tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53125854776369570502024-03-13T09:29:08.462-04:00Pareto plus PeterPareto said that 80 percent of results is created by 20% of input. Peter said that people tend to advance to their highest level of incompetence. Unmanaged, Pareto plus Peter equals personal and professional disaster. Harnessed, the equation changes to yield unparalleled success.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5312585477636957050.post-6907193443661043832012-02-13T18:04:00.001-05:002012-02-13T18:04:20.079-05:00The Potential and Risks of Outcomes-Based Budgeting<p>I just received my newsletter from the National Council of Nonprofits. One article stood out, "The Potential and Risks of Outcomes-Based Budgeting." It's news worth following. I copied the article below, complete with links.<br /><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><strong>The Potential and Risks of Outcomes-Based Budgeting</strong></span></p><div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Whether a political fad or a budgeting solution for the future, state governments across the country are applying the lens of “cost-benefit analysis” to re-evaluate past and current spending priorities. The approach allows “policy makers to compare options and identify those that most effectively achieve outcomes ... at the lowest cost to taxpayers,” according to <a href="http://e2ma.net/go/7456639428/208831432/232007522/1406755/goto:http://www.governing.com/columns/mgmt-insights/col-cost-benefit-outcomes-states-results-first.html" target="_blank">Sue Urahn, Director of the Pew Center on the States</a>. Washington State reportedly has gone the furthest in identifying evidence-based policies by utilizing a model developed by the nonpartisan <a href="http://e2ma.net/go/7456639428/208831432/232007523/1406755/goto:http://www.wsipp.wa.gov/" target="_blank">Washington State Institute for Public Policy</a> that evaluates all available research and multiple factors to help legislators prioritize budget decisions.</span></div><div> </div><div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Illinois is actively engaged in implementing a “Budgeting for Results” program, and the state association of nonprofits, Donors Forum, is providing significant nonprofit input. In a recent <a href="http://e2ma.net/go/7456639428/208831432/232007524/1406755/goto:http://www.donorsforum.org/s_donorsforum/bin.asp?CID=14898&DID=53675&DOC=FILE.PDF" target="_blank">letter to the Governor</a>, Donors Forum shared preliminary findings from its forthcoming nationwide research that examines national models for Budgeting for Results, as well as the most important lessons Illinois can learn from other states. To ensure a strong and reliable network of bedrock community services, the letter urges the Governor to adopt principles that focus on transparency, engagement of nonprofit and philanthropic expertise, and creation of outcomes that are least harmful to the people and communities of the state.</span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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If the features are difficult to find when you need them or another user cannot navigate their way around the work area it's safe to say the application is not easy to use. It's a good bet that anything you try will work in Internet Explorer, but you want to ensure the application functions equally well in Firefox, Safari or other popular browser. Ease of use includes the availability of a mobile app for your droid or iPhone. The key to success is understanding that ease of use is proportional to a user's level of frustration. The lower the frustration level, the easier the tool is to use.<br /><br />Reliability is critical to successful integration of collaboration tools into your group's work. If the software has glitches causing it to freeze, requires you to download software in order to function correctly, or any number of inconveniences that interrupt your work flow you may want to consider another solution. If the solution you're using doesn't work well or smoothly your client, customer, or team may begin to think you might not be the one for the job.<br /><br />I recommend the "try before you buy" method of purchasing a solution. I've had great success determining reliability of a service during the trial period. Taking software for a test drive is also useful for determining how easy it is to use. For example, an application I used had a nasty habit of immediately starting my webcam when our group wanted to use the voice feature for teleconferencing so I had to unplug my webcam before connecting. Another product I used, and dropped quickly, continually locked up my computer and caused the connection to drop regardless of ISP or computer configuration. These meeting wreckers were things I discovered during the free trial.<br /><br />Cost should not be the number one reason you choose or eliminate an application or other product although cost is part of the decision and should not be taken lightly. Groupware solutions range in price from free to over $100 per month per user. You want to pay a reasonable amount for a good product you can rely on. My preference is to use open source, web-based tools for collaboration, data storage, and productivity. Open source software is affordable, usually innovative, and for the tech-savvy a great platform for tweaking tools to suit your particular needs.<br /><br />There are numerous conferencing and presentation tools available; Citrx' GoTo Meeting, WebEx, RealTalk, Zoho Meeting are just a few. Even skype allows for desktop sharing during a conversation. None of these however allow for true, real-time collaboration the way Google Wave or SAP's new offering, StreamWork does. Though now discontinued, Google Wave was promoted as a hosted conversation. In many ways Wave is email raised to a higher plane. SAP StreamWork is a true collaboration space that provides multiple users with real-time, simultaneous access to the data.<br /><br />SAP is known for their enterprise solutions, but StreamWork is an easy to use, reliable, and pleasantly affordable, spelled free, collaboration platform for smaller companies. It has a series of modules you can move around your screen. Any of the group participants can drag and drop agenda items. You can link dedicated folders from a Box.net account thereby utilizing less storage space on the SAP servers (and saving costs, too). Using integrated planning and evaluation tools makes StreamWork a valuable tool for project teams. If anyone from the group is unable to attend a meeting they can log into StreamWork at another time and quickly catch up. This robust, easy to use, and clean web-based application works just as well for a company my size as for large multi-nationals.<br /><br />Additional web-based applications I include in my collaboration toolkit are Skype for general international communication, DimDim for webinars and presentations, RTM for simple task management, Box.net for document storage and sharing, Zoho Project, Google Apps, and Second Life. There are more, but these are the mainstay of my "corporate" infrastructure and all of them save time and money thereby increasing effectiveness, efficiency, and ultimately profitability.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5312585477636957050.post-24278767047335081262008-01-14T22:31:00.003-05:002008-07-11T19:22:44.064-04:00road techI'm a big believer in the idea that work is what I do, not where I go (am) and that with the right systems in place I could work anywhere. Recently, the opportunity to test that theory manifested itself. I just returned from spending a significant amount of time "out of town" and that meant away from my office. Some of the tools that helped me stay in touch with clients and the projects I was working on?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.skype.com">Skype</a> - I've been using free Skype for about a year now, but with the Pro package (purchased for my travels) I was able to save tons of money on phone charges and still have clear, regular, reliable telecommunications with clients. My Skype number is now my "office" number.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.myfax.com">MyFax</a> - For $10 a month this fax service proved an invaluable addition to my arsenal of admin tools. Anytime a client sent a fax MyFax sent me an email alert. Sending and receiving with this service is easier than making sure my office fax has paper and a good ink cartridge in it.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.zoho.com">Zoho</a> - I love zoho projects and am a big fan of zoho meeting. Now I'm a fan of the rest of their web-based apps. Check 'em out. 'Nuff said.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.rememberthemilk.com">RTM</a> - Remember the Milk is now Twitter compatable and if you use Launchy with cURL you've got an unbeatable way of painlessly managing a task list. You can also use RTM with AIM or have them text you the reminder.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.launchy.net">Launchy</a> - Launchy is a free windows utility that can launch your documents, folders, and more without taking your hands off the keyboard. It leaves a small footprint, is intuitive like no other program of its kind (that I've tried), slick-looking, and with a few custom batch files I suspect it can do anything. Check out Life-Hacker for more info about this and other life-saving utilities. BTW cURL is an open source command line tool for transferring data with URL syntax.<br /><br />Add to all of this my ongoing remote access to files and junk on my server and I really was able to be out of town and stay in touch. If you don't have a file server stuck in the corner of your office, try using an online storage service like <a href="http://www.box.net">Box.net</a> or <a href="http://www.omnidrive.com">Omnidrive</a>.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5312585477636957050.post-67870804303818271062007-11-05T09:50:00.001-05:002008-07-11T19:34:38.683-04:00time is on my sideToo often we get caught up in the importance of time. At least, I do... or did. I've been known to get physically ill over what isn't accomplished in a set period of time. Fortunately, I've pretty much grown past this reaction to stress, but occasionally I still look like a V8 commercial.<br /><br />I know a lot of people who have what I call "reactions to distractions". These reactions occur - without thought, intention, or planning - when something happens that causes a project to take longer than planned, strand you in traffic on your way to a meeting, or make you want to kick yourself because you answered the phone just because it rang.<br /><br />I worked for a long time to identify what I was doing with the 168 hours a week I have at my disposal and why I wasn't getting anything done with that time. Sure, I ate some, slept a little, and appeared at work. What I wasn't able to do was accomplish anything. What I realized was the lack of accomplishment was a result of allowing others (people, things, and circumstances) to control what I did. I allowed others to put things on my agenda that caused me to have "reactions to distractions." Looking back I think they were doing it as a form of entertainment.<br /><br />Little did they realize the challenges I spent years tripping over were catalysts to my higher learning. I picked up some great strategies for managing my work, my reactions to work, and eventually carved out time to do it "My Way."<br /><br />Gurus of yesteryear have made way for the likes of Tim Ferris. I just read a great post from Tim's blog (<a href="http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog">www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog</a>):<br /><p><br /><i>Time without attention is worthless, so value attention over time.</i></p><i><br />Here are a few questions that can help you put on the productivity blinders and put things in perspective. Even when you’re not traveling the world, develop the habit of letting small bad things happen. If you don’t, you’ll never find time for the life-changing big things, whether important tasks or true peak experiences. If you do force the time but puncture it with distractions, you won’t have the attention to appreciate it.</i><br /><p><br /><i>-What is the one goal, if completed, that could change everything?</i><br /></p><p><br /><i>-What is the most urgent thing right now that you feel you "must" or "should" do?</i></p><p></p><i> -Can you let the urgent "fail" — even for a day — to get to the next milestone with your potential lifechanging tasks?</i><br /><p><br /><i>-What’s been on your “to-do” list the longest? Start it first thing in the morning and don’t allow interruptions or lunch until you finish.</i><br /></p><p><br /><i>Will “bad” things happen? Small problems will crop up, yes. A few people will complain and quickly get over it. BUT, the bigger picture items you complete will let you see these for what they are–minutiae and repairable hiccups. Make this trade a habit.</i><br /></p><p><br />I'm sure these ideas seem mundane and familiar. Stephen Covey, David Allen, even Ken Blanchard have contributed volumes on the subject. Tim takes all of that and moves it into the 21st century. Cliche? Not really. Today's technology has wrapped itself around us like chains - binding and constraining us. Why? Because we don't know how to use it.<br /><br />A little old-school plus a little techno-understanding and you've got a powerful system for managing the events and expectations of your time. To begin with, there's nothing like a 40 hour work-week becoming just that so you can enjoy the remaining 128. From there the possibilities are endless.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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