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Be blunt. Give clients advice they should hear, not what they want to hear. The Disruptors With Liz Farr Go PRO for members-only access to more Liz Farr. View the full article

Instagram reach can seem like magic. How do some creators get tons of views while others rarely see it? And why do some quick, spur-of-the-moment posts seem to get more views than others you spend hours creating? It’s not all smoke and mirrors. In this article, we’ll share 14 ways to get more views and increase reach on your Instagram content. What does 'Instagram reach' even mean?Instagram reach is the number of unique people who view (and hopefully interact with) your Instagram posts. You can track Instagram reach for a single post, for your Instagram profile, or for a social media campaign. Along with the number of unique visitors, you also get insights into the demographic of the people who saw your post or profile. This reach can be organic or paid. Organic is when the Instagram algorithm shows your posts to similar audiences. Paid reach is when you purchase Instagram ads to sponsor your content — it has a “sponsored” or some other CTA label attached to it. Jade Beason, creator coach, and digital marketing expert, says the biggest myth is believing paid reach is the same as getting organic reach. “When you reach people organically, you’re a lot more likely to not only reach your right audience but also hold their attention. This is because people tend to ignore paid ads more than they do organic content.” In this article, we’re exploring ways to boost your organic Instagram reach. What is Instagram reach rate?Instagram reach rate is the percentage of followers who see your Instagram post. Unlike Instagram reach, it’s unique to your followers only and doesn’t include non-followers who view your post. Instagram reach rate is calculated as: (Total reach / Number of followers) * 100 For example, if your reach is 500 and you have 5,000 followers, your Instagram reach rate is: (500/5000)*100 = 10 percent. What is a good Instagram reach?The right answer? It depends — on your profile and the type of Instagram post you’re evaluating. Let’s look at some data. One study categorized the average reach based on the number of followers an Instagram creator has. Instagram creators with 500 to 2,000 followers reached 292 people via in-feed posts, 114 people via Instagram Stories, and 1,600 people via Instagram Reels. Instagram creators with 2,000 to 10,000 followers reached 964 people via in-feed posts, 244 people via Instagram Stories, and 3,400 people via Instagram Reels. Instagram creators with 10,000 to 50,000 followers reached 4,400 people via in-feed posts, 698 people via Instagram Stories, and 16,800 people via Instagram Reels.Another analysis of 876 businesses found brands with smaller following (less than 501K) should reach 34 percent of their audience through posts and 7.5 percent of their followers through Instagram Stories. 📍Remember: Don’t take these numbers at face value. Reach can differ widely based on industry, algorithm changes, campaign goals, and location.How is Instagram reach different from Instagram impressions?Instagram reach, and Instagram impressions are often used interchangeably, but they are different terms. Instagram impressions are the number of times your post was seen. Unlike Instagram reach, 'impressions' don’t consist of unique people. If the same person sees your Instagram Reel three times, it’ll count as three impressions but one reach. With the terminology discussion out of the way, let’s discuss how to get more views on your Instagram Reels. How to get more views on your Instagram ReelsInstagram Reels are famous for being the primary booster of Instagram reach — in fact, a recent analysis by Buffer's data scientist-in-residence found reels consistently outperformed any other content type when it came to reach. In fact, Instagram Reels see 36% more reach than other post types. Here’s how you can capitalize on them to grow your reach by leaps and bounds: 1. Grab attention in the first 3 secondsPeople are having a marathon in their Instagram Reels tab. You have to grab their attention in the first three seconds to get them to stop the scroll. Get rid of the introductory words — like “hey people!” — and get right to the point. Tease what the audience will get if they watch your reel to entice curiosity — and deliver on that promise. Some good hook ideas you can customize for your Instagram Reels to boost video views: This one tip/fact will blow your mindDo you struggle with [a problem your target audience struggles with]? Follow these X tipsThese X things are holding you back from [result your target audience wants to achieve]Did you know [a surprising fact your audience would love to know, but might not be aware of]How to [something your audience wants to learn] for free/in X easy stepsSecret to accomplishing [something your audience wants to achieve]A good example is creator Erin McGoff — all her Instagram Reels highlight a curiosity gap and begin with a bang that keeps people hooked. ⚡Pro tip: Come across a scroll-stopping hook example while browsing Instagram? Instead of hoping you’d remember it while creating content, save it onBufferusing the idea feature.Inspiration is notorious for striking at random times — when you’re walking your dog, watching a show, or preparing dinner. Saving the idea ensures you never lose the thread. 2. Use a mix of speaking-to-the-camera and trending audioUsing Instagram's trending audio and topics can boost your Instagram reach significantly. How do you find these trends? Tap the 'Trending' button when you upload a Reel. This will show you 50 of the most popular songs on the app right now. (Note that this new feature is still being rolled out, so it might be available to you yet. Sit tight — it should land in your app soon!)Keep an eye on your reels feed (tap the video icon at the bottom of your Instagram app to get there). Your reels feed is unique to you and the best place to find trending reels from content creators you follow and those you don’t.Follow Instagram's @creators account. This is a gold mine of inspiration and trends! You can join the Creators broadcast channel to have news of Instagram’s latest features and trends sent straight to your Instagram inbox. Sign up here“Don’t you dare [do a specific thing] as a Wes Anderson movie” is a good example of what’s 'trending' content. Creators from across the globe put their own personality, humor, and niche to it to create Instagram Reels in a similar format. Along with trending content, you also want to produce original, evergreen content where you’re talking directly to the camera about a specific topic. It builds community, connection, and true value for your audience. Ankita Chawla, marketing consultant and content creator, follows a ratio of 60:40 — where 60 percent of the time, she focuses on producing original speak-to-the-camera Instagram Reels. “Original content needs to be more in volume as compared to trending content. The speed at which your community will get to know you and start trusting you will be much higher if your original content is more,” she says. 3. Make Instagram Reels that get people commenting, saving, and sharingInstagram Reels’ engagement boosts when it gets a lot of attention — in the form of comments, saves, and shares. For more comments: Have a call-to-action that asks the audience what they think of a particular topic in your niche. Or ask them to comment their favorite part/tip from your Instagram Reel. Giveaways are another great way to boost comments on your Instagram Reels — ask your followers to comment about something specific to participate in the contest. Don’t be afraid to get creative here! A good example of a comment-driven call-to-action is this Instagram Reel by Michaela.For more saves: Share Instagram Reels that share advice, lists of resources, or tools that your followers can refer back to later. Think: What would my target audience can’t remember from just a video, but would want to reference in the future? This Instagram Reel by Maeve is an excellent example of how to pack info in a video your audience would like to save.For more sharing: What kind of video would your audience like to share with their friends? Funny and relatable content is the most shareable of all — think of memes you can create in your niche. Apart from humor, you can also rely on aesthetic, informational, and educational Instagram Reels to boost the shareability of your video. AI company, Tl;dv, often creates funny kits on their Instagram Reels, which their audience would DM to their friends.4. Write well-thought-out captions on your Instagram ReelsIf a hook grabs your audience's attention, the Instagram caption ensures you don’t lose it after the first three seconds. Whether your captions on Instagram Reels should be short or long is debatable. On one hand, it isn’t easy to read the text below reels — advocating for captions to be shorter. People also might not prefer reading long captions because they come to the Reels tab for video content.On the other hand, captions — when well-formatted — provide more context to your reel and can make your reels more discoverable because Instagram’s search bar reads them. Plus, if your followers are discovering your reel in their home feed and not the reels tab, the caption is easily readable.A 2023 study found Instagram captions perform best when either they’re very long (over 2,000 characters) or very short (under 20 characters). The right answer is: It depends. Don’t cut yourself out if your Instagram Reel requires a long caption. But if your video can do with a short and sweet caption, don’t ramble. Katie Gatti Tassin is a creator who has just the right length of captions (with a clear CTA) — not too long and not too short. The best way is to experiment and see what your audience prefers. Do you see an increase in reach when you write longer captions? If yes, continue giving more details below your Instagram Reels. If not, stick with shorter captions. ⚡Pro tip: Don’t use call-to-actions in your caption like “offer available for a limited time” because your Instagram Reels may start gaining traction after a while. Your caption for any post shouldn’t become irrelevant if you see a boost in your Instagram reach a few weeks after publishing. If you want to write a time-sensitive caption, update it when the offer ends.5. Share your Instagram Reel in your Instagram StoriesAn easy way to boost your Instagram Reels’ views is by sharing them on your Instagram Stories. When people view your Story, it will count as another view of your reel. Sharing your Instagram Reel on Instagram Stories is also important because all of your followers might not get your new reel in their feed — and Stories are a great way to let them know you’ve added something new to your feed. How to boost your reach for Instagram Carousel postsIf you thought Instagram would be all about reels, Adam Mosseri (Head of Instagram) is here with some news: Photos are still very much in play for increasing your reach. Carousels are Instagram posts where you can add up to ten photos or videos in one post. Your audience swipes left to see the next slide. After analyzing over 5 million Instagram posts sent through Buffer to uncover the best time to post on Instagram, we also discovered that Carousels generate far more engagement than both single-photo posts and reels! Here are three ways to increase the reach of your Instagram Carousels: 6. Create a story, tutorial, or listicle that keeps people swipingThe biggest thing to take care of in Instagram Carousels is people keep swiping to the next slide. Tanishaa Bhansali, an Instagram coach, explains why: “The beginning of your Carousel post has to be a hook, and the entire post has to be like a story stitched together. People should feel that itch, that curiosity to keep reading until they reach the last slide. This will boost the watch time of your Carousels’ post, and it’ll get pushed to more of your followers.” There are many engaging carousel post ideas you can experiment with, such as: Tutorials on how your target audience can do something using your productTell a story using graphics and/or textBefore/after imagesCosmix Wellness’ Instagram account is a great place for carousel post inspiration. The wellness brand frequently shares before/after pictures, customer testimonials, and behind-the-scenes stories of its new product launches. Right now, GenZ is using TikTok as a search engine. The day when Instagram users start using this social media platform the same way isn’t far away. Instagram is already using the keywords on your Carousel’s posts to understand the topic — so ensure your Carousel posts contain the words your target audience might be searching for. Read more: Getting Spotted on Instagram: How to Ace the Instagram SEO and Get Discovered in Instagram Search 7. Keep your design cleanBranded design is excellent for announcing product launches, sharing happy testimonials, or spotlighting something in your company. But when you’re sharing educational, shareable Carousels, we recommend keeping your design clean and simple. Why? Instagram users have varying opinions on what constitutes ‘good design,’ and the idea of aesthetics is subjective. They might not want to share branded content or design they don’t find appealing enough to associate with. Your Carousels in plain white or colored backgrounds with readable font are risk-free of these personal preferences. Trivarna Hariharan is a good example of how implementing this can lead to a wide reach — she has no Instagram Reels on her account, only Carousels. She has 191,000 followers, and that number is rapidly growing. This doesn’t mean you only have to stick with white, especially if you want a grid that pops. Enhance your social media images using your brand colors as the background for Instagram Carousels that are educational and shareable. ⚡Pro tip:Using predesigned templates can be a huge time-saver — check out our guide for 11+ places where you can get your hands on beautiful Instagram templates for your stories, feed posts, and reels.8. Use a variety of content types in your Instagram Carousel postsWho said carousel posts have to stay limited to text? Tie in images, videos, and text together to create an enticing and curiosity-driven Instagram Carousel. Various content types keep people engaged and “show” things — a superior experience to text alone. Morgan Starr-Riestis, a holistic wellness therapist, often uses Carousels that start with an on-brand headline or tweet, but transition into relatable memes and comics. This doesn’t mean you’re forbidden to use text-only for your Instagram Carousels. What you should include in a Carousel post often depends on the topic and your brand voice. But we definitely recommend experimenting with using emojis, interactive elements, images, and videos for your Instagram Carousels and monitoring if these posts get more reach compared to text-only posts. How to get more views on your Instagram StoriesInstagram Stories are an underrated content type to boost your Instagram reach. They might not be as relevant as Instagram Reels or Carousel posts to reach non-followers — because they don’t show up on the explore page — but they’re still crucial in reaching your existing followers. ⚡Pro tip: You can schedule and auto-post your Instagram Stories using Buffer!Here’s how to increase the reach of your Instagram Stories: 9. Use interactive elements in your Instagram StoriesThe best part about Instagram Stories is they come with many interactive elements to engage your followers — question stickers, polls, music, links, GIFs, and Instagram is always coming up with more. This widens the use cases of Instagram Stories exponentially. Instagram Stories can come in handy for: Asking your audience their queries on a specific topicPolling your followers on what they’d like to see from youSharing the behind-the-scenes of your business with your audienceRunning fun quizzes to share knowledge about a topic in your nicheInforming your audience about the new posts in your feed by resharing them on Instagram StoriesTeasing an upcoming in-feed Carousel post, Instagram Reel, or product launch by using the countdown timerForming a personal connection with your audience by sharing bits from your personal life (if you feel comfortable doing that)Helpful reading: How to Quickly Create Great Instagram Stories with Templates Here are examples of three Stories by Loe Haley, Katie Gatti Tassin, and Sarah Yudkin using various Instagram Stories’ features to communicate with their audience. The more people interact with your Stories (reply in DMs, answer a poll, ask a question, tap a sticker), the higher the chance of the Instagram algorithm pushing your Stories at the top to your followers. 📍Remember: People watch Instagram Stories toknowthe creators they’re following. Share bits from your life and encourage your audience to communicate with you by regularly showing up on Instagram Stories.10. Add text to your Instagram StoriesThis pointer is most relevant for speaking to the camera on your Instagram Stories or showing something through your back camera. Instagram users often view Instagram Stories during their lunch break, waiting in line in public spaces, or when they’re bored. They might not be able to hear your video, but they can read text. Instagram lets you add a live transcription on all your Instagram Stories — which you should use to make your Stories more accessible. Also add the topic of your Instagram Story as text at the top so your followers immediately understand what subject you’re speaking on. Use text to keep them engaged, add a call-to-action, and add nuances you might’ve missed speaking on video. These Instagram Stories from Shreya Pattar and Carleigh Bodrug are great examples of adding topics and a summary of what you’re speaking about in your Stories. 11. Let your Instagram Stories expireInstagram Stories are only active for 24 hours. If you upload a story every two hours from morning to night, there will always be at least one story on your feed. The issue is Instagram Story views can drop after your first story of the day — especially if the first story wasn’t engaging enough for your followers to click to the next story. You might notice a sharp decline in Instagram Story views on your first Story for the day versus the tenth. To reset the Instagram algorithm, let your stories fully expire before you reupload another batch or even a single Instagram Story. Take a breather for at least a couple of hours (or 24 hours if you wish) before you upload another Instagram Story after seeing a decline in Instagram Story views. You can also try doing this reset regardless of a downfall in your Instagram Story views. Observe if taking a couple of hours of pause in between increases your story views. If yes, practice letting your Instagram Stories expire every day. How to increase the reach of your Instagram profileWe covered many tips on increasing the reach of specific content types on Instagram. But these aren’t the only ways to multiply your Instagram reach. Here are three tips to increase the reach of your Instagram profile as a whole: 12. Optimize your name or username to be clear and search-friendlyIt’s one of the easiest Instagram growth and reach strategies: Add keywords to your Instagram username and name. (Then, use your Instagram bio to specify exactly what you do and who you serve.) It might not be possible for you to add relevant keywords in both. You might want to keep your username consistent across social media platforms or have it be your name instead of your business’ name. But you can still use keywords in addition to your name to show what your Instagram profile is about. For example, see the Instagram names of Emily Durham, Nisha Vora, and Sam Bently. They’ve added what they do and post about alongside their name. You can add your profession, what you post about, or what you stand for in your Instagram name or username. Your profile will show up when people search for the keywords embedded in your name or username, so ensure you use something your audience often searches about. ❗Warning: Deliver on the promise you make in your Instagram name or username. If you’ve added a “healthy recipes” keyword on your Instagram profile, ensure the majority of the Instagram content you create is of healthy recipes or surrounding the topic.13. Collaborate with other value-matching creatorsCollaborating with other creators in the same space who share your values is the easiest way to tap into a new audience. You can create a new reel together, go live at once, do account takeovers, and more. The ideas and creative potential is endless. For example, Emily Durham and Blake Johnston collaborated to create a funny Instagram Reel about interviewing a finance bro. It was a fit because both creators have overlapping audiences who like to be entertained and informed. Their voices and tone are also similar — which only adds to the fun. Partnerships aren’t limited to creator-with-another-creator, though. If you’re a small business, you can partner with influencers to review your product or share user-generated content too. 14. Post when your audience is onlineThere’s no one best time to post on Instagram to get more reach. Your audience might be online at a different time than you expect. The only surefire way to get your timing right is to check your Instagram insights to find your audience’s “most active times” and schedule your posts — whether they’re carousels or reels for that time only. Instead of sticking to Instagram’s insights only, use Buffer’s analytics to find the best times to post. Why? Buffer isn’t limited to telling you the best time to post, but also shares the best types of posts and post frequency. The best part? It’s easy to understand and navigate the platform — even if you’ve never used social media management tools. Apart from these actionable tips, there are many other questions and debates on best practices to follow to increase reach on Instagram. Here are their answers: How often should you post on Instagram to increase reach?In a Q&A on Instagram’s @creator account, Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, said the ideal posting frequency is “a couple of feed posts per week and a couple of Instagram Stories per day.” Does posting more content on Instagram lead to an increase in reach? Yes. But you will eventually see a decline in reach if you don’t post high-quality content. There are no hacks here. Aim for a number that’s realistic for you — whether that’s one post a week, to begin with. The key is to be consistent and avoid creator burnout. Shannon McKinstrie, a social media trainer, emphasizes the focus should always be on creating high-quality content over shooting for quantity. “Instagram's algorithm favors accounts with an engaged audience, and when you're focusing quantity, the quality of your content often takes a hit, and then next thing you know, your engagement rate plummets, and Instagram won't do you any favors when that happens. So it's best to focus on high-quality content that resonates with your audience and post about four times a week. Static posts last about three days in the newsfeed, and reels can last for months if they perform well. So trust me...quality over quantity always.” Some things that can help with speeding up content production: Batch-create content and schedule it in advanceRepurpose your existing content into Instagram postsRepost your old high-performing content (yes, do this with no shame!)Find the “Use template” option available in some Reels to hop on trends easilyDo episodic content (like “social media Fridays”) to talk about one theme consistentlyIt’s a good social media strategy to batch-create some of your monthly or weekly content and hop on trends the rest of the time. Leave some room for spontaneity. A recurring series — like Carleigh Bodrug’s Scrappy Cooking episodes — is an excellent way to build a community, consistently generate content ideas, and create evergreen content. Dominik, a social, creative-preneur, and SMM agency owner, agrees: “Having some sort of recurring series that naturally makes people want to binge your content is something we see again and again blow people up recently. Any type of content where people feel like they’re part of something, in the middle of something, or anything that follows somewhat of a storyline is what definitely works pretty well right now. Of course, content like this takes a lot longer to create than your average 7-second trending audio Reel, but these things have a shelf life.” ⚡Pro tip: Use Buffer’s Instagram scheduler to automatically post your reels, stories, and carousel posts. Schedule it for the right time, and never worry about manually posting something ever again.Which content type should you prioritize on Instagram?Instagram Carousels or Reels — which should you focus on creating more? It depends on what your audience wants. There’s no one right cookie-cutter answer. Instagram’s algorithm monitors your followers’ activity and shows content they engage with. If your audience loves Carousel posts, it’ll show more of that to them in their Instagram feed. If they love videos, Instagram will show Reels. When we asked Meagen Harriman, Instagram Strategist and Content Creator, if Carousels posts are essential for growing on Instagram, she said: “I wouldn't say that it's vital, but it's a smart type of content to include in your strategy if you want a better chance of success. Everyone should try to use them and track their insights to see how they perform. If you try them out and find that they are not performing well and you don't like creating them - don't continue to use them!” We also asked her about an ideal ratio of Reels to Carousels. “Regarding the ratio of Reels vs. Carousels, that too will vary based on each account and each creator, but if I had to choose an "ideal" ratio, I would say for every two to three Reels, share one carousel,” she said. Instagram analytics are your best friend here. Many insights, like most saved content, number of views, and number of shares, are available natively on the app. But if you’re serious about your Instagram marketing, use social media management tools like Buffer that provide detailed analytics for each post, custom reports based on metrics important to you, and overall performance monitoring. Should you have an Instagram business or creator account?An Instagram business profile is for brands who want to run ads. It’s meant to help businesses connect with their prospective customers. Creator accounts are for public figures, artists, and influencers. They’re suitable for brand collaborations and building a community. Does it matter whether you have an Instagram business account or an Instagram creator account for gaining new followers and boosting your reach? Instagram says no. Reach wouldn’t be affected by what type of account you have, so go ahead and set it to whichever one meets your requirements. Does purchasing the blue checkmark your reach on Instagram?Getting verified on Instagram is now easy. You can buy the blue checkmark using the app. (Note: Only individuals can do this, not brands, since it requires you to verify your identity.) But does getting verified affect reach? The head of Instagram said yes, faced backlash over it, and redacted what they said based on feedback received. The short answer: Getting verified should have no impact on your reach. Lia Haberman also tested it and said nothing about witnessing (or not witnessing) an increase in reach — although she did report it’s easier to stand out in notifications with a blue checkmark. But this benefit would only be available until purchasing the blue checkmark becomes second nature, and every other account has one. That said, there’s no shame in buying the Instagram verified blue checkmark. Benefits like impersonification monitoring and live chat support are strong enough reasons to buy the badge if you want to. What role do Instagram hashtags play in amplifying Instagram reach?The relationship between reach and Instagram hashtags is still very will-they-won’t-they. Creator coach Jade says hashtags can still help with reach, but it’s not their primary purpose. The sole purpose of hashtags is to help you become more visible when Instagram users actively search for hashtags you’ve used. Instagram’s creator account has many tips related to hashtags. They recommend using three to five relevant hashtags — any more won’t bring you any increase in distribution. Use a mix of popular and niche hashtag categories to rank for your targeted hashtags. Free hashtag generators can help you find these hashtags, and Buffer’s hashtag manager can help you categorize and group hashtags together. Should you use hashtags? Yes. But not more than five. And don’t spend a lot of time on a hashtag strategy because they aren’t the be-all-end-all for reach. Does posting with a TikTok watermark decrease your reach on Instagram?It might. Instagram has guided creators not to post Instagram Reels with a watermark. This doesn’t mean you can’t crosspost your TikTok videos or other video content. But export them raw first and write the same text using Instagram’s Reel editor. It’s normal for your Instagram reach to fluctuate up and downRemember, it’s normal for your Instagram reach to go up and down a bit. It’s not always about your content: Sometimes, the algorithm changes might affect your reach. Other times, it might be seasonal (like people spending less time on social media during the holidays). Don’t put “increasing reach” as the sole focus of your social media marketing strategy. Increased reach is the output of listening to your audience, creating content that resonates with them, and aligning with Instagram’s algorithm. The tips mentioned in this article can definitely help — but creating high-quality content and building a community is a prerequisite to them. View the full article

Bottlenecks can slow your project down, cause delays, and jeopardize the success of your project. Here's how to manage, mitigate, and control them throughout your project so you can deliver work on time, keep clients happy, and keep your team productive. The post What Are Bottlenecks In Project Management & How To Manage appeared first on The Digital Project Manager. View the full article

And how to rethink client service. By Alan Anderson, CPA Transforming Audit for the Future Go PRO for members-only access to more Alan Anderson. View the full article

Go PRO for members-only access to more CPA Trendlines Research. View the full article

This article is posted with permission from our partner MacPaw. MacPaw makes Mac + iOS apps that have been installed on over 30 million devices worldwide. Freelancers Union members receive 30 days of free unlimited access to CleanMyMacX and Setapp: https://freelancersunion.org/resources/perks/macpaw/ Our emails store everything from client contracts to grandma’s best cookie recipe. Naturally, someone’s snooping around in our inbox feels like discovering an uninvited stranger sleeping in our bed. It’s unsettling, intrusive, and downright dangerous. From stolen client information to identity theft, the fallout of a hacked email can be serious. But Moonlock, a cybersecurity division of MacPaw, is here to show you how to take back control over your email. Here’s a full breakdown of how to spot the signs of a hacked email, what steps to take, and how to safeguard your inbox from future attacks. Signs your email has been compromisedCybercriminals get sneakier every day, but their actions still leave behind digital breadcrumbs. Some of these signs might hit you over the head, while others require a closer look. Either way, catching these red flags early is key. You’re locked out of your accountIf you’re suddenly unable to log in, and your password doesn’t work –– you’ve likely been hacked. The first thing attackers do is lock you out by changing your password and recovery settings (including two-factor authentication if you had it). This move hands them full control of your account. Unsolicited login notificationsAre you getting random push notifications or emails asking if you were trying to log in? These warnings mean someone is tampering with your account. Don’t ignore them –– change your passwords at once and report the incident via app support. Suspicious activityEver logged into your email to find weird messages you don’t remember sending? Hackers often use compromised accounts to spam malware or scam your contacts. Watch for messages you didn’t send, new contacts you didn’t add, or strange notifications. Emails are read, but you didn’t open themHackers love going through your inbox for valuable information. If emails are marked as “read,” that might be a sign someone else is peeking in. Sure, a clever hacker might re-mark them as unread, but they’re not always that careful. Deleted emailsIf emails are vanishing from your inbox, it could be a hacker covering their tracks. They might delete account access notifications or incriminating messages sent on your behalf. Check your trash folder regularly for anything fishy. New email filtersHackers can also set up filters to auto-delete or forward certain emails without you noticing. Regularly check your email’s filter settings to ensure no one’s pulling a fast one on you. When in doubt, use professional hack checker toolsTools like “Have I Been Pwned?” can confirm if your email address has ever appeared in a data breach. Created by Microsoft’s Troy Hunt, this free tool is simple to use. Visit the site, enter your email, and click “pwned?” Within seconds, you’ll know if your credentials have been compromised. What to do if your email has been hackedRealizing your email has been hacked can be stressful, but don’t worry, there are ways to remedy the situation. Follow these steps to take back control and secure your account. 1. Disconnect from the internetGo offline to cut the hacker’s lifeline. Disconnecting prevents possible hacking malware on your device from sending more data to the attacker’s server. 2. Run a virus scanConduct a thorough malware scan on your computer. Hackers often use stolen credentials to infect multiple devices. If anything suspicious pops up, remove it immediately. 3. Change all passwords on a safe deviceWhile the antivirus is scanning, take your phone and start changing all your passwords. Use strong, unique combinations with uppercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Update your security questions and answers, too. Store everything in a password manager like 1Password or a free app Passwords that’s built into all Apple devices. 4. Enable two-factor or multifactor authenticationWhile changing passwords, turn on 2FA or multi-factor authentication for all your accounts. It’s like adding an extra deadbolt to your digital door. Even if a hacker has your password, they won’t get in without the secondary verification. How to prevent future hacksIf you’re worried your email might be hacked, or you’ve had this experience before, Moonlock came up with a few recommendations to keep your email safe. Use anonymous email generatorsHackers don’t go from inbox to inbox trying to guess our passwords. Most often, they hack entire companies, apps, and projects that store client information, leaking all data on the dark web. Therefore, the less information we share online, the lower the chances that our personal information will get into the wrong hands. Services like Apple’s Hide My Email or Firefox Relay help users reduce their digital footprint. They create disposable email addresses for signing up on websites or newsletters. Replies are forwarded to your real inbox without revealing your true email address. Switch to privacy-focused email providersPrivacy-focused email is built on encryption and collecting only the minimum amount of user information. Your emails remain secure even if intercepted, and the email provider has little data to share in case of a breach. Proton Mail is a leader in this area. Based in Switzerland, a country that treats privacy as a fundamental right, it ensures that your data stays protected. Try temporary email addressesTemporary email works differently from email masking services like Firefox Relay and Hide My Email. They are web-based, so they are not tied to any specific operating system or browser. The separation effectively limits how much information the service can gather about you, adding an extra layer of privacy. Another benefit is that replies usually don’t get forwarded to another email address. Instead, most temporary email services provide an inbox directly on their website where you can view and collect messages. This setup creates a solid barrier between your temporary email and your real identity. Typically, you’ll enter a username, and a disposable inbox will appear for your use. Once you close the page, both the email address and its inbox are deleted, leaving no trace. A quick online search will reveal plenty of temporary email providers, with popular options including Temp Mail, Email on Deck, and YOPmail. Keep in mind that these services often come and go, so it’s always worth checking for the latest options. Start using a VPNA VPN like ClearVPN masks your IP address and encrypts your online activity, shielding you from prying eyes. Always use it while connected to the internet. Consider a privacy-focused browserConsider browsers like Tor for an extra layer of privacy. Yes, it’s slower due to heavy encryption, but that’s the trade-off for staying hidden online. Hacking is a growing issue, but it’s not unbeatable. Armed with the right knowledge and tools, you can protect your email accounts, avoid breaches, and ensure your digital life stays in your control. View the full article

This article is posted with permission from our partner MacPaw. MacPaw makes Mac + iOS apps that have been installed on over 30 million devices worldwide. Freelancers Union members receive 30 days of free unlimited access to CleanMyMacX and Setapp: https://freelancersunion.org/resources/perks/macpaw/ Our emails store everything from client contracts to grandma’s best cookie recipe. Naturally, someone’s snooping around in our inbox feels like discovering an uninvited stranger sleeping in our bed. It’s unsettling, intrusive, and downright dangerous. From stolen client information to identity theft, the fallout of a hacked email can be serious. But Moonlock, a cybersecurity division of MacPaw, is here to show you how to take back control over your email. Here’s a full breakdown of how to spot the signs of a hacked email, what steps to take, and how to safeguard your inbox from future attacks. Signs your email has been compromisedCybercriminals get sneakier every day, but their actions still leave behind digital breadcrumbs. Some of these signs might hit you over the head, while others require a closer look. Either way, catching these red flags early is key. You’re locked out of your accountIf you’re suddenly unable to log in, and your password doesn’t work –– you’ve likely been hacked. The first thing attackers do is lock you out by changing your password and recovery settings (including two-factor authentication if you had it). This move hands them full control of your account. Unsolicited login notificationsAre you getting random push notifications or emails asking if you were trying to log in? These warnings mean someone is tampering with your account. Don’t ignore them –– change your passwords at once and report the incident via app support. Suspicious activityEver logged into your email to find weird messages you don’t remember sending? Hackers often use compromised accounts to spam malware or scam your contacts. Watch for messages you didn’t send, new contacts you didn’t add, or strange notifications. Emails are read, but you didn’t open themHackers love going through your inbox for valuable information. If emails are marked as “read,” that might be a sign someone else is peeking in. Sure, a clever hacker might re-mark them as unread, but they’re not always that careful. Deleted emailsIf emails are vanishing from your inbox, it could be a hacker covering their tracks. They might delete account access notifications or incriminating messages sent on your behalf. Check your trash folder regularly for anything fishy. New email filtersHackers can also set up filters to auto-delete or forward certain emails without you noticing. Regularly check your email’s filter settings to ensure no one’s pulling a fast one on you. When in doubt, use professional hack checker toolsTools like “Have I Been Pwned?” can confirm if your email address has ever appeared in a data breach. Created by Microsoft’s Troy Hunt, this free tool is simple to use. Visit the site, enter your email, and click “pwned?” Within seconds, you’ll know if your credentials have been compromised. What to do if your email has been hackedRealizing your email has been hacked can be stressful, but don’t worry, there are ways to remedy the situation. Follow these steps to take back control and secure your account. 1. Disconnect from the internetGo offline to cut the hacker’s lifeline. Disconnecting prevents possible hacking malware on your device from sending more data to the attacker’s server. 2. Run a virus scanConduct a thorough malware scan on your computer. Hackers often use stolen credentials to infect multiple devices. If anything suspicious pops up, remove it immediately. 3. Change all passwords on a safe deviceWhile the antivirus is scanning, take your phone and start changing all your passwords. Use strong, unique combinations with uppercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Update your security questions and answers, too. Store everything in a password manager like 1Password or a free app Passwords that’s built into all Apple devices. 4. Enable two-factor or multifactor authenticationWhile changing passwords, turn on 2FA or multi-factor authentication for all your accounts. It’s like adding an extra deadbolt to your digital door. Even if a hacker has your password, they won’t get in without the secondary verification. How to prevent future hacksIf you’re worried your email might be hacked, or you’ve had this experience before, Moonlock came up with a few recommendations to keep your email safe. Use anonymous email generatorsHackers don’t go from inbox to inbox trying to guess our passwords. Most often, they hack entire companies, apps, and projects that store client information, leaking all data on the dark web. Therefore, the less information we share online, the lower the chances that our personal information will get into the wrong hands. Services like Apple’s Hide My Email or Firefox Relay help users reduce their digital footprint. They create disposable email addresses for signing up on websites or newsletters. Replies are forwarded to your real inbox without revealing your true email address. Switch to privacy-focused email providersPrivacy-focused email is built on encryption and collecting only the minimum amount of user information. Your emails remain secure even if intercepted, and the email provider has little data to share in case of a breach. Proton Mail is a leader in this area. Based in Switzerland, a country that treats privacy as a fundamental right, it ensures that your data stays protected. Try temporary email addressesTemporary email works differently from email masking services like Firefox Relay and Hide My Email. They are web-based, so they are not tied to any specific operating system or browser. The separation effectively limits how much information the service can gather about you, adding an extra layer of privacy. Another benefit is that replies usually don’t get forwarded to another email address. Instead, most temporary email services provide an inbox directly on their website where you can view and collect messages. This setup creates a solid barrier between your temporary email and your real identity. Typically, you’ll enter a username, and a disposable inbox will appear for your use. Once you close the page, both the email address and its inbox are deleted, leaving no trace. A quick online search will reveal plenty of temporary email providers, with popular options including Temp Mail, Email on Deck, and YOPmail. Keep in mind that these services often come and go, so it’s always worth checking for the latest options. Start using a VPNA VPN like ClearVPN masks your IP address and encrypts your online activity, shielding you from prying eyes. Always use it while connected to the internet. Consider a privacy-focused browserConsider browsers like Tor for an extra layer of privacy. Yes, it’s slower due to heavy encryption, but that’s the trade-off for staying hidden online. Hacking is a growing issue, but it’s not unbeatable. Armed with the right knowledge and tools, you can protect your email accounts, avoid breaches, and ensure your digital life stays in your control. View the full article

New York City's recent implementation of its congestion pricing plan has officially gone into effect with the overall goals of reducing traffic and funding public transit improvements. The New York City Congestion Pricing Plan charges drivers a toll to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street during peak hours. While the goal is to alleviate congestion and promote cleaner air, the impact on freelance business owners doing business in the city could be significant. How the New York City Congestion Pricing Tax Credit WorksDrivers entering the congestion zone between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekdays, and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends, will be charged a $9 toll if they use an E-ZPass. The toll drops to $2.25 during off-peak hours. Those without an E-ZPass will face an additional 50% fee. For freelancers who frequently travel into New York City for meetings, client visits, or other business activities, these costs can quickly add up. Manhattan Congestion Toll Pricing DetailsHere's a breakdown of the current costs (Note: Fees will increase by 33% in 2028 and another 25% in 2031): Regular passenger vehicles: $9 (peak), $2.25 (off-peak). One daily charge, regardless of multiple entries and exits.Small trucks and charter buses: $14.40 (peak), $3.60 (off-peak).Tractor trailers: $21.60 (peak), $5.40 (off-peak). Unlike cars, commercial trucks are charged each time they enter the CBD.Intercity commuter buses and yellow school buses: Exempt from the toll.Tour buses: $21.60 (peak), $5.40 (off-peak).Motorcycles: $4.50 (peak), $1.05 (off-peak).Yellow or green cab passengers: 75 cents per trip.To help offset these costs residents of the Congestion Relief Zone (CRZ) whose New York State adjusted gross income is under $60,000 may qualify for a tax credit in the amount of tolls paid. In addition, low-income drivers may also qualify for LIDP, vehicle owners must have reported a federal adjusted gross income for the previous calendar year of no more than $50,000, or be enrolled in a qualifying government assistance program. Drivers enrolled in the Low-Income Discount Plan (LIDP) receive a 50% discount on the Congestion Relief Zone peak toll. The discount is available for passenger vehicles in the peak period. It begins after the first 10 trips in a calendar month and applies to all peak period trips after that. To qualify, applicants must provide: IRS Form 1040 or Tax Return Transcript and corresponding W-2s from the most recent tax year, or Proof of enrollment in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Special Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), or Temporary Aid to Needy Families Program (TANF) Your home address must match on all documents and you must have a valid E-ZPass NY account. Vehicle owners without an E-ZPass NY account must sign up for one before applying for LIDP. For New York City Freelance Businesses, Tracking Toll Expenses is Key As the congestion pricing plan continues to roll out, it is important for freelancers to monitor their toll usage and keep records of any charges incurred as they travel into Manhattan. When using your vehicle for work you are eligible to deduct this expense as part of your business expenses just like any other ordinary business expense. If you are a resident of the CRZ in New York making less than $60,000 a year, be sure to track your toll usage and apply for a tax credit (if you are eligible) on your 2025 tax return, too. View the full article

New York City's recent implementation of its congestion pricing plan has officially gone into effect with the overall goals of reducing traffic and funding public transit improvements. The New York City Congestion Pricing Plan charges drivers a toll to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street during peak hours. While the goal is to alleviate congestion and promote cleaner air, the impact on freelance business owners doing business in the city could be significant. How the New York City Congestion Pricing Tax Credit WorksDrivers entering the congestion zone between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekdays, and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends, will be charged a $9 toll if they use an E-ZPass. The toll drops to $2.25 during off-peak hours. Those without an E-ZPass will face an additional 50% fee. For freelancers who frequently travel into New York City for meetings, client visits, or other business activities, these costs can quickly add up. Manhattan Congestion Toll Pricing DetailsHere's a breakdown of the current costs (Note: Fees will increase by 33% in 2028 and another 25% in 2031): Regular passenger vehicles: $9 (peak), $2.25 (off-peak). One daily charge, regardless of multiple entries and exits.Small trucks and charter buses: $14.40 (peak), $3.60 (off-peak).Tractor trailers: $21.60 (peak), $5.40 (off-peak). Unlike cars, commercial trucks are charged each time they enter the CBD.Intercity commuter buses and yellow school buses: Exempt from the toll.Tour buses: $21.60 (peak), $5.40 (off-peak).Motorcycles: $4.50 (peak), $1.05 (off-peak).Yellow or green cab passengers: 75 cents per trip.To help offset these costs residents of the Congestion Relief Zone (CRZ) whose New York State adjusted gross income is under $60,000 may qualify for a tax credit in the amount of tolls paid. In addition, low-income drivers may also qualify for LIDP, vehicle owners must have reported a federal adjusted gross income for the previous calendar year of no more than $50,000, or be enrolled in a qualifying government assistance program. Drivers enrolled in the Low-Income Discount Plan (LIDP) receive a 50% discount on the Congestion Relief Zone peak toll. The discount is available for passenger vehicles in the peak period. It begins after the first 10 trips in a calendar month and applies to all peak period trips after that. To qualify, applicants must provide: IRS Form 1040 or Tax Return Transcript and corresponding W-2s from the most recent tax year, or Proof of enrollment in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Special Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), or Temporary Aid to Needy Families Program (TANF) Your home address must match on all documents and you must have a valid E-ZPass NY account. Vehicle owners without an E-ZPass NY account must sign up for one before applying for LIDP. For New York City Freelance Businesses, Tracking Toll Expenses is Key As the congestion pricing plan continues to roll out, it is important for freelancers to monitor their toll usage and keep records of any charges incurred as they travel into Manhattan. When using your vehicle for work you are eligible to deduct this expense as part of your business expenses just like any other ordinary business expense. If you are a resident of the CRZ in New York making less than $60,000 a year, be sure to track your toll usage and apply for a tax credit (if you are eligible) on your 2025 tax return, too. View the full article

Without a sophisticated process and workflow, IT departments can’t respond to cybersecurity incidents quickly, resolve requests from high priority customers, or support internal teams in performing their own tasks effectively. The entire organization’s momentum can be ground to a halt as bottlenecks pop up in these circumstances. This is when the topic of integrations tends to crop up: do we build one internally or buy an out of the box solution? If we buy it, which vendors should we consider? What features are essential, which ones are nice to have, and what can we live without? So what do you do about these questions? Let’s get into it as we explain use cases for integrating IT operations with a focus on ServiceNow and Jira. In this article: Common use cases for a Jira ServiceNow integration When and how to choose a Jira ServiceNow integration solution Optimize interdepartmental workflows Step-by-step instructions: Connect Jira to ServiceNow Summary: Jira ServiceNow integration What about Jira Service Management? While Jira and Jira Service Management are similar platforms, they’re used very differently. That’s why this article focuses on Jira Cloud and Jira Server. Common use cases for a Jira-ServiceNow integration Connecting Jira Software to ServiceNow offers a range of benefits in everyday business scenarios for an IT service desk: Incident management: Email server issues, website downtime, and security incidents (e.g., cybersecurity breaches) are managed more effectively when recorded and tracked across both ServiceNow and Jira for collaborative resolution. ServiceNow incidents can be logged as Jira issues so that developers or engineers can directly access details from ServiceNow as tasks or issues within their epics and projects. Change management: Implementing internal changes often requires rigorous tracking to ensure minimal disruption to the organization. An integrated system for change management within your organization ensures any internal transition is properly documented, approved, and communicated quickly. If your team logs change requests from ServiceNow, they can be turned into action items in Jira for quick dispatching and updates. DevOps coordination: By linking together the cycle of coding (tracked in Jira), new features or updates with operational feedback or requirements (logged in ServiceNow), your organization can foster better DevOps practices. These use cases illustrate just how integral a well-configured synchronization between ServiceNow and Jira can be for optimizing your business operations. The key is speed and efficiency in all cases. Whether you wish to deploy a faster incident management process, IT change management system, or to fulfill cross-departmental requests automatically, integration makes a difference. This is especially true when it comes to cyber threats when every second of response time counts. Automating tedious manual tasks enables your team to spend more of their effort on problem-solving and using their primary skill sets. When and how to choose a Jira-ServiceNow integration solution “Our company uses ServiceNow for customer issue tracking across all departments. The IT department primarily works in Jira. Right now, we have to manually duplicate customer issues reported in ServiceNow into Jira. This also affects tasks like release testing, leading to delays, errors, and wasted effort. We’re looking for a solution that integrates Jira and ServiceNow, so we don’t have to enter the same information twice and constantly update statuses in both systems. Our goal is to streamline our workflow and improve visibility for everyone involved.” – Unito customer interview How to choose the right integration solution This decision requires a number of key considerations, particularly planning out future maintenance and scalability. You need to be able to maintain and scale your stack without incurring costly fees or having teams spend months implementing updates. Other factors worth considering include: compatibility, ease of use, security measures, and support services. Compatibility and ease of use The next step in selecting the appropriate solution for your Jira or Jira Service Management to ServiceNow integration involves checking compatibility between tools. You need an option that seamlessly interacts with both ServiceNow and Jira without requiring extensive modifications or complex workarounds. Here’s what you typically need to consider: Native integrations: The integrated capabilities of Jira and the ServiceNow platform come with a range of benefits for those with an internal integration team capable of maintaining and updating the system. ServiceNow Integration Hub offers “spokes” for connecting with other tools, such as Jira. A spoke is defined as: “a scoped application that includes Flow Designer custom actions or subflows.” Configuration: Since your needs likely vary from another user, opting for a platform that allows adjustments can help tailor the integration to meet specific demands. So while ServiceNow offers spokes, will they serve your needs efficiently? Will you be able to configure them with precision? How much effort will that require from your own department? User interface (UI): A straightforward UI ensures that your team can manage the integration easily. If your team is handling large volumes of code, how much time is spent maintaining it? How much does it cost to outsource that work to a service provider? A low-code solution eliminates the need for costly outsourcing and lengthy development cycles, keeping your team in control and speeding up your time to value. So if you need a configurable integration with an accessible UI, your best bet is likely a no-code solution that’s also fully configurable, such as Unito. Book a demo with our team Support services Evaluate the level of customer support provided. Effective support can drastically reduce downtime and ensure problems are solved quickly: Technical support: Accessibility to knowledgeable tech support teams who understand particulars about Jira and ServiceNow. Documentation and training resources: Well-documented guides and tutorials facilitate smoother setup processes and troubleshooting procedures. By carefully considering these factors within different technological offerings, you equip yourself with knowledge necessary to make an informed decision about which tool will best serve your needs for integrating ServiceNow with Jira effortlessly. Enhance interdepartmental workflows with a low-code 2-way Jira-ServiceNow integration Now that we’ve reviewed key considerations to look for and some of the options available to you, let’s dive into how low-code platforms such as Unito can optimize your interdepartmental workflow between Jira and ServiceNow with consideration for data security, efficiency, and accessibility. Minimizes bottlenecks so IT operations can focus on resolving issues instead of chasing approvals Escalation path: A low-code 2-way sync platform can establish clear escalation paths integrated with Jira and ServiceNow. That means issues will seamlessly move to the correct department based on predefined rules, ensuring rapid resolution and avoiding unnecessary delays. Dispatching: Once your workflow is integrated, the dispatching process becomes fully automated. Requests or incidents generated in ServiceNow flow directly to the right department within the appropriate tool (Jira in this case), eliminating manual handoffs, meetings or redundant emails. Connect your tools with Unito’s 2-way Jira-ServiceNow integration By syncing ServiceNow’s comprehensive ITSM capabilities with Jira’s agile project management tools through Unito, both systems improve with: 2-way flows: Records, incidents, tasks, or issues created in one tool are automatically mirrored to another with: Live updates: That means manual changes made in either platform are automatically reflected in the other system in real-time. Full oversight: Stakeholders from any department can track status updates, priorities, and task ownership. Step-by-step instructions: Connect Jira to ServiceNow with Unito Unito simplifies ITSM workflows, addressing these challenges head-on: Quick configuration: Unito’s low-code setup means you’ll be up and running quickly. Intuitive configuration tools let you tailor the data flow to your specific ITSM processes. Error reduction: Automated syncing eliminates manual updates, significantly reducing the risk of mistakes and data discrepancies. Granular control: Fine-tune field mapping and syncing rules to ensure only the necessary information is shared between Jira and ServiceNow. This balances visibility with data control. Enhanced visibility: Everyone involved, from IT service agents to those in other departments, sees the full up-to-date picture, promoting faster resolution. Team management: The Unito team can help you put together a permission model to help you manage your workspace(s) effectively. Time needed: 15 minutes Here’s how easy it is to set up your own Jira ServiceNow integration with Unito Set up Jira before syncing If you’re connecting your Jira instance to Unito via OAuth2, then there are no extra steps to sync your issues to records in ServiceNow. Otherwise, you’ll need to set your Jira contact email visibility to anyone from your Jira profile page. Then, set up an application link in Jira so that your issues can sync to ServiceNow incidents. Set up ServiceNow before syncing To connect ServiceNow to Unito, you’ll only need three things: Your ServiceNow username. Your ServiceNow password. Your ServiceNow Domain URL. If you’re not sure how to get this, ask your administrator. Step 1: Connect Jira and ServiceNow to Unito Navigate to the Unito App and select +Create Flow. Select Start Here to connect ServiceNow and Jira. Choose the accounts you want connected to Unito. Set a direction for incident or issue creation Filter unrelated incidents or issues with configurable rules Rules let you decide which issues or incidents to sync between Jira and ServiceNow. You can set rules based on any supported field in either tool, including custom fields. Link fields between ServiceNow incidents and Jira issues This step tells Unito how each field in ServiceNow and Jira relates to each other. You’ll also be setting a sync direction for real-time updates. In this example, the ServiceNow State is linked to the Jira Issue status bi-directionally. So a manual change to one will automatically update the other. The 2-way solution for your Jira-ServiceNow integration Unito enables a real-time connection between ServiceNow and Jira so that updates between tools are always in sync end-to-end. Users can configure their flows through rules to filter out unrelated data, and a table of fields in Jira and ServiceNow. The field mappings table allows you to set the relationship between fields in each tool to link statuses, summaries, assignees, attachments etc. as well as set a separate sync direction for each pair of fields. Seamless data flow: Bi-directional syncing ensures issues and updates in either Jira or ServiceNow are mirrored automatically, eliminating manual effort and ensuring everyone has the most current information. Enhanced organization: IT service departments, support staff, and other departments can collaborate effortlessly. Issues move smoothly between Jira and ServiceNow based on your workflow rules, speeding up resolution. Greater visibility: Real-time updates provide a clear and centralized view of all ITSM activities, regardless of which system they originate in. This enables faster decision-making and better insights for process improvement. Setting up a single Unito flow only takes the average user ~12 minutes, making it far more accessible than an integration tool based in Groovy or JavaScript. Unito reduces the risk of manual input and error in ITSM Unito reduces the need for manual data entry and all but eliminates the risk of human error, for a more effective collaboration between tools, optimized communication and visibility, and a more flexibile ITSM process. Optimizing communication and visibility A Jira ServiceNow integration eliminates the need to chase updates across multiple systems. Real-time syncing provide stakeholders with up-to-the-minute details on Jira issues and linked ServiceNow incidents or records. Instead of relying on scattered emails or Slack threads, everyone has clear, consolidated insights into issue status and progress. This promotes smoother handoffs between departments and better decision-making. Flexible ITSM processes and reduced errors Your ITSM department can configure their flow to align ServiceNow perfectly with Jira. Detailed field mapping ensures the right information flows between Jira issues and ServiceNow incidents. Comments, status updates, and issue assignments stay in sync automatically. This saves time, reduces the risk of errors, and lets you adapt the integration as your ITSM processes evolve. Summary: Jira ServiceNow integration For enterprise-level IT and engineering teams, efficient cross-departmental collaboration is crucial. Unito’s Jira + ServiceNow integration simplifies incident management and other core ITSM tasks via low-code, 2-way syncing to mitigate wasted time and lost opportunities. Reduced human error: The automated flow of data between tools reduces the risk of human error caused by manual updates and saves time. Unito’s fully configurable field mappings allow users to enjoy greater flexibility than they would with ServiceNow Integration Hub. Greater Visibility and Control: Real-time updates provide a clear, consolidated view of incidents, records, tasks, and issue lifecycles, regardless of origin. This increased visibility enables faster decision-making and resolution. Enhanced Customer Experience: By streamlining ITSM processes with a Jira + ServiceNow integration, support teams can resolve issues faster to make your customers happier. Book a demo to see if this integration is right for you Assess your organization FAQ: ServiceNow-Jira integration Does Jira integrate with ServiceNow? You can integrate Jira with ServiceNow in a number of ways: The Jira Spoke in the ServiceNow Integration Hub, which is available with ServiceNow at an extra cost. Script-based integration tools like the Exalate app, which require some level of technical knowledge to work best. Two-way sync integration platforms like Unito, which automatically sync data back and forth between Jira and ServiceNow. When should you use Jira vs. ServiceNow? While Jira and ServiceNow have some similarities, they’re used very differently. ServiceNow is typically the hub for an organization’s service workflows, whether that’s ITSM (IT service management) or customer service. Jira allows teams to manage service workflows as well (especially through Jira Service Management), but it’s best suited to product work and project management. That’s why most organizations will use both tools. What integrations are supported by ServiceNow? Through the ServiceNow Integration Hub and third-party apps, ServiceNow offers over 1,000 integrations. View the full article

Peru is a massive country. To do it justice, you need a lot of time. From the capital of Lima to the ancient city of Cusco to the jungles of the Amazon to the beach towns to the ruins of the Sacred Valley, Peru presents you with a lot of options. I spent 2.5 weeks there and absolutely loved it. But even at a fast pace, I still felt like I barely saw anything (even though I crammed a lot of activities into my trip). So, in such a large nation, how do you break up a trip? How do you pick what to see and do? What kind of itinerary do you make? Well, of course, a lot of that has to do with what you are going for: the Amazon, the hiking, the history, or the food? Most first-time visitors to Peru do the southern route: Lima, Arequipa, Lake Titicaca, and Cusco/Sacred Valley. This route has the most historic sites and the biggest attractions. But there’s also the Amazon, the beach towns, and smaller ruins in the north. To give you some ideas on potential routes, here are my suggested itineraries for visiting Peru: Peru Itinerary: One Week I would only go to Peru for one week if you’re just planning to hike the Inca Trail. If that’s the case, I’d fly to Cusco, spend two days acclimatizing (and seeing the sights I recommend below), and then do the hike. After that, you can spend a couple days relaxing in Cusco before flying home. Peru Itinerary: Two Weeks Two weeks allows you to get a good (albeit slightly rushed) feel of the country. You’ll need to move quickly (flying and overnight buses will be a must), and you won’t get a lot of down time, but it’s a doable itinerary. Days 1–3: Lima Fly into Lima (if you’re coming from the United States, you’ll land in the morning, so you’ll get a full day) and spend your first day sightseeing and eating as much as possible. The capital is a gigantic city home to over 11 million people. Most visitors concentrate on the neighborhoods of Miraflores, Downtown, and Barranco, as those are where the majority of the attractions are and because they are the safest districts. My suggested things to do in Lima are as follows: Free walking tour – I love free walking tours, as they are a great way to get to know a new place and its history, to get your bearings, and to connect with a local guide who can share their insider tips and info. Lima has a lot of free walking tour companies, but two I recommend are Milky Way and Free Walking Tours Peru. Airbnb Experiences – Airbnb has a lot of incredible food tours, cooking classes, and history walks worth checking out. I think they’re an underrated resource as I’ve done some amazing activities via the platform. No matter your interest, you’ll be able to find something unique. Museo Larco – This private museum features an extensive collection of pre-Columbian art, gold, and jewels in an old 18th-century mansion with a beautiful café with a nice garden. There’s also a section featuring pre-Colombian erotic art. Spanning over 5,000 years of history, it’s a great place to get a primer on Peru’s past. Huca Pucllana – This is a huge adobe and clay pyramid built in seven staggered platforms. It’s massive and easy to get to as it’s in Miraflores, the main district everyone stays in, so it’s really easy to see. It served as an important ceremonial and administrative center for the Lima culture (a society that existed between 100 and 700 CE). Your ticket comes with a tour that lasts about an hour. Surquillo Market – Located in the district with the same name, Surquillo is my favorite market in town. It’s huge and there are a lot of little restaurants here. If you’re looking to go shopping and eat some incredible and inexpensive food, this is the spot. Museo de Arte de Lima – Opened in 1961, the Lima Art Museum is the main art museum in the city and has a collection that includes ceramics, textiles, sculptures, and paintings spanning over 3,000 years, from pre-Columbian times to the present, with a focus on local artists. They also have a rotating list of temporary exhibitions from international artists, so there’s always something new to see. LUM Museum – Officially called the “The Place of Memory, Tolerance, and Social Inclusion,” this educational museum is dedicated to the Peruvian internal conflict of 1980s and 1990s and honors its victims. There were over 50,000 casualties from the conflict, which occurred between the government and the Maoist guerilla group Shining Path (60,000 people were displaced as well). It’s a sobering but must-visit museum. Moreover, Lima has one of the best food scenes in the world, so be sure to eat, eat, and eat some more. The number one restaurant is here as are some of the other top ones. Just keep in mind that a majority of these higher-end spots close on Sunday and that you’ll need to make reservations months in advance (though if you arrive when they open, you might be able to get a seat due to a last-minute cancelation). Some that are worth the expense are: La Mar (seafood) Mercado (seafood) Maido (Japanese) Lady Bee (cocktails) Contraste (Peruvian) Central (Peruvian) Next, depending on your interests, you could spend a couple more days in Lima sightseeing and eating (it’s a cool city), or head down the coast to Paracas, Haucachina, and Nazca before either coming back to Lima to fly to Arequipa (or just taking the overnight bus from Nazca). Paracas is famous for its mangroves, Haucachina for its sand dunes, and Nazca for the Nazca lines and the archeological site, Cahuachi. You don’t really need more than a night in each place if you are short on time. Days 4–7: Arequipa I absolutely love Arequipa. The White City (called that because of the white volcanic stone used for the buildings) has an incredible, energetic vibe, really vibrant food scene, and lovely Spanish architecture. It also makes for a good base to explore the nearby canyons and mountains the region is famous for. I could have spent weeks in the city I loved it so much (as did my friends). But, if yo only have a few days, I recommend spending two days exploring the city and then an overnight trip to the Colca Canyon, which is Peru’s Grand Canyon. Here’s what’s not to miss in the city of Arequipa: Free walking tour – There are a couple of great free walking tours run by the same two companies as in Lima. Basilica Cathedral of Arequipa – Situated in the main plaza, this is the most important Catholic church in the city. Tours here take about 45 minutes (though you can go on your own), encompassing the beautiful paintings, ornate decorations, and massive organ. Mundo Alpaca – This free museum gives you a lot of information about alpacas, their importance to Andean culture, and how their fur is made into clothes. (The signs are really detailed and well done.) Plus, you can even feed some of the animals at the center. Santa Catalina – Taking up an entire city block, this convent is not to be missed. Founded in 1580, it was active for centuries. You get to explore a series of striking cloisters, chapels, and even an art gallery. I would recommend getting a guide for 20 soles, so you get more history and context. The tours last about an hour (but you can see it on your own after as well). Yanahuara Mirador – Located outside the city center, this viewpoint gives you sweeping vistas of the city and surrounding countryside. The district of the same name is also a quiet, pretty neighborhood generally free of tourists that is worth exploring (check out La Nueva Palomino, an incredible restaurant serving inexpensive Peruvian food). The Church of the Company – This is one of Arequipa’s most iconic churches, with imposing Baroque façade (the original was destroyed in an earthquake in the 1800s) and interior. Inside, you’ll find incredible paintings by native artists (and Virgin and Child by Bernardo Bitti) and gold altarpieces. Plus, you can visit the cloisters, which are now a gallery! For fine dining, my two favorite spots were China and Indigo, which both feature innovative Andean food. For a delicious Peruvian hole-in-the-wall, check out Picanteria La Mundial. I also recommend Isidro, a breakfast spot run by two Peruvians who spent time training in NYC. And Munanqui (a café) has some of the best sandwiches and tea selection I came across in the country. For the Colca Canyon, there’s a lot of operators around. I went via the company Peru Hop. Most overnight tours cost around $40 USD. Days 8–12: Cusco From Arequipa, you can either take an overnight bus or fly to Cusco, a huge city with a lot of activities and sights to explore. Don’t try to rush it. In fact, spend as much time here as you can! It lives up to all the hype, and it’s filled with world-class restaurants, lots of art museums, fascinating historic sites, and beautiful architecture. I would spend two days in town to acclimatize yourself before doing any major hikes, as it’s 13,000 feet above sea level! Some of my favorite things to see and do here are as follows: Free walking tour – As you can tell, I love a free walking tour, and there are half a dozen companies here. Your hotel or hostel can connect you with one, or you can use the companies mentioned in previous sections. Just remember to tip at the end! Saqsaywaman – This citadel complex on the northern outskirts of the city was built in the 15th century, though the earliest occupation of the site dates back even earlier, to around 900 CE. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it’s a hugely impressive structure and is definitely a must-see. You can hire a guide outside the entrance, as there’s no signage here. It’s also super easy to get to (you can walk there or take the bus). Qorikancha – The most important Incan temple in Cusco is located in the heart of the city. Named “The Golden Temple” (because the walls were once covered in sheets of gold), it was where the High Priest resided and where various sacrifices were held. It was demolished and turned into a church by the Spanish, but a lot of the original walls are still there. It also features rotating art exhibits. The Pre-Columbian Art Museum – Opened in 2003, this museum dedicated to the display of archaeological artifacts and examples of pre-Columbian artworks. There are almost 500 items on display here, many of which are n load from the Larco Museum in Lima (its parent museum). If you missed the museum in Lima, this is a good one to see instead since they cover a lot of the same stuff. Coca Museum – Museo De La Coca is a tiny museum that goes into great detail about the history of coca and its importance to local culture, as well as how it became defined by cocaine over the centuries. I was really impressed by the level of detail in the descriptions. If you’re going to hiking, chances are you’re going to be chewing cocoa leaves, so be sure to stop by. It’s small, but interesting! Machu Picchu Museum – Be sure to see this museum before you visit the site as it gives a lot of history about the site and its rediscovery in 1911 by Hiram Bingham. There are informative displays, educational videos about the original excavations, and artifacts from the site. It’s a nice primer to visiting the actual ruins. Franciscan Convent – This beautiful convent is filled with majestic tapestries, paintings, and cloisters, and features a decorative church. There’s very little signage, but the pamphlet they give you is really detailed. It was built in 1572 by order of Viceroy Francisco de Toledo. Don’t miss the library, which has a polyglot bible written in five languages. Regional Historical Museum of Cusco – Opened in 1946, this museum does a decent job of explaining the history of the region, especially before the Spanish arrived. There’s a decent collection of textiles, paintings, and ceramics. The other sections leave a bit to be desired, but it makes for a short stop if you want to learn more about the region’s history. San Pedro Market – This is the largest and most vibrant market in town. If you want to do any shopping, get some local produce, or just wander around and snack, this is the place to do it! San Blas – This area of Cusco is famous for its art and restaurants (fun fact: the Incas originally settled artists from around the empire here, and it’s been an artsy district ever since). The area has a bohemian vibe and it’s up on a hill, so there are a few good viewpoints too. Then spend as many days you want hiking. Everyone goes to visit Machu Picchu, but I wouldn’t recommend doing it in a single day, because you have to get up soooooo early from Cusco. Instead, I would go to Ollantaytambo the night before and then either take the train or you can do hike from Km104. (For more information on trekking Machu Picchu, check out this post.) If you’re interested in other treks, there are also hikes to Palcoyo, Waqrapukara, Huchuy Qosqo, Pumamarca, and so, so, so many others. Really, you have a ton of options! After that I would, come back to Cusco for a day and relax or fly to Lima for a day there before your flight. Days 13 & 14: Lima Spend your final day or two sightseeing and eating before flying home. Alternative Two-Week Itinerary Conversely, if you wanted to visit the Amazon, you could cut out Arequipa, keep the same itinerary for Lima and Cusco and go to either Puerto Maldonado or Iquitos to see the Amazon. Puerto Maldonado has more high-end jungle lodges, whereas from Iquitos you could do some multiday river cruises. Both destinations require flights to get to. Peru One Month Itinerary If you have a full month, I would follow the above two-week itinerary but also add in the following: Do more hiking – There are so many hikes in the Sacred Valley (and around Peru in general) that if you have the time, you could hike as much as you want. You have the ones I mentioned about as well as multi-day treks in the Colca Canyon, up north in the Amazon, and lots of other places! Visit the Amazon – Peru is where the Amazon River begins its journey to the Atlantic. Definitely check out either Puerto Maldonado or Iquitos to explore and learn about the jungle and river. In Iquitos, you can take 3-5 day river cruises. Puno/Lake Titicaca – You can spend a couple of days in Puno, which is somewhat between Cusco and Arequipa, and take in the famed Lake Titicaca, the highest lake in the world. There’s not much in Puno but the lake is tremendous. I’d spend 2-3 days here. Mancora – Located up north, Mancora is a famous beach town and a great place for world-class seafood. It’s kind of a party spot, but you can also visit without partying. It’s also pretty remote, so the best way to get there is to fly. Spend more time in the other areas – You can also add in more days in the Colca Canyon, Nazca, Lima, or really any other part of the country that suits your interests! *** Peru is a gigantic country. You’ll never have enough time, no matter how much you have (unless you move there). There’s way more to see than you might think, so, as you make your itinerary, don’t stress too much or try to jam it all in. See what you can and use the above suggestions as a starting point. Do that, and you’ll be sure to have an amazing trip! Book Your Trip to Peru: Logistical Tips and Tricks Book Your Flight Use Skyscanner to find a cheap flight. They are my favorite search engine because they search websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is left unturned. Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld as they have the biggest inventory and best deals. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates for guesthouses and cheap hotels. Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are: Safety Wing (best for everyone) Insure My Trip (for those over 70) Medjet (for additional evacuation coverage) Looking for the Best Companies to Save Money With? Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel. I list all the ones I use to save money when I’m on the road. They will save you money when you travel too. Want More Information on Peru? Be sure to visit my robust destination guide on Peru for even more planning tips! The post My Suggested Peru Itineraries: From 1 Week to 1 Month appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site. View the full article

In 2006, a high school student from Ontario named James Hobson started posting to a new platform called YouTube. His early videos were meant for his friends, and focused on hobbies (like parkour) and silliness (like one clip in which he drinks a cup of raw eggs). Hobson’s relationship with YouTube evolved in 2013. Now a trained engineer, he put his skills to work in crafting a pair of metal claws based on the Marvel character, Wolverine. The video was a hit. He then built a working version of the exoskeleton used by Matt Damon’s character in the movie Elysium. This was an even bigger hit. This idea of creating real life versions of props from comics and movies proved popular. Hobson quit his job to create these videos full-time, calling himself, “The Hacksmith.” Around the same time that Hobson got started on YouTube, a young British plumber named Colin Furze also began experimenting with the platform. Like Hobson, he began by posting videos of his hobbies (like BMX tricks) and silliness (like a stunt in which tried to serve food to moving cars). Furze’s relationship with YouTube evolved when he began posting record breaking attempts. The first in this informal series was his effort to create the world’s largest bonfire. (“I collected pallets for over a year.”) He drew attention from British media when he supercharged a mobility scooter to drive more than seventy miles per hour. This led to a brief stint as a co-host of a maker show called “Gadget Geeks” that aired on the then fledgling Sky TV. After that traditional media experience, he scored a hit on YouTube by attaching a jet engine to the back of a bicycle. He decided to fully commit to making a living on his own videos. I wrote about Hobson and Furze in my most recent essay for The New Yorker, which was titled, “A Lesson in Creativity and Capitalism from Two Zany YouTubers.” What drew my attention to these characters, and provided the main focus for my article, is what happened after they decided to make posting videos their full-time jobs. Hobson adopted a standard strategy from the media industry: he tried to grow as fast as possible. He moved from his garage to a leased warehouse, and then, when that lease ran out, he took on a multi-million dollar mortgage to buy an even larger warehouse. He soon had thirty employees and around a quarter million dollars a month in overhead. Furze, by contrast, stayed small. He continued to film his videos in his home workshop and a nearby old barn. He worked almost entirely on his own, with the exception of sometimes having his wife help hold a camera, or his friend Rick come lend a hand when some extra strength was needed. Furze’s overhead was reduced to more or less the cost of materials. Everything else he earns he keeps. Hobson and Furze’s opposite strategies provide a neat natural experiment in the economics of this quirky corner of YouTube. What were the results? In 2024, Hobson’s channel published twenty-five beautifully produced videos that attracted more than twenty-seven million total views. In the same period, Furze launched five solo-produced videos on his main channel that attracted eighteen million views. He also, however, maintained a second channel with behind-the-scenes footage that pushes his total views for the year to forty-three million, nearly double Hobson’s results. As I write: “Furze’s solo success is a quirky challenge to the traditional narrative that survival requires continually growing, and that a small number of well-financed winners eventually eat most of the economic pie. He demonstrates that in certain corners of the creative economy an individual with minimal overhead can work on select attention-catching projects and earn a generous upper-middle-class income. Beyond this relatively modest scale of activity, however, the returns on additional investment rapidly diminish. As Hobson’s experience suggests, there’s no obvious path for a D.I.Y. video creator to turn his channel into a multimillion-dollar empire, even if he wants to. Furze seems to be maxing out the financial potential of his medium by staying small.” In my article, I go on to the explore the specific reasons why small works so well in this medium (hint: it has to do with maintaining an authentic personal connection with your audience). But what I want to emphasize here is my broader conclusion. I think these particular corners of YouTube, along with some related creator-focused Internet-based technologies, including emails newsletter and podcasts, are helping to carve out space for a relatively broad “creative middle class.” As social media continues to falter and stumble in its role as a unifying cultural force, its model of people volunteering their creative labor in return for uncompensated attention is beginning to lose its appeal. Colin Furze is one among many who are revealing an alternative engagement with the online world; one in which it’s possible for someone with sufficient talent to make a good living with minimal investment and maximal flexibility. As I conclude in my piece, it’s still really hard to succeed in this new creative economy. But at least there’s space now to do so. As I write: “In our era of consolidation and polarization, many online spaces can seem dreary, toxic, addicting, or some combination of the three. As my colleague Kyle Chayka wrote in 2023, most of the Web just ‘isn’t fun anymore.’ In Furze, however, I sensed some of the optimism of the early Internet.” Sounds good to me. ##### In Other News… For nearly two decades, my friend Adam Gilbert (featured here in a 2007 Study Hacks post) has run My Body Tutor, an immensely successful health and fitness app that is based on the simple but powerful idea of using online coaches to hold people accountable. His team just launched a new platform called DoneDaily that brings this same coach-driven accountability to professional productivity. I’m mentioning it here because DoneDaily deploys a lot of ideas I talk about here and in my books — including, notably, multi-scale planning — but now combined with a dedicated coach who you check in with daily to make sure your plan makes sense and that you’re taking action. Anyway, I thought this was one of those ideas that makes so much sense that it’s surprising it didn’t exist before. Indeed, it’s the type of thing I might have built on my own if I didn’t already have a bunch of jobs. So I’m glad Adam got there first and was happy, at his request, to help share it. Check it out! (Note: I have an affiliate relationship with this site.) The post Lessons from YouTube’s Extreme Makers appeared first on Cal Newport. View the full article

In 2006, a high school student from Ontario named James Hobson started posting to a new platform called YouTube. His early videos were meant for his friends, and focused on hobbies (like parkour) and silliness (like one clip in which he drinks a cup of raw eggs). Hobson’s relationship with YouTube evolved in 2013. Now a trained engineer, he put his skills to work in crafting a pair of metal claws based on the Marvel character, Wolverine. The video was a hit. He then built a working version of the exoskeleton used by Matt Damon’s character in the movie Elysium. This was an even bigger hit. This idea of creating real life versions of props from comics and movies proved popular. Hobson quit his job to create these videos full-time, calling himself, “The Hacksmith.” Around the same time that Hobson got started on YouTube, a young British plumber named Colin Furze also began experimenting with the platform. Like Hobson, he began by posting videos of his hobbies (like BMX tricks) and silliness (like a stunt in which tried to serve food to moving cars). Furze’s relationship with YouTube evolved when he began posting record breaking attempts. The first in this informal series was his effort to create the world’s largest bonfire. (“I collected pallets for over a year.”) He drew attention from British media when he supercharged a mobility scooter to drive more than seventy miles per hour. This led to a brief stint as a co-host of a maker show called “Gadget Geeks” that aired on the then fledgling Sky TV. After that traditional media experience, he scored a hit on YouTube by attaching a jet engine to the back of a bicycle. He decided to fully commit to making a living on his own videos. I wrote about Hobson and Furze in my most recent essay for The New Yorker, which was titled, “A Lesson in Creativity and Capitalism from Two Zany YouTubers.” What drew my attention to these characters, and provided the main focus for my article, is what happened after they decided to make posting videos their full-time jobs. Hobson adopted a standard strategy from the media industry: he tried to grow as fast as possible. He moved from his garage to a leased warehouse, and then, when that lease ran out, he took on a multi-million dollar mortgage to buy an even larger warehouse. He soon had thirty employees and around a quarter million dollars a month in overhead. Furze, by contrast, stayed small. He continued to film his videos in his home workshop and a nearby old barn. He worked almost entirely on his own, with the exception of sometimes having his wife help hold a camera, or his friend Rick come lend a hand when some extra strength was needed. Furze’s overhead was reduced to more or less the cost of materials. Everything else he earns he keeps. Hobson and Furze’s opposite strategies provide a neat natural experiment in the economics of this quirky corner of YouTube. What were the results? In 2024, Hobson’s channel published twenty-five beautifully produced videos that attracted more than twenty-seven million total views. In the same period, Furze launched five solo-produced videos on his main channel that attracted eighteen million views. He also, however, maintained a second channel with behind-the-scenes footage that pushes his total views for the year to forty-three million, nearly double Hobson’s results. As I write: “Furze’s solo success is a quirky challenge to the traditional narrative that survival requires continually growing, and that a small number of well-financed winners eventually eat most of the economic pie. He demonstrates that in certain corners of the creative economy an individual with minimal overhead can work on select attention-catching projects and earn a generous upper-middle-class income. Beyond this relatively modest scale of activity, however, the returns on additional investment rapidly diminish. As Hobson’s experience suggests, there’s no obvious path for a D.I.Y. video creator to turn his channel into a multimillion-dollar empire, even if he wants to. Furze seems to be maxing out the financial potential of his medium by staying small.” In my article, I go on to the explore the specific reasons why small works so well in this medium (hint: it has to do with maintaining an authentic personal connection with your audience). But what I want to emphasize here is my broader conclusion. I think these particular corners of YouTube, along with some related creator-focused Internet-based technologies, including emails newsletter and podcasts, are helping to carve out space for a relatively broad “creative middle class.” As social media continues to falter and stumble in its role as a unifying cultural force, its model of people volunteering their creative labor in return for uncompensated attention is beginning to lose its appeal. Colin Furze is one among many who are revealing an alternative engagement with the online world; one in which it’s possible for someone with sufficient talent to make a good living with minimal investment and maximal flexibility. As I conclude in my piece, it’s still really hard to succeed in this new creative economy. But at least there’s space now to do so. As I write: “In our era of consolidation and polarization, many online spaces can seem dreary, toxic, addicting, or some combination of the three. As my colleague Kyle Chayka wrote in 2023, most of the Web just ‘isn’t fun anymore.’ In Furze, however, I sensed some of the optimism of the early Internet.” Sounds good to me. ##### In Other News… For nearly two decades, my friend Adam Gilbert (featured here in a 2007 Study Hacks post) has run My Body Tutor, an immensely successful health and fitness app that is based on the simple but powerful idea of using online coaches to hold people accountable. His team just launched a new platform called DoneDaily that brings this same coach-driven accountability to professional productivity. I’m mentioning it here because DoneDaily deploys a lot of ideas I talk about here and in my books — including, notably, multi-scale planning — but now combined with a dedicated coach who you check in with daily to make sure your plan makes sense and that you’re taking action. Anyway, I thought this was one of those ideas that makes so much sense that it’s surprising it didn’t exist before. Indeed, it’s the type of thing I might have built on my own if I didn’t already have a bunch of jobs. So I’m glad Adam got there first and was happy, at his request, to help share it. Check it out! (Note: I have an affiliate relationship with this site.) The post Lessons from YouTube’s Extreme Makers appeared first on Cal Newport. View the full article

In 2024, we saw social media evolve in many ways — from numerous updates to some platforms (cough Meta) to explosive growth for others (Bluesky!). We’re also watching things like the U.S. TikTok ban, which, as of writing this article, will happen on January 19 if not overturned or paused. It wasn’t just the platforms that changed — creators also had their moments on social, with some moving to start businesses, some exploring new platforms, and some reaching milestone numbers (Mr. Beast having more YouTube subscribers than the population of the U.S.) With all the changes on the horizon, it’s safe to say that social media will look a little different in 2025. We asked 11 experts for their thoughts on what would happen in the space this year and found seven common themes across their responses. Let’s get into it. Creators and brands will be world-buildingPrediction: Creators and brands are moving beyond traditional strategies to create immersive, interconnected ecosystems — what some call the rise of the “cinematic universe” for content. Lia Haberman, social media consultant and writer of the ICYMI newsletter predicts that 2025 will be the year brands and creators start thinking of themselves as media empires. “Elements like Easter eggs, origin stories, spin-offs, and merch will mimic beloved franchises like Star Wars or Marvel,” she explains. For example, The Washington Post has created its own “cinematic universe” on TikTok, featuring newsroom characters and serialized content that build its brand personality. Lia also points to YouTube’s rollout of the “Seasons and Episodes” feature, which will empower creators to develop deeper narratives and storytelling arcs. Creators like Airrack are already adapting reality-TV formulas like The Bachelor to YouTube, offering serialized, binge-worthy content within the social media framework. But world-building isn’t just about serialized content or scaling businesses — it’s also about fostering authentic, interactive relationships, leading to the next prediction. Smaller communities will be prioritizedPrediction: Creators and their audiences will pursue small, exclusive spaces to interact. Anthony Galasso, Creative Director at AGAIN Interactive, predicts the comments section will become a hub for real-time engagement. “The comments section will become a dynamic space for content creation,” he shares, noting that clever, on-the-spot interactions can spark audience connections that feel authentic and personal. Similarly, Tameka Bazile, Senior Social and Content Strategist at Elevate Labs predicts a rise in creators retreating to private, lo-fi spaces to connect with their audiences more intimately. She predicts that “spam pages” or private communities will allow creators to maintain control over their content while building authentic relationships away from the scrutiny of brand partnerships. Features like Instagram Broadcast Channels and Substack's chat channels reflect this shift toward private, curated interactions. Additionally, Buffer’s social media manager, Lindsay Ashcraft, highlights a broader trend: people seeking private communities where they feel comfortable participating. Platforms like Discord and Substack are becoming go-to destinations for these controlled, personal interactions. “Exclusive environments allow creators to foster deeper engagement without the pressure of larger, public audiences,” Lindsay explains. The rise of AI in content creation (and all the challenges that come with it)Predictions: Platforms will continue making big bets on artificial intelligence (AI profiles on Instagram, anyone?), but the road to adoption won’t be without bumps. Matt Navarra, founder of Geekout, a newsletter and community for social media pros, already correctly predicted Meta’s push towards AI as the platform kicked off the new year with AI character profiles sharing content users can interact with. And as he also predicted, there has been backlash as users wonder who and what this push is for. He also predicts that the backlash may force Meta to offer users more control over their feeds in the direction of platforms like Bluesky. In the same vein, Matt predicts that brands will face challenges with AI in 2025. “Over-reliance on AI for content creation and engagement, or a lack of transparency about its use, could lead to customer backlash,” he predicts. However, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. Matt shares that, “..the rise of native AI tools within social media platforms will empower social media managers and creators. These integrated features will streamline workflows and reduce reliance on external AI tools.” Short-form video will continue to dominatePrediction: 2025 is set to see the influence of short-form video continue to grow across platforms — even in spaces previously dominated by long-form or static content. LinkedIn: the hub for B2B short-form videoAdrien Lemaire, Content Manager at Narratempo, identifies LinkedIn as an emerging hub for short-form video, particularly in the B2B space. With 24% of LinkedIn’s audience now comprising Gen Z, the demand for fast, engaging content is driving change. Adrien predicts that talking head (face-to-camera) videos and repurposed snippets from webinars or podcasts will thrive on LinkedIn’s new short-form video feed, offering businesses a way to connect with younger, time-strapped audiences while maintaining authenticity. Lindsey Gamble adds that LinkedIn’s commitment to video-first content will accelerate in 2025. He anticipates that enhanced editing tools and expanded analytics will empower creators and brands to optimize content, leading to a surge in video-first campaigns on the platform. YouTube Shorts: the platform to watchJack Appleby, creator of the Future Social newsletter, predicts YouTube Shorts will become a key platform for short-form video strategies in 2025. “YouTube Shorts will become an extension of brands’ TikTok and Reels strategies,” he predicts. Jack also highlights how Shorts uses the same creative formats as competing platforms while benefiting from YouTube’s powerful search engine. This relationship is vital for brands (and creators) who can repurpose their short-form content across platforms, ensuring maximum visibility and engagement. Visual storytelling as a differentiatorBuffer’s social media manager, Lindsay Ashcraft, foresees visual storytelling becoming a differentiator in short-form content. “There’s a growing space for creators to stand out with dynamic visual edits,” she says. Platforms like Instagram and YouTube Shorts will reward creators who innovate with unique, aesthetically driven storytelling techniques within the short timeframes. LinkedIn will be a major player on the influencer frontierPrediction: LinkedIn will be a dominant force in the creator economy in 2025, redefining its role from a professional networking platform to a creative hub for individuals and brands alike. LinkedIn as a creator economy hubLaura Wong predicts LinkedIn will cement its position as a leader in the creator economy. “LinkedIn will dominate as a creator economy hub,” she shares, emphasizing its growth as a platform where professionals can also thrive as creators. Employee-generated contentTameka Bazile foresees LinkedIn’s growth will be fueled by corporate creators leveraging the platform for brand partnerships and authentic connections. “Executives, employees, and in-house creators will play pivotal roles in establishing trust for brands,” she explains. This shift aligns with LinkedIn’s push toward blending personal and professional content. Buffer’s social media manager, Lindsay Ashcraft, highlights the potential of employee-generated content (EGC) for expanding brand awareness. “Brands can extend their reach tenfold by tapping into employee networks,” she says. However, she also sounds a note of caution: maintaining authenticity will be critical to success. Video leads to more brand partnershipsLindsey Gamble, creator economy expert and consultant, builds on this by highlighting LinkedIn’s focus on video-first content and influencer marketing. “LinkedIn will push for video-first content,” Lindsey predicts, pointing to the platform’s introduction of enhanced editing tools and analytics as key drivers. Callie Schweitzer, Head of Scaled Programs at LinkedIn, shares that video uploads on the platform are up 34%, with total video viewership rising 36% in the past year. She emphasizes that simplicity and experimentation will be key for creators exploring video content in 2025. This shift toward video will make LinkedIn more attractive to creators and position it as an essential platform for brands launching influencer campaigns. Jayde Powell, a social media consultant and creator, is already seeing success with influencer partnerships on LinkedIn, earning over $40,000 from sponsorships in 2024. “In 2025, we’ll see brands partnering with creators more than ever,” she predicts. 💡Check out our BufferChat interview with Jayde for more of her LinkedIn tips and tricks.We’ve already seen this start coming to pass with Notion’s explosive “Notion Faces” partnership that kickstarted their 2025 marketing, which included creators like Jayde and Snoop Dogg. For creators and brands, it’s no longer just a “nice-to-have” platform — it’s necessary to stay relevant in the digital age. Platforms will become their own ecosystemsPrediction: In 2025, social media platforms will evolve into all-encompassing ecosystems where creators and brands can manage everything from content creation to audience engagement without leaving the platform. This consolidation aims to streamline workflows and increase user reliance on native tools. Meta’s growing ecosystemMatt Navarra highlights Meta’s ambitious AI push as part of this shift towards platform ecosystems. “Meta’s AI tools aim to reduce reliance on external software,” he explains, suggesting that platforms like Facebook and Instagram are moving to provide everything creators and social media managers need under one roof. This shift simplifies workflows and reinforces Meta’s dominance by keeping users within its ecosystem. Laura Wong, a former product manager and current business owner, points to Threads as a critical piece of Meta’s interconnected strategy. “Threads’ growth and its integration with Facebook and Instagram signal Meta’s move toward a more cohesive ecosystem,” she shares. By allowing seamless transitions across their different platforms and leveraging network effects, Meta creates a unified experience that benefits creators and users. LinkedIn: the platform for professionalsMeanwhile, Lindsey Gamble observes that LinkedIn is also transforming into a more comprehensive ecosystem. He points to its evolving video tools and analytics as signals that the platform is enhancing its value for creators, brands, and marketers. “LinkedIn is becoming a platform where creators can plan, produce, and analyze their content all in one place,” Lindsey explains. This integration of features, from enhanced editing tools to deeper analytics, positions LinkedIn as a go-to destination for professionals seeking robust content management capabilities. Rather than serving as standalone spaces for specific functions, social platforms are becoming all-encompassing environments designed to retain users and meet their end-to-end needs. In 2025, creators and brands will find new opportunities — and challenges — in navigating these consolidated digital landscapes. Creator business models will evolvePrediction: The creator economy is growing up, and in 2025, creators will move beyond being solo entrepreneurs into building structured, scalable businesses. Creator economy expert and writer of the Communiqué newsletter, David Adeleke, predicts that creators will increasingly adopt a “celebrity playbook,” forming teams and companies around their work. “Creators will form businesses and teams to professionalize and scale their content operations,” he shares. This evolution will see creators scaling their operations, engaging audiences across multiple touchpoints, and expanding their influence through offline events. In 2025, it won’t be enough to produce content — creators will need to think like entrepreneurs, building teams, innovating their approaches, and scaling their businesses to thrive in an increasingly competitive landscape. View the full article

The future of work has arrived, and it’s decidedly hybrid. Our 2025 predictions paint a clear picture of a workplace transformed by evolving employee preferences, technological advancements, and the undeniable permanence of flexible work. Forget the full return to office – 2025 is the year hybrid work truly takes hold. View the full article

What is 'AgenticAI' and how will it be used? MediaTek's James Chen takes us through the new technology and its inherent opportunities. The post Interview with MediaTek: What ‘AgenticAI’ will mean for the next generation smart home appeared first on Wi-Fi NOW Global. View the full article

What is 'AgenticAI' and how will it be used? MediaTek's James Chen takes us through the new technology and its inherent opportunities. The post Interview with MediaTek: What ‘AgenticAI’ will mean for the next generation smart home appeared first on Wi-Fi NOW Global. View the full article

Plus the appeal of RIAs. By Rory Henry The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management Go PRO for members-only access to more Rory Henry. View the full article

It’s time we uncovered how much productivity is lost to constant communication. Have you ever wondered where all your productive hours went, only to realize you spent most of your day jumping between emails, meetings, and chat apps? You’re not alone. In today’s hyper-connected world, employees spend nearly 4 hours per day on communication—time that could The post Always online, always behind: the true cost of constant communication appeared first on RescueTime Blog. View the full article

The Bangkok to Ban Klong Luk Border train service goes from Bangkok Railway Station (Hua Lamphong) to the Thailand-Cambodia border in Aranyaprathet. There are two trains a day in each direction, but the early morning service (Train No. 275) is the best if you are planning onward connections in Cambodia. Train number: 275 Service: Ordinary Depart Bangkok: 5:55 am Arrive Ban Klong Luk Border: 11:17 am Total travel time: 5h 22m [Bangkok to Ban Klong Luk Border timetable.] Depart from Hua Lamphong Station (Bangkok Station) Most trains from Bangkok now depart from Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal. Trains that travel to Eastern Thailand still use the old Bangkok Railway Station (Hua Lamphong), so this is a good opportunity to experience the old station. [Early morning inside the historic Hua Lamphong Station.] The cafes aren’t open at this hour, so there is no chance to have a coffee and admire the station. [Ban Klong Luk Border train at Hua Lamphong.] Tickets Tickets are available at the station on the day of travel. Tickets are not bookable in advance and there are no reserved seats. If you want to pick your preferred seat then you should board 30 minutes before departure. [Ticket office at Hua Lamphong.] The service is all 3rd Class seating, which is the cheapest form of travel in Thailand. The ticket costs 49 THB ($1.40 USD in December 2024). [Bangkok to Ban Klong Luk Border ticket.] Onboard Train No. 275 Train No. 275 is an “Ordinary” service, so it stops at most of the stations along the way. The train acts as a commuter service for Greater Bangkok, so the seats fill up quickly when it stops at the stations in Bangkok. [Khlong Tan Station in Bangkok.] The train passes Suvarnabhumi Airport at around 7 am, so it took an hour and 5 minutes to get this far. [Under the Suvarnabhumi Airport flight path.] You could technically board the train at other stations in Bangkok, but you will most likely not get a seat. It becomes standing-room only after a few stops. [Standing-room only on Train No. 275.] Chachoengsao is the largest station between Bangkok and the border. A lot of passengers get off here, but more passengers join as well. There are only two services a day to Aranyaprathet, and ultra-cheap fares makes it a popular route. [Chachoengsao Station.] There is no cafe carriage or official food carts, but there are food vendors that get on and off the train throughout the trip. The seats are padded bench seats. They are confortable but it’s a bit tiresome to be bolt upright the entire trip. [Seats on Train No. 275.] The carriages have ceiling fans and the windows are kept open. These type of carriages will be phased out one day, so I enjoy the chance to ride on these trains with an open breeze and no glass between the scenery. [Open windows on the Ordinary class train.] The train stops at many stations, which accounts for the slow journey. [Khlongsip Kao Junction.] Even at the small stations there were many people getting off and on. [Sa Kaeo Station.] Some stations are just a little platform by the side of the track. The train also has to stop to allow for the service in the other direction to pass. [Waiting for the opposite train to pass.] Ban Klong Luk Border Ban Klong Luk Border Station is next to the Thailand-Cambodia border in Aranyaprathet. There is also an Aranyaprathet Station, but stay until the end of the line if you are crossing the border. [Aranyaprathet Station (stay on the train if you are going to the border).] Ban Klong Luk Border Station is right next to the border. The Khlong Luek Border Checkpoint is next to the station. The border crossing is to your left as you exit the station. [Walking from Ban Klong Luk Border Station to the border crossing.] Walking across the border to Poipet, Cambodia The train line is connected to Cambodia, but it is currently only used for freight. There is no cross-border passenger service between Thailand and Cambodia. After going through Thailand immigration, you walk across the border to the Cambodia immigration building. Once you clear immigration you exit the building and you are in the border city of Poipet. The city is famous for casinos and the vice that is associated with bordertowns. There are casinos as soon as you exit border crossing, and there is a Starbucks at the border entry. [Starbucks at Poipet border gate.] There is also an Amazon Cafe near the Starbucks, so you could stop in here to get wifi. If you use Grab taxi in Thailand it’s also available in Cambodia. Poipet is a casino city that caters for Thai citizens, so the shops advertise prices in Thai baht. Train from Poipet to Phnom Penh The train line from Poipet continues to Phnom Penh (the Northern Line) but passenger trains are not currently running between Poipet and Battambang. To travel from Bangkok to Phnom Penh in one day by train, you have to get a van or taxi between Poipet and Battambang. There is a Battambang to Phnom Penh train that departs at 15:00. If you are taking this overlanding trip, then you are probably not in a great hurry, so I would recommend staying in Battambang as it is a charming little city. Check transport from Poipet to Battambang. Bus/van travel from Poipet to Siem Reap and Phnom Penh Poipet has a bad reputation for being a dodgy border crossing. There are many tuktuk touts that will come up to you, but it seems that it is not as bad as it used to be. The main problem with Poipet is that there are no onward bus services or travel agents next to the border crossing. This is where the hassle begins as you have to walk up the road to one of the travel agents that sell onward tickets. Tuktuk drivers will ask where you are going and will drive you to a travel agent. You can just walk up the main road until you find a travel agent. There are a few travel agents on the left side of the main road, including some travel agents opposite Poipet Train Station. The station is about 10-minutes walk from the border crossing. If you prefer to book a bus ticket in advance, there are different van and bus options via 12.go. Transport from Poipet to Siem Reap. Transport from Poipet to Phnom Penh. This train travel review is part of the Southeast Asia railways guide. View the full article

Our roundup of important Wi-Fi news at CES 2025. The post CES 2025: Morse Micro’s HaLow shines, MediaTek & Google team up, new products from NETGEAR, TP-Link, Asus appeared first on Wi-Fi NOW Global. View the full article

Our roundup of important Wi-Fi news at CES 2025. The post CES 2025: Morse Micro’s HaLow shines, MediaTek & Google team up, new products from NETGEAR, TP-Link, Asus appeared first on Wi-Fi NOW Global. View the full article

Customer support is about finding out what someone needs and lining that up with the right solution. It’s about turning what might start out as a negative interaction into a positive one. It’s rigorous, technical work. But sometimes, you just can’t solve the problem on your own. When this happens, a ticket will often need support from other people, from developers all the way up to the CEO. When this happens, you need a quick, efficient support ticket escalation workflow. Let’s go over this workflow and its common hurdles. What is a support ticket? A support ticket describes an issue, usually faced by a customer, that an organization works to fix. This ticket will describe the issue, as reported by the customer, as well as any information a customer support agent might have recorded. As the team works to resolve the issue, they might add updates to that ticket, both for their own internal use and to keep the customer in the loop. Many organizations use dedicated support tools, like Zendesk and Intercom, to manage support tickets. Others might use different platforms, like project management tools or even spreadsheets. What is support ticket escalation? Not all support tickets can be resolved by the first agent who receives them. That’s where ticket escalation comes in. Whether expert help is needed to solve a problem or a customer requests a manager, ticket escalation both reassures the customer their issue will be taken care of and gets that ticket to the right party. Tickets can be escalated for one of many reasons: Authority: Whether it’s at the customer’s request or due to your own processes, these escalations move a ticket up the hierarchy, usually to an agent’s direct manager. Expert: Some tickets need expert input to be resolved, whether that’s from a software developer, a lawyer, or an adjudicator. Third-party: For organizations that rely on outsourced customer support, some tickets might be handled internally while others are escalated externally. Defining the support ticket escalation workflow If a workflow is a map for getting work done, a support ticket escalation workflow follows a ticket’s path from new to resolved whenever it goes from customer support to another team. Whenever a customer has a problem that their dedicated agent can’t fix, that agent typically has to escalate it to another internal team, such as engineering or billing. With this workflow, managers are looking at improving communication between customer support teams and other internal teams, as well as the overall time it takes to close an escalated ticket. All to hit established metrics and ensure customers are satisfied with the service they get. And that’s usually where the road bumps come in. Common friction points of a support ticket escalation workflow Customer service is already challenging. Customer success agents need to be absolute experts on their product, as well as mastering an array of soft skills like communication and organization. Escalating a ticket complicates things, because the CSA becomes a middleperson between the customer and whoever was brought in for backup. The CSA doesn’t control the interaction anymore, and the responsibility for resolving the issue isn’t theirs. They have to juggle keeping the client updated and making sure progress is being made. All while handling their regular support load. Here are the friction points that come with this. Difficult communication Maintaining consistent communication is important for any team. But for this workflow, that need is taken to a whole new level. Customer support work is time-sensitive. When the escalate switch gets flipped, a support ticket has to go from CSA to its destination as quickly as possible. The channel used to get that ticket from one place to another can get completely clogged without a sound strategy, especially during peak support times — like during a launch. Customer support teams and the internal team they’re escalating to don’t usually need to communicate outside of this workflow. That might mean that the means of communication between them aren’t well-established. That can make just getting the ticket from one place to another difficult, let alone staying updated on its progress. Opaque updates More than maybe any other, this workflow depends on tickets and tasks being updated across tools. This is especially difficult when you consider the fact that customer support tools and the tools used by teams like engineering rarely intersect — or even integrate. On the one hand, a CSA could be fielding frequent requests from a customer looking for updates on their issue. On the other, developers might be working hard to fix the problem, which can be hindered by constant requests for updates. Without some way to bridge the gap, a CSA has to constantly contact the internal teams for updates, while developers have to field these requests. That can leave tickets in a sort of limbo state where the accurate information is in someone’s head rather than in a place everyone can access. Constant copy-pasting It’s the bane of many a workflow, but it’s real. Whenever teams aren’t using the same tools, someone somewhere has to copy updates, comments, and the like from one place and paste them somewhere else. It takes valuable time out of that person’s workday and can make even the sturdiest of workflows fall apart. For this workflow, copy-pasting can turn what could have been a positive customer interaction into a failed transaction or, worse, a cancellation. Neither CSAs or developers have time to copy-paste, which slows information to a crawl. Worse, it can develop a sort of passivity, where a CSA’s job boils down to getting information from the customer to the developer and back again. This instead of using the array of skills they were trained — and hired — for. How Unito helps create an effective ticket escalation process Just because escalating a support ticket is a process that often hits speed bumps doesn’t mean it can’t be optimized. With a workflow management platform like Unito, you can integrate the top tools on the market and streamline collaboration across teams. In practice, that means bridging the gap between support teams and whoever they’re escalating to. So what does Unito do for this workflow? Promotes real communication By integrating your tools, you turn those platforms from pure work management solutions into centralized communication channels. If a customer has a question, the CSA can drop it into their tool, and Unito will automatically carry it over to whatever tool the developers are using. That means a CSA can stop being just an in-between for customers and developers, and actually focus on solving problems and managing customer interactions Achieves true transparency Silos are the status quo for this workflow. For example, CSAs and developers interact on escalated tickets and little else. Because collaboration between the two teams is usually restricted to this workflow, their tools and processes seldom overlap. With Unito, two very different tools can feel like they were made to work together. Any team can see important updates from where they’re more comfortable. Everything crucial, from due dates to assignees and comments, can be seen from either end of the workflow. No more middlemen, no more cluttered inboxes. Eliminates the need for copy-pasting For many users, this alone is a winning advantage of using Unito. Without a solid integration, information is stuck in one tool or the other. The user has to come up with a workaround to get to what they need when they need it. But when you use a workflow management platform, the barrier between tools essentially dissolves. Silos become porous, and the information that needs to get to other teams gets there without any added input. A support ticket escalation workflow with Unito Let’s see what Unito can do with a concrete example of a ticket escalation workflow, specifically when tickets get escalated to a development team. Imagine a customer support team field incoming requests about a new software launch. Many of the tickets generated by this launch may just come from people who need help getting familiar with a new product. But there will be plenty of bugs too, and these bugs need development help. The tickets come into Zendesk, and when they are escalated they go to developers who work in Jira. Here’s what this process looks like, step by step: A ticket in Zendesk is flagged for escalation; an “Escalate to development” tag is added to it. The ticket is picked up by Unito and synced to Jira, where a matching issue is created automatically. Developers working on the issue leave comments and updates in the Jira issue, which are synced back to HubSpot. CSAs refer to HubSpot when getting questions from customers. Developers close the issue in Jira when the work is done, and the accompanying HubSpot ticket is closed. Pro tip: optimize your support ticket escalation workflow with Unito Without Unito your support ticket escalation workflow will struggle to cross over tool boundaries. That means more time between when the ticket comes in and it’s closed, more messages requesting updates between customer success and developers, and more frustration. But with a Unito flow, you can work on escalated tickets from either tool. Here’s how Unito makes a difference. Escalation without the confusion Unito gives two disparate teams the ability to work together flawlessly. In the case of the support ticket escalation workflow, it means breaking through tool silos, communicating more easily, and never having to copy-paste an update again. View the full article

You’ve gone through the backlog, prioritized what needs to happen, and planned your next sprint. There have been meetings and messages, and everyone knows what they’re supposed to do. Now you just need a way to stay updated on how their work is going. You trust your developers to get things done, but you want the ability to identify and address blockers as they happen. You’re here to help your team, and you want to know exactly where and when to give that support. That’s what the sprint execution workflow is about. What is a sprint? Sprints are an essential part of Scrum, an Agile methodology typically used by software development teams to continually deliver features, bug fixes, and more for software projects. It’s a short period of time in which developers pack important work. Most teams use a two-week sprint, though anything shorter than a month works. Once a sprint is completed, they’ll usually review what’s been done and what still needs doing, and plan the next sprint. Here are some of the essential elements of a successful sprint execution process: The sprint planning meeting: During this meeting, the development team will review the product backlog to set their priorities for the next sprint. Tasks will be fleshed out and assigned, and may even be quantified using methods like story points to ensure all that work can actually be completed in a single sprint. The sprint itself: After the sprint is kicked off, development teams focus on the work that was assigned during the sprint planning meeting. Daily stand ups: Once a day, the development team will meet for a brief meeting to cover what they’re working on, where they need support, and what they’ll be working on in the near future. It’s also an opportunity to review overall sprint progress. Sprint retrospectives: A retrospective allows the development team, project managers, and team leads to look back over a previous sprint to see what went well and what didn’t, all to make the next sprint run more smoothly. Defining a sprint execution workflow If the product backlog workflow is about centralizing and prioritizing development requests, the sprint execution workflow covers everything that comes after. Most agile methodologies use a series of sprints — short bursts of intense development work — to achieve particular goals. Sprints can cover everything from fixing certain bugs to pushing a new feature or paying off technical debt. The workflow itself is about finding ways to simplify the reporting and dispatching aspects of this work. For instance, while a development team lead might be working in a work management tool, their developers probably live in a Git platform. This makes getting visibility into the work happening across a development team more challenging. Friction points of a sprint execution workflow The tool disparity between a team lead and their developers is at the core of this workflow’s friction points. While developers might be able to get everything done in Jira and a version control platform — like Git — the same can’t be said for their leaders. They usually need to stay abreast of the wider organization’s needs, meaning they need to have a presence in whatever work management platform other teams are using. That can create a certain disconnect between developers and the people leading them. The dreaded copy-paste One way to deal with this disparity is to copy-paste information across tools. Sometimes it’s developers copying their updates over into a team lead’s tool; other times it’s the other way around. In either scenario, people are losing tons of time each day to communicate progress across tools. Repeat that process enough times throughout the day, and it’s enough to make anyone feel like a robot. Constant reports and meetings Copy-pasting, dreadful as it is, can’t begin to cover all the information that needs to go through a team. When executives and other stakeholders need regular updates, they generally ask for progress reports or weekly meetings. For the former, team leads have to sift through dozens of tasks in multiple tools to extract the information they need. For the latter, they’re spending valuable time in a room — virtual or otherwise — just to go through points on a presentation. In both circumstances, it feels like there should be a better way. Low visibility across the organization Because the sprint execution workflow is locked in a tool silo, it can be difficult for anyone to know exactly what’s going on. Developers might ask themselves why they’re working on a specific issue over another. Marketers might wonder why their development request is taking so long. And executives might be at a loss as to what their development teams do all day. Development work is inherently focus-heavy; developers need as much focus time as they can get. That’s why often their lead needs to act as a buffer between them and incoming requests. That, plus the tool difference, means development work can be particularly tough to get an eye on. How Unito eases that friction Unito is a workflow management platform that integrates some of the world’s most popular tools so everyone can work their way. With the visual workflow designer, anyone has the power to create a workflow for their team so information can flow seamlessly between tools. So how does this help you with this sprint execution workflow? Trash the copy-paste When you build your workflow in Unito, you’re breaking down the barriers between your tools. Your work management tool and Git platform go from being individual silos to making up a single collaborative environment. Pull requests in your Git platform of choice can become tasks in a work management tool like Jira, and vice versa. As comments and updates get added to either side, they’re automatically transferred to the other, meaning everyone stays in the loop no matter where they’re working from. Reduce meetings and reports In some cases, a meeting is the best way to get information from one place to the other. There’s nothing wrong with that. But you shouldn’t have to set up meetings every week, especially in a remote work situation. Because Unito works across such a wide variety of tools — with more on the way — everyone across the organization can get access to the information that would otherwise be trapped in a development team. You can use Unito to get information from a repository in a Git platform all the way to an executive-level Kanban board. With Unito’s robust rules, you can filter out unnecessary information so only the most crucial updates get to the top. Have fewer meetings, spend less time writing reports, and maintain visibility and accountability. See what’s happening when it’s happening One of the best ways to get someone to do something is to remove barriers. With Unito, you can democratize access to information rather than keeping it locked in reports and closed meetings. Imagine building a “key insights” project across tools, giving each team access to high-level summaries of what development teams are working on, and populating these projects without any extra work. Doing this means potentially eliminating the most common questions thrown at the development team by giving everyone access to the information they need. Crossing the finish line every time Whether your development team is focused on fixing bugs or building new features, they always have plenty to keep them busy. Keeping your team agile means giving them the ability to report on and adjust to unexpected hurdles. It means empowering leaders to see what’s happening with their teams in real-time and giving them the tools to act. Reporting on initiatives and dispatching work are at the heart of this workflow. This typically crosses tool boundaries. Development team leads often use a work management tool while their developers generally live in a Git platform. That’s why visibility is one of the big hurdles this workflow has to leap over. Using Unito to optimize a sprint execution workflow across GitHub and Jira Syncing GitHub issues to Jira Syncing a GitHub repository with a Jira project can be done with just a couple of clicks. By using the workflow designer, you can also map out your workflow visually, adding as many repositories as needed to represent your workflow. In this case, I’ve just added the one. By just following the on-screen prompts, you can connect your Jira project with a GitHub repository, and watch as GitHub issues and pull requests are sent to Jira as issues. Issue descriptions, comments, assignees, and labels are automatically synced between both tools in real-time, meaning you can keep things organized without any extra manual work. No complicated settings to fine-tune, no intricate recipes to set up. But you don’t have to stop at default settings. With rules, you can filter issues by label, if you want to make sure only high-priority issues reach the team lead in Jira. Alternatively, maybe you want to make sure all pull requests from a fresh new junior developer get synced to Jira for an extra review before they’re approved. With Unito, you have access to a robust platform that gives you the ability to tailor the depth of your workflows to the work you need to get done. Getting key information to stakeholders in other tools But wait, what if you need to get critical product updates to stakeholders across the organization? All you need to do is steal a trick from the project reporting workflow: the key deliverables block. You can use Unito to sync your Jira project to Asana, Trello, or any other tool used by key stakeholders. You can share updates on key deliverables to those tools, filtering for pertinent Jira tasks with a label. Something like “Key Deliverable” usually does the trick. From there, just add a block of work representing this new tool to your workflow. When setting up a flow between the two, just make sure to add a rule that filters for that label. That way, only Jira issues with a “Key Deliverable” label will make it to your stakeholders. Here’s an example of what a Trello board, populated with key deliverables from blocks across the organization, might look like. And here’s what that looks like in the workflow designer. It’s really that simple. Race to the finish Unito turns work management tools from silos to the building blocks of a company-wide collaborative environment. By managing a sprint execution workflow in Unito, you can give everyone access to the information they need to get visibility on a development team’s work. No more meetings, no more throwaway reports, and no more notifications pulling developers out of focus mode. Ready to start? Try Unito for 14 days, absolutely free. Try it free FAQ: The sprint execution process What is sprint execution in Agile? Sprint execution is when software development team members work on tasks continuously, usually during a two-week period. The work for a sprint is planned and identified ahead of time, allowing developers to narrow their focus on high-priority tasks. What are the four steps within a sprint? The four steps of an agile sprint are: Sprint planning: At this stage, teams go through their backlog and decide what they’re going to work on during that sprint. Daily scrum: In this daily meeting, each team member goes over what they’re working on, what they’ll be working on next, and where they need help. Sprint review: Taking place right before the end of a sprint, the sprint review goes over the work that’s happened and how it’s been done. Sprint retrospective: After the sprint is concluded, this official meeting allows teams to look back on it to improve how they do things. View the full article

Balance tech, trust, and innovation. Accounting Influencers with Rob Brown Go PRO for members-only access to more Rob Brown. View the full article