Articles Posted in Productivity

I am very impressed by John Medina, Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School (Pear Press, 2008). Medina recently spoke at a client of mine, I relished his presentation, and his engaging style is matched by his thoughtful and useful book. It devotes a chapter each to what brain science can teach us about twelve ways to optimize what goes on between our ears (See my post of Aug. 20, 2006: neuro-economics.)

His first chapter explains how exercise nudges our neurons (See my post of Feb. 25, 2008: exercise jogs our brains.). For example, exercise increases blood volume in a region of the brain called the dentate gyrus, an important part of the hippocampus, which is crucial to the formation of memories. Exercise also stimulates the creation of Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), which keeps neurons young and healthy and encourages the formation of new cells in the brain (at 22).

According to Medina, “the gold standard appears to be aerobic exercise, 30 minutes at a clip, two or three times a week. Add a strengthening regimen and you get even more cognitive benefit.” In-house counsel don’t need to lift trucks or run ultra-marathons, but a consistent fitness program helps both above and below the neck (See my posts of Nov. 6, 2007: energy; March 26, 2008: physical appearance; and April 16, 2007: corporate health centers.).

“The motor response of the retina, and the time it takes the image of a word to travel from the macula to the visual cortex for processing, limits the eye to about 500 words a minute.” Worse, most people top out at half that rate. According to Wired, May 28 at 121, there is no such thing as speed-reading if reading includes the trivial detail of comprehending the text.

If your in-box piles high with reading material, your best approach is to read selectively, deliberately build your schema for understanding what you read (See my post of April 23, 2008: mental schemas of experts are richer.), and try to absorb no more than what is necessary (See my posts of April 5, 2007: expectations that law firm lawyers will read about one’s company; and June 16, 2006: costs of reading emails.).

A future where in-house lawyers and their external counsel use brain-boosting drugs may not be far away. Just as with steroid abuse in baseball, the winner-takes-all competitions of major league law will mean that some lawyers will dabble in powerful drugs to enhance their cognitive powers (See my posts of March 2, 2008 #4: ampakines and the neurotransmitter glutamate; May 30, 2006: working memory; Aug. 19, 2007 # 2: yohimbine; and Feb. 7, 2006: 40 other drugs that improve memory, including modafinil.).

Support for this prediction comes from Wired, May 28 at 112-113. Aside from methamphetamines and nicotine – notorious and dangerous stimulants – the magazine lists six other products, each with potential mental benefits as well as possible bad side-effects. The six include adderall (“thought to optimize levels of dopamine and norepinephrine, enhancing concentration and turning mundane tasks into wondrous ones”), aniracetam (“seems to boost release of glutamate, speeding neurotransmission and improving memory”), aricept (“thought to reduce the breakdown of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that helps relay messages around the brain”), modafinil (“improves focus, pattern recognition, and short-term memory”), rolipram (“may elevate levels of cyclic adenosine monophosphate to boost memory”), and vasopressin (“produced naturally in the pituitary gland … [and] shown to help users learn more effectively (especially men)”).

Brain cocktails are surely coming (See my post of Aug. 20, 2006: neuro-economics.).

Here is a neurological gulp to go along with my sip on coffee previously espressoed (See my post of Dec. 19, 2007: grounds for insight.).

Your brain continuously creates adenosine, a chemical that scientists believe causes mental fatigue. Caffeine blocks the brain’s adenosine receptors, which counters the chemical’s dulling effects. This stimulating news comes, appropriately enough, from Wired, May 28 at 110-111.

If you drink something caffeinated to increase your alertness, but you do not want to suffer jitters, it is better to drink frequent small doses rather than a mega blast. No venti; several demitasses. Even better, munch some sugary or carbohydrate-rich snack at the same time and enjoy an extra cognitive kick, for “it seems that glucose and caffeine together do more to enhance cognition than either does alone.”

The Economist, April 12, 2008, at 8, sketches three addictive features of Blackberry use (or any PD). Since I have turned to the theme of destructive PDA-fixation before (See my post posts of April 3, 2005: productivity increases from PDAs, July 14, 2005: diminished productivity; June 5, 2006: workplace stress caused by them; Oct. 19, 2005 on telecommuters and PDAs; and Dec. 16, 2007: competing for attention against a Blackberry.) I mention each of them below.

Random reinforcement lures us on because every now and then among the dross there is gold. Second, the illusion that more information always leads us to better decisions means that we keep reading for that extra fillip of insight. The third reason is impression management, because we want our superiors to know that we are ever vigilant, never sleeping or on holiday. The hook slips further into the throat.

Obsessive use also engenders multi-tasking, or at least multi-something, which diminishes productivity (See my post of Feb. 8, 2008: five references to multi-tasking.).

Corp. Counsel, Vol. 15, April 2008 at 100, reports that a team of four lawyers of HSBC Holdings, the global banking giant, will respond to routine queries on UK law from its global service center in Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur. The pilot effort, if successful, may expand to handle questions from other regions. The article points out that this program “is possibly the first major U.K. financial institution to make such a move” (See my post of March 17, 2006: HSBC’s decentralized legal structure.). Clearly, it is a big step beyond the tasks we most hear about being done offshore, document review and standardized contracts to handle legal questions.

The article also mentions that BT Group has sent offshore some of its legal work, “which last year expanded its existing offshore legal function in New Delhi with two new outposts in Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires to support its U.S. operations.”

For all I have lashed out at tasks that should fall below the radar of in-house attorneys – which I refer to as quasi-legal services – I certainly have banged on about them. Many posts have fingered suspects (See my posts of March 18, 2005: contract management; April 18, 2005: mandatory contract review; July 14, 2005: quasi legal; July 21, 2005: definition and link to my article; Sept. 10, 2005: discussion of such tasks; Sept. 27, 2005 #2&3: tracking domain names and reviews of corporate blogs; March 3, 2006: lobbying; May 14, 2006: management of projects with legal ramifications; Sept. 25, 2006: negotiation; Sept. 17, 2006: equity award tracking; and June 4, 2007: filing for immigration status of employees.)

Other posts have discussed aspects of quasi-legal work (See my posts of Oct. 16, 2006: quasi-legal work and legalistic units; Oct. 18, 2006: relation to core competencies; and Feb. 23, 2006: how to spot quasi-legal tasks.).

In a company that patents inventions frequently, the legal department can improve many aspects of its contribution to that process. Lawyers can educate clients (See my post of May 10, 2006: Kraft Foods.), use technology (See my post of March 1, 2007 #2: Honeywell’s online tool.), take part in IP management groups (See my post of Feb. 1, 2006: Avery Dennison and Honeywell.), and streamline activities (See my post of Oct. 10, 2006: Avery Dennison.).

Meanwhile, companies can spur on inventors by offering them cash and non-cash awards. According to K&L Gates’ ad in Inside Counsel, Feb. 2008 at 90, American Express rolled out a reward system for inventors as part of its aggressive program to apply for hundreds of patents a year. Other companies have similarly plied their creative types with inducements (See my posts of March 8, 2006: International Truck & Engine; Oct. 10, 2006: Dial Corp.; July 25, 2007: Halliburton; and Jan. 27, 2006: Hewlett-Packard, cash and other forms of encouragement.). The company picks up the tab, but the in-house patent lawyers pick up the additional work (See my post of Aug. 5, 2007: law departments can influence the patent load.).

Many lawyers drive to and from their office. They can make productive use of that time. For example, they can listen to voicemail and return calls. They can jot down notes of what they need to do during the day or other ideas that will be useful. They can, like this blog author, dictate material to be transcribed later (See my posts of Nov. 20, 2006: dictation and productivity; Feb. 4, 2007: digital transcription technologies; Feb. 6, 2007: voice recognition software; and Feb. 23, 2008: references cited.).

Lawyers who commute can listen to tapes or CDs such as the Greatest Hits of Civil Procedure 101. Then again, lawyers can use drive time simply to think about work issues. All of these activities can turn a routine drive to or from work into a productive working session, or it can drive your Type-A side crazy (See my post of June 30, 2007: workaholism.).

My law department insists that I warn readers about the risk of automobile accidents and that I disclaim all liability.

In many high-tech companies, or perhaps I should say in many young companies, lawyers commonly bring their laptops to meetings. With power cables, LANs and WIFI networks readily available, the lawyers need never be electronically out of touch. They can be present at the meeting while all the time attending to their email, instant messages, stock quotes, and social networks.

What trips up this keyboard hyper-activity is that humans have limits on their ability to multi-task. Incoming email messages are too seductive to ignore (See my post of Feb. 20, 2008: diminished productivity.).

Even so, since stretches of every meeting have no relevance to some people, on-line lawyers can interleave their work into those slack periods. They can find and share (or even project) documents and quickly research something, such as a law firm being discussed. Everything electronic is available all the time for the plugged-in attorneys.