Sometimes simple is better. Taking a more practical approach to life situations will always lead to a more consistent and predictable outcome.

Don’t get me wrong. Sometimes risk and “thinking outside the box” is required. (See my ideas about Creativity) but sometimes the best solutions to the problems we encounter are simple and right in front of us. I have spent countless hours trying to come up with unique and creative solutions only to fall back on the first idea that seemed “to simple”.

So my approach over the years is to consider the practical points in every situation first. I have been pretty successful with this especially in the area of applications development. If there is one area that I have found is very easy to get caught up in the “non-practical” it’s here. I have seen some of the most basic problems get addressed by hours and hours of code, when a simple validation would have done the trick.

Probably the biggest area I have seen the growth of “non-practical” activities is in the area of project management. I have studied and gotten certifications in several methodologies. Whether you adhere to a strict PMI methodology or you get creative and use a “scrum” (I just love that word), it is very easy to get caught up in all of the documentation and neat PowerPoints that you miss the key elements of the project…actually delivering the product on time and on budget.

I have found that best solutions in managing a project are usually the ones that have the fewest amount “excess” documentation and allow those that actually do the work (typically not the project manager) to have the most amount of time to actually do the work. Creating a simple WBS(work breakdown structure) with real “tasks”, a simple method of collaboration and attention to keeping schedules accurate, usually lead to a well run project.

Of course all of this must be balanced. As you read through the other areas of my portfolio hopefully it all begins to make sense. Each one of the traits I believe are an important quality of what makes a successful person.

Creativity is not something that can be taught. But it is found through taking risks to be different in the way we think and act in the world we live in.

But what really is “creativity”? I believe we all have it in us to be “creative”, but the key is how much risk are willing to take to see it? How much are we willing to put ourselves out there to be critized or even laughed at? The truly gifted people at one point or another in their early years, took risks to help them build their ability to be creative.

The key is to get past that and to keep putting yourself out there. It’s important to realize that not everyone will “get it”, but that’s ok. To realize that creativity is not a science it’s an art and because of that it will always be a matter of opinion as to the how “good” it is. I will never be an accomplished pianist, but I can still use what little ability I have to create music (if only for myself!).

My latest endeavor is to write. I have made several attempts at this but having the desire and being able to put in the time and “take the risk”, has always left me back at where I started. This blog/portfolio/set of ramblings.. is yet, another attempt for me to write and create. I am sure you will find spelling errors, mistakes in grammar and incoherent thoughts. But at least I am taking the “risk” at trying…maybe you should give it a shot?

Technology and its impact on our daily lives is unavoidable and is the center of our daily lives . It is something we can no longer avoid or dismiss but we should have an appreciation of the journey it has taken over the years and be mindful of where it will take us in the future.

I wish I could say I am an early adopter of new technology but as you read the other areas of my portfolio, it should be apparent I take a more conservative approach to my desire to be “cutting edge”! (It could get pretty expensive if I bought every tech toy I wanted.) But I do love gadgets! From my first Timex Sinclair computer I bought when I was a kid to my iPad, I have always had a special affinity for tech devices. Whether its the latest smartphone or a network based streaming device, I am a bit of geek when it comes to these things. I have given up broadcast tv in favor of Hulu and a Netflix account and have both a pc and Mac in the house.

Over the years I have built and reconfigured pc’s, designed and hosted web sites, participated in hundreds of forums and blogs, wrote thousands of lines of code. (Most of which I have never made any money doing!)

My motivation is pretty simple… I just like doing it! I have always enjoyed learning how things work and being able to not just talk about things like sql databases and writing mobile applications but to be able to actually code and administer these things is very fulfilling.

The problem though is what to focus on? With all the paths one could take in the area of technology, it’s hard to just pick one discipine. Being an “expert” in any one space has never been my desire. For me the goal is not to be an expert but to be able to play in many “sandboxes” and have a solid understanding in a variety of areas.

Technology is all around us. It’s not just computers. It’s all the devices, apps and other things that help make it easier to communicate and live.

Being a part of a large IT organization we have adopted this philosophy that the business we support is our “customer” and we should strive to give them the best experience possible. This new direction has done a great deal to improve our overall image and honestly has been a refreshing approach. It has allowed us in IT to take a more proactive role in the business climate and I believe overall has shown that we can be more than just back office gear heads!

But as I have watched over the past few years and have researched other companies and industries, I see other effects of this trend. On the surface the approach has a lot of merit and can provide some quick wins in a tough climate but a few dangers also exist by taking this view of the work IT professionals provide both through consulting and in-house IT staffs.

One of these dangers is that we also adopt the adage of “the customer is always right”. Sometimes they are not. Sometimes telling them what they want to hear to secure the sale or to provide a “feel good experience” is not always the best thing. As a customer, I expect my needs to be met. I expect that the person or group providing me with a service or good do this to my benefit and if they are not benefited by the deal, then it’s really ok because “I am the customer”. I may respect what they have to offer me but in the end it’s about my needs.

On the flipside if the coin, if I view everyone as customers, I might also discount their opinions as sometimes customers don’t “really” know what they want or they are too demanding. As providers of a service or good, especially in the technical arena, our customers may not know what they “need” but our goal should be to understand their needs and adapt our technology to meet them where they are. But in most cases we have unrealistic expectations and want them to do things “our way”. Think about the last time you called a call center or help line. Did you feel like you received great customer service? Most of the companies providing this type of service will say this is what they are offering through these centers yet in a lot of cases it is just the opposite. In most cases it ends up being a frustrating experience getting the voice driven system to select my correct choice! But wait, we are giving the customer what they want right? We are offering them a way to have their needs met in an efficient and personal manner 24 by 7. Isn’t that good?

So if our goal of “excellent customer service” is not the approach then what should we strive for in our relationship? The answer (although not simple) is a “partnership”. We need to look for ways we can provide real value through a mutual respect for one another’s contributions. A lot of the same protocols would be the same but the approach would differ. Instead of simply trying to meet every demand given we would need to be able to compromise and even challenge current practices and ideas. In a partnership the goal would be to provide benefit to both sides. It would allow and require us to be more flexible and in the end both parties win.

Whether you are in IT or any other service or good provider, consider developing your customers as “partners” and see if you gain better results in the relationship.

Recently I have been talking with my IT colleagues about the overuse of phrases that sound highly insightful but are ambiguous or even have no meaning at all to the normal person. Many of us have been in meetings or participated on conference calls and have heard (or even used ourselves) terms like “creating synergy”, “facilitated discussion” or my recent favorite “human bandwidth” and have scratched our heads thinking “what in the world are we talking about”!

Many of these terms have evolved over the past years based loosely on the influx of business books and white collar executives who believe that the use of these terms make us sound more engaged or smart. The ability to take a word like “bandwidth” which typically is used in the context of discussing network traffic and equating it to the amount of work a “person” can accomplish is pretty insightful. But the problem is that in everyday discussion, it makes us sound like we are just making stuff up to sound important. There are those folks that overuse this type of language to the point that they become a mockery (I’m sorry I mean… a joke!) to their peers and managers.

Don’t get me wrong. I realize the business language must have a sense of “flair” especially if you work in the tech sector, and let’s face it sometimes we need these cool sounding terms to make us appear to know more than we really do. But over use of things like “human capital” or “collaborative synergy” in our writing or discussions only leads to a lot of misunderstood directives that create disharmony in our organizations or another words “upset or frustrate the people we work with”!

I am not saying we should abandon all use of the terms sometimes it is unavoidable. But when we purposely add these words to our everyday vocabulary there are a large majority of folks, typically those of us who have been a round a bit, who dismiss the speaker as and assume they have no “real” knowledge of the subject they are speaking about.

So before you throw out that obscure reference that you think describes the situation in great detail, try to remember not everyone is impressed by the number of big words you can reference but in the substance of what you are actually saying. Sometimes it’s simply better to use words like “time”, “review” and “rule” instead of words like “cycle”, “assessment” and “guidepost”.