I believe knowing what quotes impact or resonate with people truly speaks volume about their values, character, and vision. My favorite quote, by far, is this one by Theodore Roosevelt:
It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.
I’ll let it do the talking. What is yours?
Here I was, all excited about blogging regularly again, and I’ve dropped the ball just a couple weeks into it, silent on the blogosphere for a matter of a few weeks. I will find a system that works soon, I’m confident of it. Fortunately, February is looking much less hectic than January was, so there is hope.
Soon I will find my groove. Soon, I say!
Added Disqus plug-in to the blog for you to reply with your own two cents. The formatting needs a little work underneath quote and video tumblr posts, as it gets smooshed (in the case of quotes) or veers off to the left (in the case of videos). It was an easy enough process, though. Plus, the Disqus team provided some nice customer service via Twitter in the process. I would link to it, but Tumblr’s formatting bar seems to have disappeared in their redesign.
Now, comment away!
Early last quarter I implemented something with my employees that has been quite successful since we began it. At its core, I provided a couple practical guidelines:
- Don’t wait until weekly reports to tell me something in writing that could be communicated in a short email or, if needed, in person
- Don’t only communicate the issues and problems, communicate the good (we’re here for the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly)
- Build in more regular reviews of each project’s progress, more at a product feature level than just a release level; I did’t care if these reviews were in our weekly meeting, or in a one-off 10-15 minute meeting, just that they were a more regular expectation
I said that “communicating the good to all of our team will improve morale across the board.” And I believe that principle has indeed proved true. To implement the above, I asked that each of my direct reports send an email using one of the following five (5) ratings, in all caps, plus what it relates to in the subject line:
- VERY GOOD: brief summary of what’s very good goes here
- GOOD: brief summary of what’s good goes here
- COULD BE BAD: brief summary of what could be bad goes here
- BAD: brief summary of what’s bad goes here
- VERY BAD: brief summary of what’s very bad goes here
The body of the email didn’t even need to have much content, just enough to summarize the event. Some of the guidelines I asked them to follow included:
- Do not send BAD and VERY BAD to anyone but me. I do not want our teams to be bogged down by negative news. If it’s something worth communicating to all parties, I will do so.
- If a COULD BE BAD issue affects other groups, only send it to me and the manager of that group so that we can seek to resolve it as quickly as possible.
- Send GOOD and VERY GOOD emails joyfully to our entire team. Praise team members to whom its due, and if it’s a release, give instructions on how to get in and demo the feature or release so all of us can see what each other are working on.
At the end of detailing this new process, I said: “I do not expect you having to email me 10-12 times a day, for all microscopic good and bad events, but I do estimate probably 3+ emails a week. We’ll see how much it occurs in this test and decide if it’s something we want to continue past this quarter.”
The quarter came and went, but the above system worked quite well and was something that we’ve continued into 2009. Ultimately, it helped us a) resolve upcoming issues before they become existing issues, and b) improve cross-team communication and morale.
As an employee, and as a manager, there are few things more important than having solid communication. This is just one method of many that I’m sure are effective, but it’s one that’s worked for me and my team and I thought I would share with everyone. What communication practices does your team use?
After a slight break for Christmas and the New Year, we rejoined for our church’s small group this evening to study 1 Samuel 18:1-4. This is radical friendship:
1 Now it came about when he had finished speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as himself. 2 Saul took him that day and did not let him return to his father’s house. 3 Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. 4 Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, with his armor, including his sword and his bow and his belt.
What if friendship looked like this? Notice this wasn’t some mutual decision both Jonathan and David made at the same time. This was a covenant—a promise—that Jonathan initiated and made to David. This is the type of friend I want to be.
Minus the nudity, of course.
“ It’s only Wednesday?
me, today
I just found out it’s my friend and colleague’s birthday today. I first asked if I could give him a birthday hug, to which he politely (and understandably) declined. Then I offered a birthday song, but the environment was not suitable for the presence of my powerful pipes on full display. Finally, I offered a birthday haiku, to which he accepted.
Of course, Neal, being who he is, deserves much more than the gift of a single haiku. As a result, I developed the following five pieces to pay tribute to the various aspects of the man, the myth, and the magical Mr. Neal Wood.
I: the growing
Isn’t it weird to
think you were a baby once?
You aren’t anymore.
II: the joking
I think that you think
you’re funnier than you are.
Nah. I’m just kidding.
III: the trimming
That beard is lookin’
sharp. Yes, manly even. Did
you trim that yourself?
IV: the deserving
Corp Webs keeps you up
at night, which is why you should
have a shot or two.
V: the aging
Happy Birthday, Neal!
Which raises the question: how
old are you today?
…get my wife blogging. Shhh. She doesn’t know yet. But it would be great to get her perspective on the web, and I think Tumblr is something she wouldn’t mind using. We’ll see.
Given my rampant and incurable case of cinephilia, it’s a question I’m often asked: “What are the best films of the year?” While I am by no means a critic, I have seen my fair share of films over time, and often films that few, or at least fewer have seen (e.g. see my #1 of 2008). I’m not a film snob, per se, but I’m definitely snobbish. I can enjoy films for pure entertainment’s sake, so long as that’s its aim. If the film does not accomplish its intent, however, I categorize that as a failure. With those brief but important notes aside, I present you with the very best films of 2008* according to… me.
The best:
- Let the Right One In
- The Dark Knight
- Happy-Go-Lucky
- Frost/Nixon
- Man on Wire
- Iron Man
- Pineapple Express
- Slumdog Millionaire
- Ghost Town
Notable mention:
Overhyped:
-
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; great makeup, good performances, and a story completely lacking the substance and power it should have had
-
Wall-E; while the first half is 110% perfect, the latter half suffers in comparison… it’s still great, just not “perfect”
-
Slumdog Millionaire; yes, I have it on my “Best” list, but it’s not the best film of the year, as many have said
Underhyped:
-
Let the Right One In; undeniably one of the best films of the past few years, comparable to the horror of films like Pan’s Labyrinth, but completely different… you must see this film!
-
Happy-Go-Lucky; a delightful performance from Sally Hawkins
-
Ghost Town; Gervais and Kinnear both take on quite different roles from their norm, and paired with a great script, it works in the film’s favor
-
The Ruins; it’s way better than you would expect… just enjoy with a date and some popcorn
*Disclosure: Okay, okay, so this list isn’t really that complete. Note that I have not yet seen the following films and may very well have to update my lists above upon seeing them. In fact, I very well expect that positions 8-9 will be bumped, and #7 is in question. Films I have yet to see:
