When faced with a decision, young organizations tend to pick the least worst of two options. A better way is to enforce creating a list of a dozen alternatives. That can be done in a couple of hours. The process creates a better definition of the problem and also of the choices. The last choicesRead… Read more »
I read a lot of commenting from open source enthusiasts about the disadvantages of what is not “open,” which frequently gets into philosophical concepts. I don’t derive much value from philosophical working. I work for successful completion. And I use open tools and other tools, often measuring one against the other. There is a differenceRead… Read more »
I was leading a workshop on blogging and had the opportunity to listen to some fans. They had some strong ideas about me that didn’t have much to do with the guy who uses my desk. Then I thought about my teachers, John and Suw and Eric and Marc and Will and realized I haveRead… Read more »
David Sloan Wilson’s Evolution For Everyone is a wonderful, important book on many levels. The book contains the story of a beginning evolutionary biologist’s stories of interesting fieldwork, then becoming an “Evolutionist,” expanding the study of evolution beyond biology, which creates a strain when a new field of study threatens many practitioners of older fieldsRead… Read more »
Google+ offers users an opportunity to create a personal website that is fast, free, and available to anyone on the internet. Fast – Your third attempt and after takes less than ten minutes to make major revisions or start a new site. First and second attempts are about learning the tool. Free – Google+ worksRead… Read more »
…occurs when two or more competitors are frequently matched against one another. When one develops an advantage, the others develop counter moves. The overall result is that the whole group becomes continuously better. Continue this through several generations of improvement and the whole group has a marked advantage over others who started at the sameRead… Read more »
Peter Drucker wrote, “You manage things, you lead people.” I’ve nothing against management. The Army taught me “All computing is logistics.” Of course file cabinets mostly stand there and hold stuff. Took a quiet minute to think about the leadership phrase, “Asses and elbows.” Conjures what I see of someone in a crouch moving forwardRead… Read more »
I met a “professional mentor” last week. He is going to help some deserving senior managers. Not surprisingly, no one is buying. I’ve been treated to some astonishing mentors. In every case they were working full time on their own needs, and I became a lot sharper helping out. I remember when I came homeRead… Read more »
Rick Phillips, owner of Arena Technical Resources and host of the Rick Phillips Open, was looking across his desk fifteen years ago and said, “You have two choices. You either recruit smart or manage hard.” Never seen Rick manage hard. I used that line a half dozen times in the past week. I wonder ifRead… Read more »
One of our clients swears the best thing I ever told him was to make a meeting before a scheduled meeting and make one after. As long as you’re in the building/neighborhood/country plan another stop. That means you need a stop-by rationale, tools, and research. However the meetings that create a favorable result are easyRead… Read more »