Welcome
Welcome to the Foresight Newsletter, a free monthly publication of Prevoyance Group Inc. This newsletter shares tips for high performance IT organizations and observations that we hope will prove informative and enjoyable.
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Contents
CONTENTS
Foresight is published by the Prevoyance Group, and this month contains four sections:
Work
Life
Heard in the Hallways
Travels with Patrick
Work
Aside from the barrage of diet ads and stories about making or breaking resolutions, one of the interesting themes that permeate the beginning of a new year is the slew of predictions. Everyone from the Gartner Group to the Scientologists issues predictions from the mundane, that more people will use some technology in the new year, to the extraordinary, claiming this will finally be the year little green aliens come to Earth to evacuate the “chosen” people. While speculating on the arrival of the flying car that has been heralded since the 1950’s may be more amusing than pondering the future of your IT organization, the later should be on every corporation’s agenda in the opening months of the year.
While these predictions make for good press, and unfortunately the more sensational seem to move more magazines or garner more web hits, making predictions has plenty of relevancy closer to home. Now that the New Year has passed, celebrations are fond memories, and employees are returning to work, take stock of your organization, and consider where you want it to be when the calendar turns to 2008. Doing this activity informally allows you to dream big and consider bold actions that may seem ridiculous in another context.
Where the proverbial rubber meets the road in this exercise is taking those predictions and determining what would need to happen to make the prediction a reality, or what is standing in the way of each objective. Often the bolder the prediction, the more obvious the potential obstructions become. One will likely find recurring themes during this exercise. Perhaps there is something wrong with the corporate or economic climate preventing your organization from achieving its potential, or perhaps there is a cause that you can directly influence, like the quality of the people in your organization, or a poor perception of your unit by other executives.
While bold claims and shooting for the moon can be disastrous when made publicly, dreaming big among trusted peers and finding the roadblocks to execution turns these dreams and fuzzy predictions into actionable tasks. While you may not go from the organizational equivalent of a couch potato to an Olympic athlete in one year, identifying and mitigating all that stands in your way will likely put you in significantly better organizational health, and make that dream seem far more realistic next time you complete this exercise.
Life
Never allow anyone to hold your most important asset, your time, hostage. There is no law that says the ringing phone must be answered, or that you must politely wait in the queue at your favorite coffee shop when the establishment across the street is nearly empty. There are many ways to save time without being obnoxious if you simply ask. Even some of the most ornery and bureaucratic organizations (cable and phone companies come to mind) are often willing to call in advance of their service technicians arriving if you ask politely.
Many service providers now accept automatic debts for various bill payments, allowing you to avoid the tedium of opening envelopes, writing checks and licking stamps, and despite what your parents always told you, assuming you can competently manage your bank accounts, you really do not have to painstakingly reconcile your checkbooks each month. I’ve stopped even bothering to open any suspected junk mail, and file all the “Important Offers” immediately in my high-power shredder. Seek any and all options to automate the rudimentary aspects of everyday life, and free your time for more valuable activates.
The same holds true in a work environment. If someone constantly misses appointments or shows up late to the detriment of the group, simply and politely tell them that their behavior is not acceptable and ask how you can help ameliorate the situation or they will continue to hold your time hostage. Similarly, question useless forms or other timewasters that are performed simply because “it’s always been required.”
Heard in the Hallways
I’ve rekindled a love for good literature with the rediscovery of audio books and a client that requires frequent driving. With Ernest Hemingway or Dostoyevsky to keep me company, the three hour trip seems dramatically shorter, and a well-narrated audio book adds even more to the pleasure of an excellent story. With an MP3 player and one of the many services such as audible.com or iTunes you can keep endless hours of quality reading in your pocket for that unplanned drive, long commute or delayed flight.
Travels with Patrick
My wife and I recently dined with two couples that we have met through one of my past clients. We had an interesting group, with two Scottish people that now live in England, a Columbian, my Cuban American wife, myself and another gentleman originally from the Midwest. The other two couples happened to be in the New York City area on unrelated trips, and within hours we were able to quickly assemble plans for a dinner and cocktails in Manhattan and catch up after several months of not seeing each other. I am constantly amazed at the people I have had the good fortune to meet in this line of work, many from distant lands and with vastly different experiences than my own.
With modern tools like mobile phones and email we were able to discover we were all in the area, coordinate our plans and book reservations, resulting in enjoying the timeless pleasure of good conversation.