Last night I had a conversation I have had a thousand times. It is some variation of, “what is the best computer to buy?” or “how much should I pay for a computer?”

Almost everyone gets this wrong:

• Computer enthusiast rattle off lists and numbers and giga-whatsits
• Mac people gush over new and fancy Macs
• PC people gush over new and fancy PCs
• Hipsters launch into market trends and theory about 2.0 cloud-based hyphen-ated yada-yada
• Grumpy Luddites tell you to buy a Moleskine instead
• And sales people tell you to buy whatever–as long as you buy the extended warranty

Meanwhile, the wise and benevolent business analyst sagely asks you, “what would you like to be able to do with a new computer?”Remember, computers can only make files. However, thoughtful solutions to clearly defined problems make life better. Never settle for just a computer.

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“Good fences make good neighbors”

Most have heard of that proverb; taken from the last line of the Robert Frost poem “Mending Wall.” The poem describes a property owner’s ambivalence toward rebuilding a damaged wall that separates his property from that of his neighbor. This poem is an apt metaphor for the way a lot of people approach relationships with others in business. We balk at setting up clear boundaries in business. Most of us would like to think that since we are decent people, and our employees, co-workers and customers are also decent people; having measurable expectations and agreements would somehow be futile or insulting.

Walls fall:

The farmer bemoans the fact that year after year the wall falls apart; almost as if there is some force in nature which does not like the existence of walls. Have you ever felt that way about a project or an operation within a company? It may be the accounts receivable situation, or it may be personnel issues stemming from a season of lax management. Whatever the issue is, most businesses seem to have a section of their operations that haven’t been re-tamed after they began to fade back into the wild.

Usually business owners tell me that the reason they have not properly analyzed, documented and streamlined even the most critical functions of their business is that there are “too many variables” to even bother. They say, “in the beginning” everything worked smoothly and then because of some sort of hiccup, the weeds sprang up, part of the wall fell down and everything became far too complicated or far too costly to fix.

The lesson they take away is that order cannot be maintained.

The lesson they should have learned is that clarity in business, like the walls in the poem, must be maintained on a regular basis.

Walls offend:

We loan money or goods without a promissory note–there won’t be any problems. He is a good friend.

We don’t ask an employee to tell us exactly how they do their job–they may feel like we are trying to get rid of them.

We stop just short of developing a bona fide project plan, ROI analysis or set of deliverables because it seems a little to “formal” and keeping things at the “high level” avoids hurt feelings and awkward conversations–I’d rather not know how bad things are, not in any detail. Besides, I pretty much know what needs to be done…

The farmer is torn between the necessity of rebuilding the wall and the the desire not to rebuild the mistrust, which that wall connotes. He reasons with his neighbor that his apple trees will not harm the neighbor’s pine trees or vice-versa. Nevertheless, for reasons stretching back at least as far as the advise of the neighbor’s father, he concedes that “good fences make good neighbors.” Together they walk in parallel and rebuild the wall from both sides.

For decision makers, there are two choices available. The choice to require clear communication, measurable outcomes and accountability at all levels of business or the choice to let the walls remain as they are and hope for the best. To the extent that a business moves toward clarity; it will initially experience some resistance from the “30,000 ft view”-crowd and those who hide in the grayness of inefficiency. That said, the reward is great. Clarity brings freedom and profitability.

photo taken by Jared Benedict

Why do you have a resume?

(image from KenNash.com)

As a business analyst (BA), whenever I submit a resume to an employer, I expect that it will be held to a higher standard than other positions within that same company because the job of a BA is to understand the needs of a user and provide clearly written analysis that can be used to make decisions and solve problems. To be blunt, my resume needs to be the obvious solution my prospective employer’s problem of, “who do we hire next?” My approach isn’t simply the result of a logical exercise; it is also informed by years of hiring and hours of interviews. I am sharing my approach for an obvious reason and a clever reason. The obvious reason: on the off-chance that this will help job-seeking friends determine if their resume does its job as well as they do theirs. Can you guess the clever reason?

The first step in any project is to define the problem clearly. This is referred to as the “scope.” In most projects, somewhere along the way (hopefully early on) someone will ask, “what are we trying to do here?” The funny thing about defining the scope is that everyone in the room think it is an unnecessary step because to each of them the goal is so obvious. (In reality each person’s understanding of the goal of the project is usually different enough to cause a considerable amount of aggravation down the road.) Think of your resume as a mini project. My objective in producing a resume is two-fold:

1. Get an interview
2. Set the right tone for that interview

One could argue that those are one big goal and you would be right; however, for my purposes I like thinking of them separately because I see the goals as practical versus creative or left-brain versus right-brain. Note that one of my goals is not to “get the job” or “list everything good about me.” The entire scope for my resume is limited to getting to the next step–the interview.

Previously, I drew a parallel between our ability to thrive in the future by preparing our minds and the mulch that a gardener prepares for new crops. In both cases intentionality is required to prepare for future growth. Part one talked about what needed to be added for good, rich mulch; namely a good supply of past experiences and fresh supply of new insights and education. Without the right blend of these ingredients great opportunities will have a difficult time establishing strong roots. Today I will cover what not to include in your mental/emotional mulch pile.

In the article I cited last week the author recommended avoiding “animal waste, meats, oils, dairy, diseased plants, weeds that have gone to seed, or plants treated with pesticides or herbicides.” I won’t over extend the metaphor by assigning a corollary to each of the above items to avoid; neither will I claim that this list applies to everyone, but here is what I try to keep out of my mulch pile:

1. Stale competency: The biggest temptation is to “stick with what you know.” It feels good to reign supreme over one’s own little corner of the world. I love to learn, but I hate to feel incompetent. So, for me there is a push/pull when it comes to new ideas and skills. I have learned to push through the initial period of ignorance and dive in.
2. Time-sinks: There is an opportunity cost to every click, minute and rabbit trail. Like weeds, we all have activities that will grow on our lives just about anywhere we are not diligent.
3. Vague frustrations: I avoid news that is bad that I can do nothing about. This is not an easy task these days. I have to be selective in my news intake if I am to maintain the frame of mind I desire. I am not suggesting crawling in a hole, but I think some folks obsession with (bad) news borders on masochism, given how little we can do about what we are hearing. Maybe you are built differently, but I need to limit my intake.
4. Plastic optimism: Optimism and positivity are good; however, they are no substitute for achievement and discipline. Sometimes, it is good to feel unsettled if it causes us to move forward or make tough decisions. I make it a point to surround myself with positive and productive realists. Positive affirmations are like calories–look at how they energize those who are moving and fatten those who are not.

What do you do to stay ready for future growth?

A quick mobile post.

On my way into church this morning I noticed this sidewalk and dirt patch (at bottom of post) and it reminded me of a principle of modern communication that I learned the hard way. The principle is this: build your sidewalks where people walk not where they are pretty.

If you work with people that prefer reading on dead trees; print it out for them. Some people prefer phone calls and others prefer face-to-face. There are tons of ways to communicate with people and the right way is not the way you prefer it is the way that gets the job done. Whenever I work with a new client, project manager or boss I quickly learn how they want to hear from me.

Years ago I volunteered my time to help start a church. Most of my work was strategic and logistical. One of the mistakes I made was assuming that we were all hip and cool and so I pushed hard to go all digital and implemented a bunch of online collaborative solutions. The adoption rate was poor and I was confused. I built a path that worked for ME, a path that was elegant and the envy of those who shared my values and frankly it was a great path; unfortunately, that path didn’t work well for those for whom it was built and so it went unused.

Sidewalks may look pretty on a blueprint in a fan pattern with cute little jaunts and sweeping curves but people will always walk on the path they prefer–it is best to go ahead and pave there.

Why mulch?

The economy is not going well, but it is also not going away. There are opportunities floating around us like seeds in the wind waiting for a place to germinate and grow. These opportunities will pass over the dry ground of complacency and the shallow soil of laziness and will seek out good, rich soil. Our soil is simply what we do well. How do ensure our soil is ready? How do we amend our soil if it lacks some key nutrient? We apply mulch. The part of our minds that is intentional and curious is like a mulch pile–and like any good mulch pile–it takes a while to get going once started. In the gardening world mulching is easy: you combine two parts old brown leaves with one part fresh clippings.  If we consider our experience as brown leaves and studying new subjects as green clippings; then that isn’t a bad ratio to aim at. Here is what my mulch pile looks like right now:

My brown leaves (experience):

1. Project Management
2. People Management
3. Technical Writing
4. Business Analysis
5. Non-Profit and Higher Education
6. Sales and Marketing

My green clippings (new areas of learning):

1. Social Media
2. Corporate Finance Principles
3. Financial Analysis
4. Photo Editing
5. Cooking

Keep it active:

The next trick to a good mulch pile is turning it to ensure everything mixes together well. I do this by spending time with good people like my photographer buddy Bobby Alcott and along with having good time I manage to learn a thing or two. I stay active on twitter and talk with lots of marketing folks to learn how they think. This keeps me sharp. For the financial parts of the green clippings, I look to books, online research and business owners that I know well to answer my questions. The fellowship of good people, coupled with writing on this site, keeps my mulch in good supply and my soil rich and ready for new growth.

How’s your mulch?

• Are you aware of all your brown leaves? (Ideas: Update your CV or resume every three months. Start a professional blog. Join LinkedIn.)
• Have you planned to add any green clippings?  (Ideas: Subscribe to RSS feeds from professional sites in your field (or prospective field). Get a certification. Become more proficient with computers and the internet)
• Are you ready for (as opposed to simply wishing for) new growth?

If you truly want to serve your team and simultaneously be the smartest person at the table ask this question: “If you we wave a magic wand and make this go perfectly; what exactly would success look like in this situation?” Then follow up with, “how will we know we have hit that mark?” and “how can we measure these outcomes?”

When I was growing up I would argue for the sake of arguing. Like my new puppy Dagny, who shreds stuffed animals to refine her instincts; I cut my teeth on critical topics like whether NASCAR was a “real” sport and which Steven Segal movie marked the turning point from awesome to awful, in order to refine my (analytical) instincts. Early in my career I was thrilled to even be invited to important meetings and so my goals were two-fold: 1. Not look stupid and 2. Be clever.

Unfortunately, I have noticed that ethos to be the default in nearly every work group I have come across. Why? Because it takes work and humility to drop what is petty and become excellent and productive. In fact, it feels so good to jockey for attention, approval or power that many people choose this route their whole career and miss out on what it feels like to be part of a high-trust and high-production team.

It took learning humility, hundreds of frustrating meetings and some valuable coaching; but my values have gradually shifted to: 1. Figuring out exactly what the goal is in the present situation, 2. determining how I can I help get us there.

• Usually, this means toning down or eliminating sarcasm
• Sometimes, this means choosing not to distract us with a clever insight or anecdote
• Sometimes, this means not talking
• Sometimes, this means taking the lead
• Often, this means looking at the situation through a series of lenses (not just mine!) to be sure we hit the mark

Try it: At your next meeting note how long the meeting goes without a clear set of objectives. Then ask the questions I mentioned above. I’m fairly certain you will find the meeting to be more useful from that point onward. You are now the smartest (and kindest!) person at the table; even though it may have cost you being the cleverest.

Craftsmen and tinkerers

There are craftsmen and there are tinkerers. Tinkerers enjoy a hobby for its own sake; they have a working knowledge, and a partial set of tools and experience. A craftsman on the other hand not only knows what works; they know why and how it works, and have developed a gut-feel informed by thousands of hours of experimentation. A craftsman is imbued with the philosophy and history of his trade. To him, his work is beautiful; whether architect, database administrator, web developer, artist or business analyst. The types of jobs available are changing; however, the new economy (whatever that means) will still require craftsmen.

In today’s milieu of (mostly) blue-collar lay-offs, creativity and knowledge management are the new union cards. We used to be an agrarian society; now fewer people work the fields to produce our food. We used to be a country of manufacturers; yesterday, General Motors filed for bankruptcy. The shifting economy hurts many of us personally; particularly in Detroit. For the past several months–every other week a friend of mine is laid off. Contrary to the way it feels sometimes, our economy is not dying, but many of her staple job types are.

Which jobs will remain or be in higher demand? Jobs in which creativity, communication and information are both the main tool and product. The tools of our fathers and grandfathers were tractors, axes, hammers and welders; and they took great care of them, since they were their livelihood. Like them, we must take care of the tools that take care of us. In our time, the way we manage our creative energy, our relationships with others and our information, separate the tinkerers from the information craftsman.

Finding Dagny

Google lists 405,000,000 indexed pages for “dog.” For perspective, there are an estimated 74 Million dogs in the U.S. Tomorrow my wife and I are going to pick up our dog from a breeder in Ohio, two hours South of us. Our puppy, Dagny is a medium-sized, hypo-allergenic, bright and friendly female Labradoodle, who lives within a couple hours of Detroit and is within our budget; furthermore, she is not a belly dragger or a shedder. We had a very specific type of dog in mind and to find her, my wife spent hours combing through scores of websites to identify the perfect match. It took 0.21 seconds to find more information about dogs than a man could ever read. It took half a dozen hours to find http://littlelfarm.com/goldendoodles.htm and ultimately, Dagny herself.

The most valuable resource on the planet

What is the cheapest resource on the planet? It isn’t air or water. It is information–already vast and yet still proliferating at an exponential rate. What, on the other hand, is the scarcest and most valuable resource? The right information. Spelled out, “right information” is that information needed right now to solve problems and promote success. 

After some encouragement from Another Livescribe Blog and Smartpen, both of whom work with Livescribe, I finally figured out how to embed my pencasts onto a hosted WordPress.com blog. This exercise highlights really well what I do for a living. Define the problem, do a lot of research, engage the experts, solve the problem, and clearly communicate the outcome.

Without further ado, here are the instructions for Livescribe users who wish to embed a pencast on a hosted WordPress.com blog. (YMMV) 

1. Create a pencast
2. Upload to Livescribe online through the desktop client
3. Make that pencast “public”
4. Open a new tab on your browser
5. Go to this URL: http://vodpod.com/wordpress/
6. Drag the live bookmarklet to your browser toolbar (I use Chrome)
7. Authenticate your WordPress account through VodPod (to allow them to post the embed for you)
8. Go back to your Livescribe video
9. Click the bookmarklet button
10. Write your post, tag it and submit

Thanks to all who helped!