Andrew Shuttleworth Web HQ

Managing Your To Do List When You Have Hundreds of Things To Do

Over the past few weeks I've been asked a number of time advice on how to manage a to-do list when you have a large number of things to do. The short answer is I don't believe there is any possible system that can help you when you simply have too many 'important' things to do. You just have to cut down the workload. I've got a bad habit of taking on too many things, getting too busy, cutting out some of the things hence freeing up time, then having a little extra time I take on more things. A viscious circle I'm slowly learning to get out of by saying 'no' to some requests. Having said that I'm sure you still want to be hyper productive and get as many things done in as possible. I think everyone will find there own unique system. There are certain core principles that help (basically treating tasks as a project, splitting into small steps and focusing on addressing the next step) and Getting Things Done is he best book I can personally recommend for learning these.

Anyway, here's the system I currently use ...

Joblet - Japan Developed Service for Advertising Jobs in an Intelligent Way

Joblet is a Japan developed service. Employers submit jobs to the service and these jobs are then displayed on widgets across the Joblet network of web sites. Employers pay for each qualifying resume they receive or optionally - new in the latest release - on a pay per click basis. Bloggers and site owners make money when people clicking through from their site and additionally when those people apply for a job.

The service is naturally a good additional strategy to using recruiters - who although potentially effective charge around 30% of an annual salary - simply not possible for many smaller companies . Job listings sites are also quite expensive and these sites also largely attract active job seekers, whereas the Joblet model puts jobs in front of passive job seekers who are potentially more interesting candidates. Site owners can also customize the widget so that only jobs relevant to their site content are displayed.

Joblet is developed by www.theplant.jp, a bunch of cool people (and good friends of mine) in central Tokyo who are also the company behind www.asoboo.com and have been big supporters of the monthly www.Tokyo2Point0.net event.

Below are samples of two of the widgets available. CSS customization is an option for the latter.

You can also see the widget at www.thejapanjobsearch.com - an experimental site I put together using Google Pages with embedded del.icio.us link roll widgets (so that it only takes around 5 seconds to add sites), listing a large number of Japan job sites and resources along with a Google Custom Search Engine so that you can search all the sites from one place.
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Jobletの求人

BCCJ British Business Awards 2008

In 2008 the British Chamber  of Commerce in Japan will celebrate  their 60th Anniversary. I believe they have a good program of events lined up. One of those will be the British Business Awards in April (nominations starting in January).

Interview by Robert Sanzalone of Blognation Japan

Had a fun interview chat with Robert Sanzalone of Blognation Japan in the early hours of Monday morning after getting back from Amsterdam. He's a good interviewer.

Download the mp3 file.

ExecutiveAnswers Newsletter on Networking

BusinessGrow produced an 'ExecutiveAnswers Newsletter on Networking' (PDF file) for a recent presentation I gave with two friends, Dave Mori and Gary Bremermann, for the Autralian and New Zealand, Canadian and British Chambers of Commerce in Japan recently.

It's a nice introductory overview of networking for anyone wanting to learn more.

The 30 Most Important IT Trends for 2007

One of the fun things about this time of the year is that we get to see the round-up of trends from the last 12 months and predictions for the next, like The 30 Most Important IT Trends for 2007. I'm not going to look through any of the points in detail but it's interesting just to scan the list to get a sense of what's going on.

The most interesting point for me, '30. Dissatisfaction with vendors is on the rise'. If anyone in Japan is dissatisfied with their vendor, please get in touch. At Customers, Vendors, People (www.cvp.jp), my primary goal is to identify the best vendors and connect them with companies who need their services.

Microsoft Live with Free Hosting & Domain Names

  I've been looking at Microsoft Office Live - currently in BETA. There are three offerings:

• Live Basics gives you everything you need to run a basic web site and manage email (2GB storage) for a limited number of mailboxes using your own domain name, including free hosting and domain registration! I wonder how they manage to do this? The service is free after the beta so Microsoft are effectively paying your domain registration fees! The domain is registered under your own name and you can keep it if you cancel the Office Live service, although you have to pay the ongoing fees of course. A great offer. I guess they are banking on the fact they will get enough return from those who upgrade to one of the following.
• Live Collaboration doesn't give you the above, but it does give you a good suite of online collaboration tools, including workspaces (shared documents) to and on-demand business applications (PIM tools, and employee, customer, project and sales and marketing tools). Starts at $29.95 after the Beta.
• Live Essentials gives you all of the above including larger capacities for the web and email hosting and offline email integration with Outlook or Outlook Express.

Small Businesses Pick the Products of the Year

I found the SmallBusinessComputing.com Products of the Year summary article a nice, easy-to-read insight into some of the best computing hardware, software and services available. Maxtor, Dell and HP all came out with 3 top prizes in different catagories. Other brand names such as GMail and Symantec also feature.

CVP Site to Launch Soon

Many friends and colleagues will know that I started my own company early this year - 'Customers, Vendors, People' or CVP for short. The mission of CVP is to connect customers and companies using the power of word-of-mouth and trusted personal networks. On the one side of the spectrum helping companies to find vendors for any business product or service and on the other helping small and medium sized companies to find customers.

The company web site is due to launch any day now, so stay tuned for more.

Saying Yes to Japan

I think everyone in the Tokyo business community has already heard about the new book - Saying Yes to Japan - by Carl Kay and Tim Clark (especially after a run of three speaking engagements in three nights by Carl this week). There is a wide consensus that this book covers, and covers well, an aspect of domestic Japanese business - the services industry - that has not received much attention to date but that we are are going to be hearing more and more about over the coming years. Carl certainly speaks enthusiastically on the topic and the business people featured in the book, as may be expected after years of research and interviews.

For companies with a strong service presence outside Japan looking for opportunities in other markets, individuals looking for an industry to build a future proof career in, or domestic companies or business people looking for consumer problems waiting for a solution, this is required reading.

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It

I don't read a huge amount of business books and when I do it sometimes takes one or two (often completely aborted) attempts to get through a whole book. This book is one that it didn't take me long to get through though.

Michael E. Gerber: The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It

Aimed at 'technicians' who move into business themselves, and need to adopt a managerial and entrepreneurial mindset, I think there are good lessons for anyone running a small business. Not necessarily telling you what to think, but how to think this book could potentially bring on a Covey'esque paradigm shift and completely change the way you approach the running of your business. As a 'do-it-now doer' it helped me go some way to taking a step back and looking at the wider picture ... even when the endless list of things to get done does not get any shorter.

Add to the great content, the fact that it is very, very easy to read with a novel like aspect and it is definitely worth purchasing. I'd give mine away but I want to read it again. Just a shame they don't have an ebook version.