Speaking of templates, check out Method 123. They provide templates for Project Managers to help you Initiate, Plan, Execute and Close projects while managing staff, customers, suppliers, change, risk and quality issues. Their Project Management Kit includes more than 50 Word and Excel documents with over 300 pages of helpful hints, real-life examples, charts and tables. The Kit is suitable for Project and Business Managers, Consultants, Trainers, Students and anyone else interested in managing projects successfully. Check ‘em out!!
Well if you don’t use MM for project management, you should. And the Project Management JetPack has multiple templates to improve your team’s delivery of projects. Check out Mindjet.com.
MindManager software has evolved over time to be a must-have application within 85 of the Fortune 100 companies to help boost individual and team productivity. Its ability to visually capture ideas and information, organize priorities and tasks, manage simple and complex projects and develop and communicate strategies and concepts helps to streamline and convey vast amounts of information.
It’s amazing to me how many people do not use technology in their organization, be it a business, a practice, non-profit or shop. It has been a decade now that websites have become mandatory to disseminate information to your potential consumers or clients. When many of these business owners were starting out, personal computers were part of science fiction. Today, if you don’t have a website and email, you are way behind your competition.
But even if your business is not up to standards with technology, how do you personally become a better consumer? People are using the Internet to do so. And, if you as a business are passing up all of these learned consumers, how are you managing your own purchases, activities and education?
Like it or not, a website is a fundamental part of owning and running a business in the 21st century. Don’t have one? Woe is you.
I want to wish everyone a very prosperous and Happy New Year! It’s that time of year when we set our goals for the year ahead. While I know most have health goals (losing weight, working out), we also have Business Goals…for example, how much are you aiming to increase your profits in 2007?
So here’s how to set your most important core goals, based on the SMART acronym:
S – Specific … Goals must be specific, defining exactly what you want to achieve.
M – Measurable … You must be able to measure if your goal is being achieved, to give you the clear feedback you need to stay on track.
A – Achievable … Goals should be ambitious but they should also be attainable. You have to possess the belief that you can achieve the goal in order to
R – Relevant … Your goal must be personally important to you in order to increase the odds that you will be driven by the goal to accomplish it.
T – Timeline … You must have a deadline date to completion, which focuses you on the steps needed and time required in order to fulfill your objective.
Monitor goals daily and change your plan if you’re not getting the results you expected. Try to focus on a small number of key goals to get focused and avoid petty distractions. And once you achieve your goal, celebrate your accomplishment – and then set another goal!
Happy New Year and all the best to you in 2007!
A Japanese company and an American company decided to have a canoe race. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race. On the big day the Japanese won by a mile.
The American team became very discouraged and morally depressed. The American management decided that the reason for the crushing defeat had to be found. A “Measurement Team,” made up of senior management was formed. They would investigate and recommend appropriate action. Their conclusion was that the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the Americans had 1 person rowing and 8 people steering.
So American management hired a consulting company and paid them incredible amounts of money. They advised that too many people were steering the boat and not enough people were rowing. To prevent losing to the Japanese again next year, the rowing team’s management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 3 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager. They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 1 person rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the “Rowing Team Quality First Program,” with meetings, dinners and free pens for the rower: “We must give the rower empowerment and enrichment through this quality program.”
The next year the Japanese won by 2 miles.
Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment. Then they gave a High Performance Award to the steering managers and distributed the money saved as bonuses to the senior executives.
I came across this picture of a model home PC created in 1954 as envisioned to be fifty years in the future. The caption reads:
Scientists from the RAND Corporation have created this model to illustrate how a “home computer” could look like in the year 2004. However the needed technology will not be economically feasible for the average home. Also the scientists readily admit that the computer will require not yet invented technology to actually work, but 50 years from now scientific progress is expected to solve these problems. With teletype interface and the Fortran language, the computer will be easy to use.
I just can’t imagine what the fancy steering wheel was used for 
Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman, one of the most influential economists of the last century, died Thursday, at the age of 94. His wife Rose Friedman, who co-authored many of his books, survives him.
Friedman was awarded the Nobel prize in 1976. He has long championed the cause of political and economic freedom and the links between the two. He has originated, or been associated with, many breakthroughs in economics since the 1950s. He is best known for explaining the role of the money supply in economic and inflation fluctuations.
I remember reading about him and his works, watching him on television and heard him speak at a presentation in New York City in the 80′s. I admired him and his intellect. The world economy is better because of his thoughts.
Three of the biggest retailers have found that eliminating or de-emphasizing Christmas may have hurt sales. You may remember last year when they were very Grinch-like and removed any reference to Christmas from advertising and stores. Employees were barred from exclaiming “Merry Christmas” and had to substitute “Happy Holidays” instead.
But, sales were weaker at these stores. Therefore, the three have major campaigns to label seasonal merchandise as “Christmas” and not “Holiday”. Merry Christmas to Macy’s. Kohl’s and Wal-Mart. May your sales increase for acknowledging centuries of tradition.
Well I guess email spam isn’t all bad. Take for instance this 3 minute management course:
Lesson One
An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing.
A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, “Can I also sit like you and do nothing?”
The eagle answered: “Sure, why not.” So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested.
All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.
Management Lesson #1
- To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.
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Lesson Two
A turkey was chatting with a bull. “I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree,” sighed the turkey, “but I haven’t got the energy.”
“Well, why don’t you nibble on some of my droppings?” replied the bull. “They’re packed with nutrients.”
The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch.
Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree. He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.
Management Lesson #2
- Bullshit might get you to the top, but it won’t keep you there.
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Lesson Three
A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold; the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field. While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him.
As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.
Management Lesson #3
(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.
(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.
(3) And when you’re in deep shit, it’s best to keep your mouth shut!
This ends your three-minute management course
Did you know that there are now 50 million blogs? That 175,000 blogs are started every day? That 7,200 are created every hour? A very interesting article about blogging, State of the Blogosphere. So many to read, so little time.
