|
|
|
Don't miss the 2008 Expandable Users Conference on May 18-20, 2008 in San Francisco. Meet your fellow Expandable users and Expandable support personnel to share ideas and techniques for getting the most out of Expandable. |
|
|
| |
|
| Consultant's Corner |
by Bill Cowley |
|
 |
PARTICIPATION - We are hearing a lot about participation during the political campaigns. Every candidate is beating the bushes for the sideliners, the undecided, and the complacent. They know the greatest majority group is, unfortunately, the non-participators. |
| Participation can be a major bother. There are always other “important” things to do. (My sock drawer is a mess and I need to transplant my cactus.) Timing is often inconvenient (like my Spring-Newsletter deadline). And, the biggest bother is my insecurity. “Why should I try? Who will listen to me? What if I am wrong?” |
| It is often easier and much safer to take the passive approach and watch the world go by. I can sit back and complain. “Hey, don’t look at me – I didn’t vote for that jerk.” Now please, stop nodding, quit complaining and let’s move forward. |
| We must face facts, Life is a Participation Sport. Participation means many things. Participation does not mean you have to run for office, but you can vote. You don’t have to Chair the committee but you can attend the meetings. You don’t have to dress up for Halloween but you can give out candy. Fill in your own blanks. |
| I discovered I enjoyed participating many years ago. I was happier designing a new stupid process, than dealing with someone else’s stupid process. My process always (well, almost always) made more sense to me. It reflects my priorities and mitigates my pain points. I learned it takes less time to design features in at the front end than to correct and create workarounds at the back end. “How much simpler would this be if ‘X’ were an option” and “Why did they think everyone would work this way?” or “Why didn’t they ask me?” |
| As a consultant, I analyze and design business processes. I interview many people looking for “How does it work” and “What isn’t working very well.” I listen. I take notes. I ask questions. I will refine the process based on my inputs. I always try to end my interviews with, “What have I forgotten to ask?” I can never guarantee I will incorporate everyone’s ideas, but, I can guarantee one thing. If you don’t speak up, your perspective will be ignored. |
| I know you are now enthused and excited to embrace life and get involved. Do not expect me to post bail for you when you chain yourself to a tree, a traffic light, or the courthouse doors for your peaceful “Participation in Life Protest.” While I encourage you to get involved and participate in life, your degree of commitment is a personal choice. Life is your self, your family, your business, your community, your religion, your politics, your anything and everything. Take a stand, speak up, risk being wrong. Being wrong is only an obstacle the first five hundred times. Then it gets easy. |
| We have a unique opportunity at Expandability 2008 in San Francisco. On Tuesday May 20th, we can join the Expandable Team in the “Roadmap Roundtables” for Manufacturing, Finance and Sales, Service and Support. These are a great forum to speak up and be heard. Expandable’s product engineers, developers and executives will be sitting together to hear your input. Make these sessions a priority. What can help you work better? What new techniques do you need to deploy? What direction is your industry heading? How do you see Expandable fulfilling your needs in the future? Where are you loosing efficiencies? Survey your coworkers and your management team. Bring the ideas and enthusiasm and let’s open a dialog to help Shape the Future with PARTICIPATION. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
