Saturday, July 28, 2007

Wireless I wrote about wireless adoption a couple of days ago. Heard from a few people who voiced the usual opinions about how conservative (should I say ultra conservative?) process engineers are. One person believes that's good. He's not much into change. But throughout the last 40 years there have been engineers who, while still doing good engineering practice, still experimented with new technologies and pushed for process improvements that made their plants better and more competitive. It'll happen in this decade, too. 11:10:14 PM    comment []

Contacts Talk about Scoble as the ultimate contacts guy--you never know when you'll meet interesting automation people. I've told you about how I live in a town of 20,000 that is the county seat of a populous western Ohio county of about 55,000. But... I showed up to teach a Yoga class at the beginning of the month to discover a new student had started while I was in Phoenix and Israel. Talking to her after class discover she's a Chem E student at the University of Missouri, Rolla and an intern at the local Cargill soy bean processing plant. She's also going to Panama and Costa Rica on a medical missionary trip in August. She'd heard about Automation World and even remembered reading it. It's also cool to be reminded of the ideals I had when I was young, and how today's young people are still involved. Then last night I was at the local county fair (yeah, just like the old 40s and 50s movies). My church does a fundraiser by working as ticket takers at all the entrances. It's a big project. I serve as captain of the guard every year on Friday from 3pm to 11pm. Sitting at a gate I see a guy go through with a Mitsubishi shirt on. So I ask--cars or electronics. Electronics, he says. Turns out he lives in Sidney and owns a system integrator company in Dayton. Cool. Another good contact. Maybe he can tell me about some projects. 10:58:52 PM    comment []

Social networking Couple of days ago, I talked about social networking--the digital  style. A couple of Silicon Valley heavyweights, Jason Calacanis and Robert Scoble (and no, I'm linking to them to get links, I'm writing to manufacturing professionals, not Web geeks) have been sparring over the value of these things this weekend. Jason was getting fed up with the time it takes to keep Facebook pages up, while Scoble is the ultimate contacts guy. Of course, Calacanis is trying to build businesses. Scoble talks to people for a living (he does video interviews with Silicon Valley heavyweights for Podtech and calls Facebook his new Rolodex). Might be part of the difference. Of course to us little guys in blogging, looks like they're just competing to see who has the most "friends." I'd like just one ;-)  I just quoted Steve Rubel speculating that Facebook might be the new place where PR pros and journalists meet. Then publisher Rex Hammock (I've got to remember to subscribe to his feed) weighs in with some intelligent thoughts. I'd like to try Facebook, but I already invested some time in LinkedIn and I don't have lots of time to spare. I know a few people on LinkedIn and a couple are automation bloggers. Anyone looking into Facebook? I have started a profile there. If you want to be my friend, click or whatever it is you do. I'll play around with it a little. Maybe it's a place where I can meet up with people who can tell me a story I can write about and share with the rest of you 10:46:40 PM    comment []

a life hack Is your e-mail Inbox out of control? I knew a woman who told me she had almost 1,000 messages in hers. "Sales knows if they want to get me, don't send an e-mail," she told me. Is it any wonder that you're beginning to hear rumblings about the end of e-mail as a communications medium? On the other hand, it is a really efficient communication medium. I couldn't get nearly as much done balancing Automation World with soccer referee assigning, State Referee Committee assignments, a couple of church groups and more without it. But managing e-mail can sap too much time and energy. Enter this Lifehacker tip--a video from zero-inbox guru Merlin Mann. In this video clip taken at a Google meeting, Mann presents his message management ideas. Some of his ideas: Always process your Inbox to zero Make a folder for things you need to think or research before replying (he calls his "To Respond") Think of everything in terms of an action Use only one folder and utilize the Search function to find things He talks of five verbs of Inbox management: Delete (or archive using one archive folder and use Search) Delegate (forward and follow up) Respond (if you can quickly at first look of the message) Defer (he calls his folder "To Respond"--and check it daily) Do He suggests you check e-mail less (something I must learn to do). He calls Lifehacking "the processing habit." I've begun to incorporate his ideas. My inbox was whittled to 28 items this morning. Getting there... Care to share any tips? 3:11:24 PM    comment []