Productivity tools can be viable alternatives to work
Ever since some smart chap, or chappess, came up with the idea of a check list and impressed the boss the world has been beset with a search for bigger, better tools to replace what was essentially a very good idea.
Taken to the it's illogical conclusion this search can lead even the most sensible people to a point where the productivity tools themselves are a very viable alternative to work.
Gantt charts, mind maps, flow charts, to do lists, issues registers and all manners of witchcraft will not be of much use if you're woefully disorganised. Conversely if you're a maniacally organised.....
Tags: Another bite of the Apple: Postscripts for the electronic age
Out in the real world where sales people send physical letters it's common practice to use a postscript, or P.S. at the foot of a letter or proposal. It increases engagement with the item, and gives you a little extra punt at the end of your message.
Truth be known you'll probably find that a percentage of people read the postscript first as it stands out at the bottom of the page. This is by design with companies deliberately folding material into the envelope so the order of viewing is letterhead, footer and finally the body of the text.
It works either way around; If you see it first it distracts you from all the fine print in the body, or if you do read it last it'll to seal the deal with a cherry on the bottom. Either way, it's a powerful addition to the letter when used with care.
Next time you get one of those annoying Readers Digest sweepstakes mailers because your cousin signed you up, don't through it out.
Open it up slowly and think about what you see first, they spend a great deal more energy and money on designing their mail outs than most other companies and have been known to abuse the awesome descructive power of a P.S. more than once per mailout.
So, how to get the same little kick in the tail for your emailed sales pitch?
The nature of email is that you see the header and then scroll down a bit, maybe...
Telecom New Zealand DNS fail
This tickled my fancy, so just had to write a up a few words about it.
Telecom is the largest telco in New Zealand, and it appears they can't run a robust DNS setup for their own domain. Their ISP, Xtra, had some problems last year with their DNS, which caused problems for many of it's customers, but this time around it's their own corporate domain, telecom.co.nz that has fallen into the cyber bit-bucket....
