It ain't like brushing your teeth

November 23, 2005

Well, I've fallen off the wagon again with my Getting Things Done routine. My inbox is up to around 400 messages, I feel a bit "stuck" on a few projects, and that's not good.

Rituals

I love David's GTD methods and philosophy, but I have a recurring issue with drifting away from my good habits. A few months back, I went to one of David's GTD|The Roadmap seminars, and he talked about how we needed to develop new habits for GTD so they'd become automatic, like brushing your teeth. His story went something like this:

When you're born, you don't know anything about brushing your teeth - you didn't even have teeth. Then, when you had teeth, your parents made you go brush them every day. You may have complained, but they reminded you and you did it every day. Then one day, without realizing it, you did it without being told or asked. You'd developed a new habit!

How often do you need to be reminded to brush your teeth? Probably not very often. As an adult, if you go too long without brushing your teeth, the "scuzz factor" kicks in and the sense of urgency to go brush your teeth increases. And then you brush your teeth and the scuzz factor is gone.

Beyond Beyond Bullet Points

November 16, 2005

Recently, I shared my enthusiasm for the book Beyond Bullet Points, and the presentation method it's helped me learn. Since then, I found out about a Beyond Bullet Points PowerPoint add-in that's made it even easier for me to create high-impact presentations. This add-in was co-developed by Cliff Atkinson, the author of the book, and NetCentrics. I've been a loyal customer of NetCentrics' Getting Things Done Add-In for Outlook for a couple of years now, and they've done a phenomenal job on this add-in, as well.

This product adds a number of toolbar options into PowerPoint, providing easy-to-use guidance that helps you achieve the results described in Cliff's book. One of these options is a "Create New Story" button, which brings up a story creation toolkit that guides you through establishing the main elements of the story you'll be presenting. Following the various screens in the Create New Story process made it very easy to work with. The process felt a bit like creating a screenplay (or so I imagine - I'm not a screenwriter, but I watch a lot of TV). Click the screenshot to get an idea what this new toolkit looks like.

The add-in also puts in some tools to help you manage different color palettes, fills, and other actions that help you create a uniform color scheme throughout your presentation without having to constantly use PowerPoint's (somewhat clunky) color selection dialogs.

One of the key activities in creating a Beyond Bullet Points presentation is use of the slide sorter to create the storyboard, and use of lots of graphics to tell your story. This add-in provides tools to help there, as well. You'll find shortcuts on the button bar to change views, add speaker notes, turn the slide thumbnail view on and off, and a number of other things. Yes, you can do most of that within PowerPoint, but having them right there within easy reach saves some time and hunting.

The bottom line? I am still an enthusiastic advocate of the Beyond Bullet Points method and I urge you to read the book and give this technique a whirl. I also recommend you download the trial version of this add-in to help you create your first Beyond Bullet Points presentation. Once you do, I'm confident you'll find it as impressive as I have.

[Updated] Mind Hacks

October 26, 2005

Ever wonder...

why does your mind play tricks on you?
why can you read the same sentence with the missing word about 5 times but not see it?
why do visualization and "mind games" work?
do we really use only 10% of our brains?
why hearing someone talking on a cell phone is more annoying than hearing two people talking near you in exactly the same environment?

Well, you can stop wondering. I've just finished "Mind Hacks" by Tom Stafford and Matt Webb, and the answers to these and about a Brazillian other things are addressed within. This is a really fun book, and I bought it on impulse while I was on Amazon the other day subscribing to Make, and read it on a long flight today.

There are 100 "Hacks" in the book, each of which explains a different aspect of the things your brain does to make the world seem smooth and familiar to you. For example, Hack #62 explains the Broken Escalator Phenomon:

"One such phenomenon can be felt when you walk onto a broken escalator. You know it's broken, but your brain's autopilot takes over regardless, inappropriately adjusting your posture and gait as if the escalator were moving. This has been dubbed the broken escalator phenomenon."

I liked this one because I had a similar "my body is not my own" experience when I was walking on a broken "moving sidewalk" in the Las Vegas airport last week. I knew the thing was broken, but I still felt my body trying to adjust for a non-existent change in speed as I stepped on and off of the moving sidewalk.

For each Hack, the book goes on to explain how the Hack works, why it works and, in many cases, provides a fun "Hack the Hack" exercise you can try to test it out. There are a lot of references to cool things on the web like one on how to build your own "Motor/Sensory Homounculus." Yeah...that one is explained in the book, too.

Cool stuff, and lots of fun. Get it for yourself or as a gift for that special someone.

Update: Here's another sample (no pun intended) to whet your appetite. Here's Hack #48:

"A sample of Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" has been hidden in the sound file on our book web site [link]. The sound file is 30 seconds long and is mostly noise, so you will have to listen carefully to detect when the song starts. The song will start either in the first, second, or third 10 seconds and will be very faint, so pay close attention."

To find out about the results, pick up the book and read Hack #48: Detect Sounds on the Margins of Certainty

Resources for learning the Theory of Constraints (TOC) Thinking Processes

October 17, 2005

OK, so I'm a geek. Let's just start there.

As a fan of Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt's Theory of Constraints (TOC) I have been surprised at how powerful its underlying concepts can be. Unlike many "process improvement" programs, Goldratt's TOC is a system improvement approach. The simple concept at its heart is that any system has only one constraint (aka "the weakest link" or "bottleneck") at any given time.

Furthermore, his theory says that any work that doesn't maximize the effectiveness of the constraint is wasted. In other words, work that doesn't allow the constraint to perform at its optimal capacity doesn't increase the throughput of the system, so your effort would likely be better spent elsewhere.

Another key component of TOC is that it is a system view and it preaches that you should focus on the throughput of the system as a whole, not on local optima. In other words, the system should maximize the throughput of the bottleneck resource even if that means that other resources sit idle. On the surface, that may seem counter-intuitive, but that's just because our intuition has been fed by a cost-accounting philosophy rather than a throughput-accounting philosophy.

The Roots of TOC

TOC first became known as a Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP) approach that provided immense improvements in the effectiveness of manufacturing businesses. While manufacturing is the first place TOC gained its glory, the principles of TOC can be applied to virtually any system, in any business.

Goldratt himself is a phycisist, so it's no surprise that TOC is based on a small set of very simple "rules" with very complex implications and interactions. This paradox of complex simplicity makes it simultaneously easy to understand but difficult to master the precepts of TOC.

I'm a fairly conceptual thinker, so I have found it easy to apply theories of TOC at a high level, but I've found it difficult to really master the nuances of the "Thinking Processes" of TOC and execute on the technical aspects of TOC. While the processes are used heavily in all of Goldratt's books and I've read most of them, the books are presented in the style of novels. As a result, there are not a lot of tutorial-level details to help you learn the Thinking Processes on your own. [An introduction to TOC and the thinking processes is available in a free PDF from Goldratt.com]

Resource 1: A step-by-step tutuorial on the TOC Thinking Process

At last, I have found a book (looks like a textbook, in fact), Goldratt's Theory of Constraint's by H. William Dettmer, that takes you through the end-to-end process of using the Thinking Processes to create such TOC topics as:

Creating, debugging, and diagnosing Current Reality Trees
Creating and using Conflict Resolution Diagrams ("evaporating clouds")
Developing Prerequisite Trees to systematically deal with obstacles
Building and using Transition Trees

In this book, Dettmer takes you through the mechanics (graphical conventions, step-by-step processes for using and applying the Thinking Processes), but also takes you a step further. There is considerable material on how to use these processes and diagrams to communicate with others, particularly stakeholders from which you need buy-in.

if you are new to Goldratt's Theory of Constraints, Dettmer starts the book with a very clear overview of what TOC is all about, even going so far as to cover how to apply TOC in non-profit organizations, and provide additional application notes to enable you to apply it in different environments.

Resource 2: Learning from Goldratt himself - now it's within your grasp

Last week, I took delivery of "Beyond The Goal: Eliyahu Goldratt Speaks on the Theory of Constraints" which is an 8-CD set containing the audio of a very comprehensive lecture by Dr. Goldratt. He takes us through the development of his Theory of Constraints by weaving a fascinating tapestry of stories to illustrate the concepts. Thankfully, for those of us who tend to be a bit more visual, CD number 8 also has all of the PowerPoint slides he uses during his lecture. I printed them out and it's been very helpful to have them handy as I listen to him speak.

One word of caution on this set - while TOC can ostensibly be applied to any system, the focus of this lecture is very MRP- / ERP-centric. That said, Godratt provides a lot of non-manufacturing examples, such as hospitals, fire departments, etc. and even applies TOC concepts to the Sales process.

If you are an abstract thinker, it is easy to listen to this and do the concept "mapping" in your head so you can apply this to other applications outside the MRP/ERP world. If you are a literal thinker, this one may be a frustrating listen.

But speaking as a geek, I love it.

Note that there is an interesting discussion on TOC and its application to education going on at the Never Work Alone blog. Fascinating stuff - go check it out.

There is also the "unplugged" version on the Never Work Alone Google group.

Wanna hear a secret about your boss?

October 11, 2005

Pssst. Did you know that this Sunday, October 16th is Boss's Day in the US? (And what are they trying to tell us, putting it on a Sunday?)

Whisper If you want the perfect gift, head on over to 1800CEOREAD and order an electronic copy of the book "Nine Lives of Leadership." This book was created by Lisa Haneberg of Management Craft, along with Jack and Todd at 1800CEOREAD, to share wisdom from 9 hot business authors - told in Lisa's own provocative way.

And pick up a copy for yourself (or start dropping big hints to your employees if you're a boss).