Collaboration Roadmap: You've Got the Technology - Now What?

I just ordered my copy of Collaboration Roadmap: You've Got the Technology — Now What?; the fourth book written by my friend and professional colleague Michael Sampson (@collabguy) - this time to address the following business challenge:

Many firms are struggling with collaboration technology. Either it's been installed and is not being used, or they are not sure what to do. How do you make great decisions about collaboration technology and its use within organizations? Collaboration Roadmap answers both questions.

Have you ordered your copy yet?

Michael also consults, runs workshops and speaks on these and related collaboration topics.  You can contact Michael here.

Or, you can contact me if you need more general assistance with choosing or implementing technology, or your use of it, so that your business is more effective.

Work Life Balance

I like Nicholas Bates' writing - it is brief, yet eloquent and regularly provokes me to think and act differently.

For example, consider this as my interpretation of his post on Work Life Balance:

1. discuss and agree with your partner what 'work/life balance' is
2. switch off more
3. create zones of peace: physical and/or time
4. reduce multi-tasking
5. be 'here' now
6. realise you cannot do everything, so prioritise
7. accept you will never have enough time, so make choices

Please refer to Nicholas' blog article for a slightly longer discussion of each point.

Where Independent Professionals Succeed and Large Firms Fail

I received the regular email newsletter today from RainToday.com. It contains an excellent article by Andrew Sobel (pictured) titled "Where Independent Professionals Succeed and Large Firms Fail". It expands on these key points on where independent professionals can succeed:

1. Create personal brands by building individual market renown;
2. Regularly develop and disseminate intellectual capital;
3. Focus on conversations, not PowerPoint;
4. Try to achieve success, not perfection;
5. Have learned to eliminate non-value added activities;
6. Take responsibility for their personal development;
7. Organize around clients
8. Truly act like it's their money.

This is very good advice for me, given that a lot of my work is by nature freelance or independent consulting.

How do you achieve success?

Jazz is the art of aligning talent so it can perform well

I'm really enjoying getting the regular email newsletter from Brian Fraser of Jazzthink. Overnight this gem - Brian's tip for this month - arrived in my inbox:

Jazz is the art of aligning talent so it can perform well. Musicians discover and develop their own talent through practice - lots of practice - so they can express their genius. They join with others who have done the same to align themselves in playing melodies, rhythms, and harmonies that keep them all in sync and please their audiences. From the core of their genius they align with others to play the core of their common purpose. Exceptional managers and leaders model this process and create an inviting space for it to happen consistently.

Mind Mapping Software

I've not often used mind mapping as an idea capture technique because it didn't seem to suit my personal style. However, recently a colleague recommended I try it again, and I now like it!

Wikipedia describes a mind map as:

"... a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. Mind maps are used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, decision making, and writing.

The elements of a given mind map are arranged intuitively according to the importance of the concepts, and are classified into groupings, branches, or areas, with the goal of representing semantic or other connections between portions of information. Mind maps may also aid recall of existing memories.

By presenting ideas in a radial, graphical, non-linear manner, mind maps encourage a brainstorming approach to planning and organizational tasks. Though the branches of a mindmap represent hierarchical tree structures, their radial arrangement disrupts the prioritizing of concepts typically associated with hierarchies presented with more linear visual cues. This orientation towards brainstorming encourages users to enumerate and connect concepts without a tendency to begin within a particular conceptual framework.".

In workshops for clients I've started creating maps on whiteboards and flip charts, but I also like to capture thoughts in this format directly into my PC where I archive everything of value.

I've found the following software options seem to work best for me:

1. FreeMind is free PC mind mapping software which I've found to be functionally strong, easy to use and creates mind maps which are very visually presentable (eg in client reports);
2. I also sometimes use Personal Brain but even the free option is significantly more functionally extensive than just mind mapping, so I don’t find it as easy to use as FreeMind;
3. on my iPhone I use Simple Mind - whilst there is a free version which creates jpg images in your phone's photo camera roll the paid version also saves out to the web in pdf, jpg and freemind format for further editing on your PC.

What do you use?

Bringing Back Perspective

A useful reminder from Nicholas Bates of some simple techniques to bring back perspective:

Hug her. For longer, looking deeper into her eyes.

Drive the scenic route: country, mountain, desert, coast. Sure, you’ve  got time.

List your blessings.

Remember those crazy dreams you had as a kid? Time to resurrect some of them.

You're going to take the stairs, rather than the lift.

There's a brand new working week of opportunity ahead.

Consider for a moment: pretty well everything is getting better; the rest, well, you can handle it.

One Day Each Week Should Be Different

I'm enjoying reading The High Calling of our Daily Work blog, which regularly reminds me of the dignity and holiness inherent in work.

Today I have read a timely reminder on the value of taking a break from work, and in particular that "one day each week should be different".

This, of course, aligns with the discipline I attempt to maintain of 'diverting daily, withdrawing weekly, and abandoning annually'.

Why Google Wave?

I wrote last week on my interest in, and the beginnings of my trialling of, Google Wave.

A commenter on that article pointed to one of the many document sharing sites out there as an alternative. This prompted me to think deeper on why Google Wave has me so intrigued, when there are plenty of collaboration services which I could implement in a way that would meet my needs.

My initial thoughts were - with my subsequent thoughts in italics:

1. I'm looking for something to collaborate on docs (ie edit too) not just share them - the commenter pointed to a sharing site;
2. Wave is from Google and therefore much more likely to become more pervasive if it succeeds - as a consultant working with an ever changing array of multiple customers and partnering organisations I collect too many systems, UserIDs and passwords as it is, if Google Wave takes off and removes a need for a lot of them (I don't expect it to replace all of them) that would simplify my life and hopefully enable me to deliver value to my customers quicker - rather than being distracted as I often am now by having to learn yet another system with yet another pair of UserID and password credentials;
3. because it is designed ground up as an open protocol - very soon other providers will be able to provide Wave servers, and waves will federate among them so it won't be a closed system like too many of the current alternates - as well as the points made in 2 this one is particularly relevant to my work as a consultant working with an ever changing array of multiple customers and partnering organisations - I don't always get to choose which systems I have to work with as my customers, and sometimes my partner organisations, often choose the tools to be used for a particular project - Google Wave offers the potential of using a system that might become as common as email, without the frustrations of email (which are why we are all looking for new options anyway!).

My business partner now has a Google Wave account and I will blog my real world experience of using Google Wave in the context of running our consulting company.

Google Wave

I have started exploring Google Wave, and already see potential uses for it in the inherently collaborative project world in which I spend my working life. Many of the tools on which I, my colleagues, our clients and our project teams rely simply aren't doing the job sufficiently - particularly the all too pervasive practise of emailing documents around for review, comment and editing.

Google Wave was originally pitched when announced by Google earlier this year as a replacement for email, but that is quite misleading.

Lifehacker's explanation, from their "Complete Guide to Google Wave" is closer: "Google Wave is a new online communications tool that enables groups of people to edit and discuss documents simultaneously on the web. The Google Wave team says Wave is 'what email would look like if it were invented today.' However, because Wave is mostly a document collaboration tool, the oversimplified email metaphor can mislead new users. The initial Wave experience can feel chaotic and confusing, but use cases for Wave abound. Come on in and meet Wave."

If you would like to read more, check out these resources:

• Lifehacker’s "The Complete Guide to Google Wave" published yesterday is excellent;
• Google's own explanation of Wave: including a video of the launch/preview at the Google Developer conference earlier this year (the first 20 minutes is the key content but watch the full 1:20 if you’re really interested);
• the Wikipedia article is good (eg “Waves, described by Google as ‘equal parts conversation and document’, are hosted XML documents that allow seamless and low latency concurrent modifications”).

For Everyone Who Has Ever Missed A Deadline...

hat tip nathaniel

SHAFTED Model of Leadership

My friend and pastor, Paul Gardner, who shares my interest in writing on leadership, has written about a model of leadership he describes as SHAFTED: "Stolen From Here, There And Everywhere Deliberately". The model comprises three elements:

1. Know, develop and work to your leadership STRENGTHS;
2. Understand and fix your leadership FATAL FLAW;
3. Work with your TEAM to achieve the rest.

Whilst I see the humour in it, I'm not too sure about the acronym SHAFTED given its negative connotations.

However, this is a very useful contribution to our understanding of how to be an effective leader. It applies whether your interest in leadership is primarily within the church (like Paul), or in business (like mine), or in other domains.

I recommend reading Paul's series in full.

What do you think?

Next Actions and the GTD Add-In for Outlook

Eric has written a post describing how he uses the standard Outlook task 'status' field to supplement the Netcentrics GTD Outlook add-in. In his case he uses it for what I call "subsequent actions" (he sets the status to 'not started') which only become active (a "next action") once a prior "next action" (he sets the status to "In Progress") has been done.

I use a slightly different technique, which I have described in a comment on his post, and here:

I achieve a similar result using Due dates. In my workflow subsequent actions will usually occur on a day in the future once the predecessor next action has occurred. I have a filtered copy of the standard Actions by Project view which has an additional filter on it for actions due on or before today. An implication is I have to due date all my tasks or those with a blank due date are also filtered out, as well as subsequent actions. If when the due date comes around and the ‘next action’ is not yet done, but the ’subsequent’ action appears on my list as now due, this prompts me to either do the ‘next action’ (remembering that I should have already!) or reassess when the subsequent action is due.

The same technique also works as a tickler. For future tasks/reminders I want to be ‘tickled’ about I simply create a task with the relevant due date. On that date it appears on my filtered view as it is now ‘due’.

How are you using the Netcentrics GTD Outlook add-in, and standard Outlook functionality, to manage GTD for you?

Review: SharePoint Roadmap for Collaboration

I have just finished reading Michael Sampson's second book "SharePoint Roadmap for Collaboration: Using SharePoint to Enhance Business Collaboration". Michael describes the book this way:

"SharePoint Roadmap for Collaboration is the indispensable guide for IT and business people wanting to use SharePoint to enhance business collaboration. The roadmap focuses on the business and human side of SharePoint, rather than the technology."

Michael has an engaging writing style. I almost heard him reading the text. I could easily envisage him delivering the content in a workshop or seminar context - both of which he offers!

The book is very readable despite being full of rich content covering some complex areas. For the last couple weeks I read a chapter every few days. Then today I completed the second half of the book in one sitting. It flows very well.

I have been a member of IT project teams for over 10 years, and in project management roles on such projects for over 5 of those years. The insights in Michael's book resonate closely with my experience.

The ideas Michael explores are equally applicable across a much broader range of IT projects. Not just collaboration projects generally, or SharePoint projects specifically. I encourage Michael to explore this further in his future writing.

This afternoon I am meeting with one of the business sponsors for the IT programme of work I am leading for his organisation, a client of mine. An imminent project within that programme - which he is quite wary of - is the implementation of SharePoint for an intranet, document management, search, reporting and collaboration. All of these processes are broken to some degree within this organisation, which is one of the key business challenges my programme of work is seeking to address.

I will be showing him Michael's book and encouraging him to buy a copy. It will enable him and his colleague executives on my steering committee to ensure they provide my programme with continuing oversight that is focussed on achieving what they need.

Now, on to reading Michael's first book "Seamless Teamwork: Using Microsoft SharePoint Technologies to Collaborate, Innovate, and Drive Business in New Ways".

Michael and I are friends. I remember us first meeting when we were teenagers. Then, in the mid-to-late 1990s, we worked closely together on the team that started a new church in our suburb. During this time our friendship developed, and continues to this day even though Michael and his family moved to another part of the country. We don't see each other very often, but communicate regularly on twitter, by email, by txt/sms, by commenting on each other's blogs and occasionally by phone. However, do not let my friendship with Michael detract from your reading of the above review. I do a lot of reading - both for my professional life, and generally. Michael's thinking and writing is world class. This book is clear evidence of that.

Jazz and Leadership

Earlier this month I wrote "Lessons on Leadership from Jazz" as the first expression of my thoughts on how "my preferred leadership and working style aligns closely with how jazz music is performed".

This synergy between jazz and leadership is something I had been pondering alone for over a year. Unusually, I had not looked around to see what others were thinking about it. Of course, nothing is new under the sun, and it turns out I am far from the first person to have made the connection!

Within a day of my post appearing Brian Fraser of Jazz Think emailed me (from Canada), and we have since been in conversation by email. I am very encouraged by how rich his thinking is on this topic. I particularly like his 'thought provoker' articles "Innovation, Organisations, and Jazz" and "The Workplace as Jazz Club".

I see Brian has also written a book on the topic, so must purchase it! - even though he also makes it available for free download.

Leadership

Later today I will be posting my first substantive blog article for some time.

The article will be the initial expression of my thinking on leadership - which has developed significantly since leaving the employment of HP a year ago and embarking on life as a consultant engaged in a portfolio of projects.

In part the article will also be a response to Michael Hyatt's recent article '8 Things Leaders Can Learn from Symphony Conductors'.

The article will also be cross-posted as a 'guest post' on my friend and pastor Paul Gardner's blog - to add to the collection of content on leadership he is building there.

The image (a teaser to my thinking) is of Shamarr Allen - one of my favourite modern jazz artists - performing at JazzFest in New Orleans earlier this year.

Do You Maintain Balance in Your Life?

My close friend and Pastor Paul Gardner has posted a timely reminder on The 3 Basics of Balance:

• Divert Daily
• Withdraw Weekly
• Abandon Annually

A good annual family holiday has always been a planned feature of our family life.

The recent improved implementation of GTD in my life has enabled me to improve my habit of withdrawing weekly.

But I need to re-prioritise putting aside time each day to 'divert'.

Like Paul, I've heard this many times before, so I'm not sure who to credit.  I first heard it from our former Pastor Andy Westrupp.

Do You Maintain Balance in Your Life? How?

Evernote + Blackberry now fully functional in NZ

Yes! My Blackberry Bold has just downloaded a new version of the Evernote Blackberry application (now 3.0.155).

My initial testing indicates it now also works over Vodafone New Zealand's mobile data network, as well as over wi-fi (which it already did).

This means I hold high hopes for how it can play an increasing part in my daily workflow as part of my current project of refining my implementation of GTD.

I will write further on this after trialling it as part of my daily workflow.

Evernote Blackberry App only works in NZ over WiFi

Update: Evernote + Blackberry now fully functional in NZ

I have trialled the Evernote Blackberry Application further and can confirm it works on my Blackberry Bold over my home WiFi internet connection.

This means I will proceed with assessing how it can play an increasing part in my daily workflow as part of my current project of refining my implementation of GTD.

However, as I found this morning when I first downloaded it, it doesn't work over my Blackberry's mobile data connection - which means it as not as useful as I had first hoped.  I have asked Vodafone New Zealand why this might be in the hope it can be made to work.

On balance though, I applaud Evernote for making available a directly downloadable release of their Blackberry application today after spinning their wheels yesterday by only making it available to those in the US, Canada and UK.

Well Done Evernote re Blackberry App!

Today I am very happy with Evernote!

They have now also made the Evernote Blackberry application available for direct download.  This sidesteps Blackberry's App World which is only available in the US, Canada and the UK - ie not to me in New Zealand - hence my disappointment yesterday.

I have just downloaded it direct to my Blackberry Bold, will test during the day and post my thoughts tonight.

Hat Tip: Sean via Twitter

Disappointed in Release of Blackberry Evernote App

Earlier today I was very interested to see via Twitter that Evernote has released a Blackberry application.

I have been waiting for such an application for some time as I think it could be the key to making Evernote a tighter component of my daily workflow, and my current project of refining my implementation of GTD.

However, having tried to install it, I am very disappointed to find it is only available in the "US, Canada and UK" as those are the only countries allowed to install the Blackberry App World, which is how Evernote distribute their application.

I'm hoping that either Blackberry extend Blackberry App World to New Zealand, or Evernote provide an alternate way of downloading their application.