Mike McBride on Tech, eDiscovery and Mental Health - Issue #33
Careers and the Workplace
People Remember How You Made Them Feel — www.mikemcbrideonline.com During a crisis, there will always be those stand up to find ways to come together and help, and those who shrink away from that. Which one do you think people are going to want to work with when this is over?
To Retain Employees, Support Their Passions Outside Work — hbr.org Don’t just offer flexibility — empower people to use it.
We Should Stop Equating Being Busy With Being Important — www.mikemcbrideonline.com It grabbed my attention because it's something I hear quite often, often in combination with the other, more obvious, "complaint" about working long hours. And yes, the word complaint is in quotes because we all know that when we mention the hours or the back-to-back meetings, we complain about it, but we are really bragging about how busy we are for one simple reason. Busy people are in demand, they are important. But, are they really?
Career Lesson Reminder - Treat Everyone Well — www.mikemcbrideonline.com Last week I was in London to attend a conference being put on by my employer, and to teach a training class in the days following the conference. With the
Linked: The Rise of the 9 p.m. Work Hour — www.mikemcbrideonline.com One of the bigger management issues surrounding the remote work model is how and when to communicate. I'm an advocate of more communication, always. I'm a huge advocate of a lot more communication with a remote team. But, we also have to think about the best way to work together. There are lots, and lots, of meetings that are designed to create better communication but aren't necessary. Most of them are recurring meetings that no one ever cancels, even when there's nothing urgent to discuss. Just because we've always had this meeting, and we always will. That's not a good reason to meet. At the end of the day, if your check-ins or project status meetings are nothing more than a "here's where we are this week," we might consider whether it makes more sense for people to send an email instead. Or even a Teams/Slack chat? It's the same information, but no one has to plan their day around it.
Caring for aging parents, sick spouses is keeping millions out of work — www.msn.com Even as the job market rapidly approaches the levels last seen before the pandemic, a lack of affordable care for older and disabled adults is keeping many out of the workforce.
Security
Linked: Cybersecurity Mistakes Are Costing More Jobs Than Ever — www.mikemcbrideonline.com On the one hand, I have argued before that we need to hold people accountable because, without a stick, our people will not have as much of a reason to care in the first place. On the other hand, a couple of the stats from the report that Doug pulled out tell me something different:
Quick Steps for Lawyers to Improve Cybersecurity and Protect Client Data – NWSidebar — nwsidebar.wsba.org In 2017, hundreds of thousands of computers in 150 countries in a matter of hours were infected with a virus, locking the computers and demanding a ransom to regain access in the now famous WannaCry ransomware attack. How were all these computers infected? Well, remember that security patch update? The commonality between all of the…
Weakening end-to-end encryption would do more harm than good, IT experts warn | Evening Standard — www.standard.co.uk A survey by BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, found that many professionals were concerned by calls to slow the use of encryption services.
Social Media
Outrage! Our morals did not evolve to cope with social media - Big Think — bigthink.com Outrage is a useful emotion that helped our ancient ancestors survive. Today, it leaves us feeling angry, tired, powerless, and miserable.
eDiscovery and Legal Tech
eDiscovery and New Cloud Apps – eDiscovery Journal — ediscoveryjournal.com The Pandemic driven move to hybrid and remote work has created an explosion of apps addressing the myriad challenges facing digital professionals. Once upon a t
Mental Health
Remote workers need mental health benefits and support | HRD America — www.hcamag.com Working from home can still wreak havoc on your employees' well-being
It's Been a Rough Week So I'm Reminding Myself of These Things — www.childabusesurvivor.net Even when there are things in the world that I do not have the power to change, I use my own words to remind myself that there are things I CAN do. I can look after the people around me. I can add my voice to support mental health, survivors, and marginalized groups. I can find ways to contribute to making the world a better place in some small ways while also encouraging others to do the same. This also serves as a great reminder to myself that writing here about these topics is never a waste. I just found some hope by going back and reading what I wrote. Who knows who else might read these words and find a little hope too? That is another small thing I can do that is more useful than wallowing in my anxiety.