Roman's miles

Thanks for giving

Being in a thanksgiving mode I thought it's a good time to say thank to my readers who recently  have read the blog, commented on, or linked to it. In the last month, due to the new links, it has gained 35% up on the rank ladder and the readership has increased by about 70%. So today I want to thank all the readers and bloggers for their interest and support and below are the names

The comments came from: Michael Sweigart, fledl003, Billy Smith, Denna Jones, Matthew Stibbe, kaioti, Thomas Otter, Richard A D Jones, Josh King, David Maister, Susan Mernit, Skip, Arun Kotolli, InnovationZen

The cross-posts are from: SlackerManager, Lifehacker, Morethanliving, IndianPad, Lifehack.org, myfavouritesites, NotAnMBA, Seanattwood

Thank you all again and happy Thanksgiving!

Technorati tags: thanksgiving, thanks, gratitude

How to read fast

Let me explain the title. I didn't mean how to read more words per minute that a bunch of different techniques claim to educate. My needs were how to increase the speed of comprehension of the read material, especially of business or studying books. Let's start with an extreme but clear case. Assume that we research a topic or read a book just to widen our horizon. If it's not our first book  in the realm the odds are good that we already know something about the matter; now we can either read every single word or skim through. The former is not efficient - we may read about the concepts we already know and waste our time. The latter is risky - we can miss something important and lose the book's value. Balancing two options is the kind of the fast reading I'm referring to in this blog.   

I already brought Brad's explanation on his way to read 8(!) books a week: "(a) no TV, (b) no kids, (c) four to six hours a night of reading, and (d) the willingness / ability to skim when things are dull". So the question is how to find an optimal pace for a book to trade off speed and comprehension most efficiently. I just started practicing this method and here are few my suggestions.

• Build expectations for the book. Before starting the book make it clear for yourself why you decided to read it. What is the question you're seeking answers for and why is this book indeed. Is it a particular idea, a set of examples and case-studies, or you need deep diving to the realm. Depending on the answer you may predefine what chapters to skim through. A good example of what I mean here is a pile of the books of Geoffrey Moore. Each of them is great but you don't want to read each of them from cover to cover.
• Always read the book's introductions (all of them).   In a read-every-word mode that was the only victim of my through-skimming. When I was cover-to-covering  a book I thought I didn't need to know what the book was about - I'd know it upon completion. In optimizing the pace very valuable information can be found in introductions. We need to figure out what the authors will be telling us on the next pages (or, at least, what they promise to) and adjust our expectations (see the first item). Often authors explain the book's structure that may also help us to make up our reading plan.
• Understand the book pattern. Every author is different but even every book of an author may be different. Still each book has its structure and style which even if not explained in the introduction nevertheless can be figured out after a few chapters. We need to recognize a question the author is about to answer, possible options for the answers, analysis of the dilemma if it exists, winning answers, and examples proving them. Depending on your needs you may decide what is "dull" for your particular case and accelerate reading. To make it precis the book's structure must be known.
• Take a sample and check the pace. After you answer the above questions you can start skimming. Usually, if you're aware of the problems the authors are explaining, an introductory part of a chapter can be skipped. A few paragraphs detailing importance and complexity of the situation are good candidates to save time if you know the area. Figure out where they get to the point and propose solutions to the problems. You may skip quite a few paragraphs and find that you miss the point. Don't despair. Come back but not to the very beginning. Take a half of the way and try again. After a few iterations you'll find the pace.
• A book may vary - re-adjust the pace. Rarely I find a book that keeps the same pace, style, and tone on all the way. It may happen as you go from chapter to chapter, especially when there are many authors. The pace should be adjusted and re-tested again. 

I hope you'll find the tips useful and waiting for your feedback. The final confession is I still read fiction books in a cover-to-cover mode (or just throw them away) and I'm happy when I get a business book which reading without skimming pleases me.

Update: I'm sure you'll find uesful "How to read a business book" by Slacker Manager

Technorati tags: fast reading, books, read

Corporate startups. First findings

I've got a few comments and emails to the blog I published comparing typical and corporate startups. A special thank to Richard Jones who wrote a lengthy comment answering each of my 10 questions. Driven by the desire to understand the matter I read Corporate Entrepreneurship by Vijai Sathe which sheds some light on the problem. The book is a great guide for corporate entrepreneurship and although it looks at the situation from an enterprise's standpoint nevertheless with hundreds of references and numerous examples bears on the discussion.

So after reading the book and cumulating the emails I want to add to the comments an answer to the first question "What benefits does the corporation get from the venture or why the idea of its former employee should prevail over somebody else's who comes from outside?"

Will Herman brings three theoretically possible options: the company wants to save the employees who otherwise may go on their own and by doing something similar become a competitor, the company wants to free the employees from internal bureaucracy, the company wants to attract startup-like people that otherwise won't join a big company.

The first reason is is about the people, not the product or the project so, it seems, it falls out of the startup category described in the original blog. The second reason is very possible. Indeed, Clayton Christensen in his Innovator's dilemma brings this reason as one of the most important for spinning a division off the corporation. The third reason probably makes sense for anti-corporate folks (which I know a lot in person) but I doubt there is a star on Earth worth opening a "startup" just to accommodate her hatred of the corporate world.

The question I found a suggestion in the book was the third question in my blog. What disadvantages does the company get investing into an idea of its employees (at least in a form of an internal team)? A risk here is the rewards the group may get. Vijay is highly opposed to the idea of giving the "Silicon Valley" conditions to the new venture's folks (although he talks about creating new ventures inside the company in this case). He warns that "the perceptions of inequity hurt employee morale and collaboration within the division". So the only case when Vijay sees the "Silicon Valley" conditions possible is when 1. the group of people is clearly separated from the mothership and 2. their success or failure is perceived as solely dependent on their own (they don't use the corporate's resources).

In a case when the division isn't separated Vijay brings examples of exceptional bonus programs for the participants making the bonus conditions as challengable as it can be in a real startup. Make net profit in 4 years of X dollars and get your double salary. Increase the profit by 10% and get other 100% of bonus, 20% - other 100%. So although the financial incentives are not as rainbow as the team could get in a normal startup. looking at them together with the low risk the team takes (and high opportunity cost for them to leave the corporation and start something from scratch) it probably makes it quite comparable to the typical startups.

I don't have all the questions answered yet and lack of examples of corporate startups (in my definitions) so you're welcome to comment or bring links to other sources. Meanwhile I continue researching the topic. Thanks to all who commented.

Technorati tags: startup, corporate venture, internal startup

MBA. First impression

Today our two-day MBA boot-camp has ended. During the first day we were introduced to the plans of the program, educational services, logistics, and, of course, to each other. After I accepted to the school the only thing I was concerned about was my classmates - how good the admission office did its job in building the class? After the boot-camp I'm not worrying anymore about that - I'm really happy and satisfied (at first glance:-).

The 42 guys and gals are extremely diverse in their backgrounds, industries they represent, positions they're taking, countries they came from, and the targets they set for the MBA. Banking, finance, energy, IT, consulting, medicine, public service - are just a few of the industries. Some of the folks plan to start or already own their own business, others have ambitious plans on climbing the career ladder.

During the second day we had a recap on a preparation course of economics we self-studied prior the boot-camp. It was a great feeling on how the actual classes will be held - lots of discussions, interactive conversations, and provoking questions. If that's the typical format of how the classes are taught (which I hope it is) I'm very excited to become a student again after 12 years:-)

The first semester starts at January, 4th and we'll be studying three classes: Financial Statement Analysis (studying book Financial Reporting and Analysis), Managing in the Global Economy (Lexus and the olive tree), and Strategic Communications (Management Communication and Guide to Managerial Communication). The most exciting aspect about the coming classes is the majority of the lessons is shaped in a form of case-studies of real companies. I'm eagerly waiting to start my classes!

Technorati tags: MBA, GSU, PMBA

Presentation killer - monotonous speaking

I'm sure each of us has attended a really bad presentation at least once . If I'm asked to accuse the most bitter and relentless presentation killer I'd point to the lack of vocal variety. Monotonous speaking is an indispensable component of every bad presentation. A great flow, interesting content, appealing examples, expressive body language, eye contact - everything can be in a speaker's arsenal. But if a modem can  beat her at the vocal variety the odds that the audience will listen to her, focus on the topic, and remember anything the next while after the presentation ends are none.

Convincing speaking voice is a trump in a speaker's pack of means to positively influence her audience. Unintelligible words, squeaky or too loud voice can distract the listeners from the message one is bearing. But if the right pronunciation or an efficient tone of the voice is a flaw relatively easy to rectify, perfecting vocal variety is something one needs to sweat for.

The theory says we have three "sliders" to tune and vary our voice: volume, pitch, and rate. Think on where to speed up and slow down your voice, where to speak up or rather whisper, where to go up or down. All these colors are available on the palette of a speaker and without them the picture will be primitive, gray, and boring.

Rate. Too slow pace will lull the audience and too fast will waste its attention on unnecessary word parsing and buffering. You should find a pace when you express yourself with clear articulation, normal breath, and acceptable volume. Typically a low-pace speaker says 120 words a minute and a fast speaker shoots about 180 at the same time. Your rate depends on your character - there is no golden means - and the key here is rate variety. There is no hard rule on the use of timing but it's accepted to express sad feeling (solemnity, depression, sadness, frustration, etc.) at a lower rate than the regular speech. On the contrary, exciting parts of the message should be delivered with a higher speed. You may want to make short pauses before or after words that you want to attract additional portion of attention to; this also makes easier for the audience to catch unusual or new words if they're preceded by a short pause.

Volume. Moderate loudness is acceptable for the majority of the speech - you don't need to whisper or boom your speech at the audience to keep its attention grabbed all the time. It's trivial, though, to use both extremes to emphasize special messages and have dramatic impact. Heightened emotions are conveyed with a loud voice whereas depressed feelings pass through with subdued voice. In business presentations tough and challenging questions can be asked in a lower voice to set up dramatic and vital scene. Accomplishments, motivation, requests, or anger - these feelings can be expressed through increased volume.

Pitch. A thin, a cartoon-personage's voice lacks authority and may block up the message completely. We need to cultivate deeper tones but going to the bottom level of the pitch scale may result in rumbling and indistinct speech. Playing with this parameter of the vocal variety aims the same target - emphasize certain words, sentences, or ideas in the speech. Heightened emotions go together with a higher pitch whereas depressed feelings or provoking statements reach the audience better by a low pitch.

The theory is great and if you have a speech trainer undoubtedly she'll be spending on that a good chunk of the lessons. But how to improve and polish it you there is no speech coach? I found it efficient to practice self-coaching: you record your speech (better on video, to practice body language as well), analyze weak spots,  make remarks in the speech for vocal variations and do another iteration. Try to think about the three parameters every time you talk and not only during formal public presentations. Listen to great talkers and check how they use the "sliders" of rate, volume, and pitch to deliver their point in a variety of tints. Vocal variety is the hardest skill to train and consummate but if recognizing a problem is the first step to its solution, knowing a solution is the second step, then the third one is to realize it and it all depends only on us.

Technorati tags: presentations, vocal variety, public speaking

Great extention for gmail addicts

I ran today across this nice greasemonkey script for gmail. Prior to that I used greasemonkey only for Amazon: for checking book availability in my local library and calculating prices of used books. Being a huge fan of gmail and even a bigger fan of hot keys (vi is the only tool left from my pre-PowerPoint ages of developer) I found the gmail extensions very useful.  Install the script and click H to see the full list.

Company mission, division of labor, and group KPIs

The advantage of small firms is they're small, and, hence, mobile. Not only very small portion of formality is required and no overhead in staff, processes, and operations is produced, small  companies live a very coherent life. When the number of employees is below "the magic number 150" they're led by one mission, have the very same strategy, and focus on one mission.

As a company grows division of labor becomes an indispensable factor of the company structure. That implies that every big division in the company is driven by the mission it's responsible for. More loosely coupled cooperation between the divisions is a natural consequence of company growth. Developers are less exposed to customer needs, professional services - to developers, marketing to professional services, support to marketing, training to support, etc. Each of the groups expands, gets its own life inside the company, own executive leads, and the most vitally important - own KPIs.

In pursuing group KPIs it's easy to lose the coherence of "one firm - one mission".  A professional services group might be wrongly measured only by revenue they bring to the company (not by minimizing the time/efforts/money of customers to deploy the product). A training group -  by the number of courses it develops, or even worse, again by revenue it brings to the company. An R&D group - by the number of bugs (I guess nobody today measures the number of coded functions or lines of code per day). Business development group - by the pipeline it creates (not by actual money it helped the sales to harvests).

Instead,  company overarching KPIs have to be the ultimate target and prevail over any formal defiitions imposed by the division of labor. Especially for new products and not productized services it's crucial for each group to be able to deviate from the predefined KPI and be flexible to perform necessary tasks leading to the completion of the company mission. Groups must build horisontal virtual teams and set up joint KPI that can be reached only via cooperation.

Professional services group needs to have capacity to transfer knowledge to the ecosystem without causing damage to the bonus of its experts. Training group - to invest in creating free self-studying content allowing people to learn the products and pass certifications on their own (which may be viewed at first glance as cannibalization of its revenue).  Sales - to spend time in rolling feedback back to product management. Each group has to look at what needs to be done for the ultimate company goal and be free to digress from its predefined path for the sake of  higher aim.

Show off what you're proud of

Human beings like to be proud of their possessions - whether there is a merit of their own in that or not. Russians are proud of being successors of Pushkin, Lomonosov, and Peter the Great, although the generation of today didn't contribute to the accomplishments of the ancestors. We simply inherit the culture, traditions, and the brand (both positive and negative sides) of fathers bearing the same mindset, behaviour, and social  "patterns". Regardless of a past we inherited naturally we incline to find something we can be proud of and show off our connection to that.

But reasons for pride are not confined only by our roots. In the States it's highly popular to take pride in your Alma Mater (on car title frames, car stickers, caps, and clothes), schools and sport clubs of the kids, or favorite sport teams. I enjoy the fact that in Georgia there are no front car titles so many drivers utilize this empty space for showing off what they're passion about. Motherland's flag is among the very popular options. I have only in my subdivision flags of England, Canada, Turkey, and UK. Today we've widened with Israel. I had a small dilemma: after growing, studying, and living 27 years in Russia and spending only 5.5 years in Israel what country to pick up? Nevertheless, the choice was easy. Israel is thought in our family as the spiritual motherland and Russia as natural (biological?) mother. I love both but when ought to decide what prevails it's an easy choice. I promise to find a magnet sticker of Russian flag and put it to the back door:-)

Just before publishing the blog another recollection flashed in my mind. In Israel having a sticker of your company on a car is very popular. Startups and solid companies give stickers to their employees and every leasing car (which is the majority there) has a small company sticker. A boss of one of the companies I worked for tried to save money on the stickers and rejected his employees' requests to buy stickers. He maybe saved 100$ all together but deprived his employees of the feeling of pride of the company. I'm sure each of us could have worked at least 15 minutes more productively and easily return the "invested" money.

We should create and find opportunities to make people we work and live with being proud of what they have, especially when they deserved it.

Technorati tags: proud, Israel, GA

How to find a mentor?

Finding a mentor is not an impossible mission but before sharing my thoughts on how to do it I'll tell why I think it's important.

We discover new things on our path and learning from own errors is the most expensive way to advance. Getting advice is free and getting advice from "old stagers" can save you lots of time and energy. Mentors are akin to our parents when we were young - they unselfishly teach us their secrets of life - be it family relationships, growing kids, or advancing on the career.

In this blog I want to talk about the latter. The role of luck in one's career hardly can be overestimated but learning others' patterns of success and listening to people that have reached high results can remarkably help. How to get exposed to their experience and make them wanting to share their secrets? A few ideas of mine:

• Don't be afraid of asking help. If you find a person whose experience and achievements are worth of studying try to reach the person and ask for a piece of advice. Very straightforward and very efficient. I did it a couple of times: asked for 15 minutes of conversation to share their secret of success and got 1.5 hours of a very frank talk. A caveat here is don't ask to help you. Ask to share their secrets and then they'll ask about your situation and will be willing to advise. But even if not don't be disappointed. What you need is to found  relationships so in the future you can come back and ask for advice.
• Use good timing. Big guys are busy, their inbox is full, and you should use the one-bullet principle here so good timing is vital. I did it on a conference where I knew we both would be. During a conference it's most likely the mentor will have some time. Again, ask for a chance to learn their experience not to resolve your problem.
• Learn about the mentor. Show that you're interested in learning the mentor's success seriously. Today lots of information is publicly available via a company site or network tools like Linkedin.
• Look everywhere. Find many. One mentor is great but two are better. You're seeking for sources of wisdom - hence the more the merrier! Look for candidates for mentors among executives you don't report directly - then you'll eliminate any potential for seeding a feeling of obligations to you and exclude any ethical problems. Look for mentors in other areas and industries too. A sales or a marketing executive can noticeably widen the horizon of a techie.
• Think about your current and former boss. You don't want to become a "student" of your boss if you just started reporting to her but if you have already continuous relationships you may feel it's harmless to ask your boss for advice, for being your mentor, and being your coach. Great bosses do it gladly. I was happy to work with such great guys and my experience is not exceptional.

As the time goes by we may acquire more and more advisers for different areas of our life. Professional teachers are rare thing and if we want to learn from other's success we should take care of getting mentors seriously. As Keith Ferrazzi writes in his book he even accepted an offer when the CEO of the company agreed to have lunch with him 3 times a year.

Earning mentors is not a simple mission but possible. What is your recipe for getting personal adviser?

Technorati tags: mentor, boss, career

What's important for choosing a job - Stability / Stimulation / Discovery?

Ben Casnocha rises a dilemma question - what is better for you and your career - stick with a stable but uninteresting job or move to an unstable but interesting one. He continues the with two options - work in a stable enterprise or become an independent self employed professional (either open your business or play as a contractor). The question echoes partly with another - where it's better to work - in a startup or in a big corporation. Then I looked at the question from an emotional side but today let's see what is better for your career - work independently, work in a startup (or any small company), or belong to a multi thousand work force organization.

The essence of the difference is in the level of responsibility and an amount of new things to learn which are both usually inversely proportional to the boredom of the job and stability.

In a startup (or any small organization) you deal with lots of things, unanswered questions emerge almost daily, and the company lives in a mode of permanent lack of resources.  Naturally you're responsible for many different things and learn a lot (on every position and each level in a startup). Necessity is the mother of invention characterizes the startup environment.

In a big, stable company your role is quite defined. There are processes, policies, and separation of work. Hardly a DB admin will be developing UI or Java programmer building a system of automated tests. For many people a passed year doesn't deposit any new values to the account of the learned things. Changing positions takes time, favorable conditions, and eventually luck.

A drawback of a startup is its stability but it's not the only weak side of it. If you don't work in a successful startup your career history is not very visible. If you work for a big brandy enterprise its success sticks to you too. In startups there is nothing to take (besides the knowledge).

An advantage of a big company is you can change your profession (not even a position) without changing your job. I've seen many former developers shifted their careers to sales folks, marketing guys, consulting managers, or bizdev people (discussed it partially here). Also experiences gotten in a corporation is more applicable to a startup than the opposite direction. Corporations have global presence, massive product roll out, service field forces, consulting, support resources and you can change your roles (although every time quite sticking to something concrete) inside the company.

Clearly there is no black and white and for some people just the environment dictates their decision. A few friends of mine can't work in a big company with policies and processes although others can't stand the startup world. My advice for newcomers is this. When you're fresh and unexperienced - experiences is all - go to a small company where you can learn a lot. After 2-3 years of professional experience start thinking about a big, highly recognized enterprise with global presence and copious forces. Try it and taste it for a couple of years and then you'll feel and know what world better works for you. You'll also will know what roles you'd like to play. I'm sure there is no better or worse. Each case has its own pros and cons but we should clearly realize them and be aware of the differences.

Technorati tags: career, job