Hectic Eclectic

To Case Study or not to Case Study

Yours truly has been investigating and I just can't think of a reason not to complete a case study if

A) Everything has gone swimmingly for a client

B) Enough time has elapsed to prove (A) is indeed the case

C) Nothing being implemented is of a particularly sensitive nature

We've done quite a few but it amazes me how (certainly initially) few people are keen to do Case Studies with business partners and/or vendors. This position I've always found surprising as it is a great was to showcase the fact everyone did a good job --  client end user/ IT within client / business partner / vendor  --- and why would any of us want to shy away from that?

Oh - and this made me smile.

The Trouble with IT

Well more like... the trouble many businesses have with their IT departments generally...  This is a pitch I've given to quite a number of clients.  Why?  Not because they don't know but to help them understand the issues IT can present to a business and to make sure they are avoiding falling into those common pitfalls...

I like this pitch because it gives a taster of how we work with clients...

The Trouble With It

View more presentations from Stuart Macdonald.

On delivering

Having just won some business in an entirely new area with client of relativley long standing it struck me how there are different dynamics in delivering on such a project.  Newer contacts coupled with more familiar faces exposes the PM to increased risk of complacency, mismanaged expectations, broken promises and failure.

No one likes a broken promise!

I have spent some time thinking about how best to combat this one and some good time spent up front is the order of the day.  We don't and won't do hit and run.  Watch this space...

I am reminded of the only Oprah Winfrey Quotation I have committed to memory

"Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not." 

and to those quotation snobs, may I quote the most quotable (Seneca)

I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good.

...but must apologise to Dear Ms Winfrey, as I must confess I have never read 'Good Housekeeping', well certainly not the US edition!

 

Morningness and Eveningness - yes these are real words

My wife is writing a paper on sleep timings in older adults and it has sparked a bit of debate at Fortress Macdonald.  It seems that sleep like many other things in the world of Psychology is divided by the old nature vs nurture chesnut, or in this case biological vs sociological.
Maybe it is the Physics in the background or reading one too many books on Zen, but I have long held the belief that if there were two directly opposing schools of thought on any given topic, each with good research and plenty of erudite proponents then the only logical conclusion one could draw is that they are both correct.  Like Dick Vitale's Epiphany in Wave Theory 101 - It's Duality BAYBEE!!!
It seems this argument of mine has become a little tiring on the ears at our place but I'm going to see what I can dig up to convince the boss.  I suspect I'll be getting the boss into a bit of Fuzzy Thinking, and try to convince her to see beyond the dodgy tie-dye new-age cover...