Six Sigma Memory Jogger II by Ginn, Finn, Ritter, and Brassard – Jan 2012

 Business  No Responses »
Jan 272012
 


Six Sigma Memory Jogger II: A Pocket Guide by Ginn, Finn, Ritter and Brassard ★★★★★

I haven’t been formally trained in the ways of Six Sigma, but I have been around it enough to know some of the basics. We used it at SuperValu/Albertsons. I saw it accomplish some amazing savings through several projects.  Simple, small process changes that were shown to save millions of dollars because of the scale of the operation. I worked closely with a few black belts on projects and their grasp of analysis was admirable. I always wanted to be one, but never got the chance.

One project I knew began with an idle comment from a vendor that the company purchased more small item shipping bins than anyone they knew. This was a huge expense each year. Why were the bins disappearing? That was the answer the Six Sigma team was tasked to find. Using several analysis tools, they quickly discovered the root cause was no process or procedure for returning the bins from the stores to the distribution centers. The bins were stacking up at the stores until the manager got tired of having them in the way and tossing them in the trash. A simple process change later and the bins were flowing back to the distribution centers on the empty trucks to be reused hundreds of times.

The Six Sigma Memory Jogger was recommended to me by my manager. It contains an alphabetical listing of all the tools and tricks the Six Sigma black belts use to do their work. Each tool and method is laid out in a concise discussion of what it is, why it is useful and how to employ it. It even includes a few examples of each. It is short, just 266 pages, but it has one of the most complete listings of analysis tools I have seen. Now that I have read through it, I can draw upon the multitude of tools, except for a few intense statistical functions that were beyond my brain. The rest, however, are useful in all sorts of settings. Having this handy reference close at hand means I don’t have to remember everything, but can do a quick review and get the results I need quickly. I have used several over the years in different situations and have found them invaluable. I

If you have to do any kind of analysis of business process in your job, this book is a great one to have in your toolbox. Recommended.

 Posted by Dan at 7:00 am  Tagged with: , , , , ,

Evernote: The unofficial guide to capturing everything and getting things done. by Daniel Gold – Oct 2011

 Productivity  1 Response »
Oct 012011
 

Evernote: The unofficial guide to capturing everything and getting things done. by Daniel Gold  ★★★★★

First off, what is it with everyone giving their books longer and longer subtitles? Just saying…

I first heard of David Gold on the Getting Things Done Virtual Study Group. He spent one our sessions giving his insight into the many uses of Evernote for implementing David Allen’s Getting Things Done methodology. His enthusiasm for the topic was contagious and I bought his ebook on the spot.

The basis, of course, is Evernote, a collection application that stores all kinds of information and provides powerful ways to retrieve it across any platform instantly. I am a new-comer to Evernote, just really starting to investigate it a month or two ago. The concept intrigued me, so when I heard Gold’s descriptions of how he pushes it to do everything in his task management system, I was hooked. I have used many tools over the past thirty years. Could this finally be “the tool?” I hoped this book would be the key to understanding how to use it better.

However, I was to be disappointed. Gold’s book did not provide what I was hoping to see – detailed explanation of how to do some of the basics of task management in this rich and well featured tool. In fact, I think I got more specific ideas on how to set things up from the podcast than I did the book.

It is a short ebook, barely 40 pages. The writing is energetic, bright and in need of an editor. Gold knows his stuff, but needs to spend a little more time on explaining how things are set up. The explanations that are there could use a little spicing up, a little more organization and step-by-step instructions. Unless one is already familiar with how to do some of the tasks referred to, it is easy to get lost and confused.

I don’t doubt that Gold is going to clean the book up over time and make it into what he intends. He states the book is going to continue to evolve – something that ebooks hold as an advantage over their print cousins. I hope the feedback he receives is incorporated. He has a great start. More “how to” descriptions would help me have the courage to make the leap to Evernote. The ideas that are presented there are helpful. However, the ideas he discussed in the podcast resonated more with me. I am going to go back and listen to the recording again very soon. For me, it was better than the ebook.

 Posted by Dan at 6:00 am  Tagged with: , , , , , , ,

Staying in Touch

 Focus  1 Response »
Sep 022011
 

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Once you start a network, you need to keep in touch. After all, what is the point of going to all the work of meeting people if they slip back into the obscurity of memory. It is the easiest thing to let happen. We are busy and it seems we hardly have time to keep up with our current friends and family. Isn’t it insane to add more to the list? Nope. It is easy. It is important.

A professional network doesn’t take a lot of care and feeding. What it needs is a good reminder system, a phone or a computer and a few minutes.

As I have said before, I use Toodledo for managing my to do lists. It also manages my network. I have a folder set up just for this. When I meet a new contact I want to stay in touch with, I add a recurring task. The title of the task is “KITW – John Doe”. KITW means Keep In Touch With. I set a start and due date about two weeks apart and a repeat frequency of one to three months. A task that will pop up regularly to remind me to reach out and reconnect with a friend.

Setting up the automation is worth the few minutes. It will take all the effort out of remembering who you haven’t talked to in awhile. As you develop relationships, you will find you already talked to that person recently when the reminder appears. Simply check it off and it will come back at the appropriate time.

The next question that scares a lot of people is “what do I have to do to reach out?” After all, I haven’t talked to them for a long time. Will they think I am a lousy person for not talking to them sooner? Probably not. They didn’t talk to me either, and I don’t think less of them. The truth is, we are all busy. What would you think if a friend you hadn’t talked to since high school sent you an email or called on the phone? Most likely, you would be thrilled they reached out. It only takes a few minutes. It pays huge dividends when someone responds.

Screen shot of my list

All that needs to be done is send a quick email or make a short phone call. A simple, “Hi, how are you. Hope all is well. This is what is happening with me professionally right now. How about you? If you need anything, please contact me. I’m happy to help” is all that is needed. You don’t even have to talk directly to them. Call late in the evening when you know they are out of the office and leave it on their voice mail or send it in an email. Depending on the relationship, you may add a few more details. Honestly, though, that is all you need to keep a professional contact up to date. Remember, it is all about Give, Give, Give. You just want to remind them that you are there to help them if they need it.

Will they respond? Maybe not. Many of my contacts don’t respond. I don’t know if they think I am a nut job or not. It doesn’t matter. They have a delete key. However, if there is ever a time when they need something and my email shows up, I hope they call. I won’t berate them for not replying sooner. I’ll be thrilled they thought enough of me to call. I will do everything I can to help them, too.

It only takes a few minutes every few weeks. Stay in touch. Offer assistance in whatever they need. That is what networking is all about.

Postscript: As I was finishing up editing this post, one of my best friends I haven’t heard from in nearly a year popped up a video chat window. He had to go all the way to Costa Rica to find time to call, but I am so glad to hear from him. I probably woke the whole house up with my shout of joy. I’m telling you. Keep In Touch with your friends. 

image source: The Digital Scratchpad

 Posted by Dan at 6:00 am  Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,

Tools of the Trade – Take 2

 Focus  1 Response »
Apr 132011
 

After my little tirade on contact managers, you may be wondering what I use. Since I haven’t found the ‘killer app’ yet, I have had to cobble together a bunch of different things.

Contact Information

I use Gmail’s Contacts for keeping track of names, phones and email. I know I should use more fields to store information, but I haven’t taken the time to add the necessary custom fields. Another fear is that I won’t be able to get the data back once I do find nirvana in a package. Every now and then I try weeding out the duplicates I inherited from Microsoft. I think I am down to the G’s.

Events

I try to keep as many birthdays as possible in my calendar. It is the most obvious day to keep in touch with someone. I use Google Calendar for this task. I use it for tracking many different sets of events, including family, work, personal, and my wife’s besides birthdays. These calendars sync to my iPod Touch. I can either see all the calendars overlaid or each individually. I have set the birthday reminders to come up two days in advance to give me enough lead time to prepare. On the special day, I make sure I send the person a personal email or a phone call. I learned about the phone call from Keith Ferazzi in his book, Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time. He explains how every morning, he calls the people on his birthday list and immediately bursts into singing Happy Birthday as soon as they answer. It is a great way to start the day. I like it. I also use Google calendar to keep track of appointments, although I admit I also track them in my office Outlook calendar so that I don’t miss anything. I hate duplicating efforts, but until I get an iPhone or some single device, that is where I have to live.

Network Progression

Who introduced me to whom? In the past, I used Microsoft Excel for this. It is a lousy way to do it, too. But it works. Tonight, though, I had the idea of using Mindjet’s MindManager. It would show that hierarchal view I have been missing. Each node can have multiple leafs which in turn can have many of their own. The more I think about it, this tool makes sense. If  I were using Microsoft Outlook for contact management, it would also be able to link the contact information directly into the mind map. That has potential. I will have to think about this one some more. I add the missing tags and attributes to the mindmap as well. That would allow me some interesting possibilities as well to sort people into groups. There is another tool out there called Personal Brain that really could make this powerful the way it links nodes together. It is worth checking into it again. I’ll do that and report back.

LinkedIn

This tool / site bears mentioning. I have been on LinkedIn for many years and have a lot of contacts through it. I haven’t done a good job of using LinkedIn to keep the contact vibrant. That is a failing I need to rectify. Some friends at work and I are learning more about LinkedIn and how to make it work better for us. This also has possibilities for a contact management system. If you aren’t on LinkedIn, you need to be. Unlike Facebook, it is geared to the working professional. They have a nice way of vetting contacts by having you list the method of connection and verify it with the other party before that connection is listed. Their focus on professional contacts is what makes it attractive to the business world. They aren’t trying to sell the experience of Farmville or some other social experiment. Be careful what is up there, though. It is there for the world to see, including your current and future employer. More on social media and network building at a future date.

Mobile devices

I have used many organizers over the years. Most don’t cut the mustard and have been discarded. I don’t even like to think about the amount of money I have spent on them. Currently, I use an iPod Touch and love it. If I were willing to pay the cost, I would carry an iPhone. I am holding out for a company provided iPhone because I am too cheap to pay for it myself. If I bought one for myself, I would still have to carry the company phone and I find that ridiculous. But I digress. The iPhone syncs my contacts with Gmail, my calendars with Google and has other tools I use, such as Toodledo. I have to have my iPod. I am very dependent upon it.

That wraps up my tools. What do you use? What do you like or dislike? Please share your experiences. I would love to hear how you keep track of your network. I just got an invitation to gist.com. Anyone use this? It is supposed to consolidate all your contacts from different sources into a single list. Sounds interesting.

image credit: relenet.com

 Posted by Dan at 6:00 am  Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,
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