If you are like most of us, you get hundreds of email messages a week. They range from the important to completely unwanted spam. Even with filters, you are probably getting a lot more email than you can possibly read – and still have a life.
Short of writing another expose on subject I would recommend you start with “Getting Things Done” or “The Four Hour Work Week”. These books have semi-complementary strategies for organizing the information coming into your life. There are good ideas on both fronts, and I’m sure you will be able to come up with a an approach that works for you.
I recently took the plunge and went from a regular cell phone to a blackberry. This sort of forces the issue if you haven’t dealt with it before. If you aren’t familiar with what I am talking about, sorting email via Blackberry involves a lot of thumb action to filter through the stuff you might have otherwise quickly review and delete on a computer screen.
Depending on your email client you may be able to prefilter some of these messages so they go to folders without showing up on your blackberry. Another suggestion, aside from unsubscribing from things you really don’t read, is to setup a different email account for things you would like to review if you have time. Rerouting these emails does a couple things. It forces you to think about what you are reading, it reduces your email volume, and it will make you more efficient. It also puts them all in one place in case you really do get around to reading them.
Author Archive
Military Intelligence tends to top the list for oxymorons. I would also add the phrase Paperless Office to the list. When I was in the military twenty years ago, we were just starting to use the precursor of today’s internet. We had a very large greenscreen terminal that allowed us to read messages, but not everyone had access so the communications center still cranked out reams of paper a day. My morning started with a stack of messages that was usually several inches thick. It needed to be sorted and routed within the office and eventually stored or shredded.
One day I got the bright idea that this was silly since everything I sorted through each morning was also in the computer. I took it upon myself to cross reference what was coming in on paper and what was coming in electronically for the entire organization. After several weeks and laundry list of signatures, I got permission to shut off the paper. It eliminated the need for 15 people to manage paper distribution just in the communications center. Everyone generally liked not getting the paper copies. But what did people start doing? Printing copies to make sure other people had the information. I’m sure there was some net savings, but the reality is that paper generation simply shifted to another area that wasn’t quite as visible.
Fast forward 20 years and many companies are trying to leverage portal technology to simplify their code development and deployment. Sounds good in theory. But the reality is that the maintenance tail and the complexity of portlet interaction simply reshuffles the same cards, and you are left with a new set of problems.
The point is new technology often has unplanned side effects. We work wiith companies to identify risks and strategies to maximize the effect of new technology.
Read any good org charts lately?
Regardless of how your company is faring with the new economic landscape of 2009, you’ve probably been through a reorganization or two. And for larger companies, I’m guessing you’ve been through a couple just since Thanksgiving. Everything is much better now right?
Somewhere in you career you may have heard the story of the 3 envelopes. If this is new to you, I’ll give you the short version. New manager starts a job and is given 3 envelopes and is told to open them in order as he/she faces a serious challenge. So he puts them in his desk and eventually things aren’t going so well so he opens the first envelope. It reads “Reorganize” . So he creates a new reporting structure, informs everyone and he goes back to work thinking life is good. Time goes by and things aren’t doing so hot. So he decides to open #2. It reads “Reorganize Again”. So he looks at the organization again and realigns some staff and changes the responsibilities between departments and goes back to work thinking life is good. Well, some time goes by and things still aren’t doing so hot and seem to be getting worse. So he decides to open #3. It reads “Prepare 3 Envelopes”.
I’m sure most of you have seen this scenario play out at some point in your past. If you took a car apart and put the pieces back together in a different way because it wasn’t running right, how do you think it would run? That’s sort of the approach many people take to addressing organizational issues.
There’s a saying that you can’t use the same thinking process to get out of a problem as you used to get into it. This is a trap that many organizations fall into. You can’t do the same things and expect different results. We work with organizations to identify key business functions, core competencies, technology factors, and management support strategies to create intelligent organizational processes. Oh – and no envelopes!
Are you a non-profit 501-C3 organization?
Do you help people?
Do you need a better website to communicate with your member organizations and the public?
Is your budget small or non-existent?
Do you have limited web experience?
IntuAction has a dynamic web portal application which is FREE to qualifying organizations. It can easily be customized by someone with a little technical expertise. If you need customization, we offer support to non profit groups at a reduced rates. Feel free to contact us with your needs.
New tools for EAI (Enterprise Application Integration) and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) are starting to make the impossible possible for many companies. Data that previous could not be shared between legacy systems can now flow freely. It is also now possible to web enable all those green screen applications that got skipped over during the client-server days. As cool as this might be for the MIS department, it may not be the right choice for the company. It is no longer a question of whether you can web enable your enterprise, but rather should you and what is the impact?
With today’s technology you could probably interface your financial system with the office coffee machine. As silly as this might seem, this power and functionality has organizations coding connections between systems without being forced to ask why.
Automating a bad process simply makes it work bad faster. Before you spend $500K + on a miracle application for your enterprise find out what it will do to your organization. What is the potential ROI, what is the process impact, and will it work? We work with clients to build a business case to justify technology investments and then work with them through the implementation.
Applications Development
Our developers have worked with a wide variety of technologies. We take you from business requirements to final product as quickly as humanly possible. If you have an idea or a business need, we can probably develop a solution for you.
- Web applications
- Handheld applications for palm or tablet PC
- Client server applications
- Desktop programs
- Custom interfaces
- Legacy data conversion
There are lots of coaching approaches out there. My approach is a little different. I’m not particularly interested in setting you up for X number of sessions, or tracking your weight loss, etc. I sort of liken myself to a cross between a gas station in the middle of no where and OnStar. For the gas station part of the analogy it’s at a place that you hadn’t anticipated going to, and you aren’t sure where you are relative to your destination. So you fill up your tank and ask directions. I don’t necessarily expect you to be coming back the same way, but a post card would be nice from your destination. The OnStar reference is a matter of pushing a button and getting the assistance you need, no matter where you are. Again, you aren’t pushing that button every day, or even every week, but it’s there if you need directions or especially if you’ve been in a crash.
Crashes come in many forms. If you are over 30 years old and you haven’t lost someone, developed a serious illness, had something traumatic happen, or just realized that the job/relationship/town you are in isn’t for you – then congratulations! You’re probably in the minority. For the rest of us, sooner or later you will reach a point where either the rules in your life no longer seem to apply, or you find yourslef in a place without direction.
I don’t have any magic pills or profound wisdom, but I can help you look at things in a different way, and hopefully find the direction you are looking for. Free intro sessions are available via email or Skype as my schedule allows.
