Mike McBride on Tech, eDiscovery and Mental Health - Issue #5
From the Blog
Quick Thought - What Does It Say That You Need To Shutdown Your Business for People to get a Break? — www.mikemcbrideonline.com If the issue is that people are getting burned out because they are either not taking time off, are continuing to work during their time off to avoid being overwhelmed with work that piled up, or are actually being contacted by their team members during their time off, how about we figure out how to create a culture that allows people to disconnect during their time off, instead of literally just closing up shop for a week?
Ransomware Gangs Are Mostly Just Following the Easy Money — www.mikemcbrideonline.com I saw a few references to this KELA study of ransomware based on doing some digging around the dark web to see what people were looking for. I wasn't necessarily surprised by what they found, because it seems relatively obvious, but I was a little surprised to see that it's pretty well-thought-out. I guess I had been working on an assumption that folks using ransomware were just throwing out a wide net and catching whatever they could, but it seems like maybe they are thinking a bit more about what they are doing.
Quick Thought - Meeting Free Days Also Say Something About Your Workplace Culture — www.mikemcbrideonline.com Yes, I am on record as saying that the most important thing in a remote workplace is communication, in fact, I'm a fan of over-communicating. That doesn't have to mean more meetings though. It can, honestly, just mean making use of all of the communication tools we have, especially when the discussion does not need to be had in real-time. If you make Monday "meeting-free" but cram five days' worth of meetings into the other four days of the week, you're not helping the situation. You're just rearranging deck chairs. The real change comes in figuring out how to make do with less meeting time, by taking advantage of alternatives when that makes sense, and by learning how to have more efficient meetings. (Start by not scheduling every meeting for 1 hour, for example. A 10-minute conversation can be a 10-minute meeting. There is no law that says all meetings must be divisible into 30-minute increments just because your Outlook calendar defaults to that.)
Linked: Intentional connection in the digital office — www.mikemcbrideonline.com The only thing preventing most offices from being fully remote is simply a lack of know-how, or an unwillingness to commit to that change and design the workplace around it. Once you do that, what you'll find is that rather than hoping for some magic collaboration, you decide who to invite to the table, and ask for their input, on purpose. Intentionally.
What Was Your Major and Does It Matter Now? — www.mikemcbrideonline.com If you've been reading much of the news about the recent Equifax data breach, you may have seen someone asking whether the Chief Information Security
From Elsewhere
Your Microsoft Account No Longer Requires a Password … Wait, What? – Review Geek — www.reviewgeek.com Microsoft has spent the last few years edging toward a passwordless future. And now, the company is allowing users to remove passwords from their Microsoft account in favor of Windows Hello, the Microsoft Authenticator app, SMS sign-in, and other forms of authentication. It’s an odd move, but it comes with a few major benefits.
I spoke to 5,000 people and these are the real reasons they’re quitting — www.fastcompany.com Their answers will show you how to keep your top performers happy over the long haul.
The Surprising Power of Simply Asking Coworkers How They’re Doing — hbr.org It builds connection and helps us all feel less lonely.
Hackers Are Going 'Deep-Sea Phishing,' So What Can You Do About It? | Threatpost — threatpost.com Nick Kael, CTO at Ericom, discusses how phishing is gaining sophistication and what it means for businesses.