Business Bytes
Curt Finch

Lifestyle Hacking

 

ComputerWorld has a new article out on 'lifestyle hacking,' which refers to "skirting various corporate controls put in place to protect security-related websites and critical endpoints." Lifestyle hackers are not interested in stealing bank account passwords or credit card numbers; rather, they are trying to get into Facebook and Twitter when their companies forbid it, often to improve their productivity rather than harm it. According to the article, there is a generational divide here: Baby Boomers do not like to multitask and see Web2.0 as a distraction while "Net Gen'ers" (Generation X + Y) use it to their advantage to get more done at the same time.

On the other hand, a recent study by Nucleus Research found that employees who use Facebook at work lose 1.5% productivity.

I have seen that Twitter, Facebook and especially LinkedIn - used wisely - can provide leads and contacts for business in ways that may not be initially obvious. It can also just be another way to waste time. I'm not the only one who thinks that goofing off at work may be a good thing.

Maybe you should try it.

Curt Finch is the founder & CEO of a resource management software company.

Curt Finch has more than two decades of software development and distributed workforce management experience. In 1997, Curt created the world's first internet-based timesheet application and the foundation for the current Journyx product offering. Curt has a B.S. in Computer Science from Virginia Tech. His book, All Your Money, is available on Amazon. @curtfinch