After getting in better shape recently, I had to buy some new suits. While it was nice to get some newer, nicer (and smaller) clothes, it got me thinking about making technology investments. I think there are some interesting parallels. As the title says, one size does NOT fit all. If it did, we’d all…
I’ve often wondered about the title ‘manager.’ While it conveys a certain common meaning to most, is it the best term to use when looking at how to get the most out of your team? When you treat people as needing to be ‘managed’, that implies that if not managed, they’ll disintegrate into chaos, going…
“People learn nothing when they’re asleep and very little when they’re bored.” – John Cleese The other day, I was sitting in a project management review, and thinking about how many people were held prisoner for over an hour…with nothing really accomplished. Have you ever been stuck in a long meeting, wondering why you were…
It’s always interesting to see the sheer number of options we have for improving our lives with technology – everyone I know has a smart phone, a Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter/FourSquare/Pinterest account, etc. Are our lives improved by those things? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. For example, while a smart phone is an awesome tool, and helps keep me in…
BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) seems to be on many companies’ minds these days. With the deluge of smartphones, tablets and other personal devices, it’s almost impossible to avoid it. Is BYOD an essential tool in the CIO toolkit, or just the next flashy trend to catch the end-user eye? I think that BYOD is…
Last week, I decided to re-join Toastmasters. Back in high school, I took public speaking, did drama club, school plays, etc. After college, I joined a Toastmasters group at work, and went through the full program to become a CTM (Competent Toastmaster). I even competed in a club-level and area speech contest. I got to…
Way back when I was doing hands-on PC hardware support, I learned to watch other people fix PC issues, and found several truisms that translate pretty well to other situations. I’ve found that if you follow these five rules, you can do a pretty good job of getting by. 1. Believe everybody. What they’re telling…