OneNote

Digital Wellbeing and working smart in Microsoft 365

Ståle Hansen Leave a comment

Digital Wellbeing in Microsoft 365 is about working smart with the tools you have at your disposal. There is a difference between having access to the tools and using them as intended. With the introduction of Microsoft Viva and specifically Viva Insights, we now see where Microsoft is headed. They are now all about using the tools and building good collaboration cultures. Viva Insights can measure meeting culture, chat culture and how much off hours working is done. But it is not enough to just tell people to use less internal emails, move away from chat and over to channels and work less in evenings. It is difficult to envision how to work in a different way when the change that needs to happen must happen in the individual and in the group.

This is where Digital Wellbeing comes in to the picture. The four modules I have defined as part of Digital Wellbeing is the HOW and WHAT when culture shows you WHY you need to change. The four modules are

  • Capture
  • Process & Execute
  • Teams Culture
  • Notifications

Full workshop for free on YouTube

During March 2022 I recorded everything I know about Digital Wellbeing and you get the all four modules for free. This ended up as 8 hours and 30 minutes of insights, demos and how to’s. You can view the full index with timestamps under each video in this blogpost.

Watch the explainer video

To get started, watch the video explaining the four modules in 14 minutes

Module 1 – Capture

Capture is all about storing your thoughts, ideas, dreams and tips in to Microsoft To Do. Meeting notes and deeper notes are captured in OneNote. The goal is to create stash-zones for your content so that you find them again. Why exactly To Do and OneNote? Watch my deep dive video explaining everything you need to know to get started with capture.

Modul 2 – Process & Execute

Taking capture to the next level is to reflect, process and organize your captured material. A task in To Do which you have captured could be a link to an article you want to read, reference material for your project, it could be someone asking you for more information or the start of a project. Organizing this unstructured information and breaking the tasks in to goals and actions will help “future you” make sense of the captures. The execute component of this module is about prioritizing the most important tasks for you that day, reserving time in your calendar using focus time in Viva Insights and using the Pomodoro technique to focus on one task for at least 25 minutes without distracting yourself. At the end of the day, you reflect on how the day went by using Viva Insights Virtual Commute. This is much harder than it sounds so we need to talk about this. Watch my deep dive video explaining all the details for this module

  • Digital Wellbeing: 0:00
  • Agenda: 5:40
  • Lists and List groups in ToDo: 7:47
  • Sorting and prioritizing tasks: 18:09
  • Recurring tasks: 28:19
  • Section Groups in OneNote: 36:21
  • Reflecting on your career: 41:28
  • Sorting to OneNote: 52:29
  • Organizing meeting notes: 55:01
  • Sorting to Microsoft Lists? 1:02:04
  • Planning time for focus: 1:16:17
  • Get started with My Day: 1:27:19
  • Breaking tasks into actions: 1:41:19
  • Executing on your tasks: 1:48:18
  • Reflecting on your day: 2:21:16
  • End note: 2:39:40

Module 3 – Teams Culture

For you to have a good day in Teams three things needs to happen

  1. Conversations about processes needs to move from chats to channel conversations so that you get the ability to mute parts of the conversation.
  2. We want larger Teams with more channels, rather than many teams with fewer channels and we want people to tag a person, a tag or the channel when reaching out. Never tag the Team (unless you are the Team owner or administrator) because there is no way of muting those notifications.
  3. Meetings should start and end in channel conversations, or chats if they are ad-hoc meetings. In that way we may save a number of meetings that are meetings about the meetings you are going to have and meetings about the meetings you just had. That is just a waste of time, respect yours and your colleagues time.

These are the topics we cover in the Teams culture module, watch the deep dive session here

Module 4 – Notifications

Notifications is the #1 skill everyone needs to master the next decade. Why? Work is not a place it is a mindset. The moment you see a notification about work, you instantly get pulled in to work mode. What more is that a timer seems to go off in your head and you feel you need to respond within 30 minutes. This is the challenge we are living in today, that you get notifications about not important information at the wrong time. There are three questions you need to ask yourself when you get a notification on your computer or mobile

  1. Why did you get the notification?
  2. Was it useful?
  3. How can you tune it so you get it not at all or at the correct time

This is what we dive in to in the module 4 video and we take is far as going through how to disconnect during vacation. Read my Microsoft TechCommunity article on notifications to get a jump start.

  • Digital Wellbeing 0:00
  • The challenge with notifications 5:02
  • Notifications in Teams 18:41
  • Quiet time in Teams mobile 32:37
  • Notifications in social media 47:48
  • Digital Wellbeing on Android 1:08:33
  • How to vacation 1:21:01
  • How to vacation Book time 1:28:05
  • How to vacation Inbox Zero and Brain dump 1:34:48
  • How to vacation Plan your first week getting back 1:40:34
  • How to vacation Quiet Time 1:43:30
  • End Note 1:47:23

End note

Digital Wellbeing can help you get your head above the water, perform better at work and at home and it will just make you happier in your life. Happiness comes from you feeling you are mastering your busy day and using the tools in smart way and removing stress from your life. That is what Digital Wellbeing is all about.

The best Microsoft Ignite to date

Ståle Hansen Leave a comment

I had a blast at Microsoft Ignite 2018! Here are some reasons why I think it was the best to date:

  • The product groups were accessible and always available for feedback. If you went to the different product group booth you would find prominent members available to chat and discuss their products.
  • Less walking distance, since everything was organized in the same building. This is a great improvement over all other the Microsoft Ignite’s the previous years
  • The focus om community engagement was apparent this year with Community hours and available podcast booths and locations. Even more community members got to share their experience in breakout sessions, meetup sessions, and theater sessions. The community hours had even more people from the product groups join and you got to ask your burning questions and have a great discussion

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Microsoft Ignite 2018 group photo with the Microsoft Teams Product Group and MVP’s

This is at least my experience and I may be biased as I got to have a great time delivering three theater sessions, a meetup, guest two podcasts and spend time at the Microsoft Teams booth. But still, compared to the previous years, the vibe during this year Microsoft Ignite was great. If you are thinking of attending next year, make sure you register as soon as possible, for it is going to be awesome. You can pre-register for November 4-8, 2019, in my favorite vacation location, Orlando

Links to my session recordings and slide decks

THR2137 – OneNote Life Hacks

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THR2138 – Stream meetings with Microsoft Teams Live Events

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THR2241 – Meetings best practices in Microsoft Teams

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Podcast: Skype for Business & Microsoft Teams MVP Roundtable

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Podcast: Microsoft Teams news – Live Podcast Discussion

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I also had the pleasure of bringing all of CloudWay AS  to Orlando this year and had great fun together with Jan Ketil Skanke and Alexander Holmeset. I think networking is a big part of conferences such as Microsoft Ignite, that is why we co-hosted Norwegian networking event at Bahama Breeze together with KPMG, Pexip and Microsoft Norway. Read about our activities here

CW1Ignite18V1

Speaking at Microsoft Ignite 2018

Ståle Hansen Leave a comment

I am so proud to return as a speaker for the fourth time at Microsoft Ignite 2018, at my favorite vacation spot, Orlando, FL.

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I will share my experience with Microsoft Teams meeting best practices in two expo theater sessions. I will again share my passion for personal productivity using OneNote in a third expo theater session. I will team up with featured speaker, Brian Ricks, and other Teams/Skype MVP’s for ask us anything on troubleshooting Teams and Skype in my first ever meetup.

THR2138V5

Check out my Teams Live Events session

I am scheduled to be at the Microsoft Teams booth during happy hour on Monday so if you have any burning questions or want to hang out and chat, look me up. I would love to whiteboard some migration scenarios or Teams lifecycle scenarios :)

Microsoft Ignite is a huge event for networking with your peers, that is why I am happy that my company is encouraging that by being a co-host for Norsk Aften on Tuesday.

This is going to be fun! See you there :)

Talking Teams automation and OneNote productivity at the Microsoft Campus this August at TechMentor!

Ståle Hansen Leave a comment

Wow! I am going to speak at a conference at the Microsoft Headquarters in Redmond! This is bucket list check for sure. I am soo looking forward to this and hope the attendees will learn a thing or two about Microsoft Teams and get inspired to do more with OneNote in my two sessions.

SPECIAL OFFER: As a speaker, I can extend $500 savings on the 5-day package. Register here: http://bit.ly/RDSPK09_reg

How to Administer Microsoft Teams Like a Boss

This session will help you learn how to take control of Microsoft Teams using PowerShell. You’ll be able to find activities across all workloads to create PowerBI reports and use the information to decommission, archive, or expire inactive teams.

You will learn:

  • How to administer Microsoft Teams using PowerShell
  • Advanced activity reporting on usage using PowerShell and PowerBI
  • How to use advanced activity reporting to decommission, archive or expire Teams

OneNote LifeHack: 5 Steps for Succeeding with Personal Productivity

So you’re using OneNote as your primary note taking tool? Without any structure, you might lose track of all your notes. This session will help you learn how to get structured using OneNote to dump all your thoughts, ideas, e-mails and notes that are either actionable or something you want to find later. You’ll learn five steps to get started with a robust framework from using the sections correctly, take notes with your mobile device, use Microsoft Flow to send e-mail to OneNote from any device, and the Pomodoro Technique to prioritize and induce flow in a busy workday. The magic is to collect all information in one section regardless of the platform.

You will learn:

  • A framework for productivity
  • How to use the GTD methodology and a practical context with OneNote
  • How to use the Pomodoro Technique

Amplify your knowledge at TechMentor Redmond — bring the issues that keep you up at night and prepare to leave this event with the answers, guidance and training you need.  Register now: http://bit.ly/RDSPK09_reg 

Announcing the Pomodoro Windows app

Ståle Hansen 1 Comment

August 2017 MVP Jan Egil Ring and I launched an open source PowerShell based Pomodoro timer. This is a great way to get stuff done, but difficult to get started with. Andreas Kang Schøyen over at Lillevik IT has done something about that and created an executable program that sets up the integrations and timer.

How it works

When downloading and installing the app, it will automatically integrate with your Skype for Business 32 bit application and your Windows OS making it capable to:

  • Set you to “do not disturb” in Skype for Business with a custom presence state called Pomodoro Sprint
    • The app cotains the SDK dll’s for the Skype for Business client, so no extra installs to control presence
  • Write a note of your choosing during the the Pomodoro sprint and adding the time when you will be available
    • It even counts down the last 15 seconds, so that people waiting to reach you that you are about to become available
  • Write a note of your choosing after the Pomodoro sprint is complete
  • Set your computer in to presentation mode which suppresses popups
  • Start your favourite Spotify playlist for productivity
  • Make you available again when the sprint is finished

The app supports automatic updates and the roadmap includes IFTTT ingration so that you can mute your phone during the pomodoro sprint. See full roadmap here

PomodoroV2

The goal is to induce the flow state in a busy workday

Multitasking is a myth. The goal is to reach the flow state by focusing on one task at a time. Have you ever started writing an email, thought you sent it and eagerly waiting for a response, only to find it incomplete and unsent at the end of the day? This is one of the perils of multitasking.

The Pomodoro Technique is a great methodology to induce flow in a busy workday. It is all about avoiding distractions for 15-25 minutes and focus on one task at a time. This is a short enough period in the day that you can squeeze it in before a meeting. It is incredible what you can get done 15-25 minutes. The goal is to not get distracted and it takes about 7 minutes of focus before your reach your flow state.

If you want to succeed with Pomodoro, you need to make yourself unavailable. Equally important, you need to make yourself available again when those 25 minutes have passed. That is why we created the Pomodoro PowerShell tool, and why I love the simplicity of this app.

Read more and download the exe and MSI version of the app here: http://pomodoro.lit.no

Watch an outtake from my session at Microsoft Ignite 2017 on singletasking

Learn more on my thinking around singletasking and tools available to succeed with the flow state, from this outtake of my OneNote LifeHacks talk at Microsoft Ignite 2017

Complete lists of your tasks is key to success

An important part of succeeding with the Pomodoro Technique is lists. Lists enables you to choose the task that lifts the most weight off your shoulders at that point in time. I use OneNote to capture all my ideas and actions, enabling me to create that finite list of tasks. Check out how I do it in my OneNote LifeHacks YouTube series

How to use Microsoft Flow to move email to OneNote

Ståle Hansen 5 Comments

The send to OneNote plugin in Outlook for PC and Mac is awesome. The problem is when you are not in front of a computer and need to tag an email for processing later when you are on other platforms. My approach to solve this is to use flagging of email and send that to my collection section in OneNote using Microsoft Flow. In that way, I know when I have processed it and I know I can find it again in OneNote for when I process my OneNote and create actionable tasks.

Here is how to get started with using Microsoft Flow for moving flagged emails to your Collection section in Microsoft OneNote that is stored in OneDrive for Business in Office 365.

  1. Log on to your Office 365 portal
  2. Click on the Flow icon to get started
    • requires that Flow is enabled for your tenant and your user
  3. Search for Outlook, because that is our trigger
  4. Choose the trigger for when flagging an email in your inbox
  5. Click on Next Step and search for OneNote (Business)
  6. Choose create page in section
  7. Choose the notebook that is stored in OneDrive for Business
  8. Choose the section you want to store it in, which should be your collection section
  9. In order to get a good input from the email you need to paste in some HTML code in order to get subject as title and more info from the email in to OneNote
  10. From here, save the flow
    • it takes 10-15 minutes for first run
    • The free version runs every 15 minutes, the Office 365 flow version runs every 5 minutes
    • For Office 365 the number of times a flow can run is tenant wide and is aggregated by the number of user licenses in the tenant and is 2000 times per user per month
    • One user can consume a lot more runs than 2000, but the average is 2000 per user per month
    • Read more her: https://flow.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/#plan-feature-table
  11. The flow with flagging of emails are only run when you actually do the flagging, so you will only consume a run when you actually do the flagging

Check out my OneNote LifeHacks video from Ignite on how to set this up.

References

Looking for coaching on being more productive with OneNote and get more stuff done, connect with me at CloudWay

Launching OneNote LifeHacks YouTube series

Ståle Hansen 1 Comment

I am starting a YouTube series called OneNote LifeHacks. I will share detailed tips on how to set up OneNote to work for you. My system has 5 steps

  1. You wanting to change your habits
  2. Capture to OneNote collection section from all platform
  3. Processing and organizing information
  4. Prioritize using custom tags and find tags to create todo lists
  5. Executing on the lists and induce flow using the Pomodoro Technique

The system is heavily inspired of Getting Things Done, Inbox Zero and the Pomodoro Technique, and you can incorporate good habits that resonates with well with you. It is a robust system and all you have to do is to get started with the capture process and the rest you can do as a bonus

Check out my OneNote LifeHacks explained video

The YouTube series is based on my popular OneNote talk from MVP Community Connect in Madrid 2017 and my article on getting started with OneNote in structured way that I wrote in august 2016. The article has more than 6000 views and are still very popular. The video has over 11500 views and over 130 likes with good feedback. This is very motivational and makes me want to share more of my tips and tricks to succeed with OneNote and get stuff done using some productivity methodologies like GTD and the Pomodoro Technique

Catch me at Microsoft Ignite 2017 where I am talking about OneNote LifeHacks in a 20 minute theater talk. Will be happy to share tips and tricks in OneNote productivity

Teaching productivity soft skills at MVP Connection in Madrid June 1st

Ståle Hansen Leave a comment

MVPCommunityConnectionI am super excited to be picked out to teach productivity soft skills to the MVP’s and Regional Directors attending MVP Community Connection in Madrid June 1st. For the past year I have developed my OneNote productivity framework that I still use and succeed with. By borrowing and combining known productivity methodology such as take back your life, Getting Things Done and the Pomodoro Technique, I will talk about stuff you already know, but still need to be reminded of.

Why OneNote? There are three factors that works well for me with OneNote

  1. Flexible notetaking tool, you can paste anything anywhere and it works great with touch and pen.
  2. Syncs across devices through OneDrive with great apps for all operating systems including mobile.
  3. OneNote tasks are key and works the same on all devices so I easily can complete a task on my mobile.

It is all about getting a finite list of all your activities and thoughts so that you can prioritize and execute on the most important task at any given time. And the result? A happy life, and a productive life :) People who have tested the framework report back that a burden has been taken off their shoulders. Turns out that your mind is for having ideas, not holding them as David Allen says. By dumping everything in your head, you free up space to relax, enjoy the moment and focus on your current task at hand.

Learn how in my LifeHack OneNote session at MVP Community Connection

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Office 365 Multi-Factor Authentication requirements explained

Ståle Hansen 5 Comments

Short version

mf_authMulti-Factor Authentication (MFA) in Office 365 is dependent on Modern Authentication which is oAuth 2.0 via ADAL that authenticates the user in Azure AD

Longer version with links to deep dives

  • What is MFA?
    • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) in Office 365 requires Modern Authentication (oAuth2.0 + ADAL) to be enabled for the clients and services that are going to use MFA
    • MFA, Two-step verification, is a method of authentication that requires more than one verification method combined with the Azure Authenticator App, SMS or phone call verification
    • Read more here
  • What is Modern Authentication?
    • Modern Authentication is oAuth 2.0 used via ADAL to enable newer applications (Outlook, Word, OneNote, Skype for Business and other Office applications) to authenticate to services such as Skype for Business, Exchange and SharePoint
    • In Office 2013 march 2015 update and later Modern Authentication is supported and in Office 2016it is enabled by default and will use an in-application browser control to render the Azure AD sign-in experience
    • Read more here
  • What is oAuth?
    • Open Authentication 2.0 (oAuth 2.0) is used as a component via ADAL as the web-based authorization flow between servers or clients and servers
    • Read more here
  • What is ADAL?
    • Microsoft Azure Active Directory Authentication Library (ADAL) is a tool in the .NET framework that lets client applications authenticate users to Office 365 and Azure AD
    • Read more here
  • Two options are available for SSO with on-premises AD that requires Modern Authentication
    • Pass Through Authentication (PTA)
      • Works with Office 365 only
      • Enabled on latest AADC with outbound connection only, no DMZ server
      • Just set up several AADC and it is automatically loadbalanced resulting in low operational cost
      • Does not store password in Azure AD, authenticates user in on-premises AD first and presents MFA after that if enabled
      • In combination with password sync you are not dependent on AADC uptime
      • Read more here and here
    • ADFS 3.0
      • Used for hybrid Skype for Business and Exchange environments
        • Skype for Business server Hybrid supports Modern Authentication, but will do NTLM authentication to on-premises AD and give MFA pop-up when authenticating to Exchange Online, read more here 
        • I recommend Pointsharp MFA for on-premises and hybrid Skype for Business deployments
        • Exchange Server hybrid requires MFA Server, read more here
        • For best Azure MFA result an Online only deployment is recommended
      • ADFS is best for larger organizations
      • More complex and requires proxy servers in DMZ with public IP and Certificate
      • Requires loadbalancer for high-availability
      • Is required when doing MFA with Smart Card, 3rd party tokens and certificate based authentication
      • Read more here
  • You can now use Microsoft Intune to control MFA options and turn of MFA for certain subnets and conditions, read more here
  • Read about conditional access, MFA with Intune Hybrid and SCCM
  • Use Azure AD Premium with automated password roll-over for business social media profiles protected by a MFA enabled identity with centrally controlled delegation, read more here

mfastalehansen

Virtual Class on getting structured with OneNote

Ståle Hansen Leave a comment

onenotevclassicopngThis fall I have written several articles on how to get structured with OneNote using custom tags and creating lists that you can use when you want to jump-start those focused worksprints. Based on my experience I have created a virtual training class with labs that where I want to share my techniques and help you get started organizing your tasks, information and digitizing your capture of content and braindumps in to your OneNote. By using one place to gather all tasks, even from Outlook, you know you always have a finite list of tasks that needs to get done. Then and only then you are ready to prioritize you next task you want to complete.

The virtual class will run on January 5th and will use Microsoft Teams from an Office 365 tenant created for the class where we will share all documentation and content with live video for and interactive experience. Check it out and register today at Eventbrite