The work day suffers from bloat, 20 minute meetings turn into 30 minute meetings, 40 minute meetings turn into 1 hour meetings and on and on for a few simple reasons.

1. No one has an agenda, so everyone makes rough estimates for how long meetings should take. And no one under estimates of course.
2. Parkinson’s Law – Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. Reinterpreted, meetings expand so as to fill the time available from its scheduling.
3. The defaults encourage it. Outlook calendar defaults to 30 minutes, which means that unless your meeting is in 30 minute or one hour increments its difficult to setup.

We have a product to tackle the agenda challenge. And the best way to guard against Parkinson’s Law is a good moderator.

The last point is also something we can easily do something about.

How to Change Your Default Meeting Length Settings in Outlook from 30 Minutes to 15 or 10 Minutes

1. Open up your Outlook calendar. If you’re using Outlook 2007 or 2010 your calendar should look something like this.

2. Right click the calendar and go to view settings.

3. Click other settings

4. Change ‘time scale’ to 15 or 10 minutes.

Note: this also changes the Zoom of your calendar, so you’ll end up with a calendar zoomed to 110-120%. You will no longer be able to view your full 8 hour day without scrolling down. I found it worth the tradeoff.

Presto! Going forward your meeting length will now default to shorter length. How about scheduling 50 minute meetings and allow people ten minute to transit from their last meeting?

Spread the wealth. Why not encourage your team to do the same?

And remember to go Allin.

Mikal

Thank you for joining us!

We’ve been counting down to a pretty exciting announcement, and today we’re ready to share it with the world. Here it goes.

We hate meetings.

However, that’s not all. We hate meetings so you can love them. In fact, we hate meetings so much, we’re doing something about it.

30 Days of Better Meetings

In that spirit, today we’re introducing our 30 Days of Better Meetings campaign. Every day for the next 30 days, Qworky will post, publish, or smoke signal actionable blog posts, newsletters, Facebook statuses, or Twitter messages on “how to get the most out of your meetings”. Who knows we might even release a product or two.

Why?

Culturally, we’ve all become desensitized to bad meetings. The situation is so daunting that bad meetings are now the norm. Think about your workday.  How many hours do you spend each day in meetings? If you’re like most people 50% of that meeting time is wasted.

And when was the last time you worked in the evening, or the weekends? Again, if you’re like most- this happens far more often than you’d like to admit.

So to recap; hours of every workday  are wasted in unproductive meetings. And to make up for the societal norm of unproductive meetings- we spend more of our personal and family time- catching up on work we would otherwise do in the day.

Nay we say. Outlive, outsmart, outdream. How about we just eliminate ‘unproductive’ meetings?

Consider these 30 days of Qworky arming you with facts, statistics, and insights to take back your weekend. Have fun with us, share with your colleague, and friends, and let us know why you hate meetings – we’ll turn it into a cool post card

Let us know. Why do you hate meetings?

@Qworky

team@qworky.net

http://getsatisfaction.com/qworky

Specifically, do these sound like the values of a business you’d want to work for? Partner with? or do business with?

1. We are global citizens, our aim is to better the world.
2. We. A team of peers.
3. Respectful, open and honest dialog.
4. Deliver accomplishment through happiness and utility.
5. Our customers are heroes; we are their sidekick.
6. Value diversity and empower the marginalized.
7. We’re all accountable; earn permission to lead.
8. Respect people’s craft; pursue excellence; learn passionately.
9. Fear only the status quo.
10. Outlive, outsmart, outdream.
11. Have fun and be quirky.

We’re looking forward to your thoughts!

As part of our effort to embody the most progressive of these principles, our reading lists include books not only about meetings but also on the social media experiences that are driving this revolution. Adam Penenberg’s Viral Loop: From Facebook to Twitter, How Today’s Smartest Businesses Grow Themselves is the second in our series of Qworky Reviews.

So what exactly is a viral loop?

“In plain English, it means a company grows because each new user begets more users. Just by using a product they spread it,” explains Penenberg. This works because viral loop companies design products that take advantage of the human trait/behavior in which we “seek to pass on interesting or funny memes or products to our personal social networks.”

“The trick is they created something people really want, so much so that their customers happily spread their product for them through their own social networks of friends, family, colleagues, and peers…your customers will make your business grow for you. Just by using a product users are, in essence, offering a testimonial.”

Its easy to see, there is immense value in free promotions from happy customers to friends and colleagues. It is a powerful insight, and is central to why viral loops have been deemed the most advanced direct-marketing strategy that is being developed in the world right now. (See Business Week ‘Would You Recommend Us?’ for another interesting take on this concept from Jena McGregor.) Quite frankly, “friends, family, and colleagues are far more credible than any advertisement a marketer could dream up.” These are trusted people, and when it comes to viral loops, it seems the message itself is often less important than the messenger it is coming from.

Yet beyond the human desire to pass along these items to trusted members of our networks, there is an added incentive to relay these positive testimonials free of charge referred to as a “network effect”. This term was first used to describe the spread of telephones when they were introduced, and refers to how the benefits received from a phone increase in proportion to the number of other people in your networks that have one as well. Just as a phone is only as valuable as the number of people you wish to reach through it, many viral loop companies are similarly based on a model where, “the more people, the more content; the more powerful the lure for those sitting on the sidelines, the more value the company has.” This value model is further exhibited by Metcalfe’s law, which specifies that the value of a communications network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users of the system. Eventually, a network effect creates a situation where “almost everyone joins such a network, the way that everyone has a telephone or an email address, because the value to being on it is so huge as a result of everyone else being on it.” It starts out as alluring for those who decided to join, then becomes increasingly alluring as more within their network joins, until such an extent that others feel compelled to join because the network now has such strong value.

Similarities amongst successful viral loops

The book chronicles companies and products that have achieved success with viral loops. Interestingly, they all share very similar characteristics that led to their success. First off, they all benefit from the web being a “frictionless” domain. This lack of friction makes it easier, and more enticing, to spread word of these products. The fact that these services are all both free and easy to use adds to the enticement to distribute them as well.

The viral loops Penenberg studied also share a similarity of not being creators of content, rather, they provide platforms for their users to create their own content, which the viral loop services organize for them. This prompts another shared characteristic of the products being “stackable”, as in it is possible to lay one viral network over the top of another, fostering and organizing content of one platform within another viral loop platform. Both products can grow and benefit because of it, the most clear example being PayPal’s stacking on top of Ebay to facilitate easy payment for the content on Ebay’s platform by the members of PayPal’s network. Another example cited in the book is how YouTube was able to grow on the back of MySpace and viral loop.

Yet another interrelated characteristic shared amongst viral loops is that they all have predictable growth rates, startups tend to call this hockey stick growth. This is because the “built in virality, in which users spread due to self-interest, and by doing so, offer powerful word-of-mouth endorsement” can be tracked. To be considered viral each person on average must bring in at least one other person, which in turn spurs fast adoption and the exponential growth. This is further enhanced due to the network effect, which these products all share. In light of this, the viral loop networks eventually grow so large that they reach a “point of non-displacement, making it nearly impossible for competitors to take it down, until ultimate saturation when the network reaches a point of maturity and growth slows.” As MySpace can attest however, this point may be over simplified.

The most advanced direct-marketing strategy in the world runs under the radar

“Over the last decade and a half some of the world’s most successful businesses started from scratch and then rode a viral loop. Never before in human history has there been the potential to create wealth this fast, on this scale, and starting with so little.”

Penenberg believes that the impact of social media, and their corresponding viral loops, is yet to be adequately appreciated; running under the radar. Regardless of how much praise and attention they have already received, it is not proportional to their game-changing nature.

“It took only a few years for social networking to comprise more than 25 percent of all Internet traffic, and these connections are sprouting ever more connections,” he argues. “Mass audiences on this scale carry serious potential, hence the fantastical valuations viral loop companies have achieved.”

A company can reach these heights “simply by designing a product the right way”, as incorporating virality into the product integrates advertising, marketing, and sales into one strategy. A powerful proposition indeed!

Final Verdict

I found this book to be quite the valuable introductory tool to the world of viral loops. The exhaustive list of case studies exhibit the significance of these principles very well, and provide an overall view of the landscape of viral loop companies. I’d recommend the book particularly to those striving to understand why, and how, social media companies are able to ride viral loops to such grand success, and generally to anyone who would like a jump-start to their education regarding the most innovative marketing strategies of our time.

You made it! Have we been looking for you? Apply for our Ruby on Rails Developer role today: Email  recruiting@qworky.net your resume and or cover letter, including your geographic location. And please either describe your most challenging project or point us to some of your most recent projects.

Qworky is an early stage startup with the mantra: Better Software / Better World. We begin by applying our passion to meetings. We’re a diverse team located in Seattle, WA with hubs in Portland, OR and Atlanta, GA. We have successful startup experience, and are open to new ideas and approaches. Join us as we transition from prototype to product.

Seattle preferred, other areas welcome

Seattle, WA, Portland, or Atlanta preferred; Telecommuting ok

What we’re looking for

We’re looking for a passionate developer with stong Ruby/Rails, JavaScript experience to partner as a part of our engineering team. In this paid role you will be responsible for leading the programming efforts on our proprietary code base. Must be willing to commit 30 hours per week working directly with our engineering team as a freelance professional with a mutual interest to shift into a permanent role

Responsibilities for this role are:

• Software design and implementation of the chat client the key component of our Qworky meeting product
• Serve as a key programmer embodying engineering discipline, focus, and prioritization to shipping our first Qworky Meetings product in our Ruby/Rails, JavaScript/AJAX, and XMPP-based development environment
• Execute engineering process to ship our first product release
• Execute on roadmap in an accurate, on-time, and hands-on fashion while keeping in mind longer term growth
• Ensure quality alignment between Open Source and Proprietary Code Bases
• Work closely with colleagues including the engineering lead, product owner, QX and open source developers, CTO, and system administrator
• As a member of the Qworky team, make valuable contributions to business discussions around the company’s day-to-day operations,  long-term strategy, and company growth, and contribute to shaping our culture, technology principles, product features and roadmap
• Bring passion for usability and experiences that map to Qworky’s mantra: Better Software / Better World
• Work alongside industry leading strategists, computer security/engineering experts
• Work offsite, via digital (Blog, Twitter, Google Wave) and coffee shop collaboration

Compensation: Open/Negotiable – Likely beginning as a $5,000 contract role (negotiable) with goal of evolving into an equity employee role based on success working together and experience.

–

Diversity: We view diversity as a vital ingredient to sustained business success. We value unique perspectives and traditionally under represented view points in the software design process. We welcome collaborators from every walk of life. We welcome people of any gender identity or expression, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, experience level, education background, culture, or political opinion.

This is a great opportunity for you to get to know us, and Qworky to get to know you. We envision this role as our next equity employee joining our startup team.

We’re an experienced startup team (with successful VC funded startup and successful exit experience) tackling the next next opportunity.

Job Perks

• Flexibility in shaping engineering schedule in ways that respect personal and family life
• Full access to the thinking, decision, methodologies and process to get Qworky to where we are today
• Transparency into the decisions shaping where Qworky is heading tomorrow

How to Apply

This role has been filled. For future considerations please email recruiting@qworky.net

Fast Company magazine has a fantastic feature on the Most Influential Women in Technology 2010, including a glowing profile by Lillian Cunningham on Shireen Mitchell, a friend of Qworky and all around superstar, that delves deeply into her work exposing and changing the lack of diversity within the technological landscape.

A social-media consultant, diversity advocate, and tech nonprofit founder, she still often finds herself the only African American female on IT teams and at conferences. Only about a fifth of science and engineering managers are female, and even fewer make it to the board level of prominent high-tech firms.

“Even if the door is wide open and unlocked,” she says, “if someone walks past the room and peeks in and sees a bunch of white men, they’ll wonder if they’re welcome. Until everyone understands what it’s like to walk through a door when the people inside don’t look like you and wonder why you’re there, we still have work to do.

Fortunately for us, Qworky recognizes this travesty, and we are doing everything we can to ensure our company will lead the way to changing it—including incorporating Mitchell’s leadership directly.

Today, plenty of people have become believers in Mitchell and are starting to practice what she’s preaching. Jon Pincus, former general manager of strategy development in online services at Microsoft, has recruited Mitchell to work closely with him on his new Seattle-based startup, Qworky. “Most software is written by guys for people like themselves. Even if it’s unconscious, it seeps into everything,” Pincus says. For this reason, he’s tapping Mitchell to help him design Qworky’s technology, culture, and Internet presence to be more inviting to a diversity of users from the get-go. “One of her real strengths is that she balances the tech aspect, the social aspect, and the political aspect. You can usually find someone who can do two of those,” Pincus says. “It’s very rare to find someone who can balance all three.”

Clearly, we are quite the fans of Mitchell, and particularly take her lessons about the diversifying nature of social media to heart as we build a small business software-house the social media way. It’s quite heartening to see her describe Qworky as exactly the kind of tech models she is eager to see, and we couldn’t be happier for her and all of the other amazing women honored by Fast Company in this feature!

In it we discuss how our Raison d’être : Better Software / Better World came to be. Hope you enjoy!

See post on Mission, Vision, Positioning statements and Mantras for further information

(in other news this is an exciting milestone for me personally, my first interview as Chief Executive Cheerleader of Qworky!)

If you’d like to follow along, check out the Qworky meeting we’ve set up — [linked remove beta coming soon]!

[Wow, our 100th meeting on this prototype.  Yay us!]

Good luck Mikal!!!!!!

Tomorrow Qworky presents at Northwest Entrepreneur Network’s First Look Forum, an event designed to give qualified investors a first look at the hottest companies in the Northwest. Getting to this point has been a sacrifice and labor of love of everyone involved.

For those who don’t know Qworky is a little bit different. We’re a startup that is developing software as a startup the right way- Market researched, end-user tested, with agile development methodologies.

We are craftspeople dedicated to and in love with what we do. Tomorrow we’ll aim to bring home a win but no matter what, win or lose Wednesday we will arise with a new passion for bringing Better Software to a Better World.

Thank you for joining us on this journey,

Mikal

– We’ll update this Thread With More Info Following the Event –

My first task when joining Qworky at fall of 2009, was to develop the very first Qworky meeting prototype. Going with my comfort zone, I used .Net, MS SQL Express and a chat service from chatterous. That was a two week project. Soon, we discovered other engineering members were having difficulty compiling the solution, mainly because the right set of tools were not installed. Also, it turned out that a majority of the open source engineering team came from a UNIX and OS X background.

As a result, we sprung on a quest to find an environment which could work better for us. After a couple of days Jon came with a Ruby on Rails recommendation. Then homework for all (three engineers at the time) was to see how we liked it.

Easy Setup

That weekend I picked up Ruby on Rails. To my pleasant surprise, it was very easy to spin up a blog-like application. Incidentally, most Rails examples on the Internet revolve around blog-like apps.

I had a few hiccups while setting up Rails. The annoying one was on mismatched versions. I wasn’t clear which component (gem in Rails lingo) went where. Perhaps this was also aggravated by the fact that I was using an unfamiliar system – OS X. I owned a MacBook Pro for close to two years now. It is boot camped with Windows and, get this, I almost exclusively boot into Windows. This time around I had the bright idea of learning Rails on Mac. Long story short, I had two learning curves; Rails and OS X. All the same, I had a pleasant experience.

Why Rails?

Besides the reason above, let’s look at some of the technical requirements.

• First, it needs to support multiple interfaces while maintaining a shared business logic and database. Content needs to be served in different formats – for web, mobile and/or desktop. This situation lends itself well for Model-View-Control (MVC) design pattern. Rails is also modeled around MVC coupled with a RESTFul interface.
• Second, the project had short development time. And guess what? Rails supports rapid development. It comes with tools to generate boilerplate code, has rich libraries and out-of-the-box testing framework.
• Thirdly, another equally important reason presented to me (which I took at face value), is that the Rails community has excellent organization and documentation.

In fairness, Rails isn’t the only technology we could use. Yet, when evaluating based on our most important criteria- Rails seemed the best match.