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AUTM 2023 in Austin TX was a celebration of renewed personal connections for tech transfer - and a sobering reminder of post pandemic reality. I was struck by the number of people I knew who had changed roles, organizations or both.  In fact, there was an entire session on The Great Resignation and its effects on tech transfer organizations.

All of the panelists agreed that it was harder to recruit and retain staff. And while each organization had its own response to these challenges, all agreed that reduced staffing led to increased bottlenecks and reduced ability to serve all stakeholders - including internal stakeholders such as professors, as well as external stakeholders such as companies who were interested in licensing their organization’s IP.

So - fewer people, more work. What can be done to increase productivity without burnout?

One session that I would like to have attended, but wasn’t on this year’s agenda, is best practices for leveraging innovative tools to boost productivity and streamline processes. There are many such tools available today, from AI-driven data analytics to project management platforms. I use many different types of these tools daily in my own work. They are super useful for maximizing efficiency without overwork. Plus by fostering an environment ripe for increased innovation and collaboration, they can support success in an increasingly distributed post-resignation world.

In fact I started an entire LinkedIn newsletter, Tech Transfer Today, to address these issues - and more! Check it out and let me know what you think.

What productivity tools can do is supercharge your daily work by making it more efficient and organized. They can also help you connect with colleagues, whether remote or in-office. These tools can also help with teamwork and collaboration. 

What productivity tools can’t do is fix a broken process. No matter how many to-do lists, project management platforms, or time trackers we use, they won't magically make our work processes efficient if they're fundamentally flawed.

When faced with a broken work process, we all have to step back and take a good, hard look at the way we do things. I can tell you that I had to go through this process with my own team. Two big steps were identifying bottlenecks, and streamlining communication. Only after our own team had done that work could our productivity tools really shine, giving us the boost that our team needed to work smarter and get more done. We all need to involve our own teams in this process, because everyone's input helps to create a more effective workflow. 

What challenges are you facing - and what would you like to have help with? What do you think I should cover in the next article? Contact me and let me know!

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