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Wednesday, December 03, 2003
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In the This 'n That article on [Reforming Project Management] I saw a link to Project e-Tip.
Here are the two tips I enjoyed the most:
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5 - Speak Customer Value with your Team
Get clear about what is of value to your client in the work you are doing this week (and every week hereafter). Find some way to speak about this in your everyday-walking-around conversations. Customer value provides both the context for the work and the guidance when making choices. Don't let your team operate without it.
Keys for Value-Focussed Action:
- Speak about value from the client's perspective.
- Examine everything you do with the question, How does this add value for the client?
- Find and eliminate the sources of waste.
18 - Never confuse efforts with Results
The concept of "we're working" hard toward the goal is not to be confused with the delivery of the outcome. This is a common mistake in the software development domain (and throughout the project world). One simple way out of this dilemma is to have "testable" outcomes that results in 0% or 100% credit for being complete. If the A-6 of VA-145 was in flyable condition then the maintenance crew got the credit. If not, then no credit.
Defining what "done" means or what "complete" means BEFORE starting the work is the simple way of avoiding the confusion between effort and results.
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It's so easy to get caught up in our day-to-day ordeals and lose focus of the end result and how that end-result helps our customers.
9:37:52 PM 
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Weakness, or misaligned strength?. - An article from [The Occupational Adventure (sm) Blog].
So often, I see people get down on themselves for weaknesses they don't really have. They try to shove their natural talents and inclinations into a box, and when the curves and bumps of their natural shape are at odds with the shape of the box, they say, "Oh, why can't I be more box-like," and call it a weakness.
Often, it's not really a weakness - it's what I call a "misaligned strength."
I'm going to use that in my next review. ;)
5:54:35 PM
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Suzanne Gordon. "To be alone is to be different, to be different is to be alone."
Oh...that's how I ended up here.
2:18:28 PM
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Dilbert for 03 Dec 2003.  [Dilbert]
I'm in a laugh-y mood today so my readers get some comics. I love that last line. I'm a "cut now, measure later" type too most of the time.
2:13:47 PM
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Sleepy, but had to catch up while I had a chance. So...lots of straight postings. I'm back, over my stomach bug and should be posting a little "better" soon. :)
12:42:12 AM
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Retro-feel travel accessories. Flight 001 is a chi-chi luggage-and-travel-accessory boutique, with retro-style Pan-Am-logo bags and such. I'm particularily fond of the airline-safety-card-print wallets, passport-sleeves and etc. Link
[Boing Boing Blog]
12:40:49 AM
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Booker T. Washington. "There are two ways of exerting one's strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up."
12:35:26 AM
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Techie Xmas list. Dan Gillmor's put together a list of geeky Xmas prezzies that I quite like:
Inexpensive:
# Free software. OK, almost nothing is truly free. But free open-source software comes pretty close. I'm running the Mozilla Firebird Web browser on my everyday personal computer, for example. It's fast, capable and reliable. Isn't that enough these days?
On the Web, meanwhile, are vast numbers of excellent utilities such as the Google Toolbar, which works only with Windows and recent versions of Internet Explorer.
# USB plug-ins. Once entrepreneurs glommed onto the fact that USB ports on computers offer elecrical power in addition to data connectivity, they came up with a raft of cool stuff.
I use the Zip-LINQ retractable cables from Keyspan to charge my phone and make connections with several other devices. They cost $15 to $25 or so, but mean fewer power bricks to lug around. A colleague at Hong Kong University, where I'm teaching part time this month, also just brought to work a USB cable that connects to a sleeve you slide around your coffee cup. I haven't been able to discover if anyone in the U.S. is selling NewMotion's $6 "Cup Warmer" (but I'm planning to bring several home).
Link [Boing Boing Blog]
Note to self for all my techie friends. :)
12:30:56 AM
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Kelly's Catalog of the Cool. A former editor of the Whole Earth Catalog can't shake his habit of recommending stuff to people. Kevin Kelly's addiction feeds an eclectic website devoted to tools he and his friends like. A Q & #038;A by Leander Kahney. [Wired News
Kelly has some cool recommendations. I want one of those bikes...
12:30:10 AM
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I got the below article from [Reforming Project Management]. I love the 7-steps. To be more understanding and thinking...
Better Workplace Now.
I don't do this very often but I have to showcase one man's work and his calling: Better Workplace Now™. Tom Terez has set out to create better workplaces. This doesn't appear to be altruistic. Tom's writing indicates a pragmatism rather than idealism. Tom is a story-teller. He's well-equipped with an MBA and a degree in journalism. But he's not just a story-teller. I get the impression he lives the lessons of his stories.
I came to find Tom by way of Alan Mossman, a friend and colleague from the UK who is working with Greg Howell this week delivering a workshop in Atlanta on implementing a lean approach on your projects. Alan picked up the story from one of his friends, Geof Cox who reprinted the article in New Directions, also in the UK. (I love how small a world it is!) Alan is a regular reader and frequent commentor of this weblog.
What got both of our attention is the story of an elementary school principal in Ohio. I'll let you read the story. It's well-worth your time. Go to Lessons from a Principled Leader. In a sidebar, Tom describes 7 action steps for being present to your situation. I've excerpted them here.
- Reserve some quiet time for yourself each day. Listen to the inner dialogue.
- Walk around, observe, ask questions. Be among the people who do the work.
- Expect to see fascinating things. Then tell stories about what you've seen.
- Don't dismiss the "small" stuff. What you think isn't important may be very important to someone else.
- Remember that all organizations, no matter how bad they appear in the moment, have things that are working. A well-framed question or prompt can lead people to acknowledge and honor what currently works.
- Recognize that even negative people are trying to say something positive. If someone complains about dull meetings, what they're saying is that they want better meetings where they can communicate and engage with colleagues.
- Strive to live by the 95% Rule: Spend 95% of your time trying to understand and just 5% of your time making judgments.
Tom could have told a story about project managers and used the same 7 action steps. Try them on for a week or two. I bet it makes a big difference in your effectiveness and enjoyment.
There's plenty more at Better Workplace Now™. Have a look and get a bronze key while you are there.
12:19:05 AM
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© Copyright 2005 Rebecca Schwoch.
Last update: 2/8/2005; 2:15:04 PM.
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