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Blog: August Archive
Entrepreneuring: Executing To Completion
I recently read this post: How to Make a Successful Business over at One Year Goal .com. In it, he refers to the problem of "never-finish-itis", the act of continually switching to new projects and never finishing previous ones--a problem which resonates very strongly with me. The post concludes with the advice: "Pick a venture, any venture, and finish launching it. Then repeat. Success will find you sooner than you think." It is valuable advice indeed, and co-incidently, I have been thinking on this subject a lot lately, and would like to share my own meditations. I will refer to projects in general, which includes, but is certainly not limited to, starting a new entrepreneurial venture.
Over the past couple of years I made good progress toward productivity and Getting Things Done (GTD) goals; however this particular issue remained unresolved. Therefore, if I accomplish any resolution this year, it will hopefully be mastering the ability to focus and drive (my own) projects to satisfactory completion. I am going to focus specifically on the endgame--finishing a project--as opposed to starting them or finding time to work on entrepreneurial projects. I will relate to my own situation so that you will believe that I feel your pain, and that I am not just preaching something that happens to come easy to me. It doesn't.
The Obstacles
1. Not having a clear goal for completion. Clearly, if you don't establish a concrete definition for when a project is completed, you will never know when you get there or what's left to do to get there.
2. Attention of focus. I have spent much of my career multitasking work items and being successful doing so. There are many productivity gurus now proclaiming the evils of multitasking and I agree with their points, but I would also argue that it works in some domains. I would also have to agree that it can make you fail miserably at other times, such as when, say, entrepreneuring your own startup.
Garret LoPorto has a book entitled The Da Vinci Method - Break Out & Express Your Fire. In this book LoPorto discusses the connections between creativity and ADHD, and offers plausible behaviorial motivations for attentive "disorders" and why they may not be such. Let me say up front that I am very skeptical of diagnoses and justifications for ADD/ADHD behavior. I have read more than one book justifying or even celebrating a lack of focus and/or commitment. Based on my experience, both academic and as a parent, I believe it is usually just an excuse for lack of discipline. To be clear, I am not saying that attention focus is not a problem, and I believe there are real causations for attention problems, genetic, evolutionary or otherwise. And after reflecting on my own personal history, I am also somewhat obligated to agree, from my excruciating boredom in the classroom as a child to my multitasking, completion-challenged track record as an entrepreneur. What I do not buy is that ADD/ADHD is a clear-cut disorder that one can simply medicate, or worse that it is an excuse for antisocial or unproductive behavior. I view it as another dimension of behavior that is more or less of a problem depending on the individual. In my case, I have worked to overcome the problem in some ways, but I have room for improvement.
3. The Bigger, Better Thing. This is what happens when you are midway through a project, and then come up with another wonderful idea which you just know will be insanely greater than the current one, make you more money, and change the world. So you soon lose interest in the current project and spend all your time thinking about the new one. Of course, the excitement wears off a bit after you think about it enough and even if it doesn't, it is destined to become the next project you abort partway through. Sometimes, you don't have a new project but simply become disillusioned with the current project because you peceive it as risky, lacking a value proposition or lacking revenue potential.
4. The Illusion: The next problem with completion is the illusion of anything ever being complete. There is more to this than being a perfectionist. Although I generally strive to do quality work, I am not what you would generally consider a compulsive perfectionist. Anyone who has ever seen my messy desktop can attest to that. Still, I find it hard to let go of something--with my name on it--that is not a well-rounded, complete package of goodness. The irony is that few things are ever really complete, so the effort is misguided at best. This concept seems to be at odds with #1, or even the whole idea of getting something done. I will explain shortly.
The Solutions
1. First of all, define a clear, achievable goal for completion. And it is extremely important to set a date for completion. A whole book can be written (maybe it has) on how setting a concrete date will drive you to completion. In my corporate career, project timelines are usually clearly set and driven by business or customer deadlines, which partially explains why I don't have the same problems in that environment vs. my personal entrepreneurial projects. With my own projects, if I even bother to set a date, I am only disappointing myself if I don't make the date.
2. Defer, or ignore completely, the Bigger, Better Thing. If it really seems like a good idea, then write it down and resolve to not work on it until you successfully complete the current one (there's another motivator for you). Or, you can chose to ignore it because a) it will not turn out to be bigger and better and b) you don't need a bigger and better idea--you need to be successfully at something now. I can't tell you the number of other people's business ideas I've seen that seemed incredibly lame and stupid and yet somehow they managed to make more money with their idea than I did with my brilliant idea that I never finished.
3. Do some research before you start. There are cases where a project is really not worth pursuing because it doesn't have a viable market or niche. This is a topic outside the scope of this article, but it can be easily solved by doing a little research upfront. Check out possible competitors. Use tools like the Google keyword tool to find out if anyone is interested in your subject. But don't spend too much time on it and suffer analysis paralysis--just do some ballpark research, and then dive in and start doing something.
4. Use the 75% completion principle. I recently had an epiphany--or perhaps more accurately, co-opted one--when reading Brian Armstrong's book: Breaking Free. Brian explains the technique more eloquently, and I highly recommend reading the book in general. But basically, the technique is to set a goal and milestone for 75% completion of the project. This amounts to psyching yourself out such that you actually achieve a good-enough version of your project before your innate tendency to drop off has time to fully kick in. For example, if you are building a new website, you should set a milestone that has you going live with 75% of what you wanted to do, because that 75% is more than good enough to put online. And it is probably infinitely better than one you never put online. You can see a different form of this principle in the popular Web 2.0 approach of calling every website a "beta". You can always create a new project targeted at making improvements.
rk
Sony Creates Massive PS3 Cluster
I had no good reason to blog about this story, except that I want one--in fact, I am creating an "i want one" tag" as a result.
From engadget, Sony has assembled a server cluster of so many PS3 systems that apparently no-one is bothering to count just how many there are. Not exactly like a supercomputer cluster such as Beowulf, the server cluster is targeted for dedicated Warhawk gaming, allowing users to host their own Warhawk server in the cluster environment and thereby eliminating latency issues that would normally be encountered when gaming over the Internet cloud.
My son would be crushed if he sees this, as he is still waiting for his single PS3.
Creativity 101 From Bloggrrl
Bloggrrl offers tips for getting your blogging creative juices flowing in an article entitled Creativity 101: 5 Ways You Can Make Your Blogging Groooovy. In addition to her entertaining writing style--which you could fairly quickly deduce from the article title--she offers some simple, specific methods for coming up with new blogging topic ideas. I would say these tips could be applied toward a variety of other creative tasks, such as coming up with a new product or domain name (Of course, good luck finding one that isn't taken, no matter how strange the name).
As an example, tip #2 describes a method for using index cards and colored markers to mix and match themes. As an avid fan of using index cards for GTD (Getting Things Done), I welcome other applications for these 3x5 inch wonders.
Read the article here:
University of Wales Bluetooth Campaign
The University of Wales Institute in Cardiff is using a Bluetooth marketing campaign to attract potential students.
Visitors to the Cardiff city centre with discoverable Bluetooth devices can receive a screensaver image linked to UWIC's "Cardiff's Calling" campaign, to encourage them to visit their website.
Parachute and Hypertag Proximity Marketing In Chicago
Parachute Marketing Group has brought cutting-edge Bluetooth proximity marketing to the Mid-West by deploying Hypertag units at events over the last several months.
As the sole authorized U.S. partner of Hypertag, a UK-based Bluetooth proximity marketing company, Parachute has brought Bluetooth marketing to consumers at the Chicago Bears Fan Festival (March 31-April 1) Bluesfest (June 7-10), Summerfest (June 29-July 8 in Milwaukee, WI) and the Taste of Chicago (June 29-July 8). Hypertag has also been in operation at Busch Stadium in St. Louis for the entire Cardinal’s season.
CityWare: Facebook + Bluetooth Mashup
According to this BBC article, a team of Bath University scientists is combining the power of social networking site Facebook with Bluetooth to learn more about human interactions.
To facilitate this, the researchers have set up Bluetooth proximity nodes around the UK and at locations in the US. Users opt in by registering with a Facebook tool, called Cityware.Then, when they are out and about, the Bluetooth nodes--which are constantly scanning for Bluetooth-enabled devices in a given area--send that information back to servers which compare the IDs of the gadgets with any enabled Facebook profiles.
As described by Dr Vassilis Kostakos, research associate at the University of Bath: "When you return to Facebook you will see a list of all the devices you were near and the link to profiles of people who have tagged themselves on Cityware."
If you find that to be a rather antisocial approach to social networking, well--you are not alone. Witness Gizmodo's take on the network:
Bluetooth/Facebook Nodes Take Even More Human Interaction Out of Meeting People
Or how about this one, courtesy of the boygeniusreport:
Walk by total strangers and meet them. But later.
In defense of the Bath team, the Facebook tool is said to be part of a wider plan to study issues regarding pervasive computing in the environment.
But that won't stop us from having a little fun with it in the meantime.
Linux-based Bluetooth Access Point
News from Linux PR:
The Parani-MSP1000A is a Bluetooth Access Point product line designed to manage up to 7 Bluetooth devices over 10/100 Base-T Ethernet network with advanced options. The unit supports several Bluetooth profiles including Serial Port, LAN, PAN, DUN and FTP profiles. The nominal range is 150m, which can be extended up to 100m using an optional patch antenna.
As the headline suggests, the unit runs on a linux platform. Actually, this is one of the application areas (embedded network appliance) where running on linux is the norm. I would be more surprised (and fearful) to hear about one running Windows. The unit also uses Python for scripting customizations, giving it more techie cred.
MobiZone and Zoom Media Launch Bluetooth Advertising Network
From PRWEB: MobiZone and Zoom Media announced the launch of a Bluetooth advertising network in over 100 bars and restaurants in New York, Chicago and LA.
Working in partnership with Paris-based Kameleon Technologies, MobiZone will provide mobile phone delivery of free content including full motion video, audio and graphics supported by the Zoom Media out of home network.
According to Lee Levitz, Vice President of Marketing at Zoom Media, Zoom's network of restaurants and nightclubs are perfect locations for the Bluetooth-enabled billboards because of the high traffic levels, and the ability to attract affluent, young, trend-setting consumers that often spend long periods of 'dwell time' around the boards. This is consistent with my belief that proximity marketing is only going to succeed where there is a consumer-driven incentive for accepting broadcasts.
Link to announcement.
MobiZone was founded to create Bluetooth networks and partnerships with key players in the mobile marketing and out of home media space in the United States
Zoom Media has become one of the fastest growing companies in the out-of-home and
experiential marketing sector over the past five years
Kameleon develops technology to allow Bluetooth-equipped mobile phones to access automatically and in one click, a variety of information and multimedia content.
German Hacker Tool Law
Today in Germany the "Hacker Tool Law" goes into effect. With the official name of Paragraph 202C, it states that it is illegal to possess, use, produce, or distribute a "hacker tool". A few things to immediately note:
- Once again, someone is trying to introduce protection, or the illusion of it, by enforcing Draconian measures vs. using awareness and education.
- They fail to understand the role that hackers (vs."crackers") have historically played in the development and understanding of technology.
- Contrary to popular belief, America is not the only place with constipated legal tendencies. And this is the historically industrious Germany, no less!
More Praise For Jawbone
At iphonematters, another glowing review for the Jawbone. To quote the title:
"Believe the Hype. Jawbone IS the Best Bluetooth Headset"
I have heard good reviews directly from users as well as online reviews. I would already have one, except that my BlackJack supports A2DP (stereo Bluetooth) which is a good thing, but unfortunately it does not support an audio gateway (to play music on a mono headset).
Event Media UK Launches Bluetooth Marketing
This news is a few months old, but I thought it was worth noting: UK (duh) marking company Event Media UK launched their version of a next-generation interactive Bluetooth proximity marketing system. The live event based system was launched in March and has since been successfully used across several live events, including the Exhibition News Awards.
According to website londonlaunch: "Event Media UK in conjunction with SUBtv are installing the system as part of a trial across 12 student union sites, which makes up 20% of the national student population covered by the SUBtv network. The system can be used to support local and national campaigns using a variety of digital media including promotional videos/music and incentives (bar promotions)."
One of the main features of the system is that the images received are simultaneously uploaded live to the screen/projectors located in the venue (see the picture). This has an obvious crowd appeal for settings in bars and other social venues.
Something I find curious: for a marketing company, there is a conspicious lack of a name or branding for the system. Perhaps they are still testing.
Event Media UK Limited "provide digital media support to events using innovative and interactive marketing tools."
New Motorola Bluetooth Sunglasses
Motorola and Oakley have produced a newer, slimmer version of their Bluetooth sunglasses, for listening to music wirelessly on the go whilst simultaneously protecting your eyes from those harmful UV rays. Named the O ROKR Pro, the product also supports AVRCP so you can control your music directly from the shades, and they can double as a wireless headset.
BTW, I am curious: is it really a good idea to market a product with a single letter in the name? How do search engines handle that?
Kameraflage
Via coolhunting, a technology called, and by, Kameraflage, which creates displays that are invisible to the naked eye but will magically show up on an image taken by a digital camera.
It works by taking advantage of the fact that digital cameras see a broader spectrum of light, particularly infrared, than human eyes. Potential applications include everything from clothing to billboards, and even movies.
My first thoughts on seeing this were that it was specifically intended for DRM, but that is a narrow view, since it can be applied to a variety of cool and imaginitive applications as well.
The link.