Brain Scat

A nice article on how to work better.  I like that it focuses on simple ideas that can have profound impact on how we work and how we think about working.

The list appears simple on it’s face, but is worth thinking about as we do our day-to-day task, but especially, I think, as we try something new.

Here’s the list:

1. Do one thing at a time
2. Know the problem
3. Learn to listen
4. Learn to ask questions
5. Distinguish sense from nonsense
6. Accept change as inevitable
7. Admit mistakes
8. Say it simple
9. Be calm
10. Smile

[Lifehacker via Scott Berkun via Team Genius Book Report

Merlin Mann at 43Folders did a great presentation on presentations that is worth a read.  This was from 2007, but is still a good way to shake up your presentations.

I admit I struggle with how best to apply some of the ideas since most of my presentations tend to be pretty technical and filled with details.  So, I struggle with leaving them out and as a result, they tend to look like a bullet-fest-apalooza.  And, you pretty much don’t see technical presentations given with stock photo footage.

This leaves me wondering why that is and not having a great answer.

Nevertheless, it’s a great article on better presentations and if it gets me thinking differently, that’s not a bad thing.

Lifehacker has a nice article on improving your public speaking.

Years ago I took a week long class in public speaking at the company where I worked.

It started out with video taping a short impromptu speech.  We didn’t get to see the results of the tape at that time.  Later, we talked about many of the basic of better public speaking: eye contact, cadence, pacing, etc.

Two of the areas that I had struggled with and, to some extent still do struggle with, are pacing and non-words.

I speak fast, especially when nervous.  I can also be a quiet talker.

In the course of the class I became much more aware of controlling the non-words (Um, ah, uh, etc), more aware of pacing and the value of a pause, a moment of quiet to gather your thoughts.

At the end of the class we were video taped again and when we graduated, with certificate and all!), we received the tapes of our opening speech, several that we’d done in the middle and our final speech.  The difference in that time was pretty striking.

I’m not nearly as concerned at the notion of talking with a group or even one on one with a stranger as I used to be and I credit that class, along with time and practice, with helping me to be a better speaker.

And, the far and away best recommendation from the above article is to record yourself and review it while practicing your speech.  Pay attention to non-words and pacing.  Look at body language and work on eye contact.  The latter two won’t be natural when practicing alone, but it’s still useful.  And, best of all, if it is  possible, record the presentation itself.  You may find it a bit cringe-worthy, but the feedback you’ll get from that will be invaluable.

Get Rich Slowly enumerates the most recession-proof jobs in the current market, as chosen by some experts.

Let’s see how I’m doing.

Per Expert #1:

1) “Engineering, because the abandoned U.S. industrial base will need to be re-tooled.”

7) “Computers and high technology, one field in which the U.S. continues to lead.”

Per Expert #2:  Well, I’m pretty hosed there, unless I hop over to IT or networking.

Expert #3: Nope, nothing I do plays well in a recession according to this opinion.

Expert #4:

2) Software design/development

11) Project management

Interesting article and I didn’t see anything in there to make anyone feel that they were not at risk.  So, buckle down and be indispensible!

[Via: Lifehacker]

Oh, this is a good, good thing.  Lots of great photos here.

[Via: Lifehacker]

Mike Elgan over at InternetNews wrote an interesting article about what he calls Work Ethic 2.0.  In it he argues that hard work is dead, replaced by the ability to function in an environment actively working to rob us of the ability to focus our attention.

This resonates with me as it seems the Internet breeds more and interesting ways to pull us away from focusing on things.  Even taking aside the Internet, which I believe still offers real benefit, despite the shiny lights and noises, the same applies in the workplace, and add in additional sources of attention grabbing.

One of the things I’ve appreciated as I’ve moved from Development to Management to customer-facing roles and back is that each offers different levels of opportunity to focus.

In my experience, a developer often has a fixed set of requirements and a fixed schedule.  There is always the possibility that a high-priority customer issue or business opportunity will come up and upset that apple cart, but largely, the opportunity exists to go heads down and focus.

In one of my other roles as a Customer Applications Engineer, it was on the opposite end of the spectrum: almost entirely interrupt driven.  The ability to plan larger, longer term projects existed only in and around meeting the immediate demands of customers.

Somewhere in the middle is the management role.  Trying to manage a set of Developers, themselves focused on the individual tasks while I, as the manager, try to keep them focused and minimize the disruptive interrupts, but having to choose to let some by as necessary.

The challenge in that role is to focus on the needs of the team to meet the goals of the company to make money and be successful, while trying to serve as a guard on the Developers time.

It’s an interesting problem, especially in light of the plethora of interrupt mechanisms that exists in a moderns workplace.

I’ve worked in environments where the interrupt mechanisms included all of the following: email, phone, IM, in-person visit.  That doesn’t cover the hallway or bathroom, which also offer opportunities for added interrupts.

The ability to focus in light of all of those challenges will be, I think, an increasingly important skill to cultivate in a environment that increasingly demands our attention be split when we most need to focus.

David Seah over at http://davidseah.com has published a great compact printable calendar for the last few years.  They are great for project planning, especially when it comes time to figure out Releases or to help figure out that a deliverable 8 weeks from now lands on a critical resources vacation time.

I usually carry one around in my notebook and mark it up until it’s time to print out a new one.  Very handy.

He also has several other useful tools worth checking out that I’ve used in the past, all part of his Printable CEO series.  Specifically, I’ve used the Emergent Task Timer and Emergent Task Planner.  Check them out here.

Here is the link to the calendar.  Note, it does require a spreadsheet program like Excel, but it works as well in free options like OpenOffice.

So, for the first time since I was 15, I find myself without a job.

Back in October of 2007 I left the large EDA company I had been working for on and off for much of my career to join a small, local startup.

This startup had a very cool idea which involved a mix of hardware (a custom chip) and software (both tools and application software) for a device called an MPPA or Massively Parallel Processing Architecture.  They were looking for someone to manage their Software Tools group.

I got the job and happily did so for the next 13 months or so.

As October 2008 rolled upon us, two things were clear:

1. We were running out of money.  Our Round B financing had come up short of what had been promised, so the runway we’d been planning to run till April 2009 was suddenly pulled in to mid-November.  This meant going out to the investor community to ask for more money.  Which led to the second conclusion.
2. November 2008 was a lousy time to be asking for investor money.

Though our CEO made every reasonable effort to try and get us the money, it was clear that there was not money to be had.

Even though we had product (production hardware), software, applications, customers and big name partners, it was just too risky for investors.  So, in mid-November, the money ran out and the doors shut.

I’ve been unemployed since.

Up to this point in my career, I’ve been fortunate in that any changes I’ve made, be it from one company to another or within the same company, they’ve been by my choice and on my timeline.  I’d take a couple of weeks off between jobs or start directly, but was never without work.  Till now.

And now, we have a triple whammy making things more difficult: The economy, the season and (locally) the weather.

So, I have updated the resume to reflect my most recent experience and have been floating that about.

I have made contact with my network to beat the bushes that way.

And I’m still looking.

As a result of all this, my focus these last few weeks has been less than perfect.  The holidays have helped, giving me something else to do, but it also serves to remind that we have less money to work with during the holidays.

Now, with the holidays moving behind, the weather (locally) improving and people going back to work after the holidays, it’s time for my focus to more effectively shift to finding that next opportunity.

We’ll see how it goes.

Painting is hard.

A recent article I read determined that it took roughly 10,000 hours to become good at something.

If you do the math, that’s 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year (vacations are good) for five years.

So, a full-time jobs worth of work for five years and most of us can become good at whatever we set our minds to.

It’s no wonder that most of us lament that we can’t write, can’t paint, can’t draw, can’t make wood furniture or sculpt or whatever.  We can’t do those things and we are unwilling or unable to put in the five years to change that and unwilling to accept whatever spped progress we can invest towards that goal.  So, many of us give up.  Or, better yet, I suppose, putter around as and when we have time and just do what we do and let the rest work itself out.

Lessons Learned:

1. Painting is hard.  (Worth mentioning twice)
2. Patience is hard.  And a virtue, I hear.
3. Observation is critical.  Certainly I have plenty of snow to look at, yet the result is less than satisfying.

This was written after a long day of dealing (unsuccessfully) with the incredible weather we’ve had around here.  Worst storm in 40 years, according to the weather wonks.

‘Twas The Week Before Christmas

Twas the week before Christmas, in old Portland Town,
And the cars and the busses were sliding around.

The stockings were sitting on a chair by the tree,
Had they feet in them ready, they’d probably flee.

The kids were still nestled for warmth in their beds,
‘Cause the power was out, no juice from o’er head.

My wife in her socks and me in my mukluk,
Were trying to phone PGE with no luck.

When out in the yard there arose a large crash,
I fell out of bed and proceeded to dash

Away to the slider I stumbled half aware,
Grumpily, crankily, ready for bear.

There may have been a moon somewhere out on the snow,
But since everything was covered, you’d really never know.

When what to myopic eyes did appear,
I’ve really no clue, where are my glasses, right here!

There was no driver of sleds or of plow,
Though we certainly could use one, right here and right now!

Heavier than dandruff, white as can be,
the snow it did fall, oh deary me.

“Now, Crap! And Oh, poop!  Now someone must clear it”,
I wonder if Christina will do it if I claim to not see it?

Like dunes of sand in places far warmer and south,
the snow was everywhere!  I cursed with my mouth.

There up on the house-top the snow it did sit,
waiting to fall if I even touched it.

There was four inches of snow and a half inch of ice,
And more snow piled on top, this was great, really nice…

As I pulled in my head and wished I could go back to bed,
Snow did fall down the chimney instead.

So there was snow in the house and snow on the stoop,
Snow on the dogs and snow on their poop.

The things sitting under our fake Christmas tree,
did not include a shovel for little old me.

Nor boots for my feet, nor a weather proof pant.
“Who needs that stuff here!”, I miserably rant.

Now what to do in this world gone so white,
With no power, no shovel, no boots and no light?

So I shambled outside, ill prepared for the day,
ready to grumble, complain and to say:

“This weather ain’t normal, it’s nuts and it’s crazy,
I just wanted to stay home, be warm and be lazy!”

But this I do wish before the snow melts out of sight,
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.”

-Darrin Mossor, 12/2008