Use vision to set the project

Projects are unique, time-bound initiatives.  If we think of opportunities and life as a series of (or one big) projects, then we probably have the right mental model.  Businesses can be seen as projects, but we want to think of them for the long term as well....  Without the short-term project focus, however, we'll fail and have nothing; we'll be talking heads.

Keep a project focus as much as you can but don't forget that the long term plan, strategy, expectations, and culture matter a very great deal to inform and focus of the project now!!

Defer to win sales and do the right things

Spectators along the road.

I'm not a sales person.  I never have been and really don't wan to be.  I want to come into things real and without an agenda; but the truth is that I have one!!!

In a lot of ways I can be compelling and engaging to people and lead them into my direction but I don't want to think of myself as a sales person...but I think I am...I think we all are.

My true self is a a creative technology person (nerd) but I've been learning over the years that selling and influencing decisions is a really key skill.  I'm continuing to try to develop and improve this skill.

I'm currently in a situation where I'm expecting an offer for a job and I want to make sure with the employer that I'm getting a good deal and setting all of the right expectations, protecting myself.  They're trying to sell me their company and this role and I'm trying to sell them myself and my capabilities as a member of their team.  I need to make sure that I'm doing this right and don't want to make any mistakes.  This requires selling.  I think I'm getting better at the language and strategy required to "get what I need" from the other party....this is sales.

Rewind five years ago and I've made some really big sales errors when it comes to employment: I lost a good offer, I've accepted bad offers, etc.  One of the main ways that we as workers encounter sales is in employment.  The employers are selling us to work and we're selling ourselves.

A big part of doing sales right, I think, is deferring action.  By this I mean that instead of "acting now" and jumping on the phone with the person and trying to close them immediately, I need to be slow and thoughtful, and develop a strategy and plan before I act.  I laid awake last night thinking about these issues.  I'm typically a good sleeper but I think I'm giving this issue the proper mental time and energy it actually requires!!

I'm deferring reaching out to the hiring manager until I've had a chance to talk to Jessica about my plan.  She's reasonable and can guide me.  I have a document prepared that I *can* review with the hiring manager but I have to decide if that's the way I'll go.

So I'm currently in deferral mode and waiting for the plan to emerge based on good thoughtful planning and the slow and appropriately-timed inclusion of others into my plan.

Drawing

My mom is an art teacher.  I grew up doing all kinds of art projects and was a really creative kid.  I loved making things but at some point the computer became THE place where I made--almost all--things.  My paper- and physical-material-based project time became greatly reduced.  Over the years I became more and more capable on the computer, creatively speaking, but I became less and less creative in the physical world.

One day I determined that I'd start drawing again and doing things on paper before I produced them on the computer.  I still see the computer as my "medium" and the true tool I use to create quality things...but it's not everything.

It's been a process for me to return to paper-based input methods but I think it's very positive for me, creatively speaking.  The holy grail for me is to start on paper and then be able to "map" that drawing into the computer for whatever purposes.  There's tools out there called graphics tablets that allow the user to draw and have the input go into the computer.  Of course scanners are other methods.  Tracing hand-drawn lines can be done in programs like Adobe Illustrator.

The computer is a really appealing and enticing tool; it can do so much!  But sometimes it hampers the creative process.  Develop a balance here.

"Need to make sure that..."

This is powerful language.  Whether it is me or you doing the thing, this is a command, plain and simple.  I witnessed this language to be in popular use at Microsoft a few years ago but I'm sure it's prevalent out there everywhere.  Do you hear this language regularly?  Where do you hear it?