Class Labs

Will need this picture to play with in class on 10/20/08:

We will also need this image. Click Here

Homework

Class,

Here's your homework for this week:

1. Find the red eye tool in PhotoShop and be prepared to demonstrate it next class
2. Scan “how to fix and enhance photos” topic under the PhotoShop Help menu
3. Use Help to find “Retouching Tools Gallery”
   > Go to the page on the web and bookmark it
4. Use help to search for “Keys for selecting tools”
   > Go to the page on the web and bookmark it
5. Complete your first draft of About ME project
6. Print About ME project as pdf file type and upload to slideshare
7. Notify me via a comment to the this blog entry that your file is posted. Use the following HTML code:
8. Retouch a family photo and show me the before & after next Monday. Minimum requirement: Use Image adjustment and clone tool.
9. Send me a note with your slideShare User name so that I can authorize you to see the lesson plans
   

My mailman loves me!

This is Pete my postman. He loves me. I suppose I should explain.

I made a commitment to reduce the amount of junkmail I receive. I approached this project as a game. Every night, I'd make a pile of junk mail, call the the numbers and ask politely to be removed from their distribution lists. Sometimes, it takes research to find out who is sending you stuff. I learned that there is a code on the label that can tell you who sold your name to the people sending the junk. If I found the name, I called the "data pusher" directly.

Some companies make it very difficult to be removed from their databases. Visa for example kept sending me solicitations despite repeated calls to stop. Turns out you need to say "Take me off every list" because they have seven different offerings (mortgage, credit card, car loans etc.) with seven different mailing lists. They forced me to vocally say "No" as they asked me if I wanted to be removed from each one. They wouldn't let me say "No" to all. I'm not making this up.

Opt Out
I was very hesitant to "Opt Out" of all credit card solicitations using this website (click here) because it required my social security number. Turns out it is safe. But after I completed the web registration, the junk kept coming. After studying the fine print, I learned that to be permanently deleted from these lists, you must also sign and send a hard piece of paper to the the "Opt Out" crew in Atlanta. Funny. I paid the 40 cents and mailed it off.

" Why commit yourself to sorting junk mail for the rest of your life? "

Today, Pete my mailman said that he noticed a dramatic reduction in my mail. He smiled. I smiled. Yeah ... we had a bond. I thought he was going to ask me to join the postal gang for a beer. I'm not really sure if it is good to be "in" with the postal team so there was a moment of quiet uneasiness between us.

Fewer Paper Cuts
During this project, I've never gotten angry. I'm just persistent. My wife tried to discourage me: "It is easier to throw out the junk mail then to go through the hassle to stop it!" In my defense, I use my speaker phone and watch TV to kill the time painlessly. And the payoff ... what a payoff! Eventually you notice a dramatic reduction in junk mail. It's liberating.

If you aren't challenged simply by the fun of playing this game, then here's some additional reasons to go through the hassle:

1. You will dramatically reduce the amount of spurious purchases you make. We are all influenced by repetitive sales messaging. Stop the repetitive messages and you'll spend less.
2. Unlike our appraisal process, you get tangible positive feedback all during the project run. You can actually see the results.
   
3. You'll save trees. Sammy P told me it is cool to be green this year.
   
4. The probability that you will be scammed by ID theft will fall.
   
5. You'll spend considerably less time processing mail.
6. Your shredder will last longer.
7. You'll get fewer paper cuts.
8. You'll make a new friend like Pete.

If you have other reasons to fight this good fight, please let us know. If you have other tricks for beating junk mail, then share your secrets.

My Dad was a self employed marine engine mechanic in Deerfield Beach, Florida. If you are familiar with South Florida, you know that the city is carved by canals with a boat tied to every dock.

Dad was popular. Too popular. People would call our home day and night begging him to fix their boat because they had company coming down from the north and they "needed to get out on the ocean." They never seemed to care if my dad needed a break.

When I went to college, I'd call home and ask how Dad was doing. He'd reply in a tired voice: "I'm two weeks behind." I offered him two easy fixes to the dilemma:

1. Raise your rates.
   
2. Scale your operations by hiring more labor.

"What are they teaching you at that school, how to cheat people? I'm not going to gouge my friends." As a budding economist, I found it strange that he called his customers "friends." Raising his rates was a simple fix to reduce demand for his services. He'd work the same hours, make more money, and have fewer disruptive calls to our house. Since people pay what they are willing to bear, I don't think he could "cheat" a customer by jacking his hourly rates. I never won this debate. For decades he kept his rates stable and, consequently, was always overwhelmed by demand.

His stock line of reasoning to dismiss my second recommendation to hire labor went like this:

If you want it done right, you've got to do it yourself. -- Old Salt

Dad had a pretty good internal compass and I aspire to be half the man that he was, but I never bought into this argument either. In fact, Is it even possible to become an effective project manager if you really believe that statement? Personally, I follow the 60% rule:

If a person can do the job at least 60% as well as you, let it go. -- Young Salt

Where do you fall in the old salt / young salt debate?

The 120% Rule - Pipeline Overload

I don't think that managers deliberately overload the resource pipeline (i.e.assign tasks that require greater than 40 hours a week of effort). Often we shoot ourselves in the foot. For example, we chronically underestimate how long it will take to complete a simple task. "Sure, I can do it by our next meeting," someone promises. Then he breaks the commitment later when it turns out that the task takes longer than expected or other tasks take priority during the week or he forgets to write it down!

The five 30 Minute Fill Up
Let's focus on just one of those problems for a moment. We're all guilty of underestimating how long it takes to complete a simple task. For example, estimate how long it takes for you to go from your home to a nearby gas station and fill up. Round trip. Now time the trip. Do you see how easy it was to fall in this schedule estimation trap?

Here's the consequence: when we habitually underestimate the time it takes to complete a task we are unconsciously overloading our own pipeline. By the way, when someone tells me a task is "easy" I unconsciously double their schedule estimate.

Other Convenient Ways to Shoot Yourself in the Foot
Here's a few more ways we overload our own pipeline:

1. We can't say "no." I mean, we can't say "NO!"
   
2. We don't properly prioritize our work. We just can't let those low priority items drop. The world might stop spinning.
   
3. We don't know how to delegate properly.
   

Shrek is not to blame
Some people love to blame their manager for pipeline overload. "My manager is a tyrant that doesn't care if I sleep." The truth is, I've never met that Ogre manager or the unicorn he rides on. The fact is any manager would care if he/she knew you were working excessive hours or the toll it is taking on your personal life. Unfortunately, we may be reluctant to tell them our situation. As the recession looms and financials get even tighter in IBM, we'll be even more hesitant to poke our head up and say, "That's enough, my plate is full."

Can you think of other reasons the resource pipeline is broke?

Taking a different angle on this topic ... What are the characteristics of a broken pipeline? How do you know it's broke?

The 85% Rule - Pipeline Equilibrium

Years ago, some folks inside of IBM (myself included) argued that pipeline equilibrium is achieved when 85% of our resources (people) are contracted to projects.

The 15% balance represented an investment in the future health of the organization:

• Concept evaluation
• Functional excellence
• Emergency management of "hot spots"
  

I don't think we practice the 85% rule. Did someone create a new rule and forget to tell me?

Chuckie’s not a monster

I am going to call out a team member in this post. To protect his identity, I won’t tell you his middle name. Anywhoo … Chuck [?] Bryan exhibits behaviors that deserve recognition:

• He calls people directly on the phone to discuss complex topics.
  
• Even when he disagrees with me, I feel like buying him a beer.
• He properly prioritizes the workload on his desk.
  
• He plays nice with the other kids in the sandlot.
  
• When he takes an action, he writes it down.
• He’s a closer - he gets things done.
• He knows when to start talking.
  
• He knows when to stop talking.
  
• He tells me ‘No.’
  

On the last point, who do you like better: a) the team member who tells you ‘yes’ and than chronically fails to deliver or b) the team member that flatly refuses to do some task? Today, Chuck told me, “Nobody cares about this particular deliverable, except you ... I’m not going to do it.” After the initial jolt of indignation, I had to acknowledge to myself that he was right.

Did I mention that Chuck is the offering manager for six solutions that will announce 4Q? While shepherding those offerings, he's engineering changes to our solution edition process to scale our operations with fewer resources. He's relentless about finding ways to circumvent unnecessary Process Scope.

Give me 10 Chucks and 10 “Nums” and I’ll beat our competition senseless.

Balmy Breezes and Blackberries

We enjoyed a family reunion on the Isle of Palms, South Carolina this week. I'm an introvert so I don't feel comfortable in large gatherings, but Doris and Walter (my in-laws) were clever enough to rent a home with this view out the back window.

Here's a few things that caught my eye or touched my heart on the trip:

• Dolphin swam by the dock every morning to say 'hey' and to remind me that we aren't the only intelligent creatures on this earth. They told me to tell you to break away from your computer every once in a while to step outside and feel the sun on your face.
• Long, uninterrupted, unhurried, unforced, chats with the family. Jim discussed his breakthrough idea about personal growth that he calls "Crisis to Creation." In a nutshell, his principle states that people often need a crisis to force them to abandon their current life course. But once they do, they often find an infinitely more rewarding mission. I know that it is a good idea because I kept asking myself, "Will it take a crisis for me to throw away my Big Blue security blanket and start work on something new?"
• Dad looked great and in the best of health. The walks on the beach gave all of us a little more zip in our step.
• I brought along two emergency beers and they were sorely needed. The risk mitigation planning we do in project management saved me again.

"Key lime pie - a magnificent study in balancing the sour with the sweet."

• My only decision for this week was whether or not I should gobble up real key lime pie or Blackberry ice cream for desert at night. This is the first time in years that I've said "blackberry" and didn't think about something buzzing in my pants.
  
• You had to see Chris, Elke and Doris in the kitchen preparing meals. There was no designated leader just a chaotic symphony of motion that produced consistently excellent meals ... which confirms my premise that mothers make natural project managers. You put my brothers and me in a kitchen with knives and tell us to make something and I guarantee that there is only one person standing at the end of the hour.

It's going to be hard to focus my mind on my October solution launches. I feel slow, lethargic and oh so happy. I think I'll live on virtual island time for a few more days.

NEVER Try this at Work

I was on a long drive with my brother and his girlfriend Kim. We were swapping tips about improving relationships and dealing with difficult people. Kim offered this gem:

When you are discussing your issues or concerns, turn off the TV go to a neutral place like the kitchen table and make sure that one part of your body is touching. Before your mind goes off in the wrong direction, it can be your hand or a barefoot touching, just make sure that one part of the body makes physical contact.

I looked up the word touch in Webster’s and the first definition states, “Handle or feel gently usually with the intent to understand or appreciate.” Why do you touch soft silk? Because you just love the smooth, cool feel. In other words, you appreciate the material. Why do you hold hands when you walk with your date or mate? Holding hands makes it hard to get around fixed posts, but again there is an element of appreciation in that simple gesture.

I think that a simple touch can be a powerful tool to reach a compromise when you disagree on an important issue because it reminds you that your appreciation for that other person is more important than winning the argument.

I hear some tips and say to myself, “I’d like to try that.” I heard this tip and said, “I have to try it.”

Remember when you wore diapers?

My Mom was 19 years old when this photo of her and Dad was taken holding my oldest brother, Jimmy. I wasn’t born yet.

Do you think she was properly trained for the heavy responsibilities that lay ahead? She wasn't. She didn't even know that she would charter five more kids and run those projects synchronously. Yet she is content and confident in this pic. You can see it in her eyes. Even the chubby baby knows he’s safe. There’s no fear or anxiety about the future. There is only promise ahead. She’s got the leader look down cold because she also adds that intangible aura of genuine concern for the chubby baby. Do you see it? It’s not about her taking a pretty picture. It’s about her family.

Now let’s compare pics. Sam Palmisano wears the mantle of a leader by virtue of his amazing technicolor title: Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. I’m not making that up. He’s an amalgam of three top dogs in one! A Chairman, el Presidente, and a c-class executive. The combined titles scream, “This is a LEADER!”



Carefully examine his face in this photo. He’s got the funky “smile for the camera” unnatural pose. Does he look confident? Does he welcome the future and the unexpected twists that it will bring? Does he make you feel safe and cared for? of course, I could just as easily pick on myself. My picture says, "I did something really bad today and I'm waiting to get caught." But this rant isn't about pictures at all. It's about people who care for each other. Leaders care. And Leaders are cared for.

The essence of a leader
I’m biased, but I contend that my Mom sets the highest bar for leadership in the technology industry because she somehow convinced me that today is going to be a good day. So is tomorrow. She told me that I was ready for the future and that I would be successful. Most important, she let me know that there is always someone in this world interested in me and not just my project.

To all of the battle hardened executives in this company who think that I’m talking about soft skill mushy nonsense here, I challenge you to pull out the photo with you in diapers cradled in your Mom’s arms. Did you ever feel more comfortable about the future than you did then?