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Welcome to Produce8’s Great Workdays Kickoff for Organizations! This program is for leaders and teams looking to create a better work environment. The goal is to identify how big the collaboration problem is in your workspace.

Over the next four weeks, this challenge will lead your team through a clear process to understand how work collaboration technology impacts their productivity and digital well-being. By the time you’re finished, you'll know what's effective and what needs improvement, allowing you to make changes and save time during the workday.

Next, you'll begin tackling collaboration distractions through a challenge that everyone in the company can participate in.

 Log in to Produce8 and connect the product with your daily work tools. This setup will help you measure your activities across different applications and gain detailed insights into your work habits.

Send an invite to your team with a shareable link:

 Produce8 will provide you with an email to send to your team. This will include a link to get them set up in Produce8 quickly.

The goal of the kickoff is to align the whole organization around an intention to have healthier and more productive workdays. We do this by measuring the impact of collaboration and tech so your organization can recover focus time and reduce overwork.

Now that managers, executives, and team members are using Produce8, continue working as usual. After 30 days, you'll have enough data to understand how work occurs in your organization. You can find this information in Account Metrics, which we'll cover next.

How the Great Workdays Kickoff for Organizations Works:

The Great Workdays Kickoff for Organizations focuses on collecting data about your business's work habits. Doing so will help you understand how collaboration affects the workday. Let's dive into the kickoff by analyzing it from a week-by-week process.

Account owner adds main business and collaboration apps

 The challenge requires a leader. This can be either a manager, executive, or someone else in the organization. You might also receive help from an MSP or a productivity consultant. (If you're reading this, you are probably the right person!)

To get everyone in the organization involved, the leader will send an open invitation to all employees. We suggest creating a

 and including an email along the lines of:

We believe we’ve identified a huge problem within our organization. It’s impacting your work, leading to longer workdays, and negatively affecting everyone’s well-being. We are at the mercy to constant emails and direct messaging, excessive meetings, and context switching. All of this is ruining everyone’s ability to focus and get work done!

But we’ve got a way to fix things. Allow us to introduce a fantastic new tool, Produce8. Produce8 is a digital work analytics platform that can help individuals and organizations combat the distractions of the workday by understanding how we work together. We want to extend an invitation to all employees who spend their days in front of screens to sign up to Produce8. We will host a brief call for anyone wishing to participate soon. Stay tuned.

Introduce the kickoff and the goals associated with it in a meeting or a recorded video. Explain the importance of understanding both individual and team work habits to improve collaboration.

Produce8 will generate insights by gathering data from tools like video calls, messaging, email, and other business apps. Employees can add their own tools and data sources as well.

Employees control the data they share, meaning privacy and security concerns are addressed. They don't have to include interactions with non-work apps or browsers, and they can keep personal data private in their Produce8 workspaces.

Check-in on progress, sign-ups, and extensions:

 To make sure data is being collected, we must check that team members have connected their accounts properly. Go to Account Health to see if Extensions and Apps are linked. If you have any questions, contact our 

For the next two weeks, let the team work as they typically do while Produce8 gathers insights in the background. This will help identify inefficiencies such as too many meetings or broken workflows. As employees continue working, you'll receive aggregated and anonymized insights in the Organization Account Summary.

 Summarize the key insights from the challenge. Identify common habits, recurring issues, and ideal work periods. Highlight examples that show how changes in work habits can boost productivity and improve collaboration. This summary will provide your organization with a clear picture of what to focus on in the next challenge.

To understand the current state of collaboration in the organization, check the aggregated data in Account Metrics. As the leader, you can share this information with the team so everyone knows what needs improvement.

How often does the average employee view their messaging tool?

With tools like Slack and Teams, the problem is usually not how 

By collecting and analyzing data, your team will gain valuable insights into work habits. They will have identified and fixed collaboration issues, distractions, and inefficiencies. This understanding fosters a collaborative environment in which workers are aligned and committed to common goals.

After the 30-day kickoff, analyze the data with your team to identify what's holding you back. Issues might include too many meetings, distracting tools, bad digital habits, or overworking. These can be fixed at the individual, team, or organizational level. We recommend addressing them accordingly.

Welcome to Produce8’s Great Workdays Kickoff for Organizations! This program is for leaders and teams looking to create a better work environment. The goal is to identify how big the collaboration problem is in your workspace.

Over the next four weeks, this challenge will lead your team through a clear process to understand how work collaboration technology impacts their productivity and digital well-being. By the time you’re finished, you'll know what's effective and what needs improvement, allowing you to make changes and save time during the workday.

Next, you'll begin tackling collaboration distractions through a challenge that everyone in the company can participate in.

Challenge Guidelines:

Get set up: Log in to Produce8 and connect the product with your daily work tools. This setup will help you measure your activities across different applications and gain detailed insights into your work habits.

Send an invite to your team with a shareable link: Produce8 will provide you with an email to send to your team. This will include a link to get them set up in Produce8 quickly.

Address the why: The goal of the kickoff is to align the whole organization around an intention to have healthier and more productive workdays. We do this by measuring the impact of collaboration and tech so your organization can recover focus time and reduce overwork.

Measure the workday: Now that managers, executives, and team members are using Produce8, continue working as usual. After 30 days, you'll have enough data to understand how work occurs in your organization. You can find this information in Account Metrics, which we'll cover next.

How the Great Workdays Kickoff for Organizations Works:

The Great Workdays Kickoff for Organizations focuses on collecting data about your business's work habits. Doing so will help you understand how collaboration affects the workday. Let's dive into the kickoff by analyzing it from a week-by-week process.

Setup Phase: Week 1

Account owner adds main business and collaboration apps

Users set up their own workspaces

Assign a leader: The challenge requires a leader. This can be either a manager, executive, or someone else in the organization. You might also receive help from an MSP or a productivity consultant. (If you're reading this, you are probably the right person!)

Send an open invite: To get everyone in the organization involved, the leader will send an open invitation to all employees. We suggest creating a sign-up link in Produce8 and including an email along the lines of:

SAMPLE EMAIL

Hi team!

We believe we’ve identified a huge problem within our organization. It’s impacting your work, leading to longer workdays, and negatively affecting everyone’s well-being. We are at the mercy to constant emails and direct messaging, excessive meetings, and context switching. All of this is ruining everyone’s ability to focus and get work done!

But we’ve got a way to fix things. Allow us to introduce a fantastic new tool, Produce8. Produce8 is a digital work analytics platform that can help individuals and organizations combat the distractions of the workday by understanding how we work together. We want to extend an invitation to all employees who spend their days in front of screens to sign up to Produce8. We will host a brief call for anyone wishing to participate soon. Stay tuned.

Thank you!

Team buy-in: Introduce the kickoff and the goals associated with it in a meeting or a recorded video. Explain the importance of understanding both individual and team work habits to improve collaboration.

Produce8 will generate insights by gathering data from tools like video calls, messaging, email, and other business apps. Employees can add their own tools and data sources as well.

Employees control the data they share, meaning privacy and security concerns are addressed. They don't have to include interactions with non-work apps or browsers, and they can keep personal data private in their Produce8 workspaces.

Check-in on progress, sign-ups, and extensions: To make sure data is being collected, we must check that team members have connected their accounts properly. Go to Account Health to see if Extensions and Apps are linked. If you have any questions, contact our Customer Success Team.

Work Phase: Week 2-3

Let Produce8 go to work: For the next two weeks, let the team work as they typically do while Produce8 gathers insights in the background. This will help identify inefficiencies such as too many meetings or broken workflows. As employees continue working, you'll receive aggregated and anonymized insights in the Organization Account Summary.

Analysis Phase: Week 4

Prepare for the next step: Summarize the key insights from the challenge. Identify common habits, recurring issues, and ideal work periods. Highlight examples that show how changes in work habits can boost productivity and improve collaboration. This summary will provide your organization with a clear picture of what to focus on in the next challenge.


Challenge KPIs:

To understand the current state of collaboration in the organization, check the aggregated data in Account Metrics. As the leader, you can share this information with the team so everyone knows what needs improvement.

Messaging

How often does the average employee view their messaging tool?

With tools like Slack and Teams, the problem is usually not how much time they spend in an app, but rather how often they check it.

Outcome:

By collecting and analyzing data, your team will gain valuable insights into work habits. They will have identified and fixed collaboration issues, distractions, and inefficiencies. This understanding fosters a collaborative environment in which workers are aligned and committed to common goals.

Next Steps:

After the 30-day kickoff, analyze the data with your team to identify what's holding you back. Issues might include too many meetings, distracting tools, bad digital habits, or overworking. These can be fixed at the individual, team, or organizational level. We recommend addressing them accordingly.

Want to have better workdays? We can help! 

Great Workdays Kickoff for Organizations

Welcome to the Great Workdays Kickoff for Teams!

Oftentimes, our methods of working make it hard for people to find time to focus and get things done. This challenge is to understand the group's work habits, which allows the organization to identify what is affecting productivity and employee well-being, such as problems with too many meetings, calls, and messages.

Want to work fewer hours? Want to accomplish more with less time? It all starts with getting the data needed to make informed changes.

Over the next three weeks, you'll work together to identify areas for improvement and achieve better collaboration.

How the Great Workdays Kickoff for Teams Works:

Some factors of work can’t be fixed by individuals alone. In such instances, teams need to build a shared understanding to identify aspects of work that are holding them back. Here’s how it works:

 This kickoff requires a designated person to lead the team. This individual could be a team manager, project lead, or another appointed role within the team. (If you're reading this, you're likely the team lead!)

This kickoff is set for 21 days. Ideally, one week to get the team connected and engaged and two weeks to collect the data. Produce8 will track the days for you, but be sure to mark the start day for your team once everyone is set up on our platform. Evaluate the results at the end of that period with the expectation of advancing to the next challenge and making a significant change in the workday.

Shared workspaces for groups help people see what everyone is doing, which encourages talking and learning from each other. These workspaces also let you measure how the team is performing using shared metrics. Individuals will always have full control over what is shared in the team workspace.

At the organization level, reports are anonymized. This ensures that no one is singled out and makes it simpler to see the effects of team challenges.

Create a workspace for a single team, including the manager, to encourage open collaboration. This setup promotes team-based learning by gathering data from members who work on similar projects and frequently collaborate.

 To engage the entire team in this challenge, the leader will send out invitations to team members to join Produce8. Once they have been onboarded and begun working, insights will start flowing in.

 Within shared workspaces, teams can collectively observe regular collaboration habits over 14 days and identify factors that are impairing productivity. Factors might include too much time spent in meetings or too many distracting messages.

 Log in to Produce8 and download the Browser and Desktop Extensions.

 Identify the apps your team uses regularly and wants to analyze. We recommend including all collaboration apps. This will help you measure activities across different applications, providing a detailed view of work habits.

 Produce8 will provide you with an email containing a shareable link. Workers will use this link to get set up quickly in Produce8 and join the Shared Workspace. The email will look something like this:

When team members are invited to share their work data in a shared workspace, they have full control over what information to include. If they don't want to share data from a specific app, they can exclude it. We recommend starting with private workspaces to help the team get comfortable with the application.

To create more time for focused work and improve digital wellness, the team must recognize the issues they’re facing and work together to solve them. When your team joins the challenge, they need to understand its end goal. The challenge aims to identify things that hurt productivity, such as too much collaboration, digital distractions, or overwork.

Remind the team of the possibilities. They can have more focused time during work hours and shorter workdays, achieve more quickly, and spend less time on tasks related to managing work.

Coach's Note

Check progress, sign-ups, and extensions: 

To ensure data is being collected, make sure the team has properly connected their accounts. Use Account Health to verify if extensions and apps are linked. If you need assistance, please contact our Customer Success Team.

 Now that all team members are in Produce8, simply continue working as usual. Produce8 will track analytics in the background and share daily and weekly reports.

After accumulating 14 days' worth of data, your team will gain a clearer understanding of work patterns and collaboration habits. You can find all this information in the Shared Workspace, which we will discuss in the next section!

The Great Workdays Kickoff for Teams is designed to determine the baseline of how your team works together. This means identifying how factors of the workday impact focus and well-being. Here are some recommended insights to note in Produce8 and suggested challenges for you to take the next step:

When is the best time for your team to work together? When is the best time for them to work individually? 

The shared workspace is where all the team data in Produce8 is found. On the Timeline, you can see the entire team's workday. This helps identify the best times for meetings and the best times for focused work.

At the end of the Great Workdays Kickoff for Teams, you and your team will have a better understanding of everyone’s work habits. Now you can identify aspects of work that may be impairing productivity, such as meetings, messaging, and emails. You can also determine the best times for collaboration and the hours that should be protected for focused work.

Give your team the autonomy to make decisions and take ownership of their work. Empower them to find solutions and make improvements by taking on personal mindfulness challenges. The next step is to tackle the 

. You can use the data gathered from the Great Workdays Kickoff for Teams as a guide.

Welcome to the Great Workdays Kickoff for Teams!

Oftentimes, our methods of working make it hard for people to find time to focus and get things done. This challenge is to understand the group's work habits, which allows the organization to identify what is affecting productivity and employee well-being, such as problems with too many meetings, calls, and messages.

Want to work fewer hours? Want to accomplish more with less time? It all starts with getting the data needed to make informed changes.

Over the next three weeks, you'll work together to identify areas for improvement and achieve better collaboration.

How the Great Workdays Kickoff for Teams Works:

Some factors of work can’t be fixed by individuals alone. In such instances, teams need to build a shared understanding to identify aspects of work that are holding them back. Here’s how it works:

Appoint a team leader: This kickoff requires a designated person to lead the team. This individual could be a team manager, project lead, or another appointed role within the team. (If you're reading this, you're likely the team lead!)

Set duration of the challenge: This kickoff is set for 21 days. Ideally, one week to get the team connected and engaged and two weeks to collect the data. Produce8 will track the days for you, but be sure to mark the start day for your team once everyone is set up on our platform. Evaluate the results at the end of that period with the expectation of advancing to the next challenge and making a significant change in the workday.

Data to be shared: Shared workspaces for groups help people see what everyone is doing, which encourages talking and learning from each other. These workspaces also let you measure how the team is performing using shared metrics. Individuals will always have full control over what is shared in the team workspace.

At the organization level, reports are anonymized. This ensures that no one is singled out and makes it simpler to see the effects of team challenges.

Running team-based challenges: Create a workspace for a single team, including the manager, to encourage open collaboration. This setup promotes team-based learning by gathering data from members who work on similar projects and frequently collaborate.

Send invitation: To engage the entire team in this challenge, the leader will send out invitations to team members to join Produce8. Once they have been onboarded and begun working, insights will start flowing in.

Work out loud: Within shared workspaces, teams can collectively observe regular collaboration habits over 14 days and identify factors that are impairing productivity. Factors might include too much time spent in meetings or too many distracting messages.

Challenge Guidelines:

Get connected to Produce8: Log in to Produce8 and download the Browser and Desktop Extensions.

Perform an app audit and setup: Identify the apps your team uses regularly and wants to analyze. We recommend including all collaboration apps. This will help you measure activities across different applications, providing a detailed view of work habits.

Invite your team: Produce8 will provide you with an email containing a shareable link. Workers will use this link to get set up quickly in Produce8 and join the Shared Workspace. The email will look something like this:

SAMPLE EMAIL

Hi team!

We believe we’ve identified a huge problem within our organization. It’s impacting your work, leading to longer workdays, and negatively affecting everyone’s well-being. We are at the mercy to constant emails and direct messaging, excessive meetings, and context switching. All of this is ruining everyone’s ability to focus and get work done!

But we’ve got a way to fix things. Allow us to introduce a fantastic new tool, Produce8. Produce8 is a digital work analytics platform that can help individuals and organizations combat the distractions of the workday by understanding how we work together. We want to extend an invitation to all employees who spend their days in front of screens to sign up to Produce8. We will host a brief call for anyone wishing to participate soon. Stay tuned.

Thank you!

Address privacy and security concerns: When team members are invited to share their work data in a shared workspace, they have full control over what information to include. If they don't want to share data from a specific app, they can exclude it. We recommend starting with private workspaces to help the team get comfortable with the application.

Explain the “why” of the challenge: To create more time for focused work and improve digital wellness, the team must recognize the issues they’re facing and work together to solve them. When your team joins the challenge, they need to understand its end goal. The challenge aims to identify things that hurt productivity, such as too much collaboration, digital distractions, or overwork.

Check progress, sign-ups, and extensions: To ensure data is being collected, make sure the team has properly connected their accounts. Use Account Health to verify if extensions and apps are linked. If you need assistance, please contact our Customer Success Team.

Measure the workday: Now that all team members are in Produce8, simply continue working as usual. Produce8 will track analytics in the background and share daily and weekly reports.

Record the initial data: After accumulating 14 days' worth of data, your team will gain a clearer understanding of work patterns and collaboration habits. You can find all this information in the Shared Workspace, which we will discuss in the next section!

Challenge KPIs:

The Great Workdays Kickoff for Teams is designed to determine the baseline of how your team works together. This means identifying how factors of the workday impact focus and well-being. Here are some recommended insights to note in Produce8 and suggested challenges for you to take the next step:

Finding Collaboration and Focus Time:

When is the best time for your team to work together? When is the best time for them to work individually? 

The shared workspace is where all the team data in Produce8 is found. On the Timeline, you can see the entire team's workday. This helps identify the best times for meetings and the best times for focused work.

Outcome:

At the end of the Great Workdays Kickoff for Teams, you and your team will have a better understanding of everyone’s work habits. Now you can identify aspects of work that may be impairing productivity, such as meetings, messaging, and emails. You can also determine the best times for collaboration and the hours that should be protected for focused work.

Next Steps:

Give your team the autonomy to make decisions and take ownership of their work. Empower them to find solutions and make improvements by taking on personal mindfulness challenges. The next step is to tackle the Self-Awareness Challenge. You can use the data gathered from the Great Workdays Kickoff for Teams as a guide.



Great Workdays Kickoff for Teams

Are you overwhelmed by the relentless schedule of real-time meetings? Are you eager to discover a more flexible way to collaborate? The Adopting Asynchronous Video Meeting Challenge is designed for you.

This challenge promises to transform your daily grind, pushing you to embrace asynchronous communication and cut down on the demand for live meetings.

The Adopting Asynchronous Video Meeting Challenge is an approach designed to enhance workplace flexibility and efficiency by shifting from traditional synchronous meetings to asynchronous video meetings. This challenge encourages teams to utilize video messages and recorded presentations as alternatives to live meetings, aiming to reduce the need for coordinating schedules across different time zones or disrupting deep work periods.

How the Adopting Asynchronous Video Meeting Challenge Works:

Define the goals of the challenge, such as reducing the number of live meetings, increasing productivity, and enhancing team flexibility.

Introduce the concept of asynchronous video meetings to the team. Provide training on how to create and share video messages effectively, including best practices for clear and concise communication.

Choose the right tools and platforms that allow for easy recording, sharing, and viewing of asynchronous video messages. Ensure that all team members are equipped with and proficient in using these tools.

 Start replacing certain types of meetings, such as status updates or project check-ins, with asynchronous video messages. Encourage team members to watch and respond to these videos at a time that suits their workflow.

Establish guidelines for creating and responding to video messages, including recommended video lengths, response times, and feedback mechanisms.

Monitor the adoption of asynchronous video meetings, keeping track of the reduction in live meetings and measuring engagement with the video messages.

Collect feedback from team members on the effectiveness and challenges of using asynchronous video meetings. Adjust the approach based on this feedback to optimize the process and address any issues.

 Assess the impact of the challenge on overall productivity and team satisfaction. Measure whether asynchronous communication has led to more focused work time and whether team members appreciate the flexibility it offers.

 Based on the outcomes, decide on the long-term integration of asynchronous video meetings into your team's communication strategy. Develop best practices and continue to refine the approach to maximize benefits.

Log into Produce8 and connect it with your communication tools. This initial step is crucial for measuring your meeting activities and provides insights into your communication habits and productivity.

 If you're new to Produce8, allow it to track your current meeting habits for a week. This period is essential to understand your usual meeting frequency and format, establishing a benchmark for the Asynchronous Video Meeting Challenge.

Start the Asynchronous Video Meeting Challenge:

 Begin transitioning from live meetings to asynchronous video meetings. Start with meetings that can be easily replaced, such as routine updates or single-agenda item discussions. The goal is to enhance productivity and flexibility by reducing the number of synchronous meetings.

Use Produce8's Sentiment feature to record your and your team's experiences with this new meeting format. Note the changes in productivity and team feedback over a 30-day period, tracking the adoption process and any notable benefits or challenges.

At the two-week mark, assess your progress using Produce8. Review your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to evaluate the effectiveness of the asynchronous video meetings in improving communication efficiency and reducing disruptions, comparing these results to your baseline data.

Continue, Iterate, or Adjust if Necessary: 

Based on your mid-period evaluation, continue with the challenge, making adjustments to enhance the effectiveness of asynchronous communication. This could involve refining video content, improving response protocols, or expanding the types of meetings conducted asynchronously.

 At the conclusion of the 30 days, conduct an in-depth review using Produce8. Analyze your KPIs to gauge the overall impact of adopting asynchronous video meetings on your team's productivity and communication efficiency. Determine if this new meeting format has led to measurable improvements and whether it should be adopted as a long-term strategy.

Challenge Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are metrics used to assess the effectiveness of a specific challenge, such as the Adopting Asynchronous Video Meeting Challenge. These KPIs help track progress, measure success, and identify areas for improvement. You can find all these metrics in Produce8. 

Anticipate a significant reduction in the total time spent in synchronous meetings.

 Expect decreases in both frequency and duration of use in synchronous meeting apps.

 Usage of asynchronous video communication tools should increase, without causing disruptions or new issues.

Successfully implementing the Adopting Asynchronous Video Meeting approach will lead to fewer hours spent in live meetings and enhanced productivity through the use of asynchronous communication methods.


Adopting Asynchronous Video Meeting Challenge Outcome

Enhancing productivity hinges on evolving communication habits. Should the Asynchronous Meeting Challenge prove advantageous, contemplate its regular integration into your routine. If it's not the perfect fit, there are numerous other productivity challenges to explore that might better suit your operational style.

Interested in improving your communication framework? We're here to assist. Book a complimentary strategy session to craft a bespoke Asynchronous Meeting plan.

Articulate specific aims for your Asynchronous Meeting initiative, whether it's to decrease synchronous meeting dependency or amplify team autonomy, Produce8 offers the structure for measurable success.

Observe the transformation in your communication patterns and the corresponding effects on team efficiency. Produce8 provides detailed analytics to spotlight both progress and opportunities for enhancement.

Benefit from consistent encouragement and feedback throughout your Asynchronous Meeting endeavor. Acknowledge your progress, tackle any setbacks, and stay inspired to advance your communication strategies.

Are you overwhelmed by the relentless schedule of real-time meetings? Are you eager to discover a more flexible way to collaborate? The Adopting Asynchronous Video Meeting Challenge is designed for you.

This challenge promises to transform your daily grind, pushing you to embrace asynchronous communication and cut down on the demand for live meetings.

Overview

How the Adopting Asynchronous Video Meeting Challenge Works:

Objective Setting: Define the goals of the challenge, such as reducing the number of live meetings, increasing productivity, and enhancing team flexibility.

Introduction and Training: Introduce the concept of asynchronous video meetings to the team. Provide training on how to create and share video messages effectively, including best practices for clear and concise communication.

Tool Selection: Choose the right tools and platforms that allow for easy recording, sharing, and viewing of asynchronous video messages. Ensure that all team members are equipped with and proficient in using these tools.

Implementation: Start replacing certain types of meetings, such as status updates or project check-ins, with asynchronous video messages. Encourage team members to watch and respond to these videos at a time that suits their workflow.

Guidelines and Etiquette: Establish guidelines for creating and responding to video messages, including recommended video lengths, response times, and feedback mechanisms.

Tracking and Monitoring: Monitor the adoption of asynchronous video meetings, keeping track of the reduction in live meetings and measuring engagement with the video messages.

Feedback and Adjustment: Collect feedback from team members on the effectiveness and challenges of using asynchronous video meetings. Adjust the approach based on this feedback to optimize the process and address any issues.

Evaluate Productivity and Satisfaction: Assess the impact of the challenge on overall productivity and team satisfaction. Measure whether asynchronous communication has led to more focused work time and whether team members appreciate the flexibility it offers.

Long-term Integration: Based on the outcomes, decide on the long-term integration of asynchronous video meetings into your team's communication strategy. Develop best practices and continue to refine the approach to maximize benefits.

Challenge guidelines:

Get Set Up: Log into Produce8 and connect it with your communication tools. This initial step is crucial for measuring your meeting activities and provides insights into your communication habits and productivity.

Collect Baseline Data: If you're new to Produce8, allow it to track your current meeting habits for a week. This period is essential to understand your usual meeting frequency and format, establishing a benchmark for the Asynchronous Video Meeting Challenge.

Start the Asynchronous Video Meeting Challenge: Begin transitioning from live meetings to asynchronous video meetings. Start with meetings that can be easily replaced, such as routine updates or single-agenda item discussions. The goal is to enhance productivity and flexibility by reducing the number of synchronous meetings.

Maintain Consistency: Use Produce8's Sentiment feature to record your and your team's experiences with this new meeting format. Note the changes in productivity and team feedback over a 30-day period, tracking the adoption process and any notable benefits or challenges.

Mid-Period Check-In: At the two-week mark, assess your progress using Produce8. Review your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to evaluate the effectiveness of the asynchronous video meetings in improving communication efficiency and reducing disruptions, comparing these results to your baseline data.

Continue, Iterate, or Adjust if Necessary: Based on your mid-period evaluation, continue with the challenge, making adjustments to enhance the effectiveness of asynchronous communication. This could involve refining video content, improving response protocols, or expanding the types of meetings conducted asynchronously.

Final Check-In: At the conclusion of the 30 days, conduct an in-depth review using Produce8. Analyze your KPIs to gauge the overall impact of adopting asynchronous video meetings on your team's productivity and communication efficiency. Determine if this new meeting format has led to measurable improvements and whether it should be adopted as a long-term strategy.

Challenge KPIs: 

Challenge Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are metrics used to assess the effectiveness of a specific challenge, such as the Adopting Asynchronous Video Meeting Challenge. These KPIs help track progress, measure success, and identify areas for improvement. You can find all these metrics in Produce8. 

Call Duration: Anticipate a significant reduction in the total time spent in synchronous meetings.

Meeting App Usage: Expect decreases in both frequency and duration of use in synchronous meeting apps.

Alternative App Engagement: Usage of asynchronous video communication tools should increase, without causing disruptions or new issues.

Next steps:

Enhancing productivity hinges on evolving communication habits. Should the Asynchronous Meeting Challenge prove advantageous, contemplate its regular integration into your routine. If it's not the perfect fit, there are numerous other productivity challenges to explore that might better suit your operational style.

Interested in improving your communication framework? We're here to assist. Book a complimentary strategy session to craft a bespoke Asynchronous Meeting plan.


With Produce8, you can:

Establish Defined Goals: Articulate specific aims for your Asynchronous Meeting initiative, whether it's to decrease synchronous meeting dependency or amplify team autonomy, Produce8 offers the structure for measurable success.

Assess Your Advancements: Observe the transformation in your communication patterns and the corresponding effects on team efficiency. Produce8 provides detailed analytics to spotlight both progress and opportunities for enhancement.

Sustain Your Drive: Benefit from consistent encouragement and feedback throughout your Asynchronous Meeting endeavor. Acknowledge your progress, tackle any setbacks, and stay inspired to advance your communication strategies.

Want to have better workdays? We can help!

Adopting Asynchronous Video Challenge

Are you drowning in back-to-back meetings? Are you looking for more uninterrupted work time? Then the Meeting-Free Day Challenge is just what you need.

This challenge aims to help you reclaim your focus and productivity by dedicating a day to uninterrupted work.

The concept of meeting-free days is part of a broader strategy known as Day Theming, which involves designating specific days for specific types of work—in this case, days without meetings. 

The Meeting-Free Day Challenge allows teams to focus on critical tasks without interruptions, thus speeding up project timelines and reducing stress. This practice aims at boosting productivity and enhancing customer engagement by prioritizing focus time or meetings with customers while minimizing internal meetings, such as routine check-ins and status updates. 


How the Meeting-Free Day Challenge Works:

Define the primary goals of the challenge, which may include improving customer relationships, increasing sales or project advancements, and elevating individual and team productivity.

Establish clear criteria that categorize meetings with customers as 'essential,' given their direct impact on business objectives and customer satisfaction. In contrast, classify regular internal meetings like check-ins and status updates as 'non-essential.'

Collect data on your current meeting practices before the challenge to understand the proportion of customer meetings versus internal meetings, providing a basis for comparison and progress measurement.

Choose one day per week where no internal meetings are scheduled. This day is exclusively reserved for focused, strategic work or for addressing critical customer-related tasks that require undivided attention.

Throughout the challenge, monitor adherence to the Meeting-Free Day and track the frequency of essential versus non-essential meetings. Ensure that the interactions with customers remain productive and meaningful.

Regularly evaluate the challenge's impact on key metrics such as customer satisfaction, team efficiency, and overall productivity. Assess whether the reduction in internal meetings contributes positively to work outcomes.

Obtain insights from participants and customers to gauge the effectiveness of the challenge and identify areas for improvement. Use this feedback to refine meeting criteria and enhance the balance between customer interactions and internal collaboration.

After the challenge, analyze the results and decide on the best practices to incorporate into your ongoing work routine. The aim is to maintain a focus on customer-centric meetings while ensuring that internal communication remains efficient and purposeful.

Sign into Produce8 and connect it with your daily work tools. This step is crucial for tracking your communication patterns and provides valuable insights into your meeting habits and overall productivity.

As a new Produce8 user, allow the platform to measure your typical meeting activities for a week. This data collection phase is essential for understanding your current meeting frequency and types, establishing a baseline for the Essential Meetings Only Challenge.

 Shift your focus to prioritize only meetings with customers, deeming them as 'essential.' Commit to significantly reducing or eliminating internal meetings, like check-ins and status updates, to free up time for customer-focused interactions and other productive tasks.

 Use Produce8's Sentiment feature to document your daily experiences and the impact of this new meeting strategy on your productivity. Strive for consistency in applying the Meeting-Free Day policy over a 30-day period, monitoring any changes in your productivity and meeting effectiveness.

At the halfway point, assess your progress with Produce8. Review your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to evaluate the effectiveness of reducing non-essential meetings on your work efficiency and focus, using your baseline data for comparison.

Based on the insights gained at the mid-period check-in, refine your approach to prioritizing essential meetings. Make necessary adjustments to further optimize your time and enhance the quality of your customer interactions.

At the conclusion of the 30 days, perform an in-depth review using Produce8. Analyze your KPIs to gauge the overall impact of the Meeting-Free Day Challenge on your productivity and meeting practices. Decide if the changes have led to substantial improvements in your focus and customer engagement, and consider integrating this approach into your long-term routine.

Challenge Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are metrics used to assess the effectiveness of a specific challenge, such as the Meeting-Free Day Challenge. These KPIs help track progress, measure success, and identify areas for improvement. You can find all these metrics in Produce8. 

Expect a decrease in the time spent on calls during your workdays.

 The time spent in productivity-focused apps should increase.

 Productive work apps will dominate your daily usage list, with meeting tools appearing less frequently.

Successfully adopting the Meeting-Free Day habit will lead to reduced time in non-essential meetings and increased engagement with key productivity apps.


Meeting-Free Day Challenge Outcome

 Define specific objectives for your Meeting-Free Day Challenge. Whether it's increasing your focused work time or minimizing interruptions, Produce8 helps you set achievable targets.

 Monitor your productivity and work trends effortlessly. Produce8 provides detailed insights into how you're spending your time and where you can make improvements.

 Receive real-time feedback and encouragement as you progress through the challenge. Celebrate your successes, overcome challenges, and stay motivated to reach your full potential.

Are you drowning in back-to-back meetings? Are you looking for more uninterrupted work time? Then the Meeting-Free Day Challenge is just what you need.

This challenge aims to help you reclaim your focus and productivity by dedicating a day to uninterrupted work.

Overview

How the Meeting-Free Day Challenge Works:

Objective Clarification: Define the primary goals of the challenge, which may include improving customer relationships, increasing sales or project advancements, and elevating individual and team productivity.

Defining 'Essential' Meetings: Establish clear criteria that categorize meetings with customers as 'essential,' given their direct impact on business objectives and customer satisfaction. In contrast, classify regular internal meetings like check-ins and status updates as 'non-essential.'

Baseline Data Collection: Collect data on your current meeting practices before the challenge to understand the proportion of customer meetings versus internal meetings, providing a basis for comparison and progress measurement.

Implementing Meeting Free Day: Choose one day per week where no internal meetings are scheduled. This day is exclusively reserved for focused, strategic work or for addressing critical customer-related tasks that require undivided attention.

Monitoring Compliance: Throughout the challenge, monitor adherence to the Meeting-Free Day and track the frequency of essential versus non-essential meetings. Ensure that the interactions with customers remain productive and meaningful.

Assessment: Regularly evaluate the challenge's impact on key metrics such as customer satisfaction, team efficiency, and overall productivity. Assess whether the reduction in internal meetings contributes positively to work outcomes.

Gathering Feedback: Obtain insights from participants and customers to gauge the effectiveness of the challenge and identify areas for improvement. Use this feedback to refine meeting criteria and enhance the balance between customer interactions and internal collaboration.

Long-Term Application: After the challenge, analyze the results and decide on the best practices to incorporate into your ongoing work routine. The aim is to maintain a focus on customer-centric meetings while ensuring that internal communication remains efficient and purposeful.

Challenge guidelines:

Get Set Up: Sign into Produce8 and connect it with your daily work tools. This step is crucial for tracking your communication patterns and provides valuable insights into your meeting habits and overall productivity.

Collect Baseline Data: As a new Produce8 user, allow the platform to measure your typical meeting activities for a week. This data collection phase is essential for understanding your current meeting frequency and types, establishing a baseline for the Essential Meetings Only Challenge.

Start the Meeting-Free Day Challenge: Shift your focus to prioritize only meetings with customers, deeming them as 'essential.' Commit to significantly reducing or eliminating internal meetings, like check-ins and status updates, to free up time for customer-focused interactions and other productive tasks.

Maintain Consistency: Use Produce8's Sentiment feature to document your daily experiences and the impact of this new meeting strategy on your productivity. Strive for consistency in applying the Meeting-Free Day policy over a 30-day period, monitoring any changes in your productivity and meeting effectiveness.

Mid-Period Check-In: At the halfway point, assess your progress with Produce8. Review your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to evaluate the effectiveness of reducing non-essential meetings on your work efficiency and focus, using your baseline data for comparison.

Continue, Iterate, or Adjust if Necessary: Based on the insights gained at the mid-period check-in, refine your approach to prioritizing essential meetings. Make necessary adjustments to further optimize your time and enhance the quality of your customer interactions.

Final Check-In: At the conclusion of the 30 days, perform an in-depth review using Produce8. Analyze your KPIs to gauge the overall impact of the Meeting-Free Day Challenge on your productivity and meeting practices. Decide if the changes have led to substantial improvements in your focus and customer engagement, and consider integrating this approach into your long-term routine.

Challenge KPIs: 

Challenge Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are metrics used to assess the effectiveness of a specific challenge, such as the Meeting-Free Day Challenge. These KPIs help track progress, measure success, and identify areas for improvement. You can find all these metrics in Produce8. 

Time in Calls: Expect a decrease in the time spent on calls during your workdays.

Average Duration in App: The time spent in productivity-focused apps should increase.

Top Apps Report: Productive work apps will dominate your daily usage list, with meeting tools appearing less frequently.


With Produce8, you can:

Set Clear Goals: Define specific objectives for your Meeting-Free Day Challenge. Whether it's increasing your focused work time or minimizing interruptions, Produce8 helps you set achievable targets.

Track Progress: Monitor your productivity and work trends effortlessly. Produce8 provides detailed insights into how you're spending your time and where you can make improvements.

Stay Motivated: Receive real-time feedback and encouragement as you progress through the challenge. Celebrate your successes, overcome challenges, and stay motivated to reach your full potential.

Meeting-Free Day Challenge

The SMART Goals challenge encourages teams to collaboratively define and adopt a set of well-structured objectives that align with their roles and priorities. Using the SMART framework, this challenge supports teams in setting clear and actionable goals while fostering alignment and improving work distribution.

The SMART Goals framework originated in 1981 when George T. Doran introduced the concept in his paper "There's a S.M.A.R.T. Way to Write Management’s Goals and Objectives." The acronym was designed to help managers and teams create clear and actionable goals that drive results. Over time, it became a widely adopted methodology in personal and professional settings, particularly for project management and team collaboration. By ensuring that goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound, the SMART framework helps individuals and groups achieve clarity, alignment, and accountability.

Ineffective goal-setting often results in confusion about responsibilities, poorly allocated workloads, and job dissatisfaction. Teams without clear agreements on objectives may experience delays and misaligned efforts, leading to reduced productivity and frustration. These challenges disrupt workflows and lower morale.

The SMART framework provides a proven solution by offering a structured process for defining goals. Teams using SMART principles create clarity, ensuring all members know their roles and responsibilities. By prioritizing tasks effectively and setting realistic deadlines, teams can work cohesively and achieve better results while reducing burnout.

The SMART Goals challenge invites teams to collaboratively establish a set of objectives tailored to their current projects and priorities. Each goal must adhere to the SMART framework, ensuring that it is:

: Clearly defined and focused on a single outcome.

: Quantifiable to track progress and success.

: Realistic given the team’s resources and constraints.

: Aligned with the team’s overarching goals and responsibilities.

Teams should dedicate regular time—such as during weekly meetings—to review and adjust their SMART goals. A shared workspace or digital tool can help track progress and ensure accountability.

: Gather the team to discuss current priorities and areas for improvement.

: Use the SMART framework to define clear and actionable objectives.

: Write down each goal, including its specific criteria. Use shared digital tools for visibility.

: Delegate tasks to team members to ensure balanced workload distribution.

: Use a collaborative tracking system to monitor milestones and progress.

: At the end of the 30 days, assess the team’s achievements and identify areas for further improvement.

 Log into Produce8 and connect it with your daily work tools. This setup will help you measure your activities across different applications, offering a detailed perspective on your work habits.

 For newcomers to Produce8, allow the app to observe your typical workday activities for a week. This step is vital as it captures your existing work patterns, which will serve as a reference point for the SMART Goals challenge.

 Browse this and other challenges in the app at 

Select this challenge in the app and click ‘Start This Challenge’ and follow the instructions.

Or, to create a custom version of it, click the Create Challenge button in the Challenges section. Add a Challenge Title like 

Add Challenge Targets, using some of the key metrics listed below, or custom ones.

In your afternoon report, rate how your workday went and if you used this challenge.

We’ll send you updates on your challenges in your daily report.

Challenge Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are metrics used to assess the effectiveness of a specific challenge, such as the SMART Goals Challenge. These KPIs help track progress, measure success, and identify areas for improvement. You can find all these features in Produce8:

Everything You Need to Know About SMART Goals - AchieveIt

SMART Goals for Teamwork - Vantage Circle

The SMART Goals challenge encourages teams to collaboratively define and adopt a set of well-structured objectives that align with their roles and priorities. Using the SMART framework, this challenge supports teams in setting clear and actionable goals while fostering alignment and improving work distribution.

How it helps

Ineffective goal-setting often results in confusion about responsibilities, poorly allocated workloads, and job dissatisfaction. Teams without clear agreements on objectives may experience delays and misaligned efforts, leading to reduced productivity and frustration. These challenges disrupt workflows and lower morale.

The SMART framework provides a proven solution by offering a structured process for defining goals. Teams using SMART principles create clarity, ensuring all members know their roles and responsibilities. By prioritizing tasks effectively and setting realistic deadlines, teams can work cohesively and achieve better results while reducing burnout.

How it works

The SMART Goals challenge invites teams to collaboratively establish a set of objectives tailored to their current projects and priorities. Each goal must adhere to the SMART framework, ensuring that it is:

Specific: Clearly defined and focused on a single outcome.

Measurable: Quantifiable to track progress and success.

Achievable: Realistic given the team’s resources and constraints.

Relevant: Aligned with the team’s overarching goals and responsibilities.

Time-bound: Completed within a defined time frame.

Teams should dedicate regular time—such as during weekly meetings—to review and adjust their SMART goals. A shared workspace or digital tool can help track progress and ensure accountability.

Hold a Kickoff Meeting: Gather the team to discuss current priorities and areas for improvement.

Identify Key Goals: Use the SMART framework to define clear and actionable objectives.

Document the Goals: Write down each goal, including its specific criteria. Use shared digital tools for visibility.

Assign Responsibilities: Delegate tasks to team members to ensure balanced workload distribution.

Track Progress: Use a collaborative tracking system to monitor milestones and progress.

Evaluate and Reflect: At the end of the 30 days, assess the team’s achievements and identify areas for further improvement.

How to use this challenge in Produce8

Get Set Up: Log into Produce8 and connect it with your daily work tools. This setup will help you measure your activities across different applications, offering a detailed perspective on your work habits.

Collect Baseline Data: For newcomers to Produce8, allow the app to observe your typical workday activities for a week. This step is vital as it captures your existing work patterns, which will serve as a reference point for the SMART Goals challenge.

Create the Challenge: Browse this and other challenges in the app at Produce8 Challenges or on the website at Produce8.

Select this challenge in the app and click ‘Start This Challenge’ and follow the instructions.

Or, to create a custom version of it, click the Create Challenge button in the Challenges section. Add a Challenge Title like My SMART Goals and a short description.

Add Challenge Targets, using some of the key metrics listed below, or custom ones.

Click ‘Start’.

In your afternoon report, rate how your workday went and if you used this challenge.

We’ll send you updates on your challenges in your daily report.



Section 8: Key Metrics in Produce8

Challenge Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are metrics used to assess the effectiveness of a specific challenge, such as the SMART Goals Challenge. These KPIs help track progress, measure success, and identify areas for improvement. You can find all these features in Produce8:

Team Workday Sentiment (Individual)

Working Hours (Individual)

Focus (Individual)

Further Reading

Article: Brief History of SMART Goals - Project Smart

Article: SMART Goals Resource - Asana

Article: How to Write SMART Goals - Atlassian

Article: Everything You Need to Know About SMART Goals - AchieveIt

Article: SMART Goals - Forbes

Article: SMART Goals for Teamwork - Vantage Circle

SMART Goals Challenge

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Register for the our next webinar 'From Guesswork to Clarity: Delivering vCIO Reports Powered by Real Data'

Time blocking is a time management method that involves dividing your day into blocks of time, with each block dedicated to accomplishing a specific task or group of tasks. This technique helps in organizing your day more efficiently, ensuring that you allocate time to important activities without the day slipping away into less productive tasks.

Effective time blocking will manifest as a well-structured timeline, fewer distractions from low-priority apps, and a higher focus score, demonstrating better productivity and focused work. These KPIs are crucial for assessing the effectiveness of your time management approach.

Time Blocking Challenge Outcome 

Time Blocking Challenge

Monotasking, also known as single-tasking, is the practice of focusing all your attention and effort on one task at a time, rather than trying to accomplish multiple tasks simultaneously. This approach stands in contrast to multitasking, where individuals attempt to manage several tasks at once, often leading to decreased productivity and increased chances of errors. Monotasking is about deepening focus, enhancing the quality of work, and improving mental engagement with the task at hand.

You should observe longer durations in productive apps, fewer interruptions from non-essential apps in your timeline, and an enhanced focus score, reflecting improved monotasking efficiency.

Monotasking Challenge Outcome

Monotasking Challenge

The "Eat the Frog" technique is a time management strategy that encourages tackling the most challenging or crucial task of your day first thing in the morning. The concept is derived from a quote often attributed to Mark Twain, suggesting that if the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that's probably the worst thing that's going to happen to you all day.

Successfully adopting the Eat the Frog habit will be evident through early and focused engagement in productive apps, reflected in your heatmap, timeline, and top apps report within Produce8.

Eat the Frog Challenge Outcome 

Eat the Frog Challenge

Monk Mode is a productivity approach where you deeply focus on your work by minimizing distractions, akin to the focused and minimalistic lifestyle of a monk. This mode involves dedicating extended periods to work intensely on a single task or project, often in isolation, to maximize productivity and quality of output.

With successful Monk Mode application, anticipate extended periods of focused app usage, minimal distractions from irrelevant apps, and better digital intensity and focus scores, all signaling increased productivity.


Monk Mode Challenge Outcome

Monk Mode Challenge

MSPs give your clients more.  Want to instantly show your clients how many unused software licenses they can recoup?  Join the webinar.

MSPs - Show Your Clients How Many Unused Software Licenses They Can Recoup

MSPs - Your Clients Have a Meeting Problem - Now You Have the Fix.

Episode 4: Is a 4-Day Work Week for MSPs a Fever Dream?  The Future of MSP Work is a monthly thought-leadership series discussing strategies for growth and what's coming next in the Managed Services industry. This month we are talking with Joe O'Connor, CEO and Co-founder of Work Time Reduction, a consulting and research organization that specializes in reduced-hour, outcomes-focused work models. We will be discussing the possible fever-dream of a 4-day work-week for MSPs and touching on:  How would a 4-day-work-week even work for MSPs?  Are your clients adopting it?  What would need to happen to enable it?

The Future of MSP Work: Is a 4-Day Work Week for MSPs a Fever Dream?

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Find out more about Essential Insights reporting

Produce8 Launches Essential Insights: Revolutionizing Digital Work Analytics for Businesses and MSPs

Engage Your Entire Business in Productivity Initiatives 

Types of Meetings Affecting Focus Time

Are you ready to supercharge your productivity and unlock your full potential?

Take Challenges to Have Great Workdays

Great Workdays Kickoff for Organizations

Great Workdays Kickoff for Teams

Adopting Asynchronous Video Challenge

Meeting-Free Day Challenge

SMART Goals Challenge

Take the Great Workdays Survey

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