Genuine Curiosity

Author Dwayne Melancon is always on the lookout for new things to learn. An ecclectic collection of postings on personal productivity, travel, good books, gadgets, leadership & management, and many other things.

 

Amazon Prime is awesome

I mention Amazon Prime in my posts from time to time, and was a very early member of this special program from Amazon. I got a question about it this week: "So just what is Amazon Prime, and why do you like it so much?"


Free Two-Day shipping (and cheap Overnight shipping when you really need it)


Amazon Prime is a program that allows you to pay an annual membership fee to get unlimited free Two-Day Shipping on millions of eligible items. It's easy to tell which items are elegible by looking for the recognizable "Prime" logo, which you can see in the search results example here which I just grabbed as I watch the Olympics this fine Saturday evening:



I order things this way all the time, and you don't have to worry about the normal rules of "Super Saver Shipping" - you get things in 2 business days automatically. When I'm in a particular hurry (sometimes I need to get things asap so I can receive them before a trip, for example) I can pay an extra $3.99 to upgrade to Overnight Shipping - that is way cool.

By the way - with the high price of gas, I have found myself buying more things through Amazon Prime than ever - it saves driving all over the place looking for what I want. And I know I'll get what I ordered a couple of days, which is usually fast enough.

Pass it around

There are a couple of ways you can share this special shipping benefit with other people:

  1. Anything "Prime" item qualifies - whether you ship it to yourself or someone else. I have used this to great benefit during the last two Christmas seasons. It gives me quite a few extra shopping days with no extra fees for expedited shipping.
  2. You can share your benefits with up to 4 other people living in your household.

It's a great value - and you can try it for free

Amazon Prime costs $79 per year (averaging to a bit more than 6 bucks a month), and I know it saves me much more than that every year. Not sure if it's for you? Give it a try - they'll let you take a test drive for 30 days - just click here if you want to take an Amazon Prime free trial.

[Review] Big Ideas to Big Results

Many organizations reach a point in their existence when they hit a plateau or begin to stagnate. When that happens, they often seek a "breakthrough" in their performance. Sometimes, they succeed and sometimes they don't.

I recently read "Big Ideas to Big Results," by Michael Kanazawa and Robert Miles, which is all about increasing your chance of success when you're seeking to re-vitalize your company. This book had a unique attraction for me, since I worked with Mike and Bob on one of the transformations they discuss in the book (it was called "Taking Charge" and is referred to at various points throughout the book, but specifically summarized on page 118 & 119).

The authors have worked together on a number of corporate transformations, and they share their experiences to help us minimize the chances that we'll run the "typical" course: some lame, corporate feelgood program that achieves nothing. I've been there and it is not a fun fate.

Beware of zombies

The authors do a nice job of keeping things interesting by telling colorful stories to illustrate their points. One I enjoyed is Michael Kanazawa's discussion of "Zombie Projects" which he encountered, ironically, while working in the same area as Dilbert's creator Scott Adams.

"Zombie projects had supposedly been killed through inattention or lack of formal funding, but, in fact, they continued to live on as pet projects of key manager who couldn't or wouldn't let go."

These kinds of projects suck resources and motivation from the rest of the organization, causing "drag" on the business. The authors discuss the reasons these projects are allowed to exist and most of the book deals with how to ferret out and get rid of these kinds of useless activities.

Set the right drumbeat

Another interesting topic covered in the book deals with how leaders can make or break their team's success through the "drumbeat" they establish. Examples of leaders who to force too much "sense of urgency," which often has the opposite effect; rather than getting people to work harder or faster, their "urgency" shuts down debate and makes people feel anxious or frustrated.

They offer some powerful tips for how to manage your team's "sense of time" so that people use their times productively, without panic, and without feeling like they'll slow down progress by injecting their opinions or challenging things that are happening.

Engage the masses

One of the things that comes out strongly in the book (and one of the most memorable aspects of the Taking Charge project I was part of) is that the authors have developed a true methodology for engaging  people across a company and focusing them on a specific set of outcomes. Their construct called "Tablework" is a big part of encouraging innovative thinking and microcollaboration among small teams, which is then reconnected back into the company's larger objectives.

Perhaps the most powerful aspect of their approach is the drive to create "leaders at all levels" - crucial in creating a self-sustaining, effective business that can scale. A big part of that is letting people throughout the organization own various aspects of strategy and execution - and holding them accountable.

But one other vital aspect of this is making sure people feel recognized for their part in the company's success, and helping them discern the difference between things they must do and things they must strive for. They present the latter using a concept I really love - the distinction between "promises" (absolute goals) and "declarations" (a statement of intent when the means to get there are unknown).

Get big

This book is jam packed with information and techniques, but is fun to read. I also believe it can be a handy recipe book to help managers and leaders deal with specific problem areas, even if you don't go through the whole transformation process form end-to-end.

If you're a leader looking to drive your business out of the "same old same old" then I highly recommend Big Ideas to Big Results.

 

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The future of work awaits you

If you're interested in the future of collaboration, location-independent productivity, and how technology will make life better, you should take a look at what's going on at the Office 2.0 conference, which is coming up September 3-5 in San Franciso.

The conference is the brainchild of Ismael Ghalimi, who already uses all sorts of online tools to be productive no matter where he is in the world, as long as he's connected. I recently heard David Allen interview Ismael, and I think he really has an excellent grasp of the direction of collaboratoin and productivity.

The Office 2.0 conference sounds excellent - you can check out the agenda, speakers, etc. at the Office 2.0 site at the link above, or just click the logo to the right.

Good news and some savings

If you are interested in attending, I have some good news - I was trading email with Ismael this weekend and he sent me a link that will get you a discount on conference registration! Click this link to get a 10% discount on Office 2.0. Maybe I'll see you there...

Other cool things about this conference

  1. They are using an awesome collaboration tool from some friends of mine here in Portland: Jive Software's clearspace. If your business wants to increase collaboration inside your company, Jive's worth a look.
  2. They have a novel approach to making the conference more interactive, and providing course materials. Every year they give out a "gadget" that you get to keep. Last year it was an iPod Nano with all the materials pre-loaded on it. This year, it is an HP 2133 MiniNote PC - way cool.
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Fun-e cards

I send out a lot of cards and notes - both handwritten and electronic. I have been laughing out loud quite a bit since an edgier friend of mine told me about "someecards."

Warning - these cards are not your average wholesome, Hallmark-style greeting cards and some have a bit o' colorful language. They're more of a fit for people like me who enjoy The Onion or The Office (British, American, or the must-see Japanese version).

If you're looking for non-traditional, humorous ecards, then someecards should be your next click.

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News in full spectrum

A friend of mine just introduced me to an interesting way to interact with the news of the day: it's called "Spectra" and it is a very nice, free, web-based app from MSNBC. You select the categories you want to view, and Spectra begins to create swirling orbits of news headlines, color-coded by category. When you see a story you want to read, you click on it and you're presented with that article.

My Spectrum of News from this morning - Click the image for a Zoomed view

Not sure it will take the place of things like Google Reader or my favorite offline reader Sharpreader, but it is very fun to play with!

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