Inform, Influence, Inspire

Here’s a video called “Inform, Influence, Inspire” – a phrase borrowed from our project communications model.  It’s about what Beaufortes does for our client’s project teams. 

The presentation style is a touch experimental, but you’d expect nothing less from us, now, would you?  We expect to do a lot more with video in the years to come, so we’re building the skills now.  As a company we’re always evolving and improving, and this presentation is aligned with that ethos.  So this current version is simplified, and the video rendering is vastly improved…

So dim the lights, put the headphones on, put your feet up, and enjoy a tranquil moment with Beaufortes!

— Philip Greenwood

Tags: Why+Use+Beaufortes, Inform, Influence, Inspire

Inform, Influence, Inspire

Here’s a video called “Inform, Influence, Inspire” – a phrase borrowed from our project communications model.  It’s about what Beaufortes does for our client’s project teams. 

The presentation style is a touch experimental, but you’d expect nothing less from us, now, would you?  We expect to do a lot more with video in the years to come, so we’re building the skills now.  As a company we’re always evolving and improving, and this presentation is aligned with that ethos.  So this current version is simplified, and the video rendering is vastly improved…

So dim the lights, put the headphones on, put your feet up, and enjoy a tranquil moment with Beaufortes!

— Philip Greenwood

Tags: Why+Use+Beaufortes, Inform, Influence, Inspire

Occult Knowledge

This is a true story:  A few weeks ago god cooked me dinner! (Please note the small “g” – I don’t wish to offend).  It was the last evening of my 39^th year, and the charter yacht was secure on a swinging mooring off the coast of Croatia.  The crew (my fiancee) and I were relaxing at the end of a breezy day of sailing when we noticed a small motor boat pulling into a jetty in the bay.  On board this fishing boat there was a crew of three, including one man – clearly in charge - with long grey hair, a long grey beard, skin brown as a berry, and wearing just silver swimming trunks.  My crew looked at me, and as if reading my mind, said: “Hey, there goes god!”

Occult Knowledge

This is a true story:  A few weeks ago god cooked me dinner! (Please note the small “g” – I don’t wish to offend).  It was the last evening of my 39^th year, and the charter yacht was secure on a swinging mooring off the coast of Croatia.  The crew (my fiancee) and I were relaxing at the end of a breezy day of sailing when we noticed a small motor boat pulling into a jetty in the bay.  On board this fishing boat there was a crew of three, including one man – clearly in charge - with long grey hair, a long grey beard, skin brown as a berry, and wearing just silver swimming trunks.  My crew looked at me, and as if reading my mind, said: “Hey, there goes god!”

Reductio Ad Absurdum?

This question has been playing on my mind:  If stories are the most effective tool of influence, but are an inefficient way to communicate facts, what kind of communication style is most effective in today’s “attention deficit” business world?  So for an experiment, let me try out a communication style:  The “reduced” story line.

Stone Soup

The old fable of “stone soup” is an interesting allegory for project leadership of all types.

Creating a frame for collaboration, the main heroes make something out of nothing, beat the prisoner’s dilemma, and through the power of telling a curious and surprising story, forge an outcome that would not have occurred if they had started with a purely factual explanation of what they were doing.

But I’m getting ahead of myself…

Wikis finally go WYSIWYG

Sourceforge.net, the open source development platform, has announced that all of their projects are going to have wikis available to them – this is a major advance because so few of these projects have sufficient documentation – actually many have none at all!

Sourceforge’s user community numbers in excess of 1.5 million people, so their choice of wiki is quite a big deal.  The obvious choice seemed to be Mediawiki – the tool that powers Wikipedia – because Mediawiki is well proven and is open sourced itself.

But Sourceforge has gone with Wikispaces.  I took a little time today to review the Wikispaces offering and I’m quite impressed.  The key benefit of Wikispaces is usability: It has a WYSIWYG editor (more like writing in a word processor), so unlike Mediawiki, you don’t have to learn any codes.

Will this mean the end to the empty wiki syndrome?  Does this make the wiki a usable project tool?  Well try it out; there’s a free, hosted, advert supported trial option!

— Philip Greenwood

Tags: Mediawiki, Wikispaces, Wiki, Sourceforge, WYSIWYG

Wikis finally go WYSIWYG

Sourceforge.net, the open source development platform, has announced that all of their projects are going to have wikis available to them – this is a major advance because so few of these projects have sufficient documentation – actually many have none at all!

Sourceforge’s user community numbers in excess of 1.5 million people, so their choice of wiki is quite a big deal.  The obvious choice seemed to be Mediawiki – the tool that powers Wikipedia – because Mediawiki is well proven and is open sourced itself.

But Sourceforge has gone with Wikispaces.  I took a little time today to review the Wikispaces offering and I’m quite impressed.  The key benefit of Wikispaces is usability: It has a WYSIWYG editor (more like writing in a word processor), so unlike Mediawiki, you don’t have to learn any codes.

Will this mean the end to the empty wiki syndrome?  Does this make the wiki a usable project tool?  Well try it out; there’s a free, hosted, advert supported trial option!

— Philip Greenwood

Tags: Mediawiki, Wikispaces, Wiki, Sourceforge, WYSIWYG

When projects are managed too tightly

Errol Flynn, the swash-buckling actor, was once asked about the correct way to hold a sword. Flynn replied:

“one should imagine holding a small bird rather than a sword. If you hold too tightly the bird dies and the life is lost. If you hold too loosely, the bird escapes and flies away, and you’re left with nothing”

Whether it’s a sword or a project, when you want to keep control, holding too tightly is tempting… and you know, the world is littered with failing projects that have had all of the life squeezed out of them.

– Jason Bates

Tags:  project+management, project+leadership, Errol+Flynn

£25.05 At The Petrol Pump...

I stood at the petrol pump, gently squeezing the handle, watching the amount readout slowly increase £24.91… £24.93…. £24.97… £25.05… dang!

Since I learnt to drive, (many years ago) I’ve always had the same ritual at the petrol pump – I buy petrol in round amounts. £15, £20, £25. – No nasty change to find, no walking away with 97 pence in 2’s and 1’s.

But you know this day was different. As I watched the petrol pump hit £25.05 I realized that getting to round figures didn’t really matter to me anymore. I now normally pay for my petrol with my visa card!… there is no change to worry about!

Whether in a high pressure project environment, or at the petrol pump. People rarely question the rituals they’ve spent years practising. Conditions change, and yet we continue to use the same traditions and rituals.

Now I was only losing seconds a week at the petrol pump, but there are companies and projects (Yours?) losing hundreds of thousands of pounds daily because of their adherence to traditional ways of doing things.

So, could some of the bedrock processes that your company undertakes be overdue for a review… you betcha!

You might be surprised, you may find some simple solutions that lead to major results that really get you noticed!

**Did you ever hear that story of someone saving their company millions by moving to envelopes with little plastic windows instead of printing the address on the envelope?

£25.05 …. works for me!

—Jason Bates

Tags: behaviours, ritual, business, project, mindfulness

The big stick at Microsoft!

Ever wondered what it would be like to make a presentation to Bill Gates? What motivational techniques did one of the most successful CEO’s in the world use to get the best out of his employees and propel Microsoft to global domination?

Tom Evslin was there in the early 90’s, and has some amazing stories:

“Even in conversation… people at Microsoft were known by their email names”

 

“Billg rarely used positive feedback as a motivational tool; he found the stick more effective than the carrot although options, which were then skyrocketing, WERE a very effective carrot.”

 

“At some point in your presentation billg will say ‘that’s the dumbest fucking idea I’ve heard since I’ve been at Microsoft.’  He looks like he means it.  However, since you knew he was going to say this, you can’t really let it faze you.  Moreover, you can’t afford to look fazed; remember: he’s a bully.”

 

Read the rest of this cracking article here and ponder…

Is it what you expected? How did this shape Microsoft culture and how it treats it’s friends and enemies? What is the effect of this kind of sustained fear on an organization??

 

I just loved the article!.. Thanks Tom!

 

—Jason Bates

 

Tags: Microsoft, Bill+Gates, stick+carrot, motivation, Evslin

Alpine Methodology

The method for teaching ski-ing has to be one of the most elegant methodologies there is.

Joe Bloggs, random punter, sedentary worker with a beer gut, travels to the mountains to learn a complex and potentially dangerous skill; i.e. throwing himself down a mountain at 30mph on two five foot long skis… and he thinks that he’s on holiday!

Oh yes, there is more to ski tuition than meets the eye… there are lessons hidden in this methodology that could help you lead and manage your projects much more effectively!