Goodbye, for now, Bucko's World...

After spending multiple hours today posting future blog entries from reviewing RSS feeds, I decided that the effort is futile.  All this work for few comments, and it is so much easier to click "Like" on my feeds and share with more people via Facebook.

Sometimes you need to check and adjust, and priorities change.  I need to focus on my new job as we just reorganized and I have more responsibilities.  In addition, I need to ensure the local project management chapter is ready for the next phase as my tenure as president comes to an end this year.

For those that have followed my travels, thank you.  

If you are not friends with me on Facebook, but would still like to get my various project management and technology posts, then please become my friend there.

http://www.facebook.com/ken.riches.1

I am not going to delete the blog at this time, but entries will be far and few between.

Sunday Silliness - Consistency :o)

Can-Can???

"When you believe you can-you can!"  

- Maxwell Maltz 

Don't Be Rude!

Over 60% blame their bad behavior on being overloaded at work. 

Stress isn't the only reason people are uncivil at work.   How about a “rude” boss?

What can companies do to counteract “rude” behaviors? Let's start with four suggestions, two for the organization, two for the individual employee.

Organizations can:

Make civility a priority and set guidelines.
Provide training

Individuals can:

Walk away (Refuse to be offended!)

Learn from it. 

Source

Bond and Science - Enough Time Has Passed to avoid spoilers...

In the new James Bond movie Skyfall, the Aston Martin DB5--a rare but staple race car in the spy fiction series since 1964--explodes into smithereens. We'll spare you the cinematic details, but take heart, auto aficionados. The real DB5 is safe.

A Bavarian 3-D printing company called voxeljet made three meticulously accurate 1:3 scale models of the classic vehicle, layer-by-layer. Each fake car (below) is made of 18 transparent plastic parts printed out of PMMA by voxeljet’s high-end VX4000 printer, a machine that can make objects as large as 13 feet by 6.5 feet by 3 feet.

From there a British prop-making company called Propshop Modelmakers assembled the models and applied realistic finishing like paint, chrome polish, and even bullet holes to match different car chase scenes in Skyfall.

Only 1,021 real Aston Martin DB5s were manufactured between 1963 and 1965, and the cameo car in the James Bond movie Goldfinger was recently valued at $2.6 million.

The models themselves aren’t cheap, either. Although one of the models met a fiery end, another sold for $99,041 at a Christie’s auction.

Source

Sunday Silliness - Committees

Downtime...

Downtime can dramatically improve mental and physical health and our personal relationships. So how can you better use downtime?

Clearly schedule your time: schedule evenings off, one to two days a week free of work, and weeklong chunks of vacation every year.

Allow for ad hoc downtime when you need it: If you're feeling stuck on a problem, frustrated, or simply tired of sitting down, take 10 minutes to walk, read for fun, or grab coffee with a friend to clear your mind.

Shut off your smartphone: Constant interconnectedness is a stressor. Find ways to create clear boundaries between work and life.

Create rituals and routines: SCreate rituals and routines that signal to your mind that it's time to start work, leave work, meditate, or engage with family.

It can be hard to carve out space for downtime in a 24/7 world. But it's precisely this chaos that requires the knowledge worker of the twenty-first century to be more vigilant than ever about cultivating the discipline to use downtime when the moment calls for it. 

Source

Success and Courage...

 "Success is never final and failure never fatal.
It is courage that counts."  

- George F. Tilton

Resolve to Succeed!

 "Always bear in mind, that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other thing."  

- Abraham Lincoln

Get Organized!

1. "For Now" (High Urgency & High Importance)

These issues are the ones that require immediate attention. They may include such things as major reports due tomorrow (or in an hour), or essential phone calls and emails. 

2. "For Later" (Medium Urgency & Medium Importance)

These issues do not require immediate attention, but should certainly be taken care of on a weekly basis. They may include tasks such as regular reporting, scheduled follow-up calls, and emails.

  

3. "Forever" (Low Urgency & High Importance)

These issues are usually held in high regard even though they occur infrequently. They may include tangible things such as important financial documents or intangible things like building relationships with co-workers, superiors, and clients.

4. "Forget" (Low Urgency & Low Importance)

These issues are irrelevant and only serve to waste your time or distract you from the really important issues. They may include such things as socializing too much at work, surfing the internet, and replying to a non-urgent email.

5. "In Doubt" (High Urgency & Low Importance)

The big question mark includes any outstanding issue which has not been placed into either one of the other four categories. If there are a large number of issues in this section, then important decisions need to be made as to where to move them. Only constant and improved decision-making will kickstart the process of cleaning out this section and working towards a more fulfilled life.

Source: PQC International

Believe!

"When you believe you can-you can!" 

- Maxwell Maltz

Stretchy...

This is pretty cool, I love engineering and stuff...

At some point soon, we'll have wireless everything--wireless charging, wireless syncing, wireless video, wireless audio. We've already got a lot of that stuff, in fact. But today, we still need wires and cables, and a new creation from researchers at North Carolina State University could make them much more usable--by making them stretchy.

The basic construction of the new super-stretchy wires is an elastic tube filled with a highly conductive liquid metal alloy. Other attempts at stretchy wires, say the researchers, have relied on embedding conductivity into elastic, as opposed to separating them. The wires can be stretched up to eight times their original length, which is pretty amazing--an order of magnitude more stretchy than existing stretchy wires.

Source

 

Sunday Silliness - Obstacles

Critical Thinking

A leader’s ability to make sound decisions, problem-solve, plan and implement, and execute sound strategic thinking, are all based on superior critical thinking.

Recognizing assumptions: Assumptions are statements that are implied to be true in the absence of proof. Identifying assumptions helps in discovery of information gaps and enriches views of issues. Assumptions can be unstated or directly stated. The ability to recognize assumptions in presentations, strategies, plans, and ideas is a key element in critical thinking.

Evaluating arguments: Arguments are assertions that are intended to persuade someone to believe or act in a certain way. Evaluating arguments is the ability to analyze such assertions objectively and accurately. Analyzing arguments helps in determining a confirmation-bias — the tendency to look for and agree with information that confirms prior beliefs. Emotion plays a key role in evaluating arguments, as high emotion clouds objectivity.

Draw conclusions: This involves arriving at conclusions that logically follow from the available evidence. It involves evaluating all relevant information before drawing a conclusion, judging the plausibility of different conclusions, selecting the most appropriate conclusion, and avoiding overgeneralizing beyond the evidence.

Source