The Highgroove blog. Sit pit-side with us to learn how we work. Sometimes technical, sometimes business-oriented, but always focused on simple solutions.
You are browsing posts about Productivity. Check out all posts on our blog.
by briang
Highgroove recently ran an experiment: Could we work remotely, and do it well? We thought so, and to test the theory, we rented two houses in Rosemary Beach for a week.
This was no vacation. Our office had been relocated to a new setting, but the same expectations for meeting results applied.
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There are a lot of ways to measure an individual's work performance. When you think of a manager, perhaps you imagine her stopping by an employee's office to see if he's in his chair during work hours, or checking whether he's spending too much time on Facebook.
As a ROWE, or Results-Only Work Environment, we stick to asking the truly important question: Are we delivering the results that matter?
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by briang
As a developer, I'm always on the lookout for applications to help me work better or keep my focus. I use apps for everything from checking email to instant messaging and updating social networking services, but there are a few applications I use on a daily basis that make my life easier and more productive.
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by drice
It is no secret that Highgroove is a bona fide Results-Only Work Environment. As a team, we focus on getting work done and ensuring client satisfaction. When, where, and how we work is irrelevant, because what we care about is the answer to one question: Is the client happy today?
I'll admit that working in a ROWE isn't always the cakewalk it sounds like. We still live in the real world, where time passes and deadlines creep up. So how do you keep the clock under control, as opposed to being controlled by the clock?
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At Highgroove, I've become a stronger developer, consultant, and mentor every day. This didn't happen on accident! On one hand, Highgroove's philosophy to provide the best tools possible in the software development industry saves me time because I spent less of it waiting for tests to run and more time analyzing hard problems. On the other hand, I have a Results Only Work Environment (ROWE) where I can leave when my work is finished, take a mental break whenever I need to, and work when where and how I please.
Despite these things that set Highgroove apart from most employers, I have found the dark side to all of this productivity: What do I do with all of the free time I have now? When you don't have to stay at the office for 10 hours a day just to save face, impress your bosses, and hopefully not get passed up by someone else who is better at sucking up than you are, this becomes a real problem!!! In this blog post I'll address this problem and show some creative ways to help unwind after a long day (or night!) of programming.
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At Highgroove, we have a personal trainer, Cherri, on-staff and on-site, available twice a week to us, scheduled via appointment slots using Google Calendar. Our personal trainer has been with us since December of last year, and we just added more sessions. We have been delighted at the opportunity to get in shape (although, perhaps, temporarily less thrilled when "core day" came around). Personally, having someone motivate us to exercise -- someone who thoroughly knows what they are doing was exactly the motivation I needed to start working out again. But we've also realized getting a gym session in during the afternoon has benefits for developing software (along with developing sweet abs).
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