Are we falling or flying … and will we ever know?

Life, the universe, technology, project management, and why change management is so incredibly hard.

Posts Tagged ‘safe bet’

Scapegoat Wanted, Part II

July 15th, 2009

Several weeks ago I blogged about some of the more… interesting… employment opportunities making the rounds within Seattle.

Not surprisingly, at least one of them is still open… or, should I say, RE-OPENED.

Two friends were contacted right around the time of my original post, but by two different agencies trying to staff that same job; one actually interviewed with the hiring manager for that role; their summary of that experience sparked my original post.

Today, another agency contacted my friend about that same job, which now has a few new requirements.

Enjoy:

A competing agency filled that contract senior project manager position on June 1st; their new employee hired for that role started June 29th.

Today the agency who filled that job called me today and asked me if I’d be willing to start a job, oh…tomorrow?

I asked what the positon was…they began to rattle off something all too familiar: Must be very proficiant with SharePoint, must know Excel and know how to use lookup formulas. They need someone immediately.

But – this time the project manager must be less of a leader and be more of a team player. And the contract was demoted to PM2 instead of PM3.

Hmm. After subtracting the federal holiday Friday, July 3 – that contract Senior PM survived either 11 or 12 days with that team. Based on the original job posting – I think they earned a gold medal for sticking it out that long.

I’m sure the next update will be equally entertaining, if not more so. The already late project is now three weeks further behind; it’s a safe bet that hiring manager and team are more pleasant and flexible than ever.

Stay tuned…. :)

“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.” – Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965)

Putting a Dent in the Universe.

January 14th, 2009

Steve Jobs is many things – obsessive, a visionary, a micro-manager, and until now, ever-present. Outside of his recent weight loss, not much is known about the health issue behind his announcement today of a six-month leave of absence – but it’s a safe bet it’s something quite serious.

Steve Jobs has been a driving force within technology for almost 25 years; and highly quoted, too:

“If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” – Steve Jobs

“I want to put a dent in the universe.” – Steve Jobs

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” – Steve Jobs

The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” – Steve Jobs

“Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.” – Steve Jobs

“I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.” – Steve Jobs, Interview, 1995

“I’m as proud of what we don’t do as I am of what we do.” – Steve Jobs, Apple Confidential 2.0

“Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.” – Steve Jobs, Fortune, Nov. 9, 1998

“Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.” – Steve Jobs, Business Week

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people‘s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs

“You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.” – Steve Jobs

“I’m the only person I know that’s lost a quarter of a billion dollars in one year…. It’s very character-building.” – Steve Jobs, Apple Confidential 2.0

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” – Steve Jobs

“Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.” – Steve Jobs

“I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.” – Steve Jobs, Stanford University commencement address, June 12, 2005

“We used to dream about this stuff. Now, we get to build it. It’s pretty neat.” – Steve Jobs

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.” – Steve Jobs