Every meeting has a goal

If you don't know what you are going to get out of a meeting, if you can't measure the benefit of the meeting, in a positive way, then you shouldn't have the meeting. This does not mean you won't or don't need a weekly staff meeting, it means that there is intent to your meeting, and a desired outcome. Meetings to hand out awards are good, meetings to hand out punishment, might happen once in a while - There is a reason for public hangings!

I have worked for individuals who measure the effectiveness of a meeting by how many people attended, how long the meeting lasted, or how many actions were assigned. What individual thinks that assigning work (actions) is a positive result?

A meeting shouldn't be such a waste so many peoples' time. In one of my jobs the average cost to the customer for the talented support was about $2 per MINUTE. If you have a two hour gathering (I'll avoid using the word meeting, because of how I define a meeting) of 40 people, well lets do the math $2 x 120 min = $240 x 40 people = $9,600. Using a most simplistic approach, the results of that meeting should be worth $9,600. If all you do at this meeting, is assign actions items to the attendees, then you have a multitude of problems. 1) For $2 a minute those folks should know what they are doing and you shouldn't need to tell them; 2) You have wasted two hours of their time, two hours that they could have been doing their jobs; 3) You have wasted two hours of your time, time you could have spent hiring competent people.

If you want to be effective, you need to decide for each an every meeting (inlcuding a single meeting between two people) what is your desired outcome. You should have a measurable outcome. Early on in your development as a leader you should write down your goals before the meeting and review them after the meeting, until it becomes second nature. Do you have a weekly staff meeting? Is it effective? Does something get accomplished as a result of each meeting? Is your meeting short enough? Short Enough? Don't I mean long enough? No, I mean short. I learned that no single topic during the staff meeting should last longer that 3 minutes. If it takes longer than 3 minutes, then there needs to be a separate meeting to address the issue. At the 3 or maybe 5 minute point, everyone in your staff meeting has been exposed to the issue, and all the discussion is now moving in multiple directions and those members of the staff who just have to say something will add, but won't add value. Those that don't care are tuning out. You are losing control of your meeting and your agenda/goals. Table the issue and have someone organize the right people, place and time. As a matter of practice I try to keep all my meetings to 40 min or less. I schedule an hour, I start on time and I work to finish early. So what do I want from my staff meeting? I don't want a single topic to dominate the meeting. I want everyone to have a chance to say what has been important to them in the previous week, what's important to them this week, what is important next week, what is there Number 1 priority, where do they need help, and I probably have some specific topic that might need addressing. With this simple approach you will get a very clear picture on whether or not your staff is headed in the correct direction, if your team goals are being realized, and when. If the most important item on you goals, isn't mentioned, then you have not effectively communicated with your team.

What do you really want?

General Dynamics is actually several companies traveling in a general direction with little or nothing in common. I'm actually employed by General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems. For the past several years I have been a GDAIS employee working as a subcontractor to GDIT (General Dynamics Information Technology) who was working as a subcontractor to Northrup Grumman who was working for a US government organization. Well, GDIT and GDAIS were arguing amongst themselves, end result is that GDAIS is no longer a subcontractor to GDIT. Simultaneously, I'm no longer helping a US government organization. I'm "sitting on the bench". I'm on overhead. This is not necessarily a good place to be in these economic times. I spend my days looking for internal job opportunities and working on proposals for new work. I'm not worried, yet. Next year I'll start to worry.

In the mean time I'm doing one of my volunteer things. Several employees of GDAIS support social organizations. We do this by reviewing resumes for people who are looking for jobs. I usually enjoy resume reviews. More often than not, I believe I can add some value to the applicants efforts.

My biggest complaint, when looking at a resume is the objective statement. I would like to see an objective statement, but the statement I see needs to have substance. "I would like a job in a technology company that applies by skills and talents." Bullshit. If this is the verbose piffle you are going to write, don't send me an objective statement. If you send your resume to GDAIS and your talent and skills are driveway repairs, who are we kidding. Your objective statement doesn't need to say you want a job. I figured that part out on my own. What do you really want? Do you want to be as a system administrator in a position that provides potential for future management or leadership? Do you want to be an illustrator? Do you want to pave driveways? If you are an expert at driveway repairs, and you have great references, there is a chance I can find a job for you at GDAIS, but it won't be repairing driveways. So, you better have an idea about what you want to do, and put it in the objective statement. You can start by reviewing the job sites of companies and learn their lingo. GDAIS has facilities people. They get folks to repair driveways, drywall, move desks, etc. If your resume indicates you can work on your own at any task with minimal supervision, then I might get you into this job.

How many resumes do you have? I have one resume that I hand out at the local job fairs. It is a grocery list of positions I've held, success stories by $$ value, as well as training and specialized skills. It gets responses. When I see a specific job I want, I rewrite the resume and "tune" it to the job. If is is a job in Defense, then I emphasize my military background. If it is a job in Intelligence, I emphasis my intelligence experience. I also emphasis different parts if the job is technical versus managerial. Right now, I have 8 different resumes that I have submitted. I only expect the resume to get my foot in the door. I have to sell me.

Selling me involves researching jobs before I go interview. I do an search on similar job openings and look for key trends. I search openings in other companies to find key information. I call friends and ask them if they know what the job is, what happened to the last person, and how is the company doing with regards to their customer? Even in D.C. the community of my skill holders is relatively small. There is information to be had, if you look for it.

OK. That's my 2 cents for today. I need to go search the GD website for openings. I don't have the desire to rant about HR today, maybe some other time.

At Last

At last (insert Etta James singing "At Last" or Cyndi Lauper) the deck/screened in porch is done.  The company did a very good job.  The only exposed wood is the framing.  The decking, screening and railing are all composites.  The doors are aluminum.  The builder even  put screen underneath the deck so the bugs couldn't sneak in.  There is a screened in area, an open area for the barbeque (on the right) and there are lights on all the steps as well as lights over the doors.  The down side is we signed a contract in April and it was 15 weeks before they even started.  I thought we were in a slow down.  You'd think that they could provide a dozen people to do the work.  We had one or two.  I'll admit they had a task because they had to build it over a sunroom.  I don't think it should have taken 3+ months to get started and 3+ months to build it.  What I should have done is included a performance clause.  My hindsight is perfect.   A performance clause wouldn't have gotten the deck done earlier, but I could have financially punished them.   Each of the doors have dog doors.  There is a fan in the screened in area. There are motion activated lights everywhere.  The step lights are on a timer.  This deck should last at least another 20 years.  The last deck lasted just over 22 years.  The deck wasn't done for summer, so we'll have to enjoy the fall and barbeque until the first snow.  

The End

I created a Facebook page. What a fascinating concept. A giant billboard on the highway of life that many people drive by and say "I know that guy!" Such an occurrence happened when LuAnn saw my Facebook page and sent me a note.

Some background is necessary here. LuAnn's family and my family spent lots of time together, in Europe, camping. We were supporters of the Boy Scouts of America, we had kids in scouts and we were leaders. LuAnn's husband, Andy, was a riot, a hard worker, and a good, very good, friend. On one occasion our families were touring the castle Neuschwanstein in Germany, supposedly the model for the Disneyland Castle. http://www.castles.org/castles/Europe/Central_Europe/Germany/germany7.htm
The castle is huge. We were strolling through the kitchen, the area where the maids/butlers, whatever stayed, and I noted that the maids had a long way to go when the king wanted some coffee. Andy stated - "It would be a long way to go for a quickie!" Andy's son, Andrew queried, "What did you say dad?" Andy then had the stark realization that he had been overheard and was on the verge of having to provide a class in sex education, in the midst of a tour with a bunch of American and European tourist. Andy tried his best to stave off the inevitable by saying "Nothing", "never mind", and "it doesn't matter". Andrew persisted and when Andy quit acknowledging the question Andrew stated, "I know what you said Dad, you said Cookie!" What a great laugh we had over that for a long time. I loved asking Andy if he had gotten any cookies lately.

Fast forward to 10+ years later, Andy was a regular addressee on my emails that go out disseminating jokes. Andy didn't answer those emails, few people do. Every now and then I'd send a "comms check" and Andy would roger up - nuff said. My last comms check was in the spring of 2007, and Andy roger'd up.

Last week LuAnn saw my Facebook page and sent me a note asking about my family. I gave her the update and asked how things were in Texas (which is where they lived). LuAnn broke the news to me that she and Andy had moved to Utah in the summer of 07 to take care of family. Shortly after that Andy got sick and passed away in the winter of 2007. The sorrow that flooded over me is unmeasurable. Andy was like a brother in so many ways, and in some ways better than the brothers I have. The Internet and Facebook is a curse. I could have been ignorant of Andy's passing, and ignorance would have been bliss compared to the sorrow. We have lost one of those people who made a difference in the lives of the young.

Now what do I do? Do I delete Andy off my joke list? Should I keep him on it hoping he still gets to enjoy the joke about the monkey and the cue ball? I wonder if there are cookies in heaven. I use to be a Bob White, a good old Bob White too,.....

God Bless Andy Andreassen

Translating by Google

A friend sent me a link to watch a video - the short film winner at Cannes 2008 http://en.zappinternet.com/video/nilSqaMboM/HISTORIA-DE-UN-LETRERO-THE-STORY-OF-A-SIGN . I started watching the video and there is a sign in the video that says "estoy siego". Being the ugly American that I am, I only speak,read, and write one language. So I hopped over to Google and fired up the translator. Input = estoy siego request translation from Spanish into English. Response= I'm Mowing. That made no sense to me. I watched the rest of the video and they put in some sub titles. Back to Google to resolve the mystery. Input = estoy ciego (which is different than what is written on the sign) - request translation from Spanish into English. Response = I'm Blind. So siego=mowing and ciego=blind. Who knew? Nice video. I don't think it was a winner, but it is nice. Why doesn't the guy in the nice suit leave money?

Discrimination

I have no eye hand coordination. At the tender age of 10 my parents signed me up for Pee Wee baseball. The first time I got hit in the face with a thrown ball my teeth cut through my lower lip and it took 3 stitches inside and 3 out to patch me up. After that, in addition to not being able to catch a ball, I was afraid of the ball. I was such a crummy player that when the other team didn't have enough players for the game I was assigned to the other team. I always ended up in left field. When balls were hit towards me I would run to the outfield, to get away from the ball. I'd wait for the ball to hit the ground then I would run up, grab it, and throw it to third base. The team I was playing for was pissed because they thought I was trying to make their team lose. My team was laughing in the dugout because they knew I couldn't catch the ball. That pretty much ruined me for team sports. With that background, I never developed eye hand coordination or decent reflexes. Now I sit in my cave with an XBOX 360 trying to survive in on-line play such as Call of Duty 4. The verbal abuse I get is pretty stiff ( I now know what PWND means - pronounced POWNED!!!). I've gotten to the point that I unplug the headset and turn the TV volume off and shout "F" "U" at the other players - they can't hear me. Today my son introduced me to a neat song, it is a song from an XBOX game "PORTAL". If it weren't for my son I'd never hear this song http://vimeo.com/1612411. Why? Well you have to finish the game to hear the song during the credits http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RthZgszykLs . With my eye hand coordinatin I'm lucky to finish my beer, I'll never finish the game. Sometimes life sucks. Baseball sucks. I am glad I have a son and nieces and nephews to enlighten me. I don't think I needed to learn PWND.

Is this good or bad?

During the month of April I signed a contract to have a new deck built on the back of my house. This deck will have a barbeque area, and a screened-in porch along with doors and dog doors so the dog can go to the back yard and do his thing (barking at squirrels and birds). (I only have one dog now, but that story saddens me too much to write). Simultaneoulsy I contracted with the same company to put in a new sliding door. These aren't simple tasks, but the work doesn't require a college degree, or so I thought. It is September, the second installation of the sliding door has just been finished - but there is still some touch up. The deck has been under construction for 3.5 weeks and they are still at least a week from finishing. The workers are nice, they have green cards, their manager is out-to-lunch. It is very apparent that the company has taken on too many tasks and they are struggling to get all the jobs done. There are days that no one shows up to work on the deck. No phone call and the excuses are unbelieveable (The lead carpenter had to take his kids to school so none of the workers wanted to show up). In reality the builders are running to other jobs to help people who scream louder than my wife. Yesterday, the main water line running into the house sprung a leak. Luckily I have insurance for that so the $15,000+ replacement effort will cost me $3.50 a month for another year. The cable for TV and computer has a degraded signal, the company will have to replace all the cable from the street to the house. And the deck builders cut a wire to the back porch light and didn't bother to tell me. That $800 repair (it cost a lot to have someone show up at the house at 10PM) will be charged to the deck company. The builders knew they cut the wire and I found out about it when I called the company to complain about their lack of progress. "Didn't they tell you they cut the wire? They told me?" It has been an extremely frustrating week and I haven't even mentioned the older brother and his inheritance check.

Carry a Message to Garcia

“By the Eternal! There is a man whose form should be cast in deathless bronze and the statue placed in every college in the land. It is not book-learning young men need, nor instruction about this or that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies; do the thing — "Carry a message to Garcia.”

http://www.roycrofter.com/garcia.htm

It's my work ethic. I believe it, I practice it. I learned it from my Dad when it didn't have a name. I'm pretty confident that my Dad never heard of the phrase "Carry a message to Garcia". Dad lead by example, and this says how my Dad lives his life.

Working, or not

So here I float at 80 FSW (Feet Salt Water), where the air temperature is about 90 degrees and the water temperature is about 85 degrees. My dive buddy is simultaneously taking a still photo of me as I take a video with him in it. What a great trip. 17 dives (two at night), over 15 hours of bottom time, magnificant coral reefs, lots of fish, and several hundred miles of boating. http://http://www.blackbeard-cruises.com/

Definitely one of the best trips I've had. The weather cooperated, we didn't have the mal-de-mar issues that happen with waves because we didn't have waves, hardly. Standing on deck at night, or day, the views were incredible. It has been many years since I've stared at the night sky and been able to identify so many constellations and see shooting stars almost hourly. Then to be standing on the deck with coffee in hand, waiting on the sun is always a great event. I need to do this more.

Apology Airways

Yes, they should change their name to Apology Airways. I can't even chance a count at the number of times the flight attendants, the captain, the flight deck, etc apologized. Not to mention the personnel at the ticket counters. We're sorry your flight has been delayed, we're sorry your flight has been cancelled. We're sorry that we don't have an answer. We're sorry we don't know where to find your bags. We're sorry that there are no other flights. We're sorry that the APU isn't working so the A/C doesn't work on the ground. We're sorry about the confusion in seating, were sorry this flight is full. We're sorry but we've overbooked this flight. We're sorry we don't have enough ground crew to get your bags in time for you to catch your next flight. We're sorry, sorry, sorry. I'm not sorry, but I'll avoid Bahamas Air on any future travel. Supposedly there are fewer people flying, caused by the poor economy. You'd think the airlines would be trying harder to make the passengers happy. Instead they charge $2 for all drinks (yes that includes Cokes), $6 for a blanket rental, $3 for a pillow rental, $2 for earphones, etc. etc. They are sorry.

Movies my Dad liked and would watch multiple times

A long long time ago there was a drive-in theater in Beloit, the Fiesta Drive-In (I wonder if the Main Street Theater is still there/open). Once in a while Mom and Dad would take the herd to see a movie. I remember playing on the playground beneath the screen, laying on a blanket in front of the car parking space, and eating popcorn that we had popped that afternoon. I can't remember any of the movies that we watched.

A long time ago (1984), my parents were visiting my wife, son and I. To give my wife a break, I decided to take my parents to see a movie - just released "Ghostbusters". I was proud about the fact I could: 1) afford to take my parents, 2) caring enough to give my wife a break(here I'm taking way more credit than I deserve - more than likely we were chased out), 3) smart enough to find a movie I believed my parents would like. On the ride home my mom said it was okay (she didn't like it) and my Dad said he hated Bill Murray (I extrapolated that to mean he didn't like the movie).

Years later, during a discussion with my dad, I found out his favorite movie. I figured out it was his favorite because when I got him on the phone he said he was in the middle of watching his favorite movie. So your mission is to figure out his favorite movie. It was released in 1964. It starred Michael Caine, James Booth and Nigel Greene. Nigel Greene does an outstanding performance as Colour Sgt. Frank Bourne. I have this movie, I like it, but not enough to go on my list.

My Dad doesn't have a dog. There is a dog. Probably, maybe, belongs to some member of his family such as a son, grandson, daughter-in-law, etc. He doesn't know. It isn't important to him either. He doesn't know the dog's name (Angel) and can't remember the dog's name. It isn't important in his relationship with the dog. The dog visits him several times every day (the dog lives in his house) and when the dog visits, he takes the dog outside. The dog "does his business"(don't know if it is a him or her but the name indicates a her - Dad doesn't care what he is-it isn't important.). Then they look around the yard and then come back in the house. This past week the dog brought Dad a gift, a kitten. Dad said the dog just walked up and had a kitten in its mouth. Dad took the kitten out of the dog's mouth. He said he looked and the kitten was none the worse for wear, but the kitten was covered in slobber. Dad put the kitten back where it belonged and then told the dog he best leave those things alone. Dad likes the dog. Dad likes the cats.  My Dad doesn't have a cat.

U-352 off the coast of Morehead, NC. Actually a mosaic.

At the Quarry, water temp about 55 degrees, as long as you don't go any deeper than 30 feet.

With a boom boom in my eye

My taste in music runs the gamut of types. Morris Massey explains my music evolution as, "What your are is where you were when" http://www.rctm.com/Products/change/5712.htm

I like Eddy Arnold, probably because the John Deere tractor radio only picked up KFRM, Big 550, which was known as K-Farm radio, on the AM. http://www.kfrm.com At the time they had a play list of about 30 songs with Eddy Arnold probably having 5 of those 30 songs.

As I entered the military it was Harry Nilsson (Moon Beam and Without You), Grand Funk etc. They still exist on my IPOD. Anyway, the movie American Beauty had a song on it I liked, I found that song last year and loaded it on my IPOD - "Woke Up This Morning" from Alabama 3. I started listening and never understood the hook line. "Woke up this morning with a boom boom in my eye". Today I looked up the lyrics - now I feel real stupid. The full length version of the original song is better than this youtube link, but you'll hear the hook. On my IPOD it has a great beat, great for the cool down part of my jog.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgoyXJiZqLk

p.s. I know the definition of a Blue Moon.

Hiding in plain site

During June I went to Curacao to go Scuba diving. (I guess for Miss Red Pen I should spell it S.C.U.B.A.) I came back with about 4 hours of video recordings which I trimmed to about 40 minutes, made a DVD and then gave a copy to each of the trip participants.

So, I stayed at the Sunset Waters resort and went diving with Sunset Divers. On one of my dives at the "house reef" I found a Peacock Flounder. The good news is I thought to turn on the camera, the bad news is I had prepped the camera for depths beyond 30 feet and this was in about 15 feet of water. Watch closely near the end of the video to see how the peacock flounder changes color to hide from predators.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd1dJcHinEo

Preparing a camera for beyond 30 feet of depth involves putting a red lens on the front of the camera. Since this lens is external to the camera I have to get all the bubbles off it, clear the smears etc. Then you get a red tinted picture until you get to about 30 feet, then the pictures look normal because at 30 feet the color red has been filtered out by the water, and put back in by the lens.

The camera I use isn't made anymore (Moore's law and that 18 month thing). The link below will give you a fairly good idea what my rig looks like, just think tape instead of disc.
http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/sony_dvd101.html

They are putting a new fire alarm system in the building, so for the past hour the whoop whoop, flash flash of the alarm continues to go while the fire marshals try to look in all the rooms and see if we will notice an alarm. Luckily I have permission to bring my IPOD into the facility. The earplugs are in, and the volume is up.

So what am I listening too: Podcast - Car Talk
Songs, etc - BOCA (Best Of College Acapella), Carole King, ABBA, Sarah McLachlan, Lyle Lovett, Janie Frickie, Harry Nilsson, Emo Philips, Carbon Leaf, Imogen Heap, Dire Straits, Blue October, Starship, and more. Maybe next time I'll list the song names. Current Comedian of note -Tim Wilson.

Places to go scuba diving

My next scuba diving trip. I'm traveling with George Mason University on Blackbeard's cruises. Cruise is misnomer. This is a boat that is designed to hold two dozen divers and a crew of five. This is hardcore camping at sea so you can scuba dive. I've been on this boat before, I just haven't been to this location. I'm excited.

Truth in Advertising

Philosophy

My dad was a great philosopher. He doesn't remember how great he was, I guess that's my job. One of my first lessons in philosophy involved a washing machine. Many of my lessons involved fixing and building things for other folks. After all, in the Midwest my parents needed additional income to support four boys and one girl, all about 1 year apart in age. That's a fair amount of food. But I digress. I'm helping dad fix a washing machine and he sends me to find some tool of mass destruction. Probably a left-handed monkey wrench (Dad had a sense of humor). Anyway after an enternity of searching - time was measured the number of times dad said, "Haven't you found that damn thing yet!", I found the tool and proudly carried it to my dad, laying on the floor, dripping in sweat and waste water. I then proclaimed, "It was in the last place I looked!", and dad responded, "I'm glad you stopped looking when you found it". The philosophy lesson here is that you should stop looking when you find things. That could be a significant other, lunch, a magazine, etc. Know when to stop looking

Truth in advertising

I came across the following bargain as I was looking for my next scuba diving trip:

"scuba diving trip aboard the Utila Aggressor July 26 - Aug 2, 2008. $1700 Retail value $2195 Air Fare NOT included; additional $370 plus tips due on board at end of charter. "

The trip normally costs $2195. This special says it only costs $1700, but you have to pay an additional $370 at the end of the trip- for what?. So the cost is really $2070. Why don't they say that?

The airlines are doing the same thing with their baggage fees. The airline ticket might be $500, but then you have to add $25 for your first bag and $50 for the second. They don't want to add the cost to the ticket because the internet pricing systems will see the tickets costs $575 instead of $500.

Catalyst for Change

I had an Uncle who passed away 31/2 years ago. It was termed a "hunting accident" but really he just fell off the tailgate of a pickup as he and his friends were riding to a different pheasant hunting location. He didn't leave a will. He did leave behinds friends and family.
The whole event was a catalyst for change, some good and some bad, but I'm convinced that is how life is mapped out. Unfortunately, just like a rainy campout we always remember the really bad times, but, we have such a struggle to remember the really good times. Put Blue Hill Nebraska in both columns. Put cold beer (for an underage kid) at the end of a wheat harvesting day in both columns.

TDF - Tour De France

I like the TDF. Luckily, I have the benefit of some professionals who have helped me understand the teams, tactics, and just as important - the history. Since Lance retired, it is hard to get local coverage on the day's events -thank goodness for the web. http://www.letour.fr/indexus.html

This years tour has changed - there is no Team Time Trial (TTT). When US Postal aka: Discovery would compete it the TTT, I always stayed up to watch the replay at night.

New to Blogging

Signed up, signed in, lets see what happens next.