In this timely manifesto, the authors of the New York Times bestseller Rework broadly reject the prevailing notion that long hours, aggressive hustle, and "whatever it takes" are required to run a successful business today. In Rework, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson introduced a new path to working effectively. Now, they build on their message with a bold, iconoclastic strategy for creating the ideal company culture-what they call "the calm company." Their approach directly attack the chaos, anxiety, and stress that plagues millions of workplaces and hampers billions of workers every day. Long hours, an excessive workload, and a lack of sleep have become a badge of honor for modern professionals. But it should be a mark of stupidity, the authors argue. Sadly, this isn't just a problem for large organizations-individuals, contractors, and solopreneurs are burning themselves out the same way. The answer to better productivity isn't more hours-it's less waste and fewer things that induce distraction and persistent stress. It's time to stop celebrating Crazy, and start celebrating Calm, Fried and Hansson assert. Fried and Hansson have the proof to back up their argument. "Calm" has been the cornerstone of their company's culture since Basecamp began twenty years ago. Destined to become the management guide for the next generation, It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work is a practical and inspiring distillation of their insights and experiences. It isn't a book telling you what to do. It's a book showing you what they've done-and how any manager or executive no matter the industry or size of the company, can do it too.

Provides vital skills practice for retrieving and using information communicated through graphic sources in the workplace.

How to Optimize Human-Machine Work Combinations

Your organization has made the decision to adopt automation and artificial intelligence technologies. Now, you face difficult and stubborn questions about how to implement that decision: How, when, and where should we apply automation in our organization? Is it a stark choice between humans versus machines? How do we stay on top of these technological trends as work and automation continue to evolve?

Work and human capital experts Ravin Jesuthasan and John Boudreau present leaders with a new set of tools to answer these daunting questions. Transcending the endless debate about humans being replaced by machines, Jesuthasan and Boudreau show how smart leaders instead are optimizing human-automation combinations that are not only more efficient but also generate higher returns on improved performance.

Based on groundbreaking primary research, Reinventing Jobs provides an original, structured approach of four distinct steps--deconstruct, optimize, automate, and reconfigure--to help leaders reinvent how work gets bundled into jobs and create optimal human-machine combinations. Jesuthasan and Boudreau show leaders how to continuously reexamine what a job really is, and they provide the tools for identifying the pivotal performance value of tasks within jobs and how these tasks should be reconstructed into new, more optimal combinations.

With numerous examples and practical advice for applying the four-step process, Reinventing Jobs gives leaders a more precise, planful, and actionable way to decide how, when, and where to apply and optimize work automation.

What makes an engaging presentation or a useful meeting? How can companies motivate and inspire people to do their best at work? Who are the most effective leaders? Bestselling author and scientist Dr John Medina uses peer-reviewed research to answer the most important questions about the workplace today, providing answers that will help you get ahead. The author of international bestseller Brain Rules, Medina here turns his expertise to the professional world, guiding the reader through what brain science and evolutionary biology have to say on topics ranging from office space and work-life balance to power dynamics and work interactions. He examines why taking breaks in nature during the workday improves productivity; how planning a meeting beforehand makes it more effective; why open plan isn't a good office plan; how a more diverse team is a better team; why allowing for failure is vital to a company's success; and much more. Breaking down the science to practical applications that every reader can understand and benefit from, Brain Rules for Work is the essential guide to modern office life.

Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

Winner of a 2012 Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award Demystifying the application of Lean methods, Lean Office and Service Simplified: The Definitive How-To Guide goes beyond the basic tools to detail the key concepts of Lean as they apply to office and service environments. It begins by discussing value stream management, followed by chapters on standard work, flow, level pull, and visual management. Winner of a 2012 Shingo Prize, this book covers essential Lean tools, including 5S and mistake proofing. It breaks down Lean concepts into their elementary components, describes them in a nonmanufacturing context, and supplies readers with specific how-to methodologies. Providing detailed examples throughout, the text illustrates the functions found in most service organizations, as well as the administrative areas of manufacturing companies. Drawing on more than two decades of practical experience, the author provides implementation strategies on a function-by-function and department-by-department basis. He examines the most common obstacles that readers are likely to encounter and supplies strategies to address those obstacles. The text includes a toolbox of helpful forms, charts, checklists, templates, and worksheets to help kick-start your Lean implementation efforts. Watch Shingo Prize-winning author Drew Locher discuss how to implement Lean concepts into your office and service settings.

Sewing Hope offers the first account of a bold challenge to apparel-industry sweatshops. The Alta Gracia factory in the Dominican Republic is the anti-sweatshop. It boasts a living wage three times the legal minimum, high health and safety standards, and a legitimate union-all verified by an independent monitor. It is the only apparel factory in the global south to meet these criteria. The Alta Gracia business model represents an alternative to the industry's "race to the bottom" with its inherent poverty wages and unsafe factory conditions. Workers' stories reveal how adding $0.90 to a sweatshirt's production price can change lives: from getting a life-saving operation to reuniting families; from obtaining first-ever bank loans to getting running water; from purchasing children's school uniforms to taking night classes. Sewing Hope invites readers into the apparel industry's sweatshops and the Alta Gracia factory. Learn how the anti-sweatshop started, how it overcame challenges, and how the impact of its business model could transform the global industry.

***NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*** Feel like you're always drowning in email? How much more would you achieve without them - and how much happier would you be? 'A World Without Email crystallizes what so many of us feel intuitively but haven't been able to explain: the way we're working isn't working.' Drew Houston, co-founder and CEO of Dropbox ________________ Emails are an integral part of work today. But the 'kind regards', forwards and attachments we check every 5.4 minutes are making us unproductive, stressed and costing businesses millions in untapped potential. Bestselling author of Deep Work and Digital Minimalism, Cal Newport, is here to offer a radical new vision - a world without email. Drawing on sociology, behavioural economics and fascinating case studies of thriving email-free companies, Newport explains how this modern tool doesn't work for our ancient brains and provides solutions you can implement today to transform your workday into one without constant, distracting pings. Revolutionary and practical, A World Without Email will liberate you to do your most profound, fulfilling and creative work - and be happier too. ________________ 'If you are currently drowning in endless email and not sure where to start: read this book' Emma Gannon, author of The Multi-Hyphen Method 'Read this superb book. It might just change your life; it's changing mine' Tim Harford, author of How To Make The World Add Up 'This is a bold, visionary, almost prophetic book that challenges the status quo' Greg McKeown, author of Essentialism

How do highly-successful people like Elon Musk and Bill Gates get so much done? The answer is time blocking; a time-management method that Cal Newport, productivity expert and bestselling author of Digital Minimalism, has been using for fifteen years. For the first time, this game-changing system has been captured in a daily planner that makes it easy for you to prioritise tasks and focus on the things that really matter. Using the time-block method you'll no longer be distracted by your inbox, social media and other peoples' demands for your time. The Time-Block Planner will help you push aside distractions and focus on the work that will make the difference to you.

Choosing the right people to carry out a project is essential to its success, and when multiple projects are combined into a complex program, the human aspect becomes even more important. Project and Program Management: A Competency-Based Approach, Fifth Edition balances a complete account of the technical aspects of project and program management with a practical approach to understanding and developing the core competencies required to accomplish desired goals. On the technical side, this book is a complete introduction to predicting costs, setting schedules, and assessing risks. On the human side, it sheds new light on how to mold different personality types into a team, how to motivate the team's members, and how to produce extraordinary results. The author details the blocking and tackling of the program management approach, describing the best way to define, organize, and schedule the work to be done, while identifying risks and controlling costs throughout the process.This fifth edition has been significantly revised, with every chapter updated. The volume considers the magnitude of recent social, political, and technological changes. Included are insights from numerous students who bring to the forefront their current real-world practices from their individual businesses, industries, and disciplines.

Are you one of the millions of people now working from home? It's not easy but it needn't be stressful. The Ultimate Guide to Working from Home will help you set up your desk, stay sane, healthy and be more productive than ever, even if you have family or housemates at home with you.

You'll learn how to get in the zone, how to maintain focus and how to reward yourself as you work. You'll learn the importance of setting and maintaining boundaries both inside and outside the home and how to establish a routine that suits your lifestyle. And you may not want to return to the office at all once this is over. The Ultimate Guide to Working from Home can help you with that, too.

Packed with research and helpful statistics, you'll also find tips for managers and employees alike on how to approach more flexible working when the time comes. Stop typing 'how to set up a work station at the kitchen table' into the search bar late at night. Start getting the most out of working from home, today.