fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Data visualization using ggplot2: 5 features worth knowing
By: Abhinav Malasi
Tags: R, Data Visualization, Dataviz, Tips And Tricks, Ggplot2

Data visualization using ggplot2: 5 features worth knowing

Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash

Whether you are working on your school project, term paper, master’s thesis, or a business presentation, the quality of the data translates well to the audience if the data is presented in a meaningful and aesthetically pleasing way. Although making an impactful figure from the data is challenging and time-consuming, but some small tips if implemented properly can make the workflow simpler and save a lot of time over the long run.

In this post, I will be discussing 5 tips or features that I find useful and implement on a regular basis while working with the ggplot2 package. Maybe some of you will already know them and for some, it will be something new.

To give a little background about ggplot2, it is developed based on the grammar of graphics in short gg. The plot consists of three fundamental parts, namely:

1. Data: consisting of the data frame

2. Aesthetics: defining the x and y variable and detailing the color, size, and shape of the data points

3. Geometry: defines the type of plot e.g. bar plot, line plot, scatter, histogram, etc.
Orthodoxy and Eccentricity
By: Alberto Cairo
Tags: Art, Data Visualization, Books, Dataviz, Community

Nadieh Bremer and Shirley Wu are wondrous eccentrics. Their splendid book is the product of a collaborative experimental project, DataSketch.es, that might be one of the first exponents of an emerging visualization orthodoxy in which uniqueness is paramount and templates and conventions are seen with skepticism.

Nearly-final cover art from Data Sketches by Shirley Wu and Nadieh Bremer.

I discovered DataSketch.es right after it was launched, back in 2016, and I was immediately enthralled by such initiative, even if I had to make a bit of an effort to understand many of its graphics. They are insanely complex and ornate, I thought, colorful, often mysteriously organic, a departure from the strictures of classic graphs, charts, and maps. I felt that Nadieh and Shirley were not only pushing what was possible, but also wished to defy what was acceptable.

The book that you have in your hands reveals how Nadieh and Shirley think. This is useful. Visualization is, like written language, based on a body of symbols and a syntax that help us arrange those symbols to convey information. However, this system of symbols and syntax isn’t rigid—again like written language—but flexible and in constant flux. That’s why I’ve come to believe that visualization can’t be taught as a set of rules, but as a principled process of reasoning about how to make good decisions when it comes to what to show and how to show it.

This process ought to be informed by what we know about vision and cognitive science, rhetoric, graphic and interaction design, UX, the visual arts, and many other fields. However, this knowledge shouldn’t be a straitjacket. Rather, it’s a foundation that opens up multiple possibilities, some more appropriate, some less, always depending on the purpose of each visualization, on the data that it encodes, and on its intended audience. Therefore, the education of visualization designers, whether it’s formal or not, can’t be based on memorizing rules, but on learning how to justify our own choices based on ethics, aesthetics, and the incomplete but ever-expanding body of empirical evidence coming from research and academia.
Efficient content creation during short-time work
By: Chris Hagmann
Tags: Tips, Efficiency, Content Marketing, Content Creation, Remote Work

Grab your coffee and let’s get to creating awesome content efficiently!

Your working hours have been cut but you still want to deliver meaningful content? I know how that feels. That is why I want to share my experience and help you to boost your content production despite time restrictions!

8 am. Your alarm rings.

First things first: Dressed in sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt (Size: Tent), you get up and let the caffeinated black nectar brew while your laptop boots up.

Normally you would have snoozed two times by now, forcing you to be brushing your teeth and getting dressed simultaneously to leave the house in time.

But it is not a normal situation.

It is one year since your company switched to remote work. Casual Friday at the office is a red-carpet event compared to your home-office attire.

One look at the Google Calendar. Yup, no scheduled zoom-meeting today.

No need for a shirt and proper pants like ‘Hide the pain Harold’ in this image.

There is just one problem. Your working hours are reduced drastically because of short-time work during the Coronavirus pandemic.

How are you supposed to create meaningful content in a short amount of time?
The Future of solar power is Growing rapidly
By: Cameron Severance
Tags: Energy, Energy Efficiency, Efficiency, Solar Power, Solar Energy

Growth for solar panel power has been on the steady rise and is projected to increase through 2025. The journal I chose was called “Renewables 2020 — Analysis and Forecast to 2025” written by various authors. When looking at previous years in the article I found that there was a drop off in electricity consumption from 2019 to 2020 which is not surprising because the world was in the middle of a brutal pandemic. Based on the article, it states “Another record for global solar PV additions is anticipated for 2021, with nearly 117 GW installed — a nearly 10% rise from 2020. The increase results from a strong rebound in utility-scale plants outside of China, where the phaseout of subsidies curbs PV expansion”(2020). This statistic that they showed has indicated that around the globe there is an increased need for solar power facilities in the effort to power large cities in these countries.

Solar and Wind Power Graphic

My opinion, while it is probably similar to many others, but I feel that in order for the world to improve as a whole we need to start implementing these methods much quicker to stop pollution/destruction of the ozone layer which keeps us safe from the sun’s stronger rays.

Projections for the upcoming years always prove to be fairly close to the actual numbers when that year is completed with the exception of multiple year away projections. In the article it states “In 2022, global PV additions continue to expand to almost 120 GW. Although there is uncertainty concerning the new post-subsidy support scheme in China, PV deployment will gain speed in Europe and the United States thanks to increasing competitiveness and continuous policy support” (2020). The projection shows the steady rise as stated before for Solar power and how by 2022 they will need more panels to support the amount of energy consumption. The United states has tried to expand access to solar power and charging stations for electric cars to make it easier for people who choose these alternative methods of transportation or energy. This will rove to be beneficial not only for the government but for everyone because if consumption amounts are lower the price will be lower and everyone can be happy.

Work cited

IEA (2020), Renewables 2020: Analysis and forecast to 2025, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi-org.gate.lib.buffalo.edu/10.1787/c74616c1-en.
How to Maximize the Opportunity of Month-End Close
By: Nikki Mcneil
Tags: Accounting, Efficiency, Cpg Industry, Smb, SaaS

The Fab Five: Questions to Ask Yourself when Validating Deductions

Advertising, Slotting, Manufacturer Chargebacks (MCBs), Scans, Merchandising, Club Promotions, Coupon Redemptions… OH MY! These are just a few types of promotions most consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies roll up under their second largest expense; Trade Spend. These expenses are known as deductions or chargebacks, and can be expressed as bills or a reduction of Accounts Receivables (AR).

In this short chapter, we will explore the necessary steps to validate each expense on the Income Statement. We’ll also explore a framework you can use to establish a proper deductions management process.

Ever wonder what you and your accounting department should do when faced with stacks of chargebacks? Firstly, you may need to clear AR based on customer invoices. Pay special attention to the Purchase Order, Sales Order, Invoice, Bill of Lading, Proof of Delivery, and Contract Terms when validating payments. This is a straightforward process that we will revisit in future chapters.

Secondly, there is no better time than the present to organize those stacks of chargebacks! These will directly impact bank reconciliation and financial reporting come closing period or month.

Defined below are the five key metrics — the Fab Five — to review before you’re able to accurately report closing financials.

These questions are essential for knowing whether the deductions in question align with your company’s annual trade spend plan. If you don’t have a clear answer to each of these questions, it’s time to go back to the drawing board and review the expense. Meetings with your sales team, brokers, or buyers can assist with these forensics! Real time answers are essential for meeting month-end deadlines and passing key audit objectives at the end of the year.

1.Who is the distributor or retailer taking the promotion?

2. What is the type of trade?

3. What is the rate per unit or lump sum?

4. What is the product or product group?

5. When is the promotion running?

At Cresicor, we’ve developed the tools needed to manage the Fab Five. Through our streamlined trade promotion management platform, Deductions Scanning and Deductions Matching add-on modules (patent pending), every brand can and will maximize their opportunities with trade. In fact, more than twenty of our brands are doing so already!

Want to learn more? Say hi to us at hello@cresicor.ai

Cresicor is a trade promotion management (TPM) software built by and for the consumer-packaged-goods industry (CPG). From campaign creation to deductions management and promotion measurement, we help brands manage every element of trade spend. We are designed to fit the quintessential business model of small to midsize CPG companies. With our easy-to-use platform and industry-leading experience, we pride ourselves on our ability to bring businesses to the next level. Visit www.cresicor.ai to learn more.
Announcing Lark: A collaborative platform to transform work efficiency
Tags: Productivity, Collaboration Tools, Efficiency, Lark, Enterprise

We’re excited to announce the launch of Lark, an all-in-one collaboration suite that revolutionizes the way team members get work done. With a mission to empower team productivity, Lark effectively integrates chat, calendar, and online collaborative documents — keeping these essential tools accessible and in sync, in a single platform.

For example, if your team is in a collaborative brainstorming session, a word-based document can help collate ideas. A voting tool could help you decide which product to create, and a form might be best for keeping track of quantities or client requests. Lark lets your team build and work off this wide range of formats, while also keeping the related conversations around them in one place for maximum context, collaboration, and efficiency.

The free version of the Lark platform offers basic features for teams. Additional space and features are also available for larger teams and enterprises to improve their workplace efficiency.

Headquartered in Singapore, Lark Technologies is committed to providing innovative, user-friendly, and secure enterprise solutions worldwide. The Bay Area-based team is delighted to provide support and add value for customers in the US. Lark is available on MacOS, Windows, iOS, and Android.

Starting today, Lark is open to customers on an “early bird” program. Though enrollment is limited, early bird signups will be extended invitations on a rolling basis. To get started or add your name to the early bird list, please visit https://www.larksuite.com/create/info.
Design Idea: Honey Lemon Slices
By: Julia C
Tags: Efficiency, Design Thinking, Work From Home

Context: I really enjoy tea with a slice of lemon, a spoon of honey, and a dash of cold water.

Problem: I frequently only have a minute between meetings to prepare a cup of tea, but every cup takes several minutes to prepare:

Pour water into kettle, boil, Place tea bag into mug, pour water overtop, Remove lemon from fridge, slice, place in mug, replace remainder of lemon back in the fridge, Remove sticky jar of honey from cupboard, use spoon to deposit honey into mug, stir honey off spoon, replace jar in cupboard, lick sticky fingers clean, Turn on cold water tap, fill remainder of mug, turn off tap.

Total time: 4 minutes 15 seconds

Solution: Frozen, pre-sliced, honey-coated lemon slices. A smart plug to start the kettle ahead of needing tea.

The new workflow replaces steps 3–5 with “Remove lemon slice from freezer and place in mug”!

All of the ingredients are there, including the coldness needed to bring the tea down to a comfortable drinking temperature.

And by always refilling the kettle after I’m done, a Wi-Fi controlled smart plug allows me to boil the water minutes before I need it.

Total time: 30 seconds

Mission success.

In Russian, I named these Мёдальоны, мёд (honey)+ медальон (medallion).
Save and Organize Search Results
By: Manny Sevillano
Tags: Productivity, Reading, Efficiency, Organization, Research

We recently pushed a new version of the Hyperspeed extension with optimizations for a few websites, including Google Docs, and an exciting new feature that enables you to save and organize your searches!

You can install the Hyperspeed extension here.

We realized that we were working on projects with related topics and that it would be really beneficial to see content related to the same subject from disparate sources all in one place! Hyperspeed helps you cover more ground faster, by asking several questions across several websites or forms of content. We needed a way to organize these groups of searches that were related to either the same project or topic.

Saving Your Search Result

Saving your results allows you to organize search results so that you can revisit them later. Saving a result consists of the following components.

User curated notes for the result

Add notes to your saved results, adding additional context and information on why you saved those results.

Add notes to your saved results, adding additional context and information on why you saved those results. Folder to store the result

The folder system helps users organize their search results according to specific projects or topics they are working on.

The folder system helps users organize their search results according to specific projects or topics they are working on. Thematic tag

Use tags to group different ideas across multiple projects. As an example, lets say you are researching animals and you wanted to tag different types like; land cloud or velocirabbit .

Use tags to group different ideas across multiple projects. As an example, lets say you are researching animals and you wanted to tag different types like; or . Screenshot for visual context

Many of us are visual learners. The screenshot offers visual context to the search results. Take screenshots of those land cloud and velocirabbits .

URL where result was found

We give you the ability to immediately jump back into the content that contained the search results they found interesting.

Saved Search Results Dashboard

Saved search results are organized in a personal dashboard. You are able to navigate your saved results using a folder and tagging system. Each saved search result can be edited within the dashboard.

We hope that being able to save search results can be a great step towards enhancing our overall ability to cut through information faster and more efficiently!
no.11 On Being Late
By: Courtney Cerniglia
Tags: Efficiency, Productivity, Work, Time Management

Crap.

I hate being late for things. I like to run a tight calendar and to-do list…making thought out project plans on how to get things done early, arrive on time, and coordinate others involved. I don’t like it when people are late and I think missing deadlines is inexcusable in most cases.

So it drives me INSANE then when I miss my own deadlines. Like for this post. It’s six days late according to no one but me, but it has since been on my mind every day for the last six days as a constant reminder I dropped the ball.

In high school, my band teacher had this line painted to the entrance of the band room: “To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late, and to be late is to be unacceptable.” In music, this is 100% accurate; as it’s not just about walking into the door on time for rehearsal, you need to be in your seat, music out, and instrument warmed up. That is “on time,” and the only way to do that is to be early.

Since those band days, I’ve adopted that motto into most of my life. I’m typically early to most things, I love finishing projects ahead of schedule. If I’m late, every minute that ticks by grips my throat a little tighter, and I never quite feel caught up. My reaction may be a bit extreme, I’ll admit, but the motto is one that may have helped me foster an efficient way to manage my time.

Being on time, hitting deadlines, etc. can be seen as a sign of respect. Whether it’s meeting a friend for coffee or making sure you’re early and prepared for a meeting at work, you’re showing the other person you care about their time, too. Lateness triggers chaos; anger in the one who was counting on you, discomfort or disengagement in yourself, and potentially throwing off greater plans in the process.

Insert a million legit excuses why this post was late (and in this case they were pretty legit…but aren’t they always??), but in the end I broke a plan with myself and instead caused days of the nagging notion this was not yet done. Wouldn’t it have been better to find the 15 minutes I needed earlier to accomplish this goal instead?

Doing the hard work of being prepared and leaving early saves me from the mental cloudiness that comes from missing deadlines and disrespecting others’ time. What can you finish up right now? Or, leave now!

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

This post is 11/52 in the project 52 Musings On Life This Far. Thanks for following along on the journey!

→ If you want to suggest a topic, submit here.

→ Be lazy! Pop your email here and I’ll send you the latest roundup of musings once a month.
How to manage your energy and find flow
By: Tim Mchugh
Tags: Efficiency, Productivity, Remote Working

From a purely rational perspective, the optimal strategy for effectiveness is ordering tasks by priority and then getting to work.

In practice, our context drastically multiplies or divides the time a task takes.

Your job is sustaining flow by recognizing the best task for your current context. Then altering your context to the task at hand.

This works differently for everyone and here are a few things I’ve noticed work for me.

Matching task to context

When you’re dreading a task — Forget eating the frog. Having a dreaded task is a superpower, transforming every other task into an opportunity for flow. Do every other task first (Suddenly taking out the trash sounds great).

When a task is actively draining — If you’ve just started the task then there is a mismatch: Move on to another task or find a way to change the context. If you’ve been doing the task for a while you have simply maxed out flow for this type of work, move on to another task.

Matching context to task

When doing brain-intensive work — The focus is on blocking out distraction. Set aside long blocks of time and listen to music devoid of any potential distraction (Piano in the Background, Brown noise).

When doing rote tasks — The context must add energy. Work alongside others, listen to your personal guilty pleasures playlist, and commit to a limited time.
Deep Work, Doctors don’t get distracted during a surgery.
By: Bachiri Taoufiq Abderrahman
Tags: Productivity, Distraction, Energy, Efficiency, Deep Work

My second book review is about productivity, how to weigh and assess your contributions, get the most out of your time and create irreplicable value.

The book elaborates on a very interesting topic which is the ability to reach a rare state of focus through a delegate gateway illustrated in “Deep work”. So basically deep work is performing the task at hand without being mentally or physically distracted, in addition to being able to reproduce this state and eliminate every persistent distraction in your ambient environment.

There are plenty of factors that prevent your mind from being fully focused, such as:

Waiting for a person to come while doing a task.

Waiting on a message.

Waiting on a call.

Having the intent to work, but being distracted by unforeseen circumstances like unexpectedly meeting a group of friends.

All these little factors can seem subtle and harmless, but because you get used to them they look normal. This can be illustrated by the following example.

I love the medical field so much that I always try to project some of their rituals onto my daily life. Let’s take a typical day in a doctor’s journey: Usually, each patient is a task to be done, and to do it the doctor needs to be fully immersed in the process. To achieve this state, any distraction that impedes the cycle needs to be forcibly omitted because any subtle disturbance can lead to undesirable results. This state is exactly a state of being in deep work!

In addition to what was mentioned above, the book also exposes a really important variant: Shallow work. It is the state of being capable of doing a task backed by your subconscious while tolerating distraction, for example, wedding, watering plants, etc. You know perfectly your shallow tasks.

Furthermore, the book breaks down other important ideas related to talents where the author mentions that it’s not a commodity you can buy in bulk, and combine to reach a needed level. 30 heart specialist nurses can’t replace an experienced heart doctor.

Social media usage is also addressed, it should be monitored and controlled. I must say that this book helped me reduce the usage of social media.

To sum up, your life will be a combination of shallow and deep work, hence you must protect your deep workflow and build a shield to protect it, as it’s a scarce resource that will help you thrive and accomplish great results throughout your professional career. You must also measure the priorities of shallow work and act on them accordingly.

PS: A very helpful trick I use to concentrate and eliminate any outer distraction is listening to a monotonous rain sound, it sounds silly but it helps me a lot to build a shield against surroundings.

If you’ve come this far and loved the article, leave a couple of claps for encouragement.
Efficiently happy
By: Alexandra Ciausescu
Tags: Productivity, Efficiency, Happiness, Meaning, Life

THE PROBLEM

It is a matter of perspective, we see happiness as an objective. In this case, it is like trying to fill a wall with confetti. It will never be enough We will never have enough money, enough clothes, enough followers … Why? Because every time we become happier, we get used to that level, it becomes normal and once again we want more. It’s like cocaine-never enough.

Happiness as a measure for success is a trap. However, we don’t have t give up. Happiness is not about the result but the process. We are all going to die, we should at least enjoy the ride. I am not talking about wild parties, exotic places, striptease clubs or weekends in Vegas- we don’t have enough money for that. I am speaking of the way you do things, the way you feel while living your life. Most of the day you should be calm, peaceful, curious, or enthusiastic. Unfortunately, I bet most of the time you feel anxious, burned, agitated…

Photo by Christian Sterk on Unsplash

EXAMPLE

We associate the term „work” with negative words such as tiredness, annoyance or stress. The place we spend most of our awake time, by choice, is draining our energy and is polluting us emotionally. But why we pick up this job, to begin with? So we could spend the money relaxing or having fun. But you don’t feel like doing anything after 12 hours of work and you would rather spend your weekends sleeping.

We are what we do repeatedly

SOLUTION

Most of us are not aware of the present moment. Our mind is somewhere else. Thus, we end living our lives out of habit not out of purpose. In order to be happy we have to be here and now. Given the fact that almost everything that is around can kill us from meteorites to bees and sugar, every moment is a gift. We place our happiness in the future so we can have a reason to be miserable now. One day… That day will never come. Our lives are not composed of those „one day” but of nows. It is very plausible to think that you will never afford that house or car but you can always be present and enjoy a conversation with a dear friend, relax while laying in bed and feel peaceful by taking a deep breath.
No More Distractions…Kind of.
By: Abubakir Aldarazy
Tags: Entrepreneurship, Productivity, Efficiency, Work, Hustle

No More Distractions…Kind of.

“By prevailing over all obstacles and distractions, one may unfailingly arrive at his chosen goal or destination.” -Christopher Columbus

“Ding!”, “Ding!”, “Ding!”.

The calls from our phones that scream like a baby to tell us to check up on it. So we go like the mother’s and father’s that we are and we realize it our friend messaging us on Snapchat or someone just commented on your Instagram post.

And doing this 20–30 times throughout your day adds up. A productive day turns into a day full of distractions and nothing gets done.

So what is the solution?

Well to begin to resist against it too much. At that point, you are using your will power and you will lose because will is finite (for most). Some people don’t have that discipline ingrained into them from their childhood so they struggle in their adulthood.

So what we can do is use what is called the Pomodoro Technique. It originates from the use of a kitchen timer which looked like a tomato (“pomodoro” means tomato in Italian).

So the technique says that you should use 25 minutes of your time to completely focus on one task and then use 5 minutes for a phone break and to walk around or even meditate.

This was an especially valuable tool for me because I have ADHD so staying focused on certain tasks in already difficult to me.

What I would recommend when using this tool is, to begin with, 25 minutes and move your way up to 45 minutes. Try moving up 5 minutes at a time or if you can push harder then move up 10 minutes a time.

In a survey done by Udemy, this technique reported three quarters of people who have learned to reduce distractions also report being more productive, while 56% say they’re happier at work (Doing Creative Work When You Can’t Stop Looking at Your Phone by Brian Solis).

So implement it into your life and begin reaping the benefits. Improve yourself one habit at a time and the outcome may truly shock you.
Custom view and subscription on Tableau
By: Connect Business With Technique
Tags: Efficiency, Tableau, Dashboard, Visualization, Dashboard Design

I am gonna introduce a very simple but very useful function of Tableau, no need to be an expert and be equipped with absolutely high skills. If you are users, not developers or administrators, this function can help you to save a lot of time on daily business. A custom view is a way that you can save your custom setting of filters and no need to re-set the filters every time. Meanwhile, you wouldn't affect other users. The same function on Power BI is putting here.

So how are we gonna set the custom view?

Settle down all of your filters as you have done on your daily business. Go to your Tableau portal and you can find a function called “view original” on the top of all tabs.

View originally function

2. To give a name for this custom view. This is important because you may have more than 10 custom views if you are in charge of a wide variety of businesses.

name your custom views

3. If you need to check this custom view daily, I would suggest that you put this view as default to save your time. Again, saving the time spent on a routine job is an extremely part of high-efficient work.

Default selection

Another practical function is the subscription. Why we need it? Because the owner of the dashboard can only send the subscription of standard view through email. If you create custom views then you need to subscribe to them separately so that you can have daily updates through email.

How to build it

After you build the custom view, click the subscription function on the top above all tabs

subscription button

2. You can select to send the view or entire workbook, all depends on your needs. Set the email subjects for the coming update periodically. In this step, you can select the format as well. Both PDF and image types are good choices.

Format selection

3. An important setting here is the schedule. Make sure you set the proper schedule for you and it won’t disturb you so much.

Here you go. Quite simple ways but which can save your time and support you a more efficient way of work.
How to schedule the workload in logistic center within the peak time?
By: Maciej Puchała
Tags: Erp, Logistics, Software, Efficiency, Scheduling

Imagine the logistics service providers, contracted by factories, to deliver spare parts to the logistic center that doesn’t have scheduling system.

Can you see, how much work is required to coordinate the unloading of the deliveries?

Due to an ineffective and shared information flow and lack of delivery times, trucks with deliveries were forced to queue for unloading. It can generate additional expenses and many issues during the peak times.

Factories face extra costs related to unloading waiting times when the logistic center can’t effectively schedule the workload and so manage the peak times. Additionally, processing of any claims and information exchange related to any parcel damages when is paper-based generates lots of manual work without proper information sharing for the all parties.

What should you consider to implement?

Calendar — delivery calendar and scheduled workload for logistic center including notification of current and incoming deliveries for the specific ramps;

— delivery calendar and scheduled workload for logistic center including notification of current and incoming deliveries for the specific ramps; Deliveries management tool — definition and management of the deliveries and any related information (also with integration to other ERP/CRM systems);

— definition and management of the deliveries and any related information (also with integration to other ERP/CRM systems); Administration tool — user management with its access level rights, warehouse and ramps management and people demand calculation.

The main aim of the notification and delivery scheduling system is to enable real time collaboration all of the all involved parties by improving the information flow and its sharing. Having a detailed and up to date information regarding scheduling and planning of the deliveries, the logistic center can streamline its operation and improve its operational efficiency through more effective planning of its space and resources. The logistic service providers can reduce the unloading waiting times, enhance their operation and finally, reduce the cost.

An interesting example how to start.

You can check an interesting example with the explanation of the notification and delivery scheduling system for the logistic center.
Best Ways To Measure Your Employee’s Efficiency And Productivity
Tags: Productivity, Company Growth, Efficiency, Employee Engagement, CRM

Evaluating employee’s efficiency and productivity is necessary to ensure that the company is running smoothly. Their continued growth is important for your business’ success, no matter what profile of the job they are responsible for. It’s always important to be reflective of your practice and what you can do to make them better and better.

Given below are the best ways to measure the efficiency and productivity of your employees

Set Expectations Ahead Of Time

As with any kind of assessment work, it must be important that the employee knows what the expectations are ahead of time. They should remember that they’ll be reviewed based on their sales and how they conduct themselves in meetings. Use these employee evaluation templates as a baseline.

Use a Software Program

Using a software program is also a great tip to accurately measure employee growth. This way, the process is clear and you can also keep reviews organized so that everything put in the same place and involvement are on the same page about what is expected and where to find it. This idea not only helps your employees to achieve more, but it will also increase your company’s growth. For this, you can also use a CRM tool.

By using CRM, customer retention and satisfaction rates increase by 47%. Schedule A Free demo.

Daily or Weekly Updates

A great way to encourage productivity in your employees is to ask for daily or weekly updates. If you are constantly checking in, you can see how they are progressing. If each Saturday, for example, they need to send you things they accomplished throughout the week, they will be sure to do those things because they know the update is coming. This is also a way for them to watch their own progress. For this, you can also use a CRM where they can update there work and also you can assign them tasks on a daily basis.

Observing

This can be a good indicator of how productive an employee is. If you watch them work, you will be able to tell if they are focused or not and how hard they work. Part of the performance is also about how they get along with customers and co-workers. It helps to boost morale and helps to make more profit.

Measure Their Progress by Tasks, Not Time

Everyone works in their own space. Some people are more accurate about their work and some spend more time than someone who is good, but less accurate. If you are focusing on how much time was spent on a project, you aren’t really getting an accurate depiction of their work, particularly when it comes to employee productivity.

It is not always easy to be the one who monitors employee progress. It is important that it is done in a way that helps employee productivity and also helps in increasing the company’s growth.
Critical thinking
By: Dr. Ngozi Onuoha
Tags: Planning, Efficiency, Critical Thinking

I started thinking about how we perform tasks to be more efficient, less time wasting, and solution attaining.

When faced with a task, do we just proceed with the task or do we give some thought to the process.

Do we think about potential obstacles and how to realistically navigate these obstacles, and do we plan for an alternative plan B.

I think often to travel trips. The sort of processes that require active decisions that ensure the trip occurs.

Decision to travel. Where. When. Coordinate vacation requests with coworkers. Coordinate vacation schedule with family. Decide the airline. Decide the route. Connecting or Direct flight. If connecting flight, how long an airport layover; any opportunity for a day trip in the transit country.

Do you need to order a special meal. Do you want a window, middle or aisle seat. Any visas required. What to pack in the hand luggage. What if luggage doesn’t arrive. Are enough clothes packed for 3 days. What will the weather be. Any essential medications. How about ground transport. Who will pick up. Where will you stay. What will you do during your stay. What will you buy to bring back.

On and on.

This is an example of critical thinking. It is a process of preparation and real time planning. It is the detail to accomplish tasks.

Anyone can develop critical thinking skills. It requires a bit of dreaming and imagination. It is focused planning towards a goal, towards an outcome or result.

Imagine the process as it evolves, what are the possibilities, what is the goal.

Remember to bring back some souvenirs.
Why Business Analysis Is a Treasure Trove in Software Development Projects
Tags: Project Management, Efficiency, Business Analysis, Product Management, Software Development

This article was originally published on SumatoSoft’s blog.

What is business analysis?

Business analysis (BA) is a research discipline that aims to identify business needs and find solutions to business problems.

Business analysts are professionals, who investigate customers and business’s needs and goals, identify issues and provide solutions. The solutions include streamlining processes or making organizational changes, adoption or development of specific software. In the latter two cases, business analysts are also responsible for drawing up clear requirements to the software. When it comes to custom app development, the development team follow these requirements to build a relevant software product.

So, in essence, the primary role of business analysts in software development is bridging the gap between software developers, clients and end users through data gathering and analysis, research of competitors and similar solutions, requirements definition and documentation. Eventually, BAs communicate data-driven recommendations to software developers and the company’s clients.

So what are the key responsibilities of business analysts in software development companies?

Business analysis is essential for the majority of software development projects, so the responsibilities of BA professionals extend beyond just analysis.

1. Collection of Information and Requirements Elicitation

Business analysts focus on detecting business challenges and finding out what a client really wants and needs. At the same time, they need to be informed of the market situation. That is why business analysts communicate with all stakeholders & management team, and research competitors. They may also conduct surveys and interview end users to understand what solution they need.
Efficient Use Of Your Time
By: Victor C.
Tags: Time Management, Efficiency, Money Management, Money, Real Estate

So today my wife and I began talking about our plans and how we can increase our chances of obtaining the financial freedom we desperately want. We discussed various scenarios, including real estate investing, expanding my blog, and a few other random thoughts. This is something we like to do on a weekly basis, and sometimes even more, but the idea is to keep thinking about it so we can focus our thoughts on what we want and not what our current situation is. Not that our current situation is bad, we have everything we need, and we have many projects that keep us busy and productive. But, being busy does not mean you’ll be successful.

Being busy can mean you are inefficient and what takes you 8 hours to do, might take someone else 4 hours, or even less. This is what we plan on doing, which is becoming more efficient at doing what we need done, and using the extra time to work on other sources of income or investment. This is not to say that time is the only resource that can be used more efficiently, but it is a start. There are other resources at your disposal, and the trick is using them effectively. One of the best resources one may have is money, which you can use to make more money. It doesn’t matter if you have $50 or $50,000, you can use it to make money instead of buying things you will ultimately throw or give away. A simple way to make a little extra cash with your money is investing regularly on an app like Acorns, or taking a quick stroll through the clearance isles of your local retail stores, and selling a marked down item on eBay or Amazon. Although this isn’t a post on getting rich schemes, I wanted to point out that there is much you can do with very little money and available time.

Take a look at how you’re spending your time and money, and create a budget for each, yes both. People will plan how much money they should spend on groceries or entertainment, but most hardly ever budget their time. Don’t waste it unnecessarily, plan your days, weeks, and months ahead of time, and you’ll be surprised how much extra time you have to work on your dreams.
Earthlings and The Oxpecker Paradox
By: Secret S Revealed, Energy-Tech Breakthroughs.
Tags: Technology, Energy, Efficiency, Environment, Science

Your Planet Called Earth, Is A Life Sustaining Habitat. Strong And Powerful Are It’s Internal And External Forces Of Nature, Yet, For All It’s Amazing Wonders, Still Untapped Resources, Beauty And Splendor, Earth has a fragile exterior atmosphere. I liken Earth to a large living breathing Mammal and Earthlings, I liken them, to the small bird called the Oxpecker.

The Oxpecker, Both the English and scientific names arise from their habit of perching on large Mammals (both wild and Domesticated) such as; Cattle, Zebras, Impalas, Hippopotamuses, or Rhinoceroses and Giraffes , eating Ticks, small Insects, Botfly larvae, and other Parasites.

However, just One Tiny Peck! of a little Oxpecker that’s been some how infected with a deadly virus in a open wound of even the largest of Mammals Will inevitably lead to that large Mammal’s eventual death.

The LIFE FORCE Of a planet is it’s LIFE SUSTAINING ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITION. (L.S.E.C) The introduction of harmful emissions, chemicals, substances, reactions, waste, all have a negative impact on Earth’s Life Sustaining Environment.

I have been tasked with informing Mankind of the errors in their current ways of understanding and interacting with their current L.S.E.C. I will be posting periodically, data and images of New Technology that will forever change the Earthling’s Interactions and Hopefully, Understanding of the Fragile Earth’s L.S.E.C in which they all thrive. A few of These Existing Technology Breakthroughs Can Be Seen Along With Detailed Data Here: http://MastersEnergy.US/ and http://www.mastersenergy.us/depe-kits.html
Specialisation in Economics
By: Ted Jeffery
Tags: Global, Productivity, Efficiency, Economics, Business

Benefits of specialisation

The main benefit of specialisation is its increase in labour productivity, the units of output per worker. As Adam Smith’s example describes, one person alone may struggle to make twenty pins or even a single pin a day, whereas an individual worker may be able to contribute to the production of upwards of 4800 a day when specialising in a group of 10. No additional workers are required to increase the output meaning few extra resources are required, a marginal cost equal to 0. Hence, specialisation allows firms to increase output at no extra cost.

Additionally, specialisation increases the dexterity of the workers leading to productivity and output gains. As Adam Smith describes, “reducing every man’s business to one simple operation… necessarily increases… the dexterity of the workman.” Spending their lives in one process increases their skills at the task allowing them to produce more goods of better quality. Considering tedium is essential, as performing the same repetitive task becomes draining. A result could be a net loss of productivity due to demotivation.

Specialisation can also improve accountability and monitoring of supply chains. Observing faults in the output, such as a bent pin, can be traced to a particular part of the process. Firms can then identify the faults in either the labour or capital and act accordingly. A production method where each worker performs every part of the build would not have the same level of oversight and thus may struggle to identify product floors — the ability to adapt and manipulate the building process is of paramount importance in today’s evolving society.
Tips to Work From Home Efficiently
Tags: Productivity, Efficiency, Work, Lockdown, Working From Home

Working from home is supposed to be comfortable and convenient but sometimes we can get a little too comfortable. And that can affect our productivity and overall performance. Don’t worry though, all hope isn’t lost. Here are 6 tips to Ginger you to become your most productive self.

Don’t Sleep In

The first step to being productive from home starts with waking up on time. Even if you don’t have to be up as early as you would to leave for the office, you should still set an alarm to wake up at least two hours before you have to clock in. This will give you enough time to prepare for your day and would prevent you from oversleeping.

Get Some Exercise

Sitting in one spot working for 8 hours straight can depress you. You should try to get at least 30 mins of exercise every day. This will help boosts endorphins, which increases happiness, enjoyment, and interest levels, which are all critical for productivity. At a minimum, stretch throughout the day so you don’t get sore or hinder your quality of life. If possible, take a break and go for a walk.

Get Dressed

Believe it or not, how you dress can affect your productivity. It’s hard to get real work done while you’re tying wrapper or lounging around in pyjamas. Apart from psychologically getting you in the right mindset for work, when you’re dressed you’ll be ready to handle any kind of zoom call or check-in with a colleague.

Use a Planner

While you’re working from home, planning will be your best friend. Getting into the habit of using a calendar or planner to write down and keep track of all your deadlines, appointments, and meetings is a big key to success.

Use a Productivity App

For many people, it might not be enough to write down their to-do’s. But getting an app that prompts them when it’s time to perform a specific task might be just what they need. There are plenty of modern project management apps available that can still help you. Apps like Trello, Asana and Basecamp are great if you are working from home.

Don’t Work in the Living Room

This is another productivity killer. A lot of people mistake “working from home” as a day to binge Netflix. Wrong. Avoiding TV and other digital distractions are important so you can focus on your work and getting things done. Instead, you can stream music that complements your work style.

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How I Boost My Productivity as a Programmer
Tags: Productivity, Programming, Efficiency, Boost Productivity, Work Life Balance

Keep Balance

There should always be a middle ground in your productivity, as everywhere. It’s important to keep your eagerness to learn but still prevent yourself from burning out.

To do so, remember to have rest and balance between your work and life. A fresh mind always remembers better.

This habit was very important to me. When I started learning to program, without any knowledge of it at all, I spent almost ten hours a day practicing and studying. Of course, I was focused on finding my first job, but I made a rule for myself: Once a week I would toggle programming off and do whatever I wanted that wasn’t related to coding.

It helped me avoid burnout, continue learning in that tempo during the next couple of months, and get my first job in IT.

I now work full time as a front-end developer, but I’ve continued practicing that habit. Usually, I switch the toggle for the whole weekend. However, during the week, I usually spend an extra hour or two studying and practicing new things.