Flights of Whimsy

Given we are in the election period, then I think flights of whimsy and some fun are in order. It provides an alternative to the circus which is NZ politics.

So a number of posts will be less than serious. Some may even be amusing. Others will be as boring as usual, so as not to disappoint anyone.

Communication problems

My longtime friend and former colleague Richard Cheeseman sent me his latest promotional email today.

Richard is one of the good guys.

He may be able to help you in the increasingly complex telco space.

Richard believes in telling the truth.

Check Richard out. Let me know if he fails to deliver. I have a piece of 2X4.

 

Sins and Redemption: IT Project Recovery

Michael Krigsman has a guest post by Todd C Williams.

in this post Mr Williams looks at some key components of project recovery.

His scene setting opener is excellent and oh so true:-

Before we can proceed down the path of recovery, we must admit the existence of a problem. Pride, ego, emotion, denial, and inertia bias our view of the situation.  Project managers believe they can correct the problems. Executives try to help by assigning additional tasks, new processes to follow, numerous spreadsheets to complete and daily reports to distribute.  Eventually, the customer becomes aware of the situation and they go to the steering committee demanding action.  The latter gets action. The resulting scramble to appease the customer, however, does little to solve problems while only addressing symptoms

Read the post , it is well worth a look.

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs is dead. A great shame for his family, friends and colleagues.

Yet I confess I find the outpourings of grief by so many somewhat OTT, and much of the media coverage equally so, for example the front page of the Dominion Post here in Wellington this week.

Jobs was a great businessman in many ways, but he was not a saint. In many ways he had the instincts of a monopolist given Apple’s success at creating a walled garden for its offerrings.

More on paywalls

Over the last months I have written quite a lot on new media and paywalls. Given my focus elsewhere recently I cannot at this minute reference all that I would wish, but this post by Nick Carr is very pertinent.

On being silly

As a consultant I write and have written  about the need to keep my promotional outlets and social media current.

Like so many I have ignored my own advice. Over the last little while I have not kept them as current as I should have.

So, I am human and make mistakes, but this is one I must learn from.