Career – Page 5 – Stormy's Corner

April 15, 2009

How to figure out if you can be a good advisor

Over the past year I've had the chance to be an "advisor" to several different organizations. There's lots of different types of advisory roles. The word advisor can cover all sorts of jobs:

Giving public endorsement
Being a consultant and doing work for hire.
Giving advice (but not necessarily being listened to.)
Managing/directing a project or group.
Getting public recognition as an "advisor" in exchange for doing work.

I'm not going to go into what being an advisor should be. However, I do think these are some of the questions you should ask if you are asked to be an advisor:

What do you expect from me? What will my responsibilities be? This could range from making introductions, blogging, speaking on behalf of the organization, allowing them to use your name as an endorsement, managing a committee, … you just want to know what they expect before you sign up. The group asking you to be an advisor may not be able to articulate it but if you talk to them long enough, you might be able to figure it out.
Will I be paid? I've had all sorts of experiences in this area. I've been paid well, I've not been paid for substantial amounts of work, I've had my travel covered and I've even received a surprise payment. Any of those is ok, as long as you agree to it.
Who makes the decisions for the project I'm advising? Will that person be the one I talk to regularly? (And I strongly recommend that if you don't get to directly advise the people making the decisions and you will be publicly affiliated with the project, you should turn down the opportunity.)
Is this group wanting to change? Why do they want an advisor? Is it for public perception reasons or are they committed to making change?
Why does this group want an advisor now? Is there a particular issue they are facing? Is it one you can help with?
Who else will be advising? Depending on all the other answers, it might be important to have other advisors who will reinforce your opinions or it might be important to have people that will offer a wide variety of opinions.
What do you want the advisors to accomplish? Often I've found that the people seeking advisors already know the advice they want and just need help convincing others in their organization.

Anything else? What has been your experience?

March 22, 2009

Twittering from conferences

I like twittering at conferences. It's a way to take notes, share insights and start interesting conversations. However, I'm always forgetting to append the event hashtag and I eventually get tired of manually typing it, so I wrote a Greasemonkey script to automatically append a hashtag.

To use it, you have to:

install Greasemonkey,
install my script,
use Firefox as your browser,
set your hashtag with the Tools/Greasemonkey/UserScriptCommands/Set hashtag. (Note you have to be on Twitter.com to see the commands.)
tweet directly from Twitter.com.

Some notes:

Thanks to @marnanel for suggesting I use a Greasemonkey script.
I had much bigger plans and started out writing a Ruby program with the idea that I'd create a Ruby on Rails app but I soon realized that I didn't really want to write yet another Twitter client. If Gwibber, Tweetdeck or Twirl would add some nice hashtag support, that'd be great.
It's been a long time since I wrote code and I've never written any javascript so this took probably 10 times longer than I think it should have. And it doesn't have enough error checking or any number of cool features I would like but it does what I want it to.
While I was looking at Greasemonkey scripts for Twitter, I found a couple of other useful ones like updating your twitter home page without refreshing, endless tweets so you don't have to page, seeing @'s to another user, …

I'll be twittering this week at #osbc.

March 15, 2009

Book Review: Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It

Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It
is a great book.

I've always thought that traditional work would eventually transition to contract work where people get paid to produce certain results. The problem with that is not all work fits contract work. Cali and Jody have envisioned (and implemented!) a workplace with traditional employment instead of contract work where people are measured by results, not time. I think that's pretty amazing. They call it ROWE, Results-Only Work Environment and they've implemented it at Best Buy.

The problem with most work environments today is that they reward the amount of time we work, not the amount of work we get done. The authors suggest a couple of strategies:

Stop making negative comments about time, "Sludge". So don't joke about how late someone got in, don't apologize for getting stuck in traffic, don't note what time email was sent. "Stop using the words early and late and antiquated terms like by the end of business today. Stop talking about how many hours you work or how hard you're working."
Make sure you are results-orientated. Every employee should know what their goals are and be measured on their results, not hours worked or time in the office.

By doing this, you treat employees like adults, they'll be happier and they'll do more real work as opposed to more made up work to look like they are working. (Like arriving at 7:30am and reading the paper online for the first hour.)

While the authors had a lot of good advice and how to, I wish they'd spent less time talking about how great peoples' personal lives are in a ROWE environment (I buy it but I think their examples just made ROWE seem like a boondoggle.) and more time on how much more work gets done. Because in order to get companies to buy in to ROWE, they need to understand that much more work will get done. Or at least the same amount of work will get done and employees will save hours and hours of "being in the office" or attending unnecessary meetings.

I also think that open source embodies the results-only model. In open source people only see what is done. They don't care how many hours you spent sitting in front of your computer. They don't care how many meetings you attended or how many conferences you went to. You are measured by what you get done. (I also think they are pretty good at recognizing non-code type work, but that's for another blog post.)

FYI, I liked the book Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It: No Schedules, No Meetings, No Joke–the Simple Change That Can Make Your Job Terrific much better than I liked the authors' blog.

February 12, 2009May 14, 2010

12 tips to getting things done in open source

Most people used to the proprietary software world, with no experience in open source software, are amazed that anything gets done. (And lots gets done in the open source, way more than in most proprietary software companies!) And people new to open source are usually at a loss as to where to start. Often they come with a great idea, tell a couple of people who confirm it’s a great idea, and then … well, and then they don’t know what to do and the great idea fades.

So here are some of my ideas on how to get things done in the open source world. And I am by no means the expert – I’m in awe of some of the people I work with on a daily basis.

To get things done in open source:

Be prepared to do a lot. Somebody has to do it. And while you can convince others it’s fun and needed and great, if you aren’t willing to put time into it, why are they going to believe you?
Believe you are empowered to do it. If you propose a new idea and everyone tells you it’s great, believe them. And just do it. Nobody is going to say “ok, now you can do it.” If people give you positive feedback, take that as an ok to go ahead.
Recruit others early. The earlier you talk to others about your idea, the more likely they’ll be able to contribute to the idea and feel like it’s theirs. The more they feel like it’s theirs, the more likely they’ll contribute. Most people hate to share an idea until they are sure it’s a good idea that’s completely thought out. By that time, it’s your idea to be done your way and it’s too late for them.
Don’t worry about getting credit. It’s all done publicly, on a mailing list that’s recorded for prosperity or on IRC in front of everyone. You’ll get your credit. Float your idea, encourage others, accept their feedback and ideas. Give more credit than you take. (And ask yourself if you want your idea to happen or if you want credit. Either answer is ok but only one can be your highest priority.)
Join the conversation. Many people float an idea via email or maybe even on the mailing list. Where probably depends on the project but there are conversations happening some where. I think the one most missed by those new to open source software is IRC. I once heard a manager joke that nobody hangs out around the water cooler any more. Instantly someone mentioned (on IRC) that IRC is the new water cooler and he just didn’t know it.
Get effective at monitoring lots of information. In my experience, people in the corporate world spend a lot of time talking about how they get too much email (I did) where as people in the open source world (at least GNOME) spend their time talking about methods for dealing with lots of email. It’s way cooler to be seen as someone who copes with tons of email than someone who gripes about tons of email.
Reply to all. I worked on an open source like project with some people that weren’t familiar with open source. I got so frustrated with people that didn’t hit “reply to all”. I spent a lot of time recommunicating decisions and we didn’t have a lot of conversations that we should have had.The project had a lot less “team” because people didn’t reply to all. By “team” I mean people didn’t feel part of a team and they didn’t have all the information they needed. Also, one of the strengths of open source is that all of the history is in the mailing lists. If you don’t reply to all, your project will lose that advantage.
Think the best of people. Things get lost in email. It’s much easier to misread an email or take offense at something in an email than it is in person. Remember this whenever you get upset at an someone because of an email.
Meet people. Along the same lines as communicating well in email, meet as many of your fellow open source people in person. This is somewhat controversial as the open source model works really well in a virtual world. But I think that conferences like OSCON, GUADEC, SCALE and OpenSource World that get lots of open source people together, create stronger relationships and better projects. Personally I find that when I can read an email in someone’s voice, it makes a lot more sense. It’s often funnier and more relevant.
Be yourself. Be yourself, add some personal notes, make sure your motivations are transparent. Anyone who is obviously acting with “ulterior” motives – like pushing their company’s policy without thinking about what it means to them and the project – is less trust worthy. Not because what they are doing is bad but because it’s hard to know what type of decisions they are going to make and carry through on.
Ask for help. There are a lot of people in the open source community willing to help. Just make sure you share the whole plan and ask for specific help. If you don’t share the plan, they won’t know why they should help. If you don’t ask for specific help, they won’t know how to help.
Show your passion. Excitement is contagious. Share why you are doing what you are doing and why it’s important or fun. (Be sure to temper the “because the alternative sucks” viewpoint.) Be positive and passionate!

What else would you add? What’s your best tip for getting things done in the open source world?

For more detailed ideas for how to actually get the work done, see 10 skills to master to get things done online.

January 27, 2009

The good, the bad and the ugly of busines books

Or perhaps this should be called the great, the good and the ugly.

The Great

Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High
is a great book. If you have ever had an argument that you've regretted, you'll appreciate what this book is trying to teach you.

The authors explain that when we get in an argument, adrenaline takes over and we don't end up arguing in our own best interests. We forget what we want or how to get it and we focus on winning.

They give lots of examples and tools to try to teach you how to "dialogue" better. Unfortunately, it sounds really hard, almost impossible. (Which the authors recognize and they give you a pep talk and some tips at the end.) I'm going to try to use a couple of their techniques and I'm keeping the book. However, don't expect any miracles here. (Although if I learn just one or two of their techniques I think it will be good for both my career and my personal life.)

The Good

Penelope Trunk is a good writer which makes Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success an easy read. The book was funny, entertaining and usually pretty accurate. Supposedly it's full of controversial career advice for Generation X and Yers but I thought most of it (but not all) was good advice. I'd recommend this book as a graduation present for a new college graduate. Penelope gives lots of practical insights like "What you like learning about is probably what you like to do" as well as advice on interview questions, when to use IM or email and what to do in the case of sexual harassment. If you've been in the work force a while, you might not find it super useful but it's an easy read and you might find a few nuggets.

The Ugly

In the case of The Science of Getting Rich, you'd be better off not listening to the writer's words but rather doing what he did. In this case he wrote 105 pages with 2 inch margins, and a catchy title. And in case you're short on words, he has lots of examples of fillers like "And further", "It is evident", and "The question arises here". And blank pages between each chapter. Then you sell your book on $7.99 on Amazon. For a weekend's worth of work, you might make a few dollars.

Note that other people feel differently. My used copy was heavily underlined and highlighted (until page 50) and the book is rated an average of 4 stars on Amazon by 105 people. What I should have paid attention to was the rating distribution. 15% of people, 16 people, rated it a 1 star.

I thought it was terrible and gave it 1 star as well.

So that's the great, the good and the ugly:

Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High (great)
Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success (good)
The Science of Getting Rich (ugly)

December 29, 2008

Diversify yourself

The Diversified Bootstrapper had some intriguing career advice about how to diversify yourself. In addition to having a couple of interesting side projects and consulting gigs, he recommends the type of job you need to have in order to be able to diversify. It's good advice even if you don't decide to diversify. According to Scott Scheper your main job is critical and must be:

aligned with your passion
have freedom or be part-time
value results (over time in the office)
teach you new skills
be challenging

FYI, open source software projects and volunteer jobs are a great way to learn, meet others and open up opportunities.

Photo by Michelle Brea.

December 17, 2008

Never assume the other person has even basic information

This weekend we had the annual Secret Santa party at our house. It wasn't our weekend to have my stepson Jacob so on Sunday morning I went to go get him, so he could attend the party.

On the way home, he asked some of the strangest questions. First, he asked if his little brother could come. Of course he's coming, I responded! He lives with us. I then wondered why he asked, did he think that kids just get arbitrarily left out of half of all the things their families do?

Then when we got to the house, he asked if he could come in! Of course, I responded! It's our house, your house! Then I wondered, what did I do to make him feel not welcome?

So we're inside and I'm recounting all these strange questions to my mother-in-law, wondering what in the world I've done wrong as a parent, when Jacob spots the cooler full of sodas and beer and says "The party is here??"

You see, it had never occurred to me to tell him that the party I was taking him to was at our house. So here I am wondering about all these deep things like kids growing up with two homes, four parents, parenting styles, etc and the whole problem was a very basic lack of information!

So next time you're talking to someone and you're thinking "they just don't get it!", maybe it's time to stop and go over the basics. They just might not have that really basic and really vital piece of information that you are assuming.

October 28, 2008

What does a nonprofit board do?

I now work for a nonprofit board of directors, so when one of my friends told me that she just joined a nonprofit board and took a class on what it means to be on the board of directors, I got pretty excited.

Over lunch, my friend (Serena) answered all my questions and brought me her class materials. The slides looked like the discussion might have been interesting. The booklet she got (which she said they valued dearly and I checked, it sells for $20) was a good summary. It was less than 30 pages of content but it summarized the board of directors' duties well. (And I'm happy to say I've seen the GNOME Foundation's board doing all of these things!) There's an even shorter online summary here, as well as a lot of good (free) articles on the BoardSource website. From the book Ten Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards:

Determine the organization's mission and purpose. (They can and should consult with others but it's their responsibility.)
Select the chief
executive. (And decide what they should do.)
Provide proper
financial oversight. (Budgeting, planning, making sure the money is in a safe place.)
Ensure
adequate resources. (Make sure things can get done.)
Ensure
legal and ethical integrity and maintain accountability. (This is for the organization, its members and staff.)
Ensure effective organizational
planning. (Are programs in place to further the mission and goals of the organization?)
Recruit
and orient new board members and assess board performance. (Making sure the board continues to function well.)
Enhance the organization's public
standing. (This is telling the world about the organization and recruiting new members and support.)
Determine, monitor, and strengthen
the organization's programs and services. (Managing the day to day stuff including fund raising.)
Support the
chief executive and assess his or her performance. (Making sure the chief executive knows what he/she should be doing and has the resources to do it.)

One of the things I always thought would be intimidating about being on a board of directors (nonprofit or not) is knowing what you are responsible and liable for. I'm glad to see there are lots of resources out there for people willing to serve on the boards of nonprofits. (My friend's class, and the book, were free; provided by 211/United Way of Larimer County.)

P.S. Serena is helping Steppin' Out, an organization in Fort Collins that helps foster kids that have "graduated" out of foster care. When they turn 18 most of them are suddenly without a home, parents, savings, car, high school diploma, mentors, etc. Steppin' Out helps them find jobs, cars, training, etc.

October 5, 2008

One step to a perfect presentation

#1 piece of advice for all presenters: know your presentation by heart.

I’ve been to four different conferences in the past three
weeks. I’ve seen a lot of presentations – a few good and many that could use some help. All the presentations I saw could be fixed with one best practice:

Know how to tell your story without your slides.

I recommend writing your talk first. Practice it. Then
figure out what the major points are. Practice again with just one main point
on a slide. Then fill out your slides. Then practice again without slides. Your
presentation will be a 100% better, you’ll survive computer failures and you
won’t commit many errors like looking at your slides, reading your slides, … or the worst, not being able to give your presentation when the projector or your computer won’t work.

September 1, 2008

How I’m learning to create effective presentations

Creating effective presentations is really hard. Here’s a short summary of my journey and the two books that helped me. (This started out as a book review and I realized that what I really wanted to write about was how I was learning to create presentations.)

The number one thing that has helped me give effective presentations is giving lots of presentations. Practice makes perfect.

My very first professional presentation was at an HP Unix conference. My boss’s boss’s boss was in the room. He told me later that he wrote "SLOW" really big on a piece of paper and held it up over his head. I missed it.

My topic was interesting though and people hung on through my 100mph presentation and stayed after wards to ask lots of questions. That’s how I got hooked – you can pass on lots of interesting ideas and start lots of interesting conversations through presentations. (Hmm. My parents are teachers – think I got this from them?)

I also got the chance pretty early on to take a two day executive presentation class from Communispond that gave me a lot of really concrete tips and tools to remember some basic presentation skills. Things like how to make eye contact, "clear a slide", face your audience, etc.

So a couple of years ago I felt like I was doing pretty good but that there was still a lot to learn and no obvious place to learn it unless it was one on one coaching.

Then during GUADEC 2007, I was suddenly struck with the fact that my slides were old fashioned and ugly. (And that meant that part of my message was not getting through.) I resolved right then and there that I was going to get rid of all the words and ugly templates.

Luckily Garr Reynold’s Presentation Zen came out shortly after. By my keynote at LinuxConf Australia, I managed to recreate my GUADEC presentation into a nice picture and word per slide format. I got a lot of great feedback on the style AND on the message I was trying to tell.

I got quite a bit out of Presentation Zen and I mean to reread it. Things like:

one concept per slide
how to pick an effective image
where to get images (flickr and istockphoto)
very few words on a slide
slides used during the presentation should not be the same as standalone slides that are passed around
use a remote to advance your slides
skip the long intro, you have the first couple of minutes and the last couple of minutes to make your point – that’s when the audience is listening
spend a lot of time on your message and your slides – think about how much audience time you are using (100 people times one hour is a hundred hours of other people’s time)
get feedback after every presentation

I learned a lot from Garr’s book. However, it felt like I’d learned one style (image and word per slide) not that I’d mastered the art of putting together an effective presentation. I mean, I knew how to keep it simple and how to use images, but I was figuring out that wasn’t always the answer I was looking for either. My slides still looked ugly sometimes and they didn’t always convey exactly what I wanted.

When I saw that Nancy Duarte had published a book, slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations, I jumped on it. (And I ordered a hard copy – I just couldn’t imagine reading about slides and images would be effective on the Kindle‘s screen.)

slide:ology has a lot of really good information. (Although what has impressed me the most is how much work goes into an effective presentation.) slide:ology is about the nuts and bolts of designing the presentation. (Nancy Duarte is one of the founders of Duarte Design.) Nancy covers things from how to brainstorm image ideas, create effective graphs, draw stick figures, lay out your slides in a consistent style, pick colors, fonts, etc.

So look for a new style coming from me soon as I figure out how to put the Nancy’s advice to work.

It’s going to take me a while though. When I first started using the one image, one word style, one of the most common questions I got was "how long did
that take you?" A long time. Turns out Nancy Duarte recommends 20-60
hours of slide prep time for a one hour presentation. Creating an
effective presentation takes a long time. Learning how to create a presentation in a new style with new concepts in mind takes even longer.

The next book on my list is The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures. Got any others for me?