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A Routine Business

Posted by Deborah Fike at 9:33 pm

Entrepreneurs pride themselves on being scrappy, able to change on a moment’s notice.  When you work with a small core group of people (and the competition is huge), this is an obvious advantage: you can iterate faster and there’s less red tape to cut through to get stuff done.

Having been through several start-ups myself, though, there is definitely an advantage to having routines.  Routines can make sense out of the daily chaos that can happen in a start-up.  It can make others familiar with the way decisions are made.  Routines also often form the backbone of communication, making it useful for making sure everyone is in the loop.

Sometimes, it takes two computers to communicate.  (Photo Credit: mh.xbhd.org)

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Entrepreneurs and Family

Posted by Deborah Fike at 3:27 pm

I just finished reading Steve Jobs’ biography, and man, what a page turner.  Having worked at several start-ups, it was amazing to see that some problems we faced, Apple did too in its early days: disorganization, growing pains, and defining company identity.  It was also gripping knowing what I know now – that Steve Jobs would die in 2011 – that made the ending go so fast.  What would Steve, the most iconic entrepreneur of our generation, accomplish before his death?  How would his legacy live on?

Definitely worth a read

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Leaders Don’t Have All the Info

Posted by Deborah Fike at 11:06 pm

If you’ve never been a decision maker for a project or team, you might think the decision makers always have all the information.  I’m here to tell you it just isn’t true.  First, taking the time to gather “all” the information necessary to make a nuanced decision would take way more time than you have, period.  Second, gathering information can lead to “analysis paralysis,” where you spend so much time gathering info that you don’t actually do anything.

So no, managers and leaders, just like the guys on the front line, often have to use their experience, intuition, and just plain common sense to make decisions on a day-to-day basis.

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Project Manager for a Day

Posted by Deborah Fike at 7:33 pm

Hey, project managers, does this sound like you?

Snickers aside, there was some accurate stuff in there. Some of it revealed frustration from a project manager’s point of view (changing deliverables, hard to wrangle team members). Some of it showed how frustrating it can be to work with a project manager (condescending tone, not listening to ideas).

Stereotypes abound for a reason. If you don’t like yours, why not consider a change? You might not be able to completely eliminate these kinds of interactions, but you might be able to find a better way to get things done.

For starters, how about less meetings?

-Deborah Fike

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The W’s That Define You

Posted by Deborah Fike at 7:14 am

You are best defined by:

• Who you endorse in your private life.
• What you do online.
• Where you spend your personal time.
• When you choose (or not choose) to help others.
• Why you get up in the morning.
• How you act when you think no one cares.

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