“Getting Things Done”… again

If you are not familiar with “Getting Things Done” or “GTD” then click here for a little background.

I first bought “Getting Things Done” by David Allen in early 2007.  I read through about half of it and then skimmed the rest – got frustrated/overwhelmed and put it down.  Really… a 43 folder system for organizing my crazy hectic life?  I don’t need 43 more of anything – unless it’s hours of vacation time.  Wait, who really uses paper anymore?  Don’t we live in the digital age with computers, PDAs and mobile phones with email?  A series of lessons learned and a 5 minute conversation brought me back to the book.

It was early 2007 and I was nortoriously unorganized.  I would agree to small, simple, to-dos from my manager and then… forget.  It frustrated the hell out of my managers and became something that would hold me back in my career if not rectified.  I was in search for the perfect tool, yes… THAT is what I needed.  If I could just find the right tool then I will be organized and all of my problems will magically disappear and I will be organized.  So I turned to Microsoft OneNote.  What a great tool!  It was perfect – note pages, tabs, colors, free form highlighting, print to pdf – it was all there.  No.  No it wasn’t.  I found that I was glued to my PC which is just a source of distractions – meeting reminders, emails arriving, other open windows of work – all grabbing for my attention.

WordPress Widgets are Working!

I was kicking around the idea of shelling out $100/yr for wordpress hosting – mostly because widgets weren’t working.  Seems like a silly reason to spend $100 a year, but I was increasingly frustrated that I was unable to use most of the widgets provided by wordpress.  I couldn’t customize the right hand column of this blog. As you can see now, I have a calendar, tag cloud and links down the right hand side.  Now looking at previous posts, my blogroll (links) and searching this blog by tags is far easier for visitors.  I still may opt to move this blog to its own domain and hosting to allow for further customization of the format (CSS) and for more control.  I really like the layout of Wal-Mart’s “Checkout Blog”.  In the mean time I am satisfied.

- Bill Weber

photo credit: dillon-k

Micromanagement

A few days ago I read this article from the blog, Coding Horror.  I read it fairly frequently even though it has a very technical slant to it.  It claims that if you answer yes or kinda yes to any of these questions – you are probably micromanaging.  I shared my answers below – in some cases I disagreed or felt it wasn’t as black and white as the article makes it out to be.

1. 1. Do you pride yourself on being “on top of” the projects or your direct reports? Do you have a solid grasp of the details of every project?
2. Do you believe that you could perform most of the tasks of your direct reports, and potentially do a better job?
3. Do you pride yourself on frequent communication with your employees? Does that communication include asking them for detailed status reports and updates?
4. Do you believe that being a manager means that you have more knowledge and skills than your employees, and thus are better equipped to make decisions?
5. Do you believe that you care about things (quality, deadlines, etc.) more than your employees?

Here are my answers to those questions -

Randomness

Windows Downloads – Here is the most comprehensive list of Windows related downloads, tools, etc that I have ever seen.  From Microsoft MSDN, blogs, etc.

Doom – Who could forget the FPS that led us to Duke Nukem, Quake and Halo?  No need to fire up the 486, you can play Doom in your browser.  Say goodbye to the next 2 hours of your life.

Go Green – Recycle.  Go organic.  Car pool.  Use less toner.

Snag-It Alternatives – Alternatives to the ever popular Snag-It screen capture software.

- Bill Weber

photo credit: cdm

Get a Client to Say Yes

I found this article on “getting a client to say yes” to be fascinating.  It really made me stop and consider how I conduct conversations with my clients.  Not just in a situations where creative design or direction is being discussed (not my strength) but in all conversations. The article starts with a 35 minute presentation and ppt and is followed by a fantastic write-up.
How do YOU get a client to say yes? Post your thoughts in the comments below.

- Bill Weber

photo credit: wallrevolution

15 Project Management Tools

I don’t use many sophisticated tools to manage my work or team.  While it may take me some time to create what I need in Excel – I find that the end result is custom fitted to what I need.  Luckily at Rosetta we have a Sharepoint implementation that allows us to version control and share (with clients) documents, bug lists, etc.  Some love Microsoft Project – I very much dislike it.  Too bulky and cumbersome for the type of work I manage.  When I have tried to use it I become almost obsessed with updating the workplan, etc and getting everything perfect.  Not a good use of my time.  Maybe if I were managing a 35 person team it would make sense.  But for the team I need to keep track of, I’ll take Excel.  Whatever you do – don’t fall in love with any 1 tool/app.  Have a solid process and approach that can be supported by the tool.  Don’t wrap your process and approach around some “miracle tool”.

I have looked into Backpack a couple of times and should I be in a situation where Sharepoint is not available to me, it would be my first serious consideration.  It does cost money, but seems very reasonable.

Here are some other free and non-free alternatives with reviews and opinions… 15 Useful Project Management Tools

- Bill Weber

photo credit: karramarro

Brulant is now Rosetta

I went on vacation working for Brulant and came back working for Rosetta (I knew it was happening).  A new brand rolled in with the new year and I am excited about it.  This is the 2nd acquisition that I have been through (Brulant acquired Xteric, Rosetta acquired Brulant) and the past experience has been positive and rewarding.  I look forward to the same over the next few months and hopefully years.  We even have this fancy new logo that you see in this post.  Reminds me of the Handspring logo a little bit.

All sorts of changes are taking place – new logos, new voicemail greetings, business cards, new email signatures and new email addresses too (old ones still forward stuff along).  For those that read Advertising Age there will be full page ads running in the magazine starting in the 12/29 issue.  Couple of exciting things noted in the ad…

- Serving 7 of the top 10 pharmaceutical/biotech companies in the US
- Driving over $5 billion of online retail transactions annually
- Creating and deploying more than 400 Personality® segmentations for the Fortune 1000
- Converting profitable customers for banks in 7 of the world’s top 10 economies

Take a look at the newly designed site as well…  www.rosetta.com

- Bill Weber

photo credit: rosetta.com