DR1665 » WIN

In Search of Adventure

DR1665 — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:00:20 +0000

Whatever lies ahead.

Originally a comment over on John Falchetto’s site, these thoughts evolved into something more.

“The person who says it is impossible should not interrupt the person who is doing it.” I think that’s an old Chinese proverb, but it doesn’t matter – it’s so true – and it goes well with another one; “I’d rather regret something I did than something I was afraid to do.” And let’s add another one I picked up from a sales book read long ago, “Do what you fear most and you control fear.”

They say it’s impossible.
They say business exists to make a profit. I say business should exist to make a difference. Profit is the result of making a difference. They say you need to build an audience and monetize with advertising. I say ads suck. Nobody likes ads. We’ll monetize without ads thankyouverymuch. We’ll make a difference.

They say it can’t be done.
Penmanshift isn’t quite finished. I mean, it’s pretty much complete; it’s just not perfect yet. There’s a lot riding on this one. Will our beta testers tell us we kept the promises we made up front? Will they tell us it’s something they could see themselves paying for? Will we be able to polish and market it to actual, paying customers?

They say you can’t have your cake & eat it, too.
Will our day jobs get in the way of delivering the level of service we want this program known for delivering? Will this get in the way of Gearbox? How am I going to keep all these plates spinning into the foreseeable future? Terrifying… but getting done anyway.

They can jog on.
It’s hard stepping away from the warmth of the campfire and the comfort of familiar stories told ’round it over hot cocoa and s’mores, but adventure lies in the dark woods beyond. And adventure is the stuff of new stories. We have the tools we need to succeed and I will not be alone in this next adventure. So long as I believe we will be successful and I am willing to do whatever it takes to deliver on our promises, we will succeed.

Going beyond.
Too many of us are bound by golden handcuffs, locked into ideas we don’t believe in beyond the comfort of predictable income. I’d rather scrape by doing something I love with a limited number of believers than stick with the status quo because it’s more “comfortable.” We travel light, our senses on high alert, ready, willing, and able to take on whatever lies ahead.

Are you striking out into those dark woods alone? I’d love to hear how you’re dealing with the anxiety on your end.

In the glovebox:

I'd appreciate hearing what you think about In Search of Adventure

Communication Strategies: Building Buzz

DR1665 — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:00:39 +0000

It’s called listening.

How disappointing it is to invest all that time and energy into a project, only to release it to lukewarm response and minimal – if any – adoption! We want to get people excited early and keep them excited throughout the process, laying the foundation for trial and adoption. We do this through a series of communication cycles generating buzz about our projects through our communications strategy.

START WITH WHY
This project was given the green light because it is expected to deliver value to the business. In order to realize that value, we need to ensure the project delivers value to the people directly impacted. We start generating buzz by sharing with these people – WHY will this project benefit them, how will it to benefit them, and what can they do to help us ensure delivery of the absolute best possible product.

THE JOURNEY BEGINS
Success depends on our knowing where we are relative where we would like to be. We start our journey by sharing the reasoning behind the upcoming change; explaining WHY the change is needed, HOW those most affected or passionate can contribute feedback, HOW said feedback will be handled, and WHAT comes next.

This doesn’t have to be a big production. Keep it simple. Post to your discussion forum or blog, making sure to explain why the change is coming, but open it up to the audience. Why are they excited/concerned? How should things be setup for them to get the most value? What does that look like?

THE FEEDBACK LOOP
We repeat this process through every stage of the project. Each time we begin a new stage, we share why we are entering this stage, how the results will benefit our audience, and what they can do to help us deliver something of value to them.

THE FEEDBACK LOOP
We repeat this process through every stage of the project. How many times we repeat this process depends on how many stages or sprints there are to our project plan. The benefit of the feedback loop is twofold:

BETTER PRODUCTS
Intrinsically-motivated SMEs provide better feedback.

GREATER ADOPTION
Products deliver meaningful value to stakeholders.
Participants feel a vested sense of ownership in the product.

THE PROMISE
Buzz is not managed. It is not lead. Buzz is built, and built on a foundation of promises. We must be careful to say what we mean and mean what we say, lest we do more damage than good. Feedback should be acknowledged promptly and community members should be able to spot their impact from the field.

NEXT STEPS
Try introducing the WHY > HOW > WHAT feedback loop into your current project communication strategy.

WHY
Why are we taking on this project?
Why are we sharing this information with everyone?

HOW
How do we expect this project to benefit everyone?
How can people with questions, comments, & concerns contribute?

WHAT
What does the best feedback look like?
What does the timeline look like?

In the glovebox:

I'd appreciate hearing what you think about Communication Strategies: Building Buzz

Communication Strategies: Starting with Why

DR1665 — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:00:21 +0000

Thank you, Mr. Sinek.

We want our audiences to listen to us, to hear what we have to say, and take appropriate action. We achieve this by consistently communicating in ways which show the audience we have their needs in mind. This document is a high level guide to effective communication during the iterative release process associated with agile project management.

START WITH WHY
We are inundated with information. Meetings, webinars, phone calls, social media, and email are never far. It can be like drinking from a fire hose. We have fractions of seconds to consider new messages.

What’s good for the business is ultimately good for us – we know this – but we naturally gravitate toward information which we find immediately valuable to us, personally. For this reason, it is critical we begin our communications by clearly explaining WHY the information is important to the receiver.

FOLLOW WITH HOW, CLOSE WITH WHAT
Once we know WHY the information is important (why we should care), our concern shifts to HOW to get the most benefit out of the information. Finally, we need to know WHAT steps need taken to effectively ACT on the information we’ve received. Consider the examples below. Which speaks to you more as an individual?

THIS?
The Office of Knowledge Management promotes meaningful knowledge sharing and innovative collaboration through partnerships that maximize employee potential, research, and technology.

OR THIS?
We believe everyone should be able to connect and share information in meaningful ways that support personal and professional development. We facilitate these connections through development of relationships and technology. We are the Office of Knowledge Management. We connect people and ideas.

WHY > HOW > WHAT
As you can see from the two examples above, the first comes close, but why should I care about “meaningful knowledge sharing and innovative collaboration?” Who cares about “maximizing employee potential, research and technology?” Does anyone actually talk like that?

The second example, on the other hand, comes strong. “We believe everyone should be able to connect and share information in meaningful ways.” Hey, I have good ideas! These people want to help me share my good ideas. I can make a difference in this organization. I want to learn more about the Office of Knowledge Management.

NEXT STEPS
Try introducing WHY > HOW > WHAT to your communications today. Before you send that next email blast, pause for a moment to think about your audience. Put yourself in their shoes. Then try this outline.

INTRO: WHY
Why should I care about this?
What’s in it for me?

CONTENT: HOW
How will this information help me?
How do I get the full benefit?

CALL TO ACTION: WHAT
What happens next?
What do I need to do?

This was something I whipped up behind the scenes at the office to help spread the word about the power of starting with WHY. I love seeing how the message changes by simply re-arranging the pieces. What do you think?

In the glovebox:

I'd appreciate hearing what you think about Communication Strategies: Starting with Why

Gimme a Reason

DR1665 — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 22:13:13 +0000

I’ll give you ten reasons.

An otherwise exciting conversation about the discovery of Keppler-22b was broadsided by pessimism, when it was brought up that humans likely do not deserve to inhabit other worlds. A litany of human shortcomings were provided to support the argument. Strangely, while “war for oil, the United States Federal Reserve,” and “The United States Government,” were mentioned, The Holocaust, WWI, and WWII were absent. Go figure.

I’m not suggesting the human race should (or is even in any position to consider) inhabiting literally new worlds, but the aforementioned rant basically closed with a challenge to give one good reason why humans might deserve such opportunities. Took me all of half a second to see the following in my mind’s eye. I called it…

A Top 10 Reasons List so Easy I Could Serve it up with a Soundtrack.

I’m not saying we’re perfect. Or even that I’m anything on the order of the above, but so long as there are people like these in the world, there is hope. And I refuse to subscribe to the kind of vagabond thoughts that lead into dark alleys where troublesome individuals lurch.

Part of the solution, part of the problem, part of the landscape.

In the glovebox:

I'd appreciate hearing what you think about Gimme a Reason

The Perfect Home

DR1665 — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 02:00:21 +0000

For Strip Mine City.

In the spirit of reclamation, if we’re going to convert a disused open pit mine into a city, why not build our homes and businesses there from used shipping containers? They’re relatively inexpensive, durable, modular, and continue the trend of turning one man’s trash into something treasured.

Dimensions
For the purpose of this installation, I’m going to be referencing “45ft high cube” containers. I found the dimensions on Dimensions Guide.

External Dimensions: 40ft long x 8ft wide x 9.5ft tall
Internal Dimensions: 39ft long x 8ft wide x 9.5ft tall

This means each container has just over 300 square feet of floor space (before insulation, interior walls, and such). Put three of them together side-by-side and you’ve got more than 900 sq.ft.. Stack another three on top, and now we’re talking over 1,800 sq.ft. of floor space – with 9ft ceilings!

Taking a look at the specs I found yesterday for the Cat 793F truck, It’s 45ft long by 27ft wide. It’s also 22ft tall. How does that compare to the rough dimensions of our 2-story, 6-container house above? These trucks are literally bigger than our proposed 1,800 square foot container home. But how many of these homes could we fit on a terrace?

You tell me.

That’s the picture from the previous post about this idea. There’s one truck toward the top right corner and another near the middle, just before the shadows. Those are bigger than this proposed container home. (PS: I’m pretty sure that’s a school bus at the bottom.)

You might notice some of the terraces are relatively narrow. Well, who’s to say we have to arrange our containers 2-tall by 3-deep? Maybe they could be 3-tall by 2-deep. Maybe they could be 4-tall, by 1-deep, with a nice rooftop patio/lawn for entertaining and relaxing?

Design
Building a home out of used shipping containers doesn’t mean this city would have to look like some kind of Tetris hell. There are already numerous people taking advantage of the modularity allowed by this building material. Shipping container architecture is already well-established around the world. Here’s a link to some process pictures on dornob.com showing the sweet container home above being built.

Price
So what would it cost to build a container home like this? According to Container Home Center, 40ft dry containers tend to sell for around US$3,000. I realize there are additional costs for transporting the containers and assembling them on-site, as well as making them livable, but at this price, said 1,800 sq.ft. home starts under US$20,000.

What’s more, this is DIY modular housing. It could grow with our needs and budget. Three containers would run less than US$10k, and adding a container upstairs would be as easy as having it delivered and stacked there. Even better, how might it change the real estate market in our Strip Mine City if we could buy/sell/trade individual pieces of our container homes?

What do you think?
Can you imagine entire neighborhoods made of recycled shipping containers? How would you picture neighborhoods being laid out in an environment like this? What other concerns do we need to think about if this idea is to have any potential of happening?

Click here to learn more about Strip Mine City.

In the glovebox:

I'd appreciate hearing what you think about The Perfect Home