Farewell and lessons learned

I filed the official paperwork to close Work Organized yesterday, and will be discontinuing this blog.

As my last post, I’d like to share some of the lessons learned this past year in starting up a business.

- I have no regrets of doing it. I’d always wondered what it would be like to have my own business, and now I do. I found I did not enjoy the marketing aspect, and that I missed being with technical people way more than I ever would have guessed. When you’re just getting started and don’t have a solid client base yet, all I was doing was marketing. I like the doing much more than the talking about it. There is now real clarity around what I like and want to do.

- A lot of fear is gone. I’ve now given speeches to groups, and introduced myself to strangers and done all kinds of things that a year ago I would have said “I could never do that”. I am now convinced that I can do pretty much anything I set my mind to. At the beginning, I outsourced some things because I didn’t think I could do them myself, or didn’t know how to do them, like my web design, which I later did learn. I think outsourcing should be done intentionally because you’ll save money or time, not out of fear. Fear is not a good reason to have other people do things for you that you can and/or should be doing yourself.

- Other people are so willing to help when you ask them to. Yes, sometimes people try to help when you DON’T want them to, but you are free to say thank you and just ignore them.

- I can trust my instincts. I read a lot of books and took a lot of classes, but they just emphasized that I did know what I was doing all along. I think we all give ourselves too little credit for what we know and seek outside validation from “experts”. Only /I/ know what is right for /me/. Outside counsel is always wise, but in the end, it was my gut decisions.

I’m looking for a new job. I’m an excellent, experienced software testing manager and engineering project manager. I like to work with smart people on interesting challenges. My preference is for a smaller company where I can have a bigger impact. If you know of any such situations in the central Massachusetts area, please drop me a line at chrisreeve at gmail dot com. THANKS!

How do you keep track of those good ideas?

This is one area where I’m trying to be more organized: keeping track of those good ideas: things like books that have been recommended, restaurants to try out, ideas to research.

The issue for me is that I have so many mediums that I collect good ideas from. On the web, I’ll put the item in my bookmarks list, in print media I’ll cut out the article, and on mailing lists, I’ll often mail the post to myself. I tell myself I’ll remember that I have these good ideas filed away, but I forget until I come upon a cache of them or am trying to remember a specific instance.

For my personal life, I’m experimenting with using a pocket Moleskine notebook with various labeled sections. I used a Post It product specifically made for creating tabs. If the item is short (for example, a recipe) I’ll copy it in its entirety. If its longer, I’ll note the location of the original (such as a url for an article). This notebook works for me because my interests fall into the broad categories I’ve labeled, and are fairly constant. I like Moleskines because they hold up better than spiral notebooks, and are a nice portable size.

I haven’t found a satisfactory solution for work-related items yet, as every job I’ve had has been in a different domain, and so good ideas for one job are not necessarily things I want to keep forever, since I may never go back and try them out once I’ve left that particular job. Most of the work items tend to be project related also, so once they are done, I have no need to refer back to them again. I always have a work notebook for meeting notes and the like, but there is no order to it other than chronological. Technology changes so quickly also, that even if I were to capture these ideas, there might be a faster easier way developed by the time I get around to trying out the original. So I’m still looking for an answer here…

Resource List for Blogging

If you’ve ever wanted to start your own blog, but didn’t know how to get started, here are some links you might find helpful.

A collection of short articles on blogging

A quick article on starting to blog

Talks about the planning you should do before starting a blog

Free e-book on starting a blog

Although I happen to be using WordPress for this blog, I’ve also used blogspot (now part of blogger) and blogger. All provide a similar functionality. Its really a matter of what feels most comfortable to you. Here’s a list of some popular blogging services:

Blogger
WordPress
Type Pad
Xanga
Live Journal

I don’t talk much about cool tools- here’s why

I like gadgets as much as (or probably more) the next person. I just don’t tend to use them long term to help me work better, they are more of a distraction. I had a Palm V once upon a time, and then a Palm Tungsten E, and they were worthwhile for what they did: beep when I’m supposed to be somewhere and keep phone numbers and emails handy wherever I happen to be. But using such a tool for much more than that just got in my way. They are completely useless for planning, and planning is one of my higher value added activities.

When I work in an environment where I need to meet or collaborate with others, I need a tool to keep track of meetings, and for every office I’ve worked in, there’s been Microsoft Outlook for that. My PC is usually good enough for that, with the occasional handheld I’ve had when I’ve spent a lot of time in a lab (and would otherwise lose track of time). This past year I’ve been working at home, and a paper calendar sufficed to keep track of client appointments or networking events. Sure, it’d be cool to whip out a gadget and show people what an up to date geek I am. But between the learning curve and the distraction factor (anyone remember Minesweeper? I had it on my Palm along with Bulls–t Bingo), I don’t think it helps me work faster. Your mileage may vary.

Something like Basecamp is useful for keeping others informed, but I don’t need that at home when its just me. Index cards work well for me when I’m keeping track of things just for my own use.

I’ll even admit I don’t carry a Blackberry and don’t plan to. Pretty much everyone I know lets it drive their life. In the middle of a deep conversation, they’ll suddenly check out and check their device. We often can’t get back to the momentum we had, mostly because the other party is distracted. Its unfortunate. And often, the person can’t work on the task that just interrupted us either, and that’s frustrating. Its an interruption for interruption sake.

I don’t even use all the features on my phone either. I know I’ll sound old for saying this, but texting via a phone key pad just takes me forever, its so much easier for me to write something on a piece of paper or use a real keyboard to enter information into my PC.

Tools certainly do have their place, and I’m all for tools, gadgets, software that saves me time or aggravation. But its purposely chosen, and I use it when its the right choice for a particular situation. And because they are particular, they aren’t an all purpose tool I’d recommend to a general audience, like this blog.

So very easy, yet quite profound

Another gem found on the Zen Habits site.

Using social networking to work better

Though many of us have been using social networking tools for years, it seems to have hit critical mass in the last few months and how to articles are appearing everywhere. I’ve been working with a group of volunteers and my local Chamber of Commerce to deliver a series of classes that will start this week to explain the tools and how to use them to leverage a company’s marketing efforts. (I’m teaching the segment on blogging ).

What I’ve observed, is that people new to a tool will often let it become a time sink. Twitter anyone? Or how about all those games and quizzes on Facebook? Some people will at this point write off the tools are being useless. But they can indeed be very useful.

How can you leverage the use of social networking tools to improve your productivity?

I know one developer friend who has used Facebook late at night when confronted with a technical problem. He’ll let his network know what the issue is, and he’ll get a solution within minutes. Not just a solution he could have found on google, but a tried and true solution from someone who has been-there, done-that.

You can also broadcast to your network a particular need, whether looking for a job, or a contact at a particular firm, or information about a particular technology. Even informal surveys.

I’ve used LinkedIn to expedite information gathering for both job searches, and when hiring new staff. I can gather more relevant information more quickly than through other means, and find connections who can help me. I put higher trust in information provided by people I know, than a general google search. I still do both, and they both have their place.

Using lists to get out of a rut

Like many people, I often get into a rut, whether its having the same old meals for dinner or going to the same old places on the weekend. When there isn’t a lot of energy to spare, its easier to stick with the tried and true and familiar – even if its boring.

I find that having pre-made lists of choices or alternatives is really helpful. I don’t always choose something on the list, but it gets me thinking to even more choices. Ironically when I don’t have a list in front of me, and can choose /anything/, I often can’t think of any good ideas.

Since I am such a food hound, I’ll use an examples of what I’ve done with food planning, but this technique can be used for any environment where there is a lot of choice or for brainstorming. I like to go on picnics when the weather is nice. Its tempting to just pack some chicken or a sandwich and call it a day. I have a list of ideas separated out by category: main dish, breads, salads, sweets and extras that would be fun to bring along. Just looking at the possibilities makes my creative mind think of even more ideas. I did the same thing with lunches to pack for work so its not always the same sandwich and chips.

I also keep a Moleskine notebook of ideas for the weekend. The key is to writing down ideas when you have them or find them, otherwise they’ll get lost. I have this separated out by places to go, things to do, where to eat as well as an events section by month (like for summer festivals).

The key to success of this technique is to invest some time collecting ideas when you aren’t in immediate need of them. It took me an hour to compile a list of 30 different lunches, but now I’m set for a long time instead of struggling with the decision each time I have to make it, and getting frustrated with being in a rut.

Imagine the time that could be freed up from following these rules

Marketing Guru Seth Godin has yet another excellent column:

Getting Serious About Your Meeting Problem

A technique for dealing with feeling stuck

One of the amazing things of our time is all the choices that are available to us. One of the paralyzing forces of our time is all the choices available to us. Sometimes there are so many wonderful options or directions we can be taking our life or our work, that its hard to make any decisions and move forward. We can stay in this place of not making any decisions, because we don’t necessary want to commit to a direction without getting more information.

I recently tried a technique that helped me get “unstuck”. I folded a sheet of paper into quarters, and on the top of each quarter I put a different decision I /could/ make. Then for each decision, I made a list of things I could do if I decided on that decision. This helped me to embrace new ideas and be open to new thinking, because I wasn’t actually committing to any particular decision. I wasn’t telling myself that I WAS going to do these activities, just that I COULD. I tend to procrasinate when I feel overwhelmed with commitments, but here I wasn’t actually making any commitments.

In my case, I realized I don’t need to make a decision at this moment (and I don’t have enough information yet to be making one), but I was able to see that I could be having several irons in the fire at once, and none of the efforts would really be wasted, regardless of the long term direction I wind up taking Plus, I eliminated that fear of commitment that was causing me to not make progress on /anything/.

Deciding what not to do

As mentioned in my last post, sometimes the thing to do is to do less. So how do you decide what NOT to do?

In the GTD (David Allen- Getting Things Done) system, you have weekly reviews where you process your “inbox”. You can immediately decide you aren’t going to do something, you can put it on a someday/maybe list that you review from time to time, or you can put an item in a context list to be actively worked on and just procrastinate doing it, until you decide to delete it or move it to someday.

In the AutoFocus system (Mark Forster), you keep a running list of tasks with about 25 tasks/page. If there is a task that catches your eye, you do it, otherwise you move onto the next page. When you get to the end of the pages, you circle back around to the beginning.

Both of these methods are just different ways of getting you to admit that you really aren’t going to do something, that something isn’t important enough to you to have made progress on them.

I think techniques like these are useful when you have multiple priorities, and aren’t yet ready to say no. Or when you aren’t clear what your true priorities are- these systems encourage you to clarify through regular reviews.

Other useful techniques:

- being clear on your values. I was inspired by Gretchen Rubins’s post on her own commandments: http://www.happiness-project.com/happiness_project/2008/12/new-years-resol.html. Actually before I wrote the commandments, I came up with 4 pairs of adjectives that I wanted to describe myself, and then the commandments flowed out of those values. So when I look at possible projects or tasks, I can ask myself does this fit in with my values. At this point, the values are ingrained and I proceed or not on a more intuitive basis and don’t have to really stop and ask much.

- being clear on your time constraints. You don’t help others or yourself by saying yes to something you really don’t have the time for. You’ll feel guilty or stressed or resentful, and the other party may be disappointed, or aggravated when you don’t deliver, or deliver less than they expected. As hard as it is, you really are better off saying no in the first place.

- being clear on your energy level: similar to the last one. Even if you have the time, and it falls under your values, you may not have the energy needed to do a good job.