Jun 24, 2008 | blog
Mark Evans has a post today in which he talks about the importance of thinking through our contributions to conversations. It’s something that I’ve learned myself in various businesses & projects that I’ve been involved in.
Taking even a half hour to contemplate and let the questions or ideas rattle around in your head allows you to better understand what was sent to you. It also gives you the time to formulate a more informative and relevant response.
Since we’re so connected and probably overloaded with communications, it’s too easy to simply reply right away. Sure, in doing so we demonstrate our ability to respond, we show that we’re connected and are willing to participate.
However, do we really give every communication we receive the full attention it deserves? How often do you take the time to fully contemplate the full context of what someone is asking? Do these quick replies really add value to the conversation or to the person who sent the message?
I think Mark is onto an interesting line of thought lately. Thinking about blogging, conversations and the quality involved simply in communicating with each other. Sharing information is a great thing, and we can do it so easily these days. The responsibility is upon us to use these opportunities of sharing information in a useful way. That means not sharing incorrect information, or being too verbose in our replies, thereby wasting time in misunderstandings.
What else fits in this area? What more can you add to what Mark is pointing out? There are many great tips that you have to share – leave one here or on your own blog. How do you handle replies? Quick or thoughtful?
Apr 16, 2008 | blog
Are missing what’s right in your backyard? Many “social media” types (explorers I like to call them) are connected with peers across the country and around the world. That’s great! Connecting with people from different places, with different views is great way to learn new things and discover new possibilities.
What about the people in your city or neighborhood? The people in the lane next to you commuting to and from work, in the grocery store, at the ball game – these people are part of your local economy and community. You know, the one that affects your daily habits and your local career opportunities.
Are you connecting with this group? How many fellow Twitter users are there that you could be sharing info with? What common values and ideals could you leverage with them to do something bigger, something better? Have you looked for these folks, met with them, had coffee with them?
Now’s your chance to change that. Who says you aren’t the one to get the ball rolling? Search Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and the like for your local area and start making some local contacts. Seek your neighbors out, and find what interests them. Is there business opportunities, or civic needs, or groups aligned with your faith? Get out there and connect with these folks.
Even if you’re in a more rural area, getting to know fellow “social media explorers” in the area can allow you to plan. Going from a small town to a big-city meetup may be daunting alone, but if you’ve got a local group to share the experience with, it can become more fun.
Some of the things you can try for very little time and money invested is a Twitter meetup, or a Social Media Breakfast, or simply let people know where to meet for coffee. So get out there and network on the local level, there is bound to be social media people in your area thinking about the same thing.
If you have organized, or are thinking of getting the ball rolling, what ideas have you come up with? What have you tried that works or doesn’t work? Let’s share our ideas and experiences with others to make future networking better!
Photo credit: Kecko
Apr 9, 2008 | blog
Today I was curious about business cards. I asked my Twitter friends just how simple (or minimal) in design or information they felt they could go with their business cards.
Of course most businesses include their corporate or brand logo and color scheme on the business card. Information on the business card has grown from the traditional company name, tagline, person’s name, title, and phone number.
Now you’ll find people’s business, mobile and sometimes home phone numbers. You’ll sometimes find more than one fax number. Most often there are more than one email address. Add to that the corporate web address and the space has gotten quite cramped.
For us social media types, you now start adding things like a Twitter address, or your LinkedIn, or Facebook URL. Some people may feel that their FriendFeed, Plaxo, or Xing URLs are of use to people requesting their business card.
With all these things taking up the limited space on a business card and you can see why full color bleed to the edge, and use of both sides are features offered by professional printing services. Seems like too much information to me.
Here were some answers from my Twitter friends to the question “How simple are you willing to go on your biz cards?” (Clicking on the the links below will take you to the individual “tweets” on Twitter.)
As you can see, we had a pretty good conversation on business cards with a number of great viewpoints and ideas. Wondering about that card of Brian Shaler’s that Ryan Kuder mentioned? Check it out here.
Want to have some fun with your business card? Check out GapingVoid where Hugh MacLeod draws “cartoons on the back of business cards“.
What am I thinking of doing on an upcoming version of my business card? I guess this is a first rough draft.
Those of us in the social media sphere have the luxury of expecting people to know how to find us. Google is our friend!
For the rest of the business world, however, the expectation that their time is valuable. That they shouldn’t have to go searching for the information that a “proper” business card should provide. My belief is that there is more information about me that I want a person to find by searching than I can add to my business card.
What’s your take on the topic of business cards? How simple or complex are you comfortable with?
Artwork credit: Hugh MacLeod
Apr 4, 2008 | blog
It’s all perception, or how you view things. I’m often trying to change my view of the world by working in different places when I have the chance. Whether that be coffee shop, a cafe, or a park – the change of scenery does wonders for one’s productivity.
Inspiration
That thought was driven home when I looked out the window last evening and watched the beginnings of a beautiful sunset. Just being able to see that sunset after a darn hard day of coding helped change my perspective on the day. It elevated the spirits and allowed me to get more done around the house than I had planned for the evening.
Look for Patterns
So often I see people doing the same thing day in and day out. It’s an easy routine to fall into. After all most tasks are repetitive and we naturally evolve processes to fit them and simply follow the process over and over. Often we don’t even think about the repetition, instead letting the frustration of it cloud our view of things in general.
Trying Things
It’s amazing how changing even the simplest of things can change one’s point of view and bring on a fresh perspective.
- Soundtrack for your life – listen to some tunes while you work
- Rearrange your desk – it’s amazing how moving things around shakes things up
- New wallpaper for you desktop – get some new vistas to look at
- Work remotely – go find that “Coffee-Fi” as my friend Thomas calls it, exactly who says you can’t be productive outside the office
Watching for it
More than anything, simply watching for real opportunities to change how you do things, view things, or even work will help bring a new perspective. You’ve probably been doing this type of thing for your employer, “think outside the box”, but may not have done it as often for yourself.
Stand up for a minute and take a good, slow look around your office, and office mates. Turn all the way around. How many others are looking up or around? I bet you’ll see most of your cube mates “heads down” doing those repetitive tasks we talked about.
What About You
So, what are you going to do? Do you have something that we can learn from? What other things have you found to change your vista?
Photo credit: lulacerdarj
Technorati Tags: Perspectives, Viewpoint, Worldview
Mar 13, 2008 | blog
So for all you T-Mobile owners out there, I’ve found a few fun ways to give your device a new lease on life. It’s true that we are all getting tired of the lack of 3G service by T-Mobile, or maybe the “long in the tooth” look & feel of Windows Mobile 5 and the ridiculous T-Mobile theme that shipped with the MDA.
It’s a good thing too, because right now there is simply too much turmoil in the mobile market to pick a good successor to our trusty little devices. What are the options? Go back to a “dumb” phone? Switch to a non-touch screen Smartphone? Go the Nokia N-series route? Spend upwards of $800 on an HTC unlocked device? Bite the bullet and jump to AT&T and the iPhone?
Well I’ve got some great ideas and news for you that will help pass the time waiting for new devices, and answers to some questions that will make that aging phone more productive and fun.
First, lets start with the one thing that we simply can’t change: 3G. No, there is no way at all to fix that. But there are workarounds: T-Mobile Internet & WiFi HotSpots. I’ve had the full unfiltered Internet & HotSpot service from T-Mobile for nearly two years and have used it extensively. Mostly I’ve used the WiFi with my laptop and really like knowing that I can hit any Starbucks Coffee location and enjoy decent connectivity. It used to be $30/mo. but they changed the pricing on that a few months ago to $20/mo. for customers with a voice plan. If you combine that, T-Mobiles GPRS/EDGEand some free WiFi spots, it’ll cover a lot of a person’s daily stomping ground.
Second, we’ll talk a bit about the user interface. It’s tired, it’s old, it’s boring. The iPhone sure has a great UI. But have you noticed the various 3rd party solutions to this problem? There is the PointUI Home interface, HTC’s “Touch Cube” interface for select HTC devices only, and recently SPB Software House’s Mobile Shell. I’ve chosen this piece of software because of the simple elegance of it, the functionality, and the fact that it’s really darn stable and doesn’t slow down the device. In addition I’ve picked up SPB Pocket Plus which, among other things, adds a touch-based scrolling action to the native applications in Windows Mobile. Too cool! These simple additions make the device much easier to use, easier to look at and FUN!
Third on the list has to be tunes. For this I was recently surprised that the Rhapsody Music Service recognizes Windows Mobile devices as “Play’s For Sure” devices. That means that it can sync any of their DRM’d content to the phone. Sure.. I’ve been an advocate of non-DRM for years – still am actually. However, I’m just not willing to part with the thousands of dollars that I’d have to spend to get all the music I want to choose from. With Rhapsody, I can spend $15(US) and be able to sync any track from their over 4 million strong selection to my MDA. Slip in a larger 2GB (maybe a 4GB…?) miniSD card and I’m pretty darn happy on this front.
So, no it’s not a new phone, nor does it bring a ton of new functionality. But with these hacks, tweaks, and upgrades, it doesn’t compare badly with newer phones. After all, it’s really the services and experiences we’re after. And these darn things aren’t cheap! I made a $400(US) investment in this phone over two years ago – and to think that I still am getting value from it is amazing. What’s more, I keep finding ways to answer my immediate needs demonstrates that the HTC Wizard will long be remembered as one of the most flexible and adaptable phones in mobile device history.
Come on! Share some of your hacks and upgrades in the comments below. What else makes this device still viable in the face of recent competition?
