The Secret Weapon

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Pete

I’ve been owing you guys a review of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven R. Covey for a while, now. Unfortunately for you, or fortunately – for me, the serendipitous order of my last few posts has lead me down a rabbit hole of learning to be effective, efficient and free of stress. All of this coincided with the start of biking weather and the windy season which pulled me outside more often than not. Now, you’re about to benefit from my readings and my learnings along the way. There were several dozen good take-aways from 7-Habits. I highly recommend that you read it. I’m not going to review it because there are literally thousands of good reviews out there. I’ve tried to find a way for others to read my highlights from the Kindle edition of the book without success. Some of the most valuable things that I took from 7-Habits were related to “putting first things first” and working in Quadrant II – Important but NOT Urgent things.

Anyway, after reading 7-Habits, and while I was trying to put the lessons learned into practice, I posted about the things that I would do to improve Outlook. One of those things was to allow hash tags that were searchable/categorizable. That lead me to an unsuccessful search for an outlook plug-in that would allow you to add tags to an email or accomplish any of the other things that I thought would be awesome for Microsoft Outlook. That search led me to The Secret Weapon. I’ll link that below… I don’t want you distracted just yet. The Secret Weapon allows you to set up and use the system called Getting Things Done in a 21st century way. Getting Things Done is a book by David Allen. I’d heard of it and even played around with the system when I first started using XMind. However, I’d not read the book. So, having stumbled across this system twice in 3 months and seeing how well it worked in XMind without having read the book, I decided it was about time to get the book and read it.

Getting Things Done is an easy read. It’s a considerably longer than it needs to be and it is clear that it was written before smart phones and PCs were ubiquitous, but the tips and tools he offers are really effective. I got everything that I need from the first 150 pages of the 250+ page book. The rest if really unnecessary when you apply the GTD system with The Secret Weapon.

I seriously suggest that you read the first 150 pages of Getting Things Done by David Allen. Check it out from the library. Don’t bother buying it. Hell, borrow it from me if you live nearby.
Download and read The Secret Weapon.
Download Evernote. Download Evernote for home and for work and for wherever else you have a computer.
Download Evernote for your smart phone. They have versions for all of the popular platforms.

Now, I have my entire life’s outstanding action items in one place – not floating around in the back of my mind. No need to try to remember those little nagging chores that you keep meaning to do. No more forgotten items at the store. Project management is a breeze with this system. I’ve even devised a notebook and note title system that I can use as a calendar so that my day’s required items and meetings don’t get lost in the shuffle. I now have nearly 100 different tags that are easily managed and organized by nesting and following a naming convention that works well.

My only wish now is that Evernote was an email client. If I didn’t have to move things back/forth between email and Evernote, my system would be seamless.

If you do decide to implement this system and you’d like to set up a calendar notebook, here’s what I did.
Create a notebook called Calendar
When you have items that are date specific that you need to remember or be reminded of something on a particular date, then begin the name of the note with the date in the format [YYYYMMDD HH:mm]. So, for example, if you need to be reminded that on June 5th at noon you have a Dr. appt, you might name the new note “20120605 12:00 Go to Dr Bob’s” Then, you can sort the notebook by title rather than by date created. Check that folder daily for things that you need to know today or in the coming days.

Let me know if you set this up for yourself and share tags that you think are keys to your own success with the system.

4 Guys And A Roof LLC

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Pete

Replacing a roof isn’t something the average family does several times. A roof lasts a good long time. As such, when you’re in the position of having to spend enough money to buy a decent used car on something that will affect 1) your home’s energy efficiency, 2) your home’s appearance, 3) your home’s value, 4) your own peace of mind, you want to use a company that you can trust to do a good job. How you find that company can vary greatly. For many purchases of these types, people rely on the word of mouth from friends who have had to make similar purchases. This is that word of mouth.

If you need a new roof now, or you may need a roof soon, I strongly recommend that you give a call to 4 Guys And A Roof LLC.

Here’s a synopsis of my experience with them.
When I called to request a quote for my roof, I got sent to voicemail. I left my name and number and requested a call back. Within 1/2 a day, Jamie returned my call. I explained that my home’s roof needed to be replaced and that I’d like to get an estimate. The very next afternoon, Jamie went to my house during regular work hours – I was not required to be there, but he offered to do it as an appointment – and examined my roof. When he was finished, he left a very professional packet between my doors which included shingle options (I never knew there were so many) and the estimate for the work to be performed. The quote included a detailed breakdown of work that I never imagined went into replacing a roof like replacing the drip edge, installing vents, using ice guard sweeping the yard with a magnet, and who, exactly, is responsible for sweeping up after the hauling company removes the dumpster.

The quoted price from 4 Guys And A Roof was the most detailed and accurate of the quotes that I received. And, to top it off, they were cheaper than the competition. Because of Jamie’s knowledge of the types of roofs in the area and the history of how roofs were applied over the span of more than 100 years, he was able to identify my roof for exactly what it was and what would be required to replace it. The other estimates that I received completely missed the mark in this regard. On the afternoon before the work was performed, Jamie made one more visit to my home to show me the color options and discuss what would look good with my home’s current and future colors. He also explained and demonstrated how the other roofing companies misidentified the work to be performed in their estimates.

I left for work at 6:45 on the day the roof was installed and I returned at 4:30. The only evidence that they had been there was a brand spanking new roof on top of my house, leaf-rake marks on my lawn, and a small pile of debris (smaller than a dustpan full) on the driveway where the dumpster had been. There were no little corner pieces of roofing laying around. There was nothing in or under my bushes that would indicate that anyone had ripped off my old roof and filled a dumpster with it. There were no nails in my driveway. There were no marks on the rain gutters from ladders. Just a pretty new roof.

Knowledgeable
Accurate
Friendly
Professional
Accurate
Timely
Affordable
Accountable

These are the words I would use to describe 4 Guys And A Roof LLC.

Ways that I would improve Outlook

Posted on March 18, 2012 by Pete

Within MS Outlook, it seems that the electronic age has limited our abilities compared to what we had in the pre-computer era. Before the days of email, memos could be filed in folders of different colors, and we could add post-it notes or little notes in the margin to help with filing and adding context to the email. Further, our carbon copies were color coded to add some information about the purpose of the CC.

Here are my top three ways that we could improve productivity and make email communication more efficient, and effective by taking a step backwards in time.
1) Allow people to choose the color of or image representing each folder in the folder tree on the left. (colored file folders have been around for decades)

Doing this will give people the ability to associate people/places/things with the contents of the emails contained within. For example, if one were organizing a whitewater rafting trip with one’s friends, one might use a picture of a raft instead of a manila folder. Or, what about using color coding to indicate urgency of the emails within? For example, you could have a red folder for important/urgent emails that need action and a yellow folder for less important/urgent things.

2) Allow hash tagging (put a sticky note on a memo before you file it)

Speed up searching and categorizing of emails by allowing the sender AND the receiver to apply a hash tag to each of the emails. Hash tags added to the body of the email should travel with the email. Hash tags added elsewhere (by individual users) should only be associated with that particular email and should not travel with the email. Also, allow us to set up rules based on those hash tags.

3) Add custom address fields (color code the carbon copies)

To: and CC: are the only options we have? Really? Carbon Copy is the extend of our capabilities? We can’t even add color coding to the carbon copies – like Pink copy goes to shipping, or yellow goes to billing dept? Imagine how much easier it would be to manage the incredible volume of email that a typical manager gets if there were more than just To and CC. Imagine how much more productive we could be if we weren’t spending hours and hours every week reading emails that were intended for someone else, but we were copied on because… well… who knows why. Here are just some suggestions for optional addressing fields:
To:
CC:
FYI:
Action Required (AR):
Response Required (RR):
Input Appreciated (IA):
Feedback needed (FN):
CYA:
Looping You In (LYI):

Then, your email to the project manager could look like this…

To: Cindy ProjectManager
CC: Tom ProjectManagerAssistant
FYI: Bill MyBoss; EmailGroupFromMeetingInvite
IA: Dave FinanceDirector
AR: Cindy ProjectManager
FN: Alan ComputerProgrammer; Steve WebDeveloper
Subject: ProjectName – Let’s talk about something

Cindy,
I think we should have a separate conference call to discuss the topics that came up in today’s weekly meeting. I think Alan and Steve might have some good ideas on how we might overcome any obstacles. Specifically, they can speak directly to the web site’s current capabilities and any security issues. We’ll have to keep the budget in mind though! This one is getting close to the target cost already. I know Dave was keeping an eye on this one.

Please provide a detailed list of enhancements that you’d like to see and schedule a meeting.

Sincerely Yours,
Pete ReallyGreatManager

#ProjectName #BillingNo00123456 #WeeklyMeeting #NewIdeas #SecurityIssues #WebDevelopment #InterfaceDesign #UserExperience #FutureDevelopments

Then, everyone can have rules set up to give the email the appropriate amount of attention. Since Bill was only in the FYI Line, he probably won’t need to read it and he can just file it away. Ditto that for everyone else on the original meeting invite group. Later, if he needs to get up to speed, the email is available to him but it hasn’t taken up any of his time before then.
Dave can review the project’s remaining budget and comment if he thinks he should.
Alan and Steve know that they need to reply with some meaningful feedback.
Tom knows that he probably needs this information at the same level as Cindy, but isn’t officially accountable for it (unless Cindy says so of course).
Cindy knows that her action is required on this.

Everyone can file this away in the folder color/style of their choosing.
Each can add their own private has tag to it and save it away with those tags.

E-Books – We’re not quite there (yet)

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Pete

Do E-Books impair memory?

I’ve found this to be the case. I certainly prefer paper books when doing any studying. There are a lot of things lacking in E-Books today. Eventually, I suspect we’ll get there. We’re just not there, today. I think that we need some kind of contextual sign posts along the way. E-Books need something more than just chapters and sections.

As I have done quite a bit of business reading since graduation in December, I’ve noticed that many of these books follow a predictable pattern in their layout. They make a point. They explain the point. They relate a story or two to drive home the point. It occurred to me that if we could have each of those sections color coded and have the ability to rearrange them within a section/chapter we could accommodate many more learning styles. (Forgive me if I don’t use the correct terminology here, but I use the words I know.) Some people need to have the linear/analytic point of view first. Others would prefer to have the personal story portion first so that they can feel the emotion and want the solution before it’s provided. Some people don’t need the explanation; they just want the idea and the story. Others could do without the story entirely. Sometimes, one personal story driving home the point is enough and you could skip the second one offered by the author; other times, you need more than one.

If a book could be rearranged or color coded allowing the reader to get at that which he/she needs most in the order that it’s needed to accommodate the reader’s learning style, E-Books could be so much more effective.

Additionally, visual queues could be added behind the words so that we could “map” the book better in our mind. If we know that all of the points in a book related to a particular topic are watermarked with a circle, or a triangle or some other meaningful shape (related to the topic) and we could make those shapes searchable, we could improve the usability and effectiveness of E-Books for all users.

Cognitive Surplus revisited

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Pete

This is exactly the kind of thing that could have been inspired by Cognitive Surplus. These kinds of projects are simple, easy to implement, have a gamification element to them, become viral and, most important, THEY WORK. I wish that book weren’t so painful to read and written backwards. It could have had a major impact on us.

Any way, check out the TED talk after the link. Let me know what you think. Could it work where you live? What can you do to get it rolling? Do you have the technological background to initiate the creation of an app? Do you think you could rally the troops and gather the resources to get a project started in your community? Think about what needs to be done in your neighborhood. What could you do about it with a little bit of technology?

Jennifer Pahlka: Coding a better government

Here are some ideas – some with similar/example aps:
Getting government the information they need, because some things shouldbe left to govt.

Alert your town to existing pot-holes: Example
Alert your town to just about ANY needed city service: My Council Services
Alert your police department of non-emergency things like abandoned cars.

Getting your neighbors involved:
An app…

…for block watch organizations to log suspicious activity.
…that allows you to earn points for picking up litter in your neighborhood.
…that encourages people to adopt a vacant building’s yard maintenance.

The Success or (likely) Failure of Windows 8

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Pete

My friend Trent posted this article on Google+.

Five Reasons Why Windows 8 Will Be DOA

So many large companies behave like Microsoft that it’s almost difficult to be disappointed by the list of things wrong with the Windows 8 OS. For example, it was the lack of evolved and well-thought-out development tools that buried the Wii – because programming for the Wii is expensive and difficult. Or… Why does the iPhone have so many more titles/apps (that’s applications for old schoolers or “programs” for the informed) than the Android market? Because, with the iPhone, you only have to program it once. If you can get it to work on THE iPhone, then there’s nothing else to account for. With the Android market, you have to worry about n different phones with n different screen sizes and so many different versions of Android still floating around out there with Bob only knows how much carrier-specific bloat-ware on those phones. Sure, you have to get it approved by the Apple people and they can yank it at their heart’s desire and it can cost you lots to get it approve, but you only have one version to write, one version to fix, one version to upgrade. This, by the way, is why Google purchased Motorola Mobility.

Windows 8 does NOTHING to address that from a developer standpoint. There will still be machines out there running Windows ME (I just threw up in my mouth a little) that have to be addressed. Or, at least the architecture they’re running on must be addressed. Then, there’s the different input devices that your app/application/program will have to account for. Will it be running on a tablet, or a pc (x86 or 64bit?) or will it be running on a phone (which phone?) Or, worse yet, will it be on any/all of these?

While the Apple model is restrictive and cumbersome, I think they may have just gotten this whole picture right – perhaps without even knowing it. They have control of the devices. They have control of the OS. They have control of the applications that get approved. They have the final say on who provides service (cell carriers) for their devices. From a provide for the lowest-common-denominator perspective, they may have hit the bull’s eye. My 14 year old daughter and my 75 year old father would be equally comfortable running any one (or all) of their devices. I don’t think I could say the same about Windows.

For power users, there’s Linux/Unix. We’ll always have command line level control of everything we do in the hard-core/power-user operating systems. Microsoft doesn’t play in that arena any more, any way. Have you tried to do anything in Windows 7 that didn’t offer/require a wizard? Even the most simple things are made wizard-enabled with Windows 7. I suspect that Windows 8 will take that one step further and require that you use a wizard to figure out which wizard you need to change that user preference which, in the end, will be a one-line change to a config file that we used to be able to edit in notepad.

I hope, in the battle between operating systems, the browser wins the day. Most things that end-users do on a computer today can be done through the browser. Even those things that require heavy back-end programming can get by with a web interface quite nicely. For everything else… command line will win the day. Get out your pocket-protectors, geeks… we will win in the end.

Cognitive Surplus

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Pete

Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirky
This book was recommended by Kantar CEO Eric Salama in a corporate email from September(ish) of 2011.
It took me forever to get through. The ramblings of this author seem to run the gamut. It wasn’t until chapter 7 that he seemed to try to tie any of it together. Had the book been written in a different order, I probably would have been more into it and it would have made more sense.

This book had the potential to be inspirational and world-changing as he points out all the potential good that could be done if we would come together as a society and use social media for more than cats with funny captions. He points out some fantastic examples and talks about how they came to be, why they survive and what makes them truly special. I wish I would have taken notes as I read this book because it would make it easier to write this review. Unfortunately, I did not. I’m not going to go back and re-read it in order to assemble this review, either. You can’t make me. I don’t want to.

If you are aware of sites like donorschoose.org and ted.com then you’re aware of the positive potential of society when we act together. If you’re older than 30, then you’re aware of how the internet grew to be what it is today. If you’re a geek, like me, then you’re familiar with how we went from AOL to individual web pages to geo-cities to myspace and then to facebook. We clearly don’t know what’s in store for the future and we can’t predict how people will use technology and thankfully, Mr. Shirky doesn’t make any attempts to predict what might be on the horizon.

If, on the other hand, you’re not familiar with man’s ability to create a greater good and you think that the best the internet has to offer is /b/tards (oh, wait… you probably don’t get the 4chan reference) then you’re likely to get something out of this book. If you’re under 30 or over 70, then you may learn something from reading this book.

There weren’t any take-aways in this book that I could apply to my daily life.
There weren’t any inspirational quotes that I could pull from it.
There weren’t business practices that will make me a better leader.
There were no dog-eared pages when I finished.
There were no markings in the margins.
There were no highlights.
I never sent an email to my friends telling them they needed to pick up this book… now.
About the only take-away from this book is: Next time, take notes as you read that way you can do a proper job ripping a book you don’t like.

The simple fact of the matter is, this book bored me.

Empowered

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Pete

Empowered by Josh Bernoff and Ted Schadler is a great book.

The book starts out by answering the question “Why?” Then, they go on to answer “What?” Finally, they give detail what’s possible when you’ve empowered HEROS in your organization.

Why? Why do you need empowered employees? The story of Dooce and Maytag or David vs. United (United breaks guitars) are just two examples of why you need empowered employees. The old days of having very few people with the ability to influence a large audience are long gone. Just about anyone who has reached the end of their rope has the ability to influence the masses. Doubt that? Check out the reviews on Amazon.com. Sure, some of those are professionally written, paid-for reviews. Most, however, are just written by your average consumer who was either so pleased with a product that they had to tell someone, or they were so disappointed that they had to voice their frustrations to as many people as possible.

Real world example that came up as I was reading this:
Papa John’s Example

What? What is an empowered employee? The short answer is that they’re customer focused and motivated to find or create the tools that they need to make the customer happy. The empowered employee isn’t locked down by rules and regulations. No; instead, they’re likely to be the ones out there bending the rules trying to find ways to gather the tools they need or access those web sites that are blocked by the company’s firewall. They’re using their own tools and their own personal technology (cell phone/tablet/laptop) gadgets etc to get the job done. In an empowered workplace, these employees are supported by IT and management. They help to shape the tools, processes and ways that employees interact with the customer and client.

This book made me realize just how handcuffed I am at work and I’m a HERO! Hell, my department’s mission is to build the tools needed by HERO employees. From a typical employee standpoint, I have access to tons more tools and resources than the average employee at my company because I’m one of the few who have admin rights on my pc and I have the know-how to get around blocked web sites. They must feel completely hamstrung. I can’t even imagine how frustrating it must be.

I recently said (several times) – in regards to a multi-million-dollar project for which I manage the online data collection, “Imagine how cool this project could be today if they’d have given me free reign to implement my ideas on this project over the past 4 years.” Instead, I’m unable to serve the customer (survey taker) or improve the quality of the product that the client is paying for. It’s frustrating.

Since I’m in IT and I’m a HERO (by this book’s definition) I have the greatest opportunity to make a significant impact. I’m going to do just that. This company needs to be shaken and if that shaking has to come from the bottom up, then that’s what I’ll do. The book goes a long way to pointing me in the right direction as to how I can make a difference and implement change and create an environment that empowers each HERO in the organization. My next step is to open the eyes of those who hold the keys that have everyone locked down. I’ll do that.

If you are an IT manager at a company that locks down employees laptops and restricts web sites, you need this book.
If you’re a manager at a company that locks down employees laptops and restricts web sites, you need this book.
If you’re an executive at a company that locks down employees laptops and restricts web sites, you need this book.
If you’re an excitable employee who’s constantly looking for ways to improve the customer experience and you’ve had a hard time getting management to listen to you, you need this book.
If you’re someone concerned with the direction of your company and you’re watching missed opportunities to make social media work on the company’s behalf you need this book.

Creating better habits

Posted on January 16, 2012 by Pete

Today’s readings led me down a slightly different rabbit hole. I’ve found 2 new feeds to which I’m now subscribed and a new (to me) Ted-like YouTube feed that I’ll try to follow – though, admittedly, I prefer to read.

In light of this Lifehacker article about the Pomodoro Technique, I’ve found a new YouTube channel to follow. I’m going to give the Pomodoro Technique a try this week as part of an attempt to create good habits consciously. Oh, yeah… check out this on that topic.

To get me started, I’ve downloaded the Android App, PomLife Lite.

I really like the idea behind the Pomodoro Technique and how it can be applied to my work environment. My department does agile programming and many of the projects require us to become intimately familiar with large projects in short order. A targeted, focused approach such as that advocated by Pomodoro is perfect for our department. Further, I’ve been wanting to try a modified version of the scrum technique in my programming efforts and this fits well with what I have in mind.

I’ll keep notes as to my thoughts on the Pomodoro technique and post them in the comments section, here. stay tuned.

The Power of Who

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Pete

The Power of Who was a quick read. I think it took me about 4 hours to read it. There are some nice parallels between Good to Great (GtG) and The Power of Who.

They both talk about the importance of “Who”. With GtG, it was about ‘who’ is on the bus and getting the right people on the bus. In TPoW, it’s about who you already know – as suggested by the title – and how you can tap those resources.

The hedgehog strategy is detailed in GtG and mentioned in a round-about way in TPoW. I think the hedgehog strategy is as good of a strategy for your own personal development as it is for a business. In short, the hedgehog strategy is to reduce the noise around you by figuring out what you’re passionate about, what you can be the best in the world at, and where your money comes from. The intersection of those three things is where you should put your efforts.

The author of TPoW doesn’t give enough credit to the quality of the people in his inner circles. As an executive recruiter for 29 years, he has amassed quite a list of A-List individuals in his circles. That leads to a lot of his successes. He makes mention of this once, near the end of the book. However, as I mentioned, he doesn’t give it much weight.

The book also makes mention of the need to nurture your relationships – not just everybody that you come in contact with, but the important people in your inner circles… friends, acquaintances.
If you’re taking the Eat Like a Bird/Sh*t Like an Elephant approach to absorbing things about how to move your career forward – this is worth picking up at the library. It’s a quick read and easy. There are some motivational ideas within, and overall, I came away with a bright outlook on how I can make the most out of the people around me.

Pete Hustwayte

Pete Hustwayte's ongoing web content

Category Archives: Business