Develop and Follow up Creative Ideas More Effectively (When Internet is All Around)

My main achievement this week is a discovery of a new plan for my creative idea development. Working with computer and Internet access for most of the day, having DSL at home and being alone made my laptop the center of my life for a quite some time. Meanwhile, from November last year, I stopped using my paper idea notebook and Lotus Organizer to switch over to MindManager. While the software seemed to be faster, it’s not a very natural way to note down idea very quickly. In stead, it made me focus more on the mechanics and structure than the idea itself. After testing a few personal note tools, I ended up using EverNote. I found EverNote quite fast to quickly capture and classify the information and notes.

However, all of a sudden, I spent most of my day on the computer. I kept reading new things and switching from one task to another. I lost my concentration and my productivity seriously dropped. I had no time to think more the ideas I had. Even worse, I wasn’t able to note down many ideas and they kept vanishing shortly after. I felt frustrated and stressful.

On my wedding anniversary, I decided to treat myself better than normal. I was relaxing after a good dinner when the light bumb went up. I suddenly realized the need for a focused but natural way of noting down and developing ideas. For those purposes, computer with Internet access is worse than bad a tool – it is a distraction.

Here are my new practical plan for idea capturing and development:

1. Plan time slots for discovery. Read news and trends or the like early everyday. Plan in low-productivity cycle of the day one short slot to collect and filter things you will read. I normally scan newsletters, my blog subscriptions and recommended books at the beginning of the afternoon, after lunch time. Reserve a fixed slot during week days and a longer one in weekends to read new topics or discover online. Don’t forget your paper idea note then.

2. Define no-computer and Internet period to have time for thinking and reading. Print out documents may need to read during no-computer period.

3. Use sources and tools properly, and in combination with others:

- Paper notes to immediately capture ideas. Define follow ups and additional information required, better with pens in different colors.

- Mind maps to visualize and concisely communicate ideas or with explanation

- Computer-based or online note tool to capture and categorize information

- Personal blog or forums to communicate and develop ideas with network, based on paper notes

- Calendar to plan and keep track of action items from the paper notes

- Internet and books to collect information when have clear purpose and intention

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Where the ERP hype in Vietnam can go wrong and what to do with it? (1)

Inspired by a recent discussion in Connek forum and my conversation with a friend, I decided to take a look at the ERP hype in Vietnam and point out the problems as well as solutions for those.

In my opinion, Vietnamese ERP market is definitely in the “Slope of hype” (which I will explain later in this series). All the IT papers and Web site dedicate a large part for ERP, CRM, or the like. Companies bring to market a new product every month. IT companies are talking about ERP, students are talking about ERP, even some blue-screen business managers are doing so, too. In Mao’s words, it’s a “hundred flowers blooming”. Is this a huge market? I would argue it is NOT YET a market. It’s just the beginning of a hype cycle. The reasons why it can go wrong at the same time explain why it’s a hype. Some of them come from IT vendors, some from customers and the rest is the communication problem between these groups.

Within the remaining time I have today, I will point out the first problem with the vendors and leave the rest for the next posts.

I. Problems from Vendor’s side

Why I start with IT vendors? Since the situation in Vietnam is a selling hype, where vendors are using “inside-out” approach to sell their new products. The opposite is “outside-in” approach, where vendors look at the real needs of customers and build products to address these. Some will argue that IT vendors did take these needs in mind and create cool, suitable products. It’s easy to check. How many ERP customers and how many vendors and products are there now? There are a large group of vendors chasing a handful number of customers. How many customers have adopted ERP so far? If it’s a real demand, why did it take so long? Now, can anyone claim it’s “outside-in” anymore?

I.1. Lack of Process Engineering Mindset and Capabilities

The most fundamental problem I see is the lack of process engineering mindset and capabilities among the IT vendors. If Bill Clinton had talked about ERP in Vietnam, he would have just modified his election campaign’s slogan and said: “It’s process, stupid!” Vietnamese IT vendors didn’t learn the lesson of the dotcom bubble burst. Where the value is really from? In Dr. Kalakota’s words: “It’s not about technologies. It’s all about processes“. (By the way, Dr. Kalakota is a guru and a strategist in e-Commerce, e-Business and m-Commerce, and the author of many excellent books.) Many companies back in 1999-2000 tried to put their money into IT, or open Web sites and trading platforms. These efforts went down to drain as there was no process designed to create, deliver and capture value. Amazon.com and Dell were different because they were very smart in designing and implementing the processes, for which IT was an enabler. Now, let’s do another reality check. How often do you hear or read somewhere in Vietnam about process design and value from process reengineering in ERP implementation? If you cannot remember, don’t try to hard. I found only one article written by a foreign expert, but it serves more to wow than to educate readers of the importance of process engineering.
The root cause, at the same time, where it may go wrong, is the lack of available expertise in this area. In Vietnam, there is no formal training for process analysis and design, which normally taught as a part of Industrial Engineering elsewehere. Scanning all the technical programs offered in Vietnam, none has something coming even close to this discipline. Graduates from overseas in this area coming back to Vietnam? I know only one case, but he is doing his Ph.D. now and he will not go back and do process design in a foreseable future. I would imagine if there are in fact some others, I can count them with just my 10 fingers. How many lucky customers can afford a proper foreign consulting company to do process redesign?

To take an example, let’s look at an article with a catchy name, “The need to differentiate foreign and Vietnamese(-made) ERP systems”, on PCWorld Vietnam. The author claimed that foreign ERP systems do not factor in the issue of accounting posting correction, which happens very often in Vietnam. However, I would rename the article “The need to differentiate foreign and Vietnamese(-made) business analysts and software architects”. In fact, this type of issue should be taken from the process analysis and design with flags and preventive KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to check whether exceptions happen too often to have corrective measure. Any good ERP system should be flexible enough to accomodate such a configuration at deployment, not to hard code it in the software design. The author, who didn’t know about that fact, claimed only his system can. A more serious underlying issue here, which is representative in Vietnamese ERP, is the ignorance of process design and consider this a part of software design. This leads to a process inflexibility at design and all the consequences I will mention in part I.2 of this series.

This all boil down to a painful fact that Vietnamese software development and implementation teams had not taken process analysis and design seriously. By doing so, they charge a huge price but miss the customer’s key objective, the source of return on investment. I would call this dilema “the folly of chasing A while hoping for B” if you will. So may God save the customers’ souls if they have deployed ERP already, and then save the vendors as well, since they will be out of the business soon after.

Coming next:

I.2. Over-customization and Lack of Process Best Practice Knowledge (or Marking the Side of the Boat)

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How to manage (and lead) mavericks

One of my mentors, Dr. Viet Nguyen, once said: “People are born different. One may be like a hammer, another like a scissors. Don’t use a hammer to cut paper then blame it’s bad. Similarly, don’t use a scissors to hit a nail then blame it’s bad, too.” Managers, however often have problem with mavericks, by definition “nonconformists”. Very often, managers blame that mavericks don’t fit with any “normal” plan. I somehow attribute this frustration to the managers’ lack of diversity management skills. Like in my quote before, they try to use the hammer to cut paper.

Managing mavericks is quite an experience. Leading them without power is much more challenging. In my early management career, I once had a maverick in my team, so decided to check Mary K. Pratt’s tips in her “Managing Mavericks” article immediately.

Her 8 tips include:

(1) Engage them. Draw out their ideas, listen to their questions, and provide them with the information they need to fully understand initiatives rather than brushing them off.

(2) Coach them. Help mavericks learn to navigate office politics and present ideas in ways that are appropriate for the company’s culture.

(3) Enlist peers. Ask a colleague to do some peer mentoring.

(4) Work with their strengths. Give mavericks “their own place to play” – a role where their restlessness and skepticism can be channeled to good use, such as working on a team that’s dealing with an intractable problem.

(5) Give them space. Mavericks need challenges and the leeway to meet them.

(6) Beware of the Peter Principle. Mavericks often find that the demands of management don’t mesh with their style.

(7) Show respect. Don’t label mavericks as complainers or troublemakers. Don’t ignore them, either, by passing them over when making assignments to key committees and the like.

(8) Draw the line. Decide how much maverick behavior is too much.

I completely agree with these points, but have a couple of comments. First, showing (and earning) respect and playing their strengths should be the most important of all. Mavericks don’t take things for granted, not even the fact that you are his manager (or leader). Showing respect is the first step to getting one. Play their strengths will help making the kind of connection you need to lead. Enlisting peer is important, but select that peer mentor(s) carefully or you’ll fail miserably. Drawing the line is crutial to keep him productive while preserving some predictability that you need.

More importantly, one lesson that I learned the hard way that I want to add to the list is sell them to your boss, and maybe you successor. Your boss may question your decision, or you may not be there anymore. The last thing you should expect is mavericks will stop being… mavericks, and many managers don’t want them. In my experience, the maverick that I mentored was fired on the same day I announced my resignation.

So much for experience and lesson, but what I like most from the article is this:

“They’re passionate about their work; creative, curious and energetic; willing to take risks; unafraid to stand alone or fight for an unpopular position; evangelical in their passion for change; and at once insightful and annoying. Mavericks provide essential reality checks. Because they may refuse to follow a process they consider stupid, mavericks might be described as complainers, irritants and dissidents. But smart managers recognize their value. Mavericks help people think differently, and they do it by just showing up.”

Uploaded in Heidelberg, Germany (with an empty stomach)

Guy Kawasaki’s Podcast from “The Art of Start”

January 2004, I had a chance to visit Garage.com but didn’t meet Guy. Back to that time, Guy was just another famous Venture Capitalist to me. Today, I came across his blog and listened to his The art of Pitching MP3 and realized that I missed a chance to meet with a very special person. I highly recommend the audio. It is very useful for presenters to perfect their picthes. I have ordered Gay’s book The Art of the Start and will write my impression about it. It looks like a great book from ratings and the table of contents.

Uploaded at: Heidelberg, Germany.