Author: T Coe

On the dismay (and hopeful joy) of a “snag log”

One reason for my prolonged absence from posting is that I've been spending an inordinate amount of time overhauling some of my processes at work. Mainly, this has involved rethinking several steps of my production process for a proposal package through InDesign. But rather than get into the nitty-gritty of InDesign updates, I wanted to … Continue reading On the dismay (and hopeful joy) of a “snag log” →

On the challenges of company-wide communication

I've recently spent several hours considering what feels like an insurmountable challenge: How can my company update our communication practices for the new era of hybrid work? Back in March 2020, many of us were surprised at how relatively seamless the transition to remote work was, once our technology needs were met and our use … Continue reading On the challenges of company-wide communication →

On the silly shame of getting a job through who you know

My brother recently landed his first bona fide job as a graphic designer, having freelanced for several years. Our family is thrilled for him, obviously, but he was a little moody about one point: "I only got the job because of my friend, though," he said. "If he wasn't there, then there's no way I … Continue reading On the silly shame of getting a job through who you know →

The downside of taking verbatim meeting notes

I’m a decent enough typist that when someone is speaking at a thoughtful pace—no word vomit, mind you—I can type their thoughts out verbatim (with plenty of typos and messy punctuation, of course). These typing skills come in handy for one of my key job functions—extractor of information. I spend at least an hour or … Continue reading The downside of taking verbatim meeting notes →

What if context switching is part of my job?

One of the most powerful shortcuts to greater work productivity is simple: avoid context switching. Related to multitasking—the fool's errand of attempting to do two (or more!) things at once—context switching is switching different work contexts: screen and paper, Outlook and Teams, Word and Excel, etc. The problem with context switching? "Attention residue." Every time … Continue reading What if context switching is part of my job? →

Can you turn a negative professional service encounter into a positive one?

There is a great section of Chip and Dan Heath's book The Power of Moments where they dig into a study of service encounters. The takeaway is not what you would expect: Almost 25% of the positive encounters cited by customers [in a study of service encounters] were actually employees’ responses to service failures: slow … Continue reading Can you turn a negative professional service encounter into a positive one? →