Our experience is built from things that have happened in the past. It is built up from things we learned, things we experienced, and the things we imagine could happen. All of this is built on the past and our best bet at extrapolating it to the future. Experience is important. It helps us to…
Anger has never solved a problem.
There’s a lot of anger across the US these days. This got me thinking about the role of anger in problem-solving. Wracking my brain, I can’t recall an instance where I’ve seen anger actually resolve an issue. I’ve seen anger cause people to cover up problems. I’ve seen anger temporarily patch problems. But I have…
Today’s monotonous frustration is tomorrow’s preparedness.
I don’t know a single person that enjoys beating a dead horse (literally or figuratively). There’s nothing worse than repeatedly going down the same path and checking every which way for something wrong. With each pass, the things that are wrong get smaller and smaller while you grow familiar with the terrain surrounding you. That…
I see a lot of headlines that say something like “technology is upending Commercial Real Estate”….misleading?
Commercial real estate and Corporate real estate should be considered two different industries. Full stop. Mixing the two is very misleading. I was reading through the attendees and speakers at a few conferences the other day. 80% of them are from service providers. Another 15% are usually there at the invite of service providers. The…
Sometimes you need a PM to be the bulldog and other times you need a lamb.
Deciding on the right project manager (either real estate or technology, both apply) is as much an art as it is a science. A project manager needs to be able to bring a team from many different areas together to get a great result. Depending on the project specifics (budget, schedule, and external constraints) and…
How willing are you to say “But I might be wrong”? #RiskManagement
Being wrong about something important sucks. I’m not talking about wrong in the sense of a math error in a presentation. That’s usually fixable. That’s an error. Wrong is arguing that you should put the new office in Alaska versus Texas. Wrong is taking a position that actually turns out to be a bad outcome….
Turning theory into practice takes a special way of thinking.
There are a lot of theories that could save companies a ton of money, increase their productivity, and make their employees happier. Plenty of consultants can kill a forest and tell you the many, many things you could do to achieve this nirvana. Very few consultants will give you the roadmap for going from where…
A good time for a reminder about the Pareto Principle.
The Pareto Principle (or 80/20 rule if you prefer) is a classic business rule that pops up all over the place. It states that 80% of effects come from 20% of the causes. Said differently: 80% of your time is taken up by 20% of your projects. 80% of your profit comes from 20% of…
No one is successful on their own, we all succeed with partners.
No one can be successful 100% on their own. You have to have employees or customers or advisors or teachers to do anything. Even if you make your money in a bubble, someone gave you a direction to look in. Someone taught you the methods (at least the fundamentals) you are using. Someone is on…
3 surefire steps for creating a technology plan
Creating a technology plan is an important part of any system strategy. The steps to do it are simple: Figure out who the users are. Figure out what matters to users. Figure out what the users are wrong about. The hard part is actually completing each step without making a critical error in decision making.