Who to invoke

It's way more interesting for us to do something than for me to do something.  The collective is a way more interesting voice.  In writing I can choose to write as myself: "I did this, I do that, I think this, I thought that."  I can also choose to write as the collective: "We do this, we do that." or I can write speaking to you directly: "You think that."  I haven't yet figured out which voice or command I prefer.  Does it really matter even?

Bosses failing and who the hell's God anyways?

You don't want your bosses or organization to fail.  It's no good.  Sometimes (always) we're put into organizations where we can't control the outcome.  Arguably, unless we're on top of our organizations, we have almost no control.  We might be able to control our system or process or area but if we're not controlling the whole thing (and what would the whole thing even be?!), the organization (and us with it) might be failing.

Managing context and our situation to the best of our ability is critical and sometimes we have almost no choice but to do this.  We have the option to influence and partner with the people above us but that might not be enough sometimes.  Probably the best thing we can do is to control our own organizations and try to lead more of them.  But even then, there's probably no organization without a context unless that's God.  It's definitely not you or anything you can think of!!

No ends

Pretend that it (and life) never ends.
Because it probably doesn't!!!

Yes, things can end but they also repeat and start again.  We can stop what we're doing for a moment and reflect.  We can pause and digest the world around us.  Our ability to connect with a larger, spiritual power, is easy awesome and probably never ending unless we choose to let it end.  Let's decide to never let it end because that's a lot more fun and interesting.  Be positive all the time.

My audience and what I'm best at. Setting goals.

What I really want to do is to help other people sell.  I want to be a sales and marketing coach.  I want to help people to deliver exactly what they say they will through motivation and the right systems and processes, methods and means.

I feel like I can best accomplish this by working with consulting firms who sell technology because that's what I do and have been doing for so many years.

I'm good at technology and changing organizations and it's what I do best.  I want to help other people and organizations do the same and I want to do it in a very public way.

I can influence other companies to follow my lead and do what I do or what I recommend doing.  I want to lead and coach and influence others through my intelligence and ability to create results and spread the word about the good that I'm doing and the influence that I'm having.

It's probably a tall order but it's what I want to do.

Front-office and back-office folks: and getting to trust

Creating the right perception is tricky and risky.
First you have to know and trust yourself.

Getting to trust with your customers and the public takes a long time and it might even be impossible at the aggregate.

Life and selling are processes; they're complicated.

In life we have to choose between those people we rely on and trust to deliver for us (the back-office people) and those people we choose to sell for us (our sales or front-office people).

I've stated in previous posts today that I need to grow my team of sales people and advocates.  I need personal advocates who can help me sell my value and what I offer.  I also need people to help me deliver what I can deliver, but I think I need fewer of these people.

In all, I need to trust myself before I need to trust others.  But if I can get to a place where I trust myself then I can surely get to a place where I can trust others and hopefully one where others will also trust and advocate me.

Pick your audience: High vs. low volume selling

Be selective with who you're targeting.
Don't expect to have 100% return or acceptance.
Make sure you're backed by people and your logic is on point.

It sure would be great to be able to convince everyone of our ideas.  But we won't.  So don't try.

It sure would be nice to sell very large quantities of things to very large audiences.  But it's hard.

We have to start small and gain confidence and we also need to be able to convince very small sets of people that what we're doing has value.  We need very small sets of people surrounding us who support us in our global endeavors.

Sometimes we might need feedback from very large audiences to know if we're having an impact: we need to get the aggregate score and start stacking points or cash.

Instead of feeling like we have to convince everyone of things or win every battle, we might want to realize that our audience is a niche and is not everyone.

Stop tilting at windmills.   Stop trying to convince everyone of our ways and your intelligence.

Only some people will really get it and get you.  The others don't matter.

To hear, accept, and implement feedback

Don't be deaf to the world around you.

This is hard.  We're all very sensitive by nature to input and feedback but we have to let our guard down and figure out how to act right according to the world.  We have to be willing to accept and listen to feedback but we shouldn't also be total chameleons.  We have to realize what is real and adjust accordingly.  We also have to be willing to say no or to tell people to shut up.  It's a hard process.

Failing happens

No matter how well we plan and try to control the outcomes, things will change and happen that we haven't anticipated and we have to adjust.  Being able to adjust is probably even more critical than being able to plan.

Being really structured and rigorous in our expectations is bad news if it prevents us from reacting when things happen or change.  Don't over-do your planning or over-set your expectations but do have and set expectations.

When your expectations aren't met rapidly go back to planning and adjusting mode and figure out how to respond to the situation at hand.  Blink.  Add this to your mental model for next time and continuously improve always and forever.

There's a pattern to process improvement and it's really confusing

Action and inaction.  Balance.  Really?

All organizations have to improve their processes or they will fail and die.  Organizations will cease to exist if they do not react to and respond to their environment.  Organizations must continue to learn from their experiences and figure out how to act more efficiently and effectively during their next challenge.

Organizations must constantly adjust.  Organizations must also spend time relaxing and contemplating.

Organizations do not always have to be doing things.  For organizations, being idle is entirely fine until it is time for them to act.

Part of the adjustment process for organizations, though, is the contemplation of that change.

Process improvement cannot be total because we must also act, which can be seen as a fault or failure.

As organizations and individuals, we must balance reacting and contemplating.  If we don't we'll die.

How I write blog posts: alphabetically

I use a pretty simple process to write blog posts.
It works for me.  Find your way.

I'd like to share with you the overall method that I use to write blog posts.

I have a technique and a standard.  First, I have to think of the ideas.  For me, that part is really easy but it has taken practice for me to think of what I think will be interesting.  Of course, these ideas can happen at any time so I use Remember the Milk on my smartphone to keep a list of blog post ideas as they come up: when I think of a new idea, I simply record it in my RTM "blog post ideas" list.

When I have the time and interest to write posts, I open up my RTM list and take the one from the top (they're listed in alphabetical order).  I take the top post idea and if I think that it still sounds interesting, I head into my blog application (Blogger) and start writing a post on that topic.

If, during the writing process, I find that the topic is boring or difficult to make a point from, I delete or archive it and move onto the next one.  If, on the other hand, I can make good points from the topic in what I feel to be a semi-compelling way, then I go ahead and keep writing the post.

After I've written the overall post, I go back through the post and read what I've written to make sure that it's interesting and compelling.  Oftentimes, upon re-reading the post, I will completely change the purpose of it to better align with what I'm thinking.  In this way the process is very agile.

After I've written the text that I'm happy with, I go find an image using Google Images and embed it.  I give the image a caption (this is a fairly new practice for me but I enjoy it) that I think is interesting.  I add Labels (tags) to my blog post so that it is more search engine optimized and readjust the title if necessary.  Then I publish it.

I might announce it but sometimes I do not.  For me, blogging is more of a personal and private thing but I like the idea that people might read what I'm writing.

Frankly, I'm still afraid to share my writing with too broad of an audience but I do share it sometimes with all of my FaceBook friends, which is obviously very public.  Most of the feedback that I've had on my blog has been positive but I still don't have that many followers to really know what people think.  I could really use more feedback!  I'd really like to have a much bigger audience, but at the same time it makes it a lot easier and a lot less stressful for me when I think that fewer people are watching.

I hope that you, too, can find a way to write blog posts of your own.  I find it to be a very fun and helpful, introspective process.  Also, I get to learn every single time that I write a post.  With every word.

Why processes?

Sometimes the thing and the thing behind the thing
are equally compelling.

Processes are weird.  I don't even know what they are or understand them.  Merriam-Webster defines process as "something going on".  But so what?  What the heck does that mean?!

We can parse this word a little further and think about what a 'thought process' might be.  It would be something going on in someone's head which makes slightly more sense.  I think therefore I am.  I think therefore I have thought processes or things in my head.  That makes some degree of sense.  But again, so what?

I have argued in the past that a process is 'anything that takes time'.  I'm not sure what this means but I still like the idea.

They say that systems are collections of processes which makes things even more confusing to me. 

Purpose and intention (the reasons behind processes) are far more interesting to me than processes.  But studying processes helps us understand why things might be.

Everything is better on a team

We are not alone until we think of ourselves as such.

Selling as an individual sucks.  Marketing yourself sucks.  Being the main person who is delivering the thing sucks.  Teams are way better than individuals most times and this is true in almost all contexts.

When it comes to sales and selling the same holds true.  I like to sell by myself but I do not love it.  What I love is the idea that I can sell as part of a team and system, rather than as an individual. 

We need to find ways to take ourselves as individuals out of the picture and figure out how we can grow teams around ourselves who love and support us in our efforts and interests. 

We need to get excellent at having others help us.  The more we can define a process and system for growing, selling, and success, the better off we all will be.

Find God, you might as well

Find balance and control. 
Have obsessions but don't let them
rule your life.  Find God: you might as well.

We probably all have obsessions and favorite topics but we need to make sure that we're monitor and controlling these things and keeping them in check.  We never need or want our obsession(s)--or anything for that matter--to rule our lives.

If we do choose to have obsessions (or are forced to by whatever means or compulsions), however, we should make sure that they are positive ones.  My obsessions, for example, of communicating, thinking, writing and speaking are what they are but I have to learn how to control and monitor them.

I can't see too big of a problem with the obsessions I have but I know I have to keep them in check. 

It's probably far better to have passions than obsessions but for those of us who do have obsessions (whatever they might be), we need to be very careful and make sure that we're monitoring them and ensuring that they do not turn into compulsions or become overly consuming thought processes in our lives that prevent us from succeeding in achieving other outside influences or forces.

Finding balance in our lives is hard and we need to ease up on our own minds and thought processes sometimes.  Find God, you might as well.

Withholding is competing

Silence is competing.

The teacher and the student

A big part of being humble is being able to listen and learn.  Yet a big part of being a big person is to be able to teach and coach and lead.  Finding a balance between these modes and finding more situations where we can teach and coach and listen and learn all of the time is hard.  Find more opportunities to do all of these things at once.

Make sure it's sustainable but don't be boring

Doing things that are fun and cool and creative and off the wall are interesting but they're not everything and sometimes they're not sustainable at all.  We shouldn't expect that all of our practices are sustainable but we need to makes sure that the bulk of the core ones are.  In this way we have to have great values and focus.

We have to make sure that the core and essential set of our practices are sustainable but we don't want to get caught up in only doing the mundane.  Finding this balance is hard.

It's great to be different: decide to be different

Painting outside of the lines is way more fun.
But there are lines.  Damn reality sucks!!!!!

Be different every chance you get.  Do not comply, do not follow the rules but recognize that they are all around us and sometimes we have to follow them. 

We can't be 100% creative all of the time but we sure can and should wish this.  We can make creativity and non-compliance everything if we want. 

A huge part of our lives is to comply with and follow the rules.  This sucks but we know that in large part we have to fit into the systems we're given or we'll find ourselves dead, injured, or in jail. 

But it's way more fun, cool, and interesting for us to paint outside of the lines and say that we just don't give a shit.

Getting to creativity through structure

In order to be truly creative we have to be on solid ground.

We have to have our lives very well organized if we want to be as creative as we possibly can be for an extended period. 

I want to be creative forever but I know that for me to be able to get there I have to buckle down now and get serious.  I have to create structures and foundations in my life that help provide me the time, place, and space to be creative.

Creativity cannot fully flourish without the appropriate structure and foundation. 

We don't want to be overly regimented in our ways but without structure and a solid foot-hold on life and reality, we won't be able to be our truest, most creative selves.

Obsessed with sales and selling

We're not always good at what we want to be good at.

I really want to sell.  All of the time.  I can't not sell.  I want to do it every moment.  But I think I suck at it.

The hero and the goat

Being humble is everything.  If we are humble
we will not fall as far.

Sometimes we're put into situations where we have to be the hero.  We may not want to be the hero but maybe we have to be for the situation at hand to succeed. 

I've been thrust into situations before where I had to be the hero in consulting roles and it typically turns out very poorly and sucks. 

One time on a Microsoft project I had to do the work and lead the project, so I was wearing too many hats and it wasn't fun at all.  I might have delivered an okay product in the end but the process sucked and I wasn't happy at all: I didn't set expectations wisely and suffered greatly for it. 

The goal in work and life should be to have fun and be successful but in a balanced we: we don't want to ebb and flow so greatly.  There will be times when we actually get to be the hero for a while but that can soon be replaced by the goat if we're not careful.  We can rapidly and agressively fall from the top of the mountain if we're not careful or humble about our place. 

We should always feel like we're on top of the mountain even when we're not and be humble about our place regardless of what it is.

Consulting is business development: grow two teams

As the main producer,
surround yourself with sales people and delivery people./
Grow two teams.

As a consultant and project manager I realize more and more that one of the primary and fundamental roles is in performing as a sales person.  But I can't do this alone, I need to create and grow a professional and highly capable sales and marketing team.

A big (and probably the biggest) part of consulting is making sure that you get the job done and make the customer happy.  As a consulting sales person this should be easy because you can always blame the delivery folks that the thing went wrong.  But when you're also on the hook for the thing that actually comes out the other end you'd better be really careful.

As a delivery and sales person you have to make sure that you're winning and influencing all of the time: both on the sales and customer side and an the internal delivery side.  It's hard a lot of the time to wear both of these hats but what it means is that you need to build up two teams as the lead consultant: the sales and account management people who support you as well as the delivery people who support you. 

In consulting you are in the middle in a major way.  You have to build up teams above and below you that support you and create cushion and padding so you can comfortably deliver the end product and deflect attacks from difficult customers and the market with very high expectations.

Build systems for yourself and others and win

Do things that work for yourself and for others.
Two birds, one stone.  Lead.

A big skill is in building systems that work for ourselves and for others.  It's fine and dandy to do things that work for us but it's far more critical and interesting to build systems that work for us and others!

When we can build things that work for us and others we're winning, we're selling, we're growing and building teams.  Do this every day.

Selling up and selling down

Convincing others to do things for us is a great talent, skill, and art.
Make sure you're doing this to subordinates and superiors.

Forever I have wanted to make cool and creative things.  I have wanted to engineer creative solutions to problems and get rich doing so based on how creative I have been and how hard I have worked.  But I have discovered that the real skill in life and business is to be that social person who can and does get things done through other people through creative means.  I'm not saying that you can't create and be creative, but you have to create through others by way of inspiration and leadership: you have to grow big teams.

My dad gave me the idea when I was young that I am creative and smart.  I probably am.  But I have learned through the years that I have to be very humble as well and recognize that there are powerful people above and around me. 

As someone who does not have so much money that I can pay others to do everything for me, then I have to inspire them to want to do it themselves.  If I can lead in this way, then I am being successful with those below me.

But this is also true for those above me: the rich and famous and successful of the world.  I do not consider myself to be one of them but I have to do so: I have to rub elbows and act as if I'm one of them...but I have to be humble, too.

Sales works up and sales works down.  Make sure that you're selling up and selling down but learn to sell up because this is where the really big opportunities lie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Achieving breakthroughs all the time

Sometimes we have breakthroughs and
it changes everything but what we want is
to have breakthroughs all the time and
for it to only confirm what we expected.

Every once in a while we get lucky and have a breakthrough: something significantly changes in our life and it's major.  This could mean that we win the lottery, we start a new relationship, we get to a new place in a relationship, or we develop a new mental model that gives us peace of mind.  We want breakthroughs all of the time and more often but how do we get them? 

We get breakthroughs by setting our expectations extremely low.  If we have exceedingly low or no expectations about having breakthroughs, then we will achieve them far more often: it's all relative.  If we have really high expectations and are frequently wanting and hoping for and expecting breakthroughs then we will probably never get them: we don't deserve them.

So set your expectations really low and do not expect breakthroughs.  If you do this, yet are prepared for breakthroughs when they do come then perhaps you can get, have, and enjoy them all the time!

Be the chief framer

Continue framing and flexing the thing.
Don't get burdened and bogged down
with too many details.  Keep changing.

I want to be the chief framer of things.  This means that I want to be holding the thought process that it is the thought process of record, the one followed by the team.  In this way, I want to lead and be the guy.

I want to be able to suggest what is needed and continue to shape and frame the solution as it changes over time.  I want to guide and shape things so that the optimal solution can come out the other end.  I want to be agile and flexible, responsive.

Things change in projects all of the time but with proper framing and an ability to reflect and change, we can continue to be good and create win-win solutions with our collaborators.

Changing agendas

Sometimes our agenda and their agendas
are not aligned.  Make sure you detect
at the start of the meeting that this is the case
and redirect the meeting accordingly.

It's nice to have an agenda and bring it to a meeting but it's quite possible and sometimes likely that the meeting agenda and objective will change.  There's a good practice called 'resetting' when you state what you had planned for the meeting agenda and ask the attendees if anything has changed to make sure that everyone's still on the same page before starting.  If things have changed, then the facilitator can decide to focus on those new issues, cancel the meeting, postpone it or hold it as it was originally specified.

Main point here is that we have to be able to change when people have changed and adjust accordingly.  Although we may have agendas in or meetings and need and want to get things done, we still have to be very flexible and dynamic in dealing with people and their constantly-changing needs, moods, and desires.

How much power we actually have as project managers

Being on top of the mountain feels good, but
there's still sky and heavens above and plenty
of places to fall and hurt yourself below.
Don't forget your true, humble place.

Being the boss is fun.  But its rare.  Sometimes we might think we're the boss but very frequently we are not.  Being a customer is probably the closest we can come to being a boss: "the customer is always right".  I would really like to achieve this level of control on my projects where the buck stops at my desk and what I say goes. But this rarely works.

We should shrink our organizations.  We should centralize more decision-making authority and shrink our work cycles.  But this doesn't often work because sometimes we really do require input and authorization on projects from a very large collection of stakeholders.

So it might be true that "my requirements are what I say they are" but at the aggregate and at the project manager's level, they are rolling up and what the project manager says or thinks really doesn't fly.  The project manager really is just a facilitator and adviser to a larger, far more political, process.

So be careful project managers, although you may feel like you may have god-like powers and feel in control, you're still reporting to your board and you're still accountable to your customers, stakeholders, and stockholders.  Tread lightly and don't abuse the power.

Create workflows to create documents

Documents suck.  People don't want them
but they are a typical and critical part
of business oftentimes.  Let's change this.

The goal is not producing documents, its managing workflow.  One consequence of a process may be that it creates documents but in an efficient system, the goal is to manage knowledge and creating small, reusable components of things that you can use again, thus reducing cost and improving quality.

Documents are concrete artifacts that are typically a composition of several other smaller things.  For example, a document could include some background, a schedule, and some tables of data.  Web based content management systems do a good job of separating content from presentation but today's document-based systems very infrequently do this.  For this reason there is a lot of waste in project work.  Documents get started, get re-purposed, and the knowledge base expands but not in an organized or analyzable way.  Things get really messy in project.

But it is possible for us to know our document types and figure out what kinds of things we have to produce for our customers.  Once we do this we can figure out the elemental parts of these documents and have those parts created through efficient workflows.  Just like the web publishes pages our consulting companies should be publishing documents that are compiled automatically through our data, systems, and knowledge.  Writing net-new things is required to extend the existing database but this is a good thing.

So knowledge workers of the world, please think of how you can shorten the overall workflow of your document-creation streams and look to partner with an organization like mine who can take your project data and present it to your customers in a low-cost and very-high-impact way.

Teams can grow without increasing in count

Grow, baby, grow.
(Just don't necessarily multiply, please.)

Growth is a funny thing.  It can happen in your mind or in the physical world.  Growth can be seen as in increase in a population: it can be seen as an increase or improvement in anything.

I made the point to a colleague yesterday that our team can grow even if we don't add people to it.  It sounded profound to me and he agreed.

What I meant by this was that the thing that matters more than anything that our team (regardless of its size or members) grows and learns and improves.  It would be nice if it grew in terms of count and influence but that is not my current need or expectation.  I am trying to do just the basic things and make sure we have a plan and are tracking.

Team-building is difficult but can be extremely fun and rewarding.  Growing in any way positive is a great goal but we have to remember that we have to control growth as well.

Control is a challenging part of growth.  You don't want to grow too fast because it is painful.  You don't want to grow uncontrollably because it is scary.  You want to grow 'just enough' so that you are meeting your objectives and doing the right things.  You want to fit and be the right size within your environment.  You don't want to get too big and consume too many resources: this is not sustainable.

So next time you consider growing a team, or anything for that matter, consider that you might already have enough and that it is internal reflection, collaboration, and communication between the existing organism that needs to grow.

Listening and advising as the key skills of consulting

Things will go in your ear that you don't want to hear sometimes.
But you will hear them.  You don't have to listen to them,
you just have to figure out how to react to what you hear: be calm.

There are three main skills in consulting: listening, giving and taking advice.

Listening is hard sometimes when there's so many things going on in your head.  Combine that with stupid or annoying speakers and it's hard to keep your mouth shut sometimes!

Try to quiet yourself and let yourself listen to what is being said: drink it all in and relax; breathe, contemplate responses but do not engage.  Let others finish their thoughts and points before you offer anything more, if you offer anything more; sometimes silence is far more powerful than words.

Accepting advice also requires that you listen and it also requires a great deal of patience and trust.  It is impossible to take advice if you can't listen.

Giving advice is easy.  Anyone can give advice.  But not everyone can give good advice.  There are a lot of people out there seeking advice.  Some of us are even paying great sums for advice and help from others.

Being a leader requires that we listen, give and take advice.  Balance these skills and be excellent.

Two views of Microsoft SharePoint

SharePoint can be viewed in two main ways: as a host of things and as a data collection mechanism.  I prefer to view it as the latter because I find that it is far more interesting and compelling that way.

Back in 2001 when SharePoint first came out, I was building web apps for Siemens and they wanted to use SharePoint.  I soon found out that SharePoint was great and offered value beyond the tools I could build.  I would still write custom apps and tools without SharePoint but SharePoint really took off within Siemens as a great data collection mechanism.  The Team Sites feature and all of the lists and modules and such really is the core of SharePoint.

SharePoint has come a very long ways since its early beginnings and added Records Management, Web Parts, Dashboards, and a lot of Business Intelligence features.

Yet some people see SharePoint today as a surface and host for things regardless of its complexity and value.  They see it as a container that doesn't do much.  I don't see it as this at all and am confused by people who think of it in this way.

So get a clue people, it's a database and a holding tank of data and other things; it's a framework.

Know and act as thyself: don't sell out

The soul.  Be it.

Don't sell out.  Know yourself really well and make sure you're speaking and acting from the heart; from the place that you believe.  If you're operating from this place you will find that people will follow you and your beliefs and value.

If you are not clear on your beliefs and values and what is in your core and gut, anything is possibly and you'll sell out; you'll probably fail and be really unhappy in fact.

Sometimes in business we have to sell out or trade something off to gain some kind of reasonable footing or leverage and there are a ton of opportunities to lose yourself in this process.  But don't.

Get clear on your mission, vision, values, and goals and start speaking and engaging people from your soul and your heart; from your core beliefs and values.

In organizations, mimicry is the highest form of flattery

As the reflection is to the mountain, the repeated message is to the speaker.

I take a lot of notes in meetings.  I write things down and frequently write up my notes and send them back to the attendees for their information and consideration.

Some people might find this behavior annoying or overboard but I don't care.  I feel like I get a ton of value out of writing things down and sending them back to people.  In fact as a project manager doing so is critical to success and managing risk.

A lot of times people really don't know what they think or what they're saying and having someone write down and repeat back to them what they heard, they are given the chance to correct or expand upon what they have said.  A relationship can form and a deeper discourse is possible.

The same is true for the spoken word.  In conversations with people, repeating back to them what you heard is a key and important part of effective communications.

People need to feel like there is very high clarity between what they're saying and putting out there.  Some people say, "Do you know what I mean?" or other phrases in order to verify that they're not crazy or way off base.

So next time you're in an important conversation, please play back what you have heard to the speaker to the best of your ability either using the spoken or written word; or both.  Build a community.

Poker, tells, and fear in business

We want to be reliable, honest people but sometimes we have to lie or bluff to protect ourselves or our position.

We don't want to lie too much because we will get called on it at some point and possibly lose. 

To operate effectively in business, though, we have to take risks and lie sometimes; we have to BS and take chances.

As participants in the same messy world, though, we have to also become very good bullshit detectors and know when someone is lying to us.  We don't have to call people on their BS when we see it but at some point we can make them face the music and show their cards. 

Three modes of work life

There are three modes of work life: Serious Professional, Creative Management, and Social Contemplative that, without knowing it, we cycle through all of the time to create stuff.

Serious Professional.  The Serious or professional mode is primarily seen in project and delivery teams; when we are in operations mode.  In this mode we must be good at what we do, professional, and outstanding.  We prefer not to be overly gregarious and crazy in this mode because the whole goal here is to make the customer happy by producing the thing that they want and expect (which can be very elusive at times!).  We must be humble in this mode because we are not sure that the customer will be happy with our service and we really want them to like it!!

Creative Management.  The Creative Management mode frequently occurs in product life-cycle management processes (Plan, Define, Realize, Commercialize, Phase Out).  In this mode, we're thinking about what's possible, how to deliver it and what will make people happy.  Also, we're thinking about the business and operations and what will be that right mix of value (products, services, and experiences) that people love and keep them coming back.  We really have our management hats on in this mode: ie "How do we manage all of this opportunity and risk?"

Social Contemplative.  The Social Contemplative mode is when we think about the customer and market and how to reach them.  We think about perception and public relations.  We worry about ourselves and our organizations and how we might be able to improve.  We often see this mode in sales, marketing, and business development roles.  The Contemplative or reflective mode is often seen in internal teams, cultures, and organizations where they focus on how they can improve and what they can do better to improve their operations, systems, processes, and selves.  This is a humble and reflective place.

In all, we're cycling through these modes all of the time as we figure out how to make decisions about our selves and our organizations.  We need these different modes to be able to act effectively in the given context.  Determining which context we're in and which mode we need can be a challenge.

Real-time adjusting machines

Systems and processes can be constructed to adjust in real time to meet-users' expectations on the fly.

To do this we have to:

1. Define product success and failure (the limits).  Know customers' expectations and quality drivers.
2. Create our systems so they capture the data and can adjust.  Wire the systems up so they capture the data we need to know if the thing is performing to expectations.
3. Adjust in production (A/B Testing).  Try different things within the product to know which one is more successful.  Figure out what's better.
4. Change.  Make decisions to use the best approaches.  Have dashboards and controls to change how the thing is working while it's out there.  

So, in this way, we can have controlled and continuously improving management systems.

Simon Sinek and the Golden Circle

I just watched this TED talk from Simon Sinek about how he believes that it is our duty to act from what we believe before we engage people on what we do and how we do it (our beliefs and why we do what we do is central to everything, including success).

I figured I'd write up what I believe (as it relates to my work) for the sake of the exercise:

• Technology is good for people.  I believe that individuals can benefit from using the latest technologies.
• Technology is good for organizations.  I believe that organizations can benefit from using (at scale and in total) the latest technologies as a key part of their operations.
• Technology adoption is imperative and urgent for organizations.  I believe that organizations need to keep up with the expectations that customers have so they can stay in business and grow.
• Value among 'your and their' technologies.  I believe that organizations' technology must keep up with and interface with consumers' technology.
• Enough change is possible.  I believe that organizations can change fast enough to keep up with the bulk of their customers' expectations. 

What are your career and life beliefs?

Being curious vs. driving a hard bargain

Sometimes we say too much.  I know I do.  But I want to!!!  I feel like it's really important to get our interests out on the table early and up front so people know where we are coming from.  I know that they say that good things come to those who wait (and I'm sure it's mostly true) but in some other cases, I think we shouldn't be waiting around to find out things that we should know early on and up front!!!

Some people might see this as too intense and over-bearing and I agree but sometimes I feel like I have no other choice.  This is about me and business and sometimes nothing more.  Sure, it is about the business relationship and all that and I need to be a likable person but sometimes I really don't care and want to make sure that I am getting a good deal and am not being overly compliant or polite in business negotiations (rolling over)!

Qualification is another key part of interaction, especially in business.  I've been in a lot of different employment situations, some good and some bad, mostly bad.  I'm not saying that employers are evil but in a lot of cases, I think, they're the ones with the power and the control in the situation and I don't think it has to be like this, necessarily.  I think that it is incumbent upon all of us to insist upon what we want.  This may come in some cases at the cost of our jobs or at the irritation of a superior person but I think it is worth it.

The relationship between employer and employee shouldn't be contentious, whatsoever, it should be based upon open dialog and mutual respect.  For me, I think of this tendency of individuals to "drive a hard bargain" can be seen more simply as being curious about the nature of the relationship: as a person in business, I am curious to see what I can get out of other people or my employer, so that I know where we both stand and I know my limits.  If I set limits unto myself too early, I will find myself feeling limited and angry and not fully enjoying what I love to do for the company and customers.

There's a balance, though, between being clear and up front with people and "negotiating" and just saying yes.  I think I used to just say yes when I'd see an offer with a high price tag on it, but now I know that it's the other things--and primarily the relationship and open, reasonable dialog with the employer--that ultimately matters to me.

I know that I have to be careful and tread lightly in my interactions with everyone and ensure that I am demonstrating mutual respect and care.  But I think that life is about learning about ourselves and others and I think people who "put it out there early and often" are the true winners, even when they lose.

Lessons learned from 20 years of business experience

Because I am a nerd and curious about systems, processes, and experiences, I just listed out all of the jobs I've ever had a made a list of the things that worked well and didn't work well (lessons learned) for all of them, dating back to my first job as a lawn-mower on Guemes Island at age 13 and leading up to my most recent experiences as a Program Manager at Microsoft.  The lessons are listed in chronological order of occurrence and some repeat (for better or worse...).  I'm happy there's more good than bad!!!

The things that worked well (stuff to keep doing and looking for!!):

1. Good cash
2. Quick and fast
3. Use others equipment
4. Nice summer job
5. By the water
6. Marketing
7. Branding
8. Get looped in via friends (Andrew)
9. Customer service, solutions focus
10. Time to do my own thing
11. Networking with and learning from other smart people
12. Designing a product from scratch
13. Working with Garth
14. Brainstorming
15. Guerilla marketing
16. Crowdsourcing
17. Believing in your ideas
18. Leveraging existing technologies
19. Cool coding techniques
20. Seeing senior engineers
21. Leveraging existing technology
22. Reverse engineering
23. Giving people tools so they can continue to solve their own problems
24. Taking money from customers
25. Learning a ton of new stuff
26. Getting big corporate (enterprise) experience
27. Managing teams and politics
28. Using and implementing others’ technologies
29. Customizing stuff to fit users’ needs
30. Customer service
31. A business orientation
32. Project and program management
33. Networking
34. Learning a new business
35. Seeing opportunities
36. Microsoft experience
37. SharePoint experience
38. Meeting tech people more senior than me
39. Collab and web tech
40. Delivering SharePoint tech
41. Documenting things
42. Making cash
43. Forming LLC
44. Finding CPA and Bookkeeper
45. Leveraging existing relationships
46. Working with SharePoint as a solution platform
47. Leveraging FDA, compliance background
48. Project management
49. Relationship management
50. Creativity
51. Meeting people
52. Being a leader
53. Being creative
54. Learning Agile/Scrum
55. Leveraging SharePoint
56. Team leadership, managing teams, software dev
57. Learning about LINQ, jQuery, for example
58. Understanding software dev custom app dev process
59. Coding by myself
60. Building a product
61. Using recently learned technologies and latest technologies
62. Buying new technologies and environments
63. Focus
64. Ability to dev
65. Ability to focus on problem
66. Devving for the customer
67. Learning to dev in production
68. Partnering with other devs to get things done
69. Being more technical
70. Delivery of extremely complex solution and workflows
71. Mixing of technical and leadership skills
72. Customer relationship management
73. Managing up
74. Being clear with and partnering with managers
75. Playing with new technology
76. Partnering with sales team
77. Writing SOWs
78. Innovation
79. Partnering with key people
80. Creativity
81. Reaching out to the market
82. Partnering with sales
83. Branding
84. Making sure a very important project succeed
85. Making key relationships with key suppliers
86. Getting a job that fit really well fast
87. Leveraging my existing network
88. Leveraging my existing skills

The things that didn't work so well (things I need to fix, avoid, or be aware of):

1. Don’t piss off the boss
2. Don’t be overly cocky
3. It’s just a job
4. People are weird
5. Get paid and do your own thing
6. Business model
7. Networking with true professionals
8. Being a kid and inexperienced
9. Being overly cocky
10. Managing the project
11. Making sure there was money and a market
12. Overwhelmed by code
13. Didn’t work well with others, no team concept
14. Getting raises
15. Negotiating for salaries
16. Managing up
17. Some relationships
18. Reading politics
19. Personal relationships
20. Managing up
21. Politics
22. Peers, partnering
23. Politics
24. Non-technical people
25. Being to specific, clear
26. Boss person
27. Consulting
28. Professionalism
29. Maintenance of relationship
30. Personal relationships
31. Being overly ambitious and too abstract
32. Politics
33. Consulting
34. Customer relationship management
35. Launching
36. Partnering
37. Sharing
38. No team
39. No success criteria or project management
40. No partners
41. Too technical
42. Pigeon-holing
43. Craziness at Microsoft and with small vendors
44. Deciding to do the work as a manager
45. Internal politics
46. Poor incentives
47. Focus on the wrong things
48. Technology too “green”
49. Choosing the right partners
50. Managing big politics
51. Leveraging project into program, dealing with larger contexts
52. Context of contract and position
53. A new manager