Workplace Engineering

Been having a discussion this week with a couple of Certified Project Managers about the difference between Project Management and successfully managing projects. One of my biggest frustrations is the idea that following the PMBOK will result in a successful project outcome.

Project Management is an academic and professional discipline with a set of specific tools. Being knowledgeable and certified will not necessarily result in a well managed project. People that manage projects effectively understand that at its core success requires:

- A start and a finish,

- Setting Objectives,

- Organizing,

- Motivating and Communicating,

- Measuring and

- Developing People

Managing a project successfully requires understanding the first bullet and fulfilling the remaining ones effectively and efficiently. Project Management tools and techniques can be used, but the most sophisticated work-breakdown structure or GANT chart only has value when completed in the pursuit of Drucker’s roles of management.

Another sad demographic and economic trend reported in the WSJ.

Today, more and more children are being raised by their grandparents. These grandparents provide a crucial safety net, allowing children whose parents can’t provide for them to remain in families, instead of winding up as wards of the state. But as the recession hits “grandfamilies,” that safety net is under stress.

Delivered this to the Chicago Corenet Chapter, March 2009. Still needs a lot of work, but the audience was very kind.

THE DOLLARS AND SENSE OF CHANGE. from Burnett Communications on Vimeo.

What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I bought the audio book and think I need to by it in print too. The whole idea of turning your business/organization/industry into a platform is incredibly compelling. Kind of wish I’d read it before starting my business.


View all my reviews.

I’ve been missing my Fracking Friday routine now that Battlestar Galactica is finished. Clearly Robert Strohmeyer is missing it too:

10 Business Lessons From ‘Battlestar Galactica’ - Business Center - PC World

Of Strohmeyer’s 10 lessons from BG, this one resonated the most with me:

“3. Some things can’t be outsourced.
Pretty much every terrible event that befalls humanity in Galactica is the direct result of an overzealous push toward outsourcing human labor to robots. The business lesson here is clear: While outsourcing may save short-term costs, outsourcing the wrong jobs can ultimately destroy your business, the economy, or your species.”

One of the tenets I’ve followed during a career of working in heavily outsourced environments is that you can’t outsource your problems either. The twelve colonies were pretty fractured and instead of tackling the issues befalling their society they outsourced the labor instead.

This is one of the great risks of outsourcing generally. Once you’ve outsourced it you’ve to a large extent hidden it too. If your processes don’t work and your teams are dysfunctional it won’t be any better after you’ve ceded control and it will be a whole lot more difficult to get inside and solve them before like the Cylons, those broken systems come back with vengeance.

Of course you can do something about it. If you are going to outsource, make sure you understand what you are outsourcing and the full context. If you can, solve your problems before you outsource. If you can’t, at least tell the outsource partner and make them a part of the solution.

(Via: Guy Kawasaki)

I just cannot stop watching this video. What an incredible vision from Microsoft. This is the kind of future I want.

Vasectomies Are Up, Lasik Is Down - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com: ”

Daniel Hamermesh reports that Lasik is down and vasectomies are up.

“Clearly, Lasik, which is not reimbursed by most insurance plans, is postponable in times when incomes drop; at least in the short run, it is a luxury good. Other medical procedures may even be inferior goods in the short run. A recent report on NBC noted that there has been a recent rise in vasectomies”

Ken Robinson, the educationalist, creativity expert and one of the funniest orators I have seen gave a talk on his new book The Element at the Dallas Museum of Arts to a packed audience.

I managed to get a copy of his book signed by the man himself after an hour and a half learning about people that have found the point at which natural talent meets personal passion. From math geniuses to gymnasts, from gardeners to concert pianists turned book editors, Sir Ken gave example after example of individuals that found purpose in their lives and are clearly better for it.

One of his claims to fame is a video on the TED website that has been downloaded over 4 million times. He’s not letting it go to his head, especially as a 90 second video of two kittens was downloaded 18 million times on YouTube.

Sir Ken’s own story is as inspiring as anything in the book. Born to a large working class family in Liverpool in the 1950’s, Sir Ken was an athletic four-year-old living his father’s vicarious dream of being a future football (soccer) player. He was struck down by polio and spent a year in hospital, followed by many years in special centers. Sir Ken’s parents redirected their son’s focus into education and over many years allowed him to discover his element. Sir Ken has found his element tackling the creativity and human resource crisis of our age and this journey has taken him across the world to his home in Los Angeles and collaborations with politicians, huge corporations and artists such as Paul McCartney.

I can’t say I’m impressed at his choice in soccer teams, Everton, though. C’mon you Red’s.

Any posting with a title like this deserves a wide showing. The advice is compelling too.

From Spectacles, Testicles, Wallet and Watch: Packing for 2009:

“I thought of this list as I was reflecting on how we as leaders should prepare for the obvious challenges 2009 presents. I think it pretty much sums up what we each need to have with us on this great adventure into the unknown.

• Make sure you have the ability to see things clearly. Develop connections with people who will provide you with provocative perspectives and counter-intuitive wisdom. Keep a sharp eye out for faint patterns as they emerge.
• Bring something that grounds you in reality. Know where you are now - ‘what time it is,’ if you will. Face the facts straight-on.
• Pay attention to both cash and credit. In times like this, the over-riding business wisdom is clear: keep cash on hand - and maintain your credit.
• And gather up your determination and courage. Perhaps more than anything, the year ahead promises to be one in which cool heads and clear focus are what’s needed above all else.”

(Via HarvardBusiness.org.)

The biggest “aha!” that I’ve had since starting my own business is how difficult it is to get your message out and to encourage potential customers to buy from you. I used to flatter myself that I was a good communicator and could persuade business leaders to follow my recommendations. Since last summer, I’ve found out that moving from selling to internal corporate customers to selling to real customers is like doing well in the little leagues and then walking out into the Superbowl. It’s enough to make you want to change your pants/trousers!

Here are some of the things I’ve learned:

1 - Great sales professionals deserve HUGE RESPECT! It takes a special kind of person to walk into a room, create rapport, build trust, maintain enthusiasm and have the stamina to eventually close the sale.

2 - A lot of sales professionals are not great. We’ve taken mentoring from a number of sales people along the way. As we’ve learned more, we’ve figured out that most just are not that good. Fortunately, we have one in our back pocket now who is causing the scales to fall from our eyes (you know who you are).

3 - The sales cycle isn’t like running a marathon, it’s like sailing around the world! In a marathon you have some control - train and eat well and put on a decent pair of running shoes and you should get to the finish line at some point. If you are sailing, you need the right training, right clothes, right boat, right equipment, right charts, right crew….and then you put to see, hoping that you’ll make all your checkpoints and get to your destination before you sink.

4 - Selling enterprise software is really hard! First you need to find out if a customer for your software actually exists. If you have an application that runs across organizational boundaries, it is especially difficult to find someone who can make a decision. If you can find someone who can be a champion for you, you are now in a race to get through all of the gates to an order before they move on to bigger and better things.

5 - Software is not a complete product (or at least ours isn’t). After spending six months as a pure software play, realized that we actually need to put food on the table. So, we’ve started to consult. Guess what! Now people are starting to get interested in our product…..provided we consult too.

6 - It’s the benefits, Stupid! I have spent six months extolling the features of our portal only to find out that our possible customers don’t really care. They want to know what our product can actually do for them. Our customers may not be able to calculate ROI is or even give a business school definition, but they have a very healthy understanding of what return on investment actually means.

7 - Focus. Focus. Focus. It is easier to sell a product that does one highly targeted thing well than a complicated the cure for world hunger. We’ve moved from selling a general light-weight online dashboard/scorecard that does everything to a services-vendor KPI reporting tool.

8 - It’s all about the customer. I did a Dale Carnegie course last year. It has taken me around a year of soak time to finally get the idea that it really is about them and not about me.

Big Up Respect to great sales people. I think I’ve at least found where the path to sales success starts now. 2009 is going to be about learning more and actually doing it!