Just Say Why
But what nobody ever teaches us is perhaps the most important thing you can learn to be a successful working designer: How to not say "no." If I could give one piece of advice to the designer just getting into client work, or even some who's been doing this for a while, it's this: The next time you want to say "no" to a client, boss, or colleague, say this instead: "Why?"
Management by Baseball - Book Review
A few weeks ago, Jeff Angus, the author of the phenomenal Management by Baseball blog, contacted me and asked me to read his new book, also titled Management by Baseball. In the book, Jeff breaks down management into four discrete “bases” (get it?) that one must reach in order to become a Hall of Fame manager. The four bases (from the book’s website):
Managing the Mechanics Every day of the baseball season, skippers skillfully juggle complex decisions from choosing a lineup to calling for a steal. In the dugout, they handle abstract concepts like time management and training techniques. In the office, they pore over research reports and apply them to the problems at hand. Learn from the masters the methods of successful operational management (and lessons in what to avoid from baseball's biggest bunglers).
Managing Talent Great baseball managers know how to get the most out of a team over a long season by understanding how to evaluate and motivate players, and when and how to hire and fire them. Learn how to apply their models and get the most out of your team.
Managing Yourself The most successful managers in and out of baseball learn enough about their own habits, biases, and strengths to overcome preconceived notions. Boost your own skills through examples of how baseball's best and worst came to grips with intellectual and emotional blind spots that undermined their effectiveness.
Managing Change--and Driving It The best baseball managers know how to adapt to significant changes in the game. So should anyone who works outside a ballpark. Lessons from baseball will improve your ability to thrive in times of change and actively drive changes to your company's advantage — and your own.
There is a lot to like about the book, and I’ll share some of the insights I gleaned from it in a few posts later this week. For now, the Box Score:
HITS:
RUNS:
ERRORS:
Admittedly, I am a big baseball fan and expected to like the book, which I did. I do think, however, that even a casual observer of the game will find valuable lessons. One caveat, the book is not an easy read. It isn’t that it is difficult to understand, or that the words are too big, it just didn’t “flow” like I’d hoped. Several times, I set aside an hour or two to focus on reading it, but would stop after a chapter or two. I started to get more from the book when I would limit myself to reading a chapter at a time. It may have been just me, but I needed time to process the information in small chunks. I think this is because Jeff packs so much complex business and economic analysis into a such a small book.
With that caveat, I heartily recommend Management by Baseball. Jeff has found a unique way of looking at (and explaining) business behavior that worked for me. If you like baseball at all, it will work for you too.
Time Alone for the Zone
Jason Fried has some great advice on how to get into the zone:
Getting in the zone takes time. And that’s why interruption is your enemy. It’s like rem sleep – you don’t just go to rem sleep, you go to sleep first and you make your way to rem. Any interruptions force you to start over. rem is where the real sleep magic happens. The alone time zone is where the real development magic happens.
One tip to help you create some alone time is… Set up a rule at work: Make half the day alone time. From 10am-2pm, no one can talk to one another (except during lunch). Or make the first or the last half of the day the alone time period. Just make sure this period is contiguous in order to avoid productivity-killing interruptions.
How much more work would your business get done if you set aside “zone” time.
Reading for Managing Partners
This Harvard Business School Working Knowledge article, titled Why Your Employees are Losing Motivation, is a must read for anyone who manages employees. According to the article, most employees are enthusiastic when they start a new job, but in most companies, employees morale declines dramatically after their first six months — and continues to decline. Sound like any business you know? Check out the great tips. The article is definitely worth a read.
Did Your Acquaintanceship Make Money This Year?
Angie McKaig has some fantastic e-mail tips. Here are my favorites:
Run a business, not an acquaintanceship.
Always respond promptly - same day is ideal; at least every 2-3 days at a bare minimum.Explanations go a long way.
Take the time, when you can, to educate. An extra 10 minutes spent writing a few paragraphs to explain something to a client can buy a priceless amount of goodwill.It's time for a mindshift, entrepreneur.
Email is not something that takes you away from your work. Email is a vital part of your work. It requires the same care, feeding and watering as the rest of your business, if not more so. You're not in Cubeville any more, with a sales department to back you up. You're it, bub. Remember that without those emails, phone calls and other "interruptions", you wouldn't have a business.
Is it all the same thing?
Will lawyers ever realize that it is all the same thing:
We don’t spend 2 hours every day on marketing, we spend all day on marketing. We don’t spend 1 hour every day figuring out the best way to communicate what our products do, we spend all day figuring out the best way to communicate what our products do. We don’t spend 3 hours on interface design, we spend all day on interface design.
When the edges are blurred, and one thing is many things, you can achieve so much more with less time, effort, and people.
Good work for clients is marketing. Sending a fair bill is client service. Returning telephone calls and e-mails is relationship building. It is all the same thing. Go read the original post and the comments. Great Stuff!
Mingling Advice
Always enter a conversations with a drink you are about to finish. If things don't go well, all you need to do is take one last gulp from your drink and excuse yourself to get another, never to return. If the conversation is going well, finish your drink and ask the other person if you can get them anything when you go to get another. They will appreciate the gesture even if they decline, and it impies that you'll be returning for a longer conversation.
MiniVan Man
After driving the family minivan (Honda Odyssey, if you must know) from Los Angeles to St. Louis, I read this from The Truth About Cars, and just now got done laughing:
Morphing from pistonhead into Minivan Man (MVM) is a process, like grieving. At first, when the kids arrive, proto-MVM goes into denial. He hangs-on to his/his partner's two-door, or trades the sports car for a hot two-plus-two. He assures his partner that everything will be OK; the baby will fit in the back, no sweat. (Silently thinking, it’s a baby, it'll never remember.) When the new father feels the brunt of his hormone-crazed wife’s rage as she tries to maneuver a squealing child into the back, when he sees his precious litte angel in that dark, windowless space; he knows he’s been beaten. He gets angry. Then he gets over it.
Bargaining starts. Well, honey, we don’t really need something THAT big do we? A large sedan would be just as good, wouldn’t it? Maybe something with a sports suspension. You know you like to drive fast too-- not that you would with baby on board, but every now and then... Hey, how about a Dodge Magnum SRT8 station wagon? And then, suddenly, he becomes aware of minivans. The ease of those sliding doors. The advantages of all that room: less struggling, less screaming, Mommy can go back there and pick up the damn bottle, infinite cup holders, etc. He gets it.
After depression, acceptance. Then, purchase and pleasure. Today’s minivans really are great for kids: safe and comfortable, with lots of room for Happy Meal toys, juice boxes, bikes, groceries, soccer balls, backpacks, PSP’s, friends and all that other stuff that makes parenting so expensive. The best ones even have God’s gift to hassled adults: rear seat DVD’s. The audio for these systems can be faded to the rear of the vehicle, giving MVM the rare chance to have an uninterrupted conversation with his partner. That's no bad thing; unless of course it is. In that case, there’s enough room for your beloved to stretch-out in the back and watch Toy Story for the 46th time.
So True.
Don't Worry About CopyCats
Startups worry far too much about people copying them.
First of all, it will take competitors a long time to realize that your idea is even a good thing to do. It seems obvious to you that your idea is good. You had it. Other people will take longer to see that.
Especially big companies-- as anyone can attest who has tried to convince a big company of something obvious. Often big companies don't want to see that an idea is good, because they already have a lot invested in some other plan.
Even when competitors realize your idea is good, (a) it will take them a long time to implement and (b) they'll probably screw up critical things.
And finally, working on your ideas will lead you on to new ideas. So you'll be a moving target; by the time competitors copy what you're doing now, you'll be doing more.
A lot of lawyers who want to implement some form of value pricing or flat-fee billing in their firms are reluctant to do so because they believe their competitors will just swoop in, copy their pricing model, and then undercut their price. My advice (and Paul Graham’s) is to stop worrying about that and just do it. Once your competitors realize just how good your idea is, it will be too late.
I'm Back -- Sort Of
Sorry for going AWOL. After Techshow and the LexThink Lounge, I’ve had to from California back to the Midwest. I’m driving from LA to St. Louis now. Today I am in Sedona, Arizona (one of the most beautiful places on earth, by the way). I’m back in business on Monday, and I’ll talk to you then.
links for 2006-04-12
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The costs of not improving your business - - quantified scientifically.
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Cool little color tool for web design.
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Great tips for using camera-phone with Flickr to remember things better.
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One way to recycle that old laptop.
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At least they didn't sell them to Clorox. ;-)
Only Make Smart Mistakes
Steve Pavlina sets out 10 Stupid Mistakes Made by the Newly Self-Employed. They are a worthwhile read (go to the post for his explanation of each), even if you’ve been self-employed for a long time. I know I still make a few of these stupid mistakes. How about you?
1. Selling to the wrong people.
2. Spending too much money.
3. Spending too little money.
4. Putting on a fake front.
5. Assuming a signed contract will be honored.
6. Going against your intuition.
7. Being too formal.
8. Sacrificing your personality quirks.
9. Failing to focus on value creation.
10. Failing to optimize.
Writer's Block?
From this 43 Folders Post:
[Writer Anne] Lamott also mentions how she keeps a one-inch square picture frame on her desk. And every time she feels stuck, she picks it up and remembers that all she has to do to get started is fill one square inch with words.
links for 2006-04-07
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Bevis and Butthead would be proud. Heh, Heh, Heh. The recently discovered outermost ring of gas giant Uranus is a bright blue, scientists said today.
links for 2006-04-06
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Wow!
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Songs for a dime, albums for a buck fifty. Legal ... at least in Russia.
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I just signed up and Evoca is cool! More later.