End of year stock take

December 17, 2009 — andrewnim

There are plenty of sources which are busy providing end of year advice and check lists for things you need to do over the next few weeks in preparation for the new year. I have one much simpler piece of advice.

Relax enjoy the year end.

What? shock horror, did he say that?

Yes I did, now is a time to concentrate on family, customers, and staff. Now is a time to end the year on a good note. It is not the time to try and plan strategic goals and sales targets for next year. That should have been done last month, or better yet in the new year when those plans are a reality. If you try to do it now,  you are increasing your work load and will not truly be concentrating. You will make plans which have detail missing. Now is a good time to gather the reports you will need in January. You will make plans and then go off to enjoy Christmas, when you come back the plans will have faded and not seem quit so vital. This means that when you start the new year you will fall back into the pattern of dealing with the immediacy of the moment. Not actually working to your plan.

So wrap up what need to be done, spend time talking to clients and customers. Spend time with your staff. But most importantly take a break and spend time with friends and family.

You will find your self refreshed and full of ideas for new opportunities. Now is the time to sit down with you people and do some serious planning. Planning which will kick off the spirit of the year, planning which will be much more effective because you are concentrating on it. Set your goal of where you want to be next Christmas. Stick it up where every one can see it and create the plan to remind people and your self of the priorities. Plan in ways to avoid getting pulled into ruts and directions which don’t fit the plan. Review in an honest manner what were the good and bad points of the past year. What worked, what did not.

Break the planning into sessions over a day.

First: review, general discussion,

Second: lay down the outcomes for the planning, lead the discussion,

Third: make the plan,

Fourth, review, tidy and put it on the wall.

For the rest of the year, spend time once a week to review the plan and make sure you are keeping to it. But don’t be scared to change it if the situation needs it. But do be sure to understand and explain why you are making the change. Be sure it is a strategic change and not just a side alley.

So now that we have that all figured out,

Merry Christmas to all.

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Seth Speaks about engaging innovators

December 2, 2009 — andrewnim

Interesting and useful list from Seth Godin

It is a great list below are a few items which jumped out at me,

  • Simplify the problem relentlessly, and be prepared to accept an elegant solution that satisfies the simplest problem you can describe.Hire the right person. Don’t ask a mason to paint your house.
  • Part of your job is to find someone who is already in the sweet spot you’re looking for, or someone who is eager and able to get there.
  • Pay as much as you need to solve the problem, which might be more than you want to. If you pay less than that, you’ll end up wasting all your money. Why would a great innovator work cheap?
  • Cede all issues of irrelevant personal taste to the innovator. I don’t care if you hate the curves on the new logo. Just because you write the check doesn’t mean your personal aesthetic sense is relevant.

That last one is great, don’t tell the person you hire how to do the job you hired them for.

But you should read the full list over at Seth’s

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The emperors new content

November 30, 2009 — andrewnim

I attended a launch party for a new search application the other day. Pingar is an enterprise search platform or should I say research platform. I was totally wowed by the method they have used to produce the results. Pingar is aimed at the enterprise and specifically Sharepoint users at present and it is here that one of its unique strengths lays. Pingar does not produce a list of a zillion links for you to follow. It goes inside the resulting documents and extracts the relevant information. Which it compiles into a human readable report. So say the Chairman of a large corporation does a search on financial reports by sector. He has an overall view of how his company is doing. He can share this with his directors and it can be seen by the sales managers. However, and this is the neat bit for the enterprise, the sales managers can only see those parts of the results for which they have clearance. Pingar connects to the company permissions system and applies its restrictions.

At the party someone stated “journalists may be redundant”. My reply was that as gatherer’s on information they are, but as analysts of information, they are in more demand than ever. It is okay having all this data but, someone needs to make sense of it.

This took me back to a subject which has been on my mind of late. The nature of the content on the web. Can it be trusted and how can business know the validity of the facts on which it is basing its decisions? You see there is a method to research which academics, journalists and “researchers” should use. They should record and verify the sources of the facts they are placing in their content. There is a huge swathe of content (like this statement) which has no factual backing and no references against which it can be checked. I cannot give you a reference or source here because I can find no study on the issue. Its based on observation and may be flawed. But I don’t think so.

Take for example slideshare.com. They provide a great resource, an easy to use method for sharing power points. You go to a conference and the presenter can make his power point freely accessible to all to re watch later. But how many of those power points contain references. I looked at 20 the other day on a particular sensitive subject and only one had any form of reference. Yet people are using these as sources. But they may be the emperors new content. Without substance, without research or references to research, to back them up. Or notice that they are opinion. They may well be created using sources which where created using sources which had no factual basis at all. Yet it is regurgitated and used by the misinformed or the under-pressure  and may well be presented as facts upon which business and political decisions are made.

There is an old adage, “if it is in the paper it must be true”. It seems that this has now become “if its on the web……”

This is one of the things I really likes about Pingar, it produced a report based on the search request using contextual matching. But it also then gave all its sources and with the click of a link would pull the data in to supply me with the deeper perspective as needed. Being built from an academic research perspective, it needs to prove the veracity of the data it is supplying. I am not totally sure how this will work in the web as opposed to an intranet. But then maybe this is actually the tool for the deep web. Finding the real source rather than the conversations about it. Or it may cause a change in the way results are supported with others providing better meta data to support the authenticity of what they are supplying.

That can only be a good thing.

Posted in Collaboration, Doing Business, Knwoledge. 3 Comments »

Communicate before starting

August 7, 2009 — andrewnim

I was recently helping a client who has an issue with their web developer. As usual a big chunk of the issue was caused by poor communication, which in turn was caused by shortage of time.  But this problem cuts both ways. The client did not take the time to fully think out what they wanted and get help to define this and the developer did not take time to fully understand what was needed and what was expected. This was compounded by no ongoing dialogue, no project tool and no updates supplied to the client or asked for. Then suddenly the deadline was close and the site was only partly done and did not look as the client expected. Now both parties have a problem. For the developer, they may loose the commission and receive bad press, or go over their budget fixing things. For the customer, the whole project has created stress and they are now faced with paying a second time to get what they wanted done.

All of this could be avoided by actually setting aside some time to sit down and get some agreement on expectations. This works for any project: draw up the process; explore the issues; draw some wireframes and create some lists. Set some milestones. But most importantly get to understand each other and what you need to provide. This is all basic stuff really and there are books galore written about it, but nearly always from the perceptive of the project manager. The trouble here is that small business owners are so busy project managing their business and don’t or wont take on the new project. They expect the developer/ supplier to do that. Only often they are a small business too and concentrated on doing what they do. They also have their way of doing it and often “know” best.

If both side have a check list before they sit down they can then easily see on which parts they agree, and then on which parts they need to spend time discussing. And that is were you need to spend your time, because these are the points which will eventually cause a falling out.

So if you are hiring, either get someone to help scope the project and spend time putting it together for you, or spend that time yourself and find examples and ask questions.

If you are the prospective developer, remember your client may not understand what you do and take time to explain it to them. Have a method and check list to reach an agreement. Then provide  a fairly detailed scope. Get this signed off and then ensure you spend 20 minutes a week updating the client. It will save you time in the long run.

I really am not saying anything new here, but it needs to be said again and again. It’s been talked about by plenty of people and will continue to be. In fact while I was writing this someone else was posting this check list for a Drupal Design Brief. I suggest you grab it and keep it, then use it both as a supplier and as a client.

Posted in Collaboration, Doing Business. Tags: , , . 1 Comment »

Training, Training and Training

July 19, 2009 — andrewnim

I am a technology fan. I love technology. One of my favorite TV programmes as a kid was the  BBC’s Tomorrows World which showcase new tech every week. I enjoy trying new things and finding out what works but strangely I am not addicted to gadgets! I like to try things out and see if they will make a difference, not just get it because it’s the hottest new  item. Maybe this is because for me there has to be a point to the technology, it has to answer a need, or create it. The point’s always the same: does it make my life easier? does it make my work easier?  The new thing may be a great idea, but if it’s  badly implemented it is going to increase my work not decrease it and chances are no amount of training is going to change that.

But if it has been well thought out and implemented the new tech- say a web based accounting package for monitoring your bank account, some training is going to mean you are able to get the maximum use very quickly. My advice to anyone developing an application of this nature is spend at least 25% of the development time ensuring your user -experience is geared towards training simplification and that your training material supports it.

My advice to the user, whether an individual or a company installing a new system, spend at least 25% of the first month of use in training. Many companies often  spend thousands on a software package and not a cent on training, then wonder why they are not attaining the desired ROI. Outlook is a great example of the failure of companies to ensure optimum use of a man tool of the company.

Here is a scenario which is played out in hundreds of companies all over the world: It’s Monday morning and the new employee arrives, straight out of college and eager. They get a desk, they get a computer, they get a login and email via Outlook. They may get asked if they have used it before and about five minutes help logging in and they are off. Well not quite, what’s missing here is that they may know how to use outlook to some degree but do they know how to use it the way the company does? So, now the company has someone who is learning as they go and making mistakes which need correcting by another member of staff who is then taken from their work.

Now think about implementing a company- wide CRM or accouting package and not providing any training, just letting the staff teach themselves. Just how inefficient would that be? Sounds like madness when you see it written down here like this doesn’t it? Yet it happens.  Dont let it happen to you, use good change management techniques. Ensure you understand what you are doing, why you are doing it, and how you are going to do it. Make new technology work for you and remember that your new technology is only going to work as well as the people who are using it.

Posted in Doing Business, people, systems. 2 Comments »

When a piece of paper does the trick

June 17, 2009 — andrewnim

Sometimes people try to be too clever. It’s a common mistake and often happens because of a need to impress. It can also happen when a consultant or member of staff has an agenda or product to push for what ever reason. They become so focused on pushing the system they forget that sometimes new does not mean improved.

In a conversation today I heard about a company here in New Zealand which has a paper based work flow. Sounds unbelievable in this day and age, right? Yet, this company is doing well and delivering the correct items to the correct customers on time. The reason is that they have invested in the work flow and not the system which manages the data. Each person knows just what to write on the paper and who to pass it to. The business process rules are working using the simplest technology available; technology which drove industry for a very long time before the invention of the computer; technology which is still used by a lot of people in business’ of all sizes.

Of course there are down sides to this paper chain: storage for one; finding passed orders for another and no easily searched database to use to check invoices against. But  creating a database  such as this is all going to be very easy to achieve and any good database and form building programmer could do it with an sql database or Filemaker.

But one thing to bear in mind is that while the staff could potentially put exactly the same details into an application to be pushed through the work flow electronically, this would require a major investment in technology to facilitate the ability to input the data on site. Yes, that might save some time and possibly increase orders but does the ROI add up? Or is it technology for the sake of it? You see, if the present system is working and sales have actually increased what is the business case? The piece of paper being used by the sales guys does the trick. The issue for this company is to find the point in their chain where the largest benefit is gained in the shortest time by applying some electronic systems. In the case of this company I would say that that is in the office.

And thats the trick here, dont pick a new system and impose it on your company, spend some time figuring out if and what needs to be fixed and how. Remember, low tech is still tech and sometimes the simplest tech is the most failproof and supplies the greatest return on your investment.

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Outside the box?

June 1, 2009 — andrewnim

Thinking outside of the box: The Cliche

I am sure you have heard this phrase far too often. I know I have, and all too often said by people who don’t actually do it. Something to consider is that its hard to have a different perspective when each day is similar, taken up by the same issues; reality for most small business owners. Same problems, same solutions. Just running the business takes all your energy. Having time and extra energy to think outside the box is something you put on a wish list. Probably under “someday in your GTD application” (no I am not going to write about GTD).

I am going to present an idea, one which does not involve asking you to make time to climb a mountain to get a different view or spend a weekend trying to cross a river with two oil drums and a piece of string (think out of the box and use the bridge!). But what I am going to suggest is that you put away that business guru book, that trade magazine or that white paper on increasing sales and instead pick up a work of fiction or a biography of someone you find interesting but was not in your business.

You see, I really do not believe you will be capable of thinking outside of the box unless you are engaging with other people who do not even live in your box. And when you do start to engage in that way, you will find that you no longer need to make a special time to do the thinking, it just starts to happen.

There is a whole bundle of theory and research that may or may not be correct about how our brains work. One theory is that we create neural pathways in our brain. Teenagers are teenagers because their pathways are forming and changing quickly. As we get older they start to get entrenched. Apparently, our brains are now trained to work in windows and folders on our computers. We have difficulty seeing the data represented in any other way.

So, if we engage in activities which create new pathways and don’t allow ourselves to trot into a business “cul-de-sac,” we should encourage our brains to stay active and that helps us begin to use the new sources of knowledge to create even more new pathways on the fly.

So off you go, find something which makes you think about anything other that running your business. Give your brain a vacation. It will return rested and invigorated. Though hopefully not too much like a teenager.

Happy thinking.

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Virtual workers

May 28, 2009 — andrewnim

Virtual workers, but real work.

It’s funny but we talk about virtual workers, virtual systems, virtual this and that but what do we mean? According to my dictionary  the word virtual means: almost or nearly as described, but not completely or according to strict definition.  But whose “strict” definition? The use of the word ” virtual” at present is being derived from virtual reality: “a simulacrum environment, make believe”.

So when we talk about a virtual secretary, what we actually mean is that she/he is a remote secretary, not a virtual one. She still works and carries out the functions of a secretary. She exists and the work she does exists. It has value to the person who employees the virtual worker. I may be considered a virtual worker. I am independent, not part of my clients direct business structure. I appear when needed and vanish when not.

But does that make  a virtual worker a less valued  part of a business or a team? I hope not and to be honest, if a client views me that way then we need to think about our relationship. As I said, there is nothing virtual about the results I or any other “virtual worker” should provide.

Not long ago the term was teleworkers. But do the people who need to use such resources really understand what it is they need or are getting? Do the words get in the way? When hiring a virtual worker a good question to ask would be: would I hire them as part of my company? Most businesses use a virtual worker and always have: the accountant. They are integral and important to the very running of your company. You sourced them through other business owners or other recommendations. I imagine that you did not pick up the big yellow book and called a few at random. So, would you do that with a virtual assistant or project manager?

Just as you cannot afford to keep an accountant full- time you don’t need to keep any other virtual worker full- time. As a business owner you get to tap into great skill sets as and when you need them. These people tend to hone their skills in order to provide services to multiple clients. I am not saying you should replace all your staff for virtual staff, that would make no sense. But there are tasks you need people to do which are not part of the day to day running of your business. Just like your accountant, they are people you should build a good, solid and valued long term relationship with. Become a preferred customer  of theirs and show them their value by offering referrals; in return you make them part of your team.

As  I said in a past post,  build a good team around you and it will help you through the tough times. Include some skilled outsiders in that team and increase the odds in your favour.

If you are thinking of hiring a virtual assistant I suggest reading this article on allbizanswers by Tracy Collins on selecting and engaging.

Take care

The author

andrewnim

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To print or not to print

May 18, 2009 — andrewnim

Or, what to print and when

Recently, I started redoing my home office; changing it from somewhere I worked from home for my employer on occasion, to my main place of work for my business. The two are I have found, very different.

The main thing that is different is the hardware I need. Working in the IT sector I have most things I need but there were a few omissions; a large monitor with high resolution (actually two) and a printer. Yes, I had a printer; one of those little HP all in one inkjet printers. Great for the home and okay for an office, printing once in a while and nothing too flash.

What does a business need in a printer?

Speed, silence, cheap, and one heck of a good finish. I think that should cover it. Now to find one. I have an all in one inkjet and there is no reason to replace it. So, I thought about getting a decent color laser printer. Then I thought about all the laser printers I have used over my career, and what I have used them for: running off email, proposals, policy documents, reports and marketing material. For the first two examples on this list and some of the third they were fine; for the fourth and fifth: forget it.
So, what do I need to print in my business? Well very little, invoices go via the web; policy documents go via email or straight to a server; proposals may be printed and presented; reports no; marketing material yes. My experience of business laser printers costing from $1000 to $5000(or more) was not that good for marketing material. Pages tended to curl, and the resolution was never that great. Especially, if you threw some images in. I had once spent hours putting a training package together for a large client, then lost a discussion with my director over printing it. At his insistence, we did it on the company printer. It looked cheap and was noticed by the client. It also took me a lot of time nursing the printer. Next time I won the argument (feed back from the client helped). I took the file to a print shop, gave them the specs, got a price and went back to doing my work. A day later, I collected all the training manuals, boarded and bound. Very professional. Thumbs up from the client and we got the deal.


Selecting a printer

For a small or medium size business your choice will be based on how much you can afford to spend on the purchase but this can actually cost you more in the long run. Your printer could escalate your running costs e.g. time taken fixing jams, cleaning cartridges, wasted paper, refilling ink etc.
Unfortunately, spending more money the printer purchase is no guarantee that these costs will be avoided. I know this from experience.

Have a look at these comparisons from the nice people at tekserve.com

Tekserve.comprinter grid

As you can see, the actual running costs are very much the same for comparable priced laser and inkjet printers. These figures are however, only rough as there are many factors which make it hard to judge true running costs. The most important being: what you are actually printing on the pages. How much ink is used? How much is wasted?

The cheapest thing to print is black text (we will revisit that fact later).

So, if the running costs are the same the other differential is the purchase price. The printers listed here are in US dollars but are generally of similar price in New Zealand. So, it may well be worth looking at a low end laser instead of a mid to high end inkjet. In this range they are not very different in price.

But, with lasers you can pay a lot more, up to $1500 for a home office machine and up to $8000 for a SMB/ corporate machine. But, do the running costs reduce if you spend that extra money? Not really, not unless you are buying in bulk and reducing cost on purchase of ink. It still takes the same amount of ink to produce the same results.

So which is the best value for a small business (not just a home one)? A laser, get a colour one but use mostly black.

As for silence and speed

No contest, lasers are faster and quieter. Plus they dont tend to shake you desk when it has a coffee on it.

Quality of output

While, at the end of the day, business owners may make decisions on price, decisions  should also be based on quality and on the effect our printed material has on our customers. That is our return on the investment.

Even if you are not creating image- heavy brochures or photos, your letterhead and your invoices should be clear and noticeable. One should help attract customers and the other should help them pay.

This brings me to the other part of our printing needs as a business, that being the quality of our branding and the quality of our documentation and marketing material. A common mistake is to think that marketing material is the flash stuff we give out to potential customers at Field Days. Sorry, but that would be forgetting one major rule of business: “return business is more valuable than new”. So, each time you supply an existing customer with a piece of your company stationary or a document, you are reinforcing your brand, in effect, you are marketing.

So, when you go to see a designer about your site or your brochures, get them to do your letterheads and cards etc too. Keep it uniformed and branded. Unless you are a designer, make use of one. I know that I for one, need help with colors, but that is only the tip of the iceberg of what a good designer can provide for you.

Here is an example. The other day I sat down to thrash out my new business cards, opened up Adobe Indesign and got to work. An hour later, I was annoyed and frustrated. I am not an Indesign user normally and it showed. But worse, while I thought I knew what I wanted, I had broken one of my own rules that being I wasted an hour of my time which could have been much more productive. Well to be honest, two hours because I had to calm down and have a cuppa. When you charge people for your skills, its because you do something better and faster than they can. Faster, because you know the short cuts and what works. I have now taken my brief to a local designer and will get them to set it up for me.

One last word on quality from PCWorld.co.nz

Quality Comparison

Quality Comparison

Take a look at the print quality and the price difference. Do you really think you will get a good ROI on those figures?

Conclusion

After quite a bit of research I decided on my perfect setup. Something to remember, I print very little, most of what I produce is passed electronically. But should I start to print more this conclusion will be just as (if not more so) valid.

In the near future, as my printing increases I will purchase a black ink laser printer. I will keep my inkjet for its great scanner and for the occasional document in color.

I will have good quality letterhead paper in color. I then only need add the text. Should I need proposals or reports which require color, I will email them to my local printer to run off and then collect them or get them to drop them off.

This way I know I am not wasting my valuable time doing things which are not cost effective such as cleaning or fixing the printer.

I won’t have an expensive printer which is not reaching its potential but is depreciating.

I can check with the people who know printing for ways to improve my presentation.

I ensure I don’t run out of ink at the wrong time (or toner).

I know my marketing material will always look right.

And I save money on electricity. Bonus.

As someone once told me ” Do what you do best, then get someone to do the rest” very wise words.

Take care and happy printing.

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