Feb 22 2020 - China Work or Play

How do we know people are working if we can't 'watch them'? That's the remote work question, isn't it?   I know that we can easily measure employee output these days.   We've  been doing it with great vigour for more than 20 years - and even longer if you consider Total Quality Management started in the early 1920s.  We're experts at it now. But in China, there is great worry over productivity because of the coronavirus.  I found the most hysterical quote in the front page of the business section of the Globe and Mail yesterday.  Here's an excerpt: "Some Chinese executives and managers, though, have taken a dim view of their ability to get things done with workers at home. In a country that prizes long hours at the office, companies are keeping close track of how much is getting done by employees far from the gaze of superiors who worry they can’t trust their underlings to be productive on their own. With so many working remotely, ”there’s no way for us to supervise what people are doing. We don’t know if our employees are writing code or just playing with their cats,” said Cheng Zheng, founder of DDD Online, an augmented reality company. “It’s just the opposite of the traditional Chinese work style.” The article reports that productivity levels are varying. Solitary coders are fine, but those positions requiring communications had low productivity while working remotely.   It makes me wonder how they had been working and how efficient they actually were. They couldn't have been using teleconferencing or videoconferencing to meet in groups prior to this.  Or maybe they required employees to 'check in' with managers all the time to find out how things are going - judging on time spent rather than results. And that seems to be what the article says.  The Chinese are resistant to offsite work:  the Globe reports that there have been studies that prove remote work is more productive than on site work. The crisis is showing that remote work is as productive as on site work - a surprise to the Chinese managers.   And what is this about playing with their cats.  It turns out that there are more than 67 million pet cats in China and the cat owner population are generally millennials.  So the worry is there:  these millennial employees could be playing with their pets and making videos at home right now. (Don't read the other articles about cats and dogs - makes me sadly aware of my bubblesome existence). We are enjoying some daisies today.

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Jan 12 2020 - The Windsor Cult

Just in - this news on how to keep New Year's Resolutions!  Modify them - every day. That comes from The Beaverton - "North America's Trusted Source of News".  Really?  Who is this news source.  Here's the answer it provides: "The Beaverton is a weekly satirical news show airing Wednesdays at 10 pm on Comedy, just before Full Frontal with Sam Bee. A televised adaptation of the immensely popular website TheBeaverton.com, it files fictional stories of the utmost importance, informed by real events, the cultural zeitgeist, and national news media. Using a “fake news” platform The Beaverton offers devastating insight and biting commentary on Canadian life, politics, and the world around us." Better than New Year's Resolutions, here's their headline on Harry and Meghan Local actress successfully deprograms member of hereditary cult LONDON – Meghan Markle, an actress best known for her role on the USA network series Suits is now adding another role to her CV: deprogrammer.  “Extracting a cult member is notoriously difficult, managing to do it after joining the cult itself is almost unheard of,” says cult expert Joanie Gorski. “This is one for the history books. Or at least several dozen podcasts.” "The Cult of Windsor, which in its current form dates back to 1917, is known for being insular and territorial. Along with documented instances of incest and the grooming of teenage brides, accusations of pedophilia have also recently been leveled against a highly placed member of the organization." There's more satire to read in the article.  Consider the invitation at the bottom of the article:  "Want to learn how to write satire as brilliant as this? We have workshops coming up in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver. Find out more."  You have to move fast as the Toronto workshop is today. I am consolidating some of my photo storage and found this picture - a delightful summer image of the condominium garden at the top of Thompson Street where we lived in Toronto.

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