Project X Discussions

Give The Client or Customer 10% More

Do you have a delighted customer or client?  I bet you are in demand. 

Harvey Gellman, my mentor and business partner, had a saying "Give the client ten percent more than they expect."  

Don't just meet their expectations but exceed them.

That is really a very stretching goal as a consultant but great to keep in mind.  

One thing a delighted client will do is ask for more help.  You become a star and the go to person for lots of things outside you specialty.  Being in demand from clients is gold to the consultant.  

This came to mind when a friend wrote on Facebook how thrilled he was to get excellent customer service from ETR407, a Toronto electronic toll road.   He was also surprised.   I said he should let them know and he said he would not want to get the agent in trouble.  How sad is that.

However I think many people's expectations are low and so when we exceed them we stand out in the crowd.

However I do not have any truck with talking about giving 110%,  That makes not sense, I am talking about expextations.

What can you do today to exceed someone's expectations?

Then share in a comment.

Why Are You Who You Are?

Ever wonder why you do what you do?   

I often wonder why I ended up doing what I did.  

How much of what you have done is based on luck and chance?

There are not simple answers to these simple questions.  

I think we set driection in our life based on many influences in our life.   We do not choose our parents and our circumstances.   

However it is what we do with what we have makes a difference.   

Many people are successful because they were in the right place at the right time rather than some grand plan.

I often wonder if I had chosen a different road when i came to a fork in the road how my life would have different.   

I often take credit for things I have achieved and on reflection realize most things have happen by chance.  However I think we can learn from life but do we?  

I am in a philosophical mode.   However I think it is useful to ponder these eternal questions occasional.

How To Influence People

I am rediscovering Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People."   The amazing things is that his ideas are as relevant and fresh now as they were when he wrote it in 1935.  

• "If you want honey, don't kick over the beehive."  
• Principle one "Don't crtiticize, condemn or complain"
• If I want people to enter their golf scores into the computer, I must get them to want to do it for their own reasons.  Criticizing, condemning or complaining will not work.  That is simply kicking over the beehive.
• If I want people to read my blogs, I must figure out the issues that a relevant to them.  
• If you want people to do something, find out what is important to them and tune in to their motivation.

Stay tuned as I work through the ideas and try to apply them. 

Successful Data Warehousing

Recently I have been doing some research on the characteristics of successful data warehousing services.  I have learned some very interesting things and the challenges that organizations face.  The interesting thing is how important this area is for a successful business.  The stories of the leaders are legendary and the skills necessary to use good business intelligence are in great demand.  However the challenge of people offering business intelligence services is significant.   

The challenge of every organization is to find a way of sorting out truth from fiction.  Most organizations have a tremendous amount of information in the systems that run their business and do their financial reporting.  However the information is often not available in a form that can be used by decision makers.  The challenge is to collect the data into a data warehouse which can produce some good reports and help people make good business decisions.

The challenge in many organizations is the people in IT have a vision of what is possible with good decision making tools but the decision makers are really not aware of what is possible.  Some business sectors, like finance and retail, have made great strides in changing the direction of their organization with good business intelligence.  Many others have had difficulty getting started. 

A typical sign of an organization which is moving towards better business intelligence is the use of very complex spreadsheets for management reporting.  Usually the data for these sheets are entered manually for other sources and then manipulated to give some impressive and important reports.   Most organizations have at least one horror story of a decision which was made because of errors in entering the data or an error in the spreadsheet.  Most organizations do not really have much of a choice because to get started in data warehousing can be quite intimidating.  I do not think it has to be difficult but needs to be carefully planned. 

One of the difficulty many organizations face when trying to get started with a data warehouse is they set too ambitious target at the beginning.  Do not bring in all the data at the beginning.  Set up a structure that can grow but start small.  Many people think that the first step is huge, I believe a approach that leads to early short term benefits is really important.  Often the grand design is easier to imagine but with some effort and creativity you can create some early wins.   I think the business people must demand early results and be impatient.  These demands can create some design challenges but lead to better learning and business results.  The penalty of not moving forward to make good decisions from good information can be very serious for an organization. 

The challenge of the IT leader is to move with the readiness of the organization and at the same time take leadership, very delicate balance.  The ideal circumstance is a business leader who is demanding better information and an IT leader who sees a vision of data warehousing that meets immediate needs and builds for the future. 

The difficulty is the justification of the expenditure.  With operational systems, the justification is related to fairly tangible return on investment.  How can one predict the value to better information to make better decisions?   I think the metaphor of mining is a great one.  Mining companies spend a large investments looking for new ore bodies.  Management is always looking for better business intelligence to make better decisions.  The search is very important because in the rapidly changing business environment, being blind or basing decisions on multiple versions of the facts is very risky.  Not every search will lead to gold but without the search the business is blind.  After the search is successful, we now want more and more.  One of the most interesting things that the data warehousing project finds frequently is that the sources of data is very bad.  From the business point of view, basing decisions on bad data is very risky.  Looking at the data outside of the operational framework often reveals weaknesses that do not necessarily affect the operational systems.  Always be skeptical about all information and always give it the test "Does this make sense?"

B-Strong Walk - 1st Annual

For the past couple of years I have been lucky enough to be able to participate in events and discuss the overall charity that was founded by a business partner's daughter.

The story is amazing and the work that the family and friends of the Bolgers has been doing is astounding.  We added the charity as one of our official charities and participated as a sponsor of their gala last fall and had a blast.

This year they are launching a new Walk in support of Brain Tumour Research.  The walk is on B-Strong day (announced by the town of Markham) which was Lindsay's birthday.  Please join in the support of this event.  My family will be there and I am putting together a Project X team.

So find out more here

Or even better yet, support the cause here

Update #1:  We are half way there.  Thank you to everyone who has helped.  All the money raised goes straight to the charity.

Communications - Listening

In consulting listening is one of the most important skills and one of the most difficult for me.  I find that my ability to problem solve, my tendency to rush to solution and my preconceived ideas and prejudices all get in the way of listening well.  My thoughts and eagerness sometimes lead me to interrupt rather than let the client finish.  One of the techniques I use to keep me quiet is to take copious notes.  It is hard to note what the person is saying and talk as well.

Another technique I use is to try and understand the other person's private logic.  My teachers taught me that people always act and think within their own private logic which is based on how they see the world.  This is often not the way we see the world.  If I hear something inconsistent rather than ignoring it I ask the person to connect the dots for me.  They will be able to connect the points on a line which reveals how they see the world.  I recall somebody telling me they thought the IT director was making a mistake.  Then later they said they thought the IT director had done a good job.  I asked the person to clarify what I thought was an inconsistency.  The person said that previously he had done a good job but currently is making a serious mistake.  Investigation of the distinction was really very interesting. 

Rephrasing and confirming understanding is really critical.  We have to put our egos aside and really try to see things the way the person speaking sees them as opposed to way I see them. 

Practice and rehearsal in a safe environment really helps.  Having a mentor or partner who will help you improve is really priceless.  Harvey, my mentor, used to always asked questions when I went for help.  He was a great model because he helped me discover things for myself. 

In these interviews or discussions more is going on that just fact finding.  We are actually engaged in a process of consulting with the other person.  Using good listening we can help the person understand their circumstances and actions they might take to improve the situation.

Another great listening question is "Is there anything else that you would like to tell me or you think I should know?' or simply "Anything else?".

Are you a good listener?  Any tips and techniques?

Future Pacing - Sound too Simple

I would guess you found the last posts (see Future Pacing) to be very simplisitic and unbelievable.  I can tell you from personal experience that it is extremely powerful.

The difficulty ia the well formed outcome.  If you really want the outcome unconditionally, the exercise will really make a difference.  Try it first with somthing simple that you really want to change.  

For example brushing your teeth before you go to bed.  Use the procedure and as long the it past the simple question, future pacing will create the behavior.

Try it with something simple.  

"We're going for the low hanging fruit."

While I understand the metaphor, that is by picking low hanging fruit we will achieve earlier benefits, at lower cost and with less effort, I was wondering what would happen if we extended the metaphor. In other words, when do we pick the rest of the fruit? And is it right to pick the low hanging fruit first?

I've become so frustrated with the over use of the phrase that I sent a note to a friend of mine who had an apple farm to find out if the statement really made any sense.

Here is what I found out.

It turns out, there is one good reason to pick the low fruit first. It prevents lower apples from getting damaged by apples that naturally drop during picking. Otherwise, there are no further benefits to picking the low hanging fruit first.

I asked my friend if apples ripen in any particular order, like from the top down, or from the bottom up, or from the sunniest side to the shadiest. It turns out Apples all ripen together. Even though all the fruit is ripe, apples inside the tree canopy tend to be smaller and have less colour but if you wait for them to colour the rest of the fruit will be overripe.

While the picker starts from the bottom, the whole tree is picked together because labour costs are too great to go over a tree several times.

There is an exception for premium apples like Honeycrisp and Ambrosia that bring in more money. These varieties may be picked twice and maybe three times to give a chance for the greener apples to redden and size up.

The problem that occur with multiple pickings is that the apples picked later are riper, softer, and have a shorter storage life. Apples left to redden and picked later, though they are greener in colour and smaller, are riper than the ones picking earlier. For this reason the apples picked last are sold first while apples that were picked first are sold later due to their longer storage life.

Returning to the project delivery metaphor. Substituting the word 'fruit' with the word 'deliverable'. Then if we pick our low hanging deliverables first and wait to pick the remaining deliverables later I can expect these things:

Less impact from the later deliverables on the early deliverables - Less damage to the low hanging fruit because it didn't get hit with higher fruit dropping on it
More long term value from the earlier deliverables - Longer shelf life for low hanging fruit because I picked it first
Higher labour costs for returning to the project to implement later deliverables -when I return to the remaining deliverables to a second time for the higher fruit
Less long term value from the later deliverables - Shorter shelf life for the higher fruit because it was riper when picked
And if we never return to the tree to pick the remaining fruit we lose any realized value for them.

So much for tree fruit. What about vine or bush fruit? Raspberries and blueberries do not ripen as evenly as apples. They ripen randomly all over the bush and need to be picked as they turn colour regardless of where they are on the plant! Some picking the low hanging fruit in this scenario makes no sense.

Wine grapes are picked all at the same time and depending on the ripeness of the fruit and the sugar level or brixs. As the sugar level determines the alcohol content of the fermented grapes. Again, picking the low hanging fruit in this scenario makes no sense.

Can You Change the Future?

A great technique which can help us change our future is called future pacing.  The steps are very simple but extremely powerful.

• Select a future outcome that you desire.  Describe it in detail.
• Test whether you really want his outcome by asking.
  • What will happen if outcome occurs
  • What will not happen if the outcome occurs
  • What will happen if the outcome does not occur
  • What will not happen if the outcome does not occur, consider carefully
• If the honest answers to these questions are simple we have a well formed outcome
• Now visualize the outcome happening in the next week.
• Describe what it is like in detail
  • What it looks like
  • What it feels like
  • What it sounds like
  • What you are saying to yourself about it

• Now visualize the outcome in three weeks answering the same questions.
• Next imagine the outcome in two months answering the same questions.

 

Be careful to only do this exercise with things you really want to occur because it is very, very powerful. 

This exercise should be done quickly and if you have a friend who could ask you the questions you will find it easier.  

 

Can You See Your Habits?

An amazing fact of human nature is that we can see other peoples behaviours more clearly than our own.  That is why we need help from others to change.  

The best person to help is someone who is outside you circle and is not involved with your life.  They will see the issues more clearly.  Counsellors and consultant can be very helpful because they are outside our world and have a different perspective.  I used to say they were objsctive but npw I say a different perspecitve.

They can help us find the triggers and rewards for habits and help us explore ways to replace one habot with another.  These people do not need to be professionals but have great skill in listening.  I have found that if I listen carefully enough the person will tell me the solution.  I then have to propose it to them and see their reaction.  They may not accept it right away but with my help they will start to change.  

I have a golf coach who works with me that way and has been very helpful is correcting my habits.  He is very patient with me.  So why am I not a better golfer?  I am not willing to spend the 10,000 hours of practice.   An example of a thought habit is how I think my swing should feel.  The thought results in an "outside in swing."   He has worked long and hard to change that thought habit.  However the habit creeps back regularly and I need to go back to the fundementals.  

Many of our thought habits are really quite ingrained in us.  We need to go back to the fundementals regularly.  

What are your thoughts habits that you cling to tenaciously which you know are not helpful?