Productivity Hacks: 8 Things That Are Hurting Your ProductivityNot feeling productive enough?

From Uttoran Sen 

Yeah, this can happen to the best of us. Our life gets tangled into so much clutter that eventually getting out of it seems like an impossible task.

Take some hard steps today. Waiting for things to improve, especially when you know that waiting is certainly not going to help, is only going to make things slower for you. To make your life more productive, take strong decisions and do not overlook minor issues. While big problems need bigger fixes, small ones can just go unnoticed and continue to hamper your productivity.

1. Dump Someone Today

Let’s start with the big point first. Our productivity gets hurt the most from things that are either very minor or often is overlooked, or they are due to someone else’s fault. 

Kids in your home – While this one is a bit too deep (and surely I could come up with an entire article dedicated to this point alone) here in this article I am going to just point out one tip for all those that are working from home: Get out and go somewhere else! This might sound odd to many, but if you are serious about your productivity then it is better to just find a rented space and stay there during your work hours. Handling kids in your home office is just not possible, many have tried it and failed. Trust me on this.

Let’s come back to some of the minor points that affect our productivity in more than ways we can handle. Fixing them is easy — the problem is that we start dealing with it and take it for granted.

2. Kill That Noise

Certain noise is part of our lives. It can be anything — perhaps your computer fan, or the computer table whose repair you kept postponing. Small noises can be very distracting, and in the long term they can hamper your productivity. Here’s how you can combat that:

1. Shout out to your neighbors. If your neighbor’s kid is bothering you with yelling or their pet keeps barking all day long, consider some serious action against them. Don’t let other people bother you.
2. Install a noise reduction mechanism. Some noise you can deal with, others you just have to live with. If the traffic outside is your concern and it can’t be helped, try fighting it off with some noise reduction methods.
3. Switch off that TV in the next room. A low-sound television or music player being enjoyed in the next room can still steal some of your valuable concentration. If the program is not important enough, try switching it off. Better still, try lowering the sound further and closing the door to make sure that it does not entertain you.
4. Get a peaceful computer.  Don’t we all want a Mac? So get it.

3. Pet Management

Barking dogs are never my cup of tea. But if your pet is important to you, then it is time to learn some lessons on pet management. Get “offline” help from your local pet expert. There are many things that you do not know about pets, and perhaps that is the reason why your beloved pet is not really happy with you.

4. Snacks

This is an excellent choice when it comes to watching TV, films or sports — but when it comes to getting some work done, snacks are just another distraction. The simple reason is that entertainment and work are totally different things and thus a different kind of concentration is required to get the work done.

5. Overall Health

Poor health can be a big reason for your productivity drop. Have you put on some extra weight? Is your lack of exercise a reason why you might be having stomach and gastric problems? Without getting into some real health tips here — just make sure to exercise a bit, get enough green vegetables in your daily food intake, and increase your water consumption for a bit of health improvement.

1. Lack of sleep. 8 hours a day of sleep is important to keep your spirits high. While that extra hour of late night work might sound like a good idea when running late on a deadline, the quality of work will surely take a beating — if not instantly, in the long haul. Do yourself a favor: don’t mess around with your sleeping routine. Fix it…while you still can.
2. Is something bothering you? If that is the case, then get that fixed first. In case you can’t fix it, stop thinking about it. And that’s that. Here is a small mantra that you should follow.

Stop thinking about things beyond your control and you will be fine.

6. Your Workplace Setup

Yaro Starak has a standing setup at his workplace. That is, he does all his computer related work standing. The point is — feel free to do that which improves your productivity.

7. Quit Your Addictions

While tea and coffee can sometimes help in increasing your productivity, I doubt very much that alcohol or smoking will.

8. Time Management

Is your workload killing your productivity? Setting up a timetable properly will help you to improve your overall productivity. Start doing all the creative work at the start of the day. If the extra hour of late night work is really important, allocate email checking and other “junk” work for that time period. (Note: If this article was not written in the early hours of the day, it would have surely lacked in its flavor.)

Fixing minor issues can sometimes play a big role in enhancing your overall productivity and allow your creativity to flow like never before.

How To Protect Your Company From Invention Theft

By John Villasenor

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If you have not read first the post: “Untangling The Real Meaning Of ‘First-To-File’ Patents“ click here.

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The AIA (America Invents Act) now replaces the “first-to-invent” system with what is commonly called a “first-to-file” system. The first-to-file rules will apply to patent applications with an effective filing date of March 16, 2013 or later.

There has been much dispute over whether this shift will benefit American innovation over the long term. However, when it comes to the issue of intellectual property (IP) security, the verdict is already in: The first-to-file system increases the risk of invention theft.

To understand why, it’s helpful to consider an example. Suppose that an employee at your company, which we’ll call EthicalTech, has come up with a new invention. She has documented it internally and is currently engaged in discussions with colleagues and company management regarding when to file for a patent. Now suppose that one of her colleagues, in violation of his employment agreement (and quite possibly of various laws), decides to describe the idea to a friend who works for a competitor that we’ll call FraudCo. The friend presents the idea to his managers at FraudCo, who then quickly file for a patent on the stolen invention. A few weeks later, EthicalTech files its own patent application.

What happens? Under the outgoing first-to-invent system, the internal documentation created by the true inventor can ensure that the EthicalTech gets the patent, even though FraudCo filed first. 

Under the incoming first-to-file system, however, things are more complicated--and far less favorable--for EthicalTech. Based on the dates alone, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) will assume that FraudCo has the rights to the patent since it filed first (and since neither company disclosed the invention prior to filing). To enable companies like EthicalTech to rectify the obvious injustice of this result, the first-to-file system includes a new “derivation proceeding” designed in part to provide a mechanism to recover stolen IP.

Under this proceeding, EthicalTech can file a petition with the PTO explaining the basis for its belief that FraudCo stole the invention. If the unscrupulous employee was foolish enough to use EthicalTech’s own email system to tell his equally unscrupulous friend at FraudCo about the invention, the theft can be easy to document. But suppose that the information was exchanged in a conversation.

In practice, it will often be difficult or impossible for EthicalTech to meet the PTO’s requirement of filing a petition “supported by substantial evidence” that the idea was stolen. An additional complication is that there is a relatively short window during which EthicalTech even has the right to file the petition. (The window lasts for one year and is tied to the PTO publication of a claim to the invention). EthicalTech can also choose to address the theft through litigation against FraudCo in federal court (under a different timing window for when it can file the complaint), though it would face challenges in establishing the theft in that venue as well.

The bottom line is that the first-to-file system is not friendly to companies that fall victim to IP theft. And, while it is seldom discussed in technology startup circles, IP theft is a significant and growing threat. If there’s any silver lining to this aspect of patent reform, it lies in spurring companies to reduce their exposure. 

There are at least three ways in which IP can be stolen. First, a company’s computers can be accessed by an unauthorized outsider. Most corporate systems aren’t nearly as secure as their information technology managers would like to believe. Second, an unscrupulous insider can compromise IP. Third, a well-meaning but careless employee can inadvertently place company IP at risk. 

Here are some steps that companies can take to increase IP security. These steps are useful in general, but will become particularly important with the move next March to the first-to-file system:

• Companies should educate employees regarding sound practices to safeguard IP. Unencrypted laptops, company emails forwarded to personal accounts, and careless conversations can all lead to IP landing in the wrong hands.
• In many technology companies, proprietary information is stored across a complex and rapidly evolving mix of local and cloud-based systems. In this type of dynamic environment, it’s important to make sure that a company’s IP security procedures keep pace with changes to its information technology infrastructure.
• Once the first-to-file system is in place, companies will have a much higher incentive to act quickly to protect new inventions. Protecting inventions quickly closes the window on both law-abiding competitors who independently arrive at the same idea and unethical competitors who apply for a patent based on stolen IP.
• Many technology employees change jobs often. This dynamism is an important ingredient in the success of technology hubs such as Silicon Valley and Austin. However, while exiting employees have every right to walk out the door with their talents, they don’t have the right to take company IP with them. Procedures should be reviewed and tightened to ensure that IP stays with the company when employees change jobs. 

While much of the above is common-sense advice, startups often fail to follow it. The transition to first-to-file furnishes one more reason to ensure that one of your company’s most valuable assets--its IP--remains under your control.

Untangling The Real Meaning Of "First-To-File" Patents

By John Villasenor

The America Invents Act (AIA) sweeping patent reform legislation was signed into law in September 2011.

The most widely discussed feature of the AIA is the impending replacement of the longstanding “first-to-invent” system with what is commonly--and somewhat inaccurately--called a “first-to-file” system. The first-to-file provision will apply to patent applications with an effective filing date of March 16, 2013, or later. In the fast-moving world of technology companies, that might seem like a lifetime in the future. 

But there are at least three very good reasons to start planning for this change now. 

First, the new first-to-file system will fundamentally alter the role of public “disclosures” in preserving the patentability of an invention. Disclosures can include presentations and demonstrations at trade shows, official postings on company websites, and even unauthorized postings by company employees on social networking sites. For all but the smallest companies, it will take significant time to ensure that everyone who communicates with the outside world about company technology--including executives, managers, marketers, developers, and salespeople--is fully aware of the new landscape regarding disclosures.

Second, a company can use the time between now and March 16, 2013, to file patent applications that will be pending during the transition from first-to-invent to first-to-file. As I’ll discuss in a later post, that presents the opportunity to create some very interesting and potentially valuable options with respect to downstream patent applications.

Third, the first-to-file system will create some new exposures with respect to intellectual property (IP) security. 

But first, an explanation of “first-to-file”:

The term “first-to-file” can evoke images of a race to the patent office, and there are indeed scenarios in which the patent will go to the winner of just such a race. However, that is far from the whole story. 

Consider, for example, the case of an employee at Company A, who conceives an invention in May, works diligently to reduce it to practice, and files the corresponding patent application in August. Suppose, further, that an employee at Company B independently conceives the same invention in June and files for a patent in July. 

Who gets the patent? Under the pre-AIA first-to-invent rules, Company A can get the patent because its employee invented first. However, under the new first-to-file system, things will be more complicated.

If Company A does not make any public disclosures regarding the invention before the August filing, Company B can get the patent by virtue of its earlier filing date. This is exactly what would be expected given the term “first-to-file.”

On the other hand, suppose that Company A describes the invention in detail (or in more formal terms, provides a disclosure) at a trade show, before a disclosure or a filing by the second company. In this case, Company A can get the patent even though it filed after Company B. This isn’t at all what you’d expect in a system termed “first-to-file.” 

Why does this happen? The pre-filing disclosure by the first company starts the clock ticking on a one-year “grace period” that, under the AIA’s first-to-file rules, is not only protective with respect to Company A's U.S. rights to the invention, but also removes the ability of anyone else, including Company B, to obtain such rights. Thus, an early disclosure can be beneficial with respect to U.S. patent rights.

However, there is a hitch: The same disclosure that can help capture U.S. rights to an invention under the grace period in the AIA’s first-to-file provision can eliminate those rights in the many international jurisdictions that do not recognize a grace period. 

So what should companies do? Here are some recommendations:

• One strategy that can preserve both U.S. and international rights, under both the current first-to-invent rules and the new first-to-file rules, is to ensure that every public disclosure of a potentially patentable invention is preceded by a patent application or a sufficiently detailed provisional application filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). But it isn’t always practical or financially feasible to do this for every single company invention.
• American companies should perform an early analysis of company inventions to determine if they should be patented in the U.S and internationally, in the U.S. alone, or held as trade secrets. The first-to-file provision of the AIA increases the incentives to perform this analysis in a timely manner, and then to take action accordingly. (Non-American companies should also perform an early analysis of their inventions, but in many instances they may elect to initially pursue patent protection in their home countries, and then to expand that protection “internationally” to include the U.S. and other countries.)
• For those inventions that a company wishes to patent only in the U.S., inaction can be costly under the AIA’s first-to-file provision. To the extent that a company remains quiet about an invention while contemplating whether or not to file for patent protection, it stands exposed to the possibility of losing the right to obtain a patent if a competitor files--or discloses--first. 
• Some companies may find themselves targeted by competitors’ disclosures designed specifically to foreclose patent opportunities. To reduce their vulnerability to such attacks, companies can engage in preemptive “defensive” disclosures, but must be mindful of the impacts of these disclosures on their own patent filing deadlines and international rights.
• If a company intends to use a disclosure at an event such as a trade show to establish U.S. patent rights under the grace period in the AIA, the information presented should be sufficiently complete and detailed. And, once a company has started the clock ticking on the grace period, to avoid losing patent rights it must make a suitable filing with the PTO within one year of the first disclosure of the invention.

An additional challenge is that the AIA does not specifically define what constitutes “disclosure” sufficient to preserve patentability under the new first-to-file rules. While it is clear that a detailed presentation at a trade show would typically be a disclosure, suppose that the same information is instead posted in a difficult-to-find section of a company web site and then taken down after two weeks? Or two hours? Suppose that a disclosure is only partial? Is the commercial release of a product containing an invention a disclosure? The definitive answers to these questions will need to wait for the inevitable court tests.

So where does all of this leave things? The short answer is: it’s complicated. However, despite this complexity, there are plenty of concrete steps that companies can take to successfully navigate the AIA’s first-to-file rules. 

As noted above, those rules will apply to patent applications with an effective filing date of March 16, 2013 or later. In addition, between now and March 2013 there are some unique opportunities for companies to boost the value of their IP portfolios by taking advantage of the impending transition from first-to-invent to first-to-file. 


Now check the post: "How To Protect Your Company From Invention Theft"