Post by sumiseo558899 on Nov 7, 2024 5:52:57 GMT -5
In the "Workplace" section , Russian entrepreneurs, top managers, and representatives of interesting professions share the secrets of managing and organizing their workspace. The hero of the new issue is co-founder and director of the digital agency Original Works Sergey Klenkin. He told Rusbase how he manages projects and tasks, what rules he uses for meetings, and why there is nothing wrong with ignorance and mistakes.
What does your working day consist of?
I usually arrive at the office first, an content writing service hour before the start of the working day or earlier. I sort through my mail and look through bank statements, and I always read news related to our and our clients' businesses. The daily routine is determined by the workload: at the end of the month and quarter there are more deadlines, the schedule is more compact.
My average day involves developing strategy, making tactical decisions, analyzing important projects, and meeting with key clients and partners.
During the day, I always take breaks. Since the office is located on the Volga embankment (in Samara. — Ed.), I go out to the embankment to give my eyes a rest, breathe fresh air, and reboot my head. At lunch and afternoon tea, which we have at fixed times, we often discuss work issues in a less formal manner. So each employee knows at what time they can puzzle their bosses with something difficult.
What does the workplace look like?
No one in the company has separate offices - everyone works in an open space side by side with their employees. This allows you to be closer, communicate more: you can always just go up to the management and ask a question. I get rid of the unnecessary as much as possible both in processes and in space, so my workplace is extremely simple: a phone, a diary, a computer and stickers. For the atmosphere - souvenirs from travels, a frame with embroidery (a gift from my daughter).
Unlike many of my colleagues in the IT industry, I have not given up on paper. I love Moleskine notebooks, and I like to take notes with a pen on a physical level. I often use traditional stickers - sometimes a bright piece of paper in a visible place is enough to not forget about the most important task.
Business and team management
My key tasks are strategic: where are we going, what products are we developing along the way. Specific tactics and operational management are already the responsibility of the heads of departments. The guys have almost complete freedom of action - they come to me when they need to understand how this or that activity relates to the overall development strategy.
I always use the Todoist task manager to manage all my affairs. I set goals for the year, which are displayed as a list of detailed tasks. When planning my day, I take into account the context of each task and priorities. If a window appears, I take those tasks that will give the maximum result with a minimum of resources.
To manage work projects, we have our own ORWO.crm system, in which we have made a convenient design and automated reports. For greater visibility in the management process, we use dashboards and a traffic light system of indicators for key indicators. The system has common elements that help the team to be in a single information field, but each department has its own working part and is customized for specific tasks.
We can say that we implement the philosophy of kaizen in our work: we analyze, change something for optimization, study feedback, implement or roll back changes. In general, this whole Japanese wave, lean manufacturing tools did not become a trend out of nowhere. Even giants like Sberbank have changed so significantly thanks to them - to say nothing of small IT companies.
I am for a reasonable balance: not to multitask, but to keep track of priorities. If I see that my participation in some project is suddenly critical, I put off the planned tasks and switch to it. With the fashionable idea of fighting perfectionism, it is important not to overdo it. We always bring things to the end, but in the spirit of Agile. At first, we do the minimum to get an acceptable result, if the semi-finished product suits us, we polish it with the necessary precision.
When planning external meetings, I follow two rules.
First: if possible, group negotiations on one day of the week. Second: do not split the day in half - it is better to start the day with meetings or, on the contrary, gather them all at the end. We "pack" work meetings in the team into a maximum of 20 minutes, even monthly general meetings do not last longer. If the participants are prepared, this is enough to resolve all issues. If they do not fit into 20 minutes, it means either they are not prepared, or a corporate farce has begun, during which it is no longer possible to agree.
How do you focus on tasks and switch from work to rest?
I focus quite quickly, I don’t need any special conditions – a separate office, silence (I often do things with headphones on). In fact, I can work anywhere – I just need an office as a border between business and family.
We have created theme zones to make it easy to change the scenery. We have a tennis court, a darts and kicker area, a large dining room, and a lecture hall area called "Prodlenka", where we hold team meetings with interesting speakers.
news
I try to change my activities from intellectual to physical more often. For example, I do practical shooting. I recently won the Volga Federal District Championship with my team, and the Samara Championship in the individual competition. By participating in competitions, I discovered many cities in Russia, greatly expanded my social circle, and gained new life experience.
news
I also travel a lot, and when I travel I take a lot of photos. I edit them right on the spot: I like to bring home not gigabytes of photos and videos, but finished stories, for example, from my second trip to Iceland. And as souvenirs from my travels, I collect soldiers from different countries - I have a whole collection.
news
I prefer science fiction and movies to business books. It seems to me that business literature is now replacing real entrepreneurship. Learning instead of activity. Read a book - and you are already in business. I have accumulated many ideas for implementation, so for now I have suspended all the "smart" books and am doing what I read about earlier.
Sources of inspiration
I don't have any "business icons" - I am more inspired by specific achievements. We try to integrate successful solutions from other industries into our business. It is clear that it is impossible, for example, to implement all the ideas of Ricardo Semler from the book "Maverick. The Success Story of the Most Unusual Company in the World", but we crossed them with the concept of "junior partner" from American business and created an interesting motivation for the company's top managers.
news
I try to use such benchmarking in everything, not just in business. To do this, you need to expand your horizons, your social circle - and transform the ideas you find, import them into your personal strategy.
news
Traveling to other countries also helps with this: it literally pulls you out of your usual picture of the world, makes you look at familiar things differently. By the way, when I travel, I almost never stay in hotels and do not take ready-made tours.
TOP 5 applications that you use most often
Todoist - I use it to organize both work and personal matters.
Sticky password is a password store that I have been using for about five years now.
Money Pro is an application for keeping track of personal finances.
BCR Pro — business card organizer from ABBYY. I haven't kept regular business cards for a long time.
Documents app - for frequent travel and mobility, you need to have copies of documents with you, and the app is convenient for storing them, as well as credit cards.
What does your working day consist of?
I usually arrive at the office first, an content writing service hour before the start of the working day or earlier. I sort through my mail and look through bank statements, and I always read news related to our and our clients' businesses. The daily routine is determined by the workload: at the end of the month and quarter there are more deadlines, the schedule is more compact.
My average day involves developing strategy, making tactical decisions, analyzing important projects, and meeting with key clients and partners.
During the day, I always take breaks. Since the office is located on the Volga embankment (in Samara. — Ed.), I go out to the embankment to give my eyes a rest, breathe fresh air, and reboot my head. At lunch and afternoon tea, which we have at fixed times, we often discuss work issues in a less formal manner. So each employee knows at what time they can puzzle their bosses with something difficult.
What does the workplace look like?
No one in the company has separate offices - everyone works in an open space side by side with their employees. This allows you to be closer, communicate more: you can always just go up to the management and ask a question. I get rid of the unnecessary as much as possible both in processes and in space, so my workplace is extremely simple: a phone, a diary, a computer and stickers. For the atmosphere - souvenirs from travels, a frame with embroidery (a gift from my daughter).
Unlike many of my colleagues in the IT industry, I have not given up on paper. I love Moleskine notebooks, and I like to take notes with a pen on a physical level. I often use traditional stickers - sometimes a bright piece of paper in a visible place is enough to not forget about the most important task.
Business and team management
My key tasks are strategic: where are we going, what products are we developing along the way. Specific tactics and operational management are already the responsibility of the heads of departments. The guys have almost complete freedom of action - they come to me when they need to understand how this or that activity relates to the overall development strategy.
I always use the Todoist task manager to manage all my affairs. I set goals for the year, which are displayed as a list of detailed tasks. When planning my day, I take into account the context of each task and priorities. If a window appears, I take those tasks that will give the maximum result with a minimum of resources.
To manage work projects, we have our own ORWO.crm system, in which we have made a convenient design and automated reports. For greater visibility in the management process, we use dashboards and a traffic light system of indicators for key indicators. The system has common elements that help the team to be in a single information field, but each department has its own working part and is customized for specific tasks.
We can say that we implement the philosophy of kaizen in our work: we analyze, change something for optimization, study feedback, implement or roll back changes. In general, this whole Japanese wave, lean manufacturing tools did not become a trend out of nowhere. Even giants like Sberbank have changed so significantly thanks to them - to say nothing of small IT companies.
I am for a reasonable balance: not to multitask, but to keep track of priorities. If I see that my participation in some project is suddenly critical, I put off the planned tasks and switch to it. With the fashionable idea of fighting perfectionism, it is important not to overdo it. We always bring things to the end, but in the spirit of Agile. At first, we do the minimum to get an acceptable result, if the semi-finished product suits us, we polish it with the necessary precision.
When planning external meetings, I follow two rules.
First: if possible, group negotiations on one day of the week. Second: do not split the day in half - it is better to start the day with meetings or, on the contrary, gather them all at the end. We "pack" work meetings in the team into a maximum of 20 minutes, even monthly general meetings do not last longer. If the participants are prepared, this is enough to resolve all issues. If they do not fit into 20 minutes, it means either they are not prepared, or a corporate farce has begun, during which it is no longer possible to agree.
How do you focus on tasks and switch from work to rest?
I focus quite quickly, I don’t need any special conditions – a separate office, silence (I often do things with headphones on). In fact, I can work anywhere – I just need an office as a border between business and family.
We have created theme zones to make it easy to change the scenery. We have a tennis court, a darts and kicker area, a large dining room, and a lecture hall area called "Prodlenka", where we hold team meetings with interesting speakers.
news
I try to change my activities from intellectual to physical more often. For example, I do practical shooting. I recently won the Volga Federal District Championship with my team, and the Samara Championship in the individual competition. By participating in competitions, I discovered many cities in Russia, greatly expanded my social circle, and gained new life experience.
news
I also travel a lot, and when I travel I take a lot of photos. I edit them right on the spot: I like to bring home not gigabytes of photos and videos, but finished stories, for example, from my second trip to Iceland. And as souvenirs from my travels, I collect soldiers from different countries - I have a whole collection.
news
I prefer science fiction and movies to business books. It seems to me that business literature is now replacing real entrepreneurship. Learning instead of activity. Read a book - and you are already in business. I have accumulated many ideas for implementation, so for now I have suspended all the "smart" books and am doing what I read about earlier.
Sources of inspiration
I don't have any "business icons" - I am more inspired by specific achievements. We try to integrate successful solutions from other industries into our business. It is clear that it is impossible, for example, to implement all the ideas of Ricardo Semler from the book "Maverick. The Success Story of the Most Unusual Company in the World", but we crossed them with the concept of "junior partner" from American business and created an interesting motivation for the company's top managers.
news
I try to use such benchmarking in everything, not just in business. To do this, you need to expand your horizons, your social circle - and transform the ideas you find, import them into your personal strategy.
news
Traveling to other countries also helps with this: it literally pulls you out of your usual picture of the world, makes you look at familiar things differently. By the way, when I travel, I almost never stay in hotels and do not take ready-made tours.
TOP 5 applications that you use most often
Todoist - I use it to organize both work and personal matters.
Sticky password is a password store that I have been using for about five years now.
Money Pro is an application for keeping track of personal finances.
BCR Pro — business card organizer from ABBYY. I haven't kept regular business cards for a long time.
Documents app - for frequent travel and mobility, you need to have copies of documents with you, and the app is convenient for storing them, as well as credit cards.