Cyber Monday: Tech Flops and Turkeys at Work (the Theme Song)

November 29, 2010 | by Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin

Since today is the relatively new "holiday" Cyber Monday (on which I for one will be buying exactly nothing, techno or otherwise), I thought it might be fun to check out a few technology topics that might be of interest to project managers. Here's a rundown:

From TechRepublic's aptly named "Sanity Check" feature: Did you refrain from checking your e-mail over Thanksgiving? If so, join me in the tiny minority of folks who actually take a break and forget about it when holidays and vacations come around.

Baseline chimed in with a slideshow about the encroachment of work into personal time: 87% said they would work over not just Thanksgiving but Christmas or Hanukkah. Love this headline: Don't Get Gravy on Your Company-Issued Phone.

I'm of two minds about this trend. Part of me says companies expect too much of people (and then are surprised when they burn out). The other suspects that a lot of people are so egotistical that they think the world can't go on even for a few days, without their chiming in. Opinions?

On another note, eWeek has a great article on this year's "Top Technology Turkeys." If you got stuck with one of these gadgets, you might not appreciate the humor, but for the rest of us, it's reassurance that we didn't miss the boat by refusing to buy the latest widget.

Finally, just for fun, Peter Taylor (of The Lazy PM fame) asks: what should the project management theme song be? You can view the list and vote for your top picks. The titles range from "Mission Impossible" to "Take this Job and Shove It" with a couple stops for scheduling ("Eight Days a Week") and finance ("Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime?"). I actually have a serious suggestion that's not on the list, though: since listening to Mozart (or other complex Baroque music) has been shown to improve test scores in math, shouldn't we all start the day with strings and flutes? Crank up the Tomaso Albinoni ... I've got numbers to crunch ...

About the Author

Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin

Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin is editor-in-chief for PM Solutions Research, and the author, co-author and editor of over twenty books on project management, including the 2007 PMI Literature Award winner, The AMA Handbook of Project Management, Second Edition.

View Posts by Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin

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