Stream of Consciousness
An offhand remark in one of the comments posted by one of the participants in the Linked-In group "Getting Things Done - Network of GTD enthusiasts" triggered this post. In his comment, the reader refers to a tool called "Toggl" which allows you to measure and
Getting Things Done
Timing myself I've recently been spending a lot of time timing myself, using tools such as OfficeTime and Timing. As internal auditor it is very important to keep detailed logs of our time usage. We want to make sure that we spent adequate time on the right activities
Stream of Consciousness
Google has announced it is retiring Google Reader on July 1st. An outcry has been heard across the internet. First they take over an ecosystem, then they destroy it ... the Borg could not have done a better job. Assimilation, then destruction. I was among those who cried out over the
opinion
I am assuming (most) analysts are not stupid A lot has been said about the markets' reaction to Apple's financial statements for the past quarter. It's quite interesting and even a bit baffling if you take in account that this is one of the most
Stream of Consciousness
The investment pays off OmniFocus is my particular GTD tool. While it has a significant and steep learning curve, I like what the tool can do for you once you get it configured right. Granted, it does take a while to figure out how it best functions for you. On
opinion
Admiration and jealousy We admire people who appear to be able to perform certain feats as if with no considerable effort. And where there is admiration, there is often jealousy. We tend to get jealous of people whose life is apparently without effort. We look at these people, and we
Getting Things Done
Sven is onto something I just read this post by Sven Fechner. Sven, for those who do not know of him, is one of the most prolific and relevant bloggers on personal productivity. He also has a day job working for a large multinational. I admire this guy, because he
Stream of Consciousness
Information is all around us I've likened it to wifi or mobile network radiation. It's there, but you are not really aware of it most of the time. Most of it will be completely irrelevant to your activities of that given day, or even your life.
Stream of Consciousness
Please note this post talks about an aspect closely related to the work I do on a daily basis. The ideas below are my personal opinion on a specific opportunity in the context of development aid in general, and do not specifically relate to any organisation I am associated with
risk management
The other side of the coin A couple of days ago, I wrote an article on risk acceptance and how it actually requires a lot of work in terms of contingency planning. Of course, there is another side to that coin. The curse of middle management What is the scope
risk management
Rereading the title of this post, my first reaction is that this is stating the blindingly obvious. The problem is, in reality this is far from that obvious. More than once I've been confronted with situations in which risk acceptance by a manager turned out to become risk
compliance
The challenge of compliance Compliance is a traditional challenge that has associated costs. Quite a few rules and regulations, whether internal to an organization or nation-wide as imposed by a government, are notoriously difficult or costly to ensure compliance with. Having a rule translated into a procedure somewhere in