start me up!

Rod Bell explains systems analysis

To the best of my knowledge, systems analysis is what was practiced by Richard Riehle in Office Space.

I deal with the god damn customers so the engineers don't have to. I have people skills; I am good at dealing with people. Can't you understand that? What the hell is wrong with you people?

But we have to make sure we don't get the wrong idea about systems analysis from this movie. LOL

Enter Rod Bell, who explains the science of systems analysis in a simple (though LONG) list:

1. Analyst confers with and studies users.
2. Analyst documents current practices/procedures.
3. Users review analyst's documentation; questions/clarifications to ensure that users understand analyst's description of as-is.
4. Users ask for changes/additions/etc. as necessary to produce as-is document that they can sign off on.
5. Repeat analyst/user loop until users sign off on as-is description.
6. Analyst produces draft will-be using same documentation style as the as-is.
7. Analyst meets with IT *not* for detailed response, but for first-cut deal-killer objections on IT's part.
8. Analyst revises proposed will-be if and only if s/he cannot gain conditional ok from IT.
9. Analyst takes proposed will-be to users, with explanation that this is a "wish-list" will-be; there is no way to know if it will be technically feasible (though it appears to be) or too expensive or whatever, i.e., other stakeholders have not been consulted yet.
10. Users give analyst feed-back, loop through revisions if necessary, until a users sign off on proposed will-be.
11. Analyst modifies documentation, as necessary, to clarify for IT.
12. Analyst presents to IT, clarifies as necessary to ensure IT's understanding of will-be.
13. IT either accepts assignment or suggests/demands changes because it's too hard/expensive/time-consuming thus beyond anticipated scope.
14. If IT considers will-be is beyond anticipated scope, other stakeholders are consulted to see if scope can be expanded *or*, if it cannot, what reductions from user wish-will-be should be made?
15. May or may not be lots of negotiation/discussion here, if gap bewteen user-approved will-be and resource availability (or timetable) is too great. But here and only here is the place to get that straight, otherwise the PM or somebody gets blamed when it doesn't work out as expected.
16. Assuming no insuperable barriers, analyst does shuttle diplomacy between users and IT until a mutually signed-off will-be document exists. Note that this document may include specific screens, reports, user interfaces, etc., as deemed necessary by analyst to ensure the user will-be is fully understood by IT, and if IT wants to change those items, that's part of the negotiations prior to sign-off.
17. This document then drives the remainder of the project plan and schedule.

Labels: engineering, rhetoric

posted by Ron @ 3:10 PM 0 comments

Dr. Ron gets his first lesson in podcasting

My current employer has students very interested in learning podcasting and coming to have their own voices on the Internet. I have long wanted this for myself, so we are all learning podcasting together. I hope within the next couple weeks we will finally start putting some stuff up there.

We're fortunate to have a guy like Jason van Orden out there, putting up loads of podcast smarts -- written in very accessible language -- for us to study from. The high points are outlined here:

What should you talk about?

• something that you love enough that you'd do it for nothing
• something that has an audience that you can define and you can find and will be interested
• something you can write a script for

Formatting considerations

• length of individual program
• frequency of programs
• single or multiple voices
• background or other music
• segments or single subject

Hardware and software

• microphone
• headphones
• "pop filter"
• recording software (like Audacity or Sound Forge)
• file conversion from MP3 (like LAME or -- again -- Sound Forge)

Preparation

• outline/script (DO NOT IMPROV until/unless you are GOOD)
• select music
• advance reading/timing

Where to go to get content or new interview subjects

• listeners
• current co-hosts and interview subjects
• advisors
• blog readers (text must be posted!)

I've written my first script, on "seven seconds to get to the point," and students James and Da'Jawn are writing on "why women are interested in guys who play games." Which of us will get there first? LOL

Labels: education

posted by Ron @ 1:45 PM 0 comments

The search for a personal brand

I'm out to get a personal brand. This is the result of my reading of Casnocha's My Start-Up Life -- see what happens? But I've got a gig coming up -- I wrote a paper for the Trenton Computer Festival and have to present it a week from today -- and I want to have a brand more-or-less in place by then. Turns out people have heard about this paper, a comparison of MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn from the professional's point of view, and they think (for whatever reason) that it's pretty cool. I am getting some unexpected attention regionally. And after all these years of being used to being invisible. LOL

The brand thing has so far escaped me, at least as far as particular strategy is concerned. I will tell you a couple of general principles I have picked up and would like to apply:

1. I might need a nickname. I say this because in this country my name is not as unique as I might like. Even if you Google me two mathematicians come up ahead of me. Who cares about mathematicians? LOL
2. I need an online identity. This is kind of a shame because I have already been on the Internet longer than anyone else you know, young as you are. LOL It is easy enough to find my work on the Internet, but I have yet to identify myself with it, "advertise" it. As a result, I find I get discouraged about it sometimes and let it sit there.
3. I need an answer to the question "what do you do?" And it has to be something other than the stuff I do on the job during the work day. If it's the same, I am branding my employer. And I assure you, my employer doesn't need it.
4. I gotta have one defined, consuming passion. I have lots of areas I really like, but I have to pick one, get behind it, and use it to make a first impression that really IS an impression. You do not get a second chance to make a first impression.
5. THEN I must get all that out there. I will probably have to reinvent my Web site and get business cards and stuff like that.

I'm working on the business cards even now. But the consuming passion stuff, that's always been the source of my fears. If I pick the wrong passion, do I close doors behind me? Do I have to give up the other stuff I like?

Labels: recommendations

posted by Ron @ 4:00 PM 0 comments

Casnocha's "My Start-Up Life"

I finally finished off this book. (It's hard to get through a book while school is in, but I'm making a commitment not to stop reading any more.) I think it's brilliant.

Before I go into the details, let me give the caveat: I think it's a shame that, regardless of how hard Ben Casnocha had to work to find funding, support, and customers for his start-up, he still found those things more easily than some who are older, much more experienced, and just as driven. There are a few things he's done that, despite his aptitude and positive outlook, came as a result of opportunities he would not have gotten if he weren't in high school at the time.

What a coup that is for young entrepreneurs everywhere! Before the breakthrough of the World Wide Web into the public consciousness, circa 1995, nobody would take most high-school or college students seriously when they would start a business. NOW, it looks like your chances of breaking in successfully are actually BETTER if you're young. Huh. Whodathunkit?

Now, regarding the book itself. I'm really partial to "lessons learned," which is why I like to read the exploits of real-life entrepreneurs. But those books are better when the writers actually label the lessons learned, call them out from the pages and don't bury them in text. Heck, if it were me -- and I've actually done this in "Rhetoric for Engineers," I would

• put the lessons in a list
• boldface the keywords
• put the list in a box
• put stars around the box -- big ones
• take the best lessons and put them out there as vivid pullquotes in bright colors.

(I'll have to start using stylesheets more aggressively for all that. LOL) Casnocha does pretty close to the same thing, which is a favor to all of us.

Here's an example. He puts a box up and labels it "Brainstorm: Creating and Projecting Brand "Me." Inside the box he defines the components of your personal brand:

• your name
• your physical appearance (or other characteristics most noticed in person)
• your work
• your affiliations
• your network
• your online identity

...don't you want to be known for who you are -- in all its wonderful diversity -- rather than what you do from nine to five?

Just as his argument for the personal brand is both accessible and compelling, he has similar things to say throughout the book, on topics such as hiring, fund-raising, and reeling in customers. That's why I like this book.

I wonder how he's going to follow it up. My guess is his next will be a travelogue of some sort, and he'll abandon the entrepreneurship message altogether. LOL

Labels: young entrepreneurs

posted by Ron @ 3:40 PM 1 comments

Look out! It's the RenGen!

Patricia Martin has coined (or at any rate, likes to use) the term "RenGen," a condensation of "Renaissance Generation." It is her belief that humankind, or US society at any rate, is on the edge of a cultural renaissance rivaling the original, that it has been on the edge for some time now, and that our marketing, production, and business values should reflect this phenomenon. (I am not sure I agree. I am not close to it, even if it is so.)

Anyway, there is a substantial podcast interview at the DishyMix blog, and I listened to the 30-minute discussion with great interest. And I was asked to pitch a question or two for DishyMix writer Susan Bratton to toss at Martin for an answer. Here is what I came up with:

Her theories are interesting, but in my opinion, they are for the most part theories. Still, what do I know? I'm no advertising expert. Anyhow, moving into the interview...

"rengen" == "renaissance generation" --> OK.
"sponsorship marketing" == "selling sponsorships for various 'experiences'" --> OK.

I need to know the above stuff to understand what I'm hearing. So here are a few questions. Maybe you will decide one is of some value. I was greatly entertained... but I'm afraid I found myself doubting some of the assumptions she makes about what's going on in society. I am gonna think about that a while. And I'm gonna stick a thing in my own blog about the show. Very slick and professional. I'd like to be more like that when I grow up. LOL

I wonder how it is that our society can pull of a renaissance without our ability to actually produce lasting goods? We don't really do manufacturing anymore. Maybe we set up well for a renaissance otherwise, but as a society we're not making anything except trades of information. Don't we have to build? Create? Manufacture? Export?

I have to assume that "a sharp intake of fear" is not the only possible catalyst for a renaissance, because 9/11 was the most fearful moment American society has experienced in my adult life, and yet here we are still on the edge seven years later, instead of in the middle of the renaissance. What other catalysts might kick in here?

Is it really that people are expressing more? Or is it more that we KNOW they are, because of tools like YouTube that enable the self-expression to reach a wider audience? Or is it the increased ease of use of online tools, instead, perhaps, of a smarter society? Maybe all these ideas are just different points of view of the same phenomena?

What do you think of luxury brands? There seems to be no end of them. Would you classify them as "anxiety" brands? I work with underprivileged high-school kids. They tend to spend money as soon as they get it. That's why I ask.

Anyway, if I get an answer to any of these, I will expand a bit later. Cheers!

Labels: character, young entrepreneurs

posted by Ron @ 11:10 PM 1 comments

Engineering Meditations

Let's face it: many companies TALK like "our people are our most valuable resource," but they ACT like money is more important than people or things. It therefore should come as no surprise to any engineer that those who bring the money in (the marketers) and those who parcel out the money (the finance guys) are more highly paid and valued than those who deal with people (like human resources) or those who deal with things (like engineers).

There is a chance that we engineers can live with this state of affairs, if we believe that our lives are enriched by nerdly activities like taking things apart. We DO believe this, but many of us want the money and respect too. Those of us who want the money are drawn toward MBAs or entrepreneurial careers. That can be a cure for our natural tendency to be so drawn to things that we forget what dealing with people is like.

Some of us think we're smarter than everyone else because of our problem-solving skills. I think I'm plenty smart, but I realize that others have smarts and many others can do things I can't do. It is possible, though, that some of us would have an easier time doing the jobs of non-engineers than the non-engineers would have doing our jobs. (I'm serious, here. LOL) Those of us with multiple types of intelligence are sometimes sucked into management or consulting careers. Our biggest problem in that case is becoming impatient with others who don’t have such a range of skill.

So why is it we are considered geeks and nerds and are given so little respect by the world at large? Some of us think it's because we just don't know when the rest of the world is bored by the stuff we love. If we can’t see the eyes becoming glazed, then no, we won't know when to stop.

Engineers have this reputation of being unable to communicate to others. It's not always deserved, but enough people hold it that they are actually surprised to come across an engineer who is good at writing and speaking. Those engineers are sometimes drawn to consulting careers as well, or technical sales.

If we have any of these other skills at all, it separates us from the engineers who are pure number-crunchers. But... even among the "pure" engineers are some who are more analytical, and some who are more design-oriented, and some who love to test things. Those are three different types of engineer – and there may be more than that, and there are degrees of each.

Labels: engineering

posted by Ron @ 10:46 PM 1 comments

Sky Scrapers Academy -- destined for greatness!

I've had a chance to pitch in with getting the new coaching organization Sky Scrapers Academy get off the ground in India. I don't know much about executive coaching -- yet -- because the field appears to be fairly young. But it's growing in a hurry, and Shalini Verma has positioned herself to get a piece of this growth. Let's take a look at coaching, compared to other types of advice:

Coaching	Therapy
for complete, successful people	for incomplete, hurting people
a coach listens and prompts you to action	a therapist listens and provides you with empathy

Coaching	Consulting
all coaches are consultants	not all consultants are coaches
coaches enable you to seek answers within yourself	consultants provide you with answers

Coaching	Friends, Lovers, Bosses
a coach will listen and try to hear what is not being said The coach is IMPARTIAL	Friends and lovers will listen and try to maintain the relationship bosses will listen and you hope they will be impressed

Shalini tells me

If executives form a relationship with a professional coach, the coach will gain a full understanding of the business circumstances involved, and then support thoughtful planning and decision-making. This allows the executives to apply their personal strengths to their goals, and they will develop enhanced self-awareness and new perspectives on the way.

She has a blog set up for people who want some free relationship coaching.

She's well-organized, she's driven, and she knows where to go when she needs a couple little things done for her. (Ahem.) The Sky Scrapers Academy is going to be hot!

Labels: young entrepreneurs

posted by Ron @ 11:47 PM 0 comments

Further notes on PowerPoint

I used LinkedIn to seek out further information about PowerPoint above and beyond what is in the Rhetoric for Engineers lecture notes.

Christopher Huntley

I use PowerPoint all the time for documenting items like administrative tasks which require screen shots and some bullet points for step by step performance. I like it because it flows easily through many processes. When using it for a presentation, however, the rule of 6 applies:

• No more than 6 slides without a picture
• No more than 6 bullet points per slide
• No more than 6 words per bullet point

Bullet points are there to keep it simple. If everything the presenter can tell me can be [and maybe has been] put on a PowerPoint slide then why do I need the presenter?

When I give a presentation I expect to provide information that is not on the slides thus requiring thought and the audience paying attention.

Daniel Jatovsky

What a presenter should do is write and practice a speech without the use of PowerPoint at all. Such a speech should be interesting and compelling on its own. Then you add PowerPoint to illustrate key points and highlight important concepts.

Kevin Maloney

Your presentation and PowerPoint slides should be above all things persuasive. To be successful one should use PowerPoint as a visual aid: more graphs, pictures, visuals, etc.; fewer words and bullet points.

Christopher Lininger

Atkinson, C. Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire

Tim Shea

I like the 10-20-30 rule: A power point presentation should have no more than 10 slides, not last longer than 20 minutes, and have no font size smaller than 30.

Robert de Loght

As for all presentations, the basis of it all should be a good plan, an overall structure that clearly points out which message has to be conveyed and how. This assumes planning and preparation - often a weak element.

Links supplied by various contributors:

• http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/05/worlds_best_pre.html
• http://www.robertgaskins.com/
• http://www.talkingcure.com/
• http://www.powerfulpresentationsalliance.com
• http://www.worldchampionsedge.com/edge/index.cfm?affiliateid=939
• http://profcs.com/app/?af=551965

I will throw in just one further comment myself here: one quick way to judge the readability of a slide is to place it on the floor and try to read it yourself standing up. If you can read your slide from that position, chances are your audience can see it from some distance from the projector.

Labels: recommendations

posted by Ron @ 11:13 PM 0 comments

How does a small company attract and retain top talent?

These are summarized from a discussion, kicked off by Yogesh Jain on LinkedIn two months ago. There were some outstanding answers, and I may have picked too many of them as is!

Jeff Goodell – there is a great opportunity for upward mobility within the company, that is, there is a great possibility for transitioning into roles of greater responsibility and at a greater pace.

Joy Jennings –
- Eliminate bureaucracy and/or layers of approval
- Give more vacation time than other companies in your industry
- Empower employees -- give them responsibility if they want it
- Encourage flex time -- let them come and go as they need

Andy Newman – consider educational opportunities and training development as retention tools. [And] regular communication is essential in small companies. If people don't know what is going on there they will bail for a large company.

Matthew Bowie – as long as the company doesn't have unsettling change, and shows employees just how much they mean, you will most-likely find the company with long-term employees just because they like staying in a family-type environment.

Janna Kay – bring your dog to work Fridays, bagel Tuesdays, yoga Wednesdays, team building exercises off site, flexible hours, believe and support work/life balance, supreme benefits package, great pay, mutual respect, positive company culture, bottom up input on company culture and policies, etc.

George F. Franks III – most people leave due to their boss. So it is very important that all managers and supervisors (anyone leading people) be trained, monitored, coached and that their employees have opportunities to provide feedback on THEM.

Joseph Campagna III – you can attract heavy hitters with the promise of future payout. Private stock option plans and profit sharing are two easy ways to do this. Multitudes will leave cushy Fortune 500 jobs if there is the opportunity [for more] than just a paycheck, even if it's [for] a long haul.

Larry Boyer – small companies are often able to go after and win some very interesting project work simply because large companies don't look at anything under a certain dollar amount and/or their overhead is so large as to make them uncompetitive with small companies.

Becky Fitzgerald – Knowledge workers care about being valued and adding value - make sure you acknowledge both sincerely, if you cannot, you won't keep them.

Michael MacKenna – Attention Small Business Owners and Management: INCLUDE your people in the decision process, open the doors, invite them to meetings, and your talent retention will increase right along with your profits.

Vimal Menon – there are many small companies who have a good work culture, code of conduct and ethics, high values which ensure the employees give back something to the society and also help them grow in confidence.

Lee Cendana – I would... include that a small company offer the best employee fringe benefits package as possible: medical, dental, vision, life, and/or cafeteria. [Also] Ben Codi – the PEO (Professional Employer Organization)… helps small organizations attract and retain talent by providing the benefits and hr support highly qualified employees expect in this competitive business environment.

Labels: recommendations

posted by Ron @ 4:20 PM 0 comments

Mary Anne Bitetto on Small Manufacturers using Outsourcing

Mary Anne Bitetto was assigned the following question in her management class: discuss why the manufacturing sector in the US has been losing jobs to other nations. Her answer, which I thought showed some insight, follows:

So far, a lot of the focus in this discussion has been on medium-sized to larger companies. Some primary goals for these corporations have been established: cutting costs and avoiding strict US environmental policies. Small businesses, however, are left out of the picture. The increasingly globalized economy, particularly since the onset of the internet, creates an environment conducive to small businesses and specialized products. For many of these businesses, reasons for outsourcing may go beyond cutting costs. It is possible that the small-business owner wants to maintain only a certain aspect of the product development. Perhaps he doesn't have the means to set up a large manufacturing plant. Since a lot of small businesses sell products that are specialized, it may not behoove the business-owner to expand if only a small customer demographic is targeted. Increasing in size to accommodate for all of the manufacturing processes may force the company to compete with larger ones. This could cause a shift of focus that may go beyond the scope of the original business plan.

Many small businesses are turning to outsourcing as a viable means to produce a product. For example, I was reading a magazine article a few years ago about an entrepreneur who had decided to start an online business selling custom stuffed toys he had personally designed. As someone who was able to work from his home office using design software, it was in his best interest to look elsewhere for manufacturing. A company in China was able to interface with his designs, and would send him samples of his designs so he could modify the patterns to get the look he wanted. In this way, he was able to control the aspects of the business he wanted, without having to move away from his artistically creative focus. This is indicative that inexpensive manufacturing processes could be increasingly used by small-business owners in order to quickly produce a specialized product without having to expand their businesses.

I also added, for her edification and yours, first, that for some small manufacturers labor costs, including medical benefits, are a great burden, unless the manufacturer has what amounts to a constant flow of work. Small companies have a tough time maintaining that. So nobody gets replaced after attrition.

Second, nobody is listening to W. Edwards Deming any more. (A great shame for the Western world.) In Out of the Crisis, one of Deming's 14 Points is stated this way:

End the practice of awarding business on the basis of a price tag. Instead, minimize total cost. Move toward a single supplier for any one item, on a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust.

And this is what we're not doing any more.

Labels: education, engineering

posted by Ron @ 10:28 PM 0 comments

Break Room Nightmares

On LinkedIn I asked the question, "what's the worst break-room behavior you've seen?"

Here's a summary of the answers. I love hearing stories like this.

• A view of someone's ugly bare-naked feet on a counter -- please understand that it is a common area!
• Someone late at night randomly distributed chicken throughout the office in the potted plants, desk drawers, light fixtures etc.
• One of my bosses farted in the middle of a meeting multiple times and remained completely stoic. You can't make shit like this up.
• I saw a guy melt a thermal cup in the microwave and his hot coffee was pouring out of the microwave door.
• At a former employer, an idiot who was cleaning the break room mixed bleach and ammonia. The toxic gases from this mixture caused an evacuation!
• I prepared my lunch, a salad, and someone comes along and starts taking things straight out of the bowl and eating them, LOL.
• Leaving leftover greasy food on the table thinking someone else may want the leftovers and not checking back later on to clean it up. The smell of pepperoni pizza at noon is no longer pleasant at 6 PM
• People who refill their water bottles at the water cooler and stick the entire nozzle into their bottle thus exposing the rest of us to their germs and cooties.
• Some people, likely those with adult ADD, who leave items like used coffee cups on the table and forget to throw them away, take the creamer and don't put it back, and press the "brew" button on the coffee machine when the pot is still half full, thus causing coffee overflow onto the counter (and by then they are usually off to a meeting).
• At one place I worked, free pretzels and chips were offered in the break room. My consumption stopped abruptly after noticing one individual digging into the tub with his hands as if he were playing in the sand at the beach...this same individual having been regularly observed to ignore use of the hand washing facility after visiting the men's room. Lovely. And then there were the stockpilers...those who would fill up their own buckets to ensure an adequate supply for the coming week's lunches.
• Whenever we would have cake at employee functions,a senior manager would cut the cake. Great, he's pitching in that sort of thing, right? Well, he would use his (unwashed) fingers to slide each piece of the cake onto people's plates. This meant he got frosting on his fingers, and would then lick the frosting off his fingers before going on to cut and touch the next piece. I could never bring myself to eat the cake. Yuck.
• A person I used to work with brought his jar of "Colon Cleanser" to the office and stored it in a cabinet in the breakroom. He put it right next to the coffee mugs. One morning I couldn't resist, so I suggested that this was a little too much information, and maybe he could keep it in his office or even just leave it at home. He looked at me like I was crazy. Then he told me "it works really fast" so he couldn't leave it at home; it might "work" during his commute (which was only about 5-10 minutes).
• Blocking where I need to get in the break-room really bothers me and when i see people coughing all over the place like they would be in their own house. Yuck!!
• How about showing off your tattoos?
• It isn't funny, but when I worked in a large office, I'd read MY newspaper. The number of people that would walk up and just TAKE a section of my paper was incredible.

Labels: diversions

posted by Ron @ 2:29 PM 1 comments

TCNJ axes "Get-It Card"

This note came in from TCNJ about the Get-It Card, a rechargeable mini-credit card that also gave TCNJ students discounts from local merchants. Looks like canceling the program was a responsible business decision.

It is our ultimate desire to offer services that are efficient, successful, and more importantly, mutually beneficial to students, faculty and staff, the Ewing community, and the College. A decision was made this fall to temporarily suspend the off-campus component of the GetIt Card program to examine how shifts in customer usage of commercial credit/debit cards and recent advancements in campus technology have impacted the program.

During this time, TCNJ staff conducted an analysis of all aspects of the program. This included a forum with participating Ewing vendors, held in spring 2007. Additionally, surveys were distributed to vendors and the campus community to solicit feedback about the program. Data received indicated that while vendors were generally satisfied with the program, interest and usage levels varied. Families and students indicated that they were most interested in overall convenience when using this type of service. Feedback also revealed that more of our students/families prefer using debit and/or credit cards (many of which offer reward incentives) to pay for purchases rather than the GetIt Card.

The required upgrade to the College's technological infrastructure occurred during the fall 2007 semester. This upgrade impacted many services, including the GetIt Card functions. While the upgrade allows us to implement some enhancements to the present GetIt Card Off-Campus Vendor program, it also would result in additional costs and fees to vendors, such as the purchase and installation of new hardware.

It is our ultimate desire to offer services that are efficient, successful, and as important, mutually beneficial to the students, faculty and staff, Ewing community and to the College. Based on the information obtained, the GetIt Off-Campus Vendor program cannot fulfill these expectations. Thus, the College will permanently disband the program, effective January 2008.

We are seeking new opportunities for collaborations with Ewing businesses because merchants in Ewing Township are a great asset, providing valued goods and services as community partners. While the off-campus component of the GetIt program is no longer in use, your patronage is important, and we encourage all students, faculty, and staff to continue to take advantage of the wonderful businesses in our local community.

Labels: education

posted by Ron @ 11:18 AM 0 comments