Category: Projects get personal

Just for fun, I’ve posted a picture of a bluebird one of my customers sent me.  This picture was taken with a nest-cam outside one of his birdhouses.  Did you know that baby bluebirds go from hatchling to flying machine in only 18 days!  That’s a model of efficiency!

That’s right!  This bluebird is only 18 days old!  Like a machine, every cell in its body knows whether to contribute to flesh, bone, or feather within three weeks.  And then it’s off.

I want our project management organization to work this efficiently – like a machine.  Ever hear of Intelligent Design?  The theory essencially says that when a thing looks like it was designed, then it was designed.  To me, the bluebird looks like it was designed.  So who was the designer?

Can our projects run like they were designed?  Like a grand plan set forth in seven days and then implemented with flawless execution?  That’s the way I want our products to flow.  Wasting time “figuring things out” slows growth and limits potential.  Instead, let’s model our projects after the bluebird!

Okay, that’s a litte simplistic…  Which one among us is God?  We are flawed beings, and our products and projects reflect our limitations.  But we can still strive for it, can we not?  Flawless project execution…  That’s my new goal.  🙂

–newshirt

Last week CIO Insight reported that IT jobs had reached a record high (four million IT workers), and IT unemployment had fallen (2.3 percent).  That’s phenomenal!  See the link below.

http://www.cioinsight.com/c/a/Workplace/Computer-Jobs-Hit-Record-High/

Okay, great news, but why is IT spending down?  While I have no hard facts, I have my theories.  Bear with my madness while I explain.  Post a comment if you don’t agree!

1. It’s summertime.  IT spending falls when the temperature rises, and rises when it falls.  November, December, and January are traditionally big months.  June and July…  Well, they are another story.  🙁  People are out and about, and they don’t want to worry about buying stuff.  They’re too busy checking out the next vacation spot on the web.  Yikes.

2. Gas prices.  People bring their personal woes to work.  Got trouble filling your tank?  Then you won’t spend money at work either.  What, you say?  There’s no hard connection between the two.  No, but there is an indirect one.  If you’re worried about finances at home, you’ll worry at work as well.

3. Too many salaries.  Or, perhaps spending is down because there are too many mouths to feed.  That’s always a possibility, but I suspect it’s the other two reasons.  We’ve had other times with low unemployment, and high spending.

–ray

The ‘Green Fad’ really bothers me, especially in the IT biz.  CIO Insight had a big article in eWeek on ‘How to estimate energy efficiency.”  The upshot was that a single Intel server consumes 29 KWhs  (that’s 29 kilowatt hours of electricity) per week.  Yikes!  29,000 watts!  That’s a lot, right!!!  That’s what the article wants you to believe.  Until you think about it…

One kilowatt of electricity costs about 7 cents.  29 x .07 = $2.03 per week.  Huh?  Two dollars a week?  That’s all?  So what’s all the fuss about?

Check this out:  http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080624182135AAmXpHF

The article left out this little bit of information.  But it did say that all the data centers in the world consume $2.5 billion per year.  That big number is supposed to scare you.  As if you had to pay the full bill yourself.  You can handle $105 per year, but not $2.5 billion.  What are we going to do???

I say, focus on things that matter.  $2 per week doesn’t matter compared with the thousands of dollars per week we pay for salaries, advertising, operations, shrinkage, etc.  But we like to talk about the ‘cool’ things like ‘Green Initiatives.”  Bunk.

–ray

One of the toughest challenges any business faces is cash flow.  That’s why capital ventures exist, as do loans from banks for solid business plans.

Many business owners will tell you when the chips are down its time to expand!  Ask anyone in real estate from the person just starting out to Donald Trump and they will tell you “when there’s blood in the streets, buy real estate.”

What if you don’t have cash on hand? Have you ever heard of “Gorilla Marketing?”   Remember a few years ago in Boston?  This very type of marketing caused a bad stir, closed down Boston Harbor half a day, all for a little cartoon show.  This happened for the wrong reasons, but it incidentally gave millions of dollars of airtime for what I imagine was a few thousand dollars.

I don’t agree with the scare that campaign inadvertently caused.  However, the point is get creative!  What can you do to expand your company’s profile in a seemingly falling market?  If it’s slow maybe you could streamline processes while you have the time?  Network and make new contacts?  Cold call more people, work older leads?

These are a few suggestions that may not all apply.  But the important idea is to do something to improve your business during slow periods.  Even if it’s a tiny thing that doesn’t cost physical money, it may give you that one percent edge you need on the competition.  We should never stop growing as people in life and business, even in downturns.

–Warren

Something in Bill Gate’s interview has been hanging with me (see quote below).  I suppose he always says this, whether they are making risky bets or not.  And I suppose Microsoft can make risky bets all the time.  They can afford to.

We’re making sure we take some risky bets.

What’s hanging with me is the effect that ricky moves have on small companies.  The first thing to understand is that risk produces reward, just like the Roman poet Virgil said in 19 BC.  “Fortune favors the brave.”  That’s nice to know.  Its a special promise, just for the brave.  Not for the weak and fearful.

But that fortune can take years to realize.  What do you do in the meantime?  After all, you don’t just get brave on isolated occasions, and magically watch the fortunes roll in.  You must stay brave all the time.  So that’s the second thing you should know.  Staying brave is harder than it looks – a lot less glamorous than one might imagine.  And it’s boring.

Yes, boring.  You slog along through thick and thin, excersing your braveness along the way.  Nobody is watching.  Nobody applauding.  You just fight for your vision, and hope you were right.  Only time will tell.

But how do you inject bravado into your project team?  How do you energize them to fight when everyone else says give up?  The answer is simple: be a bright light in a dark world.  People will naturally follow.  No coersion is necessary, just a strong, clear vision.

–ray

Over half (51%) of CIOs and top leaders dislike telecommuting.  See the CIO Insight article below.  If I were asked, I’d favor it… but only under certain circumstances.

http://blogs.cioinsight.com/parallax_view/content/workplace/most_employers_resist_telecommuting_1.html

I’ve telecommuted for the past 15 years, and it has worked great for me.  My next-door neighbor, Dean, is an IT manager, and he works from home three days a week.  With a 100-mile RT commute, that’s no surprise.  Personally, I wouldn’t work fifty miles from my work unless they paid me a lot of money!

But telecommuting doesn’t work for everybody.  Unfortunately, a lot of people suffer from a lack of self-motivation.  I personally don’t, except at about 4 PM on Friday afternoons.  Working from home can be a lonely proposition, especially if your family is away, or if you have no family.  What keeps the motor running?  Why work?  You have to be personally vested in your project team’s success.  You have to love it so much you’ll split rails to get your work done.  In our affluent society, that’s not normally the case.

Another problem: project teams can’t easily meet.  Yes, there’s telephone, email, and GotoMeeting, but are you using those tools?  Does your team meet regularly?  And if so, are you just a laptop screen on a conference room table?  Where’s the group dynamic?

I favor telecommuting when there are solid, measureable heads-down project goals, or when employees are financially vested in the project.

–ray

Sleep happens!  Especially on Mondays…  I recently read that 35% of all respondents to a recent polls admitted to napping on the job.  If I would have taken the poll, what do you think I would have said?

Of course I have!  And the other 65% have too, but they won’t admit it.  I’m not sawing logs all day long, but yes, it happens.

The MSN article below claims we’re sleeping about 2-3 hours less than those before the invention of the electric light bulb.  Duhh.  That’s no surprise.  Every invention has its unintended consequences.

http://health.msn.com/health-topics/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100205002>1=31036

I really feel this has an effect on our projects.  I remember burning the midnight oil during the dot com, while attempting to start a new software company.  I literally worked two back-to-back 8-hour days.  And fought to stay awake every day.

Most people don’t go to that extreme, but they do watch their shows, surf the web, and play video games late into the night.  All because of the humble electric lightbulb.  🙂

–ray