In this episode of Work Smart, idea guy Bryan Serven asks the question every entrepreneur has wrestled with; I offer a way to reframe the question and weigh your options, and author of Do More Great Work Michael Bungay Stanier weighs in with a great tip. Press the play button below, and then check out part 2, which covers how you know when to kill a project you're already working on.

Part 2: The toughest thing an entrepreneur has to do is admit a company or a product is a failure and move on. But the longer you work on something that's not working, the more time you lose that could be spent working on a success. This episode covers part 2 of inventor Bryan Serven's question: what are the early signs it's time to end a project?

Once more author of Do More Great Work Michael Bungay Stanier weighs in with his advice for diversifying your portfolio of projects.

I'm on the hunt for one more question to wrap up the Work Smart series. Send it to me at worksmart@fastcompany.com.

In this week's episode of Work Smart 2, I got to give my best answer to that question. Bill Clark asks how you can actually work smarter when you spend a lot of time learning new productivity tricks. I share my favorite tool for keeping yourself honest, and then asked author of productivity bible Getting Things Done David Allen for his thoughts. (In short: there are worse ways to waste time.)

Press play on the 2-minute, 30-second video clip below.

During my research for this video, I went back to using RescueTime in earnest. The charts it generated, which show what programs you spend the most working in, are really insightful for anyone who wants to do more self-monitoring. If you're having a particularly rabbit-holey day, RescueTime's Growl notifications which say things like "You've spent 45 minutes on distracting activities" can help you get back on track, too. Even if they tempt you to just quit the program and keep reading Lady Gaga's Wikipedia entry anyway.

I was lucky enough to get none other than David Allen to agree to be my expert in this segment. I was pretty nervous talking to David, as his material has been an inspiration for me for years now. Hopefully I didn't come off as too much of a dork on Skype with him.

Here's the final, 2-minute video clip.

In short, the key to staying productive while travelling is to create a to-go system that's as effective as your home system. A big part of that for me, which got cut from the final segment, is having a good portable inbox. I use a $2 plastic envelope with a Velcro closure, which I slip in next to my laptop in my bag. Expense receipts, business cards, and random pieces of paper that you tend to collect as you travel all go in that plastic envelope, which I dump out as soon as I get home.

We've just wrapped the first four video segments, and starting in on the next batch of four, so I need questions! If you want to appear in a future episode, email me your question to worksmart@fastcompany.com.

Despite the fact that I still can't watch and listen to myself on film without cringing, I am so pleased with the results. Adam Barenblat at FastCompany did an amazing job on the art and design, which is based on a fun new webapp: Popplet.

Check out the finished clip.

Some production notes: I outlined the script using Popplet, which Adam used to design the video, and that Popplet is available at FastCompany.com for you to click and zoom around yourself. We got all the interview footage using Skype and eCamm's CallRecorder software, which is cheap and fantastically easy to use. We wanted an informal webcam look, but we wanted "the hostess" to have a plain background and professional lighting, which I set up in my home office relatively inexpensively, thanks to the TWiG headset I already have. It was really fun getting to "meet" and talk with people who sent in their questions from all over the country. Unlike the first season of Work Smart, which was just me talking to the camera, these episodes involve 3 separate shoots--one with the person asking the question, one with the expert, and one with me. Breaking it up that way adds a nice variety, and it also means I don't have to fly to New York to shoot with a director and a production crew. I get to stay home and simply use Skype with my iSight. Fun stuff, plus time and money savings.

If you want to be featured in an upcoming episode, email your question about tech and/or productivity to worksmart@fastcompany.com.

The electronic version of the book is now available as both a PDF and an ePub file; you'll get both when you buy the paperback. We're also happy to announce that The Complete Guide to Google Wave is now officially available in the Kindle store, no awkward PDF-to-Kindle conversions required.

Best of all, thanks to a partnership with a local charity, when you buy a copy of the paperback book, you're helping to employ developmentally disabled adults here in San Diego. Meet the folks who will fulfill your order when you buy the book, thanks to NBC San Diego:

PWI is a fantastic organization and we're so happy to partner with them in this indie publishing venture. Thanks so much for supporting me, Adam, and the great folks at PWI when you buy a copy of the book.

The Complete Guide to Google Wave

Twitter was down, the news didn't have anything yet, but I remembered Reto Meier, a Googler who did an Android talk at I/O had demo'ed an earthquake detection app. It's called Earthquake!, and it's got some very useful features, especially when you're worried about the earth cracking open and swallowing your home whole.

More screenshots inside--click to enlarge.

The default app view is a list of earthquakes by location, magnitude, and date. This is a pretty long list--a LOT more quakes and aftershocks happen around the world than you realize. (I believe the data comes from the USGS.) You can see that after last night's SoCal quake, the list is littered with aftershocks.


I set my magnitude filter to 5, because even the "can be felt" and "can cause damage" filter level makes a long list.

I also like the homescreen widget, which shows you the latest earthquake on your list.

At Google I/O, Meier did a talk about the best and worst practices for Android developers, which I watched with interest, as I hope to be an absolute angel while creating Todo.txt Touch. Aspiring mobile developers, this is definitely worth a watch.

In the meantime, my working list of Android apps is continually updated on the excellent AppBrain. Here's every Android app I've currently got installed.

In the past three months Anil and I have been to events in six different cities talking about Expert Labs and how the White House used ThinkTank to compile feedback on the Grand Challenges initiative. At Fast Company's Innovation Uncensored event in New York City last month, Anil absolutely killed it in a 12 minute presentation that hits the nail right on the head. Press play to check it out.

In the past five installments I addressed some old and new issues any tech savvy digital worker encounters: keeping track of passwords, wasting time leaving and listening to voicemail, being a productive freelancer (or just work-at-homer), syncing files across all your computers, and, for fun, a few things you didn't know your cameraphone can do. Hit play on any of the 2-3 minute segments inside.

Taming Your Voicemail in Two Easy Steps

Leaving voicemail and listening to voicemail is painful. There are some tricks for skipping right to the beep, and never having to suffer through a long-winded message from Uncle Bert again. Here's the full video transcript.

Freelance Survival Skills

"How do you work at home and actually get things done?" It's not easy, but in this video I share some of what's worked for me. Here's the full video transcript.

3 Useful Things You Didn't Know Your Cameraphone Could Do

It's amazing what your smartphone can do given apps and a great camera built in. Here's the full video transcript.

A Single Trick for Remembering Countless Passwords

Every week you sign up for another site or service and have to set up yet another password. Pick good ones that are unique--without writing anything down. Here's the full video transcript.

3 Apps for Syncing Home and Office

You use more than one computer at work and at home. Here are a few ways to make sure your files are where you need 'em. Here's the full video transcript.

Hopefully better late than never: in this week's episode of TWiG, Jeff reboxes his iPad to return to the store, we talk Twitter developer relations, and my tip of the week was a web front end to the Android Market, at thanks to doubleTwist.