Working styles have changed significantly - we have more meetings, fewer breaks between them, too many online conversations to count, and never-ending digital distractions. Loryan and Megan Strant will discuss the executive functioning challenges this presents for neurodiverse and neurotypical people alike. Learn how they leverage technology to stay productive and how their learnings can help everyone.

2. Productivity Tips & Tricks for the Age of Digital
Overload
Loryan Strant MVP, Product Manager @ Insync Technology
Megan Strant MVP, User Experience and Strategy Consultant

3. Our purpose for today
Problem Product Practice

4. Who are we?
Loryan Strant
Product Manager, Governance Specialist
Megan Strant
User Experience & Strategy Consultant

5. Who are we really?
#HumansofIT
Loryan Strant
Parent
ADHD
Husband to a wife with ASD
Megan Strant
Parent
Autism / Asperger's
Wife to a husband with ADHD

6. Today’s Digital Overload

7. Factors that
influence our
overload
 Increase in mode and speed of communication
(work, personal)
 Too much distraction
 Change to routine and working situation
 Less personal space (physical, mental)
Combined with these, are our own challenges with
executive functioning.

9. What are executive functioning skills?
Impulse control
• Think before acting
Emotional
control
• Keep feelings in check
Flexible thinking
• Adjust behaviour to
unexpected changes
Working memory
• Keep key information in mind
while using it
Self-monitoring
• Self-awareness to how one is
doing in the moment
Planning and
prioritisation
• To set and meet goals
Task initiation
• Take action to get started on
tasks
Organisation
• Keep track of things
physically and mentally

11. Organisation

12. Problem  Storing and accessing notes and information
in various apps
 Losing thoughts and ideas
 Chaotic system of work detail
 Messy plans and materials
 Losing your charger, headset, dongle

13. Product
OneNote Project Moca
(Outlook Spaces)
Lists

14. Practice
OneNote - personal notebook
Unstructured, or structured
Set it up your way
Record audio, insert pictures
Search
Mobile app

15. Practice
Project Moca – personal space
Bring together variety of
information: notes, files, links,
tasks, goals, contacts

16. Practice
Lists – personal data
Break data out of spreadsheets
Create views, workflows,
lookups
Built-in automation

17. Planning, Prioritisation & Task Initiation

18. Problem  Have trouble getting started on work
 Challenges in setting and meeting goals
 Procrastinate and then push hard to get
work complete close to deadline
 Urgent overrides important work

19. Product
To Do Outlook MyAnalytics

20. Practice
To Do – offload your tasks
Provide detail
Build out steps to know what is
next
Add photos or files
Set realistic timeframes
Check in with yourself daily

21. Practice
Outlook – plan ahead
Colour code appointment types
Daily prioritization time
Review the week ahead and plan
time for work
Don’t let meetings fill your day

22. Practice
MyAnalytics – a helping hand
Read the briefing emails
Add items to To Do
Use the Insights app in Outlook

23. Working Memory

24. Problem  Trouble transitioning between topics
 Forget key points or detail from meetings
 Challenges accessing detail in your brain on
the spot during a meeting
 Remembering all the steps to a process or
task or what you committed to following up

25. Product
OneNote Outlook Tasks in Teams Microsoft Teams

26. Practice
OneNote - personal notebook
Unstructured, or structured
Set it up your way
Visual tags
Search for keywords
Mobile app on the go
Dictation

27. Practice
Outlook Calendar
Control the flow of your day
Brain breaks
Lunch breaks
Buffer time to transition
End of day review

28. Practice
Tasks in Teams (To Do and Planner)
Items assigned to you
Time stamped notes
Priority labels
Sub-tasks and checklists
Attachments
Email alerts/ reminders

29. Practice
Microsoft Teams – capture the
moment
Recording & transcript
Search through text
Review action items or issues in
your own time
Recap sections to embed detail

30. Attention

31. Problem  Trouble holding focus on a task or person for
a period of time
 Challenges shifting attention when required
from current thought
 Being distracted by notifications or other
stimuli
 Parkinson’s law – drag out to time allotted
rather than being efficient

32. Product
MyAnalytics Microsoft Teams Non-Microsoft

33. Practice
MyAnalytics – protect your focus
Allow it to book focus time
Own your week and structure
Complete deep quality work
Change Teams status to make you
unavailable

34. Practice
Notifications
Adjust platform-wide, channel and
chat alerts
Set your status
Quiet hours on mobile device

35. Practice
Reduce auditory stimuli
Noise cancelling headphones!

36. Practice - extra
My Day Today
Power App + Power Automate
Outlook calendar
To Do tasks
https://www.loryanstrant.com/mydaytoday/

37. Takeaways
Executive
Functions are
human functions
Think about your
daily challenges
and if you could
restructure your
day or work
differently
Explore your
habits and
challenges you
might not realise
are impacting
your productivity
Incremental
changes can
drive wins
Respect other
people's
boundaries –
don't sabotage
another person's
productivity!

38. Thank you!
Allie Shiva Kady Bubba Anna
Ian Sandy Tim Chris Tania
Claire Darrell Bex Phil Helen
Jeff Martina Toni Laurie Nathan
@LoryanStrant / www.loryanstrant.com
@MeganStrant / www.meganstrant.com
www.youtube.com/TheStrants
Humans of IT - Microsoft Tech Community