Welcome to The Systematic Summary, Systematic’s weekly roundup of the news, books, and interviews that will make you a more informed business technology professional. Every week, I’ll be bringing together the best media for IT and BT leaders to consume in one, easy-to-digest list. Let’s get started.
Catch up on this week’s news:
Research has shown that the more time a person spends managing their emails in an hour, the higher their stress levels are. Is it possible to cut back on our most prevalent form of communication?
It is no secret that unhappy employees are more likely to underperform. But what do you do when the most essential form of communication in the modern workplace is making everyone unhappy? Cal Newport, computer science professor at Georgetown, explores the impact email has on our lives and the potential avenues for beginning to change the way we communicate and collaborate. To start, Newport suggests implementing more project management software to increase transparency across the team and incorporating more short status meetings into your week.
To progress from an IT manager to an IT leader, it is essential that you can inspire a team and collaborate with a wide-range of business stakeholders.
CIO recently did a roundup of the 7 things that differentiate IT managers from IT leaders. A great leader needs to be inspirational, collaborative, enlightening, visionary, empathetic, flexible, and compassionate. It’s a demanding checklist, but in the journey from manager to the c-suite, CIO notes that the transition requires “awareness, reflection, and insight.” If you are looking to level up, look outside of your technical skills and prove that you can be a visionary for your department.
Newsela, an online platform that aggregates educational content as a sort of modern-day textbook replacement, reached unicorn status in their most recent round of funding.
In the recent, rapid move to virtual learning for elementary, middle, and high school students across the country, Newsela just raised $100 million in a Series D round, bringing their valuation to $1 billion. The platform, which offered its services for free at the beginning of the pandemic, provides their services for prices between $6 and $14 per student, compared to textbook prices which average a school around $20 to $40 per student. Along with the lower cost, the company also supplies research and analytics for subscribers to better adjust to teaching and engaging their students in a virtual world.
Implementing lead prioritization automation and investing in conversational intelligence platforms are just two ways to accelerate your sales process.
Systematic community manager Mary Hodges explored 5 ways you can accelerate your sales process through automation. “According to a study by Harvard Business Review, companies who respond to leads with a personalized response within 5 minutes are 10 times more likely to engage with their leads than those who wait longer,” Hodges begins. “Workato’s Report on Inbound Leads reveals, however, that only 1% of companies tested are responding to their leads within that time frame.” Take a look at these tips to help your team close faster and secure more deals.
Don’t forget to add a professional headline that sums up your role when updating your resume in 2021.
After analyzing thousands of resumes from tech companies everywhere, Leet Resumes offers useful tips for refreshing your resume this year. Whether you are looking for a new job or attending a virtual networking event, your resume should reflect your purpose, be easy to read, and should include concrete data to detail your achievements, among other things. It can be difficult to communicate your value in just one page, but there are many ways to optimize your resume and improve the way you frame your experience.
Find some weekend reading:
Insider Pro and Computer World
This year’s IT Salary Survey from IDG collects data from 1,759 IT professionals to determine the most prevalent salary and hiring trends right now.
How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy
Jenny Odell
This is a guide on how to slow down in a world that demands your attention so you can more fully engage with the things that could change your life and even the world.
Learn from the experts:
A group of TechCrunch editors and reporters discuss all of the major tech happenings this week, like a new Alexis Ohanian-backed community platform and Coinbase filing to go public.
Feedback for The Systematic Summary: If there is something you’d like to see in next week’s roundup, email me at [email protected] with the subject line “The Systematic Summary.”
