Posts filed under 'Management'
My favourite quote ever is one that I found in one of Jay Conrad Levinson’s books is this:
“A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week.” - General G.S. Patton
For the longest time I had this quote pinned to the bulletin board in my office. It is now burned into my brain.
I have a history of procrastination, perfectionism and perpetual planning. I have found a number of ways to deal with these issues but it is the Patton quote that really brought me to attention (pun intended).
In Search of Solutions
In the last year have read a number of interesting articles on time-management and planning. Here are four of my favourites:
You will notice that three of the four articles are by Steve Pavlina. He is by far one of my favourite blog writers, if you can call him that. No one on the web I have found puts more effort into their articles than Steve. Some of his ideas you may find odd but they will always prove thought proving.
What are Your Favourites?
Let me know what your favourite time-management, procrastination and perpetual planning remedies, techniques and insights you have learned.
Tags: Steve Pavlina, Jay Conrad Levinson, time management, procrastination, planning, getting things done
June 29th, 2006
In the last couple of days I seem to be reading more and more about the pitfalls of business. Jim Logan at BizInformer has yet another take on mistakes a business can make in his four part series, The Four Biggest Mistakes Businesses Unwittingly Make to Limit Their Growth and Success. I found this series starting with #3 Offering Prospective Customers Little to Beleive In.
I truly beleive this point cannot be stated strongly enough for businesses who hope to use their website as a vehicle for delivering or increasing profits.
Too many website owners expect too much unwarrented trust or don’t consider the development of trust of any measure. In the real world people make judgments on all sorts of factors and those that go to building trust far outweigh many others, including some that are on the list of Jim offers in his post. Degrees mean little by themselves, testimonials; the same. It is the careful and thoughtful connections between all the items in his list that can make the difference.
April 12th, 2006
I have been reading 37Signals new eBook Getting Real in which they talk about the problems with large committees and project teams etc. in development. It really came clear to me tonight when I read Seth’s post on That iPod Video which lead me to the iPod Observer story that Microsoft Confirms it Originated iPod Box Parody Video.
The iPod Observer Story cites a Microsoft spokesman, Tom Pilla as confirming they commissioned the video, “…to humorously highlight the challenges we have faced RE: packaging…”
In Getting Real, the 37signals team talk about developing faster applications and better interfaces and working through each process by being smaller and not having to cater to every VP or Chief “Insert Title Here” in the organization. Obviously Steve Jobs gets this and Microsoft acknowledges their design-by-organization methodology is flawed but still need to get there.
Small teams are always better than committees.
I will keep posting until I get through this terrific eBook.
PS: A minor irritation is that it is not available in print and I am loathe to print it out as inkjet cartridges are not cheap.
March 14th, 2006
Management and sales maven Tom Peters has just released a new manifesto “111 Ridiculously Obvious Thoughts on Selling”. From the first two pages I’d say this one’s a keeper.
Don’t hesitate to check out the other manifestos at ChangeThis.com. Topics are wide ranging and make for great references.
March 9th, 2006
37Signals released their new eBook Getting Real for purchase and download. I bought it today based on the great preview pages they offer on the site. I think that this will be another really great reference for website and application developers, designers and others interested in making products great.
I’ll offer a review once I finish reading it.
March 8th, 2006