on their return-to-office plan, there’s one notion that we’re hearing more and more often: the hybrid work model. And unlike the past year, now we have enough time to prepare for it. What does hybrid work mean? The continuum of remote to office work models has a lot of grades in between: remote first, workplace flexibility, flextime, office-optional, hours of presence, etc. Basically, the hybrid-work model represents any combination of splitting employees’ time between working in the office and from home (or in another location). Liam Martin, the co-founder of Time Doctor, as “a single department or a percentage of the company that works remotely and a certain percentage of the company that works in an office.” defines hybrid work He leads a team of employees in more than 40 countries. Why hybrid is a growing trend Hybrid work aims to combine the best parts of working from home and working in an office to shape the new normal. It gives employees the flexibility they desire and solves the problem of isolation in remote work. One of the challenges with remote work is its limited amount of human connection with creative tasks, like brainstorming. You may be able to chat virtually or get on a video call, but you miss out on social cues. There’s something powerful about having team members tackling an issue or problem in person. Opportunities for aha moments can arise face to face, which a video chat can’t replace. There’s also a stronger sense of camaraderie—the idea that you belong to something larger than yourself. Apple, IBM, and Cisco are just a few organizations that have recently switched to the hybrid work model. Even a giant from the conservative financial industry, HSBC Bank, has announced across the whole organization, including the executive team. For them, such a shift went hand in hand with switching to a flexible workspace without assigned tables to foster social interaction in the new office. it’ll be going hybrid In an , Apple CEO Tim Cook highlighted how working together in person fuels innovation: “My gut says that, for us, it’s still very important to physically be in touch with one another because collaboration isn’t always a planned activity.” He added, “Innovation isn’t always a planned activity.” interview with People Cook also praised remote work during the conversation: “We have realized and learned that there are some things that are perfectly great to do virtually across Zoom or WebEx, whatever, or FaceTime, whatever you might have. So I think it’ll be, I’ll call it a hybrid environment [for] a little bit.” How hybrid work will change companies One of the fastest ways to get ahead is to learn from others. Specifically, learn from those who have already accomplished what you want to do. Joshua Waitzkin, a learning expert, talks about being prepared in his book The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance. “The road to success is not easy or else everyone would be the greatest at what they do—we need to be psychologically prepared to face the unavoidable challenges along our way, and when it comes down to it, the only way to learn how to swim is by getting in the water.” will empower specific work trends that companies should be ready for. Hybrid work models Culture becomes more important The founder of Buffer, Joel Gascoigne, : “When you just have a few people remote, they can easily feel like second-class citizens without full access to information.” With hybrid work models, it’s vital for the company leaders to equalize employee experience and make all work opportunities accessible to everyone. Not only should the flexibility of hybrid work be accessible to all job functions in the company, but people working remotely should also have the same access to information and social interactions as office employees. touches on a struggle with remote workers This can be solved by using a set of the right communication tools and rules. For instance, some companies have a rule of running a meeting over Zoom instead of broadcasting an in-person office meeting—even if there’s only one remote employee on the call. This gives remote employees the feeling that they’re equal team members. You may also have an internal wiki that any employee can explore. Then you may use asynchronous tools, like a project management app, along with a team chat. A good company culture gives employees a strong feeling of belonging and a shared vision of the future. People want to be a part of something bigger—it motivates them and makes them stay longer in companies when the employers’ competition is growing. Corporate culture is a big notion that comprises the values, communication style, the way conflicts are handled, etc. In many companies, this was built spontaneously, but the switch to hybrid makes it indispensable to re-think these rules and make them clear in order to maintain high team productivity. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on long-term success. He suggests being stubborn on vision and flexible on details. This is a great principle to have behind building your company’s culture—your team needs to be very clear about where they want to get to, but use various tactics to get there. advocates for a relentless focus Asynchronous communication is key Asynchronous communication is a proven tool for effective teams, regardless of if they’re remote or not. In this style of communication, the exchange of information happens when it’s convenient for both sides. A team member can leave a written, audio, or video message, and the second person replies with a time gap. While asynchronous communication is particularly efficient for working across multiple time zones, studies have shown that it allows team members to be more productive, cut down meeting times, and focus more deeply on their work without interruption. David Heinemeier Hansson, an evangelist for remote work, : “I don’t think it’s a good idea to run a company through meetings as the primary and first mode of communication. I think it is far better to run your company, whether it’s remote or not, with writing as your first mode of communication.” talks about the power of writing When you choose to work asynchronously, you give employees time to do meaningful work. The computer science professor, Cal Newport, has named this deep work. Newport tapped into the wisdom of the author Winifred Gallagher to help explain the concept in his book Deep Work: “Who you are, what you think, feel, and do, what you love—is the sum of what you focus on.” By collaborating asynchronously, you empower members of your team to communicate when they’re at their best. You can ask a team member a question, knowing that they’ll get back to you without the expectation of an instant response. Asynchronous communication maximizes the time that a team member can spend focused on doing work that has an impact. So, when should you switch to asynchronous communication? , CEO of Wildbit, “If a conversation or discussion is running too long, let’s move it to real-time...because what we are doing with real-time meetings is we are actually optimizing for focus work.” According to Natalie Nagele In other words, prioritize asynchronous communication. Then tap into communicating synchronously as needed to work through any challenges or problems swiftly. More contractors and independent workers The flexibility of hybrid work applies to companies’ hiring models as well. More people are starting working outside of the standard 40-hour week, preferring part-time work or being a contractor for several employers. Companies also get the advantage of hiring candidates from a larger pool that includes other cities and, sometimes, even other countries. If you decide to hire internationally or hire location-independent specialists (that spend several months per year in different countries), this implies legal and tax issues for your overseas employees. Employment of record companies provide you with full compliance by hiring employees on behalf of their local entities in various countries. When you transition to a hybrid work model, your team will likely split their time between home and your organization’s office. The question of fairness may arise. The best way to answer this question is to kick off a team discussion to consider different perspectives. In doing so, you’ll allow members of your team to share how they feel and avoid feelings of resentment. Look for patterns and insights to guide your decision. Hybrid work is the new remote work A sense of control can impact an employee’s performance in a positive way. Three researchers (Edward Deci, Richard Ryan, and Paul Baard) conducted a on employees at a bank in the United States. They discovered that job satisfaction was positively correlated with managers who provided autonomy support. Specifically, the bosses maintained support in these ways: 2004 study - Considering an employee’s point of view - Sharing meaningful feedback - Providing a say in what to do and how to do it - Nudging employees to take on new projects The results were surprising. Employees shared they were more satisfied with their jobs thanks to having a level of autonomy. Working remotely offers a sense of autonomy. For instance, a team member who works from home can choose a distinct spot to work from. Although small, this has a profound impact on hybrid work. Hybrid work matters because it will offer even more autonomy. Suman Gopalan, chief HR officer at Freshworks, from studies that compared in office and remote work. shares her findings - Creation of a common culture - Faster decision making - Team collaboration - Innovation - Overall performance - Job satisfaction She found that in office work had an edge for creating a common culture and faster decision making. Team collaboration and innovation were about the same. Remote work took the lead for overall performance. Job satisfaction wasn’t conclusive and varied based on the number of days that someone worked remotely per week. Professional chefs have a saying called mise en place. This French phrase translates to “putting in place.” Mise en place means gathering and preparing the ingredients that you need to make a delicious dish. This system works because you have prepped ahead of time and have what you need in front of you. Remember that hybrid work is an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to create your mise en place for hybrid work where you take the ingredients (the best parts of remote and in-office work) to create a winning workplace for your team. Your transition to hybrid: what to start with Lance Robbins, an international remote work consultant, that “the most common hybrid policy rollout mistakes that I see companies make fall into three categories: messaging, templatizing, or discrimination.” shares the insight Let’s say you’re building your dream home. Before you can install a roof, you need a structure. And before you can set up the structure, you need a strong foundation to build on. Starting with a solid foundation that covers the basics will set you up for success. When transitioning to hybrid, the leadership needs to start with informing the workforce about the mutual benefits of this transition. Then, they need to build actionable templates for the team management built on the remote work best practices. Finally, they need to ensure an equally accessible hybrid workplace for all team members. A recently hosted on Running Remote was an insightful discussion with experts represented organizations of varying sizes, ranging from small teams, where everyone knows each other by their first name, to thousands of employees. panel on hybrid work Here are three things that the panelists agreed on beginning with: 1) Be clear about which roles require being in the office and which can be done remotely. 2) Document systems and processes. 3) Create opportunities for building human connection. The takeaway is to be deliberate in building a playbook for moving your team’s work forward, even in uncertain times. As former Navy SEAL commander, Mark Divine, writes in his book Unbeatable Mind, “Great teams strive to standardize routine tasks like those above (the list applies to any type of training, not just physical skill training) so that time is not wasted reinventing the push up every time someone new comes on the team.”

What is Hybrid Work and Why is it the New Norm?

The massive shift towards remote work has redefined the way companies manage their employees. The lack of in-person communication makes it harder to maintain healthy relationships within the team, control and reward employees to keep everyone happy. That’s why it’s good to look at some new and useful tools that would help build the team management process in 2021. Here is the list of five great applications to implement in your company. – All-in-One HR Management System BrainyHR This tool combines features for the whole range of HR tasks from employee onboarding to performance review. For the remote team, making the onboarding more efficient is crucial for keeping productivity high. With dedicated and adjustable onboarding (and offboarding!) task lists, the HR manager will not skip a single step of the process. Another great feature is Rewards and Recognition. The comprehensive monitoring system tracks tasks accomplished by employees and assigns them points. Afterward, these points are used to determine people eligible for multiple rewards. The whole process is transparent, which makes it festive and engaging for the team members. – Project Management Software ProofHub This tool is an uber project and team management solution that helps companies plan, collaborate, organize, and deliver projects successfully. ProofHub provides the HR and management team with a 360-degree view of the current workload and progress. Proofhub is excellent for creating tasks with deadlines and breaking them into subtasks. The software also features the online proofing tool to approve files in rea-time, lots of project reports and Gannt charts, and even a built-in chat. – Time Tracking and Employee Monitoring Time Doctor When the remote team grows, it gets harder and harder to monitor the performance. Time Doctor is a perfect way to stay on top of the business processes and fully understand your team members' efficiency. The tool tracks the productive time spent on specific tasks and calculates the wasted time. The solution makes screenshots of employee's monitors at specific intervals so that there is no way to trick the system. The software can also track the location of an employee, time spent online (crucial for checking support agents' attendance), and on work-related websites. The overall performance data is collected in the comprehensive report, which is very convenient for the reward program. : A Simple Tool To Sync Between Timezones World Time Buddy Distributed teams quite often have a presence in different time zones. It is quite common even for a small company to have team members in the US, team members in Europe, and team members in Asia. One of the biggest challenges such a team face is that of time. And more specifically, what time is it for whom? World Time Buddy is a simple yet effective timezones calculator that allows team members to rapidly sync and determine time slots suitable for online conferences or chats for all who need to participate. The HR department should implement the policy for using this tool, as this will reduce the number of missed communications and improve your remote team's overall efficiency. :  Employee Feedback Meter Chimp or Champ Do you know how happy your team feels this week? This is a question the whole product is built around. Many HRs and managers don't know that, and so, Chimp or Champ can be an excellent fit to collect that information finally. Once implemented, the app starts sending employees out an anonymous survey every week and then collecting and collating the results. The report is then instantly available, and HRs can see how the team feels like a collective and react accordingly. The tool itself can't turn an unhappy employee into a happy one, but it can signal the problem and measure the effectiveness of the actions taken. The workplace is evolving faster than ever before. Tools such as these are really helping our distributed team. What tools are helping yours?

How to Hack Your Team: Top 5 Tools For Team Management Automation in 2021

2020 will go down in history as the year that turned the trend that was working from home into the norm for businesses across the globe. Everyone who can feasibly work from home is now doing so. As you’d imagine with this rapid and drastic shift in the way you and your employees work, it’s come with its own set of productivity and motivational challenges. While there is a heap of , like the fact your employees won’t have to make the long commute to the office, there are a few things you as an employer need to bear in mind. Working from home can make employees feel too comfortable during working hours… even lazy at times. It can also make other employees feel incapable of clocking off work on time (also known as ‘work from home guilt’), thus affecting their sleep and overall wellbeing. positives that come with WFH So, how do you create balance for your employees? How do you motivate them to work hard while also ensuring they look after themselves in the process? Experts believe that the answer lies in a combination of adopting flexible management practices, along with help their employees. utilizing technology to help employers A guide to keeping remote employees productive and motivated The most important place to start is ensuring your employees create a dedicated workspace in their own homes. The designated workspace should ideally be separated from their living space. This will not only have a positive impact on the work they produce but also on their mental well-being. has shown that combining workspace with personal space can cause employees to either work too hard or too little. They either feel as though they don’t have to work, or don’t allow themselves to tune off from work and deprive themselves of sleep. Research 1. Get organized and prioritize tasks It’s best to encourage your employees to perform the most crucial tasks first. This is the best way to get them to complete complicated tasks on time. A good method for sorting tasks is the Getting Things Done (GTD) method. Getting Things Done (GTD) is a productivity method developed by David Allen that is broadly accepted as one of the most efficient personal organization methodologies around. Simply put, you capture your tasks and ideas, clarify what you have to do, organize the items by importance and priority, reflect on your to-do list, and then get to work. The GTD method is just one method out of many, though. Other popular methods include: “Don’t Break the Chain”, “Eat the Frogs First”, and “Timeboxing”. 2. Stay connected Within all human relationships, – this is especially true in the professional environment. Keeping your team connected allows everyone to touch base on the progress of the team as a whole. It also provides an opportunity for employees to voice any concerns, sing each other’s praises, and generally remember that they are part of a supportive team. communication is key I work as part of a 100% remote team and we use Zoom to keep us connected. We have weekly department meetings, one on ones with managers, and a monthly all-hands meeting. Seeing as my company is a remote work app, you’d hope that we’d be good at managing our remote workflow processes – which include hosting meetings and over-communicating with each other. Process Street 3. Establish a time-tracking technique Independent work schedules can make it difficult to track every remote employee’s productive work hours, a problem that is amplified if they’re working in different time-zones. The best way to overcome this is to establish a time tracking system for monitoring productivity or to communicate with them. Apps you can use for time-tracking include: Paymo Timecamp Toggl Time Doctor Harvest Work with your employees to establish mutually agreed timeframes for completion of work. This will not only motivate them to work but will also instill a sense of accountability. 4. Encourage your employees to connect with each other With your entire workforce WFH it’s important to take steps to allow them to communicate with one another as though they were in an office. Coffee breaks and water cooler chats help your employees to bond. As an employer, it is important to keep lines of communication open between your team. Fortunately, there’s an app for that – well actually, there are a few. is a great tool for communication between team members. It is efficient and has integrations with Zoom, Google Docs, and other apps. Slack encourages digital coffee break style chats through an integration with the app which has the feature “donut calls”. Donut calls randomly pair employees together so that they can meet at a time that suits their schedules (its integration with Google Calendar allows this to happen smoothly). We use Donut calls at Process Street and it is a great way to break up the week and get to know fellow employees. Slack Donut 5. Avoid Micromanaging Employees “Micromanagement is the destroyer of momentum.” ― Miles Anthony Smith Yes, keeping track of your employee’s productivity and scheduled activities is important. That said, pestering them every hour asking for an update is not going to help them achieve their tasks. Regular catch up calls and open communication streams between your team and you are enough. If your employees have a problem, they should feel comfortable coming to you. If you successfully achieve this then you will not need to pester as work will get done when it is meant to get done and if it doesn’t, you’ll have been informed of the reason why without even asking. 6. Limit social media use This can be a tough one. One minute you’re telling your employees to stay connected and the next you are discouraging them from using social media. Nevertheless, it’s a vital step to take to ensure your employees are achieving their full potential and being productive. Here are five ways that limit social media usage: Remember the saying “out of sight, out of mind”? Apply this to your social media apps Set time limits for each app Assign a dedicated time to hobbies that do not involve the use of your screen . Avoid eating meals with your phone in reach And don’t take your phone into your bedroom at night. 7. Use the cloud is a safe and secure space to store, access, and share work and projects. It allows for easy collaboration between team members. By using the cloud you and your business can rent access to anything from applications to storage from a cloud service provider. The cloud Moving forward as a truly productive WFH workforce With the WFH norm in full swing, ensuring that your employees are being productive from home should be a priority. Fortunately, implementing the aforementioned tips will allow them to be just as productive at home as they would be in the office. Who knows, once employees have fully embraced and gotten used to the WFH lifestyle, they may even find themselves preferring this method of working and upping their productivity by a huge degree.

7 Best Ways to Increase Workforce Productivity

In an ever-changing world, staying up to date with modern business technologies can provide business owners with the leverage they need to be successful. This means being prosperous in their ventures and relevant in the competitive market. In most cases, using the correct types of technology will facilitate greater efficiency and even productivity. Many different components contribute to the success of a small business. These include providing excellent customer service and maximizing revenues. The right types of technology can help small businesses achieve and exceed all of their business objectives. Let’s have a look at five crucial technologies any small business owner shouldn’t ignore: Effective Logo Making Applications Some small business owners may think that creating the initial logo design and website is a once-off job. They may even plan to use that very same logo and site forever. This is in fact not the way to go. Your online presence, and this includes your business logo, needs ongoing tweaking and improving. Not only is your logo the foundation of your brand identity, but it also distinguishes you from everyone else. Logo Maker by LogoDesign.net A good logo maker software that upholds different types of brand images is so much easier to work with than hiring an expensive graphic designer if your budget is low. This will make it easier to tweak any changes in the early days of your business’s online presence as you explore different designs and decide on what works for your audience. An effective logo and logo making program will be the first step in creating brand awareness among customers wishing to identify with your brand. A few words of advice about logo design. Your logo must be a professional representation of your company. Be professional, yet engaging. Do some research on several different types of logos to get the general idea of what works. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box and don’t hesitate to rope in a professional to help. Using a design company that offers support or has an interactive application to use after the fact is always a plus. WFH Technologies With the world finding itself in the grips of a global pandemic, working from home (WFH) is a lot more common than a few months ago. Running your small business from home can be very challenging if you don’t have the right programs or applications to assist you. Luckily, advanced apps can keep you in contact with your employees and customers. Shipping Software for Online Business Some of the applications you can consider include the following: : This app is ideal for businesses where products are sold online and shipped. It allows the business owner to process online orders, track shipments and provide customers with their shipping information. ShipStation Allows users to create docs, spreadsheets, and presentations. It combines basic business functions and eliminates the need for multiple apps to run the various aspects of your business. G-Suite: This nifty app facilitates collecting signatures online or via a mobile device. Using this app ensures that processes aren’t delayed because of a signature that’s short on a document. It also means work can still get done despite lockdown regulations regarding social interactions. DocuSign: Allows business owners to chat, delegate, or assist employees and team members via video conferencing. Having constant communication with your employees will keep morale up and ensure productivity isn’t hampered. A similar program to Skype is Zoom, which is also a popular way of having meetings, doing training and interacting with employees and customers. Skype: This app allows business owners to record employees’ working hours. It prevents payroll confusion and discrepancies. Time Doctor: Mobile Optimization Google estimates that customers spend more time performing searches on their mobiles than on desktops. As a small business owner you’d be wise to cash in on this. The content of your pages should allow for a strong user experience, even when they’re viewing it via mobile devices. Let’s look at a few ways you can improve your site’s mobile experience: 	All videos across your pages should be compatible with smart devices. 	Make sure to use responsive templates for all aspects, including emails, query pages, and contact requests. 	Use short paragraphs and sentences. Potential customers using their mobile devices on the go won’t have time to read through long explanations. 	Use high-quality images. They should also be cropped to maximize the detail you’re trying to advertise. For instance, if you’re selling handbags, the image you use should have the handbag as the focal point. It shouldn’t be somewhere in the background. 	Buttons on the screen should be easy to use on any device. You don’t want a potential customer to have to log in via a computer to view your products because they’ll skip past you and navigate to a competitor’s page. 	Content should be accurate, up to date, and most of all scrollable. Mobile users don’t want to scroll and click through multiple pages just to view the basics. A program called will assist you in testing how effective your mobile optimization is. Enter your URL, wait a few seconds and get a score of how mobile friendly your site is. This will give you an indication of any changes you can make to improve your site. Mobile Website Speed Testing Chatbot Many . Chatbot is an AI program that imitates human interaction. Chatbots interpret questions by potential customers and provide pre-set answers. This technology allows small businesses, without extensive resources, provide answers to general queries that customers may have. small businesses make use of a chatbot program Image Credit Istock/ Blue Planet Studio The chatbot program also helps the small business provide better customer service by answering simple queries immediately where possible. Have you seen a dialog box popping up on the bottom right of your screen when you visit a new page? That’s the chatbot asking you if you need assistance. Simply select a platform, follow the prompts and you’ll have your own chatbot in no time. Some of the popular chatbot platforms available to small businesses include the following: Aivo ItsAlive Bold360 Meya AI MobileMonkey Cyber Security In this day and age where , every person or business with an online presence is at greater risk of exposure. Every small business needs to ensure the cyber safety of employees and customers using their websites and online products. cybercrime is on the increase Investing in firewall protection, security software, and safe backup systems will keep your customers’ personal information secure. Invest in security protocols like password protection, anti-virus software, and secure servers. It’s important to protect sensitive data, banking data and personal information. Invest in known anti-virus protection software with firewall options. Examples of software with effective cyber security features are Norton, AVG, and Also, remember to keep your software up to date. Kaspersky. Conclusion When it comes to the success of your small business, making a great product is only the first step. Correctly marketing your product and the service you offer is equally important. Competing with bigger more diverse companies can be challenging enough for small businesses. So, don’t add to your challenges. Rather build your success story by investing in the basic technologies to enhance and grow your business. By including some of our suggested technologies in your company, you’ll be announcing to the world that your business is here to stay!

5 Small Business Technologies You Can’t Afford to Ignore

If you are a business owner or member of senior management, it would be a surprise if you haven’t asked yourself whether you need to be using some software to help monitor your employee performance, and if not, then you probably should do! Now, more than ever there is a requirement to ensure that your business is firing on all cylinders and with more staff than ever previously also adopting a schedule which is more focused on working from home rather than the traditional office space, being on top of staff workload can make all the difference. This is especially the case if your company has a lot of data, timesheets, workload schedules and more to keep tabs on. It is, of course or paramount importance that you first have a team surrounding you which you are confident enough in trusting to independently handle the tasks which are required of them. However, there isn’t always the luxury of having a watertight team and working processes and, as such, keeping arbitrary track of various KPIs is key to combatting the pitfalls of undermanagement and inefficiency. There are many different solutions out there you can use in your quest to maximise your businesses output, but here will cover five of the absolute best options and illustrate just why they are so beneficial to you and your business’s needs. Meet: Time Doctor One of the top pieces of software which stand out right now is Time Doctor. A surplus of management resources makes it a doddle for you to keep tabs on your business. Features include time tracking and the ability to monitor employee’s progress on projects, sorting out your payroll, web and app options. Additionally, you can employ the use of time alerts for idle employees and accounting tools come as part of this package. Of all the software in our list, Time Doctor is, perhaps, the most expensive of the lot. As such, you’ve to weigh its advantages against the cost effectiveness of this solution. The application has plenty of features but will certainly require a larger working budget than other options out there. Time doctor is the choice of US network supplier Verizon and technology company Ericsson. Get Control of Your Hours My Hours has pushed its way into contention at many top businesses over the last year. The focus of this software differs slightly from Time Doctor in that the developers have put a lot of attention into the collaboration side of things. Real-time tracking allows monitoring of individual employee’s progress with a certain task and this to be factored into overall group progress. There is also work rate reporting, as well as scheduling and timeline features all part and parcel of what My Hours can offer your business. My Hours is a piece of software which is easy to customise, and features can be upgraded based on your business needs. As has been touched upon briefly, My Hours is one which will be most useful to those who are seeking to manage team projects more effectively due to its collaborative nature and the features which centre around streamlining of time management. Toggl Could Be for You Toggl is perhaps most ideal for those people running small businesses with few employees. It is a mobile-based app and allows for quick tracking, as well as reminders. You can easily use Toggl to keep tabs on your profits vs expenses, and there is a general dashboard which is accessible for all employees, allowing you to stay in communication. Toggl can also be integrated with over 100 other online apps. This solution isn’t necessarily the most all-encompassing but does offer a good tailored range of features which will suit SMEs and certain industry types especially well. It also carries the benefit of being able to choose your plan type based upon individual tiered plans based upon the feature types you desire. Monday.com Monday.com is the only fully online solution which is considered within this piece. It is marketed as a single online platform for ‘better teamwork’. There are comprehensive enough planning and tracking modules which exist within one workspace for communication and workload monitoring. Also, there are useful automation tools that have been included to avoid ‘human error’ and streamline certain aspects such as emails. There also exists decent reporting which uses simple graphic representation of spend, progress and revenue. One notable inclusion is the ability to utilise 24/7 customer support should you have any issues / want any clarification on features. Many large companies such as BBC and Adobe use Monday.com in some shape or form. Clockify for Your Business? For those who want something a touch different, there is Clockify. This funky-sounding piece of software is perfect for companies on a budget. It has a free basic package which features time trackers, dashboard options, and allows you to form schedules easily. In terms of timekeeping, you are able to track employee hours using a timer, log these into a timesheet and split work hours between different billable hours, thus feeding into payroll. Reporting allows visualisation of the time breakdowns which can be exported and shared with others in traditional office formats such as PDF, CSV and Excel docs. There are also team activity features which allow live time activity tracking, scheduling and task breakdowns. Paying a little more can also see you obtain upgraded features, many of which are like the software packages listed above. Overall, Clockify is a well-reviewed and comprehensive piece of kit which offers a decent level of flexibility. Using Deputy to Schedule Your Staff Our final entry is , and this is a very much a modular style piece of software, making it ideal for all businesses due to your ability to key in and out of the various aspects of the tool. Deputy Deputy can provide you with all manner of scheduling options as well as extensive communication software. Alternatively, it can be used to track attendances and export your timesheets to payroll. It has the useful ability to be paired with many payroll and accounting software including Sage and Xero, as well as HR tools like BambooHR.  There exists the attractive possibility to upgrade the software so that it consists of both modules. In addition, you can opt for a supreme package which offers a variety of complex solutions for businesses which need custom configurations. Deputy is the software used by Amazon and beauty brand Aesop for their scheduling and monitoring needs and ultimately, it is the piece of software which stands out on this list, as it caters to all. Of course, it comes down to the individual needs of a business and their complexity as to whether or not a fully modular and extensive system like Deputy is required, but in terms of being the most impressive, this one wasn’t hard to recommend. Pricing Can Often Be the Key Pricing can often play a part in which package you go with. It often ends up being the deciding factors between two or more similar pieces of software. Although, it is often recommended in life to consider other aspects in a decision-making process rather than just the price, as this is often how poor decisions can be made! To summarise, both Clockify and Hours are free to use with their basic package. However, you do have the option to upgrade to more extensive features if you wish. They are a little limited for full scale business use above anything other than a semi informal SME basis if only used at this level. Toggle and Deputy come with 30 and 31-day free trials, respectively. Toggle then costs $10 a month. Deputy can offer you scheduling and time/attendance packages for $2.50 per month apiece, raising to $4.50 a month if you want both modules. Optionally, the Enterprise Edition (for fully customisable solutions) comes with a custom price-plan. By contrast, Time Doctor has no free trial and has a set rate of $9.99 a month for the basic package. Conclusion It is not easy to recommend a single piece of software for all companies because of the huge range of factors covered throughout the individual product reviews. What it is safe to summarise, however, is that if customisable software and low costs are for you, Deputy is the stand-out piece of software on our list. It has a more diverse range of options than your standard piece of software and you are able to trial these for a period of up to 31 days before you make any commitment and then the tiered system including a premium package which is only £3 per user per month including a wealth of features encompassing employee scheduling, timesheets, payroll and point of sale integration, leave management, a newsfeed, tasking, 24/7 support and a wealth of reporting options too. It must be said that Clockify, Monday.com and Time Doctor also have their positives and are worthy of an honourable mention.

4 Employee Performance Monitoring Software To Enhance Productivity

On managing remote teams and creating an atmosphere similar to your office: Recently, I did a webinar with TIE and fellow women founders on Managing remote teams. A lot of you asked for the extensive list of tools that I mentioned in the webinar. So, here it is! When we are in an office environment, we have the luxury of meeting each other, share our learnings, provide instant feedback, infrastructure, facilities, etc. which helps teams to be productive and well-bonded. Unfortunately, we don’t get all these facilities in a virtual team and environment. Here's my list of the best alternatives to in-person situations, for remote teams: Best alternatives to Physical, In-Person Team or One-to-One Meetings When working virtually it’s advised to avoid channels that can cause misinterpretation. It’s better to avoid textual channels when doing important discussions. Make a practice of using the following channels in the given order: 1. Video Calls (even if it is a 2 min conversation, prefer this mode) 2. Audio Calls (only if the video call is not possible) 3. Chats (nonurgent & important communications) 4. Emails (only for official communications) For video calls, you can use tools like — In a free account, it allows up to 100 participants for 40 mins. After 40 min, you need to rejoin the meeting. It also has features like Recording the meeting, screen sharing, whiteboard, private meeting links, chats, file sharing, etc. Zoom — During Coronavirus pandemic, they’ve made it free for up to 100 participants and there is no limit on meeting duration. Features are similar to Zoom. Webex Others: , , , (Paid), etc. Google Hangout Skype GoTo Meetings Doodle Best alternatives to replace Water Cooler Conversations For co-learning & team-bonding, it’s important to create virtual spaces where people can share their learnings, hobbies, good reads, etc. You can know who is active, who is working, online, offline, etc in such tools. You can create channels or virtual groups in the following tools. —In the free account, all standard features like …….. are available with limitation of search possible in only recent 10k messages. Slack — In the free account, they have unlimited chats and video callings. Meetings can’t be scheduled in the free plan. Microsoft Teams Others: , (for geeks), , Flock Discord Fugu You can also organize games for your teams on video conferencing tools. Let me know in the comments if you want to know how we did it in our company? hite-boards & Brainstorming Best alternatives to W Being able to visually represent your thoughts, research, and ideas is the core of a team brainstorming session. It gives clarity to the other person. — It's very easy to use and has features like mind-mapping, flow charts, sticky notes with the ability of real-time collaboration. It has 100s of use cases that you can find in their templates. the free plan, you can have up to 3 boards. Miro — You can do flow charts, wireframing, sticky-notes, and mindmaps. In the free account, you can have up to 4 boards. Whimsical Others: , Draw.io, , , , (Paid) Lucid charts Awwapp Witeboard Mindmeister Mural Best alternatives to In-Person Feedback: Recording your screen to provide feedback effectively If you review your colleague’s work use a video medium to provide the feedback instead of screenshots or texts. — You can do your screen recordings along with your audio and video. It generates a cloud link that can be shared. It also gives statistics if someone opens or watches the recording. It’s easy to use and during Coronavirus pandemic they’ve increased the limit of recordings from 25 to unlimited. Loom — Similar to Loom. In the free account, you get 50 videos with each video being 10 minutes long. Screencastify Others: , , , , etc. Recordit Bubbles HippoVideo AwesomeScreenshot Best tools for remote Documentation & Collaboration Documentation is key for working remotely. Using a cloud tool makes it easy to share and access anytime. — Simple to use, create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, etc. It allows multiple people to edit the same document in real-time along with the version history. It’s free to use for up to 15GB of storage. Google Drive — You can create notes, docs, knowledgebase, databases, etc in one interface. No juggling required. In the free account, you can use up to 1000 elements. Notion : Collaboration on social media posts. It’s free and has numerous attractive templates. Canva Others: , , , , , Dropbox Slite Confluence Coda Tettra Best tools for remote Task Management You need a tool for managing all team tasks and goals. It’s an old saying that . You can use the following tools to track your tasks What Doesn’t Get Measured Doesn’t Get Done — Easy to use and free to use. It helps you organize, assign, and prioritize the tasks. It also shows them in a calendar. Trello — Unlimited, tasks, calendar, users, discussions. Freedcamp Others: , , , , , (Paid), etc. GoodDay Quire Basecamp Asana Startinfinity Jell Best Tools for Recording Productivity & Time spent on each task If you want to know how your team is spending their time without indulging in micro-managing. It’s good to know where the money is flowing and can help in making smart decisions. Use the following tools: — Create timesheets in a simple interface. Just press the toggl button when you start working on a task and do the same to stop. It has browser extensions and desktop apps. Free to use Toggl — Advance time-tracking, automated screenshots, web and app usage, etc. It’s a paid tool starting at $12/user/month. Time Doctor Other: , WhenIWork IDoneThis Best tools for Scheduling Meetings and Managing Calendars remotely Fixing a meeting requires a lot of to and fro communication. In the virtual team’s meeting scheduling tools saves a lot of time which is wasted in such conversations. — Put your available meeting slots and let others book it. It’s simple to use and directly integrates with your phone or PC calendars. It’ll not let someone book slots that are already booked in your calendar. In the free account, you can use it for one type of meeting only. Calendly — Shared calendar for teams to know who is working on what. Free for up to 8 calendars for 8 users. Teamup Others: Hubspot meetings Best tools for Getting Signatures on contracts remotely: Use e-sign instead of physical signatures Speed up your approval processes by using an e-sign solution for your business documents, contracts, proposals, etc. You can save up to weeks of time which is wasted in transporting a document from one location to another. — Adobe eSign Services helps you to electronically sign and send business documents. It’s free for 3 months than at a very nominal price annually. Adobe e-sign —Sales teams can share branded proposals, contracts, quotations, etc. with clients over email and can get it digitally signed. They can know when the email is opened or the document is opened. During Coronavirus Pandemic you can pay for one year and use it forever. Gridle.one Other: , , , HelloSign Docusign Pandadoc Smallpdf Best tools for remote HR Management and Tracking Team Attendance If you want to manage your team’s attendance and leaves, use the following tools: — it allows check-ins and checkouts with selfies for unlimited users in the free plan. Jibble Other: Keka Best tools for To-Do Lists and Checklists If your team does some repetitive works and there are no processes then productivity will leak through cracks and you will not even know. If not complex processes, you can start with simple checklists for publishing content, doing a release, creating videos, etc. Few checklists tools: , , , , Trello Todoist Any.do Pipefy ProcessSt If you have found any tool which is helping your Team to work effectively, do share in the comments. We will add them to the list mentioning your name, and it’ll help others. :)

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