Today, I had a few realization that just set me back.  And it all stems from a simple question which is, am I responsible?  It begs the bigger question, what are you responsible for? (more…)

At my company, we have launched a nice little dream home finder tool! It is quite funny if I don’t say so myself. See for yourself. After taking the short quiz, below is my dream home:

Do I really need to continue? Why is prioritizing is such an art and why is it so under valued?

The answer is quite simple. No one wants to say no to a client in fear of losing the client. If your clients barks loud, then you will do what ever it is in your power to make them happy. The only problem with that mentality, is it makes it so your other clients, or the base product itself suffer. You cannot properly survive while jumping from tiny project to tiny project. You cannot honestly think that your products will have quality or reliability when jumping from here to there.

When prioritizing, you need to constantly evaluate:

1. What projects are currently open
2. What have you promised to all other clients
3. What is truly the most important

It is a sad fact that point number three is the hardest on the entire list. Now I could go on for hours on how to properly prioritize, with tips and examples but I need to get back to work.

I cannot let my priorities get out of whack!

So this last week, a co-worker and I resurrected a game that I personally loved as a kid. Two for flinching. Now we both had our own rules and so therefore, we got into a huge argument over the proper rules. Since he couldn’t backup his rules with data, my rules won out.

They are:

1. If you flinch, you get hit twice
2. If you make contact without a prior flinch to be acted upon, you receive 10 hits for contact

Now, the controversial rule that we outlawed, thanks in part to Todd Kerpelman, was after any hit is made, you have to wipe it off.

About a month ago, my boss came to me with a project that another department in our company was working on. He asked me for my opinion on the project but before I answered, I asked him his opinion. His answer forever changed my life. His response was, “it was pretty decent“.

I broke down laughing. I couldn’t hold back the tears. So now our company standard is “pretty decent”. Every time someone asks me about the quality or how something works, I respond with a shrug and then I say that it is “pretty decent”.

I suggest you try it. See how it works for you. I bet you will be surprised with the results.