I spend so much time yammering - the word, not the product - about collaboration and how to become more collaborative as a leader (and team member) that over the years I’ve neglected those of you that are looking to become less collaborative. I sincerely apologize for this oversight. As Neil Young once said, "this note’s for you." 1) Ignore Your Email I know, the sure volume of email continues to rise so what’s the point in answering it? Why not ignore it altogether? Tell everyone you know from this day forward you’re going to pretend email doesn’t exist - a bit like what Canadians do with Celine Dion and Nickelback. Benefit? You’ve now saved the 50% of your day currently devoted to answering email which you can now use being more non-collaborative on other initiatives and opportunities. 2) Cease All Meetings What’s the point of meetings anyway? Does it really matter if you’re there or not? I mean wouldn’t it make more sense for you to stop setting them altogether? When asked to attend a meeting, why even bother showing up? Whenever a calendar request shows up in your inbox, immediately delete it. Treat it like the junk mail that shows up at your home. Benefit? You can now make decisions in your office without the distraction of other people’s opinion and input. The time you’d save by foregoing debate and discussion is infinite. You’re also saving your voice (laryngitis is nasty) and surely preventing the potential for contracting any airborne or tactile germs from your colleagues. 3) Command and Control This might be a continuation of your current leadership style. If that’s the case, shazam … more time for you to be less collaborative. If you’re new to command and control, it might take some getting used to. First step is to stop listening to your team. (Think Pat Sajak - he clearly wasn’t listening to anyone when he started that awful nighttime talk show) Second, think of all the ideas yourself. (This is a huge time saver) Third, once you’ve got the idea, instruct someone on your team to tell everyone what they should do and by what deadline. Insist there be no questions. Enforce perfection. Benefits? What’s not to love about ‘command and control’. You get to act like a King from medieval times ordering people around without a care for their feelings or wellbeing. Jack Welch may even give you a prize. 4) Office Ivory Tower It may seem counterintuitive, but to become less collaborative, you’re going to want to find an office tower that allows you to close yourself off from everyone else in the organization. In fact, an open office environment is alleged to kill creativity. Exclusivity, superiority and righteousness is the new black; why park yourself in an open office environment when the top floor — with a private elevator hopefully — can seal you off from the peons and subordinates. Benefits? Now you can really ‘get things done‘ by omitting employee interactions with you of any sort. Win-win when you think about it. Much like the reunion tour of the Jackson 5 featuring a hologram of Michael himself. 5) Mandate Classroom Training Only Start sending everyone back to class. Corporate training is a $135 billion industry and there has never been a better time to stop the silliness of informal or social learning; two culprits of a more collaborative organization. To become personally less collaborative, start mandating two weeks of classroom training for every employee. You must insist, however, that no other learning takes place in the organization. Two weeks in a classroom and that’s it and your employees are not to discuss with you what they learned either. Benefits? You (and your employees) won’t be tempted by the inanity of collaboration tools or practices found in informal or social learning and as a result, you’ll be saving time, effort and money. It’s a bit like imagining there was a Frederick Taylor University … wait, there is one. Hallelujah. There you have it. My top five ways in which to become less collaborative. Of course, if you disagree, there’s always the Flat Army method. (coming soon) Related Posts:Friday Fun: You Don’t Have an Office?Hey Microsoft! Why Not Merge Outlook with SharePoint?6 Use Cases for Enterprise Micro-BloggingI’m Not Scared of Email; I Developed a System called…Why I Love Newsle

'Back in 1995' replicates the low-poly awkwardness of PlayStation 1 games, warts and all. The post 90s Nostalgia Meets Survival Horror in Back in 1995 appeared first on WIRED.

From the source, newsle: … finds articles about you, your friends and colleagues, and anyone else you care about and notifies you minutes or hours after they’re published. I take pride in my network. I often gaze at so many of you thinking, ‘why didn’t I think of that‘ or ‘how cool is X?’ I take pride in building up my network too. As I often say, "I store my knowledge in my network." So, when one of you sent me an anonymous email notifying me of newsle, I was happy. (yes, newsle gives you the option of sending an anonymous or named email to your network once you sign up for the service) I had never heard of newsle until that email came today. I’m glad it did. Unbeknownst to some of you, I have Google Alerts set up to be notified of your digital footprint. It’s a great service that proactively informs me of your awesomeness. (yes, it’s a word) Instead of Google Alerts, I now have newsle … which allows me to see a curated version - think of it as an RSS personal network feed on steroids — of your whereabouts and contributions in the quoted arena. Maybe it’s something you said at a conference, or you were interviewed, or you released a new whitepaper, etc. Whatever the case, I now have you tracked. You’re in my digital cross-hairs via one easy to use, simple and aggregated site. Newsle … you made my week. Related Posts:Friday Fun: You Don’t Have an Office?Friday Fun: Get Back to WorkDan’s Personal 2012 GoalsCredo of the Collaboration CanoeThere is Nothing More to Say in 2011 … but Thanks

Access Games’ Hidetaka "Swery" Suehiro has a notability problem: he may be more well-known than his creations. While his games (Deadly Premonition, D4) have won him fans, they’re not exactly mainstream hits. Still, as an independent creator with a reputation for getting noticed, Swery was on hand at BitSummit in Kyoto this weekend to exhibit […] The post A Chat With Deadly Premonition‘s Creator, Swery appeared first on WIRED.

I’m excited to show you for the first time the front cover of the book. More details to come shortly. Related Posts:flat army bookThe Remarkable Leadership Story of Conner & Cayden LongFlat Army: Chapter 2 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 3 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 5 Overview

Things got really emotional during the Comic-Con panel for NBC's recently cancelled horror show. The post Hannibal Fan Devotion Is Alive and Well, Even If It’s Cancelled appeared first on WIRED.

A few months ago, I wrote a piece called, "Five Uses for Virtual Worlds in the Workplace" which — rather obviously — explored ways in which virtual worlds can increase engagement, productivity and culture inside an organization. Quite frankly, I hear too many people scoff at the use of virtual worlds inside an organization. It’s beginning to get me riled up. Imagine if someone was secretly planning to reintroduce Jar Jar Binks as a character in Star Wars Episode VII. Imagine how incensed you would be, if of course you were a Star Wars fan. Wait a minute … But I digress. Comments like the following are what I hear from all walks of professional life: "Our people would never use it." "I don’t get it." "Why would we go into a virtual world when we can be face to face?" "It’s like Xbox and I don’t like video games." "It’s not serious. We need serious tools to do work." "But we like to use the phone." "Headsets aren’t cool." "It takes too long to figure out." "My avatar doesn’t look like me, how will people recognize who I am?" "I prefer sending PowerPoint files by email." Those people have shuttered themselves to a truly collaborative experience. Virtual worlds are not time-wasting mechanisms when introduced properly into your organization. Virtual worlds are wonderful and complementary to your collaboration technology strategy. There is no excuse. An organization can utilize it for pretty much any endeavour that warrants employees talking, working and collaborating with other employees … not to mention with partners and customers. What exactly are you afraid of? Related Posts:Five Uses for Virtual Worlds in the Workplace5 Use Cases for Badges in the EnterpriseThe ‘Empire Avenue’ Strikes BackBosses Should Shift From Scroll to SwipeGive Piece a Chance

During its panel at Comic-Con, the team behind the show announced it will be back for Season 3. The post Salem Is Not Done Cramming Frogs Down Your Throat appeared first on WIRED.

This is the first in a series of 15 short videos outlining the Flat Army book that publishes April 8, 2013. The inaugural video below is a one-minute movie book trailer. Feedback (positive, neutral or negative) is always welcome. Related Posts:Flat Army: An Overview of the BookFlat Army: Chapter 1 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 2 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 4 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 3 Overview

NASA's planetary sciences director doesn't care what you call Pluto. He just calls it interesting. The post NASA Doesn’t Care If Everyone Else Calls Pluto a Dwarf… appeared first on WIRED.