The Tale of Two Christmases (or Why I Need to Eat my own Dog Food)
Christmas has become a time for personal IT trials. Just before a Christmas flight in 2017, my laptop's motherboard failed. Granted, it was a 5 year old machine and had given me a good life; but it was still frustrating. The bright spot was that I had "eaten my own...
Getting the Most from Telecommuting
Telecommuting is growing across North America. Benefits include lower cost for office space and better staff retention. However, many managers and employers remain skeptical of its value. A study by Glenn Dutcher and Krista Saral from the University of...
The Benefits of G-Suite for Non-profit Organizations
Inglewood is an urban neighbourhood in northwest Edmonton, Canada. Its Community League has a few part time employees and is managed by a volunteer board. In addition to advocating for neighbourhood issues with the city's administration, it rents out its community...
Passing Stupid Down the Line
No one is just born to be a manager. In most organizations, it is the people who excel at their jobs that are usually given the chance to be made managers. However, this approach has hidden challenges. People who have been subject-matter experts about a particular...
Supporting Road Warriors
I acquired a new client yesterday. He owns a small business owner and is a frequent road warrior as he meets with customers. His list of frustrations from his last service provider was a long one: When he was away from Wifi, he needed to use his cell phone as a hot...
Why VoIP Should be on Small Business’ Radar
Maybe you've never heard of VoIP or if you have, your eyes glossed over and you turned your head the other way. Simply put VoIP is a telephone service. It rings phones and connects people. But unlike the phone service offered by your public telephone company: the...
Elegant Solutions for Demanding Problems
Elegance: The quality of being pleasingly ingenious and simple; neatness —Oxford Dictionary Many businesses succeed by chasing after the next success. They grow organically—trying to follow markets and customer needs, branching into new lines of business, and...
Baking Security into Software
Today, in the best case, most software implements security and privacy as just one of many competing requirements along with functionality and usability. In the worst case, security and privacy are an after-thought—designed and installed to satisfy minimal regulatory requirements, user expectations, or avoid negative software reviews. That will all change—at least for software used within the European Union or for software or systems which stores the data of EU companies and citizens—by May 2018.
Value-Nets: Helping us Anticipate the Future
I suggest the sweet spot for any business is not to try to eat its competitor’s lunch today; it is to get an extra portion of its competitor’s lunch tomorrow. By scanning our value net for risks and opportunities, we can plot a trajectory to get there first.
Hiring for Performance not History
I’ve talked to a lot of managers over the years who lament at the “skills-gap.” They claim they’re just not able to find the qualified candidates they need to fill their jobs.