I've been in my fair share of business meetings, some of them effective meetings that followed some agreed-upon business etiquette, some not so much. One thing they tend to have in common is a certain set of jargon, probably intended get a certain message across but usually succeeding only in confusing or angering people. There may be no perfect way to run a meeting, but there are some best practices. Here are some of the phrases I wish I could just erase from the business person's lexicon.

Photo by Stephen Depolo (Flickr), Licensed under CC BY 2.0

Whether you're running a company or a department, it can be easy to focus your attention on your bottom line, increasing production and decreasing cost. Of course, focusing exclusively on money can mean sacrificing time you could spend focusing on your people, and since it is your people who make it possible for you to accomplish your business goals, this is an unacceptable option. So how do you ensure that you maintain office morale, whether the business is thriving or barely surviving? Here are a few ideas borne from lessons I've learned along the way.

It was a crazy start to the week, new things kept coming in by the minute and I noticed, with great annoyance, that responding to my e-mails constantly disturbed my workflow. Do you feel the same way sometimes? Then you are one of many. Studies show that e-mails are among the top ten productivity killers at work. I compiled tips that help you manage your e-mails more effectively.

Andreas Tremel, co-founder of InLoox, shared the InLoox story: How the company got started and it's development into an international provider of project management software.

Photo by Sebastiaan ter Burg (Flickr),, Licensed under CC BY 2.0

It struck me the other day as I was doing my daily project management that it has literally never been easier to manage projects, and yet, it's never been more intricate. I thought back to my past systems - not just digital tools, but an intricate series of Post-Its and emails to myself - and it's amazing to me what I'm capable of tracking now with the click of a button. This thought led to wondering how many people are still stuck in the Post-It days and whether or not they know the benefits of business software, which led to this blog post.

Photo by plantoo47 (Flickr), Licensed under CC BY 2.0

We've all been there: We've walked out of business meetings knowing we're never going to get that time back, wondering why we were invited and what it was that we accomplished. Often, this lack of productivity in a meeting is not the result of what happened during the meeting but rather what didn't happen beforehand: meeting preparation. Planning an effective meeting is as important as conducting one. Here are seven more reasons to create meeting agendas.