How I plan the ‘next big thing’

Prior to leaving for my current job, I developed this little sheet where I asked myself five questions about anything I wanted to do when it came to project/business stuff. If I don’t complete this sheet, it is not a project that I pursue any further.

The five questions are:

What I want to do
Why I want to do it
How I’ll do it
How I’ll eat doing it
My pipe dream after I’ve done it

Admittedly, it’s still a new thing and it’s very possible that I’ll jettison the whole idea after a while. But so far, I like it because it forces me to be less excited about an idea. Not in practice, but in terms of the sheer possibilities that abound and worrying more about ‘how cool it would be if I pull it off’ and instead, focusing my energy onto how I’ll get from point A to point B and so forth. The last question My pipe dream after I’ve done it is reserved for “what will you do if you actually pull it off? What is your goal beyond just setting it up and actually getting it going? What will you do after that?”

I wonder if other people have their own ways of “checking themselves at the door” when they’re in the midst of plotting a side project or something, especially those among us who are full-time idea spinners who run their own startups.

Consultants Do It Longer…for no good reason

I understand that a consultant needs to provide some demonstrable reason for their existence. As one who spends time consulting on a variety of projects, I completely understand this desire. But why can’t those things be reflected in the work they do? Why is there a need to create eighty-page reports to discuss what’s wrong with a site and what can be done to change it, especially when all of the information in the report is 1) redundant and 2) hardly rocket science?

The second one I have the answer for. Part of that is, if there is no one in-house able to identify these things, they’re important to bring up. But if a client asks you for an assessment and recommendations, to spend energy and time to tell them that “here’s what we think is wrong and here’s what we’ll do if you hire us” is a bit silly. The client isn’t asking you to do it. They might later, but they’re asking you to help them assess strategy and to make recommendations objectively.

I know that’s asking a lot. To say “please give me recommendations and I’ll ask your competitors to do it.” But what happened to serving the customer well and if you do, eventually getting rewarded for that?

In an era where everyone is an expert at something, people need to dig deep and really assess how they’re treating their clients. Everyone has to eat, I get that. But why waste people’s time with assessments that fail to assess, with surveys that don’t produce demonstrable results or site visits that don’t answer questions.

You can get away with cute IT tricks when you’re an in-house IT person. That’s what they’re trained to do and everyone expects that. But when you’re being paid as a hired gun to come in and solve issues and problems, you should come in and make it look easy. Make it go faster than they expect, make it go smoother and take up less of their time.

Things are already complicated enough in institutional environments. Whether we’re talking academe, government or other bloated ships out there, no one really wants someone else to come in and make life more miserable. Even if the outcomes are better than what they have, I’ll be pleased to see when experienced firms out there are spending more time on the product and presentation, rather than the dollar signs they get regardless of whether they try or mail it in.