Management Insights

2009-10-01T15:42:00.002-05:00

--Maggianos Little Italy Spam--

A great example of how advertising can bite you in the butt: Maggianos (a restaurant chain in Chicago) seems to have contracted with an e-mail spam company to send out e-mails about dinner deals, two-for-ones, etc.

I now receive four identical e-mails each e-mail "blast" that they do. I have asked to be removed from their e-mail list AND gone to their website to point out how idiotic this type of "advertising" is AND asked to be removed from their e-mailing list from their contact form.

No luck. I get between four to eight e-mails each blast.

Not only will I never set foot in their restaurant, but I'm telling all of my friends about this bullsh!t behavior. What are they thinking??? We are going to annoy you so much you will give us money???

I wonder how history will see e-mail spam...

2009-08-25T17:35:00.001-05:00

--Multitasking is Bad--

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/08/25/multitasking.harmful/index.html

How many times have you seen people stumbling down the street while trying to text someone with their cell phone?

Or even worse, what about those who text while driving? ARG!

People have limits to their perception. Some are more perceptive than others, but some are very much less than others...

I know that some modern work ethic seems to push people into *thinking* they are being more productive by scattering their efforts across various focuses, but that just isn't the case. You end up doing a less-than half-ass job at everything!

Read the CNN article -- it is interesting...

2008-04-28T18:26:00.001-05:00

--Better Estimating through Time Studies--

I'm haggling with a co-worker about how long it will take to do something (a repetitive procedure that is worked on weekly, throughout the course of the week). We are not getting anywhere with our haggling (of course we both think we are correct )...

So, I'm going to keep track of how long I spend on what this week (exciting, eh?) by recording the times in a spreadsheet. We'll take a look next week and see who was correct -- I mean which estimate was correct.

Sometimes keeping a quick journal (paper, Excel, whatever) of what time is spent on what is enough to get you a bit more perspective on how long (or little) you spend working on what. The recorded times usually surprises people.

Remember that the basis of estimates is previous experience. *Recorded* experience can help guide future estimates.

2008-04-25T20:28:00.002-05:00

--When do you pull the plug?--

One of my co-workers was trying to get back from Charlotte (to O'Hare) this evening. The weather was predicted to be horrible at O'Hare including tornado warnings, severe thunderstorm warnings, and hail (I know that is a bit redundant, but the hail is what supposedly canceled all the flights). At 2pm Charlotte-time all flights up to 8pm were canceled and the 8pm one was the only one left. I suggested he just cut his losses and go get a hotel room, have a nice dinner, and get a good night's rest because there was a good chance his flight would be canceled.

It was. But not until 9:30pm his time. (So he waited at the airport from 2pm until 9:30pm to find out what we both suspected -- they would cancel his flight...)

So at what point do you cut your losses and just give up on something?

I think it is human nature to hold on to hope that a situation will turn itself around, but how to balance that with common sense? I suppose part of it is based on experience. I have been doing business travel for 22+ years. I know the signs... And there is the desire to "get home" that might cloud judgment.

I guess the only advice I can give about this is if you have a gut-hunch that the airline is going to cancel your flight, AND you have "status" with the airline, cut your losses and ask to be re-booked on the next day's flight. I'm told you want to be on the earlier flights if possible, but from my perspective, if that means getting up at 5am, the heck with that...

I guess this has a broader business application: be self-aware of your situation to know when to cut your losses and change your approach. The weather -- and many other things -- are totally out of your control.

2008-04-23T17:55:00.000-05:00

--Is a small effort a project?--

One of my students recently asked if creating something for her office, by herself (a one-person team), was a project. Of course I said yes.

How can a one-person effort be a project? Well a project is any effort that has a defined start, a defined end (or deadline), a defined goal, and has resources involved. Remember that resources are anything that help you finish a task: people, machines, money, permits, etc.

Even when working on something yourself, you usually have to give some type of status or report how close to finished you are. You can't really tell how close to finish you are without some type of plan. In order to do a plan, you have to clearly define the goal.

So I would argue that any effort where you:

1. Clearly define the goal (and perhaps what the goal *is not*)
2. Plan your work (to-do list, steps, major deliverables)
3. Manage that work to meet expectations (budget, deadline, quality standards)

...is a project!

2008-04-22T09:09:00.000-05:00

--Politics and Religion--

There is a saying that one should not talk about politics or religion at social events. I think the saying has been corrupted over the years from "you should not talk politics because politics are religion."

With yet another US election coming up, and strong feelings (either way) about the current leadership, now would be the time to have open discussions about politics and points of view. However that doesn't seem to be possible any more. "Discussion" consists of people with inflexible points of view, arrived at by some inferential jump that they cannot explain, attempting to convince the other point of view that they are wrong. And stupid. I'm not sure how that started, but lately it seems that many people have the attitude that others should blindly agree with them, otherwise the dissenters are stupid. Years ago I was taught in public speaking that when a party resorts to personal attacks, it is because they realize they have lost the logical argument. Something to consider with the current individual and party mud-slinging.

Political discussion should be a discussion, not an argument, where both sides explain their position, and attempt to understand the other person's point of view. A good discussion should be one where both parties walk away pondering the ideas of the other. Ideally, that would lead to more discussion.

I just tried to find a favorite Thomas Jefferson quote about this, but of course cannot at this time. The gist of it is: "Disagreement leads to discussion, and discussion leads to truth."

At a time when there are such strong emotional and irrational attitudes being taken, we need more discussions about political beliefs and how they were formed or decided. But just as you cannot "argue" that Buddhists are "better" than Methodists, the discussions should strive for understanding more than one's own perspective.

2008-04-21T18:06:00.000-05:00

--Pregnant Pauses and E-mail--

E-mail gives the illusion of immediacy. If the person receiving the message happens to be at the keyboard and happens to read your message and happens to be moved to immediately reply to said message, well, e-mail can appear to be pretty immediate. Sometimes this is not good.

An immediate reply might mean the other person might be clearing out their inbox. Or perhaps they were waiting for your message. Or perhaps they are bored out of their mind and this distraction is just what they needed. Maybe the other person is working on a different assignment or task and this brief e-mail check was a quick mental break before diving back into the work at hand.

So what does a long pause before replying to an e-mail mean? Nothing! There are an unlimited number of reasons someone might not "immediately" reply to an e-mail. Perhaps their Internet provider is having technical difficulties. Perhaps they are busy on a telephone call and (appropriately and politely) are giving that call all of their attention. Perhaps (*gasp*) they walked away from the computer to do something else. There might also be a chance that they are thinking about their reply, so that they communicate correctly and make sure the so-called "tone" (e-mail does not have tone!!!) of the message is as intended.

More than 80% of communication is non-verbal. That means (at best) e-mail communicates 20% of the real message. Because of this, people try to read too much into the choice of words in the e-mail, the "timeliness" of the e-mail reply, and sometimes even the font choice, font color, and font size. Good grief!

Also consider that (especially in business) perhaps the other person is talking or e-mailing with several other people to get their opinions, perspectives, and advice about the current situation. As more people are consulted, the delay before a reply is increased. Usually.

So what is wrong with immediate replies? Immediate replies re-enforce the impression that e-mail is immediate (or "always" immediate). Immediate replies might also give the impression that not a lot of care or thought went into the reply. Immediate replies also can confuse the other person when all of a sudden there is a long delay or pregnant pause before receiving another reply (which - remember - might not mean anything). I'd suggest you consider the implication of an immediate reply before firing it off. There is nothing wrong with focusing on the task at hand, and check e-mail perhaps slightly more frequently than you check your postal mail. (Some senior executives advocate two to three times a day as the maximum number of times they and their reports check e-mail!)

2007-11-07T20:48:00.000-06:00

--ASTD dues reminder letter response--

I just received a polite reminder to renew my dues with ASTD. Apparently they *really* are not listening... This was my response:

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Thank you for the reminder, but I will not be renewing with ASTD (national or local).
.

I have found ASTD to become irrelevant in the past few years -- your focus seems to be on large to very large corporations. Take a look at who is advertising in your publications -- who is the target audience? Not a medium to small shop for sure.
.

Also, ASTD started selling certifications. A good revenue stream to be sure! I was actually part of the pilot program for the certification. I provided significant feedback with next to no response at all. I say "next to no" because fellow pilot participants did communicate via the online discussion forum, but nobody from ASTD. I passed the exam with flying colors and failed the work product. In one area. Project Management. Oddly enough, I'm a certified project manager with the Project Management Institute and even one of the Project Management Institute's instructors. I teach and *do* project management -- formally -- for a living -- for the past 20 years. When I questioned my failing the project management portion of the work product, I received no response. Nothing. I also questioned the criteria used and *how* I failed so that if I chose to re-submit I would know what to fix. No response.
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Good luck on selling more certifications with secret criteria for passing.

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For an organization that talks so much about open communication and feedback, it looks like the dollar signs of selling certification have blinded them.

2007-03-31T15:33:00.001-05:00

--ASTD - American Society for Training and Development - Certified Professional in Learning & Performance - CPLP - SCAM--

ASTD has entered the market of selling certifications. Good for them. The Project Management Institute (PMI) has been in the business of certification offering their PMP (Project Management Professional). Recently the PMI lowered the passing score of their test (so that they can grant more certifications?). However ASTD has taken a different approach - the secret pass/fail procedure.

I was part of the first pilot testing of the CPLP program. I realized it was the first run of such a program, and gave frequent and detailed feedback. The entire process felt like everyone involved as "winging it." I passed the standardized test with flying colors and then submitted what I thought was acceptable for my "work product." I passed in all areas except "project management." Ironic, because I am certified in project management, a professor in project management, and the submitted work product was a one-day overview of project management.

When I asked for feedback about why or how did I fail that single category, I did not receive any response. I posted in the pilot-run online forum and asked for feedback from other people, but apparently everyone else gave up in disgust from this farce. Wait, I did receive a message early on (before submitting the work product) that "if you were a real professional, you would know this." There you go, free insults while keeping the system secret!

So just to spell it out for you: ASTD sells a certification that you either pass or fail based on secret criteria that they do not explain. Maybe if I paid an extra amount of money I would have passed? I don't know. Usually when people expect bribes they communicate that expectation in some way.

It is very sad that another professional organization has turned to "certifications" as a revenue stream.

2006-07-11T21:29:00.000-05:00

--Summer's Here - Looking towards Autumn--

Speaking a business colleague the other day we were commiserating that we were already starting to plan out our September and October. Here it is only the beginning of July! While nobody was complaining about the work, I think we were more distraught that we had not really thought out our own personal time for the rest of the summer.

By personal time, I (personally) was thinking of personal and professional development. I belong to several professional organizations that seem to (wisely) offer professional development opportunities during the summer months. Now to avoid temptation and actually attend! Business professionals, especially consultants, can get set in their ways. It is always good to shake things up a bit and listen to other opinions, ideas, and perspectives. In person. At an all day thing. Not just sitting at the computer reading somebody's blog. Like this one.

What counts as personal or professional development? I'd say reading some hardcover book that has been sitting on the shelf (or worse, the floor) forever. Bonus points if it is work-related! Seriously, even the "ghosts and the paranormal" book I just finished had several work applications. Okay, if that didn't catch your attention - nothing will. The book discussed several authors and their approach to their work (I'm an author - I got several tips out of that). The book also discussed some of the more (ahem) esoteric historical highlights of central and western Canada (one of my companies works a lot in Canada). The book also talked a lot about how belief systems need to be occasionally reviewed and perhaps challenged to make sure the environment has not changed so much that perhaps the belief system is no longer beneficial (ummm, isn't this what I do for a living?).

Just for the record, I am also seriously considering attending a face-to-face one-day professional development day in downtown Chicago this week with what I (personally) consider "lite" topics but there should be many different perspectives and... who knows, I might get something out of it. Heck, for $75 for a full day of potential enlightenment, I'm there...

2005-07-26T19:17:00.001-05:00

--Get Your News from Multiple Sources--

http://news.google.com
The above website is an auto-magic amalgamator of online news sites. Based on the frequency or "excitement" about a particular story determines how high up in the listing the story will display. It is very interesting to see over the course of a day how the stories generally start in India or Australia, and as the sun moves through the time zones, next England and then finally the US and Canada pick up and expand on stories. You can also customize the new feeds to include highlights from specific countries (for example, you can add the top eight stories from New Zealand). I use this in combination with the next website as my morning news pages.

http://www.myway.com
MyWay is a free advertisement-free fast-loading and pretty much all-encompassing news portal. Where news.google.com is overwhelmingly complete, MyWay can be customized to show you the specific daily pieces of information that are of interest to you (such as your horoscope, local moon rising times, weather for whatever cities you specify, sports scores for specified teams, movies playing near you, etc.). There is also a handy feature that allows you to add your own specified newspapers, so that you can have a one-stop-shop to peruse the Manila Times, the Newfoundland Downhomer, and the Crain's Chicago Business (yes, I read all of these and about fifteen others).

If you want to get extra tricky and also have a safer Internet experience, you can stop using Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) and switch to either Mozilla Firefox or Opera. Both of those programs are more resistant to spyware and other nasties of the online experience, AND (the reason I am mentioning them here) they have tabbed-browsing. What this allows you to do, is to set up a bookmark "folder" and ask the program to open all of the websites in that folder at the same time, each one in its own tab (think recipe cards).

Why in the world do you need all of these news websites? Simple: perspective. Every news source is going to have its own bias. By reading more than one or two sources about a story, you can get a better sense of what really is going on. (Or, if you are completely cynical, you can get a sense of the many different biases about that particular story...)

The evening news in the US is very focused on sports, local murders, local current events, quick summaries of national events, and the weather (in that order of importance and time allocated). Notice anything missing? How about international news? For that, you will have to start looking for reputable international sources. Use the Internet to help balance out what the US media feeds to you. Think about how many recent stories have been big news everywhere outside of the US but the US media has not covered them. Oh that's right - you probably don't know about them if you are in the US...

2005-07-22T14:22:00.001-05:00

--Great Source of Software Support and Notices--

OFFICE Watch
Woody's newsletters (and there are many) are a great FREE source of software information about bugs, updates, new releases, policy changes, just about everything.

WOPR
Woody's free discussion forum (Woody's Office Portal = WOPR) is a huge source of help and support with software, computers, networking, and just about any annoying high-tech problem you might run into.

2005-07-21T19:07:00.001-05:00

--Fairness and Consistency in Communication Frequency--

There are many people in the business world who only communicate when they need something. While this might be efficient from their perspective, it does not build a good working relationship. Sometimes a nice informal "how's it going" e-mail even though you really don't have much else to say goes a long way to keeping the communication channels open.

A HUGE mistake is to ignore the other person for weeks or months on end, then all of a sudden send or leave several panic e-mails or voice-mails commanding a response immediately. Very, very uncool and rude.

The guideline I use, is I try to mirror the other person's frequency of communication, erroring on the side of communicating a little more often than the other person. However what I find this doing is surprising the other person that I dare ignore their random panic interactions.

How often should business people (who are supposedly working together) communicate? It depends, but I don't think once a month is unreasonable just to stay in touch. Again, it migth be in the form of a quick e-mail, e-mailing a website link that you think would be interesting to the other person, or perhaps even a quick voice-mail or phone call.

Speaking as a consultant that sometimes is "rented out" by others as a sub-contractor, I would strongly suggest some type of communication right before the engagement (to make sure everything is set up), perhaps a quick check in during the engagement (to make sure everything is going fine), and certainly a quick communication after the engagement (to get a debrief).

The bottom line is that if you use very infrequent communication attempts, then don't expect the other party to drop everything and jump when you need something. That is not playing fair.

2005-07-21T18:06:00.001-05:00

--Energy Vampires and How to Remove Their Power--

An Energy Vampire is somebody who - whether consciously or unconsciously - sucks the life out of you just by "interacting" with you. I put interacting in quotes, because most times an Energy Vampire talks at you, not with you. Dr. Judith Orloff has gone so far as to break out the six types of Energy Vampires summarized here:

1. The Sob Sister - oh woe is me...
2. The Drama Queen - everything is a production
3. The Constant Talker - silence is intolerable to them
4. The Fixer Upper - you are expected to fix what is wrong with them
5. The Blamer - everyone else is to blame for their woes
6. The Jugular Fiend - everything is beyond their or your capabilities

How many people can you identify in which of the above categories? Do you feel drained after interacting with these people?

What to do about these negative people? While Dr. Orloff advocates "visualizing white light protecting you and insulating you from the negative person" there must be some more, errr, down-to-earth solutions, too. Here are a few:

1. Avoid these people - there is nothing wrong with spending time with just yourself, or (God forbid) POSITIVE friends. Just stop taking the Energy Vampire's phone calls. Smile, nod, and keep walking if you see them in person. Have a "I've gotta run" phrase ready if they try to engage you in person.

2. Limit contact - if you cannot avoid them completely, prefix any interaction with "I've only got a minute" and then cut them off after that minute. This approach can still leave you drained, and if you are sensitive, you might even feel worse because you feel like you have cut the person off (you have! and it is your right!).

3. Take a vacation from them - give yourself X amount of days to "recharge" and just avoid all contact completely for a set amount of time, for the sake of recharging your energy, sanity, and patience.

4. Use non-verbal communication - when interacting with them, only look into one of their eyes. Keep your body turned sideways towards them (so they are facing either your left or right shoulder). Cross your arms and imagine yourself as a "closed circuit." Heck, if you also want to imagine a white light protecting you, it can't hurt! Maybe for a bit of lightheartedness, imagine a roll of duct tape winding around and around their mouth...

There is nothing wrong with you looking out for your own well-being! If every time a certain person walked up to you and slapped you in the face, would you put up with that? Why then would you put up with someone energetically harming you?

There is a point when your attempts to help someone crosses the line to where the other person is just feeling off of your good will. This is evil and extremely self-absorbed on their part. Cut 'em loose! The only power an Energy Vampire has is the power you give them. Stop giving it to them!

2005-05-18T21:00:00.001-05:00

--What a Good Seminar Looks Like--

Talking with a fellow adult educator today, we were commiserating about how much bad training there is out there. How does it survive? I am guessing the same way that bad managers survive... People who are incompetent cannot recognize competence. People who have never attended a well-run meeting do not know what a well-run meeting experience is. People who have only attended bad training learn that "bad training" is just the way training is.

I cannot speak French. How in the world would I know if someone is speaking good French or not? I mention this as an example. If you have never attended a training session or seminar or workshop that got you thinking for the entire commute home, why or how would you expect such a thing to exist?

Two years ago I attended a presentation conducted by someone who is billed as one of the best speakers of the Project Management Institute. She doesn't work for the Project Management Institute (PMI) -- but she doesn't fight the confusion over her "being" the PMI... I was absolutely mortified. At one point she appeared to be speaking in tongues, and towards the end she took a doll out of her briefcase and jumped on it in rage. Now I have no problem with those that speak in tongues, however at a professional meeting where the topic was supposed to be Gantt Charts, I find it deeply disturbing that I witnessed either an epileptic fit or a person's religious epiphany. Oh, the audience loved it...

Now how in the world would someone think that choking a rag-doll and screaming is a professional presentation??? I can only guess that the audience was used to memorized speeches or reading PowerPoint slides, so anything "different" is "good."

So what does a good seminar look like? Well, PowerPoint is a tool that should enhance the background - and at a very high level summarize the presentation. The PowerPoint should not be the presentation. The presenter should verbally add to the presentation, talking more "off the cuff" (or seemingly so!) and adding a personal element to show real-world application or understanding. A good seminar should have you thinking about the concepts or the topic or the material as you commute home or try to fall asleep that night. A good seminar should leave you energized; not drained. A good seminar should get you thinking about how you can apply these good ideas in your personal or professional life. A good seminar can be shocking, and might make you question your current beliefs, but should not be revolting. Confusion over how to process a presentation is usually a bad thing, not a sign of brilliance.

How does one attempt to ensure a good presentation? Check with which organizations the presenting organization (or individual) is affiliated with. While not a sure thing, somebody belonging to the National Association of Professional Speakers, or the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS), shows some commitment to a professional presentation.

That said, do not assume just because a professional organization is hosting a presentation / seminar / workshop that is it a good one. Most organizations subcontract out such work, with little if no interest in the quality of the experience. Remember when you are a "non" profit organization focused on money, income - not quality or repeat business - is the most important factor. Because heck, most people won't recognize crap when they see it!

2005-03-26T14:22:00.001-06:00

--Project Management Sayings on T-shirts--

Well we here at Spanitz Consulting finally did what we have been talking about for quite a while... we created T-shirts with project management sayings (slogans?) on them! Visit our online store at http://www.cafepress.com/spanitz to get some cool T-shirts. Amuse your friends - annoy your managers. Win-win!

2004-09-27T09:01:00.001-05:00

--KISS or why Radio Shack still matters (or how $6.99 trumps $279)--

I have been on a three month quest to get music from my computer (namely, from MusicMatch which has streaming Internet radio) over to my stereo so that I can hear the music throughout the office. There are several devices that claim to connect computer to stereo via a wireless connection. None of them work.

I tried everything from the $39 X10 option all the way up to the DLINK Media Server ($279) without success. Oddly enough, the X10 option technically worked, but the quality of the connection was so bad it ruined the listening experience. All of the other more "high tech" (quotes because I wonder) options refused to work. I could see my network, but couldn't connect. Or I could connect, but couldn't interact with the network. Even if the components were literally inches away from the wireless router. Oh, and I tried three different routers just in case that might be the problem. No.

Thinking back to something I McGuivered years ago, I ran over to our near by Radio Shack and purchased a Y-cable. Plugging in to the Line Out on the computer's sound card, then into the back of the stereo AUX plug did the trick. We now have MusicMatch streaming Internet radio through the stereo with perfect quality.

The point?

Why did I think I immediately had to jump to the more complicated solution? Yes the office has a wireless network, but that does not mean that I had to use that particular technology. Some times the quick and simple solution is the best option. To save time and effort, wouldn't it be better to start with the simple and progress to something more complicated? How many times does an organization make the same mistake? Why not make KISS (keep it simple, stupid) the first course of action?