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You Can't
Think With Your Tool Belt OnTM
My feeling is that
it is difficult to think about the big picture when you are caught up in day
to day activities. This newsletter is designed to help you keep perspective.
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Back Issue - October 2003
##########################################
“YOU CAN’T THINK WITH YOUR TOOLBELT ON”(TM)
Oct, 2003
Publisher: Wayne McKinnon, WayneM@WayneMcKinnon.com
http://www.WayneMcKinnon.com
(C) Wayne McKinnon 2003
##########################################
This month I have included a section titled “A reader
writes” Where I respond to a few of these on a semi-regular basis.
OTHER NEWS
----------
You may have noticed the new title “YOU CAN’T THINK WITH YOUR TOOLBELT
ON”(TM)
I have long worked under this theory, and this really represents what we are
talking about here, so we will continue under this name.
IN THIS ISSUE
1. CONTRIBUTING TO THE BUSINESS: This month's reason Why you
may not be getting the results your expect (measurement)
2. A READER WRITES: (and I respond)
3. BEING WHERE YOU NEED TO BE: keeping your career on target.
4. LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES: I thought I was wrong but I was mistaken...AGAIN
(being a do-it-yourselfer)
5. PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY TIP (security)
=======================================================================
1. CONTRIBUTING TO THE BUSINESS: This month's reason Why you may not be
getting the results your expect
=======================================================================
If your organization or your personal efforts are not getting the results
that you expect, figure out if you have any way of measuring it? There are
many measures that are valid, both quantitative and qualitative, but without
some form of measure, you have no indication of progress.
Goals lead us in a direction but without useful measures towards that goal,
we lose sight of them and setting goals becomes useless. While many of you
may be more effective than I, without goals I become distracted and just do
whatever comes next.
Last evening I proudly produced a chart and proceeded to present to my wife
how this simple tool was going to help me manage multiple priorities.
The idea came to me in a flash, and took just an instant to create in
response to a lingering problem I have had with getting my newsletter,
articles and such created on time while simultaneously servicing the needs
of my clients. The chart has a row for each item and contains multiple
columns that identify 10 results that I want to measure in order to ensure
that I do not neglect important but not urgent tasks and projects. As the
week progresses I place tick marks in the appropriate column to indicate
that I have completed one unit. At a glance, I am able to see areas
where I am more heavily weighted, and those areas that I tend to
procrastinate on. If by the end of the week one of my columns remains almost
empty, I can crank up the effort in that area.
Of course, if you like this idea you will like my wife’s advice even better.
She responds: “stop wasting time making charts and just do the work.”
That’s good advice too, just remember that work of value is not measured in
hours, its measured in achievements.
====================
2. A READER WRITES:
====================
One reader (let’s call him PAUL ‘cause that’s his name) wrote:
“I see by the time stamp on your e-mail that either your computer clock
needs fixing or you need to get some sleep. It was a pleasure reading your
newsletter. The analogies you use are entertaining and illustrate your
points very well. My favorite was the six year old girl playing soccer.”
Thanks Paul, I just read where children need 10 hours of sleep to develop
and function properly, and I suspect that adults need 12, Although now that
I am working-out regularly again, 6 seems to be enough. I think if we watch
kids we can learn a lot about adult behavior, since we are seeing it
unfiltered. One thing I’ve noticed some time ago that like a light bulb
about to pop, a kid will get an incredible burst of energy and bounce off
the walls when overtired, followed by a meltdown. In adults we just enter a
cranky state which we stay in for hours (or weeks) until we finally wise up
and get some sleep.
My wife (the brains behind the operation) noticed a trait that is more
predominant in me than in many others and that is the degree of irritability
I display when hungry. I personally blame it on a genetic throwback to the
cave man days when hunger might have triggered anger to such a degree that
even a saber toothed tiger could be taken down swiftly and devoured on
sight.
Fortunately for those around me I eat regularly and employ
an automated system for sending out my electronic magazines while I get a
full night sleep.
=======================================================================
3. BEING WHERE YOU NEED TO BE: keeping your career on target.
=======================================================================
Do you ever wonder how you got where you are today? Looking back at what
once worked for you and re-adopting some of your forgotten habits or losing
some of your current ones can be pretty invigorating.
Even more important especially early in your career is to look at how others
got where they are. I remember in the early 80's working at the first Molson
Indy race in Toronto and talking with some pretty famous people without
knowing who they were (Roger Penske for one, and don’t ask how that turned
out because I could have done better…)
While standing in the pit area during one of the support races I joked
around with another one of the guys standing next to the trackside fence. I
turned away for a few minutes and when I turned back, there my new
buddy was giving a TV interview. Turns out he was Indy car driver John
Paul Jones from North Bay Canada (for those of you that don’t know,
while North Bay is a fine place, it is pretty remote, cold, and
definitely not on the Indy car circuit.) After the interviewed he wandered
off and I never got to ask him the questions that were now running
through my mind such as “how the heck does a kid from the middle of nowhere
(I was referring to him but thinking it could just as easily be me – we were
both in our early 20’s at the time) end up driving million dollar race cars?
I would have asked Roger Penske how the heck one goes about building an
empire like his, or might have had the nerve to ask him for a job at a time
in my career when I was an electronics wiz specializing in data acquisition
systems (at a point in time when race cars were just beginning to use them.)
I did have the opportunity to ask Mario Andretti for his autograph though
(even though a friend I was working with had just managed to infuriate
Mario’s parents by blocking their entrance to the paddock by “just doing his
job.”)
My belief is that the best way to keep your career on target is to have a
target, but that target should not be so narrowly focused or poorly
researched that you miss out on the real big opportunities. In my case my
driving force was racing (or lack of racing budget), but by trying to move
ahead to higher-income positions I stumbled across opportunities to leave my
specialty area in electronics just before the sector temporarily dried up,
and later through more conscious planning, became more involved in providing
business results rather than purely focusing on any kind of technology
(fortunately well before
the technology sector imploded.)
As I look back, what I have left behind is a trail of competencies that each
contribute to the success of the next. Once expert I can remain
knowledgeable in many of these areas more easily if I chose since “the more
you know, the more you know” (but coincidentally the more you realize that
there is so much more to know.) Years ago, work in the area of data
acquisition, or computer network optimization taught me important lessons on
measurement which I now apply in one area of my business as I assist
marketing teams or communications planners achieve better results.
In your career you may have specialties, but look back and determine what
you truly are an expert in. In my case I can identify many, some of the most
useful ones being my ability to turn complicated explanations into layman’s
terms and present ideas and situations in a way that provides perspective. I
have found that this has great application in leadership and innovation as
well.
I’ve also learned the importance of measurement, analysis and process. More
often than not I find clearly defined measurement criteria is based on
poorly defined outcomes, usually a result of processes that are not well
understood, and conclusions that are jumped to too soon.
AS W. Edwards Deming said "If you can't describe what you are doing as a
process, you don't know what you are doing."
How often do you ask yourself what would the next step in your career look
like?
If you are like me your mind is tenacious at tackling problems and coming up
with new ideas for matters that are front and centre. The problem is that
without taking the time to consciously escape from the front and centres,
you might end up working on some pretty worthless things.
If your answer to the question above was “virtually never” Then you can
pretty much be assured that unless someone else is looking out for you, you
could end up virtually anywhere.
While I truly believe that one can produce exceptional results without
working around the clock or chasing life’s wants at a frantic pace, I also
believe that it is wise to avoid complete complacency. As Mario Andretti
said ““If things seem under control, you’re just not going fast enough.”
By the way, I also believe many of us are going too fast. In 2003 Mario
returned from retirement to fill in on his son’s team. During practice a
bizarre incident occurred where air got under his front wing and flipped the
car over backward. Doing a complete flip in the air and landing back on its
wheels, he drove back to the pits and decided to get out of the car for
good. He was quoted as saying something to the affect “what was I thinking”.
=======================================================================
4. LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES: I thought I was wrong but I was mistaken...AGAIN
=======================================================================
As a “habitual do-it-yourselfer” my tendency around our home is to invest my
time in activities that in the grand scheme of things don’t really matter.
Sure I derived some satisfaction earlier this week by rummaging through the
scrap wood bin at home depot and throwing together a new desk that perfectly
fits my space for all of $18.00 (send me an e-mail and I’ll send you the
plans for free) but maybe my evening could have been better spent playing
with the kids on their new trampoline while I paid someone else to deliver a
new commercially manufactured desk. Money may be limited but you have the
ability to get more – not so with time.
In the corporate world I often see people caught in the rut of “doing it
themselves because they can”, rather than using their company’s time and
money more strategically. In my case I have chosen to subcontract production
work for a product produced by one of my companies while I spend my own time
assisting a client who needs to create ways to move their tactics ahead
faster, and another to help them get unstuck as they formulate
strategy.
We can all make better use of resources if we take off our tool belts for a
while and think about what we are about to do.
When my wife and the kids wanted some more excitement around our place, the
kids used their time strategically, earning and saving up until they had
enough to buy some new fangled backyard apparatus.
Being the do-it yourselfer I suggested that they could hold on to their
money and “I” could “build” them something instead.
When I was caught using some bungee cords to construct a catapult between
two trees in the back yard to launch us off the 10 foot bank into the river,
the trampoline was purchased and I was banished to the garage where I
couldn’t hurt anyone.
Are you spending your employers time and money strategically, or are you a
compulsive do-it-yourselfer?
Stay tuned next month when I explain how to turn a skateboard, TV antennae
and some curtain rods into a back-yard rollercoaster…
=====================================================
5. PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY TIP
=====================================================
Computer security is finally getting some recognition in the corporate world
though not for lack of trying. Most attempts at raising the profile of
security initiatives are pure fear mongering and directions of “thou
shalt not.”
The problem here is pure and simply a lack of understanding of the
processes. On the behalf of end users because they simply do not know the
risks and how to protect themselves, and on behalf of the security experts,
most of who believe security is simply a matter of identifying the
vulnerabilities and implementing controls (that’s the end result but there
are a few other steps in the process to getting there.)
While the first step of performing a vulnerability assessment is well known
to security specialist, most users do not have the knowledge to perform this
on their own. Likewise the second step of taking those vulnerabilities and
assessing risk is often not even recognized by many security experts, while
it is well known to end user. In other words, people who are trained to
focus on looking for problems often do not have the perspective to come up
with appropriate solutions. The people (stakeholders) who are in the best
position to assess appropriate risk often not allowed to so they just turn a
blind eye to everything.
So, for both sides, here is the process to follow:
1. Vulnerability assessment (identify opportunities for bad-guys to exploit)
2. Risk assessment (consider the potential that the vulnerabilities will or
will not be exploited.)
3. Implement controls (plug the holes while leaving the system usable,
otherwise just close up shop and go home.)
4. Test the controls to make sure they work.
This process should be repeated anytime a situation changes. There are many
changes that can take place but in a technological sense, software updates
or the appearance of new hacker tools are typical examples that should
trigger a repeat performance.
(c) Copyright 2003 Wayne McKinnon. All rights reserved.
We encourage sharing this in whole or in part if
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