Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Observations II: Back in the Meatgrinder **Alternate Title- Meatgrinder 2: Electric Boogaloo**

It has been a couple of weeks since my first post on the Windows Surface Pro 3.    I had a surprising amount of interest in the article; almost 10x my normal sad meager viewership resulted in at least impressive meager viewership, and folks keep trickling in. 

And why not?  It’s the holiday season- time for “kids” of all ages to make out their wish lists in anticipation of that One Great Gift.  There are a number of options to choose from now- it seems like there is a new Tablet-That-Can-Replace-Your-PC hitting the market weekly right now (these need a better nickname- Pcablets?  Tabputers?  ProTablets?) People are definitely doing their homework.

Meanwhile, I've had the opportunity to both reflect on my first post and realize that there were things that I should have talked about as well as use the Surface Pro 3 as my primary device for two more weeks, resulting in more things that I could talk about.  So without further ado, what follows is some more unpaid and unsolicited feedback on the Microsoft Surface Pro 3. 

First though just a quick disclaimer that served me so well on my first post that I’m just pasting it here in toto:  I don’t pretend to be a Microsoft Surface expert; as such there may be errors in what follows.  More likely, there will be features called out that aren't unique to the Pro 3.  Let this stand as my disclaimer that I’m reviewing an experience not necessarily just a product.  Please keep this in mind and be gentle dear reader. 

I have been able to move completely off of my iPad- I've been off the Apple Juice now for at least a week, and the shaking has mostly subsided.  I’m able to use the Surface’s Kindle App to read, the Netflix App to watch TV, IE for my couch surfing pleasure and I now have the added bonus of having Outlook 2013 Full Client just a touch or a click away as opposed to the Mail App on the iPad.  The brightness of the screen makes viewing pretty much anything a breeze, even at an angle.  

Holding the Surface vertically is a bit like holding a menu in a restaurant since its shape is analogous to an 8 ½ x 14 piece of paper.  For some reason this made reading a little strange at first, but it certainly was something that I was easily able to get used to. 

Games are still a bit of a problem- the “popular” ones just aren't prevalent in the Microsoft Store.  But it has not been a deal breaker for me at all.  The few mindless minutes that were used on Clash of the Clans are now spent doing something more productive, or at least that is what I've been telling myself.  

The battery has been impressive.  I've seen specs claiming around 9 hours of life for straight browsing, and I have little doubt that that is in fact obtainable.  I've personally seen 6-7 hours of life with active processing- spreadsheets, email, Word docs etc.  fairly regularly.  When I'm streaming iHeart radio in the background I still get at least 5 hours if not more.  I've not had the chance to stream video for more than three hours at a time, but I will say that even at 3 hours I came out of it with plenty of juice to spare.  

Connecting to an external monitor is a breeze- just like it should be.  I haven't noticed any screen latency at all- works just fine if you're using the external as your primary monitor or an extension of your display.  

I still don't like the keyboard.  It works quite well, but it is loud and it feels cheap.  You're taking a beautiful device made of aluminum and glass and you are effectively covering half of it with this tiny cheap feeling cover/keyboard made of what?  Fabric and Felt?  For $130? I get it.  Making it aluminum probably isn't the best idea in the world- largely due to the aforementioned glass that the cover/keyboard protects.  But there has to be something that does the Surface Pro 3 justice that Microsoft could come up with.  I have been making a conscious effort to type more gently, and this thing still sounds like a typewriter from the 1950s.  But it is damn responsive, its light, portable, and it has a heck of a form factor.  I'm sure with some searching I could find a third party product that was more pleasing to the eye- I just wonder what I'll give up in the process.

One question that I have gotten from several people is how well does it work sitting on your lap.  The answer is a little complicated.  It does work, but it feels a little wobbly, almost like it shouldn't work.  If the kickstand was positioned a little lower on the device, I think this would help the wobbly factor  quite a bit.  Contributing to the feeling of instability is the connection between the Surface and the keyboard- because it allows for full mobility- the keyboard can fold up against the screen, or fold all the way back and fold up against the back of the device- without a locking mechanism to hold the keyboard in place once again there is a bounce and a 'floppyness" to using it on a lap.  But it can be done and quite easily in fact.

The last experience that I have to share with you is an amusing one.  I was going through my Photos this morning and found an odd little gallery of pics that I had no recollection of taking.  Check these out:

I call this one "snack time in the desert"

"A lumberjack reads email"

Lastly, we have a simple piece called "W"

After a few minutes of reflection, I discovered the subject of the photos, and how they were being captured.

Here's the deal.   The Surface Pro 3 has a front facing camera.  From time to time, when it has been asleep for a period of time I'll simply swipe the screen to wake it up.  Because I'm impatient I'll also click the mouse a couple of times for good measure.  From the lock screen however, if you swipe down, you are taken to the camera feed.  Combine a down swipe with a couple of mouse clicks and you're now the Surface Pro 3 version of Andy Warhol.  I was doing these things so quickly that I didn't even notice that pictures were being taken.  I'd simply click on the Unlock button in the lower left hand corner of the camera screen and be on my merry way.  

My coffee this morning.  If you look closely, you'll see the Unlock button in the left hand corner of the screen

I've had a lot of people interested in my Surface Pro 3- folks want to get their hands on it and play around.  Their impressions are unilaterally favorable, although many profess some doubt as to whether it would work for them.  I get the skepticism.  But after almost two months with my Surface Pro 3 overall I still think that it was worth the money.  I have an all in one machine with no loss of horsepower from my last device.  I've gained efficiency, discovered some cool tricks along the way, become an avant garde photographer inadvertently, and rediscovered the thrill of putting a new machine through its paces.  Bottom line for me is that if you think that the Surface Pro 3 could be for you (or really, and Tablet-That-Can-Replace-Your-PC), you owe it to yourself to take it for a test drive.  I don't think that you'll regret your decision.

So it is now just me and my Surface Pro 3 against the world- no more laptop; and no secondary tablet.  I've been able to get my old trusty leather messenger bag out of retirement and put my heavy duty laptop bag in its space in the closet.  My shoulder thanks me for that!

Now if I can just learn to love the keyboard, I'll be all set.

Realizing Efficiency in Data Analysis in Microsoft Excel 2013: A Pivot Table Primer

I often debate with other Microsoft Excel Wizards about the merit of Pivot Tables over formulas.  I’m struck by how vehemently some people oppose their use, preferring Nested If fun that can take hours to get right over a few clicks to arrive at the same answer.

I’m not a Pivot Table purist by any means.  I enjoy the mental challenge that comes with deciphering Microsoft Excel’s sometimes maddening parenthesis patterns and “coding” my spreadsheet every now and then.  And I am proud of the fact that I don’t have to go running to the office next to mine for help with a particularly nasty Nested If statement anymore. 

But if you don’t know about and use Pivot Tables, you really really should.  They save time, and, unlike formulas, are malleable to allow you to slice and dice your data.  Let’s look at a quick example of formulas vs.  a Pivot Table.

One quick disclaimer.  Microsoft Excel is a very robust tool.    You can even go behind the curtains and write your own VB if you really want to.  There are keyboard shortcuts, many many different ways to Insert cells, write formulas, and parse data.  What I am about to show is not the only way to create this analysis; indeed, it may not even be the best way to do it.  I don't however think that it can be argued that what I am about to demonstrate are common methods of working within Excel. I ask the Excel Wizards to accept that for the sake of this discussion.  Lastly, I use Microsoft Excel 2013, and all of my commands, menus, etc. reflect the use of that version.

Here's a simple spreadsheet tracking the hours of four people over a period of time.  In Excel, terms, this is about as simple as a multi-column spreadsheet gets, yet it contains some very pertinent information if you use it as the starting point for some data analysis:

OK, so let's say I want to roll-up my hours for each person and get a grand total for the entire group.  I can use formulas to do this, such as:  SUMIF(A:A,"bob",C:C); writing the formula or copy/pasting it three more times and substituting "bob:" with the names of the other guys in the list.    To get my sum total for the group, I can use another formula, like:  =SUM(F2:F5).  Toss in some minor formatting as well as data headers and the end product looks like this:

Not too bad, right?  Start to finish, this probably took me  something like two minutes to create. I have my data and I have my analysis.  Let's go have a beer to celebrate!

One moment please.  Let's try a Pivot Table.  To start, we go Insert->Pivot Table.  A new window pops up asking a couple of questions.  First, we specify our range and then  tell Excel where to put the Pivot Table:

When I click OK, I get this:

I have a place for my table and I have Options to the right of what to include in it.  To get my total by person and sum overall, first, on the right side, I click Name and I drag it to Row, then I click Hours Billed and I drag it to values:

Not quite right, though it is.  That's simply because the Pivot Table by default uses the COUNT function.,  To change it to Sum, we just have to right click on the header and click Sum:

A couple of clicks later and here's the result.  At this point I'll also want to set my sort choice, I do

this by clicking on Row Labels and choosing my sort option.  Note that I could also sort on Hours Billed if I wanted to:

Start to finish, the Pivot Table takes about a minute to create, or half the time that the formulas did.  Bear in mind that this is a simple example,  Imagine dozens of people and hundreds of lines to calculate.  The beauty of the Pivot Table is that were it to take you to create formulas for those dozens of people and it took 15 minutes, your Pivot Table will take...

About a minute still.

Let's look at a couple of other simple features of Pivot Tables.  Say that my team of four becomes a team of five.  I want to add Daryl to my analysis, and I want it to look nice- keep the guys in alphabetical order and such.  

 With my formula I need to:

1. Insert a row between Chris and Frank
2. Type Daryl
3. Insert my SumIf formula 

With my Pivot Table, I need to:

1. Go to Data->Refresh All

The Pivot Table will add Daryl in to its analysis, alphabetically:

. 

Neat, huh?

One more example for the day.  Let's say that I want my analysis to go week over week- list out the hours by person for each week, with a sum total at the end.

Given the way that the data is laid out right now, there's no easy way to change it with my formula example.  Off the top of my head, I could:

1. Create headers across the top with each week.
2. Either manually retype the values in for each person or each week OR do a referential formula to grab the values for you in a little less time.
3. Create a Sum field for each week.

I get it, with this example, its not too much work.  5 minutes on the outside.  Let's compare that level of effort to what a Pivot Table requires.

To get the same result with a Pivot Table I:

1. Click on the Pivot Table to bring up the Fields Menu on the right of the screen.
2. Click on Week Of and drag it to the Columns Area

5 seconds on the outside.  Here's what the end result looks like:

Come on, even the most Wizardly of Excel Wizards has to admit that's damn cool.

Hopefully you've seen the value of Pivot Tables within Microsoft Excel.  Give one a try next time you're wanting to do some analysis.  With a little bit of practice you will have an awesome new tool in your arsenal- and bear in mind that I have barely scratched the surface of what Pivot Tables can do.  

Epilogue

I do feel like I need to show some street cred here when it comes to formulas lest I be called a Pivot Table Poser.  Here's some Nested If hell that I whipped up to stretch my muscles a few months ago.  Truth be told though as you'll see even here I used a Pivot Table.  Think about that for a second and imagine what could happen if you took the chocolate of your formulas and combined it with the peanut butter of my Pivot Tables...

=IF(O1="week 1",1/14*N3*GETPIVOTDATA("Hours Billed",$F$2,"Name","Bob")/40,IF(O1="week 2",2/14*$O$3*GETPIVOTDATA("Hours Billed",$F$2,"Name","Bob")/80,IF(O1="week 3",3/14*N3*GETPIVOTDATA("Hours Billed",$F$2,"Name","Bob")/120,IF(O1="week 4",4/14*N3*GETPIVOTDATA("Hours Billed",$F$2,"Name","Bob")/160,IF(O1="week 5",5/14*N3*GETPIVOTDATA("Hours Billed",$F$2,"Name","Bob")/200,IF(O1="week 6",6/14*N3*GETPIVOTDATA("Hours Billed",$F$2,"Name","Bob")/240,IF(O1="week 7",7/14*N3*GETPIVOTDATA("Hours Billed",$F$2,"Name","Bob")/280,IF(O1="week 8",8/14*N3*GETPIVOTDATA("Hours Billed",$F$2,"Name","Bob")/320,IF(O1="week 9",9/14*N3*GETPIVOTDATA("Hours Billed",$F$2,"Name","Bob")/360,IF(O1="week 10",10/14*N3*GETPIVOTDATA("Hours Billed",$F$2,"Name","Bob")/400,IF(O1="week 11",11/14*N3*GETPIVOTDATA("Hours Billed",$F$2,"Name","Bob")/440,IF(O1="week 12",12/14*N3*GETPIVOTDATA("Hours Billed",$F$2,"Name","Bob")/480,IF(O1="week 13",13/14*N3*GETPIVOTDATA("Hours Billed",$F$2,"Name","Bob")/520,IF(O1="week 14",14/14*N3*GETPIVOTDATA("Hours Billed",$F$2,"Name","Bob")/560))))))))))))))

Putting the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Through The Meatgrinder

You've seen the snappy commercials and the product comparisons. You've read the reviews.  Here’s one guys unpaid and admittedly unsolicited feedback on the Surface Pro 3.  I don’t pretend to be a Surface expert; as such there may be errors in what follows.  More likely, there will be features called out that aren't unique to the Pro 3.  Let this stand as my disclaimer that I’m reviewing an experience not necessarily just a product.  Please keep this in mind and be gentle dear reader. 

The Surface Pro 3 is billed as “the tablet that can replace your laptop”.  As a guy that loads up every day with a Lenovo laptop and an iPad and uses both regularly throughout the day, it was hard not to be intrigued by that bold statement.  With an i5 Processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of SSD space, it certainly seems feasible; the RAM was actually an increase over my Lenovo, and the SSD was obviously a big improvement over my traditional hard drive, even if I sacrificed 256GB in actual space in the process.  I considered the i7 but in the end decided that it wasn't worth the extra 300 bucks for what I was going to use it for. 

This isn’t a cheap device.  At $1299 USD out of the box, this is a pricy bit of technology; add in a keyboard, which is a must have if you’re really going to replace a laptop, and a mouse and you’re in for about 1500 bucks right out of the gate.  Interestingly, it feels like a quality device.  While long, slim, and light, the Surface Pro 3 also feels like it is well made.  The metal casing seems as though it will stand the test of time and the glass display feels tough and durable.  The kickstand feels as though it’s not going to loosen up on me over time either. 

The jury is still out on the keyboard.  The form factor is of course designed to complement the Surface Pro 3 and the result is a keyboard that feels like it is just an inch or two too short.  You do get used to this fairly quickly, but from time to time I do find myself wishing for just a little more room for my hands.  The keys are responsive and I am having some trouble getting used to them- I tend to mash them harder than they need to be pressed, which makes for some loud typing from time to time when I really get going, like I am right now.  I also find that I prefer to have the keyboard lay flat on a surface as opposed to at an angle- it just doesn't feel sturdy enough to withstand my key mashing when it is not fully supported.  I’m sure its fine, but there’s just a bounce in response to keystrokes that I’m not fond of when it is angled. 

When angled there’s a bounce to using the keyboard that I find off-putting

The Surface mouse is just really really cool.  With a flexible design, it contours really well to the palm of your hand and it’s just so lightweight and comfortable to use that I don’t know that I could ever go back to another mouse full time.  It then lays flat for storage- which is again for lack of a better adjective, cool.  Even if you don’t have a Surface, I strongly recommend this mouse for any road warrior laptop user. 

Just look at that contour!

Flattened out, the mouse is ready to get tossed in your laptop case and head home for the day

I haven’t used the pen very much as for right now I prefer using my keyboard for OneNote.  One truly baffling thing about the Surface Pro 3 is that the pen is attached to the keyboard.  OK, so let’s say that I want to go Tablet Mode for a meeting.  I detach the keyboard and guess what I’m also leaving behind?  Yep, the pen.  It’s just perplexing that they couldn't think of a better place to put it.

Why in the world would you attach the pen here?

Setting up the Surface Pro 3 is relatively simple.  There are the usual annoyances of getting Windows 8.1 to work the way you want it to work- booting to the desktop, for example, or the constant playing around with the tiles that seems to happen for the first couple of weeks.  Installing Office 2013, Visio and Project 2013 were simple exercises, which is of course as it should be.  The display is clear and bright- watching videos is actually better on the Surface Pro 3 than it is on my iPad with Retina display.  The speakers are clear and fairly loud; they’re free of distortion and I’m guessing music will sound pretty good on them as well. 

I haven’t been able to kill the Surface Pro 3 yet, even with multiple Excel workbooks and Project files open simultaneously.  The Surface is quick and responsive- the SSD is a marked improvement over my first experience with SSDs a couple of years ago.  The 8GB of RAM seems sufficient and the i5 holds its own.  The Surface Pro 3 does have a fan in it interestingly enough.  You’ll hear it kick in when you really get a few processes going at once or even install multiple updates.  The fan is rather loud and takes some getting used to although I will say I haven’t heard it kick in since the first couple of days that I was putting the Surface through its paces so either I’m used to it or its holding up better now that it has had a chance to break in a little bit. 

Split screen isn't a feature of the Surface of course, but I will say that I haven’t been able to use it quite like I can now.  Picture opening a Project plan in one pane and a PPT in another.  You need to see what is in the PPT and transcribe it to your Project file.  Because you’re viewing the PPT in one half of a 12” display, it’s a little tough to see what you’re doing.  No problem.  Simply do a finger swipe on the PPT screen and presto!  The text is enlarged on that side of the screen only.  I can’t tell you how handy this one feature is, and it isn't something I've been able to do with other devices. 

Notice how small the slide is?  Check this out:

Now I can see the task names and resources to plug in.  And my Project side stay the same size

I haven’t found a single thing after a month of use that I can’t do on the Surface Pro 3 that I could do on my laptop.  And I’m doing it with a significantly smaller form factor.  And I’m also doing it on a really cool looking device.  I can’t say the same thing when making the comparison with my iPad.  What’s interesting to me is that it is billed as a tablet.  In my opinion, it isn’t really a tablet at all, except for sometimes.  Want to rent a movie from iTunes, download it and watch it on a plane.  Sorry, you can’t.  Apple sees that Windows OS and decides that you’re on a computer.  Like Clash of the Clans or for those of you reading this in the future The-Latest-And-Greatest-Game-For-Mobile-Devices-Of-The-Month-That-You’re-Reading_This?  That’s great.  You can’t play on your Surface (Yes, yes, OK, I know that you can install an Android simulator and do it that way. But you can’t go to the Windows Store and install the App).  The reason is the same- those games aren't designed to run on a Windows OS.  This is an annoyance really and nothing more, but I do wish that it were different so I could get rid of the iPad. 

With that said, there are a ton of “apps” available via the store.   And some of them will make your Surface Pro 3 work like a tablet, even if you really wish that it wouldn't.  Take the Citrix Receiver app as an example.  Even if you download the proper files to run Citrix from a website, the second that you install the app everything routes through it and if you've used the Citrix Receiver app on an iPad you’ll understand that that just isn’t the ideal way to use Citrix.  What I don’t get is that there is a Facebook app, but not one for LinkedIn.  There’s one for ESPN Fantasy Football, but not for Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football.  It’s just hit or miss and like I said a little weird. 

I need to keep playing with it to see if I can make it replace my iPad entirely eventually.

In the end, after a month of steadily increasing use, I have replaced my Lenovo with the Surface Pro 3 for day to day work use.  My iPad does still make appearances from time to time, but mostly for the games.  The small form factor, performance, and Cool factor make the Surface Pro 3 worthy of your consideration.  The flexibility of using it as a tablet is an added bonus.  I recommend the Surface Pro 3 for professionals that carry their office with them wherever they go.  I’d be hard pressed to recommend it for personal use as there are other options out there that are cheaper that can do many of the same things, just not as well. 

Arbitrary rating system score:  The Surface Pro 3 gets 4 Footballs out of 5 on the Fowler scale.  


12042014:  Update:  I've created a second post with some additional SP3 thoughts,  Click here to read it.

On Working From Home, Minnesota Winters, and the Relative Sanity of The Author

Today we find our hero (your favorite author, me, thanks for being momentarily confused) having an argument with his inner monologue over a topic that has haunted leaders for decades. 

C:  Whelp, it’s that time of year again.

IM:  What, where you start swearing every time you hear Christmas Carols?  When you kinda give up on your Fantasy Teams?  When you start thinking about Thanksgiving stuffing?

C: Well, yes, but that’s not what’s bugging me today.  It’s Sunday, but I still got an email today from someone asking me if they can work from home tomorrow because the roads might be crazy.  I checked the forecast earlier today, and they are calling for anywhere from 2-10 inches of snow between late tonight and Tuesday morning.

IM:  So what’s the problem?

C:  First of all, I thought I was past all of this now.  I don’t technically manage anyone anymore.  I’m the Project Manager, so I oversee their day to day activities, but I’m not their manager.

IM: Say, didn’t you write a great entry about the different types of reporting relationships  that Project Managers work with?

C: Yep, I sure did.  It’s called Entering the Matrix, you can find it on this site.

IM: Golly, I really like that article.

C: Me too.  But we’re digressing now.  Anyway, so one of the guys on my team emailed me asking me for my thoughts on him working from home tomorrow if the roads are crazy.  My first reaction?  Of course the roads are going to be crazy.  This is Minnesota. In the summer, the roads are terrible because of all the construction.  In the winter, they are terrible because, well, I guess I’m not sure why.  It seems as though everyone just forgets how to drive here when it snows.  We get a small break in the fall and right after the snow melts where things are relatively normal, and as of tomorrow it seems as though that will be gone.  So if his criteria for working from home is crazy roads, I guess I will see him again in May.

IM: Yeah, but you hate traffic too.  That’s why you would wait out rush hour at night and leave early in the morning- to avoid the crazy roads last winter.

C: Sure, but I still went in.

IM:  Not all the time though.   There were at least two times last year where you didn’t go in.  And I know for a fact that one time was because you didn’t want to deal with the traffic.

C: It’s not that I disapprove of working from home.  It’s just that I think people abuse the privilege. If your position is a telecommute position, fantastic.  If it isn’t then you should be in the office more often than not. 

IM: But you telecommuted for years, right?  You understand better than most that you can sometimes get more done in 4 hours at home than you can in 2 days in the office.  There are fewer distractions, less interruptions, a more comfortable environment, and a stocked fridge.  All in all, more conducive to being productive, no?

C: Yeah, but I had an office.  I was all set up to work from home.  And remember, most of the time I was on the road at least 2 days every week.  It’s not like I’d take conference calls from my back yard so I could smoke or anything.

IM:  Chris…

C: OK fine, I did do that. 

IM:  So how do you know when someone is abusing the privilege of working from home?

C:  I don’t know.  You just do.   I guess when you see a guy who is out every single time it snows, that’s obvious abuse.  Obviously, there are lesser degrees of abuse than that. You just have to handle each case individually.

IM:  But if someone can do their job effectively remotely, what’s the problem?

C:  Here’s the deal.  We live in Minnesota.  It snows here.  A lot.  Starting tomorrow, we will enter a period of permafrost that won’t go away entirely until May of next year.  It also gets kinda cold.  And while I get that when it hits -25, you really can’t tell the difference between -26 and -50, it still hits that level of cold here.  As a Minnesota resident, you accept that weather as part of the package.  Why you accept it is a whole ‘nother article.  You drive the vehicle you drive, you work where you work, and you know that you’re gonna have to deal with the weather for 6 months out of each and every year.  That means you’re gonna have to go out in it.  You’re going to have to get the snow blower working.  You’re going to have to drive on Minneapolis side streets when they’re basically impassible and Minneapolis alleys when the city stops plowing them.  You’re going to have to chip the compacted snow and ice off of your driveway a few times.  And you’re going to have to go to work.

IM: Hey, why exactly do we live here again?

C: Quiet you.

IM: We’ll talk about that later.  Does 3AM work for you for that?  We can work it into our you’re 40 now and where are you going with your life conversation we’ve been having.  Anyway, if I am hearing you right, your basic objection to people working from home during the winter is that they should know that it snows in Minnesota and deal with it.  Do I have that right?

C:  Well, no see, its deeper than that really.  I mean…um….there’s company policy of course, and…see…um.  I JUST DON’T LIKE IT, ALLRIGHT?  Jeesh, get off my back.

IM:  So, you just don’t like something that you can do yourself, potentially saving aggravation and cold extremities that no one says you can’t do, and that you do in fact do from time to time, but only when it makes sense to you to do it?

C:  Right.

IM:  So what are you going to tell the guy then?

C:  I think I’ll go with a Minnesota Nice/Catholic Guilt hybrid response.   Just enough ambiguity to not give him my blessing but also enough specificity to convey how I feel about it without coming out and saying no while simultaneously pointing out that I’ll be in the office.

IM:  We really gotta get us out of this state. 

Taking A Punch

I like to think that I’m a pretty tough guy.  I’ve walked on a big toe that had no middle joint in it for over a year before finally succumbing to the pain and seeing a surgeon to get it fixed.    I broke my wrist during a class to get my motorcycle license and finished out the class.  I’ve been hit on my bike by a truck, gotten up, went to the park and played football like I was planning to pre accident, albeit with only one working arm.  I once drilled a screw straight into that meaty area of the hand between the thumb and the first finger, got the screw out, wrapped the hand and kept on building the shelves my Dad and I were working on (that one left a really cool scar!).

I’m also at heart a pragmatist.  It drives my wife insane sometimes.  “What do you think”, she’ll ask me, and I’ll reply with several logical responses that are actually what I am thinking but don’t really relate to how I feel about something, which is what she’s really asking about. 

Life beats us up.  It’s a fact, and it is unavoidable.  Even the wealthiest, the best, the nobility, the sheltered, take their lumps like the rest of us from time to time.  I came to terms with this a long time ago and I have stopped trying to avoid getting hit.  What I’ve started to do is become smart about the hits that I take. 

Getting hit in the stomach sucks.  There’s the initial sharp pain, followed by a dull ache that takes a little while to dissipate.  Compare that if you will to getting slapped in the face.  You feel an acute pain that quickly goes away, and while your cheek might be red for a while, it leaves you soon enough.  Given the choice, I think that it is safe to say that most of us would choose a slap in the face over the punch to the gut any day. 

Think about the following scenario for a moment.  Given the choice between a single punch to the stomach or repeated slaps to the face, which would you choose?  Do you choose the isolated instance of pain, knowing that it will hurt for a while then go away, or do you choose the constant, nagging pain of the slaps that just keep on coming your way?

Given that choice, I will now always try to take the punch to the stomach.

Ok, great.  What the hell does that have to do with anything, you may be asking yourself right about now. 

I submit to you that during our lives every day we are taking repeated slaps to the face instead of a single punch to the stomach.  Whether it’s putting off doing the dishes for a few days, or paying our bills, or doing our laundry, or continuing to reboot a dying server instead of replacing it, or stalling on writing up that employee for a series of minor infractions or reacting to issues instead of proactively addressing them, we are unconsciously making the decision to accept repeated slaps in lieu of a punch to the stomach.  Instead of sucking it up and getting things done the right way, we accept Band-Aids, half assed approaches, and procrastination as suitable alternatives.  Why?  It’s easier, cheaper, and less confrontational, less work, indeed; less painful. Or so we think. 

The reality is that the pain in the long run becomes far more severe as well as more impactful to others around you- your family, your organization.  It becomes a chronic condition, and sadly until it flares up, we accept the pain as part of our life. 

The solution is a punch to a stomach.  Take the time to do things right the first time.  Fully consider our decisions and don’t weigh cost more heavily than other aspects when making choices.  If there is an opportunity to enhance our performance, responsiveness, efficiency, or have some dishes in the morning for our daily oatmeal, take it.  You know you’ll have to wash those bowls sooner or later, so why not do it now when you’re washing those plates? 

The results will be astonishing.  You will save time and money, you will become more efficient, and you will probably even rest easier at night knowing that you’ve made the best decision, not the easiest.

And in the end, all of that will make that dull ache in your solar plexus dissipate that much faster.  Trust me, you won’t miss that constant stinging in your cheeks at all.  

All I ever needed to know I learned from Craigslist

In the business world, you really can’t turn around without being faced with an article, conversation, or interview question about the importance of communication and how those of us in the workaday world just don’t do a very good job of it.   I’ve rarely met the happy soul that looked at me earnestly and told me how they were fully informed and felt that communication in whatever they were engaging in was sufficient; and usually when I  do meet them they are part of either HR or Marketing so it’s hard to tell if they’re being sincere or not.

I want more information and better communication.  You want more information and better communication.  So what’s the problem here?  Let’s take my chocolate and your peanut butter and you know, see what happens.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and I've discovered that all I ever needed to know about what we’re doing wrong I learned from Craigslist. 

We don’t listen:

Buyer:  I’d like to buy your futon frame.

Me:  That’s great! My cell number is xxx-xxx-xxxx; send me a text and let me know when you would like to come and pick it up.  I’m available today after 4, or Saturday until noon or Sunday after 10.

Buyer (doesn’t text, just emails back):  We’ll come after one on Saturday.

Me (smacking my head inside, but trying to be patient):  Sorry, but I am not available after one on Saturday, I can meet before noon Saturday or after 10 on Sunday.

Buyer:  I can’t do before noon at all.  I’ll have to see if we can come early Sunday morning before church. 

I never heard from her again, and I’m kinda OK with that. 

We don’t always speak the same language (sometimes literally)*

Buyer:  Send address.

Me:  It sounds like you want to buy my tool chest.  That’s great!  My cell number is xxx-xxx-xxxx; send me a text and let me know when you would like to come and pick it up.  I’m available after 4:30 every day this week.

Buyer:  $30?

Me:  Yes.  Text me and let’s set something up.

Buyer:  I come?

Me (after looking at his email address and thinking about it for a few minutes): Prefiere espanol?

Buyer:  si por fabor

We go back and forth over a few additional emails and set a time for him to come by.  He never shows up and I never heard from him again.  I’m kinda not OK with that; Babelfish and I bent over backwards for the guy.

We go out of our way to sound legit, thus calling into question the legitimacy of what we’re trying to convey:

Buyer going by the moniker Doomsday Machine: Hi! Are these still available? I'm a Japanese-American and a part of a re-enactment group and would much rather use good re-pop over original for my getup just because I wouldn't want to scrape up the real deal in the dirt and trees and whatnot. Plus these are just in time, since we're coming up on some important dates in the WWII New Guinea campaign vs. the Japanese.

Please let me know, too, if it would be possible to have them sent to Cali. I can send money through walmart or moneygram, since those are literally cash in your hand on your end. Or however you want to do it. I'd even be willing to spring for the cost of having someone like the ups store box it for you so it would be less work for you.

I'm just guessing here, but he probably needs a little help to get the money out of a foreign bank.  If I pay the processing fees of $300 and ship the swords to him while we wait for the bank drafts to clear, he'll like totally give me a cut of it.  

And sometimes we really oughta try a little harder to you know act like we’re paying attention and kind of care:

Buyer:  (responding to an ad listing about 10 different PS3 games for $10.00 each with the just super moniker Im Awesom [sic]) do u have games ill buy them cash right now. please respond if you do.

Me:  The ad lists games for sale…

Buyer: Asking if u still had them. Some people leave the ad up after they sell all the games

Me: Ah.  Yes I still have them. My cell number is xxx-xxx-xxxx; send me a text and let me know when you would like to come and pick them up. 

He ended up coming out and buying the games.  I don’t recall just how “Awesom” he was in person.

We’re lazy:

Buyer, via text:  Let me know when I can come and get the item

Me:  What am I selling?

Buyer:  Sawhorse

Me: You know they come in pairs, right?  I’m just wondering why you called it an item

Buyer:  Oh, I’m buying a bunch of stuff right now and didn’t know which what you were selling until I checked after you asked.

It just got more flaky from there.  In the end I killed the deal.

We don’t change what we say or the way we say it despite some evidence that maybe we should:

Me:  My cell number is xxx-xxx-xxxx; send me a text and let me know when you would like to come and pick them/it up.

I think that I’ll post an ad in the General section next week and sell Communication 101.  An online only affair, you pass if you can send 5 consecutive emails that a) make sense b) have no misspellings c) aren’t written on a cell phone d) have no abbreviations that I have to look up on urbandictionary.com AND are devoid of emoticons. 

I bet I make some money and that it takes a while for my first graduate.  But that’ll be mostly my fault for not clearly communicating the course outline.

*Alternate title:  I say potato and you say papa

One Minute

This week I think we’ll start with a quick snippet of conversation between Terry and Jerry, two IT gurus, and I that occurred a couple of years ago.

“Jerry, the Exchange server was hung yesterday afternoon.  I had Terry hard boot it.”

“You should never do that!  You can have major data corruption or data loss by doing a hard boot!  Why didn’t you call me?  There’s a bunch of different things you guys should have done. But never ever hard boot an Exchange server.  Oh my God, I’ve gotta go make sure the LUNs are still attached, Terry, we better start pulling backups…”

…at this point Jerry goes off for about 10 minutes, looking more and more wild eyed as he describes the total anarchy that is imminent before I jump back in…

“Jerry.  The server was hung.  The.cursor.would.not.move.   Couldn’t kill any processes, couldn’t start or stop services, and couldn’t gently restart it. You didn’t even know that we had an issue until we told you today. What exactly did you want us to do?

“I would have had you hard boot it”.

There was a time when every person in my IT department had a sign in their cube.  Two words were on the sign:

One Minute

The idea is simple and true.  One Minute can save you an hour or even a day’s worth of work.  Take a moment to take a deep breath and think about what you are about to do and more importantly why you are about to do it.  Does it still make sense?  Then go ahead and hit Enter sir.  It doesn’t?  Then go back to the drawing board. 

An IT infrastructure team faces an inordinate amount of pressure to keep things running.  The smallest, most seemingly benign change can have a major impact if not properly prepared for.  When things go wrong, the entire organization is standing at your desk, wanting to know what happened, what you’re doing about it, and when will it be fixed?  There’s a strong sense of urgency to every action in this scenario.  Taking a moment is the last thing that most people want to do.

But that is when it is most important to take that minute.  Pressure can make us take short cuts, make decisions that upon reflection are ill advised, and cause us an inordinate amount of clean up. 

We’re a society that revels in instant gratification and quick fixes, but we all know that slow, steady weight loss is better than a cram diet, that a made to order burger is better than a mass produced patty that contains a percentage of wood fiber in it (although neither really helps with the aforementioned diet), a custom made suit is better than one off the rack from JC Penny. 

Where does this lack of patience come from?  We’re accustomed to having everything at our fingertips, the latest Enter-The –Not-Quite-Celebrity-That-Is-Currently-All-Over-The News’s-Name-Here rumor readily available along with our thoughts and those of 10,000 of our closest friends, that pair of shoes can be here tomorrow with free shipping from Amazon Prime, our car telling us where the closest mass produced hamburger patty is.  I get it, and I readily admit that when a family member recently told me how he orders his toilet paper and paper towels on Prime so that he doesn’t have to go to the store I was all over it.

So all I’m asking for is One Minute. 

I’m not in any way saying that taking a minute will solve all your problems; indeed, there will always be situations that are untenable.  But taking One Minute can lead you to go with Bad Option B instead of Bad Option A, resulting in clean up but far less clean up than Bad Option A would have caused.  Similarly, a little bit of internal validation never hurts, right?  Bad Option A is in fact the only option, so let’s go for it.

Faced with a non-responsive email server and hordes of angry villagers no doubt beginning to form a mob complete with pitchforks, Terry and I took One Minute and did the unthinkable.  Jerry was able to externally validate our decision with far more time than we had to work with.  In the end, we were very lucky.  No loss, no corruption, and Jerry eventually started breathing normally again.  But looking back on it, that minute that we took made us both feel comfortable with the choice that we made, no matter what the outcome might have been. 

Next time you’re faced with a decision, take One Minute.  You’ll be glad that you did.

Entering the Matrix

This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill—the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill—you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Remember, all I'm offering is the truth—nothing more.

As a Project Manager or a Project Resource, we all live in the Matrix.  How deep the rabbit hole goes depends on where you work, what your role is, what the project is, when it needs to get done, and innumerable other factors. 

For those keeping score at home, there are three different types of project environments as defined in the PMBOK:

Strong Matrix- the Project Manager is in charge of the resources assigned to the project, and the resources are typically dedicated to the project.  They say jump and you better believe those resources jump.  A strong matrix environment is usually indicated by a PM that dresses up Neo-style, frequent bouts of maniacal laughter and the sound of the Imperial Death March preceding their entrance into the conference room.  (Seriously, try the latter sometime, it’s a blast)

Balanced Matrix- the project management equivalent of the porridge that’s just right.  Here we have a normal looking Project Manager with normal human attributes and the beauty of having enough power to get things done along with someone to turn to if things go south on them. 

Weak Matrix- the Project Manager has no direct control over the resources assigned to the project, and the resources are typically given project tasks in addition to their “day jobs”.  If the Project Manager says jump and the resources don’t jump, its tattle tale time.  Signs of a weak matrix are a PM with sunken eyes, permanent 5 o’clock shadow, torn and wrinkled clothing, and the sound of 10 middle fingers popping up every time they leave the conference room followed by gentle sobbing trailing away down the hallway.

A Weak Matrix project can occur in any size organization, but the condition can be exacerbated by two specific conditions:

1.      The Project Manager is also not dedicated to the Project and indeed not even to Project Management itself.  These unfortunate souls are also known as Accidental Project Managers

2.      The organization is small and there is no formal change management process

I was recently approached for consultation by an end user, let’s call him Alex, whose organization is currently undergoing a significant change.  Briefly, his company is switching from one operational software to a new operational software.  There are approximately 10 people on staff.  After several days of running both systems in parallel, it had become evident to him that there were significant issues with the changeover and he was frustrated, angry, and quite concerned that his clients would be impacted by the change.

I started out by explaining to him that what his company was going through was in no way unique.  They were certainly not going to be the best at making this changeover, nor were they going to be the worst when the dust finally settled.  Change is difficult, and it is impactful.  It’s about managing the change to mitigate that impact.  Our conversation continued.

“You and I have been through this type of thing before, Alex”, I reminded him.  “Remember when we made that switch from one system to another ten years ago?  You were on the front line for that one, in a customer facing role.  That had to have been really difficult and you made it through”.

“But we knew that you were there to help us, Chris, and we had a lot of support from the organization.   When things got bad we at least knew that we had some support behind us and that it was organized,” he responded forcefully.

“Ah, but we were a dedicated team.  It was our only job to support you.  It sounds like right now your Project Manager is still working with customers too, isn’t he?  This isn’t his sole focus, right?’

“That’s true,” he replied thoughtfully, “I hadn’t thought of that.  He is trying to do everything he was doing before and now this as well.” 

Here I knew that Alex had gone from feeling like a victim to thinking about how he could begin to support his Accidental Project Manager.  This is a crucial point of the conversation, because Alex can significantly impact this project negatively if he doesn’t help in the “right way”.

I began to dispense my unsolicited advice.  “The best thing that you can do is document your issues, and make sure that you describe why they are issues and how big of an issue it is.  Give him a list.  If you tell him things as you pass him in the hallway, he will not remember what you told him.  Help him to make informed decisions by giving him the information that he needs in a way that he can digest on his own time.”

Alex was nodding throughout.  “What really bugs me is that this is impacting my customers. That’s the biggest deal for me.  I think that I will just figure out how to make things work for now so that I can continue to service my customers while we get this working right.  But the Project Manager doesn’t seem to want me to help them.  My customer was waiting for 15 minutes for someone to help him and when I stepped in to get him squared away, the PM grabbed me and asked me to give the staff that were supposed to help my customer some space.  I was just trying to help!”

“You are better off learning this new system the right way.  Workarounds today are just going to lead bad habits tomorrow”, I replied.  “That goes for everybody, not just you.  Remember, everyone else is learning this at the same time as you are.  And sometimes it’s better to just let folks figure things out without a bunch of other people standing over them.  Hopefully, your Project Manager is looking at the bigger picture, and you have to trust the decisions that he makes even if you don’t necessarily understand them at the time”.

“Here’s the other thing that you have to understand”, I continued.  “Your customers are going to be impacted.  You’re not going to avoid it, so don’t run away from it.  Again, the best thing that you can do is document your issues and assign a severity to each issue and to be an advocate or proponent for the change that is occurring.  That’s going to allow your Project Manager to focus on the things that are impacting his business and your customers.”

Alex was silent for a few minutes.  “You know”, he began, “I really resented the way that they were handling this at first.  I never really thought about how this was impacting them.  I’ll try to work with them to get this working the way that it needs to.”

Change is never easy.  Operating in a weak matrix can make change all the more difficult.  Being an Accidental Project Manager in this environment can be seemingly impossible.  All companies are concerned about the bottom line; they make purchases that they believe will have a positive ROI for them, and unfortunately when they look to see where they can make cuts to the implementation of their purchase, dedicated Project or Organizational Change Management is usually the first to go and an Accidental Project Manager is born. 

The thing that I simply cannot stress enough to folks like Alex and his Accidental PM, and really to anyone that is part of is project is the importance of structured communication.  Give your end users a mechanism to submit their issues and insist that they use it.  Don’t allow yourself to be subjected to drive bys!  Tell your team what is going on, and what the plan is.  Set up touch points throughout the project to ensure that you keep the avenues of communication open- proactive communication will reduce tension and better still keep the rumor mill to a mild roar.  

I’ll post a follow up to share how Alex’s story ends.  I’m confident though that he will be successful, as will his organization.  I’m glad in the end he took the red pill and we took the journey into his rabbit hole.  It wasn’t nearly as deep as he thought it was initially.

Seven Attributes of Successful Project Managers

For a long time I believed that project management was really about common sense.  More recently, I’ve felt that it was all about one’s gut- that inner instinct or spidey sense that helps to guide our actions.  I don’t think that either of those beliefs are erroneous; I’ve read the arguments that common sense is applicable to everything and that gut checks are really not better than a flip of a coin in making a decision, yet I still believe that a person that possesses those characteristics will tend to be more successful in project and really even in general management.  But I acknowledge that this is an overly simplistic view. 

Digging deeper, I believe that the following are qualities a person that desires to have success in project management should possess or develop.  I don’t think it is necessary for that person to have expert proficiency in each area; that simply isn’t feasible nor is it desired.  But when taking a moment for introspection, consider the following:

1.      Pragmatism

2.      Flexibility

3.      Challenge your resources

4.      Make your resources better

5.      Don’t be afraid to say “no”

6.      Always be a student of the game

7.      Understand your role in each project

Let’s dive a little deeper into each of these.

1.      Pragmatism.  A PM must assess a situation and take the most appropriate steps to resolve it, relying on experience, logic, and reason yet never emotion.  We must understand that no situation is ever exactly alike and that we must be cautious in applying prior solutions to new problems for the sake of ease.  I think that those that refer to common sense in terms of project management may be actually talking about pragmatism.

2.      Flexibility.  Project Management methodologies such as Waterfall and Agile are processes and guides that we can use to assist us in our duties.  They are NOT absolutes and truly it is myopic to subscribe to only one.  Be amenable to all methodologies, be it PMI, Scrum, Six Sigma, or Prince2.  Study them and gain a core understanding of them, and then use them as you would any other weapon in your arsenal. 

3.      Challenge your resources.  This is kind of Project Management 101, I know, but get some sort of validation of the estimates that you are provided.  Ask just a couple of more questions of your stakeholders to really flesh that requirement out before you start building.  Restate statements that are made to you to ensure that you understand what you are being told.  It will make everyone’s job easier in the long run.  Always know why something is being done and make sure that the doer knows why as well.

4.      Make your resources better.  This goes hand in hand with challenging your resources.  Give them opportunities to voice their opinions, take on new tasks, ask questions of you, and above all else let them know why they are doing what they are doing and how it relates to the overall goals of the project or the organization or both.  They will work harder for you, and you will see an increase in their performance.  Every now and again you’ll run across a guy that really just wants to stay heads down and do his job, nothing more, and that’s OK.  But I find that these types of resources are few and far between.  I can already hear those that say that there’s no time for this in a project.  My response is find the time, make the time, schedule the time.  Find a way to make it happen.  You’ll be glad that you did.

5.      Don’t be afraid to say, “No”.  Simple changes or adds can be the death of a project, it’s like a death from 10,000 cuts.  It’s not just the additional time and effort; I find that poor change management can have a devastating effect on the morale of your team.  Remember, you are their advocate and their shield.  If they start to see chinks in your armor, real or perceived, you will quickly lose their respect, and their level of effort will depreciate as well.  A strong, well-documented, and defined Change Management process is critical for any engagement regardless of size or complexity. 

6.      Always be a student of the game.  You hear that a lot about athletes, and I think it’s true in the professional arena as well.  Be observant of everyone on your project, your resources, stakeholders, and sponsors.  Learn everything you can from them.  Continue your education by learning all that you can.  And challenge yourself.  Don’t be an App Dev PM all your life, try an infrastructure project, a construction project, even a process deconstruction project.  Take what you have learned and apply it to your new challenges, and take what you learn from the experiences and similarly apply it going forward.  You’ll be a much more well-rounded PM if you stick your head up and get outside of your comfort zone every now and then (you’ll also make yourself that much more marketable).

7.      Understand your role in each project.  Despite what you may think, it isn’t the same each time.  What type of environment are you in- strong matrix, weak matrix?  What’s the experience level of your resources and is it in line with the complexity of the project?  Do you have self-starters or folks that won’t breathe without a written requirement that they do so?  What’s your sponsor and stakeholders like?  Micromanagers or I don’t care how you do it I just want the end result and I want it yesterday types?  A good understanding of these qualities will help shape your behavior on the project.  Project Management isn’t one size fits all. 

Defining success for a project is not as easy as it may seem and identifying a successful PM is equally challenging. I don’t believe that successful projects necessarily point to successful project management.  Indeed, I’ve seen more than one project succeed in spite of the project manager.  Conversely, I’ve seen very skilled and experienced PMs go down with a ship despite all of their efforts, tricks, and negotiation.  But the core processes of Project Management methodologies paired with experience and the attributes I’ve called out here can position a PM in the best possible spot to realize success in their individual projects as well as in their career.