Posts Tagged ‘people’

Zero Energy Homes Can Be Quite Amazing.

November 28th, 2009

TeamBeausoliel-2009SolarDecathalon TeamNorth 2009 Solar Decathalon

The U.S. Department of Energy host the Solar Decathlon—a competition in which 20 teams of college and university students compete to design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house. The Solar Decathlon is also an event to which the public is invited to observe the powerful combination of solar energy, energy efficiency, and the best in home design.

The Solar Decathlon brings attention to one of the biggest challenges we face—an ever-increasing need for energy. As an internationally recognized event, it offers powerful solutions—using energy more efficiently and using energy from renewable sources.

The Solar Decathlon has several goals:

To educate the student participants—the “Decathletes”—about the benefits of energy efficiency, renewable energy and green building technologies. As the next generation of engineers, architects, builders, and communicators, the Decathletes will be able to use this knowledge in their studies and their future careers.
To raise awareness among the general public about renewable energy and energy efficiency, and how solar energy technologies can reduce energy usage.
To help solar energy technologies enter the marketplace faster. This competition encourages the research and development of energy efficiency and energy production technologies.
To foster collaboration among students from different academic disciplines—including engineering and architecture students, who rarely work together until they enter the workplace.
To promote an integrated or “whole building design” approach to new construction. This approach differs from the traditional design/build process because the design team considers the interactions of all building components and systems to create a more comfortable building, save energy, and reduce environmental impact.

To demonstrate to the public the potential of Zero Energy Homes, which produce as much energy from renewable sources, such as the sun and wind, as they consume. Even though the home might be connected to a utility grid, it has net zero energy consumption from the utility provider.

I really do want one of these houses – but am still watching the videos to figure out which one ;)

Startup Weekend Redmond!

August 30th, 2009

I finally made it to my first Startup Weekend – and can’t wait until the next one.

What is Startup Weekend? Well, that depends in part on who else signs up; the ideas that are pitched; which of those ideas is selected; and then how each of the self organizing team run and develop the chosen ideas, and the business models to support them.

I essentially thought up an idea on the spot, then pitched 15 minutes later. While not selected by the group to move forward with, I received some very positive feedback about my idea. I think I will start building a private website to test the viability of this concept, and see where it goes.

Danielle Morrill has a great blog post on making the most of StartUp Weekend:

Thoughts on Making the Most of Startup Weekend by Danielle Morrill

Posted by Startup Weekend Crew

Startup Weekend is hitting San Francisco and Redmond simultaneously this weekend, and as a “veteran” of this awesome event I thought I’d share some tips and tricks for getting the most out of the time spent.

The Key: Everyone should code – with the possible exception of your “marketing lackey” (see more on that below). Most people can do HTML or CSS, or can learn it quickly, for non-technical people this is your chance to stretch!

For those of you who don’t read long posts, here is the summary:

Maximize Productivity

Bring your own internet (MiFi, iPhone tether, broadband card, something!)
Use free tools like WordPress, Google Apps, Google App Engine etc. to get up and running quickly.
Get a “marketing lackey” to do anything that isn’t coding.
Remove all barriers to productivity for your engineers, period.
Don’t be afraid to fire people if it isn’t working out.

Manage Expectations

The first 10 hours after your team is formed will be “wasted”, deal with it without getting too aggravated.
Pad your estimates – build trust with new people, don’t let them down.
Skip the titles, equity, etc. conversations until after working proof of concept and biz model.

Build a Culture That Launches

Recruit developers first, poach the best people if you have to.
Focus on getting to proof of concept fast with just a few features.
Pick an idea you know how to build, add cool experimental features later if you have time.
Get customers right away – learn from them, treat them like gold.
Start planning your presentation/pitch early, it will help clarify your vision.

Maximize Productivity

Bring your own internet connection. Without fail, every Startup Weekend I’ve been to has had problems with internet connectivity, and if you’re building your project using cloud services for everything then you’ll be very frustrated with slow upload speeds, spotty connectivity, etc. The MyFi pucks from Sprint are great.

Use WordPress. Unless your website is your service (and even if it is) use a self-hosted WordPress install (Dreamhostdoes a great one-click installation) to get something out there as early as possible with information about your team, your project, etc. Get a Twitter account and start talking. This is going to keep your team focused – and will also increase your chances of launching at the end of the weekend.

Use Google Apps to host your email and calendar and actually USE these things. Having a separate email address and calendar for your team means they won’t be distracted by being in their person inbox.

Get a marketing lackey. Use a smart non-technical person (there are always a few hanging about looking for a way to contribute) who is savvy with blogging and content creation to work on this full time, and then use them to do random tasks like QA, project management, etc. as needed. Engineers should not be doing anything but code, everyone’s else job is to create an environment where they can be productive and uninterrupted.

Don’t be afraid to fire people if they are wasting your time. At a Six Hour Startup event in Seattle (which I sadly wasn’t at), Marina Martin is (in)famous for firing everyone who raised there hand when she asked “who are the project managers”. Those who were offended left, and those who stuck around went on to launch the product as useful contributors. That’s brutal, but if someone is in the way or more trouble than they’re worth you’ve got to do it out of respect to the rest of the team.

Manage Expectations

Expect the First 10 Hours Will Be Wasted, because they will – accept it. This is kind of like being a poker player who only plays well when they’re on a comeback. You’ll actually end up getting more done overall if you’re lagging behind on Saturday so don’t work. Focus on keeping team motivated, otherwise you might be surprised to find the developer you were counting on doesn’t show up Sunday morning.

Pad all estimates. So you think you’ll have that feature coded up in 2 hours? Plan for 4, you’ll be glad you did and your teammates will trust you more when you get it done in 3. Remember, these people have never worked with you before and you’ll have to convince each other to do all sorts of things and make a lot of group decisions so building trust should always be on your mind. Under-promise, over-deliver is the name of the game.

Don’t get into long conversations about titles or equity, the odds that you’ll turn this into a business are really low and these conversations involving money, power, etc. can really get you off track. If you’re talking about this, it should be because you’ve successfully got a proof of concept and a business model.

Build a Culture That Launches

Make sure you recruit developers first, without them nothing else happens. If you’re short on talent make sure to keep recruiting through the event, there are disfunctional groups falling apart and re-forming the entire time. Snap up the best people by whatever means necessary.

Focus on getting to proof of concept fast with as few features a possible. There is going to be all sorts of conflict, you’ll be working with people you’ve never met before, and there’s a learning curve for that. You have to protect your team against anything demotivating – so try to get tangible results to celebrate as soon as possible. Even if it is broke ass ugly, it’s better than nothing.

Pick an idea you know how to build, over an idea that it just effing cool. Take an inventory of the skillset of your team members to make sure your idea is realistic. Bonus points if it could conceivably be a business with revenue unrelated to advertising. You might find that by building something simple first you actually end up with enough time to also add that other cool stuff that was icing on the cake.

Get customers right away, don’t wait – use other attendees, etc. to test out your product and give you feedback, or recruit customers using social media tools. Create a beta user list with Google Docs and treat those people like gold. The more information you can process and iterate on, the better your product is going to be. This might seem obvious, but a lot of group try to be really secretive. The truth is no one cares what you’re building, they’re busy working on their own stuff.

Start thinking about how to present your product early, on Saturday night if possible. This exercise of explaining what your product does to other people will actually help your product development process, pointing out parts that are confusing or overly complex. If you are going to do a live demo practice A LOT – it’s Murphy’s Law that something will go wrong, plan to roll with it. Slide decks are pretty boring, live demos are better.

I’m realizing the event is close approaching and there is still a lot left to say, but I’m going to post this and tweak it as I go… kind of like what you should do this weekend. If you’re in SF, see you there – if not, my best wishes to everyone in Seattle – I hope you launch! Drop me a note on Twitter @DanielleMorrill if you want to make sure we connect while we’re there.

Fun comments from this weekend via #swredmond:

#swredmond “So, what made you decide to go into business for yourself?

#swredmond “It was something my last boss said. Really what was that? You’re fired.”

#swredmond “So, what made you decide to go into business for yourself?

#swredmond “It was something my last boss said. Really what was that? You’re fired.”

In the meantime, if Startup Weekend comes soon to a city near you – GO!

The Happy Bozo Theory.

August 10th, 2009

Having years of experience as technology headhunter, I know first hand top tier technologists have to be pretty unhappy before they will seriously consider/move to a new company/job.

For the most part, moderately unhappy software professionals may complain, but usually they’ll stay put in their current job; the devil you know is often perceived as better than the devil that you don’t.

I learned really early on happy people at best “window shop;” but they aren’t going anywhere until one or more events push them into the moderate to seriously unhappy stage before they will go somewhere else.

Interestingly, HR Executive Online has an online article summarizing research results contradict the theory satisfied employees result in happy customers; as captured in recent study results of two professors of Manchester Business School in the UK:

A Happy Ending?
By Lin Grensing-Pophal

Forget the conventional wisdom: Happy employees do not result in happy customers. So say Rosa Chun, a professor of business ethics and corporate social responsibility, and Gary Davies, a professor of corporate reputation, at Manchester Business School in the UK.

Their thesis, based on a study that found no correlation between customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction, was outlined in a brief article published this spring by Harvard Business Review.

“Our own surveys of the customers and staffs of 49 business units of 13 service organizations in the UK, in fields ranging from financial services to retailing, failed to confirm that service businesses with more contented staff also have more satisfied customers,” they write.

“In fact, we found a positive correlation between the two at only one firm … . At two other firms, we found a negative correlation: We observed that factors that increased customer satisfaction decreased employee happiness.”

The authors acknowledge that “satisfying customers is crucial to a business … [and] satisfying employees is a worthwhile aim in itself for many reasons.” They note, however, that there is no hard data supporting a link between the two.

“Simply being served by a satisfied employee isn’t enough to win customers’ loyalty,” Chun and Davies write.

- More -

I actually had to take a few minutes to think about that; initially that conclusion seems counterintuitive.

I now think there is a crucial factor which the researchers may not have factored in – which is evaluating the caliber of employees the companies they studied both hired and tried to retain. As Guy Kawasaki previously blogged:

“Hire better than yourself. In the Macintosh Division, we had a saying, “A players hire A players; B players hire C players”–meaning that great people hire great people. On the other hand, mediocre people hire candidates who are not as good as they are, so they can feel superior to them. (If you start down this slippery slope, you’ll soon end up with Z players; this is called The Bozo Explosion. It is followed by The Layoff.) I have come to believe that we were wrong–A players hire A+ players, not merely A players. It takes self-confidence and self-awareness, but it’s the only way to build a great team.”

Or – Happy Bozos do not guarantee happy customers.

In fact, Happy Bozos usually guarantee your best customers will run far, far away.

I think successful businesses combine Guy’s theories on hiring:

Insist that managers hire better than themselves. For example, an engineering manager should hire a programmer who is a better programmer than she is, not worse. By the way, this principle starts at the level of the board of directors when hiring the CEO.

Eradicate arrogance. Arrogance manifests itself in two principal areas: first, when your employees describe the competition using terms like “clueless,” “bozo” (ironically), or just plain “stupid.” Second, when your employees start believing in “manifest destiny”–that is, that your company deserves, and will achieve, total market domination. Your competition probably isn’t stupid, and trees don’t grow to the sky.

Understaff. Hire fewer people than you’re “sure” you need to accommodate that hockey-stick growth you’re “sure” you’re going to achieve. When you’re in a rush to fill openings to respond to growth, you make mistakes. Unfortunately, many companies adopt the attitude of “Hire any intelligent body, or we’ll lose business–we’ll sort everything out later.”

Undergrow. This is the flip side of under-staffing. I am suggesting intentionally forgoing sales. Staying small and fine is a perfectly acceptable management policy. At the very least, calculate the entire impact on head count of getting that additional sale, new line of business, or acquisition.

Look beyond the resume. The goal of hiring is building a team of great employees. One proxy for a great employee is a relevant educational or work background. However, the perceived “right” educational background and work experience are not sufficient conditions for excellence. Hiring a bozo with the “right” resume can drag down other employees and increase the probability of hiring more bozos. Not hiring a great person because she lacks the “right” resume is not as harmful but is a mistake too.

Diversify. Some companies look like the corporate version of the Stepford Wives: people are too similar. For example, everyone has a PhD. Everyone grew up in a white, upper-middleclass family. Everyone went to an Ivy League school. It’s a bunch of Me and Mini-Mes. When this happens, it means that form is overruling function, and the way people succeed is by representing the right form, not excelling at the right function. That’s back asswards.

Merge and purge. You owe it to your employees to take corrective action, and, if necessary, terminate people as soon as issues come to light. You may be thinking, “Let’s wait and see; maybe he’ll improve; our numbers are still great, etc.,” but this is unfair to everyone involved. If there’s a problem, fix it. If you can’t fix it, then make it an “exployee”–thereby, establishing performance excellence as a corporate standard.

with Dr. Bobby Baker‘s theories on core customer centric common sense:

* Are you providing clear direction to your people?

* Are you fostering a sense of community for your people?

* Are you giving your people the license to succeed?

* Are your people aware of your brand, specifically with regard to your customers?

* Are your people fully engaged?

* Is there a sense of over-arching positivity in your work environment?

The real question is - do you?

Systems Thinking in the Real World

July 12th, 2009

The more I read about Steve Jobs, the more I want to work for Apple; except for the work | life balance, he really, really gets it, and on so many levels – about people and about products.

The good and bad of thinking in terms of systems is not many people view the world that way, even though the world is a very large system; if/when one component changes, that change will influence other components within the system. Innovation does parse a leader from a follower. Not enough people value quality, are not used to an environment where excellence is expected, and then don’t try.

I thought I could change the world by helping hiring managers hire A+ players; and to some extent, the world did change, and in a good way; “the journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step.”

This year I began the journey to move into a technical project management role. Now I’m learning and integrating many new business rules, best practices, processes, methodologies, and tools to enable me to GTD on a more global scale, and from the business side.

I earned my PMP certification in June; now I’m heavily focused on improving my requirements engineering skills; becoming a certified scrum master (CSM); and refreshing my knowledge of SQL and XML (which needs to be a seperate blog posting; watch for the upcoming “Getting By With a Lot of Help From My (new and old) Friends”).

Last week I was fortunate to learn requirements engineering from Earl Beede of Construx Software; and highly recommend Earl, Construx Software, and its Requirements Bootcamp. I learned a lot from Earl: best practices; new methodologies; and tools and techniques. Equally valuable was his insights and advice for implementation and change management; including the heuristic “it’s not a technology problem, it’s a people problem.”

I think Steve Jobs best captured this key to project success:

“Hiring the best is your most important task.

No major work that I have been involved with has been work that can be done by a single person or two people, or even three or four people. Some people can do one thing magnificently, like Michelangelo, and others make things like semiconductors or build 747 airplanes — that type of work requires legions of people. In order to do things well, that can’t be done by one person, you must find extraordinary people.

In most things in life, the dynamic range between average quality and the best quality is, at most, two-to-one. For example, if you were in New York and compared the best taxi to an average taxi, you might get there 20 percent faster. In terms of computers, the best PC is perhaps 30 percent better than the average PC. There is not that much difference in magnitude. Rarely you find a difference of two-to-one.

I noticed that the dynamic range between what an average person could accomplish and what the best person could accomplish was 50 or 100 to 1. Go after the cream of the cream. You can then build a team that pursues the A+ players. A small team of A+ players can run circles around a giant team of B and C players.

After recruiting, it’s building an environment that makes people feel they are surrounded by equally talented people and their work is bigger than they are. The feeling that the work will have tremendous influence and is part of a strong, clear vision — all those things.

Recruiting usually requires more than you alone can do, so I’ve found that collaborative recruiting and having a culture that recruits the A players is the best way. Any interviewee will speak with at least a dozen people in several areas of this company, not just those in the area that he would work in.

When you’re in a startup, the first ten people will determine whether the company succeeds or not. Each is 10 percent of the company. So why wouldn’t you take as much time as necessary to find all the A players? If three were not so great, why would you want a company where 30 percent of your people are not so great? A small company depends on great people much more than a big company does.”

I really, really want to spend an afternoon with Steve one day, do a Vulcan mind-meld, then integrate and build upon his really great ideas.

In the meantime, I just ordered Leander Kahany’s book “Inside Steve’s Brain.” But don’t worry, I promise never to wear a black turtleneck.

Other People’s Awesome Insights…

September 10th, 2008

”I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.” - Bill Cosby, Actor

“We are always getting ready to live but never living.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Integrity is doing the right thing, even if nobody is watching.” – unknown

“Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” – Douglas Adams

“You live and learn. At any rate, you live.” – Douglas Adams

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Tags: bill cosby doing the right thing douglas adams failure insights integrity people ralph waldo emerson

If you lead your life the right way… the dreams will come to you.

July 25th, 2008

The Pauschs

I’m a big fan of Randy Pausch, and rewatch his Last Lecture about once a week.

I had hoped he would outlive us all, but he died early this morning.

I believe in wakes and not in funerals, and appreciate the world is a better place because Randy was here:

Remy Zero … I am Superman (R.E.M Cover)

Barenaked Ladies I am Superman (R.E.M. Cover)

The Academy Is I am Superman (R.E.M. Cover)

And - one more for the man who achieved his childhood dream of experiencing zero gravity – Jason Mraz’s awesome cover of Elton John’s Rocket Man.

Life Lessons from Randy:

You’ve got to get the fundamentals down because otherwise the fancy stuff isn’t going to work.
When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody’s bothering to tell you anymore, that’s a very bad place to be. Your critics are your ones telling you they still love you and care.
Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.
Head fake learning is absolutely important, and you should keep your eye out for them because they’re everywhere.
The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough.
It’s pretty easy to be smart when you’re parroting smart people.
It’s very important to know when you’re in a pissing match. And it’s very important to get out of it as quickly as possible.
And he (Andy Van Dam) said, Randy, it’s such a shame that people perceive you as so arrogant. Because it’s going to limit what you’re going to be able to accomplish in life.
You just have to decide if you’re a Tigger or an Eeyore.
I have a theory that people who come from large families are better people because they’ve just had to learn to get along.
Loyalty is a two way street.
You can’t get there alone. People have to help you and I do believe in karma. I believe in paybacks. You get people to help you by telling the truth. Being earnest.
I’ll take an earnest person over a hip person every day, because hip is short term. Earnest is long term.
Apologise when you screw up and focus on other people, not on yourself.
Don’t bail. The best of the gold’s at the bottom of barrels of crap.
Get a feedback loop and listen to it. Your feedback loop can be this dorky spreadsheet thing I did, or it can just be one great man who tells you what you need to hear. The hard part is the listening to it.
Don’t complain. Just work harder. That’s a picture of Jackie Robinson. It was in his contract not to complain, even when the fans spit on him.
Be good at something, it makes you valuable.
Find the best in everybody. Just keep waiting no matter how long it takes. No one is all evil. Everybody has a good side, just keep waiting, it will come out.
Be prepared. Luck is truly where preparation meets opportunity.
It’s not about how to achieve your dreams. It’s about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you.