Karl Edwards presents Working Matters » Tech Changes with Jorge Rosas

Out-of-Contact Doesn’t Have To Mean Out-of-Touch

Karl Edwards — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 15:11:57 +0000

If your working rhythm thrives on extended periods of concentration and focus, you need to turn off the phone, close your email browser, quit all your messaging programs and close the door. No question about it. No question, that is, from your perspective.

Continuing our discussion of this week’s podcast interview with software developer Jorge Rosas, from the perspective of others (clients, team members, supervisors) a complete communication cut-off can be quite disconcerting, if not problem-causing.

What we want is for others to feel that we are accessible without having instant accessibility be the only form contact can take.

All communication technologies include a means to notify others of how and when you will respond to their contact. I have found that as long as others hear:

That their message is important to you, and
A time frame for when you will get back to them, they will be satisfied.

Now your communication “absence” serves both your working needs and others’ contact needs.

Please don’t sacrifice your own effectiveness in order to stay in touch with others. Those are not mutually exclusive outcomes.

How do you get things done while remaining accessible 24/7?

Listen In -> Swamped by the Communication Tidal Wave?

Karl Edwards — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 17:53:32 +0000

How available should you be when communication access is 24/7?

Who orders your day, when messages, calls, and emails continually interrupt?

This week’s podcast interview with software developer Jorge Rosas is a great conversation about avoiding overwhelm without having to avoid people.

Listen in.

Decision-Making Drives Report-Making

Karl Edwards — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:28:17 +0000

The leader’s subject is neither data nor databases. The subject is decision-making.

Continuing our discussion of this week’s podcast, what information will help you make the best decision in the most timely manner? Forget “perfect” decisions or being “right.” We don’t need ALL the information viewed from EVERY perspective in order to take action. Nor can we look to the data to make our decisions for us.

Beware of information gluttony… it leads to decision paralysis.

As a rule of thumb, then, no report should be either designed or generated for which the specific decision that you are trying to make cannot be identified. Think about it. Imagine what else you could be working on once unchained from database hell.

Knowing what decision(s) you are trying to make will transform your relationships with your technical and administrative staffs as well. Instead of telling them what data or report you want to see, describe to them what decision you are trying to make. You will benefit from their expertise, and they will become more invested in their jobs.

How do you avoid information overload?

Have you listened to this week’s podcast interview with software developer Jorge Rosas yet? Click on the player in the right column. Or to hear the entire series so far, click here.

Listen In -> Tech Changes #4: Leaders in Database Hell

Karl Edwards — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 16:28:00 +0000

When does information become the leader’s enemy?

When the sifting and sorting of data overwhelms the timely decisions that need to result.

In this week’s podcast interview with software developer, Jorge Rosas, we look at database hell. Have you ever wondered how so many leaders get trapped in the quicksand of endless information and reports grasping for the perfect decision?

Sound decision-making need not be such a perilous and overwhelming process.

Listen in.

To Upgrade or Not To Upgrade? Is That Really the Question?

Karl Edwards — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 15:41:13 +0000

It’s tempting to reduce software or hardware upgrade decisions to simple purchase choices. Can we afford the sticker price?

Talking with software developer Jorge Rosas in this week’s podcast, there are two problems with this strategy. 1.) There are also indirect costs, such as helping users get up-to-speed and adjusting business processes impacted by the upgrade. These are more difficult to calculate, but need to be considered. 2.) There are also indirect benefits, such as staying connected with support services to help solve problems and mitigate disasters.

More helpful might be to ask whether the upgrade will result in an “arithmetic benefit” or an “exponential benefit.” Arithmetic benefits include such things as: speed increases, feature enhancements, and quality improvements. Exponential benefits involve changes that permit you to eliminate entire business processes, reorganize for slimmer staffing, stop using paper or making certain telephone calls altogether.

As a rule of thumb, I wait for something to provide an exponential benefit before investing in extensive change.

How do you evaluate upgrade decisions?

Listen In -> Tech Changes #3: The Upgrade Quandry

Karl Edwards — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 14:15:19 +0000

Upgrade decisions are a fact of life in the fast-changing tech world.

Are you torn between wanting to stay abreast of advances in technology and wanting to keep spending to a minimum? When does an expense shift from being a resented and avoided intrusion caused by others to an investment that is anticipated and incorporated into one’s business strategy?

This week software developer Jorge Rosas and I tackle the upgrade investment quandry. We discuss decision-making criteria that lead to solutions that fit, not pre-fab solutions that force you to fit into some rigid upgrade formula.

Listen in.

Listen In -> Tech Changes #2: Gadget Obsession or Early Adoption?

Karl Edwards — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 14:34:38 +0000

Innovation is a double-edged sword. New gadgets can enhance effectiveness or undermine focus.

In this week’s interview with software developer, Jorge Rosas, (a self-confessed innovation addict) we discuss the difference between the type of early adopter—whose play leads toward multiplied productivity—and those whose fascination with new gadgets results merely in distraction and loss of focus.

The point is not to label ourselves so much as to help those of us fascinated with all things new to recognize when this passion is serving us well and when it is luring us off track.

Listen in.

No Magical Answers for Tech Change

Karl Edwards — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 13:42:05 +0000

Instead of joining an extremist camp: either always buying the latest innovation as soon as it comes out, or always waiting as long as possible before making a change, we need our own decision-making criteria.

Our needs are different than anyone else’s. Our financial resources are limited. Our teams’ openness to change and learning new things is a factor. Our industry might be one of relative stability or rapid innovation.

In this week’s podcast with software developer Jorge Rosas, we discuss three “tension spectrums” across which to consider our next decisions:

Risk versus reliability. Can you or your firm handle some of the inherent risks associated with emerging technologies while the kinks are being ironed out? Or do you need a certain level of reliability which would suggest that you wait?
Focus versus distraction. Do new features help you get more done or distract you? For some of us, innovation is key to how we increase our personal and professional productivity. For others of us, new things take our eyes off of our goals, and we lose precious time and energy playing or forcing solutions that don’t really fit.
Arithmetic versus exponential benefit. Unless an innovation provides an exponential increase in value to one’s productivity, internal processes, or company capabilities, you may want to reconsider the money investment, the learning investment, and the investment in team morale that any technology change brings.

What criteria informs your decisions about adopting new technologies?

Listen In -> Technology Change: New Tools or New Obstacles?

Karl Edwards — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 14:45:02 +0000

Friend or foe?

Our new podcast series helps us think about a constant business reality: technology change.

Do you leap headlong into every innovation or upgrade? Or do you avoid the expense and disruption of learning something new as long as you can?

There are advantages and disadvantages to both strategies. Instead of adopting a rigid stance, listen in to my conversations with Jorge Rosas, tech guru, software developer and confessed obsessive early adopter of all things new.

Technology Change: New Tools or New Obstacles? (playing now)
Tech Changes #1: Gadget Obsession or Early Adoption?
Tech Changes #2: The Upgrade Investment Quandary
Tech Changes #3: Leaders Lost in Database Hell
Tech Changes #4: Swamped by the Communication Tidal Wave?

Listen in.