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I’m on vacation. Here are some past letters that I’m making new again, rather than leaving them to wilt in the archives. 1. I worked for my mom and now she won’t stop bugging me with work questions Five years ago, I was offered a job at the company my mom had been working at for 20+ years. At the time, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my career and I needed the insurance and a higher wage, so I accepted the offer despite my knowing it was ultimately going to be a bad situation. Unfortunately, I stayed for five years in the horrible working conditions. One of which was working directly for my mom all five years. During my five years at that company, I took it upon myself to change/update many processes and procedures to enable people work more effectively and efficiently. I also created many instructions on how to do my job so if and when I left, anyone would be able to sit down and do my job. On my departure this past November, I made it clear I would be available to answer questions, but they would have to contract me for work if necessary. I also strongly recommended they hire at least a temp for my last two weeks so I could teach them before I left. Unfortunately, the COO decided they didn’t need to replace me and my mom could take on my job. This is not the case, but it’s their business, not mine. Because of this, I keep getting calls from my mom. These calls are for things I left instructions for, things she used to do for 20 years, things I trained her on prior to my departure, and things you could easily Google. I would understand if it was a question about where some information was, but when she calls me on a Friday afternoon on my way home from my current job asking if I could stop by the office and help her create a PowerPoint for a big meeting, it feels like she is crossing a boundary. Sometimes, she’ll even call and text me about work-related issues while I’m at my new job until I respond. When I tell her I cannot help her in this manner, but she could contract me, she pulls the “daughter card” and says I should do it for her as a favor. I don’t know how to react to this. I keep trying to remind her that I can’t do this as a favor because it used to be my job, she gets silent and offended and eventually hangs up. Is there some other way I could get my old boss/mom to stop calling me with work-related questions? If your mom is generally reasonable, you could try talking to her about this at a time when she’s not calling you looking for help. Go out to lunch with her or something and say, “Mom, it’s really important to me to make a clean break from Old Company and be able to focus on my new job. It’s not healthy for me to get pulled back into Old Company, and I definitely can’t answer question while I’m at my new job. I tried to leave a lot of documentation when I left, but I can’t help beyond that.” You could even say, “One reason I left was because it wasn’t good for our relationship to be working together and I was looking forward to just being mother/daughter again.” But if she’s not generally reasonable — and I suspect she might not be, based on what you’ve described — then you’ll need to just keep repeating, “No, I’m sorry, I can’t help with that.” Say it kindly but hold firm. At some point she’s likely to figure out she’s not getting anything from you and it will lessen (one hopes). But be aware that you’ll need to be consistent; if you give in and help one time in 10, you’ll train her to keep asking. If you’re really backed into a corner, though, you can also try, “Hmmm, I don’t remember — it’s been a few months now.” Also, consider screening her calls for a while. Call her back a day or two later so that she doesn’t get the immediate gratification of reaching you instantly when she has a work question. And mute phone notifications from her while you’re at work. – 2019 2. I don’t get my own parking pass because I’m married to a coworker I recently started working at the same company as my husband. We are in different departments, have different schedules, and are in buildings three blocks apart. Both buildings are in the downtown area of our city where parking is prohibitively expensive. The company offers reimbursement for a parking space in local parking garages that brings the cost down to about $40 a quarter from $300 a quarter. I never planned on commuting with my husband. I have not been bashful about saying this to anyone who asks. He runs late and we have different work schedules. I also don’t want the responsibility and stress of waking him up and keeping him on task. He is getting better at doing this on his own, but the progress has been hard fought due to mental illness. I’m afraid if I’m around pushing and pulling, he will lose that progress. My company (specifically the HR department) is now saying that as we are a married couple we can only have reimbursement for one parking pass. I reemphasized that I wanted my own pass and pointed out that we have schedules that sometimes vary by multiple hours. They talked to my manager and she said that I can move my schedule to match his when it is only an hour or two separate. HR also said I could use the bus when our schedule varies too much. Is this something I can/should push back on? I want to be viewed as an individual employee not the wife of so-and-so. I kind of feel like a brat being stuck on this but it is one of a couple surprises in the first week that mean I am taking a larger pay cut than I initially thought. Yes, push back on it. They’re making presumptuous assumptions about what will work for your marriage, and it’s odd. I could maybe see them asking if you’d need a pass or not, but their insistence on this once you said you did is bizarre. You shouldn’t receive fewer benefits simply because you’re married to another employee. I’d say it this way: “It’s not possible for me to share a parking pass with my husband because we’ll be driving to work separately, due to often having different commitments in the evenings. My understanding is that this is part of the benefits package offered to all employees, and I don’t want to miss out on part of the compensation package simply because of my marital status. Since I won’t be driving to work with Bob, I do need my own pass, like any other employee would.” Present “we won’t be driving to work together” as an unalterable fact — regardless of any schedule changes they offer — and see where that gets you. – 2018 Read an update to this letter here. 3. Should I send employers a lottery ticket with my resume? I have been job hunting for a while now without much success. I’m looking for creative ways to get noticed by employers, and I had the idea to send my resume along with a lottery ticket and the message “Take a chance on meeting me!” My thinking is that it’s a cute way to stand out and some hiring managers might be intrigued enough to call me for an interview. Do you see any downsides to this? Nooooo, do not do this. It’s really gimmicky, and it’ll look like you don’t trust your qualifications to merit an interview on their own (or understand why people get hired). It’s so gimmicky, in fact, that if I would have called you for an interview without the lottery ticket, this would make me hesitate to do it, both because the gimmick would raise questions about your judgment and understanding of professional norms and because I’d have qualms about reinforcing whatever thought process led to this. The way you stand out to employers is by being a highly qualified candidate with a resume that shows a track record of achievement and writing a compelling, personalized cover letter. I know that’s frustrating — how will you stand out if other people have those things too, after all? — but that’s the only way to do it, at least if you want to screen for good employers who hire competently. – 2019 4. My office wants to make me use a nickname My name is, let’s say, Jane Smith. I just received this communication on messenger from my office manager: Quick question: do you have a fav nickname you like to go by? How do you feel about “JS”‘? lol On a scale of 1-10, how excited are you about Smithy? I believe this is part of an overall strategy to improve office culture. How do I politely say I like to go by my first name/last name combination. Or just the former. Apparently everyone in the office got the same request and it’s mandatory. I have to submit a nickname by Monday! I honestly don’t have a nickname. My boyfriend suggested that I request to be referred to as “Your Majesty” but I’m a little worried that my coworkers might actually start calling me that. “I feel strongly that names are personal and I don’t go by a nickname or want to go by one. So just Jane for me.” If you’re pressed, “Really, I’m just Jane. In my family, names are a meaningful and personal thing and I would feel really uncomfortable having a nickname.” And if you’re up for it: “I appreciate that this is an attempt to make the culture here friendlier. Being forced to go by a nickname I don’t like and don’t use would be the opposite of morale-boosting for me. If we want to improve the culture, maybe we can talk about (insert actually useful thing your office needs here).” – 2019 The post my mom won’t stop bugging me with work questions, office wants me to use a nickname, and more appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

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IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: I. L David Marquet and Michael Gillespie on focusing on our future self: “By changing our time-based point of reference, we inoculate ourselves from the present moment-biased effect of temporal discounting that we are otherwise subject to. The temporal distance reduces the importance and even the visibility of practical constraints. We do not feel them. When those practical constraints fade away, what we are left with is our ideal self. It is almost always a better human and allows us to focus on what we care most about, distinct from the urgent hassles, compromises, concessions, and justifications of today.” Source: Distancing: How Great Leaders Reframe to Make Better Decisions II. Margaret Andrews on managing yourself: “Self-understanding gives us insight, but self-management helps us get there. Altering the way we behave changes the way people perceive and respond to us, and can change the way we think and feel about ourselves. With time and practice, the new behavior becomes a more natural component of our leadership style and way of being. This, in turn, has transformative effect on our own leadership abilities as well as the product of the work we do with and through others.” Source: Manage Yourself to Lead Others: Why Great Leadership Begins with Self-Understanding * * * Look for these ideas every Thursday on the Leading Blog. Find more ideas on the LeadingThoughts index. * * * Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas. View the full article

The option for holders of older government-sponsored enterprise bonds that predated the move to uniform mortgage-backed securities now has a deadline. View the full article

A coalition of mortgagees said the zombie seconds law negatively impacts 1.2 million junior liens statewide, despite just over 500 potential "zombie" loans. View the full article

The days of Republicans’ hard stances against marijuana have seemingly gone up in smoke. On Thursday, President The President signed an executive order to reschedule marijuana as a Schedule III substance—an effective downgrade from Schedule I, the most dangerous classification, which includes substances like heroin. The change could allow for marijuana to be used in more medical research, and the order also authorized the creation of a pilot program to reimburse Medicare patients for CBD products. The reclassification does not legalize marijuana, and seemingly completes or finalizes a recommendation made by the Biden administration in 2022 that the drug be rescheduled. “The Attorney General shall take all necessary steps to complete the rulemaking process related to rescheduling marijuana to Schedule III of the CSA in the most expeditious manner in accordance with Federal law,” the executive order reads. Notably, The President’s reclassification order was signed days after The President ramped up his administration’s stance on another controlled substance, fentanyl. On Monday, he signed another executive order that called fentanyl “closer to a chemical weapon than a narcotic,” and designated it as “a weapon of mass destruction.” Cannabis stocks actually ended Thursday in the red, despite the news. Tilray Brands, for example, was down 4.3% for the day, and Canopy Growth was down almost 12%. Members of the cannabis industry are cautiously optimistic about what the executive order actually means, however. “The Administration’s order calling to remove the cannabis plant from its Schedule I classification validates the experiences of tens of millions of Americans, as well as those of tens of thousands of physicians, who have long recognized that cannabis possesses legitimate medical utility,” said Paul Armentano, the Deputy Director at NORML, an organization that advocates for cannabis reform laws, in a statement. “This directive certainly marks a long overdue change in direction.” Others are much more skeptical of what it means for the legal market, but do think the changes mark a boon for medical cannabis. “Cannabis is still federally illegal,” said Ryan Hunter, the chief revenue officer at Spherex, which creates vapes and cannabis-infused gummies, in comments shared with Fast Company. “The real win here is for medical cannabis,” he added. “At Schedule III, it’s much more practical for mainstream physicians to prescribe cannabis products.” Still others are simply happy to see reclassification come to fruition. “We welcome the decision to reschedule cannabis. This long-overdue step aligns regulation with science and public opinion, providing a necessary foundation for patient relief and compliant business growth,” said Socrates Rosenfeld, the CEO and co-founder of Jane Technologies, which creates software for cannabis businesses, in a statement shared with Fast Company. “We are hopeful this marks the beginning of real momentum toward the broader, systemic reform needed for a truly just and accessible industry.” View the full article

It’s “where are you now?” month at Ask a Manager, and all December I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past. Here are three updates from past letter-writers. 1. Employee keeps working unpaid overtime and lies about it (#5 at the link) When I had a stern talk to Pam warning her she would be fired for any further unapproved overtime, she wrote an email to say she was suing us. This bizarre announcement prompted me to start poking around as you advised. I discovered Pam had been stealing cash from work. It explained a lot about her eagerness to do overtime. She was outraged when confronted. Pam declared that she was innocent before god and swore to her recently passed mother’s name she never stole. She wept and pleaded innocence so convincingly that I would’ve believed her if not for the CCTV evidence. After she was fired, she reported us for migrant exploitation. She alleged (falsely) we forced her to work 100 hour weeks without pay. She would also call me 40-50 times a day and send threatening emails demanding hundreds of thousands of dollars. This was bewildering because Pam was pleasant, popular with customers, and mild mannered. She did lie about weird personal things unrelated to work, but otherwise she was a good worker. I wasn’t particularly concerned with her threats because she went back to the her home country after being fired and her work visa automatically cancelled. None of the official investigations came to anything because we clearly had done no wrong, but had plenty of evidence of her wrongdoing. When she continued the harassment, however, I sent her an email explaining if she contacted me one more time I would post CCTV footage of her stealing on YouTube and forward it to everyone I knew in the local community. She completely stopped after this — except the one time when she listed me as a work reference months later (!!!!) She did not get a good work reference. 2. My coworker blames sexism when she’s just bad at her job The coworker was let go, and it’s been a lot easier without her. They hired someone more experienced to a similar role who was also a woman, and this new employee has been doing well. I’ve worked a little more directly with the supervisor in question, and I don’t know what he’s like as a manager, but overall he’s much more competent than she portrayed him. In my original letter, I left out some things like her utter lack of a filter and tendency to carelessly gossip about sensitive things that were grating on me as well, so overall it’s such a relief not to have to work with her anymore. Thanks for your advice and to the commenters! It was excellent as always. 3. How can I get what I need from my flaky boss? I really appreciated you publishing my question. I don’t have much of an update to share which is why I was waiting – I am still in the same job with the same boss. She has improved somewhat but I still struggle to get reliable responses/follow through from her throughout the workweek. Your advice was helpful and I’ve found that it’s gotten easier to deal with this as I’ve become more comfortable in my position and confident in my own knowledge and decision making. She has become more self-aware in some ways and has been better about keeping our meetings, documenting things, etc. I also have learned I have to document everything so that I can go back and remind her what she said before! At this point she is generally happy to give me a lot of autonomy and I feel a little more prepared now to operate with that autonomy/get help from other sources. It was just scary at first when I was a new grad working with our vulnerable client population with so little guidance! I am also prepping for the next step in my career so it is much easier to deal with all of this knowing I have an end date! Thank you so much again for your help! I really appreciated everyone’s comments and thoughts. The post updates: employee lies about overtime, coworker blames sexism just is just bad at her job, and more appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

The Dallas bank turned down another offer because it thought it could get a higher price from Fifth Third, and also could ink an agreement faster, according to Comerica's latest regulatory filing. View the full article

Don’t beat yourself up if you do some serious damage on a cheese plate during holiday festivities this year: You just may do your future self a favor. A new study has found that eating nearly 2 ounces or more of high-fat cheese each day has been associated with a 16% lower risk of dementia, according to the study published this week in Neurology. Lest you think this is some sort of propaganda by Big Cheese, the study followed nearly 28,000 adults in Malmö, Sweden for roughly 25 years. The study’s findings indicate that Swedes who ate more cheese with a fat content exceeding 20%—which includes many varieties of cheddar, gouda, and blue cheese, among others—had a lower risk of all-cause dementia. The researchers didn’t find a similar link with other high-fat dairy products and noted that “further confirmation of these findings in diverse populations is warranted.” While the amount of cheese in question—equivalent to less than a handful of diced cubes—may not seem significant, scientists are keen to identify even something small that could raise or lower the risk of dementia. More than 6 million Americans are currently living with dementia, and 42% of Americans over the age of 55 could eventually develop such declines in mental abilities, according to figures from the National Institutes of Health. QUESTIONING THE FINDINGS It might be tempting to give yourself permission to go wild on full-fat cheese “for your brain,” though your waistline could pay the price. The study’s authors said their findings require “caution in interpretation,” something that other experts were quick to do. The researchers only captured the dietary habits of participants at one point in 1991 and didn’t follow up with the majority of them over the course of the next 25 years. This sort of approach raises questions about the robustness of the study’s conclusions, Dr. Tian-Shin Yeh, a physician and nutritional epidemiologist at Taipei Medical University in Taiwan, wrote in an editorial published alongside the study. What’s more, the benefits of eating high-fat cheeses were most evident when participants swapped cheese for other foods, like processed or high-fat red meat, which might just reveal the difference of better options, according to Yeh. “It is not so much that high-fat cheese is inherently neuroprotective, but rather that it is a less harmful choice than red and processed meats,” she wrote. BENEFITS OF CHEESE The findings may not apply to somewhere like the U.S., where much of our cheese is processed, according to Emily Sonestedt, who led the new study and is a senior lecturer and associate professor of nutrition at Lund University in Sweden, Still, it’s possible that there are benefits from certain healthful components of cheese, like vitamins K or B12, or minerals like calcium, she told The New York Times. As with any of these sorts of studies, it’s also important for people to remember that correlation doesn’t imply causation—something Sonestedt reinforced. “This does not prove that cheese prevents dementia, but it does challenge the idea that all high-fat dairy is bad for the brain,” Sonestedt said in an email to CNN. HIGH-FAT FOODS IN FOCUS Some people don’t need purported brain benefits to convince them to eat foods high in saturated fats. These foods have been embraced in the keto diet, among others, in recent years, despite long-standing nutrition guidelines that recommend people limit their consumption of foods high in saturated fats because of the evidence that they raise LDL cholesterol levels, along with the risk of heart attack or stroke. But those guidelines are likely to see a shake-up in 2026 as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. secretary for health and human services, has said that the next edition of the federal dietary guidelines will instead “stress the need to eat” saturated fats, dairy, fresh meat, and vegetables. And even if the results of this study are appealing to cheese lovers, the quirks of how the research was conducted mean that some experts aren’t exactly buying the results. NOT BUYING IT In fact, because the link between cheese consumption and dementia risk was “at the margin of statistical significance,” it could be due to just chance, notes Dr. Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston. “I’m not running out to buy a block of cheese,” Willett said in an email to CNN. View the full article

Congress has passed a bill giving taxpayers who have been affected by natural disasters some extra time to file a claim for a tax credit or refund. View the full article

Bitcoin investors are bracing for “Witching Friday” tomorrow, December 18, when billions of options are due to expire—making for what could be a highly volatile, roller-coaster ride at the end of the week for the markets. Some $23 billion in contracts are set to expire just on Deribit, the largest Bitcoin exchange, according to Bloomberg. Here’s what to know. What is ‘Witching Friday’? “Witching Friday,” also known as “triple witching” or “the triple witching hour,” refers to the last hour of the stock market trading session on the third Friday of March, June, September, and December, when three kinds of securities expire simultaneously, often leading to increased volatility. Those securities are: stock index futures, stock index options, and stock options, (plus single-stock futures), according to Decrypt. These “triple witching” days often generate more trading activity, thus more volatility, or larger swings, since the expiration of the contracts trigger buying or selling of the underlying security, per Investopedia. “These witching days simply indicate higher volume and the ability to inflict maximum pain if certain thresholds are hit,” Michael Terpin, author of Bitcoin Supercycle and CEO of Transform Ventures, told Fast Company. “It’s by no means a guarantee of falling prices, but with the steady drumbeat of fear in the market, including the Japan rate hike decision, the odds of a lower low grow higher.” Where does Bitcoin stand now? In the lead-up to Friday’s event, Bitcoin continues to fall, as it has in recent weeks, triggered in part by the Federal Reserve’s recent interest rate cut by 25 basis points on December 10, and compounded by uncertainty over the long-term, macroeconomic environment ahead, the Bank of Japan’s potential rate hike, and fear of growing U.S. inflation in 2026. On Thursday afternoon, at the time of this writing, the digital cryptocurrency (BTC) was trading down nearly 1%, dipping well below $90,000, to $85,184. It’s part of an overall decline in the crypto market that also saw closely watched digital asset XRP fall nearly 2%, hovering around $1.82 per token on Thursday, while Ethereum (ETH) held steady and was trading at $2,802 at the time of this writing. View the full article

President Donald The President’s plans to add a ballroom to the White House would be bad for the design of the White House complex and grounds, according to a National Park Service (NPS) report. The report said the annex would “disrupt the historical continuity of the White House grounds and alter the architectural integrity of the easts side of the property.” Still, The President is clear for now to move ahead with his plans. The NPS report is just the latest speed bump facing The President’s plan to build a new annex since he had the White House East Wing demolished in October without seeking outside approval. It’s a saga of inflated expectations and a ballooning budget that’s blowing past calls for preservation and restraint. The NPS’s environmental assessment was released because the agency manages the White House, its grounds, and surrounding areas including Lafayette Square and sites in and around the Ellipse. The National Environmental Policy Act and Department of Interior regulations also compel the agency to. Their assessment found no significant environmental impact from building a ballroom and noted successive administrations have wanted a permanent, secure event space on White House grounds. But it also highlighted aesthetic and cultural concerns about The President’s plans. That might not matter. Here’s where The President’s plans to build a new building on the White House grounds stands: The President replaces the original architect The President confirmed on Dec. 4 to the Washington Post that he replaced the ballroom’s original architect McCrery Architects with a new firm called Shalom Baranes Associates. The switch up came following reports that The President and McCrery Architects CEO Jim McCrery II disagreed over the planned size of the new building. McCrery reportedly believed The President’s plans for a 90,000-square-foot ballroom would dwarf the 55,000-square-foot building of the main White House mansion. The President has inflated the estimated cost and size of the planned ballroom over time, and initially said it wouldn’t interfere with the East Wing. In July the White House announced a building that would seat 650 people for an estimated $200 million. That grew to plans for complex with space to seat around 1,000 people that The President said Wednesday would cost $400 million. The White House says private donors are paying for construction costs. Preservationists file lawsuit to pause construction The National Trust for Historic Preservation filed a lawsuit on Dec. 12 accusing The President of breaking the law by moving ahead with the East Wing teardown and plans for a new ballroom without public input or any sort of independent review. The National Trust said that The President should have submitted his plans to Congress and the National Capital Planning Commission and the group asked the court to put a pause on construction. “No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever—not President The President, not President Biden, and not anyone else,” the lawsuit reads. “And no president is legally allowed to construct a ballroom on public property without giving the public the opportunity to weigh in.” In a court filing on Dec. 15, the The President administration claimed construction must continue for unnamed national security reasons. Attorneys for the administration said the National Capital Planning Commission and the congressional Commission of Fine Arts will review The President’s plans “without this Court’s involvement.” A judge on Dec. 16 ruled that construction could move ahead after it rejected the National Trust’s request to temporarily halt the project. NPS weighs in An NPS environmental assessment published Dec. 15 estimated The President’s plans for a 90,000-square-foot building with seating for more than 1,000 people would be completed by The President’s final summer in office, in 2028. It also said the building would adversely effect the cultural landscape of the White House grounds. The report notes the imbalance of a ballroom that’s bigger than the rest of the White House and in adding a two-story East Colonnade. “The new building’s larger footprint and height will dominate the eastern portion of the site, creating a visual imbalance with the more modestly scaled West Wing and Executive Mansion,” it says. “These changes will adversely alter the design, setting, and feeling of the White House and the grounds over the long-term.” The assessment also notes that construction introduce temporary risks to the rest of the White House due to things like noise and vibration. Regardless of the report’s findings, it concludes that the planned building would meet the needs of providing a permanent, secure event space on the White House grounds, and that it doesn’t rise to the level of needing an environmental impact statement to be prepared. View the full article

Earlier this year, OpenAI announced ChatGPT apps. Not the ChatGPT app, mind you: That's been out for more than a couple years now. ChatGPT apps, on the other hand, are programs that work within ChatGPT. You can access them in any given conversation with ChatGPT—in fact, they may appear based on the context of the conversation. These aren't necessarily apps that OpenAI builds itself, either; rather, you'll find options here based on apps you may use yourself. The initial batch of apps included with the feature's rollout included Booking.com, Canva, Coursera, Figma, Expedia, Spotify, and Zillow—big apps you've likely used before. While in a conversation with ChatGPT, you could ask the bot to help you book a flight to Paris via Expedia, find a particular listing through Zillow, or create a slide for a presentation with Canva. From OpenAI's perspective, this adds a host of additional functionality to ChatGPT the company couldn't offer itself. OpenAI doesn't need to build an apartment-hunting tool into ChatGPT; it can just pull in Zillow. It also doesn't escape me that the more apps that OpenAI folds into ChatGPT, the less likely it is you'll need to leave ChatGPT to do something in another app—but that's none of my business. ChatGPT's "app store" isn't really a store Credit: Lifehacker Speaking of more apps, the company plans to expand these apps overtime, as developers create ChatGPT-compatible extensions for their programs. That was part of yesterday's news: OpenAI is now letting developers submit apps to ChatGPT en masse. What's more, these apps will be hosted in an "app directory," though many online are taking to calling it an app store. (There's no payment necessary, however, so app directory might really be a more apt description.) You'll find this new app directory in the sidebar of ChatGPT, appropriately called "Apps." Apps is apparently in beta, according to a label affixed to its title in ChatGPT. Here, you'll find a rotating slide featuring an ad for some of the service's biggest apps, like Canva and Zillow, and, below it, rows of apps to choose from. Right now, the apps are sorted into "Featured," "Lifestyle," and "Productivity," with no option that includes all the apps. (But they seem to be entirely split across Lifestyle and Productivity.) There are a lot of options here already. Some made headlines this week, like Photoshop and Apple Music, while others arrived more quietly, like Asana, Uber, and Target. It's not just traditional apps like Zillow or Spotify that are getting the app treatment here, either. OpenAI is also considering "connector" services, like Google Drive, as "apps." You can click on any app in the directory to see what you can do with it. Slack, for example, says you can look up your chats and messages to summarize threads, generate recaps, and come up with responses. You can check on your Asana tasks to generate progress reports and status updates. Outlook says you can create "talking points" and generate follow-ups from your emails and calendar events. While there's a brief summary underneath each title, you'll need to click through to each service to see the full picture of what it actually offers. Here are the apps I'm seeing at this time. Just note this might not be a complete list, especially as OpenAI continues to add more apps to the service: Adobe Acrobat Adobe Express Adobe Photoshop Agentforce Sales Aha! Airtable AllTrails Amplitude Apple Music Asana Atlassian Rovo Azure Boards Basecamp Booking.com Box Canva Clay Cloudinary Conductor Coursera Daloopa DoorDash Dropbox Egnyte Expedia Figma GitLab Issues Google Drive Help Scout Hex HighLevel Hugging Face Instacart Intuit Credit Karma Intuit Mailchimp Intuit TurboTax Khan Academy Klaviyo Linear Lovable LSEG Monday.com Morningstar Netlify Notion OpenTable Outlook Calendar Outlook Email Peloton Pipedrive PitchBook Ramp Replit SharePoint Slack Spotify Stripe Target Teams Teamwork.com TheFork Thumbtack Tripadvisor Uber Uber Eats Vercel Zillow Zoho Zoho Desk Zoom If you're an avid ChatGPT user and frequently switch between it and any of the apps on this list, there might be some utility here. Maybe coders will find the integration with Hugging Face and Lovable to be beneficial, while Photoshop users might take advantage of the AI image editing tools this integration provides. But I'm still left feeling like this is more gimmick than anything else: I don't need to connect my Slack to ChatGPT to generate follow-ups for me: I'm perfectly capable of responding to emails myself, and managing my own calendar, so no need to connect Outlook or another email client to the bot. Maybe a future update will sell me on connecting generative AI to all aspects of my work and personal life, but so far, I'm still not convinced. View the full article

In 2025, video conferencing is no longer just a tool; it’s the standard operating system of hybrid work. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. For some people, it just doesn’t feel like Christmas until you’re curled up by the fire, eating Christmas cookies, or hanging your favorite ornaments on the tree. For me, the holiday season doesn’t feel real until an overwhelming state of panic sets in and I’m feverishly typing “last-minute gift ideas” in the hours leading up to a Secret Santa exchange. If you’re like me, you procrastinate at least one gift until the window for pre-Christmas delivery slips out of your grasp. Calm your panic—I’ve rounded up your top prospects for physically getting some wrapping paper around a gift in time for the holidays—even if your only option is going to the drug store. Here are gift ideas that are all under $30 (so long as you’re willing to get a little creative with it). Even when it’s the thought that counts, something is better than nothing. Novelty kitchen equipmentNovelty kitchen equipment is a quirky holiday gift staple. Take these smiley face wooden cooking spoons, available for $19.80 that can arrive before Christmas. Or you could go for a double dip (or chips-and-dip!) bowl for $20.92. As a rule of thumb, searching for “quirky kitchen equipment” will turn up fun and surprisingly useful results. In terms of last-minute shopping, an at-home popcorn popper is sure to be available in some form. Get in time for Christmas for $24.99 on Amazon now. Dash Hot Air Popcorn Popper $24.99 at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now $24.99 at Amazon An inspired candle assortmentWith a little more planning, you could have splurged on a candle that smells like Adam Driver. But you didn’t plan, and that's OK. You can still snag this high-quality Lulu candle for $19.95. Candles are also reliable in-store options, but you want to avoid anything smelling cheap and weird. Look for trusted brands like Yankee, Boy Smells, Nest, or Diptyque (though this one tends to be on the more expensive side). “We’re Not Really Strangers” card gameIt's at-risk of becoming incredibly hack, but still, “We’re Not Really Strangers” is a crowd pleaser (as opposed to the simple shock value you get with something like “Cards Against Humanity”). The goal of this card game is to foster connection through harrowing personal revelations. The prompts on these cards will spark conversation and foster connections between friends old and new—just remember that to play fair, you have to be willing to dig deep. Get in time for Christmas for $25 on Amazon. Anything fuzzy, cozy, and warmIf you live somewhere that gets cold, it’s always a safe bet to lean into the holiday theme and gift something fuzzy, cozy, and warm. Gifts like this also fall into the realm of “things that would improve my quality of life but I never buy them for myself.” I sincerely recommend this wearable blanket hoodie for $24.99, or maybe some cloud socks for $11.45. Again, if you can head to a store to select these items in-person, you’ll be in better shape compared to praying for overnight shipping options. Qeils Wearable Blanket Hoodie $24.99 at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now $24.99 at Amazon Clever mugsSure, mugs are a dangerously popular gift option. But you left shopping to the last possible minute, so it’s no time to be picky. And how about something to fill those mugs with? Even if the gift recipient isn’t a big tea or hot cocoa drinker, it’s a smart thing to have in the home for hosting guests during the holidays. Go for an assortment of tea flavors for around $3 at Trader Joe’s (my favorites are the ginger turmeric and the harvest blend). Throw in a mug with a cute little squirrel hiding inside for $19.99. Gifting something that people can sip on is the perfect mix of charm and utility. Hidden Squirrel Ceramic Mug $19.99 at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now $19.99 at Amazon Go buck wild at your local drug storeAs I've written previously, sometimes your only option is the drug store. Head to Walgreens and round up an assortment: Gift cards Candles Cosmetic bags Therapeutic massager Jewelry Insulated mugs Calendars or planners Notebooks Coffee/tea bundles Wine and a corkscrew (depending on your state’s liquor laws) Picture frames Electronics, like ear buds or portable chargers These items aren’t necessarily bad gifts, but many will be easily detected as a last-minute purchase. The success of drug store gifts will come down to the charm of the gift-giver and the chill factor of the recipient. View the full article

It’s “where are you now?” month at Ask a Manager, and all December I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past. Here are three updates from past letter-writers. There will be more posts than usual this week, so keep checking back throughout the day. 1. Our office didn’t have bathrooms or water, but they wouldn’t send us home (#3 at the link) After your response was published, I reported the incident through our anonymous compliance network, who forwarded it to employee health, not HR. I got a lukewarm response, something about management being in contact with HR the whole day, but it never addressed why we all felt like we were being held hostage. I let their response simmer until last week, when we were again without water. I responded with, “Thanks, it’s out again today. We’ll see if the onsite management’s response is different this time.” And then today, both Compliance and Employee Health show up! We all had brief meetings with a rep who assured us that we are allowed to leave and work from home without retaliation. Apparently they weren’t thrilled that we felt like we weren’t allowed to go, even though we are all hybrid and obviously set up to work from home. Employee Health was really accommodating as well, an several brought up other issues that will be worked on too. 2. I was hired to replace someone who won’t retire Thank you for sharing my letter a few months back. I wrote about being hired to replace someone who wouldn’t retire. I appreciated your and the readers’ feedback. It definitely made me feel less crazy and encouraged me to put myself first and look for new jobs, without feeling guilty. When I quit, I didn’t call out my ex-boss on everything I disagreed with — questionable accounting and leadership choices. I decided … not my monkeys not my circus. But I did make it clear to him that the work wasn’t what I wanted and that I had brought this up months before. It was awkward but necessary. And now, that job is so very far in the past! I was hired as the head of finance for an animal shelter, and I couldn’t be happier. A year ago, I changed career paths to non profit work (and moved across the country for grad school) only dreaming of a job with this kind of impact, for animals and their families. 3. How long should I wait for a new manager to turn things around? (#3 at the link) I’m in Germany, where we have strong employee protections. One of them is something called an Überlastungsanzeige — roughly “work overload notice.” It’s a formal notification to your employer that your workload is exceeding safe or reasonable limits, so if something goes wrong they can’t claim they weren’t warned. It also obligates management to take action. I filed one, copied our union rep, and it escalated all the way to the CEO. That revealed the real problem: my boss’s boss had been blocking the hiring we desperately needed and also not been completely transparent with the CEO on what was going on in our department. We have now hired two additional sys admins starting in November. In the process, I also pointed out my significantly higher contributions compared to my colleagues, set clear workload boundaries (which ended up becoming binding for everyone in the department), and laid out changes to our processes that I wanted to see. That lit a fire under management and my boss, specifically, really went to bat. They told me they would look into a promotion and significant raise for me, and even created a brand-new role that I got to define. The new processes were adopted and they’ve already reduced my stress levels significantly. Taking Alison’s advice, I started job hunting anyway as I didn’t know what the outcome of all this was going to be. Last week I received an external offer that included everything I’d been negotiating with my current employer. I told my boss I needed something in writing about the new role and raise before I could turn down the other offer. He delivered that written confirmation, so I declined the external job. The recruiter wasn’t thrilled (apparently some miscommunication on their end), but I never made a commitment and got back to them politely within three business days. If they choose to see it as me using them for leverage, so be it — I made the right call. I also reached out directly to the hiring manager from that other company because he had really impressed me during the interview process. We agreed to stay in touch, since we’d both like to work together in the future if the opportunity comes up. So now I’m much happier, much less stressed, and starting in January I’ll have a new role, more money, and I’m already looking at a much better-functioning department. Thanks to you and the readers for the advice. The post updates: the office without running water, the person who wouldn’t retire, and more appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

The rapid growth of data centers during the AI boom has been a dominating narrative of 2025—and, in many instances, not a popular one. Across the country, communities have pushed back against data centers planned for their cities and states. Some have even turned to online petition sites to raise awareness and voice collective opposition to data center projects in their communities. One such site, the popular platform Change.org, says it has seen a significant spike data center-related petitions in recent months. Change.org saw at least 113 petitions that mentioned data centers in 2025, the platform shared with Fast Company, totaling around 50,000 signatures. It’s not clear if that figure includes multiple petitions about the same data center project. These petitions also simply mention data centers, whether for or against, but a cursory search of the petitions shows that the vast majority were opposed to data centers. Volume increased as the year progressed For Change.org, the topic is new: In all of 2024, there was just one petition regarding a data center, in April. No other petitions mentioned data centers until a year later, Change.org says, in April 2025. Then, they began to tick up: Under five petitions appeared each month until August, and then 12 in September, 37 in October, and 24 in November. And December looks to be even higher. As of Monday, users have created 28 petitions data center petitions this month. One petition, titled “Stop Data Center at Former Landover Mall Site,” was created in June, concerning a data center in Landover, Maryland. It has more than 20,000 signatures, with many supporters calling out how data centers use immense energy and water, and often mean higher utility costs for residents. Say “NO” to the construction of “Project Tango” AI data center in Palm Beach County,” starts another petition, which has more than 7,000 signatures, and was started earlier in December. That petition was just one form of opposition against “Project Tango,” a proposed 200-acre AI data center complex. At zoning hearings, residents have raised concerns about the project’s water consumption, environmental impacts, utility rate hikes, and potential noise. Another petition, titled “Stop Data Centers in Hobart, Indiana – Protect Our Community,” has nearly 2,500 signatures. There have been multiple proposals to build data centers in Hobart throughout 2025; recently, at the end of November, the city reached a deal with Amazon to develop a data center there. That Change.org petition was created by a group called No Data Centers Hobart Indiana, which is also on Facebook with more than 4,000 members. Angelita Soriano, a leader of that group, has recently filed a lawsuit along with three other Hobart homeowners looking to overturn the city’s actions to green light the Amazon project. “This lawsuit is our effort to keep our government accountable and to defend Hobart families, homes, water and our environment,” Soriano said in a statement. “Residents shouldn’t be ignored or deprived of their rights just to fast-track a massive industrial data center development in the heart of our community right next to our schools, hospitals and homes.” “We need to slow it down” In some cases, community opposition is having a real impact. Between late March through June, 20 data center projects, representing about $98 billion in investments, were blocked or delayed in the United States, according to a November study from Data Center Watch, a project from the AI security and intelligence firm 10a Labs, found that. These were instances in which local opposition was specifically reported to have played some role. To Miquel Vila, an analyst at the Data Center Watch project, community backlash to data centers has become an expected part of the development process. “Before, local opposition was more of an anecdotal possibility,” he says. “Now, it’s becoming a core feature of development . . . in the same way issues like land, energy, and water are taken into account.” Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont recently said that he will push for a moratorium on AI data center construction to “give democracy a chance to catch up” to the surge that has largely been unregulated. “There is a whole lot about AI and robotics that needs to be discussed, needs to be analyzed,” he said in a video posted to X. “But one thing is for sure, this process is moving very, very quickly, and we need to slow it down. We need all of our people, all of our people involved in determining the future of AI, and not just a handful of multibillionaires.” View the full article

Subscribe to Work LifeGet stories like this in your inbox Subscribe 5-second summary The traditional annual goal cycle is too slow for fast‑changing environments, which can leave teams focused on outdated priorities and running in the wrong direction. A quarterly refresh cycle helps teams quickly adjust as reality changes. Use this five-step process to set clear annual goals, then review and refresh them throughout the year so everyone stays focused on the work that’s most relevant and impactful. At the beginning of the year, setting annual goals can feel like cracking open a fresh notebook – clean and full of possibility. By the end of the year, that same list can feel more like a yearbook from another era: recognizable, but not exactly reflective of who you are anymore. Everyone has good intentions when they set new goals, but then, life happens. Competitors launch similar features. Company strategy changes. Customer feedback reveals a bigger opportunity. The market shifts and forces your business to do the same. Our work pivots quickly, but our goals often lag behind, still technically “active” but sitting in a stale document or slide deck…somewhere. If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Atlassian’s State of Teams research shows 64% of knowledge workers feel their team is pulled in too many directions, and 70% say it would be easier to make progress if they had fewer, more specific goals. The solution isn’t another, more focused annual planning marathon. It’s a more frequent goal refresh cycle. Here’s how to shift to a more iterative, quarterly rhythm that leads to fewer “outdated yearbooks” and more “amazing year in the books.” Why refreshing goals matters (and why a quarterly cadence works well) Related Article Don’t underestimate the outsized impact of short-term goals By Kat Boogaard In Productivity Setting annual goals is a strategic and important step, but a 12‑month cycle is painfully slow in a fast-changing environment. Without a shorter feedback loop, your team may spend months executing on priorities that have already changed. That’s why so many teams are moving to a quarterly cadence: It’s long enough to make real progress. Many teams can design and ship something meaningful in 90 days. It’s short enough to adapt. If your assumptions were wrong, you find out in three months, not 12. It’s motivating. Research inside and outside of Atlassian shows that short-term goals are more tangible, less overwhelming, and more likely to get done. Think of your company’s annual objectives and key results as the “destination.” Monthly and weekly actions are the “roadmap,” and quarterly check-ins are “rest stops” along the way – recurring reminders to pause and refresh. By shifting to a 90‑day rhythm where your team: Sets clear OKRs that align with your company’s strategic goals and deeper purpose Checks in each month to reflect on status and learnings so far Reviews quarterly progress to measure milestones, look back, and plan ahead Refreshes goals where needed Re-allocates resources and re-shares plans …your team gains clarity about what to focus on now, permission to adapt as reality changes, and confidence in your ability to not just hit any goals, but the ones that matter most. Learn from Atlassian At Atlassian, we set annual goals and then use a ritual called Rolling 4 – Quarterly Company Planning to review progress and adjust targets and resources as needed. This approach complements long-term planning to help our business adjust quickly to change, make better and faster decisions, and allocate resources more effectively. You don’t have to adopt the whole Rolling 4 ritual to benefit from the underlying concept: Make it a habit to revisit and refresh goals every 90 days. 5 steps to implementing a quarterly goal refresh cycle 1. Set annual objectives, key results, and clear milestones Objectives and key results clarify what is a priority and what isn’t. That way, you can focus on what matters most and understand how your work makes a meaningful difference for your team, company, and customers. Think of your annual objective as “what success looks like at the end of the year” and your key results as “how you’ll measure success.” Objectives are typically qualitative, ambitious, and meant to inspire action. Key results are usually metrics or measurable outcomes. Once you’ve set annual OKRs, break down each key result into quarterly and monthly milestones so you can see whether you’re ON TRACK, OFF TRACK, or AT RISK. Check out Atlassian’s OKR Play for more tips on how to create OKRs and a scoring rubric to track progress. Write better OKRs with Rovo Teams with clear goals are 20% more likely to be productive. Customers can use the OKR Generator Rovo Agent to harness the power of AI and write clear goals that help your team make progress on work that matters. 2. Do a quick check-in each month Regularly monitoring goals helps identify discrepancies, obstacles, unforeseen challenges, and areas needing improvement, which increases the chances of meeting those goals. To keep goals alive throughout the quarter, do a lightweight check each month. This doesn’t need to involve hours of analysis – just a quick reflection on how you’re tracking and what you’ve learned so far. You can score whether your OKR is ON TRACK, OFF TRACK, or AT RISK, and include a short summary about how the metrics moved and why. That way, you can share learnings with others and look back in the future. (Atlassian’s OKR Play has more guidance about how to assess and document progress.) And remember: It’s good to set ambitious goals, and it’s okay not to achieve a perfect score every time. In fact, our scoring philosophy at Atlassian focuses on stretch goals, even when there’s only a 50% chance of hitting them. Lean on the Atlassian System of Work Tools like Atlassian Goals simplify the process of tracking goals, connecting teams’ work to outcomes, and keeping everyone in the loop. Atlassian Focus, part of the Strategy Collection, can also auto-generate an OKR review page based on linked goals. 3. Review quarterly progress Related Article How to write SMART goals By Kat Boogaard In Productivity Research shows that when an organization develops processes to sense changes in the environment, seize opportunities, and reconfigure resources and capabilities when needed, it’s more likely to sustain a competitive edge, respond faster to opportunities and threats, better allocate resources, and operate with more agility and adaptability. Consider your quarterly goal refresh a way of doing exactly that. Start by scheduling a quarterly review and refresh. This includes reflecting honestly on qualitative and quantitative progress. Metrics are important, but they don’t tell the whole story. Before reviewing OKRs, ask yourself and your team questions like: What worked this quarter? Where did we see meaningful progress or impact? What didn’t work? What efforts didn’t land, stalled out, or never got off the ground? What changed outside our control? Were there market shifts, org changes, new constraints, or opportunities we should consider? Where did we feel most energized? Most drained? Where did we actually spend our time compared to our original plans? Next, turn to your OKRs and discuss questions like: Are we ON TRACK, OFF TRACK, or AT RISK – and why? If the goal is OFF TRACK or AT RISK, what lessons should the “future you” (or a teammate setting a similar goal) keep in mind? What’s our plan to address risks or gaps? What support or resources do we need? What efforts do we expect will continue driving or accelerate progress on this goal? If you’re seeing lots of yellow and red, don’t worry! It’s better to know now before it’s too late, and this is the perfect opportunity to course-correct. 4. Refresh goals where needed Now, it’s time to decide if each goal should remain as-is, be retired, or be refreshed. RemainRetireRefresh– If the OKR is still relevant, stay the course. – If you’re ON TRACK, reflect on what you can do to stay that way, or set a stretch goal. – If you’re OFF TRACK or AT RISK, use the cheat sheet below as a starting point for a path forward.– If the strategy has changed or something else has happened that deems this goal no longer relevant, it’s okay to move on. – Capture the final metric or status and the reason for retiring the OKR, and consider whether a new one should be created in its place. – Celebrate progress – even on “missed” goals – if you learned something from the experience! Note key learnings for the future before moving forward.– Adjust OKRs where needed to reflect strategic shifts, new opportunities, and lessons learned. – If you’re adding goals, try to keep the list as focused as possible. Most teams are more successful with 3–5 specific objectives than with sprawling lists that spread their time and effort thin. Just because you’re OFF TRACK or AT RISK doesn’t mean you should necessarily retire or refresh your goal. The key is to determine when reality has changed in ways that make the original goal no longer appropriate. Here’s a cheat sheet to use as a starting point: Does this OKR still align with our company’s strategy and original thesis? If not, retire or refresh it. Are we the right team to own this? If not, reassign it or partner with someone else. Is the scope still right and the timeline still achievable? If not, rescope or change the time horizon. Is the “key result” still the best signal of success? If not, refresh it. Are we changing this because of real, external change, or just because we’re behind? If it’s just discomfort with being off track, keep the goal and adjust execution. 5. Re-allocate and re-share Without refreshed resourcing, a refreshed goal is just a wish. Once you’ve aligned on the updated objectives, revisit the owners and contributors, staffing, budget, and other support you’ll need to hit the target. Then, share these updated goals and plans in your shared workspace so everyone can stay aware and aligned. Atlassian’s State of Teams report shows that teams that transparently share goals and regularly document progress are 6.4x more likely to produce high-quality work, 2.2x more likely to focus on what matters most, and 4.9x more likely to meet deadlines. If you’re wondering if your goals are visible enough, ask yourself: “Can I find my team’s latest OKRs in fewer than 3 clicks?” Set it and forget it edit For most modern companies, project and product management has shifted from waterfall to more agile and iterative approaches. It’s time to do the same for goal setting. When we treat our OKRs as a living itinerary rather than plans set in stone, the team won’t just reach any destination, but the best one yet. Subscribe to Work LifeGet stories like this in your inbox Subscribe The post How to implement goal refresh cycles on your team appeared first on Work Life by Atlassian. View the full article

Subscribe to Work LifeGet stories like this in your inbox Subscribe 5-second summary The traditional annual goal cycle is too slow for fast‑changing environments, which can leave teams focused on outdated priorities and running in the wrong direction. A quarterly refresh cycle helps teams quickly adjust as reality changes. Use this five-step process to set clear annual goals, then review and refresh them throughout the year so everyone stays focused on the work that’s most relevant and impactful. At the beginning of the year, setting annual goals can feel like cracking open a fresh notebook – clean and full of possibility. By the end of the year, that same list can feel more like a yearbook from another era: recognizable, but not exactly reflective of who you are anymore. Everyone has good intentions when they set new goals, but then, life happens. Competitors launch similar features. Company strategy changes. Customer feedback reveals a bigger opportunity. The market shifts and forces your business to do the same. Our work pivots quickly, but our goals often lag behind, still technically “active” but sitting in a stale document or slide deck…somewhere. If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Atlassian’s State of Teams research shows 64% of knowledge workers feel their team is pulled in too many directions, and 70% say it would be easier to make progress if they had fewer, more specific goals. The solution isn’t another, more focused annual planning marathon. It’s a more frequent goal refresh cycle. Here’s how to shift to a more iterative, quarterly rhythm that leads to fewer “outdated yearbooks” and more “amazing year in the books.” Why refreshing goals matters (and why a quarterly cadence works well) Related Article Don’t underestimate the outsized impact of short-term goals By Kat Boogaard In Productivity Setting annual goals is a strategic and important step, but a 12‑month cycle is painfully slow in a fast-changing environment. Without a shorter feedback loop, your team may spend months executing on priorities that have already changed. That’s why so many teams are moving to a quarterly cadence: It’s long enough to make real progress. Many teams can design and ship something meaningful in 90 days. It’s short enough to adapt. If your assumptions were wrong, you find out in three months, not 12. It’s motivating. Research inside and outside of Atlassian shows that short-term goals are more tangible, less overwhelming, and more likely to get done. Think of your company’s annual objectives and key results as the “destination.” Monthly and weekly actions are the “roadmap,” and quarterly check-ins are “rest stops” along the way – recurring reminders to pause and refresh. By shifting to a 90‑day rhythm where your team: Sets clear OKRs that align with your company’s strategic goals and deeper purpose Checks in each month to reflect on status and learnings so far Reviews quarterly progress to measure milestones, look back, and plan ahead Refreshes goals where needed Re-allocates resources and re-shares plans …your team gains clarity about what to focus on now, permission to adapt as reality changes, and confidence in your ability to not just hit any goals, but the ones that matter most. Learn from Atlassian At Atlassian, we set annual goals and then use a ritual called Rolling 4 – Quarterly Company Planning to review progress and adjust targets and resources as needed. This approach complements long-term planning to help our business adjust quickly to change, make better and faster decisions, and allocate resources more effectively. You don’t have to adopt the whole Rolling 4 ritual to benefit from the underlying concept: Make it a habit to revisit and refresh goals every 90 days. 5 steps to implementing a quarterly goal refresh cycle 1. Set annual objectives, key results, and clear milestones Objectives and key results clarify what is a priority and what isn’t. That way, you can focus on what matters most and understand how your work makes a meaningful difference for your team, company, and customers. Think of your annual objective as “what success looks like at the end of the year” and your key results as “how you’ll measure success.” Objectives are typically qualitative, ambitious, and meant to inspire action. Key results are usually metrics or measurable outcomes. Once you’ve set annual OKRs, break down each key result into quarterly and monthly milestones so you can see whether you’re ON TRACK, OFF TRACK, or AT RISK. Check out Atlassian’s OKR Play for more tips on how to create OKRs and a scoring rubric to track progress. Write better OKRs with Rovo Teams with clear goals are 20% more likely to be productive. Customers can use the OKR Generator Rovo Agent to harness the power of AI and write clear goals that help your team make progress on work that matters. 2. Do a quick check-in each month Regularly monitoring goals helps identify discrepancies, obstacles, unforeseen challenges, and areas needing improvement, which increases the chances of meeting those goals. To keep goals alive throughout the quarter, do a lightweight check each month. This doesn’t need to involve hours of analysis – just a quick reflection on how you’re tracking and what you’ve learned so far. You can score whether your OKR is ON TRACK, OFF TRACK, or AT RISK, and include a short summary about how the metrics moved and why. That way, you can share learnings with others and look back in the future. (Atlassian’s OKR Play has more guidance about how to assess and document progress.) And remember: It’s good to set ambitious goals, and it’s okay not to achieve a perfect score every time. In fact, our scoring philosophy at Atlassian focuses on stretch goals, even when there’s only a 50% chance of hitting them. Lean on the Atlassian System of Work Tools like Atlassian Goals simplify the process of tracking goals, connecting teams’ work to outcomes, and keeping everyone in the loop. Atlassian Focus, part of the Strategy Collection, can also auto-generate an OKR review page based on linked goals. 3. Review quarterly progress Related Article How to write SMART goals By Kat Boogaard In Productivity Research shows that when an organization develops processes to sense changes in the environment, seize opportunities, and reconfigure resources and capabilities when needed, it’s more likely to sustain a competitive edge, respond faster to opportunities and threats, better allocate resources, and operate with more agility and adaptability. Consider your quarterly goal refresh a way of doing exactly that. Start by scheduling a quarterly review and refresh. This includes reflecting honestly on qualitative and quantitative progress. Metrics are important, but they don’t tell the whole story. Before reviewing OKRs, ask yourself and your team questions like: What worked this quarter? Where did we see meaningful progress or impact? What didn’t work? What efforts didn’t land, stalled out, or never got off the ground? What changed outside our control? Were there market shifts, org changes, new constraints, or opportunities we should consider? Where did we feel most energized? Most drained? Where did we actually spend our time compared to our original plans? Next, turn to your OKRs and discuss questions like: Are we ON TRACK, OFF TRACK, or AT RISK – and why? If the goal is OFF TRACK or AT RISK, what lessons should the “future you” (or a teammate setting a similar goal) keep in mind? What’s our plan to address risks or gaps? What support or resources do we need? What efforts do we expect will continue driving or accelerate progress on this goal? If you’re seeing lots of yellow and red, don’t worry! It’s better to know now before it’s too late, and this is the perfect opportunity to course-correct. 4. Refresh goals where needed Now, it’s time to decide if each goal should remain as-is, be retired, or be refreshed. RemainRetireRefresh– If the OKR is still relevant, stay the course. – If you’re ON TRACK, reflect on what you can do to stay that way, or set a stretch goal. – If you’re OFF TRACK or AT RISK, use the cheat sheet below as a starting point for a path forward.– If the strategy has changed or something else has happened that deems this goal no longer relevant, it’s okay to move on. – Capture the final metric or status and the reason for retiring the OKR, and consider whether a new one should be created in its place. – Celebrate progress – even on “missed” goals – if you learned something from the experience! Note key learnings for the future before moving forward.– Adjust OKRs where needed to reflect strategic shifts, new opportunities, and lessons learned. – If you’re adding goals, try to keep the list as focused as possible. Most teams are more successful with 3–5 specific objectives than with sprawling lists that spread their time and effort thin. Just because you’re OFF TRACK or AT RISK doesn’t mean you should necessarily retire or refresh your goal. The key is to determine when reality has changed in ways that make the original goal no longer appropriate. Here’s a cheat sheet to use as a starting point: Does this OKR still align with our company’s strategy and original thesis? If not, retire or refresh it. Are we the right team to own this? If not, reassign it or partner with someone else. Is the scope still right and the timeline still achievable? If not, rescope or change the time horizon. Is the “key result” still the best signal of success? If not, refresh it. Are we changing this because of real, external change, or just because we’re behind? If it’s just discomfort with being off track, keep the goal and adjust execution. 5. Re-allocate and re-share Without refreshed resourcing, a refreshed goal is just a wish. Once you’ve aligned on the updated objectives, revisit the owners and contributors, staffing, budget, and other support you’ll need to hit the target. Then, share these updated goals and plans in your shared workspace so everyone can stay aware and aligned. Atlassian’s State of Teams report shows that teams that transparently share goals and regularly document progress are 6.4x more likely to produce high-quality work, 2.2x more likely to focus on what matters most, and 4.9x more likely to meet deadlines. If you’re wondering if your goals are visible enough, ask yourself: “Can I find my team’s latest OKRs in fewer than 3 clicks?” Set it and forget it edit For most modern companies, project and product management has shifted from waterfall to more agile and iterative approaches. It’s time to do the same for goal setting. When we treat our OKRs as a living itinerary rather than plans set in stone, the team won’t just reach any destination, but the best one yet. Subscribe to Work LifeGet stories like this in your inbox Subscribe The post How to implement goal refresh cycles on your team appeared first on Work Life by Atlassian. View the full article