poor video from the Technopark presentation

Tried to capture some video of the presentation, but unfortunately the batter on the camera is pure crap. In any case I salvaged some video thanks to Roald who saw the camera stop.

Brown Bag Lunch: Selling Innovation/Change

I made the presentation, but unfortunately my camera has such a disappointing battery that I have not video of the talk. But here is the slide show instead. I post via slideshare.

Since the talking I do is not captured, I have to make sure that I give credit where it is due. Also, for more places to see, things to read, or inspiring voices you can look up:

• Simon Sinek, Start with Why (the what, how, is not original)
• Dan Ariely for the comparative difference thought starter
• mondaydots for first showing comparitive difference to me, and planting ideas for the simplicity of the presentation

Performance Measurement

It is a painful period in the growth of youngish companies, from that of a start-up to that of a SME (Small Medium Enterprise). With this transition come many growing pains come many challenges:

• how do we measure ourselves toward our goals?
• what goals are worth following?
• what happens if people don't meet these goals/expectations?
• are the people who go us this far still the people we need tomorrow?

Plainly, you get what you measure and you measure what you get.

If your goal is not measurable it probably is not objective (knowledge, faith, confidence are all highly subjective but too often in peoples goals).

Goals should link to our bottom line, short, medium or long term. After all, if it doesn't help us ,make money it can't really be that strategic (I recently heard a person remark that strategic is often used as a euphemism for not profitable).

Have to be willing to call people to the carpet if the goals are not met, and that includes making very hard decisions linked to the last question.

The people who may have gotten you out of the gate might not be the people who should take you all the way into port. Just like the people who you need right now, might not have been the right people when you were boot-strapping the business.

One of my acquaintances, recently on noting that many of their companies technical staff might not be up to snuff on some of our more recent offerings, asked what would happen if we were to institute a "testing" or "assessment" of skill and capability. Unfortunately, my answer was that we would first have to decide what we should measure, what would make a good technician? And for that the company is still, not out of the dark.

How not to solve problems

I wish there was some higher lesson in problem solving I could offer as a moral here, but instead I am stuck between laughing and crying.

SethG: 16 questions for free agents

Seth Grodin's Blog recently post the questions that I had long sought to consider in this blog. But of course since he is Seth and I am not he gets props for saying to more people. I would however like to consider his post:

16 questions for free agents

1. Who are you trying to please?
2. Are you trying to make a living, make a difference, or leave a legacy?

8. Which: to invent a category or to be just like Bob/Sue, but better?

11. Choose: teach and lead and challenge your customers, or do what they ask...

15. How close to failure, wipe out and humiliation are you willing to fly? (And while we're on the topic, how open to criticism are you willing to be?)
16. What does busy look like?

I wish I had posted it first, but it is a good list.
Check out Seth's Blog or search here for other consulting and free agent suggestions.

Dabbleboard: collaboration tool

I just stumbled upon Dabbleboard and I am immediately blown away

This could be one of the neatest things i have seen on the Cloud yet.

The embedded drawing in this link, is fully editable by guests, sharable but wholly unique. I can save it, store it locally, and distribute it. Just like you see here. Can lock it down as view only, or let others like you draw on it.

http://www.dabbleboard.com

Creeping Determinism

Listening to What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures by M. Gladwell and just got the part where he discusses the concept of creeping determinism, where he highlights the pitfalls of the many post-mortem analyses that people do of well documented outcomes and the way people seemingly fail to "Connect-the-dots".


Gets me thinking about how we spend mountains of time and effort dissecting computer simulations and analyses and models after the fact and point fingers at what people did not see. But we rarely talk about the other things that were in the view as well. The mountains of other data and circumstances, and boundary conditions of the day we first do the analysis and interpretation.


Brilliant stuff.... but it hurts my brain a little.

Freelancing: Techni-HOs unite

In a recent post Seth Godin ("the Dip" Dude) covered a favorite topic here Freelancing and Value they provide. Sure we often reduce the bottom line (we have lower overhead than those who are part of the SYSTEM; but they often overlook the value of being from outside the mainstream and the passion that freelancers have for their chosen Vocation (just the fact that they live off it makes the a in avocation silent).


Hire based on passion when passion matters, if cost comes along for the ride even better.

http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451b31569e201310fbb6b13970c

Consultant Value: the outsiders POV

Why we people need consultants? What Value do we provide?

At one customer site an Shift Supervisor who we regularly bumped heads with (constructively it turns out) stated very clearly that the problem with us is that we did not have to live their lives (consequently that was one of our strengths). The outsiders perspective allows for a alteration of the context that any given problem can be viewed in.



For me this was made more relevant by this video example of "predictable irrationality" from Jeff Monday and

Mondaydots.com and my subsequent listening to Dan Ariely's book by that name.

The ability of the consultant, or any voice of an outsider, breaks the pattern of the relativity that often blinds ourselves to the irrational decisions we make.

It is not necessarily that consultants have better insights because they are who they are, it is often times that they come to us without the baggage of our organization.

Additionally we risk upsetting this balance when we internalize that consulting function. External Change Agents are value added.





PS the reading by Simon Jones in the Audio Book is FANTASTIC it adds great dimension to the book, with a very crisp delivery of the irony of peoples predictably irrational behavior.

Resistance to Change: The empirical formula

The old joke is: 

How is arguing with an engineer like wrestling a pig in mud? 

After a few minutes you realize the pig likes it.

In order to facilitate change (what we consultants; internal or external) all hope to achieve, we must first come to terms with the fact that it is human nature to resist change. If we are selling organizational change (Who Moved My Cheese?), technology change, or process change (The Machine that changed the world) we must overcome the human urge to keep things the same.

A few years ago my good friend Bob Murdy and I first wrote down this formula (or something like it). There are a few key factors we always liked to point out in this equation. First, the benefit to the company or the team or mankind has no place in this equation (directly). Some people could however assess a positive value for gain from helping their fellow man because they "feel good" to help others. That is a selfish motive (just think of all the people in the world who don't appreciate the helping hands we offer them (Aztecs, native Americans, and Australian aborigines come to mind).

Additionally, the pain might be no more than my own guilt that must be assuaged (i feel bad for being a materialistic pig, so I text some money to Haiti and I feel better.

With this equation, we see that it only takes one missing element in this equation to make the whole thing (resistance to change) go to INFINITY. (division of any number by 0 goes to infinity for the non-math types out there).

So why don't people accept change:

• They feel no need to change
• You gave them no personal benefit
• You gave them no choice
• It was not there idea

Consulting: Technical Training pitfalls

A recent post by my friend Tim Stephens (i bet his filtrbox is ringing right now) http://www.dieguy.com/2009/10/29/confidence/stephens/ brought up one of the problems with the way many conduct technical training (software training, skill trades training, maching repair, etc). If the training does not prepare the student to DO, then it is useless. Training where the "instructor" piles on technical details and trivia that don't support the NEEDED activities, are of no value.

For example, in a training class for a software tool, that will remain nameless, the "instructor" provided a dissertation on the underpinnings of the software. Aspects of the software, that had nothing to do with the operation of the program or the completion of a job. In fact Tim will probably remind me that much of the discussion focused on the way the prior version used to handle something, that was automated in the new version. Yes, hours of class were spent discussing features that did not exist anymore. How did that help the student do his/her job?

Training that does not focus on what the student needs to be able to do, and does not require them to apply knowledge serves only as ego stroking for the "instructor". The students need to feel free to try things out, make mistakes, and it is OK for them to leave knowing that there are things they don't know yet. Don't try to cram their heads with every little nugget of information, they will leave not knowing which to use in getting the job done.

Consulting: Failure is an option!

Pretty poor paraphrasing, but still on point. When outlining a project with your clients one must ensure that any "failure" is, in fact, success. A common mistake that dooms many engineering consulting projects is the failure on the part of the Techni-HO in question from recognizing that sometimes they may successfully arrive at an answer of "NO".

This is different from prior discussions on the concept of "Shooting the Moon" Guarantees earlier mentioned here. But instead a need for you the Techni-HO to be able to recognize a no-win situation long before it ever happens.

For example, a common engineering problem in my other life as a Self-Proclaimed-Die-Expert is Formability and Springback. I'll pick on formability since it is the easier one. Some of the early tricks in my career relied on my forming "expertise" to identify and correct forming issues. These forming issues were usually automotive sheet metal parts (big body panels, exterior and under body) that split. Of course, producing fenders for Cadillacs and hoods for Oldsmobiles that had big splits in them was totally unacceptable.

The idea was to make the splits go away. It was our roll to make them go away, but here is the trap, what if the splits can't go away? What if there is no solution to fully resolve the failure? We always had to be careful not to take too much ownership in the absolute execution of the solution. For if the suggested solution does not resolve the problem then what do you do next?

We tell them that to make the splits go away they need to reduce the strain in that area x%. By definition in sheet metal the split is an indication or symptom of excessive strain. It would be a mistake to point out that they need to increase or decrease some specific variable to fix the split. (unless you are very good at recognizing the "moon-shot" opportunity).

Carefully craft your solution. The good news is that many of your customers won't recognize restatement of the problem, as a failure to solve the problem.

Return to profitability, by bringing revenues and expenditures in balance. (no shit!?!)

The "HOW" is for the process stakeholders (your clients) to decide and implement. Help them use process to identify potential solutions, help them to implement, then be ready to be the one to measure the success of the change. Just be smart enough to say, "that didn't do it, but we are headed in the right direction. Or that was wrong, now we know it is not related to [yada yada yada]."

I hope you never promised that a specific implementation would achieve the required end. After all, a plausible solution might not exist for their given parameters. However, we may eliminate a plan that did not work, and that has value.

Consulting tips: drink the kool-aid, believe and practice what you sell

As a Techni-HO you probably from time to time will have to advocate strategies and practices that in previous life seemed abhorrent to you. After all, you collect fees from clients to serve them and not yourself. Similar to the power of "we" "drinking the Kool-aid" is a highly necessary and powerful consulting tool that one must develop with prowess if one is to succeed.

The easiest thing is to only do and support the ideas that you believe, however if life was that easy we wouldn't need "blood sucking parasites" like consultants in the first place. So the next best strategy is to find the little things that work and apply them to your consulting work whole heartedly to the point of near fanatacism. One example for me was 5S and the visual workplace. I am a sloppy person I thrive in a certain level of chaos in my desk and car. So when the project I supported started promoting 5S it really was a moral dilemma (I ran work shops teaching the methods that I could not truly support personally). The work became painful, dull, and irritating.

In order for me to get through I started 5Sing (not really a word?) Everything; fanatically- my desk, the drawers, my car, my entire on project existence (I went so far as to mark out a place for my mug and the cord of my phone) once I was fully entrenched into the overzealous application of the method, I found humor and fun in my madness. Since the coffee cup could never make it back to the right spot, I glued a coaster with the green boundary around the base and properly labeled "Kam's coffee mug".

This mis-application of the method showed a very entrenched knowledge of the system to my "trick" and taught me to believe in what was useful about the method and where to draw the line. I started to believe, after that the training was better for them and me. Drinking the Kool-aid required the leap of faith on my part and in doing so - gained the trust of my client. Which was truly the problem at the beginning they could see I did not practice what I preached and may have been flogging the flavor of the month.

Now the world is filled with more systems (lean this and that, green initiatives, and new flavors of the month) take a step towards the edge, embrace the dark side, and drink the Kool-aid. Otherwise you are merely "whoring".

Eric Kam, broadcasting from an undisclosed location via BlackBerry

Consulting Success Guaranteed!!! 3 steps to promising RESULTS

When delivering technical consulting the slippery slope we all ride is the risk that our expertise may ever lead our customers astray. The fear that our credibility, our reputation, and future are on the line with every piece or distilled techni-HO wisdom we send out in the world. We have to be bold with our promises but of course must hedge everything.

The delicate balancing we seek is provide the over the top promise of a brighter future that will open up our clients wallet, while not exposing our soft underbellies to the risk of failure and and future destitution.

1. Define finite and feasible goals
2. Speak to the customers pains/needs
3. Shoot the moon

First, finite goals. Many an engineering project has gone astray because the consultant has promised something that cannot be delivered. Recently that has included, develop "Robust Compensation plan for production stampings" (remind me to blog that out in the stamping blog), design light weight rechargeable batteries for hybrid cars, and develop sustainable cold fusion. Now, why are these examples of bad promises that don't meet the criteria of finite goals?

• an acceptable result might not exist. For those who know anything about stamping (go to other blog to learn) it is possible the ideal result is not there. And now our client might expect it
• defined goal is relative (who says what is light weight?)
• The goal may be totally unattainable, or if they are it takes too long to get there

Instead, the goals must be finite and achievable on a time line. Don't promise the result but perhaps the enablers to the results, "establish the process and install the technology for achieving robust springback compensation." This is achievable. We know how to install the process, we can define the process and needed technology. There is less chance of bloat in the scope.

Second, speak to the customers pains/needs. With this we need to put the benefit in front of the customer immediately, so that it is clear what they gain by paying our fee (also establishing the disproportionate value statement needed for the Win-Win). "Install the process and technology for achieving robust springback compensation, for a potential reduction in tryout time of 50%" this particular type of promise is very nice as we promise the installation of a process and new technology which is very provable and measurable, and link it to a benefit that is not entirely measurable, since if they do follow our process they can never know what the entire exposure was. i.e. "Imagine how long it wold have taken otherwise..."

Third, Shoot the moon. Shooting the moon is the tricky one, it requires being big and flashy and very much covering your bottom. What I mean by "shooting the moon" is a way to Guarantee Success. Yes, Guarantee success, onto which you can put any type of promise to the customer. 100% refund, slavery for life, your first born. The "shoot the moon" guarantee works like this. Your promise what you mention in 1 and 2 above of the delivered results promise, then guarantee the result IF ________. The "if ________" is where you all will earn your true techni-HO stripes in knowing what the key if is. It usually involves something like "do what ever i say", but can't be that transparent. Most consulting clients should be smart enough to spot a bad guarantee like this but maybe not. Most of us fall for it regarding lifetime warranties on anything we buy. Lifetime satisfaction guarantee (just keep the receipt, the original packaging, never get wet, and NEVER FEED AFTER MIDNIGHT.)

Shooting the moon, requires a highly insightful knowledge of your customer, and knowing exactly how they will self destruct your and their hard work. I call it shoot the moon for this simple analogy.

I can promise any nation on the earth that they can become a world economic super power if they follow me advice and with my assistance put a man on the moon. Satisfaction guaranteed.

Finite and achievable, speaks to need and desire, and has an escape clause. Because truly, any nation no matter how small if they manage to put a man on the moon, they probably were already a world super economic power, my idea just got them the recognition. Those are results and i get paid.

What I learned as a Techni-HO (10 lessons of independent consulting)

Lesson 1: If I have a blog and want to get traffic you need to make lists and publish them
Lesson 2: The Win-Win is a lie, but go ahead and make the most of it
Lesson 3: there is value in being a HO
Lesson 4: there is value in having a techni-pimp
Lesson 5: Guarantee your work (with smart provisos)
Lesson 6: Selling time for money is tiring, better if you can sell someone else's time (pimping)
Lesson 7: A failure is sometimes the answer that the customer is looking for
Lesson 8: In the valley of the blind the one-eyed man is king
Lesson 9: The power of "WE"
Lesson 10: Coming up with 10 items for an advise blog is harder than it seems

I will admit that I did not really think this list out too well at the onset. But with the knowledge I gleaned from perusing the top sites at Alltop.com I saw that the most forwarded and shared blogs tried to simmer down the complex into list. So, that is what i will attempt. It is truly as sad intro for what I really wanted to blog about which was lesson 2: the win-win lie.

The Win-Win lie
Is that controversial (hope so, that also drives eyeballs to the site)? It seems that people, myself included have at one time or another espoused some situation as a Win-Win scenario. However, the terms of the Win-Win are very rarely completely level. I think it is more a Win-settle-for-what-we-let-you-have scenario at best. Additionally, I have learned that you can't trust the people who offer Win-Win too often.

My friend Gregg Wilson-whose wisdom and guidance I miss tremendously-put it the best.

You get three offers to play poker with some acquaintances. The first player says "let's play some cards. Sure we'll play for money, but it's just for fun. I'll win some money, maybe lose some. So may you and everybody else. It'll be fun for all". The second player says "Let's play some poker. You and I can take these other guys money. If you and I stick together we could make a killing." The third player says "we'll play some cards, I want to win and so do you. I'm gonna do what it takes to win, and so will you. If you can clean me out, if I can I will clean you out too." Who do you trust?

 Player 3. He is the only player whose intentions are clear and honest. The other two "Win-Win" offers are not to be trusted, as the underlying theme of poker and of life in the business world is "me first". Anything else is dressed up "me first". 

 That being the case, I am not saying that Win-Wins are bad entirely. On the contrary they are a wonderful tool, but we need to know that going in and we need to be the ones who can define the terms underlying the "win-win" lie. You see the last player in that example of Gregg's did in fact have a "win-win" in his description. After all if he did in fact clean you out, you may learn something of value that allows you more wins later. If you clean him out, he too will probably not let that happen again and he does benefit. The key to the win-win is the asymmetrical value proposition. You offer something of value for the other parties, that you in return get what you value.

Successful win-wins will offer the most value for each participant without depreciating the other. As a consultant you most likely have skills and knowledge that may not be fully adding value to you. After all being an independent supply chain, or lean enterprise, or (insert specialty here) guru is really not that rewarding or profitable. However, your knowledge and expertise when sold as a techni-ho to willing participants gives you a chance to make a living, and gives them what they need--most likely for the short term with all the perks of working with consulting whores like you. That is a win-win. Chances are the value of your applied knowledge will net them large savings or improvements, at a scale that far eclipses your meager project rate. In the meantime that knowledge offered you know potential for gain until you sold it. You both win just different things.

Where the win-win gets really messy is when forming allegiances, alliances, or partnerships. There the win-win is not properly asymmetrical, as most of the time this potential partner is willing to "share" some of the win with you in return for your assistance. Beware this win-win. As it can turn parasitic in the long run; it is very similar to playing cards with either Player 1 or 2 for while they may be willing to share some winnings with you they will eventually need/want to have all the chips. The skills and talent offering would have to be completely independent and complimentary for this to work. And most of the time somebody does get burned.

As a moral of the story, I hope this is the takeaway. Win-wins are useful little lies, if we are the ones who define the terms. Otherwise, you will be getting the short end of the stick.

Road-HO and Techni-ho travelblog

We techni-HOs tend to do a fair amount of traveling as well, so a needed thread here is business travel tools review and blog. Among indespensible tools of the trade are:

• http://www.onebag.com/
• http://www.worldmate.com/
• http://ekit.com/ekit/MobileInfo/Service/ekpassport_dual
• www.kayak.com

One-bag

I still have not fully converted to the one-bag philosophy to be honest, but most of the hints here are still useful if used piecemeal. I tend to travel overseas alot and have not fully committed to only one bag-- I always get 2 free checked bags (platinum elite after flying 90,000 miles before the end of August this year). The does and don't of packing in this case and the checklists have really been a good reality check for me. I still aspire to be a one-bag kind of traveler, but since I tend to travel two weeks at a time and don;t really like the idea of washing my socks and drawers in the hotel sink, I will stand to carry a slightly bigger bag.

Worldmate Live

This so far has been a life saver. The idea behind Worldmate is that after you book a trip, you email the itinerary from your registered email account to trips@worldmate.com. When the automated system receives the email from your account, it automatically adds it to your list of trip in your itineraries. I have tried other services like Tripit.com, but soon found Worldmate more to my liking since it had a free Blackberry app (also for iPhone, Nokia, WindowsMobile, Palm, and UIQ). The app for most platforms enables you to keep sync'd with the online itinerary (edit online or mobile), get maps, find nearby businesses.

The online itinerary manager also allows merges itinerary and hotel confirmations from the same time period into a single trip. So even if you booked the flights, hotels, cars, trains, buses, and even meeting via separate sites; they all land on the same trip and are therefore viewed in the same timeline. This has been a life save since often when overseas, I hope from one airline to another (booked separately for cost) and if I had to track the printed itineraries separately it would increase the chance of a missed connection.

ekit passport sim card

A phone that can make and receive calls at reasonable rates for most "civilised" countries is also a fine tool. Using my Verizon Crackberry overseas is hit and miss regarding the rates, and worst of all the airtime for roaming is very high making and receiving calls. In the EU and other European countries to receive calls is free with the ekit phone, that reduced my phone costs by more than half. Outgoing calls to the US is not too bad about 2/3 or less of using the Verizon phone.

Another option they offer is to assign you both and UK (+44) and US (+1) number for your friends and family to call. This makes them calling you cheaper, but will make you have to pay a 0.19 surcharge for in the incoming received call (as opposed to them paying long distance to the mobile phone 0.25-0.35/ minute). The ekit also includes a per-per-use data service, something that many low cost pre-paid local sim cards won't offer.

On the down side, outgoing calls made while overseas are programmed as a "call-back" service so it can be a pain, and the people you call won't be able to recognize your caller-id.

Kayak

Y'all should already know about this popular travel rate crawler. It trolls the internet to identify the best travel sites for your trip. I continue to use this even though my current employer requires we book through their travel agent. I use the site to force the favored itinerary onto the travel agent. Still nice.

So that's all for now. Maybe more comes to me later.

You TOO, can be a Techni-HO

(from despair.com)

We embark on the Techni-HO journey for many reasons:

• Downsized
• Desire for independence
• Desire to go broke
• Hubris
• Ego
• Fired for inability to conform to authority
• We don't fit in anywhere else

Couple this with a belief that what we have to offer is of value and we are on our way. My personal journey into Technical Consultancy was perhaps destiny or purely accidental. I am an engineer of low-regard who barely scraped my way through engineering school in 7 years (without a Masters or PhD). During my senior year I took a job with a technical training company as an engineering Co-Op student. The attainment of this job taught me the first of many lessons that I plan to impart to any viewers of this blog (once we get enough traffic, clicks and impressions).

Lesson 1: There is value in being a Bad Engineer (or insert your profession here)

As a poor engineer I had lots to offer to my prospective clients:

• I learn slow (so I have to ask lots of questions)
• I am accustomed to failing (a needed skill for consultants people who succeed often never adapt to the idea that their ideas might flop and are often afraid to suggest things)
• I have the ability to overlook seemingly important details (a skill that all successful consultants must have).

In the realm of technical training, where I got my start into consulting, one learns quickly that you don't need to be very smart to be a highly successful trainer. No on the contrary we learned that in order to be good we only had to know more about the defined training topic than the students. Now we find that good engineers (or technicians) tend to have broad working knowledge of the systems in which they operate. Which can be very threatening to the consultant, but have no fear. Because you will be able to dazzle them with your brilliance in ONE or TWO areas of discussion. Which fortunately, is why they hired your or signed up for your class, or contracted your firm.

The take-away

The consultant Must be singular of focus, they must be willing to put aside other performance attributes for the SINGLE thing the customer asks (pays) for. Good engineers, or technicians, under the employ of the customer might accidentally see the shortcoming of a decided course of action as detrimental to the larger organization. But a consultant (being unburdened by this knowledge or moral compass) will determinedly pursue defined objective even if the long term benefit might not be there. After all that is what we hire them for. Short term gains. That after all is why we hired the techni-HO and that is what we can get from them. 

So, don't be afraid to take the leap (or perhaps the decision to go independent was not yours). After all, in the valley of the Blind the one-eyed man is King, and you my friends could very well be the just the one-eyed techni-HO that those blind Techni-johns are looking for.

(props to Eddie Murphy and SNL for the "Velvet Jones" line I am appropriating for my own use)

Techni-HO?

A "techni-HO" is a "technical whore". Why do we call it "techni-HO"? I hope you are here because you are some sort of technical professional--i.e. engineer, accountant, designer, programmer, etc--and you are thinking of going out on your own to be a consultant. I also assume that you wish to charge for your technical services. Ergo, you are a techni-ho; technical-sluts give it away.