Archive for the ‘Management’ Category

Posted on April 15, 2008 - by Yasser

When does the week end?

Time-off is when you’ve tired your mind, not earlier.
If you run a small business, you can’t tire enough. There’s always more to achieve.
When there’s more, you can’t take those two days off when your team does.
The new week needs momentum, one that you possess and pass through to your team.
That momentum breaks when you take two days off and disconnect from work.

There is no single formula to work, and not one for those who run their own businesses.

So don’t clear your RAM. Don’t shutdown. That reboot costs time.

Posted on March 24, 2008 - by Yasser

The cake test

Buy a cake and invite a few people to grab a bite. The cake would be gone soon.

Now ask everyone to buy a cake for you. Then try eating all their cakes:

One after the other, or
One bite a cake, or
With any number of spoons, or
Ask a friend or two to join in
(try whatever comes to mind, and see if you can finish them all)

Probably not.

Apply this to real life projects:

A. You need passionate people with the right skills to work for you. A group of such people would help break down large projects into small pieces and will get things done.

B. Don’t oversell your capacity, rely too much on yourself and nurture the false belief that you’ll be able to finish every project that you acquire. Because you won’t, or you would at a later date.

C. Enjoy the cake.

Posted on March 19, 2008 - by Yasser

Are you paddling?

Small businesses like small boats require paddling. Once you have momentum the boat moves forward with lesser and lesser effort. Things looks smooth. Then at some point you stop paddling and forget about it. One day you realize that your boat is not moving. You start paddling again and it gathers momentum and begins to move forward. The journey continues but with interruptions.

If you’re paddling, you need to find out what makes you stop. That might give you a clue into why you have all those unwanted interruptions.

Bon voyage!