Project Template

Do you keep templates for improving your next project?

I build organizations, teams, destinations on the internet, and publications, and for each project, I have one or several Benefits of Hindsight Templates. With a nod to Professor Keith, I wanta know now what I shoulda known then...

I was talking with Jack about a professional editor’s response to my exact typography standards, when he said, “Well you use them several times a year, of course you know them better than someone just feeling their way.” Those standards have been developing since 1989, when the other Robin Williams published The Mac Is Not A Typewriter. Before that I had been setting standards by eye on the Vydek and then Trash 80. Didn’t do any good to set standards on .dos, because every printer was different.

The other night when I was talking with a magazine editor, who asked for my opinion of her work. I had some specific improvements, and was giving her a string of numbers for changing her typography in both Word and open source software. She stopped me, saying, “Is there open source software I could use for setting my publications?”

Well now, that’s another template. And that template came from my Pagemaker Ninja status, where I learned, “You become a ninja when the sun comes and you hadn’t intended it to.”

The other Pagemaker story was when they ported it to Windows, one of my clients ran out and bought copies for their code wranglers, since they had been been giving me their data, I would go home at night and come back with their finished product.

We tried their Windows version, and it sat there like a lump and blinked at us..

Finally, I got frustrated and started suggesting Mac keyboard commands to the operators. The file started to take shape, but it was hard work.

Eventually, we shipped, and one of the programmers brightly said, “Well that’s the difference between Windows and Mac. Mac has keyboard commands.” Aargh! Something like that.

My Doctor Of Proposals is smart, but that CD with his previous creative solutions makes him a force of nature. He’s like Ray Kurzweil’s Singularity, the combining of man and machine.

It’s not the words or data, it’s how they were used, the creative solution, that gets us to the next level. It’s not the length of the wand, but the magic of the magician.

So many people don’t keep their lessons, so they are doomed to repeat them, usually losing details and quality.

The beauty of templates is that all those details that were so brilliant at the time don’t get away. That let’s me spend my time on the new details.

What do you save to take forward?

Moments of Truth – New Strategies for Today’s Customer Driven Economy

Cutting Development Time

I read that Jeff Bezos of Amazon makes champions of new projects start by writing an imaginary press release about the benefits of the new project. That’s nice.

Then after a while, I understood. This is different from typical development, where you build something and then try to figure out the benefits.

By starting with the benefits, when there is still energy to edit and improve, we get the very best benefits, the sparkling benefits. That cuts out a lot of trial-and-error development, and makes a more purpose-designed product, slimmer and more elegant.

Instead of picking up the castoff ideas from the shop floor, or going from version 1 to version 2 to version 3 to come up with a successful product, why not spend your energy to define what good is and start there?

WordPictures – Phrases That Lit The Bulb!

Fishing and Catching

Two weeks ago, while at the shore in North Carolina, I came upon a seasoned angler fishing from a small dock on the sound. He had a couple of rods, a tacklebox bursting at the seams, a cooler, and was casting his line into the water seeking fish.

I stopped by for a quick chat about 'how they're biting?' - he caught me up short saying the fishing is fine, but the catching leaves a lot to be desired!

His explanation:

I have a variety of hooks, rods, rigs, sinkers, lures, and types of bait because fish have preferences – some like certain bait while others go for a specific lure, or are more likely to hit a line rigged a certain way.

The trick is to use the right combination of items to achieve the desired result...catching.

This made sense, so I asked how he knew what was the right combination? He grinned and said you have to ask the fish – by trying various configurations and remember which works.

He noted that two fishermen can be fishing in the same location – side by side – with one pulling in fish after fish as the other is waiting impatiently for a hit. You must offer what is appealing to the fish to get the desired results.

This wise fisherman may have been talking about fishing, but he was describing business – we can have the best equipment, processes, procedures, and presentation, but if it is not what the customer wants, it is not effective.

Like with the fish, to know the right combination that will meet the need of the customer, we must listen to what they have to say and develop a solution which satisfies that need in as simple and straight-forward a way as possible.

Fishing is like a business with the equipment, process, and energy, but catching is using the right resources to get the desired results.

Who knew that fish were so smart!

Applied leadership – Gibbs Rules

Work

Work is making and keeping promises.

Delegators want to factor complexity into their failure. No points off.

Work requires learning and developing improved processes. No points off for ignorance.

Work requires maintaining successful relationships in the environment. Losing is losing.

Work is a tough game. No one is ever error-free. Which gives everyone a chance to succeed.

There are three stages to making and keeping promises.

The first is the youngster who figures that not making any promises means not having to keep any promises. He’s the one who was so lonely his momma had to tie a pork chop around his neck to get the dog to play with him.

The next step is making adequate promises and enjoying the thrills and spills.

The last step, since life is a rodeo, is making the promises that should be made, and enjoying heaven and earth shifting so you keep them.

What is your work style?

For more ideas, see out new web page, About Work!

Creating Reality

I was sitting in a meeting listening to a social scientist creating a reality with his mouth. He was flashing his eyes, pointing his fingers, threatening doom.

I noticed he didn’t have any experimental data or observation, he had a string of slogans and epithets, which having lost their original data and observation didn’t make sense to me, having done some actual research and gained certifications using the tools in his area of opinion.

He was long on threat, short on facts.

I couldn’t get up and leave without disrupting the meeting, so I started to ponder. If I wanted to create a reality with something other than my mouth, what would I use?

Ears?

Had I seen people create a reality with their ears?

Suddenly, I knew I was on to something as ALL the people I respected for creating reality had listened until they knew what they were talking about. This was an important point.

The guy at the front of the room was getting louder, more excited, more threatening, more finger slashing, as he sensed he wasn’t making much progress. Then I recognized his weaker magic.

150,000 years ago, when shamans first started negotiating and explaining the unknowable, they all had mouth sounds, threatening gestures, and sudden moves. But the more powerful explainers also gained the ability to leverage their power by slamming sticks into the ground, while whirling and shouting.

And I am a golfer.

Tips 4 The Big Chair – Up your magic!