Beaufortes

Integrated Management Systems

I've been doing some work recently for a client to implement an Integrated Management System. "What's that?" I hear you say... Contrary to what you might expect, it's not a computer system - it's a system in the style of a Quality Management System like ISO9001, or an Environmental Management System like ISO14001. The IMS takes the common parts of systems like these and creates a uniform approach across the organisation. (The standard we were using is PAS99:2006.) The team created some quite pithy insights to explain it to the really busy client personnel (and I mean REALLY BUSY!):

"A way to communicate 'how we do things around here'" "A way for the Senior Management to communicate their expectations." "A way to ensure the equitable satisfaction of all stakeholders as the business grows and evolves."

The components are simple:

1 - Communicate expectations from a very senior level executive. 2 - Create a formal process and organisation by which the IMS will be governed. 3 - Create a framework for its content that allows people to find what they need. 4 - Figure out what content should be included. 5 - Divide-up ownership of the content, to ensure it is created by the right people. 6 - Create an over-arching review process to ensure that the IMS content is integrated across functions 7 - Implement a document management system that allows broad read-only access to documentation, and limited publication rights (OK, there is a computer system component). 8 - Launch. Re-launch. Re-launch. etc.

Yes, you guessed it, the hard part is getting the organisation to accept it, adopt it and provide the content. I'll blog a little more on this in future, as there's some neat content insights I want to share...what goes in it, and how to organise it. -- Philip Greenwood

Time for a revolution in the music industry

A while back I introduced Flo Radio to you as a technique for producing environmental sound to enhance team productivity.  The idea was to use Pandora’s streaming radio site, which allows you to set up “stations” that learn from the listeners preferences. 

Being based in the UK, this morning I received an email from Tim Westergren of Pandora stating that they were about to start blocking transmission to us:

“It continues to astound me and the rest of the team here that the industry is not working more constructively to support the growth of services that introduce listeners to new music and that are totally supportive of paying fair royalties to the creators of music. I don't often say such things, but the course being charted by the labels and publishers and their representative organizations is nothing short of disastrous for artists whom they purport to represent - and by that I mean both well known and indie artists. The only consequence of failing to support companies like Pandora that are attempting to build a sustainable radio business for the future will be the continued explosion of piracy, the continued constriction of opportunities for working musicians, and a worsening drought of new music for fans. As a former working musician myself, I find it very troubling.

“We have been told to sign these totally unworkable license rates or switch off, non-negotiable...so that is what we are doing. Streaming illegally is just not in our DNA, and we have to take the threats of legal action seriously. Lest you think this is solely an international problem, you should know that we are also fighting for our survival here in the US, in the face of a crushing increase in web radio royalty rates, which if left unchanged, would mean the end of Pandora.

“We know what an epicenter of musical creativity and fan support the UK has always been, which makes the prospect of not being able to launch there and having to block our first listeners all the more upsetting for us.”

My opinion:  The music industry, in fact the whole entertainment industry, is like a deer frozen in the headlights of an on-coming truck.  They will shortly become road-kill unless they think through the implications of commodity-priced high-bandwidth communications, pervasive computing, and the virtualisation of content.

— Philip Greenwood

Tags: Flo, Radio

Project Management & Leadership Search Engine

A while back we put quite a lot of effort into this custom Google search engine, and while the traffic has been steadily increasing, it can still be improved...the more people use it, the better feedback we get, the better we can make it!

The link for the search engine home page is here:

http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=011867071513363012666%3Atbng4tlbkso

The code for adding the search box to your web page is at:

http://gmodules.com/ig/creator?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fcoop/api/011867071513363012666/cse/tbng4tlbkso/gadget

If there are topics under-represented, or sites that you feel should be included, please leave a message in the comments.

— Philip Greenwood

Tags: Google, Custom, Search, Engine

Inform, Influence, Inspire

Here’s a video called “Inform, Influence, Inspire” – a phrase borrowed from our project communications model.  It’s about what Beaufortes does for our client’s project teams. 

The presentation style is a touch experimental, but you’d expect nothing less from us, now, would you?  We expect to do a lot more with video in the years to come, so we’re building the skills now.  As a company we’re always evolving and improving, and this presentation is aligned with that ethos.  So this current version is simplified, and the video rendering is vastly improved…

So dim the lights, put the headphones on, put your feet up, and enjoy a tranquil moment with Beaufortes!

— Philip Greenwood

Tags: Why+Use+Beaufortes, Inform, Influence, Inspire

Flo Radio Part 2 - The Real Deal

A while ago I published a blog piece on the use of sound in the office environment to enhance productivity - and a link to a Pandora radio station I created called Flo Radio.  I know quite a few people now listen to the station, and I’ll keep on refining it because…I like it .  But I’m an interested amateur where environmental sound is involved…

Yesterday at the London Ecademy BlackStars networking day, Julian Treasure gave me a review copy of his book “Sound Business”.  I first met Julian last week; he’s the chairman of The Sound Agency, and we had a long discussion about obscure ‘80s and ‘90s music.  I read his book overnight last night, and Julian is the real deal.

The book is packed with insights about how we perceive sound, how we relate to sound and how we can use it effectively to enhance performance, revenues, quality and workplace mood. 

The book comes with a CD with examples – including a set of loop tracks for working and relaxation.  Try them in your home office – try them with your work teams.  Put them on low in your meetings – notice how the mood changes.

— Philip Greenwood

P.S. The CD content is for personal use only – you’ll need to contact the Sound Agency to discuss commercial applications.

Tags: Environmental, Environmental+Sound, Sound, Music, Birdcall, Effectiveness, Efficiency

Flo Radio

Do you work from home?  Sometimes it can be wonderful, and I get heaps of work done. Other times, even when home alone, I find it quite easy to get distracted (I suspect I still get more done than when I’m in the office).

In one of those distracted moments I started wondering what I could do to have more of the “flow” moments – the good ones.  I’ve had a study at home for many years, so it’s pretty established and comfortable, to my mind – although my fiancee calls it “the man room”.  

I realised that the ambiance could be improved, so I did some research: What kind of sounds could be used to help concentration?

Then, using the wonderful Pandora Radio Internet site, I created a radio station for “flow” music – you can share it too, with this link: Flo Radio. It may not be your music preference, but if you keep it quiet, it chugs along nicely in the background, and it seems to have the desired effect.  If there are tracks that you find intrusive to your work, just tell Pandora you don’t like them, and it’ll optimize for you!

— Philip Greenwood

 

 

Tags: Flow, Radio, Work+from+home, Achieve+more

Guarantee Project Success 2

I suggested in my previous blog piece the idea that a powerful definition of a project would be:

“A project is the way that an organization takes a risk”.

I think this is powerful for several reasons:

1. It’s universal – it doesn’t matter what type of project you’re running, you invest resources with the intention to capture value.
2. It formally acknowledges uncertainty – every project has it, but most teams are in denial about the extent of it. For instance, enterprise transformation projects are very often a process of discovery, rather than the execution of a set of pre-defined steps – yet I seem them planned-out like concrete projects all the time!
3. When you take risks you continually assess alternative outcomes for merit. These are “real options” and they have positive inherent value.
4. It creates a tacit permission to consider course changes during the project if new outcomes are perceived.  The selection of these outcomes would still be considered success!
5. A thorough consideration of project domain complexity will reveal that we tend to vastly over-simplify our approach to them.  The definition suggests the proper appraisal of the project’s complexity is necessary.
6. It embeds the project within the organization, and the portfolio of changes that are occurring inside it and in its external context.

It’s unusual to discuss risk-taking, rather than risk-management.  Most project management tools are risk management tools, focusing on minimizing risk for a single course of action, a single outcome.  Risk taking is another art entirely.

I’m sure I’ve got more to say about this subject – until next time!

— Philip Greenwood

Tags:  Project+success, Project+failure, Risk+management

Guarantee Project Success

One of our successful adwords campaigns has this headline, but I confess it troubles me a bit.  Is it possible to guarantee project success?  I think it is, but it depends on your frame of reference.  If you define a project as something like:

“A project is any outcome you’re committed to achieving that will take more than one action step to complete.”

Then you’ve set yourself up for a very binary pass/fail criteria, and your next action is going to be running to the Gantt chart.  I’ve been contemplating the experience of leading and running projects, and I’d like to propose what I believe to be a much more powerful definition:

“A project is the way an organisation takes a risk.”

I want to leave this idea with you – to gestate – and I’ll be exploring it over my next few blog pieces to see where it leads me.

— Philip Greenwood

Tags: Project+success, project+failure, risk+management

The Big Idea 2007

You can be happy at work.

(Just in case you haven’t heard.)

Unfortunately it’s not my idea, but it is being popularized by Alexander Kjerulf, who calls himself the Chief Happiness Officer.

Mr Kjerulf has written a book on the subject, called “Happy Hour is 9 to 5: How To Love Your Job, Love Your Life and Kick Butt at Work”, and also “The Happy at Work Manifesto” (free down load).

Apart from the fact that I agree with him, I’d like to point out ‘policy’ 11:  “I do my best work when I’m happy – When I’m happy I’m engaged, motivated, committed, more creative, less risk-averse, more service-minded and more productive”.  Does this sound like something you want for your team?

Great!  But not so fast, slick.  Here’s another recent book:  “Stumbling Upon Happiness” by Daniel Gilbert – an extraordinarily well informed study of how we deceive ourselves about happiness.  My three line synopsis:

1) We’re not very good at remembering what made us happy, so

2) We’re not very good at predicting what will make us happy, and

3) We often pretend we were happy when we weren’t because of societal norms.

So you’re not going to get much insight about nurturing happiness from your team’s answers to your questions about happiness.  But, according to the Hawthrone Effect, the act of asking may just inspire them to be more engaged, motivated, committed, more creative, less risk-averse and more service minded.

Sound familiar?  It turns out that the Big Idea 2007 has its roots in the Big Idea 1932.

— Philip Greenwood

wikitags : [[wiki:beaufortes:happiness]]

Tags: Hawthorne+Effect, Happiness

The Dirty Wiki

Jason Bates wrote about The Empty Wiki in a previous post, but I’d like to point out another problem with wikis (those that aren’t empty anyway):  The power of the special interest group…