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Most of us know the general (albeit simplified) story: Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov used a stimulus—like a metronome—around the dogs he was studying, and soon, the hounds would start to salivate. They had learned that the sound meant food was coming. The phenomenon, now known as classical conditioning, became one of modern psychology’s foundational discoveries. It’s an unconscious process where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a naturally occurring stimulus, eventually leading to a connection between the two. The dogs, seeing the researcher who often brings them food or hearing the noise of the cart on its way, would immediately know they were about to have a meal. Flash forward 120 years: my dog and I are riding through San Francisco in a self-driving car. I’ve taken Waymo’s autonomous vehicles dozens of times, often with my 9-year-old chiweenie, Poppy, nestled on my lap. She usually naps peacefully, facing inward, oblivious to the world outside. Near the end of each ride, the car makes a familiar “ding-dong” chime, followed by a woman’s voice reminding me to take my phone, keys, and wallet. Poppy, unfazed, would remain in a deep sleep until the car stopped, I unbuckled my seatbelt, and picked her up to get out. Back to the world of smells and fresh air! Lately, I’ve noticed something strange: As soon as the ding sounds, Poppy wakes up, turns around, and readies herself at the door without my help—every single time. Is this . . . Pavlov’s Waymo? As a serious journalist in pursuit of all the hard-hitting truths, I emailed the veterinary team at Bond Vet. The short answer to my not-so-serious question? Yes. “In practical terms, the sound acts as a cue, prompting her anticipation to leave. This behavior develops because the sound repeatedly coincides with the end of the ride, and the reward of getting out reinforces her response,” Dr. Lisa Lippman, director of virtual medicine at Bond Vet, said in an email. “Dogs are incredibly perceptive and often pick up on routines and environmental cues like this, it’s a great example of how they learn and adapt!” Researchers at the University of California, Davis, found in 2021 that common household noises, like a microwave beep or the chirp of a smoke detector, can cause a dog anxiety. Thankfully, Poppy doesn’t seem very anxious about the car’s noise (although humans are notoriously bad at sensing a dog’s stress or real emotions). But it made me think of the constant notifications and dings of our world. At the same time as our pets, we as humans are being classically conditioned. The microwave beep alerts us that we’re about to be rewarded with food, the “tudum” sound when you open the Netflix app prepares us for entertainment, the Waymo chime let’s us know it’s almost time to get out. Brands especially have utilized classical conditioning to associate their product with an emotion. “When we play sound feedback for Waymo riders, our guiding philosophy is to be friendly and helpful,” Waymo’s Head of Design and Customer Research Ryan Powell said over email. “That means playing sounds that feel connected and familiar, but not intrusive. We want to be thoughtful about how and when we play sound, so that riders can rely on these signals for their safety and comfort. Sometimes we’ll play sound followed by a voice explanation for more detail.” View the full article

Swedish ‘buy now, pay later’ fintech was set to launch its so-called IPO roadshow to investors next weekView the full article

Back in the summer of 2024, Boar’s Head recalled seven million pounds of deli meat that had been linked to a deadly listeria outbreak that spanned numerous U.S. states. That outbreak led to the deaths of multiple people and caused the company to shutter one of its processing facilities, which was located in Virginia. The recall led to a brand crisis for Boar’s Head, and by November 2024, when the outbreak was declared over, a total of 10 people had died, and 61 became sick. The event led to class action lawsuits against the company, one of which has now been settled. Here’s what to know about the settlement and whether you can claim any compensation. Class action settlement Boar’s Head Provisions Co., Inc. has now agreed to settle a class action lawsuit related to the recall. The case, Pompilio, et al. v. Boar’s Head Provisions Co., Inc., was filed in the United States District Court of the Southern District of New York. According to the official settlement website, the class action suit alleged that the recall economically harmed the plaintiffs. It’s important to note that as part of the settlement, Boar’s Head has not admitted to any wrongdoing, as is common with most class action settlements. As part of the settlement, Boar’s Head Provisions Co., Inc. has agreed to pay claimants $3.1 million, minus court costs and other fees. Am I included in the settlement? You are included in the settlement—and can make a claim—if you meet the court’s “Settlement Class Member” description. The court says a Settlement Class Member is “All natural persons who purchased in the United States any Covered Products between the earliest date of manufacture of any Covered Product (May 10, 2024) and August 12, 2024 for personal, family or household use, and not for resale, except for any Excluded Persons.” “Excluded Persons” are defined on the settlement website. How much can I get from the settlement? You are eligible to receive a portion of the settlement if you meet one of the following two criteria: You have proof of purchase for a product covered under the settlement. If you have proof of purchase for a covered product, you are eligible to “receive the full purchase price for each unit of Covered Product listed on the Proof of Purchase, subject to adjustment as set forth below.” You do not have proof of purchase for a product covered under the settlement. In this case, you can “receive the average retail price for up to two (2) Covered Products claimed per Household, subject to adjustment as set forth below.” The “adjustments” listed above can be found here in the settlement’s FAQ. How can I file a claim? The easiest way to file a claim is by using the claim form on the settlement website. The FAQ lists additional methods to file a claim. When do I need to file a claim by? Claims must be filed by May 16, 2025. That is also the date that class action members have until to exclude themselves from the class action lawsuit or object to it. The class action settlement is conditional upon the approval of the court. That hearing is expected to take place on August 13, 2025. Full details of the class action settlement can be found on the settlement website here. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. HBO was, for at least a couple of generations, the home of movies on cable—no one else could compete. For a while, it seemed like Max could well be the ultimate streaming destination for movie lovers, but the jury is still out there. Even still, Max maintains a collaboration with TCM, giving it a broad range of classic American and foreign films. It's also the primary streaming home for Studio Ghibli and A24, so even though Max hasn't been in the business of making as many originals as it used to, it still has a solid assortment of films you won't find anywhere else. Here are 23 of the best of Max's recent and/or exclusive offerings. Flow (2024) A gorgeous, wordless animated film that follows a cat through a post-apocalyptic world following a devastating flood. The Latvian import, about finding friends and searching for home in uncertain times, won a well-deserved Best Animated Picture Oscar. It's also, allegedly, very popular with pets—though my dog slept right through it. You can stream Flow here. Heretic (2024) Two young Mormon missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) show up at the home of a charming, reclusive man (a deeply creepy Hugh Grant) who invites them in because, he says, he wants to explore different faiths. Which turns out to be true—except that he has ideas that go well beyond anything his two guests have in their pamphlets. It soon becomes clear that they're not going to be able to leave without participating in Mr. Reed's games, and this clever, cheeky thriller doesn't always go where you think it's going. You can stream Heretic here. Queer (2024) Director Luca Guadagnino followed up his vaguely bisexual tennis movie Challengers with this less subtle (it's in the title) William S. Burroughs adaptation. Daniel Craig plays William Lee (a fictionalized version of Burroughs himself), a drug-addicted American expat living in Mexico City during the 1950s. He soon becomes infatuated with Drew Starkey's Eugene Allerton, and the two take a gorgeous journey through Mexico, through ayahuasca, and through their own sexualities. You can stream Queer here. The Parenting (2025) Rohan (Nik Dodani) and Josh (Brandon Flynn) invite both their sets of parents to a remote country rental so that everyone can meet, which sounds like plenty of horror for this horror-comedy. But wait! There's more: A demon conjured from the wifi router enters the body of Rohan's dad (Brian Cox), an event further complicated by the arrival of the house's owner (Parker Posey). It's wildly uneven, but there's a lot of fun to be had. The supporting cast includes Edie Falco, Lisa Kudrow, and Dean Norris. You can stream The Parenting here. Juror #2 (2024) Clint Eastwood's latest (last?) is a high-concept legal drama that boasts a few impressive performances highlighted by his straightforward directorial style. Nicholas Hoult stars as Justin Kemp, a journalist and recovering alcoholic assigned to jury duty in Savannah, Georgia. The case involves the death of a woman a year earlier, presumably killed by the defendant, her boyfriend at the time. But as the case progresses,Kemp slowly comes to realize that he knows more about the death than anyone else in the courtroom, and has to find a way to work to acquit the defendant without implicating himself. You can stream Juror #2 here. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024) While Godzilla Minus One proved that Japanese filmmakers remain adept at wringing genuine drama out of tales of the city-destroying kaiju, the American branch of the franchise is offering up deft counter-programming. That is to say, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is every bit as ridiculous as its title suggests, with Godzilla and Kong teaming up to battle a tribe of Kong's distant relatives—they live in the other dimensional Hollow Earth and have harnessed the power of an ice Titan, you see. It's nothing more, nor less, than a good time with giant monsters. You can stream Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire here. We Live in Time (2024) Director John Crowley had a massive critical success with 2015's Brooklyn, but 2019's The Goldfinch was a disappointment in almost every regard. Nonlinear romantic drama We Live in Time, then, feels like a bit of a return to form, with Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield displaying impressive chemistry as the couple at the film's center. The two meet when she hits him with her car on the night he's finalizing his divorce, and the movie jumps about in their relationship from the early days, to a difficult pregnancy, to a cancer diagnosis, without ever feeling excessively gimmicky. You can stream We Live in Time here. Trap (2024) Cooper (Josh Hartnett) is a pretty cool dad in M. Night Shyamalan’s latest, taking his daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to see a very cool Billie Eilish-ish pop star in concert. But we soon learn that Cooper is also a notorious serial killer (this is not the patented Shyamalan twist, in case you were worried about spoilers). The FBI knows that "The Butcher" will be at the concert, even if they don't know exactly who it is, and the whole thing is a, yes, trap that Cooper must escape. Of such premises are fun thrillers made, and Hartnett has fun with the central role, his performance growing increasingly tic-y and unhinged even as Cooper tries to make sure his daughter gets to enjoy the show. You can stream Trap here. Caddo Lake (2024) While we're on the subject of M. Night Shyamalan, he produced this trippy thriller that spends a big chunk of its runtime looking like a working-class drama before going full whackadoo in ways best not spoiled. Eliza Scanlen stars as Ellie, who lives near the title lake with her family, and where it appears that her 8-year-old stepsister has vanished. Dylan O'Brien plays Paris, who works dredging the lake while dealing with survivor's guilt and the trauma of his mother's slightly mysterious death. Their stories (and backstories) merge when they discover that one doesn't always leave the lake the same as they went in. You can stream Caddo Lake here. Dune: Part Two (2024) Denis Villeneuve stuck the landing on his adaptation of the latter part of Frank Herbert's epic novel, so much so that Dune zealots are already looking ahead to a third film, adapting the second book in the series. The chilly (metaphorically) and cerebral sequel was a critical as well as a box office success—surprising on both counts, especially considering that the beloved book was once seen as more or less unadaptable (with the deeply weird David Lynch version serving as Exhibit A in support of that assertion). If you're playing catch-up, Max also has the first Dune, and the rather excellent spin-off series (Dune: Prophecy). You can stream Dune: Part Two here. Problemista (2024) Julio Torres (creator of Los Espookys and Fantasmas, also available on Max) wrote, produced, directed, and stars in this surreal comedy about a toy designer from El Salvador working in the United States under a visa that's about to expire. What to do but take a desperation job with quirky, volatile artist Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton)? The extremely offbeat and humane comedy has been earning raves since it debuted at South by Southwest last year. RZA, Greta Lee, and Isabella Rossellini also star. You can stream Problemista here. MaXXXine (2024) The final (for now, anyway) film in Ti West's X trilogy once again stars Mia Goth as fame-obsessed Maxine Minx. Moving on from adult films, Maxine gets a lead role in a horror movie, only to find herself watched by a leather-clad assailant. This film-industry take-down includes Michelle Monaghan, Kevin Bacon, and Giancarlo Esposito in its solid cast. You can stream MaXXXine here. The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024) An anime-infused take on Tolkien's world, The War of the Rohirrim boats the return of co-writer Philippa Boyens, who helped to write each of the six previous LOTR movies. In this animated installment, we're taken back 200 years before Peter Jackson's films, to when the king of Rohan (Brian Cox) accidentally kills the leader of the neighboring Dunlendings during marriage negotiations, kicking off a full-scale war. Miranda Otto reprises her role of Éowyn, who narrates. You can stream War of the Rohirrim here. A Different Man (2024) Though it was all but shut out at the Oscars (getting only a nomination for Best Makeup and Hairstyling), A Different Man made several of 2024's top ten lists, and earned Sebastian Stan a Golden Globe (he got an Oscar nomination for an entirely different movie, so the erstwhile Winter Soldier had a pretty good year). Here he plays Edward, an actor with neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that manifests in his body as a disfiguring facial condition. An experimental procedure cures him, and Edward assumes a new identity—which does nothing to tame his deep-rooted insecurities, especially when he learns of a new play that's been written about is life. It's a surprisingly funny look into a damaged psyche. You can stream A Different Man here. Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (2024) Alternating between Christopher Reeve's life before and after the horse riding accident that paralyzed him, this heartfelt and heart wrenching documentary follows the Superman actor as he becomes an activist for disability rights. Archival footage of Christopher and wife Dana blends with new interviews with their children, as well as with actors and politicians who knew and worked with them both. You can stream Super/Man here. Sing Sing (2024) A fictional story based on the real-life Rehabilitation Through the Arts program at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, this Best Picture nominee follows Diving G (Colman Domingo), an inmate who emerges as a star performer in the group. The movie celebrates the redemptive power of art and play with a tremendous central performance from Domingo, who was also Oscar-nominated. You can stream Sing Sing here. Am I OK? (2024) Real-life married couple Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne directed this comedy based, loosely, on Allyne's own life. Dakota Johnson plays Lucy, a directionless 32-year-old woman in Los Angeles who finds that her unsatisfying romantic life might have something to do with her being other than straight. She navigates her journey of self-discovery and coming out with the help of her best friend Jane (House of the Dragon's Sonoya Mizuno). You can stream Am I OK? here. Love Lies Bleeding (2024) In a world of movies that are very carefully calibrated to be as inoffensive as possible, it's nice to see something as muscular, frenetic, and uncompromising as Love Lies Bleeding. Kristen Stewart plays small-town gym manager Lou; she's the daughter of the local crime boss (Ed Harris), with a sister (Jena Malone) suffering from the abuse of her no-good husband (Dave Franco). It's all quietly tolerated until bodybuilder Jackie (Katy O’Brian) stops off in town. She's 'roided up and ready for action, falling hard for Lou before the two of them get caught up in an act of violence that sends everything spiraling toward a truly wild final act. You can stream Love Lies Bleeding here. Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play. (2024) A provocative title for a provocative documentary film, Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play. sees playwright Jeremy O. Harris exploring the creative process behind the title work, a play that earned a record number of Tony nominations, won none, and that is equally loved and hated (it's about interracial couples having sex therapy at an antebellum-era plantation house). The narrative here is entirely non-linear, and the rules of a traditional making-of are out the window, with Harris instead taking a nearly train-of-thought approach to examining the process of creating the play, and in understanding reactions to it. You can stream Slave Play here. Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Parts One, Two, and Three (2024) While the live-action DC slate went out with a whimper (at least until next year's Superman reboot), the animated series of films has been chugging along more quietly, but also with more success. This trilogy adapts the altogether biggest story in DC history, as heroes from across the multiverse are brought together to prevent an antimatter wave that's wiping out entire universes. Darren Criss, Stana Katic, Jensen Ackles, and Matt Bomer are among the voice cast. You can stream Crisis on Infinite Earths, starting with Part One, here. The Front Room (2024) Adapted from a short story by Susan Hill (The Woman in Black), The Front Room gets a fair bit of mileage out of its in-law-from-hell premise. Brandy plays Belinda, a pregnant anthropology professor forced to quit her job by hostile working conditions. Her deeply weird mother-in-law Solange (a scene-stealing Kathryn Hunter) makes Brandy and husband Norman an offer that could solve the resulting financial problems: if they'll take care of her in her dying days, she'll leave them everything. Of course, the psychic religious fanatic has no interest in making any of that easy. It's more silly than scary, but perfectly entertaining if that's the kind of mood you're in. You can stream The Front Room here. Quad Gods (2024) We spend a lot of time fearing new technology, often with good reason, but Quad Gods offers a brighter view: for people with quadriplegia, for whom spots like football are out of the question, esports offer a means of competing and socializing among not only other people with physical restrictions, but in the broader world of what's become a major industry. While exploring the contrast between day-to-day life for the Quad Gods team and their online gaming talents, the documentary is an impressively upbeat look at the ways in which technology can put us all on a similar playing field. You can stream Quad Gods here. Elevation (2024) There's not much new in this Anthony Mackie-lad post-apocalyptic thriller, but Elevation is nonetheless a well-executed action movie that never feels dumb. Just a few years before the film opens, predatory Reapers rose from deep underground and wiped out 95% of humanity. Now, single dad Will (Mackie) is forced to leave his sanctuary to travel to Boulder, Colorado, the closest place he can get air filters to help with his son's lung disease. On the way, he's joined, reluctantly, by scientist Nina (Morena Baccarin), whose lab may contain a way to kill the Reapers. You can stream Elevation here. View the full article

The megaservicer is fending off a class-action lawsuit while suing its insurers for allegedly failing to indemnify it following its breach in 2023. View the full article

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. It’s the Friday open thread! The comment section on this post is open for discussion with other readers on any work-related questions that you want to talk about (that includes school). If you want an answer from me, emailing me is still your best bet*, but this is a chance to take your questions to other readers. * If you submitted a question to me recently, please do not repost it here, as it may be in my queue to answer. View the full article

Even with 4,000 public sector cuts, total employment numbers were surprisingly high, which raises questions about whether financing costs will keep falling. View the full article

April is when gardeners need to start being mathematicians and professional organizers, trying to find space for all the seedlings that need to get into trays on time. It’s also the first time this year you’ll start succession seeding, both indoors and out. Succession seeding is one of the real benefits of growing your own seeds: It means you can grow one or two of a variety instead of needing the space for a whole six pack you’d pick up at the nursery. Grow a mixed tray of vegetables or herbs now, and start another one in a few weeks. This will also help alleviate some strain on square footage in your growing space. Even if you haven’t started your seed growing yet, there’s still time. And remember: There’s no shame in just buying starts or waiting for giveaways. If you are going to start your own seeds, though, you want to use seedling mix, not potting soil. Tomatos, eggplant, and peppers Credit: Amanda Blum Peppers generally get started in March, so consider this your last call on getting your own started. Tomatoes and eggplant are more forgiving, but peppers need a long runway; get tomatoes and eggplant seeds sowed by April 15. As they grow, be brutal in thinning seedlings and tossing starts with any signs of distress or disease; you can’t afford to lose all your plants, and sickness spreads quickly in a growing space. Start succession seeding peas and other vegetables outside Credit: Amanda Blum By now, you should be sowing peas outside. Schedule a calendar alert for every two weeks, and ensure you’re getting radishes, carrots, beets, green onions, and lettuce in the ground. Remember, you’re succession planting, so you don’t need a ton to go in every week. Consider how many radishes you’ll really eat every few weeks, and get a few different varieties in. Carrots are a longer-term investment, but planting them now, in succession, takes advantage of the rain you are likely getting for easier germination rates. I make short rows of these seeds so I have plenty of room for them. You should see those peas come up quickly, and planting every two weeks through April will ensure you have peas until the weather gets too hot for them. Cucumbers, squash, and melon Back inside, look to the end of the month to start cucurbits and squash. There are so many cucumbers to consider—for pickling, for slicing—and there are cucamelons, a small sour gherkin that has become quite popular. I’ve found the pickling cucumbers benefit from succession planting, so I plant a series of seeds in late April and then again at the beginning of May. This allows me to have one continuous harvest all summer. Pumpkins don’t require the same succession; they tend to be prolific on their own, but late April is the time to get them planted inside. Melons, cucumbers, and squash are all easy seedlings; they come up quick and grow to a transplantable size quickly, so you want to seed them close to the date you can transplant into the garden. As you are planting seeds, it’s easy to dismiss the conservatism of just a few zucchini plants. Remember that one zucchini plant feeds a nation, and save yourself a lot of work giving away gigantic squash this July. Onions and leeks come in a few flavors Credit: Amanda Blum There are three kinds of onions to consider this time of year. First, there are keeping onions, which are the ones you can use all winter if you store them right. These will come in sets, which you can get at the nursery right now. You can grow these from seed, but you’re late to them this year, so for a few dollars, grab a set and share them with friends. For placement, consider that tomatoes do well interplanted with onions. These bundled starts will go in the ground now, and you want to be sure to give each of them enough room, so don’t overcrowd. Each onion should have about six to eight inches between them so they can really flush out the bulb over the summer. You also have scallions, or green onions, and those can be seeded directly in the ground every few weeks as an easy garden item to grow. The last item is leeks, which have a very long, protracted growing season, but are really rewarding as a winter and fall harvest. Leeks are easily grown from seed, so get them started in early April. You don’t grow leeks one per cell, but rather they can be grown together in a bunch in a four-inch pot or any tray you have. Once they have reached six inches in height, start cutting them back to three inches and let them grow back. When they’re ready to plant, you’ll carefully separate them and plant them as deep as you can, outside. It’s time for all the flowers Credit: Amanda Blum While it’s too late for snapdragons, it’s the right time to get marigolds, nasturtium, and sweet alyssum started. I mention these three together specifically because these are the building blocks of your pest prevention program in a garden, and you’ll want them everywhere, so overseed them, inside, now. You can tuck nasturtium and sweet alyssum almost anywhere. At this point, I start the first succession of all my annual flowers except sunflowers. That’s zinnia, stock, poet flower, foxglove, delphinium, echinacea, cosmos, scabiosa, yarrow, calendula, blanket flower, salvia, agastache, and whatever else you’re planning. If you’re doing a second succession, you’ll start that in the third week of April. Growing herbs from seed saves moneyGrowing herbs from seed is one of the best ways to save money, as they’re expensive starts at the nursery and expensive to buy at the grocery store. Most seed easily, too. Make sure you’re getting the cilantro, basil, and dill in the seed trays now. Remember that dill is a pest deterrent, so grow more of it than you need to use alongside the marigolds and sweet alyssum. Dill, cilantro, and parsley bolt, so you’ll want to succession seed them in mid-April. This is a good time to consider herbs you might not have before, like chamomile, lemongrass, lemon verbena, and chives. View the full article

It can feel incredibly challenging to hire, and hire well. For one thing, hiring is usually a significant time investment for our small team — we once had 1,500 applications in just over a week for a content role (!!) — but beyond that, we are so intentional about the ways that we collaborate. Buffer is a fully remote, global, and culturally diverse company operating with a four-day work week. Finding someone who will thrive in our work environment, and is also highly skilled in the areas we’re hiring for, can be tough. So in a recent hiring round, we decided to try something new. I asked a candidate who was in the final stages of interviewing to spend a full day working with us across Zoom and Slack. They would be working on real projects relevant to the role, and they’d get a chance to work alongside the rest of their potential future team. My hope was that this day of working together would give the hiring team a clearer picture of how the candidate works, communicates, and collaborates. To my delight, the candidate was thrilled to participate! And, of course, we paid them for their time. Read on for more details and what we learned for next time. Why we decided to try a full day of collaboratingOver the years we’ve refined our application process and it’s been fairly successful for us. We ask pretty non-standard questions — things like, “Tell us about something - anything - you’re passionate about” —that help us get a feel for who a person is. I’ve always appreciated that we aren’t only asking about work experience given that we’re looking for true value-alignment with the rest of the Buffer team. I realize this is a high bar, but it also creates a high-trust environment when we are all truly operating from the same place and energized by the same mission. But even with multiple hiring rounds, it can be hard to get to know how someone is going to show up at work and collaborate with the rest of the team. It is one thing to say you value transparency in an interview, and another to truly work transparently with your team. We’ve also done take-home assignments as well. I know this is a contentious topic — but my opinion is you just need to see someone’s work in many roles, especially senior ones. Take-home assignments have frequently helped us spot who might be the best fit early on. Out of respect for candidates’ time, I always keep them brief — but taking the middle ground here means that there are limits on how much you get to see of someone’s work. The other factor, of course, is AI. Our applications tend to be writing heavy, and having solid written communication is important to us as that’s the main way we speak and work with each other. In the age of AI, we found a huge number of applications where it was clear the candidate used AI exclusively to answer questions. In other cases, it can be hard to determine what is human and genuine. This most recent hiring round was a perfect opportunity to try something new. I was in the unique position of bringing a candidate in to interview with us who had been a finalist in another hiring round. I didn’t want to put this candidate through our whole hiring process again — they had already been through those stages — but of course, it felt important to get to know this person better since it had been a few months. Our Chief of Staff, Caro Kopprasch, has been keen to shake things up with our hiring process, due to the challenges mentioned above with AI, and the gaps between interviewing and a full-time role. We brainstormed a small experiment (based on lessons learned from our collective 20+ years doing hiring at Buffer!). We decided to spend the day working together with the candidate in Slack to get a real feel for how this person would truly collaborate. The candidate was fully on board, and fortunately for us all, it went very well! An email to the candidate with information about Collaboration DayHow our first Collaboration Day wentWe called this day of work “Collaboration Day” and it was such a fun and insightful experience. I find one of the most fun parts of hiring is getting to know people and daydreaming about how well that person would work on the team and propel projects. Collaboration Day made those dreams come true! First of all, as I mentioned — this was a paid interview. We paid the candidate $400 for the full day, and we plan to pay all future candidates the same for a full day to keep it fair. The candidate took a day off of work, and on our side, we set aside a lot of time so that we could focus on collaborating. I planned out the structure of the day to include two main projects, and I let the candidate know what they were in advance. From there, I invited the candidate to a Slack channel set up specifically for this purpose. I wanted the day to balance live brainstorming calls with working in docs, having conversations in comments, and coordinating back-and-forth in Slack. This was a tough balance, and there was a lot to fit in. In hindsight, I could have likely kept it to just one project. It was a very full day, and it went by faster than expected. We had an initial call to say hi and do our first live brainstorm together, and we also did a call to close out the day, hear how it all felt, and chat next steps. From our side, it went incredibly well. Four people from the hiring team got way more overlap with this candidate, saw how they worked, collaborated, asked questions, shared ideas, and executed on ideas and projects. When we were reflecting on how the day went, we all had so much more context around what areas we felt solid and where we would want to ask more questions and get clarity. After Collaboration Day, this candidate was moved to the final interview that all candidates have before they potentially receive an offer — an interview with our CEO, Joel Gascoigne, and our Chief of Staff, Caro Kopprasch. What we learned for next timeOverall, this first iteration was a success. On the practical side, I would definitely scale back to one project in the future to ensure there’s enough time to make meaningful progress, and also to allow for a lot of time in Slack or other written tools, since that was one of the main areas we wanted to assess. Ultimately, what we learned is that having a full day of collaboration with a potential candidate was a fun and effective way to assess how someone collaborates. It made us feel extra confident when we reached the offer stage that we were making the right decision. To sneak in some extra fun news right at the end — this candidate received an offer, and accepted! We can’t wait to share more about this new Buffer teammate soon. 😊 🎉 Leave a comment below with any questions you have about this process and we’ll share more details. ⬇️ View the full article

"True inclusion isn’t about lowering standards; it’s about removing barriers so talent can rise." MOVE Like This With Bonnie Buol Ruszcyk For CPA Trendlines Go PRO for members-only access to more Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk. View the full article

"True inclusion isn’t about lowering standards; it’s about removing barriers so talent can rise." MOVE Like This With Bonnie Buol Ruszcyk For CPA Trendlines Go PRO for members-only access to more Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk. View the full article

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today...View the full article

Parts of the Midwest and South faced the possibility of torrential rains and life-threatening flash floods Friday, while many communities were still reeling from tornadoes that destroyed whole neighborhoods and killed at least seven people. Forecasters warned of catastrophic weather on the way, with round after round of heavy rains expected in the central U.S. through Saturday. Satellite imagery showed thunderstorms lined up like freight trains to take the same tracks over communities in Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky, according to the national Weather Prediction Center in Maryland. The bull’s-eye centered on a swath along the Mississippi River and included the more than 1.3 million people around Memphis. More than 90 million people were at risk of severe weather from Texas to Minnesota to Maine, according to the Oklahoma-based Storm Prediction Center. Those killed in the initial wave of storms that spawned powerful tornadoes on Wednesday and early Thursday were in Tennessee, Missouri, and Indiana. They included a Tennessee man and his teen daughter whose home was destroyed, and a man whose pickup struck downed power lines in Indiana. In Missouri, Garry Moore, who was chief of the Whitewater Fire Protection District, died while likely trying to help a stranded motorist, according to Highway Patrol spokesperson Sgt. Clark Parrott. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said entire neighborhoods in the hard-hit town of Selmer were “completely wiped out” and said it was too early to know whether there were more deaths as searches continued. He warned people across the state to stay vigilant with more severe weather predicted. “Don’t let your guard down,” he said during a Thursday evening news conference. “Don’t stop watching the weather. Don’t stop preparing yourself. Have a plan.” With flattened homes behind him, Dakota Woods described seeing the twister come through Selmer. “I was walking down the street,” Woods said Thursday. “Next thing you know, I look up, the sky is getting black and blacker, and it’s lighting up green lights, and it’s making a formation of a twister or tornado.” Flash flood threat looms over many states By late Thursday, extremely heavy rain was falling in parts of southeastern Missouri and western Kentucky and causing “very dangerous/life threatening flash flooding” in some spots, according to the National Weather Service. Heavy rains were expected to continue there and in other parts of the region in the coming days and could produce dangerous flash floods capable of sweeping away cars. The potent storm system will bring “significant, life-threatening flash flooding” each day, the National Weather Service said. Water rescue teams and sandbagging operations were being staged across the region, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency was ready to distribute food, water, cots, and generators. Water rescues were already underway in flooded parts of Nashville, where the rain could persist for days after an unnerving period of tornado warnings that drained the batteries of some city sirens, the fire department said. Western Kentucky prepared for record rain and flooding in places that normally do not get inundated, Gov. Andy Beshear said. At least 25 state highways were swamped, mostly in the west, according to a statement from his office Thursday. Flash flooding is particularly worrisome in rural areas of the state where water can quickly rush off the mountains into the hollows. Less than four years ago, dozens died in flooding across eastern Kentucky. Extreme flooding across the corridor that includes Louisville, Kentucky, and Memphis, which have major cargo hubs, could also lead to shipping and supply chain delays, said Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather. Forecasters attributed the violent weather to warm temperatures, an unstable atmosphere, strong wind shear, and abundant moisture streaming from the Gulf. Tornadoes leave path of damage, and more could be coming Under darkened skies Thursday morning, the remains of a used car dealership in Selmer stood roofless and gutted, with debris scattered across the car lot and wrapped around mangled trees. Some homes were ripped to their foundations in the Tennessee town, where three tornadoes were suspected of touching down. The Tennessee Highway Patrol released video of lightning illuminating the sky as first responders scoured the ruins of a home, looking for anyone trapped. In neighboring Arkansas, a tornado near Blytheville lofted debris at least 25,000 feet (7.6 kilometers) high, according to weather service meteorologist Chelly Amin. The state’s emergency management office reported damage in 22 counties from tornadoes, wind, hail, and flash flooding. The home where Danny Qualls spent his childhood but no longer lives was flattened by a tornado in northeast Arkansas. “My husband has been extremely tearful and emotional, but he also knows that we have to do the work,” Rhonda Qualls said. “He was in shock last night, cried himself to sleep.” Workers on bulldozers cleared rubble along the highway that crosses through Lake City, where a tornado with winds of 150 mph (241 kph) sheared roofs off homes, collapsed brick walls, and tossed cars into trees. Mississippi’s governor said at least 60 homes were damaged. And in far western Kentucky, four people were injured while taking shelter in a vehicle under a church carport, according to the emergency management office in Ballard County. Walker IV reported from Selmer, Tennessee, and Seewer from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press writers Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas; Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, Seth Borenstein in Washington; Isabella O’Malley in Philadelphia; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; Bruce Schreiner in Louisville, Kentucky; Jeff Martin in Atlanta; Hallie Golden in Seattle; and Ed White in Detroit contributed. —Adrian Sainz, George Walker IV and John Seewer, Associated Press View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. While I was a total pizza hater as a child, I've come around as an adult—maybe a little too far around. It's one of my favorite things to make at home. I use pizza as a vehicle for using up leftovers, and as a way to save money on lunch. Through years of pizza trials, I've collected some sure-fire tricks that ensure the best homemade pizza possible. Flavorful crusts, balanced toppings, and even browning—you don’t need to have a home kitchen outfitted with a giant stone kiln to reach pizza perfection. But you do need to know a few things. Ferment the dough Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann When you have a meal with as few as three components, you want to ensure each one is bringing excellent flavor to the table. Crust may be humble, but it doesn’t have to be bland. The most reliable way to ensure your crust is flavorful is to build in a cold-fermentation period of 24 to 72 hours. Like a good sourdough bread, the flavors that develop during fermentation are what give the dough that characteristic tang. Read here for the details on aging your dough in the fridge. This simple cold fermentation method is the easiest way to achieve a bubbly, chewy crust with lots of flavor. Season the edge of your crustThe most abandoned pizza element is the outer crust ring, and there’s nothing sadder than seeing a plate with a bunch of bald, gnawed-on bread. But with all the flavor in the middle of the pie, no one can be blamed for jettisoning bland, dry carbs. Instead, make the crust a point of interest. Since the outer ring of crust is essentially a colossal breadstick, think of the tastiest bread stick you’ve ever had and get inspired. Brush the crust with some olive oil, sprinkle on some salt and raid your spice cabinet. Read here for some crust-centric inspiration, like using garlic powder, sesame seeds, garam masala, or a thin layer of mayonnaise along the edge. Heck, you can even try this method and stuff your crust with hot dogs. Avoid dried herbs, however, as they may burn in the high-temperature oven. Ditch the sheet pan for a pizza stone or steelThere’s a reason you see pizza advertised as “brick oven” and “wood fired.” The texture and flavor is best when cooked at high temperatures where humidity doesn’t stand a chance. The most indispensable tool in your pizza creator toolkit is a pizza stone or steel. Using either one is going to work considerably better than squishing your 72-hour fermented dough onto a thin metal sheet pan. Using one of these surfaces is ideal for pizzas (and breads) because they can withstand extremely high temperatures and retain even heating for the duration of the cooking time. Both surfaces will vaporize moisture and leave you with that sought-after crispy, charred bottom. Although it’s completely a matter of preference, the stone and steel each have a few unique qualities, and one might suit you better than the other. Read here to see the details on both and which one might be better for your needs. I’ve used both for pizza and I’ve never been disappointed. Preheat the pan thoroughlyIn order to get as close as possible to a wood-fired brick oven, make sure your home oven and the baking steel, stone, or cast iron skillet have had ample time to come to temperature. Preheat the oven with the skillet or stone inside for at least 20 minutes. These baking surfaces are thicker and more dense than sheet trays, so they take longer to heat up. Once they have had plenty of time in a 450℉ to 500℉ oven, the material will hold onto that heat even after you slide a cold pizza on top of it. Ensuring the surface is as hot as the rest of the oven will guarantee a crispy bottom crust and generous rise. Use a pizza peel Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann You can craft the most flavorful dough and top it with premium toppings, but if you can’t get that pizza safely onto your baking stone without it crumpling into a heap, then you’ve only made a plate of disappointment for dinner. Just like a baseball player wouldn’t go up to bat with a broomstick, you shouldn’t be slingin’ pies with the wrong equipment. Get a pizza peel. A pizza peel is that wood or metal thing you've probably seen the staff at pizzerias use to slide the pie in and out of the oven. Conceptually simple, a pizza peel is just a thin, flat, wide surface with a handle. You’ll want a peel that’s wide enough for the biggest pizza you think you’ll make (you can always make a smaller pizza, but you can’t go bigger). The handle makes controlling the peel easier and keeps your hands safe from the oven heat. For a home oven, choose one with a shorter handle, around 9 to 12 inches; those extra long handles are for deeper industrial ovens. They can be made of different materials, like wood or metal, but they function equally, so, batter’s choice. Be sure to transfer your finished pizza onto a cutting board for slicing to ensure the longevity of your peel. Go light on the toppingsThe best slices strike a balance–highlighting every ingredient without overloading the crust. Seems easy enough, but when you’re at home, faced with a naked circle of dough, it’s easy to get excited and black out. Once you finally come to, there are four cups of mushrooms and a ream of bacon drowning in Rao’s. Where did the dough even go? It’s normal to be a toppings enthusiast—you want to make sure that every bite has every ingredient. Sadly, overloading the dough can lead to misfortune. For one thing, it can become too heavy for the yeast-leavened crust to rise to its potential. Lots of toppings, especially sauce, add to the moisture content and can lead to a soggy crust. Worst case scenario, heavy toppings with a lot of liquid can actually make your crust stick to the peel, causing your pizza to rip on its way into the oven. The best solution is to use a light hand. A modest smear of sauce goes a long way, scatter your toppings mindfully, and don't forget to season the outer crust. You'd be surprised how these small choices make a perfectly balanced pie. Use quality ingredientsWhether you’re dining out or cooking at home, pizza should be fun and affordable. I totally stand by cooking on a budget, but that is not the same thing as cooking with low-quality ingredients. In order to make the best pizza, you should use ingredients that taste amazing because once the high oven heat evaporates the water away, those flavors are going to be more concentrated. When considering cost, remember that we’re going light on the toppings, so any ingredients you buy are probably going to stretch out for multiple meals. A fancy jar of sauce can be used for tonight’s pizza, tomorrow’s pasta, and Saturday’s shakshuka breakfast. Go heavy on the cornmeal Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann The first few times I tackled a homemade pizza, they morphed into misshapen, broken piles with cheese and sauce burned onto my baking stone. The error was not enough cornmeal. Although it’s not an ingredient many people consider when pondering pizza, it is one of the most important. Coarse ground cornmeal creates a barrier between the sticky pizza dough and the pizza peel, functioning like spilled marbles on the ground–anything on top of them is just gonna roll right off, creating a fluid transfer of pizza from the peel onto the hot baking surface. (Unless you're using a cast iron skillet, then you might want to frico cheese the bottom of your crust instead.) Although you can use a few different ingredients for this purpose, cornmeal is the most widely used. Scatter a generous layer of cornmeal onto your pizza peel before you start stretching out your dough. Once you’ve stretched it to the desired size, place it on top of the cornmeal lined peel, grab the handle and give it a firm horizontal shake. The dough should slide freely. If it doesn’t, gently lift the dough, maybe use a bench scraper if it’s really stuck, and sprinkle some more cornmeal in there. Begin applying toppings, and as you go along, periodically stop and shake to make sure you’re not stuck. Par-cook veggies and meatsPartially cooking certain toppings is what separates the “OK” home pizzas from the “you should open a pizzeria” home pizzas. Oh, and it can also prevent you from possibly eating undercooked meat. Not all ingredients have to be par-cooked (cheese), but if you are a fan of sliced veggies, consider what happens when you put them on raw. Peppers, onions, mushrooms, and many other vegetables will become desiccated, shriveled and chewy in a 475℉ oven. Some vegetables, like tomatoes or zucchini carry excess moisture and will create a big puddle on your pie. Sautéing watery vegetables briefly with oil and salt while your dough is proofing will ensure excess moisture comes out, and the coating of oil will prevent dryness occurring with other ingredients. Meats, on the other hand, aren’t in danger of drying out in the oven, but will release excess water and fat while cooking. Par-cooking bacon or sausage beforehand will allow you to control how much grease ends up on your pizza, while also ensuring the thicker cuts are completely cooked through. View the full article

But its value goes beyond just awareness—AI citations can also drive engaged traffic to your site. Like any new referral channel, AI traffic is still finding its footing. Our research shows LLMs account for about 0.1% of traffic, though this…Read more ›View the full article

Managing a project with copious moving parts can be challenging to say the least, but project evaluation is designed to make the process that much easier. Every project starts with careful planning—this sets the stage for the execution phase of the project while estimations, plans and schedules guide the project team as they complete tasks and deliverables. But even with the project evaluation process in place, managing a project successfully is not as simple as it sounds. Project managers need to keep track of costs, tasks and time during the entire project life cycle to make sure everything goes as planned. To do so, they utilize the project evaluation process and make use of project management software to help manage their team’s work in addition to planning and evaluating project performance. What Is Project Evaluation? Project evaluation is the process of measuring the success of a project, program or portfolio. This is done by gathering data about the project and using an evaluation method that allows evaluators to find performance improvement opportunities. Project evaluation is also critical to keep stakeholders updated on the project status and any changes that might be required to the budget or schedule. Every aspect of the project such as costs, scope, risks or profitability is measured to determine if it’s proceeding as planned. If there are road bumps, this data can inform how projects can improve. Basically, you’re asking the project a series of questions designed to discover what is working, what can be improved and whether the project is useful. Tools such as project dashboards and trackers help in the evaluation process by making key data readily available. /wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Project-review-template-for-Word.jpg Get your free Project Review Template Use this free Project Review Template for Word to manage your projects better. Download Word File The project evaluation process has been around as long as projects themselves. But when it comes to the science of project management, project evaluation can be broken down into three main types or methods: pre-project evaluation, ongoing evaluation and post-project evaluation. Let’s look at the project evaluation process, what it entails and how you can improve your technique. Project Evaluation Criteria The specific details of the project evaluation criteria vary from one project or one organization to another, depending on many factors such as the organization’s risk tolerance, project management maturity, strategic planning among many others. In general terms, a project evaluation process goes over the project constraints including time, cost, scope, resources, risk and quality. In addition, organizations may add their own business goals, strategic objectives and other project metrics. Project Evaluation Methods There are three points in a project where evaluation is most needed. To approve and select and prioritize project proposals, to monitor the health of a project while it’s being executed and lastly, at the project closure phase to document lessons learned. While you can evaluate your project at any time, these are points where you should have the process officially scheduled. 1. Pre-Project Evaluation The pre-project evaluation is the process of evaluating multiple project proposals during the project intake process, in which the project management office (PMO) of an organization and key project stakeholders establish a project selection and prioritization criteria to determine which of them have the best cost-benefit ratio and are better aligned with the larger strategic, operational and business objectives of the organization. Related: Project Prioritization Matrix Template In a sense, you’re also pre-evaluating your project when you write your project charter to pitch to the stakeholders. You cannot effectively plan, staff and control a new project if you’ve first not evaluated it. Pre-project evaluation is the only sure way you can determine the effectiveness of the project before executing it. 2. Formative Project Evaluation This type of project evaluation is conducted during a project’s implementation instead of at its conclusion. The main goal is to offer ongoing feedback and insights that can help improve the project’s design, delivery and effectiveness. Formative evaluation is beneficial as it helps identify and mitigate potential risks early in the project. It also ensures that project resources are used optimally. /wp-content/uploads/2025/02/PM-101-eBook-banner-ad.jpg 3. Process Evaluation Project process evaluation focuses on looking at how a project is implemented and delivered instead of focusing solely on its outcomes or goals. It looks at the project’s operations, activities and procedures to identify strengths, weaknesses and areas for improvement. As a result, teams can better identify and address implementation changes and streamline processes to boost efficiency. Process evaluation can also result in improved communication and collaboration with stakeholders. 4. Participatory Evaluation This project evaluation process actively involves stakeholders, especially the intended beneficiaries, in all stages of the evaluation process. It emphasizes collaboration, empowerment and learning to shift the focus from external evaluation to internal reflection and action. Stakeholders are more invested in the project as their needs and priorities are addressed. It also fosters a sense of trust between all parties involved in the project. 5. Ongoing Project Evaluation To make sure your project is proceeding as planned and hitting all of the scheduling and budget milestones you’ve set, it’s crucial that you constantly monitor and report on your work in real-time. Only by using project metrics can you measure the success of your project and whether or not you’re meeting the project’s goals and objectives. It’s strongly recommended that you use project management dashboards and tracking tools for ongoing evaluation. Related: Free Project Dashboard Template for Excel It’s also important to consider what enterprise environmental factors are affecting the project’s progress and develop strategies to mitigate their effects. 6. Summative Project Evaluation The summative project evaluation process helps assess the overall effectiveness and impact of a project, program or educational intervention once it’s concluded. Think of it as a final assessment that strives to determine whether the project’s intended goals and objectives were achieved. The findings from a summative evaluation can also help inform future project decisions and ensure accountability. 7. Goals-Based Evaluation This systematic approach to project evaluation assesses a project’s success by comparing its outcomes to its pre-defined goals and objectives. This method focuses on clarity and measurability to ensure that the evaluation focuses on what the project aimed to achieve. By emphasizing measurable outcomes in the project, it makes it easier to assess project success. It’s ideal to use in projects with a defined, measurable scope and where accountability and outcome measurement are critical. 8. Outcome Evaluation As the name suggests, outcome evaluation focuses on assessing the actual changes or effects that a project has produced in its target environment. Rather than simply measuring outputs such as the number of participants trained, it looks at the impact of those outputs, such as changes in knowledge or behavior. It aims to understand the “so what?” of a project to understand what difference it made. This is another project evaluation method that can improve future projects and programs. 9. Post-Project Evaluation Think of this as a postmortem. Post-project evaluation is when you go through the project’s paperwork, interview the project team and principles and analyze all relevant data so you can understand what worked and what went wrong. Only by developing this clear picture can you resolve issues in upcoming projects. Post-project evaluation is especially important for project-based organizations with multiple projects in their portfolio, as lessons learned from one project can be used in upcoming projects and programs. Free Project Review Template for Word The project review template for Word is the perfect way to evaluate your project, whether it’s an ongoing project evaluation or post-project. It takes a holistic approach to project evaluation and covers such areas as goals, risks, staffing, resources and more. Download yours today. /wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Project-review-template-screenshot-600x603.png Project Evaluation Steps Regardless of when you choose to run a project evaluation, the process always has four phases: planning, implementation, completion and dissemination of reports. 1. Planning The ultimate goal of this step is to create a project evaluation plan, a document that explains all details of your organization’s project evaluation process. When planning for a project evaluation, it’s important to identify the stakeholders and what their short-and-long-term goals are. You must make sure that your goals and objectives for the project are clear, and it’s critical to have settled on criteria that will tell you whether these goals and objects are being met. So, you’ll want to write a series of questions to pose to the stakeholders. These queries should include subjects such as the project framework, best practices and metrics that determine success. By including the stakeholders in your project evaluation plan, you’ll receive direction during the course of the project while simultaneously developing a relationship with the stakeholders. They will get progress reports from you throughout the project life cycle, and by building this initial relationship, you’ll likely earn their belief that you can manage the project to their satisfaction. 2. Implementation While the project is running, you must monitor all aspects to make sure you’re meeting the schedule and budget. One of the things you should monitor during the project is the percentage completed. This is something you should do when creating status reports and meeting with your team. To make sure you’re on track, hold the team accountable for delivering timely tasks and maintain baseline dates to know when tasks are due. Don’t forget to keep an eye on quality. It doesn’t matter if you deliver the project within the allotted time frame if the product is poor. Maintain quality reviews, and don’t delegate that responsibility. Instead, take it on yourself. Maintaining a close relationship with the project budget is just as important as tracking the schedule and quality. Keep an eye on costs. They will fluctuate throughout the project, so don’t panic. However, be transparent if you notice a need growing for more funds. Let your steering committee know as soon as possible, so there are no surprises. 3. Completion When you’re done with your project, you still have work to do. You’ll want to take the data you gathered in the evaluation and learn from it so you can fix problems that you discovered in the process and implement those solutions on future projects, programs and portfolios. Figure out the short- and long-term impacts of what you learned in the evaluation. 4. Reporting and Disseminating Once the evaluation is complete, you need to record the results. To do so, you’ll create a project evaluation report, a document that is usually stored by the project management office of the organization as it provides lessons for the future. Deliver your report to your stakeholders to keep them updated on the project’s progress. How are you going to disseminate the report? There might be a protocol for this already established in your organization. Perhaps the stakeholders prefer a meeting to get the results face-to-face. Or maybe they prefer PDFs with easy-to-read charts and graphs. Make sure that you know your audience and tailor your report to them. Benefits of Project Evaluation Project evaluation is always advisable and it can bring a wide array of benefits to your organization. As noted above, there are many aspects that can be measured through the project evaluation process. It’s up to you and your stakeholders to decide the most critical factors to consider. Here are some of the main benefits of implementing a project evaluation process. Better Project Management: Project evaluation helps you easily find areas of improvement when it comes to managing your costs, tasks, resources and time. Improves Team performance: Project evaluation allows you to keep track of your team’s performance and increases accountability. Better Project Planning: Helps you compare your project baseline against actual project performance for better planning and estimating. Helps with Stakeholder Management: Having a good relationship with stakeholders is key to success as a project manager. Creating a project evaluation report is very important to keep them updated. Benefits Management: Accurate assessment of benefits generated by the project How ProjectManager Improves the Project Evaluation Process To take your project evaluation to the next level, you’ll want ProjectManager, an online work management tool with live dashboards that deliver real-time data so you can monitor what’s happening now as opposed to what happened yesterday. With ProjectManager’s real-time dashboard, project evaluation is measured in real-time to keep you updated. The numbers are then displayed in colorful graphs and charts. Filter the data to show the data you want or to drill down to get a deeper picture. These graphs and charts can also be shared with a keystroke. You can track workload and tasks, because your team is updating their status in real-time, wherever they are and at whatever time they complete their work. /wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Portfolio-dashboard-compressed.pngTry it free! Project evaluation with ProjectManager’s real-time dashboard makes it simple to go through the evaluation process during the evolution of the project. It also provides valuable data afterward. The project evaluation process can even be fun, given the right tools. Feel free to use our automated reporting tools to quickly build traditional project reports, allowing you to improve both the accuracy and efficiency of your evaluation process. /wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Reports_Wide_Zoom-150_Project-Status-Report.jpg Related Project Closure Content The project closure stage is a very important step in the project life cycle because it’s when the project team and stakeholders will determine how successful the project was by closely inspecting the deliverables and ensuring whether the success criteria was met. Here are some blogs, templates and guides that can be helpful during this project phase. Free PMO Templates for Excel and Word Lessons Learned Template Project Closure Template Project Financial Management: Managing Project Financials 5 Steps to Project Closure (Checklist Included) What Is Post-Implementation Review in Project Management? 10 Steps for Successful Project Completion (Templates Included) ¿Qué es la Evaluación de Proyectos? ProjectManager is a cloud-based project management software that has a suite of powerful tools for every phase of your project, including live dashboards and reporting tools. Our software collects project data in real-time and is constantly being fed information by your team as they progress through their tasks. See how monitoring, evaluation and reporting can be streamlined by taking a free 30-day trial today! The post Project Evaluation Process: Definition, Methods & Steps appeared first on ProjectManager. View the full article

How can you find low-competition keywords to boost your website’s rank? Find out here. View the full article

Windows has a rather patchy history when it comes to native photo viewing and editing, but the latest Photos app is quietly becoming genuinely useful. It may not be a full-blown Photoshop alternative, but it does now offer a variety of basic editing functions, and even some generative AI to help get your images looking their best. Photos combines a photo viewer and a photo editor, so the first job it takes on when you load it up is cataloging all the pictures you've got on your system. Use the gear icon at the top to change the configuration of this photo viewer, and the buttons just above the images to alter the order that pictures are shown in. When you're ready to start editing, double-click on any image in your library. This brings up a larger view, with links to OneDrive and Microsoft Designer, but we're interested in the built-in editing tools—click the Edit button (on the top left). Basic editing tools You can crop and rotate images with a few clicks. Credit: Lifehacker The screen you'll see first is for cropping and rotating. Click and drag the handles at the corner of the selected picture to change how it's cropped (hold down Shift to maintain the aspect ratio), or click and drag along the degrees slider to alter the angle. You've got buttons along the bottom for 90-degree rotations, horizontal and vertical flips, and specific aspect ratio crops (like 4:3 or 16:9). At any point during your editing, you can click the undo button (the backwards arrow, top left) to go back a step, or the Reset button to go all the way back to the beginning—a reassuring safety net if you're worried about ruining a favorite photo. Your save options, meanwhile, are up in the top right: You can overwrite the existing image, save a new image, or copy the image to the clipboard. The icons along the top (which come with text labels, if the app window is big enough) will guide you to the other parts of the program: You've got Crop, Adjustment, Filter, Mark-up, Erase, and Background. Any changes you make on one panel will be kept as you move to other panels, but aren't committed to disk until you save the file. Switch to the Adjustment screen and you'll see a familiar row of sliders, covering attributes like Brightness, Exposure, and Contrast—make changes to any of these sliders and the results are shown straight away. For example, increase the Shadows value to see more detail in the dark areas of an image, or lower the Highlights value to get more clarity in the brighter areas. You've also got color-related sliders, so you're able to adjust the image Saturation, Warmth, Tint, and Sharpness too. For more precise control on any of these sliders, click the slider you want to adjust, then use the arrow keys on the keyboard (either left and right or up and down) to change the values. Advanced editing tools Photos can quickly remove backgrounds for you. Credit: Lifehacker Beyond the basics, there's more you can do with your images in Windows Photos. On the Filter screen you've got a variety of preset filters you can apply to your image, just like the original Instagram—everything from Punch to Vintage. There's also an Auto Enhance button, which tells Photos to use its best judgment in tweaking the image characteristics so that it's looking its best. The next tab is Mark-up, which lets you scribble all over your selected image, using the different pens and highlighters you'll find down underneath the image (click and hold on any of the pen icons to change the line thickness and color). It's not the most sophisticated of tools, but it lets you quickly annotate images (such as screenshots). Then there's the Erase screen, where you can remove objects from the photo using generative AI. Draw across the part of the picture you want to remove, and the tool will do the rest, drawing in a new background based on the surrounding pixels and other visual clues. Toggle off the Auto apply button for more control over the selection mask and when the removal is applied. The last screen is Background. Photos will attempt to highlight the object and the people in the foreground, and you're then able to apply a blur to the background or remove it completely. If the background isn't detected well enough automatically, enable the Background brush tool option, and you can make minor adjustments. Without offering any sort of selection tools, healing brushes, or layer editing, Photos does cover most of the tweaks that most people are going to want to do with their images—with no extra downloads or payment required once Windows is installed. If you need something different that isn't Adobe's market leading software, try our other Photoshop alternatives. View the full article

SEO is widely recognized as a long-term investment, which creates pressure for businesses to translate performance into measurable revenue. Early on – or even over time – disconnects can emerge between expectations and actual ROI. One major disconnect lies in understanding what SEO truly means in terms of strategy and tactics. Another, often magnified if left unaddressed, is the time it takes to see meaningful results. If the goal of SEO (or any digital marketing effort) is to drive return on investment (ROI), then identifying and addressing the root causes of the SEO-to-ROI gap is critical. Failing to do so can lead to compounding issues, making it harder to justify continued investment in SEO. This article explores the key reasons behind the SEO ROI gap and how to approach SEO with intention and high-value outcomes in mind. Issue 1: Not understanding what SEO entails SEO is changing by the day. If you knew what best practices and strategic approaches worked in your vertical or business 10 years ago, you might not recognize them today. Any baggage or history can be more harmful than helpful if outdated concepts and theories shape the expectations of those buying, overseeing, or being held accountable for SEO in an organization from the top down. Knowing what still works today, what to test for what’s coming tomorrow as AI continues to change the game, and having a sound strategy are all critical. To build a strong foundation for success in the current era, you need a base-level common understanding among all stakeholders and a set of aligned goals and strategies. Dig deeper: How long SEO takes to work Issue 2: Lacking clear goals for SEO Speaking of goals – they are critical. Without them, it’s easy to get lost chasing every new shiny object or distraction that comes along, whether it’s a fresh set of insights from search experts, a new AI Overview feature, the latest LLM to explore, or changes in analytics data (like the removal of trusty reports in GA4). You’ve got to have clearly defined goals for SEO and for all digital marketing channels. Without them, reporting becomes subjective, making it difficult to determine: How deep to go. How fast to move. How much to invest in the technical, content-driven, and authority-building aspects of SEO. Goals can be channel-specific, such as driving traffic or conversions, but those alone leave a gap between performance and actual ROI. The most effective goals go beyond what happens on a website – especially in lead generation-focused marketing organizations – ensuring SEO efforts contribute directly to measurable business outcomes. Issue 3: Shallow or siloed reporting I want to challenge you to close the gap between marketing KPIs and what happens next – where a lead, contact, or prospect either becomes a customer (or doesn’t) and the revenue impact that follows. I have great respect for finance teams and the C-suite (being a CEO myself), but if you’re an SEO and leaving it up to executives to determine whether SEO is working, you’re not doing yourself any favors. Dashboards, third-party marketing reporting software, and GA4 “out of the box” won’t calculate ROI for you. If you’re only reporting on SEO as a marketing channel, you’re likely facing attribution challenges or battling over which channel gets credit for a conversion. And beyond conversions: What happens with that lead? What actions do they take? Do they close as a deal that justifies the SEO investment and contributes to ROI, or not? Break out of the silo and ensure your reporting ties SEO performance to real business outcomes, not just marketing conversions. Yes, it may take you into some uncomfortable territory, but it’s necessary – because if you don’t connect the dots, someone else will. Dig deeper: What stakeholders should expect from SEO Issue 4: Unavailable resources SEO isn’t just done by SEOs. Twenty years ago, when I started in this field, I could handle about 90% of the work myself. That’s no longer the case – and that’s a good thing. Today, SEO requires collaboration, leading to better-quality experiences for users. Other resources – copywriters, analysts, IT professionals, web developers, and more – are often needed to support SEO efforts. Their availability (or lack thereof) directly impacts the cost of implementation, as well as the speed at which SEO strategies can be executed and start delivering ROI. If resources aren’t accounted for upfront – both in terms of cost and timing – the challenges only grow. Misalignment in planning can delay implementation and weaken results, making it harder to justify SEO as a business investment. Issue 5: Outdated thinking I know I mentioned AI earlier, but it’s worth doubling down. While Google still dominates search, we can’t rely on old habits – creating personas, publishing content, and expecting audiences to find us. That’s no longer enough. We need to deeply understand our audience: Their behaviors. Their challenges. How they seek solutions. Today, they may still be coming through Google. Tomorrow, they could be using a specific LLM, a different social media platform, or even technology that doesn’t exist yet. There’s no “set it and forget it” strategy – not that there ever was. Staying ahead means keeping up with change, knowing where to gain a first-mover advantage, and assessing the risks of going all-in on emerging tech like LLM-based search. Or, if you choose to ride out what’s working now, at least do so with an eye on the future. Don’t get left behind. And worse, don’t waste resources on tactics that no longer work! Dig deeper: Why SEO often fails before it even begins Close the SEO-to-ROI gap and drive better results I hate hearing “SEO doesn’t work” when I first talk to a business. While that may sometimes be true, more often than not, it’s a matter of misaligned expectations. SEO wasn’t approached as an investment with a clear goal of generating ROI. I often hear frustration about agencies, internal teams, or software that didn’t deliver expected results. In many cases, the real issue is that the partner they’re frustrated with never shared the same expectations – or expectations weren’t clearly set from the start. My hope is that by unpacking these common issues, you’ve found something useful – whether to proactively address challenges in your organization or diagnose existing problems. With the right approach, you can course-correct and set SEO on a path to real, measurable success. Dig deeper: 4 SEO practices with diminishing returns View the full article

Project managers often wonder if they are measuring the right things on a project. It’s difficult to know how much time to spend evaluating past performance and how much time to spend on keeping the work moving forward. Of course, there are many indicators of project success, but what do you need to be measuring while the project is in motion? At various points during the project, you want to evaluate five points: schedule, quality, cost, stakeholder satisfaction and performance against the business case. You should be doing this informally anyway. A formal project evaluation is of use during the end of a phase or stage as it can give you a clear indication of how the project is performing against the original estimates. This information can then be used to grant (or withhold) approval from moving on with the next chunk of work. Let’s look at the seven items you should be evaluating. 1. Schedule Baseline Project management success is often determined by whether or not you kept to the original project schedule. Experienced project managers know how hard that is, but it’s a little bit easier if you continually evaluate your progress as you go. You’ll update your project schedule regularly – I recommend at least weekly. The schedule evaluation is something you can do more formally at the end of the stage or phase, or as part of a monthly report to your senior stakeholder group or Project Board. It’s easy to update your project schedule if you build it on an online Gantt chart, where tasks and deadlines are made into visual timelines. Look at your major milestones and check if they still fall on the same dates as you originally agreed. Work out the slippage, if any, and how much of an impact this will have on your overall project timescales. Related: 10 Free Project Report Templates 2. Quality Assurance The end of a project phase is a good time for a quality review. You can check both the quality of your project management practices – are you following the change management process every time and so on – and also the deliverables. A quality review can evaluate whether what you are doing meets the standards set out in your quality plans. Best find out now before the project goes too far, as it might be too late to do anything about it then. It helps to have project management software to make sure you’re checking off everything you need to when reviewing quality. ProjectManager has a sheet view that leaves others in the dust. More than just a to-do list, our tool can assign tasks, attach files and even show you the percentage complete for each item on your quality review. Our cloud-based tool connects everyone on your team in real time, which facilitates the quality review process. Have a quality tool to review the quality of your project. Take a free trial of ProjectManager today. /wp-content/uploads/2024/03/sheet-view-cta-light-mode-construction.jpgLearn more 3. Project Budget Many executives would rate cost management as one of their highest priorities on a project, so evaluating how the project is performing financially is crucial. Compare your current actual spend to your project budget at this point. If there are variances, look to explain them. You can use a project dashboard to check your actual spend in real time. You’ll also want to look forward and re-forecast the budget to the end of the project. Compare that to your original estimate too and make sure it is close enough for your management team to feel that the work is on track. If your forecasts go up too much it is a sign that your spending will be out of control by the end of the project – again, something it is better to know about now. Related: Free Project Budget Template 4. Stakeholder Satisfaction Your wider team – your stakeholders – are essential in getting much of the work done, so it’s worth checking in with them. Find out how they are feeling about the project right now and what you could be doing differently. This is a difficult measure to document statistically, although there’s nothing to stop you from asking them for a rating out of 10. Even if you are evaluating their satisfaction subjectively, it is still a useful exercise. If you notice that stakeholders are not fully supportive, you can put plans in place to engage them thoroughly to try to influence their behavior. 5. Performance to Business Case Finally, you’ll want to go back to the business case and see what you originally agreed upon. How is your project shaping up? Check that the benefits are still realistic and that the business problem this project was designed to solve does still exist. It happens – project teams work on initiatives that sound great but by the time they are finished the business environment has moved on and the project is redundant. No one bothered to check the business case during the project’s life cycle and so no one realized that the work was no longer needed. Don’t work on something that nobody wants! Check the business case regularly and evaluate it in light of the current business objectives. You can add other items to this list. In fact, it should reflect what is important to you and your team – you should be evaluating things that matter, so feel free to add extra elements or ditch some of the ones that you are less worried about. 6. Return on Investment (ROI) This is a powerful tool to measure project success as it quantifies the financial benefits generated compared to the project’s costs. First, let’s define how to calculate the ROI percentage. ROI = (Net profit / total investment) x 100 The higher the ROI, the more successful the project. Before the project begins, establish baseline metrics for key performance indicators (KPIs), as this allows for a more accurate comparison when the project is finished. Once it’s over, measure the financial benefits such as increased revenue, reduced costs or improved efficiency. If there’s a positive ROI, the project generated a profit, while a negative ROI means the project resulted in a loss. 7. Long-Term Project Impact A project’s long-term impact can also determine its success. Think beyond the immediate impact of the deliverables and consider the lasting effects and value generated over time. Projects with long-term impact can enhance the organization’s reputation and credibility. Look at project metrics that outline the project’s sustained influence, such as increased market share over several years, revenue growth, improved customer retention rates or increased employee productivity. Ideally, there will be a tracking system in place that can track these metrics over 3-5 years. Templates to Help You Measure Project Success Project success should be tangible, so teams need the right tools to help capture data along the way. Here are some top tools that can outline whether a project was successful. KPI Dashboard Template A KPI dashboard template offers a centralized and visual representation of critical project metrics such as costs, budgets, workload, labor costs, equipment utilization and more. All key project KPIs are gathered into a single dashboard to make data and trends easier to understand. Project managers and key stakeholders can reference these dashboards throughout projects to spot issues before they become detrimental and see what in the project needs to be changed. Gantt Chart Template A Gantt chart is one of the most essential tools to help keep project schedules on track. Another tool to measure project success is a Gantt chart template. It helps visually track project tasks and outlines the duration of the project. The visual representation of the Gantt chart’s project timeline helps spot task overlaps and potential bottlenecks. From there, make adjustments to the schedule to keep the project on track. Stakeholder Analysis Template A stakeholder analysis template is also integral to measuring project success as it has the details teams need to better communicate with stakeholders. As stakeholders have a vested interest in the project, it’s important to understand their expectations in order to manage them and give them the information they need throughout the project. The template has space for the project overview, basic stakeholder information, project information and commitment level. Project Closure Template A project isn’t successful if it isn’t closed out properly. Use a project closure template to formally finalize and close a project, capturing the essential project information for future reference. This can include general project information, deliverable acceptance, planned vs. actual budget information, resources, stakeholder satisfaction and a final project report. Reference this data as needed in future projects and use it to determine if the project was successful. Perform a Project Evaluation at the End When your project is over you’ll want to carry out a full and final evaluation. This could be as part of a lessons learned review, but typically it is different. A lessons learned review is where all the project stakeholders comment on what worked and what didn’t. You take away key messages and tasks to improve how projects are delivered in the future. It’s an essential part of project closure, but it isn’t a formal evaluation. You get a lot of feedback, anecdotes and stories but even the most structured lessons learned workshop generally gives you narrative rather than statistics. Related: Lessons Learned Template A project evaluation is about figures. The stories form part of it too, but a smaller part. During a project evaluation you look at: Schedule Quality Cost Stakeholder satisfaction Performance to business case Sound familiar? Yes, it’s the same list of topics that you evaluate as you go through the project. Anything that you are going to be evaluating at the end should also be assessed during the project’s life cycle, or you risk not hitting the targets you have set for yourself. You can include your final end-of-project evaluation in your project closure document. Note down how close you were to your original timescales, budget and quality targets. Add a few sentences to describe whether your evaluations showed that stakeholders were satisfied with the end result and also if the project met the needs described in the business case. Software Tools for Managing Project Success If you need help working out what’s important, project management software can help with tracking. ProjectManager has a live dashboard to monitor progress and performance. Don’t use inferior tools that make you set up your dashboard. Ours is ready to use the moment you log on. It also captures real-time data for more insightful decision-making. We calculate costs, time and more for an instant status report. /wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Dashboard_Construction_Wide_Zoom-150-CTA.jpg How to Use ProjectManager to Measure Success ProjectManager is an online project management software that gives you numerous tools to track the success of your projects. Our most helpful, and visual, tools for measuring success are our real-time dashboards. Each project or project portfolio has a dashboard that displays key metrics in real time. That means that as your team updates their tasks, your project dashboard updates right before your eyes. This is great for giving stakeholders and team members a live look at your project progress. One-Click Project Reports to Reflect Progress Of course, it’s hard to beat a status report when it comes to measuring your success. Status reports are a staple in project management for getting a detailed look at how your project plan is unfolding. ProjectManager lets you create status reports, and dozens of other project reports, with just one click. This can save managers so much time when it comes to paperwork, giving them more time to make impactful project decisions. These reports are key to performing a proper project evaluation as well, which is critical to see if your project really was a success after all. /wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Reports_Wide_Zoom-150_Project-Status-Report.jpg Project evaluations are largely about having the right data, so you need a project management tool that can allow you to monitor your project throughout the lifecycle of your project. ProjectManager has a suite of dashboard, task, resource and reporting tools that help make evaluating your project fast and simple. Start your free trial today. The post 7 Ways To Measure Project Success appeared first on ProjectManager. View the full article

Build presentations that do more than inform. These presentation techniques will help you create meaningful connections, drive engagement, and leave a lasting impression. The post The Secret To Great Presentations? Connection Over Perfection appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. A factory-reconditioned Garmin Venu 2 Plus is on sale for $259.99 on Woot for the next five days or until it sells out—whichever comes first. Garmin Venu 2 Plus $259.99 at Woot $449.00 Save $189.01 Get Deal Get Deal $259.99 at Woot $449.00 Save $189.01 Now, it’s important to note—this is a refurbished unit. That means it may show signs of use, but it’s been serviced and tested to work as it should, and it comes with a 90-day manufacturer warranty. If you're particular about buying brand-new gadgets, this might not be your pick. Still, considering new ones usually go for $449, it’s a solid $190 in savings. Shipping is free if you have Prime, and while most places are covered, they won’t deliver to Alaska, Hawaii, or P.O. boxes. This model snagged CNET’s Editor’s Choice award in 2022, and even now, it holds up well in the growing crowd of fitness-smartwatch hybrids. Building on the original Venu 2 (read its in-depth review here), it adds phone call capabilities and voice assistant support (when paired with a smartphone). You can send messages, ask questions, or schedule a reminder, all without pulling out your phone. That said, it’s not fully hands-free—you’ll need to tap a shortcut on the watch to activate the assistant. There's also wifi support, which means your data syncs automatically when you’re back in range, plus you can download playlists from Spotify or Amazon Music straight to the watch. It can store a few hundred songs, if you prefer running without your phone. Battery life clocks in at about nine days, even with GPS workouts and sleep tracking running daily. Fitness-wise, it covers the bases and then some. It supports over 25 workout modes, from yoga and pilates to HIIT and strength training, with guided animations that are surprisingly useful—especially if you’ve ever half-guessed your way through a new move. Garmin added HIIT-specific workouts too, with categories like EMOM and AMRAP broken down by muscle group and intensity. There’s also the Health Snapshot feature, which gives you a quick two-minute scan of heart rate, respiration, and stress levels. For Android users, the watch plays especially nice with notifications—giving you per-app control. iPhone users don’t get that same level of customization, notes this ZDNet review. View the full article

Industry blindsided by 25% levy and confused whether it applies only to products imported in cansView the full article

AI tools are everywhere, changing the way we work, communicate, and even create. But which tools are actually useful? And how can users integrate them in a way that’s both practical and ethical? In a recent conversation for FC Live, Fast Company tech editor Max Ufberg and longtime contributor Jared Newman explored the real-world impact of today’s AI tools—how they work, what they’re good for, and where they still fall short. From writing assistants to productivity hacks, they broke down what’s worth your time—and what’s just hype. If you missed the subscriber-only event, you’re in luck. You can catch the whole conversation in the video above. View the full article

This week, we covered some more Google Search ranking volatility, post-core update. I also posted some polls on the Google March 2025 core update. Google said they do not have a brand ranking system. Google is ranking AI-translated Reddit results...View the full article