By The Pizza Review

Last Saturday, I was out for a Pizza with some old friends of mine.

The waiter had a beautiful small computer that she used to take orders: very professional, very effective and efficient .. and probably cool for techies

PierG <<I’ll have a Pizza with Wurstel BUT with not much mozzarella>>

Waiter <<Not much mozzarella … mmmm … well … [playing with the small computer and failing find a way to add it] … we don’t have it >>

They missed a feature in that software … and I couldn’t have my ‘not much mozzarella’: I love technology and I love the way in which technology solves my problems

PierG

You probably know the well known T-Shirt from ThinkGeek: No, I will not fix your computer .

There is also the opposite syndrome, very well known too, that many IT geeks have both in their professional life and in their personal life.

Fitzgerald (the geek) will come in your house, look at your PC, and say: ‘gosh!!! you don’t have the latest / greatest / super cool version of BestOperatingSystem !’.
You ‘nope, is it a problem?’
Fitzgerald ‘well, not exactly …. BUT with the new version of BestOperatingSystem you will have this feature you can’t live without!!!!’
You ‘and so?’
Fitzgerald ‘waiting for our pizza to come, I can install it for you: it’s just a matter of 10 minutes’

And here starts the hell …he will lately discover that:

1. you don’t have a decent ADSL so it takes hours to download the upgrade
2. the PC is so old that the modem drivers are not working with the new version
3. you don’t have a recovery disk
4. you don’t have a disk with the old operating system because it was installed, in weeks, by another friends of yours
5. …

The results is that he goes home and you don’t have a PC working any longer.

What’s even worst is that often this mind set is used also in professional life … and you don’t have email for days!!!

PierG

I think being a gate keeper is not the best job in the planet.

And as a matter of fact the service that we receive, when we get into a company with a gate keeper, is not always pleasant. It’s like any security check, sometimes you feel like you have to demonstrate something: that you are not a thief, a terrorist or a spiteful person .. also because they often look at you in that way

Today there was a new gate keeper in my company: when I approached the gate with my car, she get out, came next to my windows. I said my name, she checked in the list and did a BIG SMILE <<thank you Mr.Grossi, have a nice day!>>

The smile and the kindness were so persuasive, that now I feel better: so thank you Miss.GateKeeper.

PierG

My boss has been under pressure in the last days …here is his explanations on why IT sucks:

IT sucks because IT people are:

• sloppy
• unskilled
• swashbuckler
• undisciplined

Do you think he is a bit exaggerated?

PierG

P.S. Please note that HE IS an IT guy

By joebeone

<< Thank you Hal and congratulations: you did an excellent job >>

How much does it take? 5 seconds! How big is the result? HUGE: it makes both happy, more willing to share, more willing to do, more willing to improve ….

And the emotional reward is huge even if:

• the ‘job’ was small
• it’s not completely true that he did an excellent job.

So why don’t we use it more?

PierG

I had the privilege to meet Ed Yourdon during a training in Italy some years ago. And I follow his site / blog and his great career on Twitter.

On Twitter I read about his traveling all over the places (recently India and Russia).

I’ve almost never read in his posts a complain like this:

Internet access outrageously expensive in hotels here [in Rome]. File-upload basically blocked in guest rooms. Bah.

He is probably in a very good hotel in Rome and I don’t want to generalize (that’s NOT the situation everywhere in Italy) BUT I’m sad that Italy enforce his ‘good tradition’ of being ‘behind’ from a tech point of view.

PierG

I’ve just watched this interesting presentation: The Myths of Innovation by Scott Berkun the writer of The Art Of Project Management.

Very interesting beginning: talking about the definition of the word Innovation (to begin or introduce something for the first time), he points out that the definition is ‘relative’.
What’s standard for me, might me innovative for someone else.

PierG

I’ve just read this quote in this post: The Ultimate Guide to Motivation - How to Achieve Any Goal .

The more I study, learn and practice, the more I think that keeping the focus is everything! Having a clear goal, living for it, let you and your brain (unconsciously) direct all your resources toward it, finding solutions where other see problems, finding opportunities when others see failures!

PierG

In the picture, you can see what I found in a (supposed) PROFESSIONAL magazine about negotiation.

For non italians:

NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
More than 50% of our messages are sent by our body

• Bluff clues:
  • fleeting look
  • hidden hands
  • touch next to the mouth
  • contracted pupils
• Tiredness clues:
  • Sitting position

Is this the description of a (bad) negotiator or of a junkie?

NONVERBAL language IS THE KEY of every COMMUNICATION: but please don’t give always the ‘communication for dummies‘ receipt! Forget this stuff!

PierG

P.S. Yes, there is a way to better understand how communication works: contact me directly for clues

By odysseus

Let me suggest a very good post Obama and the Rise of Asymmetrical Competition by Umair Haque. Umar makes an interesting comparison between the US Democratic nomination and innovative strategies of well known ‘new’ brands like Google. In both these scenarios there are big, powerful, rich, consolidated players challenged by newcomers with a different DNA.

[...] it seems the Obama campaign might just be organized and managed according to a different set of principles than orthodox political campaigns [...]

In other words, it’s new DNA that drives asymmetrical competition – when we organize and manage in new ways, we are able to tap new sources of advantage.

Put this blog in your RSS reader!

PierG