TimeMaker Tips » project management

Visible vs. Invisible, Knowledge vs. Ignorance, Living vs. Dying, Rich vs. Poor

meir — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 02:19:21 +0000

Hello! I hope you are enjoying and have been applying the tips you’ve learned so far. This is our 10^th tip! Wow!

Today, is a little different. Today, the subject is submarines – so literally let’s dive right in!

Okay. Almost anyone knows what a submarine is. Even an 8 year old boy probably has dreams of fighting epic battles in a submarine. It is one of the most fascinating machines in the world. Why? Well, the power of a submarine is simple – it can see everything and no one can see it…

A submarine is a deadly weapon.

In fact, I was a submariner in the Israeli Navy, and we used to say that all things at sea can be divided into two categories – Submarine or Targets. In other words, a submarine could never be a target.

But WHY?

You cannot attack what you cannot see! Makes sense…?

While this is great, it will still not be of much value unless you, the invisible one, can see everything.

Now, imagine that a submarine could not see the exact picture on the surface. Imagine it couldn’t for sure know what was around it – it would be quite useless, wouldn’t it?

In fact, did you know that really the only thing that changed in regards to submarines and made them so much more powerful since World War II was the fact that their ability to “see” the picture about them was greatly improved and increased? It’s quite interesting… Isn’t it?

So, what does this have to do with business?

Actually, everything!

A business is in a kind of war against the competition; against one’s own targets – ethically and fairly, of course. It can be fun or painful.

It is fun ONLY when you win.

The question which has been asked and tried for countless centuries, the question which hundreds of books and millions upon millions of words have been spoken about is how do you win?

Believe it or not, the fundamental principle here is quite simple, and most people will agree.

To win you need to be a submarine. You need to see all that is going on around you and have no one see you. They should only feel the effect of your actions – your torpedoes, your guided missiles.

As with submarines, nothing much changes in business other than the technology which enables us to see better, faster and further.

Think of any successful person or business… Do you know what they are doing internally? Can you see their actions? Or are you only feeling their effects? The latest iPod is Apple’s guided missile. The newest blockbuster film is a studio’s torpedo. They see us… they know what we will respond to – but we can’t really see them.

However, the minute one does not know what is going on in his business, for example, what each person is doing or where each project stands, that executive becomes the target and so gets continuous, unwelcome surprises.

The same principle goes for any aspect of business. Marketing is a perfect example. The minute you cannot see what your demographic or public is needing or wanting is the minute your product, your film or your idea becomes a flop, a failure, a target.

Today’s businesses are FAST. You cannot control a business without a system anymore – it is a fact.

The way to become effective is to develop the management tools that will allow you to see ALL that is going on in and around your business.

You need to SEE and hence CONTROL.

BTW – when I say control think horse whisperer, think orchestra conductor…

The fact is:

1. You cannot control what you cannot see!

2. To control effectively you must be invisible!

Therefore, you MUST be able to see all Communications, Tasks, Plans, Programs, Projects, CRM items, Work Flow Items, Issues and Meetings. That is the way you will be able to control.

If you do not have this ability – you are a target!

Imagine having a board that shows you all there is to see… A board that allows you to manage all workloads so that when you assign a task or a plan, you KNOW the person has the time to and can do the job.

Imagine knowing when some task did not happen…

Imagine a total certainty that all is under control. A full picture.

Imagine having your own Command and Control Center – what would happen if you could really have this sort of information – in real time?

Well… There is no need to imagine – I can show you exactly how it gets done.

If you are serious about getting effective – contact me by e-mailing to TMTips@TampaBay.rr.com.

For now, here are our Do’s and Don’ts that will point you in the right direction…

Don’t:

Hope things will get done since you’ve just asked for them – chances are they won’t.
Simply accept “OK” or “It’s done” as a reply to a task.
Allow delays.
Hope things are planned – they are not.

Do:

Assign tasks for anything which you need done by a specific time and ensure you have a system that will follow it to completion.
Assign tasks ONLY based on the performer’s ACTUAL workload.
Establish a system in which people report task completion with all relevant data or proof and evidence that the task was done.
Verify and follow up that any reported completion is actually completed.
Ensure any result you desire that requires more than one action is broken down into a plan. If it’s a one step process – fine. Otherwise, the minute it becomes more involved, break it down to a plan – you’ll thank yourself!
Have a board that shows all that is planned into the future – that is the only way to predict the future.
Be invisible but make your presence felt.

It may seem a bit “complex” or a hassle, but believe me it is much simpler than to live a life of uncertainties – a life of being poor.

If you feel you are already super organized but want to improve, or if are not sure how to get from where you are to where you need to be, contact me and I will be very happy to arrange the needed help – it will change your life – I promise.

Best Regards,

Meir Ezra

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The Organizational Cancer

meir — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 07:15:02 +0000

Hello and welcome to TimeMaker’s next tip for efficiency and effectiveness.

Today we will be covering the silent killer of any organization – cancer.

Much like a body, the “organizational cancer” is silent. But what is cancer in the body really and what is the organizational cancer?

Most people cringe just at hearing the word “cancer”, but most people also don’t really know what it is…Cancer is a belief by a part of the body that it has no future. Therefore, that part of the body goes into an insane effort to survive and recreate itself and hence, like any insane action, this brings about destruction.

Cancer happens in a body due to long-term nutrition disturbance that causes an incomplete operation of one or more parts of the body.

The body is an organization (like any other) that is composed of “anchor” points. An anchor point is any vital point on which a foundation is built. The body has anchor points like the head, arms, elbows etc. The body also has a communication system and a mind. The body gets its commands from the spirit.

To have cancer, one or more parts of the body does not PRODUCE what it is supposed to produce – or it does not produce properly in some way. That part stopped being part of the team – –the body.

Now, let’s look at an organization.

An organization is composed of anchor points (like people, phones, computers, etc.). An organization has a communication system (the lines by which information flows); and an organization has a mind (the organizational data). This is all controlled by its executives (the spirit behind the activity).

To have cancer, like in the body, one or more parts of the organization does not PRODUCE what it is supposed to produce – or it does not produce properly in some way. That part stopped being part of the team – the company.

The results can be seen as DELAYS.

DELAYS ARE THE ORGANIZATIONAL CANCER.

The key indications by which one can tell an organization (or life) is experiencing the Organizational Cancer are as follows:

It seems the day is over before one managed to do what one needed to do.
One continuously confronted with bad news and situations which need handling.
One feels overworked.
One’s inbox is full, things get delayed and one experience backlog.
The more one’s pushes the harder it is.
The income simply refuses to go up despite all efforts.
The profit drops.
The atmosphere is tense.
Work is no fun – you feel sick.

Familiar with this? Read on…

Delays happen for the following reasons:

Unknown Workload: The work load (how much work one allocates, by the hour, for actual productive activity in a given day) of employees is unknown to staff and executives. LOOK over your post (job) and your juniors’ posts and check – can you tell yourself clearly what you have to do every hour in the next week versus what you planned, wanted or needed to do? If you do not have a tool that SHOWS you the full picture at a glance, then you do not know what is the workload and you will develop the organizational cancer sooner or later… if you haven’t already.

Inability to Demand Results: Inability to demand compliance comes about due to the fact that you cannot see what needs to be done. When you cannot see what needs to be done you can not demand compliance… You need to be able to SEE and therefore demand productivity where due.

Unknown Results: If you do not have a way to compare past results to what was supposed to have been done, you will manage by rumors and so will inevitably make mistakes.

Lack of Workflows: Assuming you have a product to sell, the basic barrier to expansion will be a lack of administrative systems. Missing the needed, set out, and organized workflows will bring about major delays.

Injustice: Lack of the above knowledge will result in injustice. Justice is any action you take on a group member to ensure he operates on the agreements of the group. Sending a person to jail would be defined as justice because you are ensuring that person does not break group agreements any longer. Injustice is the opposite. It is enforcing agreements but wrongly or to the wrong person. It is sending an innocent person to jail. So, an inability to correctly see the above data and information will lead to injustice in your organization. Targeting the wrong people, etc. You need to be able to apply justice to the correct people and in correct situations. Injustice leads to an unwillingness to produce. Correct justice leads to increased morale for all.

The above five points are not opinions – they are proven facts.

The following do’s and don’ts will give you the basic handling so you no longer suffer, or will ever suffer, from this cancer:

Do Not:

Assign work without a clear picture of the workload of the person who is supposed to perform the job.
Manage without a clear picture of the overall plan – broken down to what needs to be done per day and per hour – yes PER HOUR.
Handle work as unique. Work actions are not unique. 99% of all things in life repeat themselves, and it’s the same with work. Working without a specific workflow (set out steps in sequence to achieve a particular result) for the handling of most activities in your business will create delays that will eventually kill your organization.
Note: The difference between big successful companies and small companies, given the fact there is a product to sell, is one thing: Big companies have most of their activities work flowed (see McDonald, Starbucks, AT&T etc.), while small companies handle most of their activities as unique.
Organizational skills, believe it or not, define your success.
Manage without statistics that show exactly what were the results of the person’s activities.
Penalize productive people – regardless of the situation.

Do:

Establish a TOOL that will show you, in real time, all delays and all current and future workloads.
Plan exactly what needs to be done – breaking the actions down to daily and hourly actions.
Figure out the workflows in your organization and establish a SYSTEM that will put most actions in the organization on workflows – this is the key for success.
Establish a way to collect and analyze ALL people’s results in the organization and reward and penalize people ONLY based on their results. An ideal system, in fact, would pay all people in the organization based on their results and not based on time.

And that’s it! Read the above a couple of times if needed because the information is KEY.

It is clear that to operate as described above one would need the help of technology – a software.

After years of research I have found that NO SOFTWARE actually takes care of the above. In fact, the software designers did not understand the problem (funny enough) and therefore did not create the correct solution.

TimeMaker developed the only software that is the cure for the organizational cancer!

I invite you to contact me for a free presentation. I guarantee it will be the start of a new life for you and your organization.

Contacting me by the 22^nd of June will make you eligible for TimeMaker’s special 15% discount. E-mail me NOW at Sales@TimeMaker.org.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

This week, cure cancer! And have the best week yet!

Best Regards,

Meir Ezra

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THE KEY FOR SUCCESS

meir — Mon, 28 May 2012 06:55:29 +0000

Hello and welcome to our next tip!

Today we will be covering a very important subject which most people know is important, yet somehow hardly use properly.

It is actually so vital that without it, nothing can exist. With it, you can take any dream in life, in business, even in relationships and make it come true.

It is, in fact, the key to ANY success.

It is planning.

This subject is so vast and powerful that cramming it into one tip is impossible. Therefore, this tip will be broken down over two weeks.

This tip is appropriately called TO PLAN OR NOT TO BE as a twist on Shakespeare’s famous line, “To be or not to be.” Because in fact, without planning, you cannot BE – nothing can exist if it’s not planned.

Let me explain.

Planning turns dreams into reality – without planning, nothing will happen.

ALL the things you see around you, from your watch, to your computer, to your food, even to your body were dreamed up at one point or another. The only way these dreams became a reality was because someone planned and then executed the PLANS.

The reason people fail to achieve their dreams and eventually stop dreaming is simple (by the way, this is the point at which a person dies – that moment he stops dreaming) – they FAIL TO PLAN and so they get busy executing actions that don’t forward them towards their dreams.

If you will sit and list all the things you have done in the past week and then ask yourself which SPECIFIC PLAN each item forwarded, chances are that most of the actions are things you “needed to do” but they did not forward any real plan.

If you will look back in your life you will see those things that became a reality were planned and those that stayed at the dream stage simply were never planned. To make one somehow “comfortable” with himself, one decided the dream was unreal, or too big, or whatever – these are all an attempt to explain why one did not turn the dream into a reality – but unfortunately these reasons are all false.

Dreams do not become a reality ONLY because the steps needed to turn those dreams into reality never got planned and so there was nothing to execute. Unfortunately, most people don’t know these steps…

Aside from specific do’s and don’ts, there are 7 laws for planning which, if understood and followed, open the door for all success.

It is this very subject we will cover in next week’s tip.

It is quite a technical subject but, as you can imagine, it is beyond vital.

If you can’t wait for next week, I don’t blame you… For this reason, I will be holding a free webinar which I will be personally delivering. In it, we will cover:

The seven laws of planning.

What you must NEVER do if you’re trying to make a dream come true.
The planning secrets which have been right under your nose, but you’ve just never seen or known.
What you NEED to make sure happens as you’re creating a plan.
Any questions you’ve had on any of the tips (including this one).
And much more…

By fully understanding the principles you will be unstoppable – and that will be the product of this webinar.

The webinar will be held on (this date) and (this time). To register, CLICK HERE.

Get ready to TURN YOUR DREAMS INTO REALITY!

For all the rest, I look forward to seeing you next week with Tip #8.

Meir Ezra,

Founder – TimeMaker

This tip was brought to you by TimeMaker – the #1 task and project management software in the world – specializing in saving you time and money.

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