Do you ever feel like there are just too many things to do and not enough time?
Do you have big goals that you would like to achieve but you just don’t know where to start?
Are you in need of some creative ideas but you seem to be stuck because there are just too many things on your mind?

Yeah, me too.

Back when I was just thinking about starting a blog, I was reading a lot of other blogs for ideas and inspiration. I was looking for how-to type information – how to pick a topic, how to attract readers, etc. Unexpectedly, I found a tool that helped me not only get my blog started, but also helped me in many other areas of my life.

I wish I could remember the blog that introduced me to this, but unfortunately I can’t. In any case, I am very grateful that I was introduced to Getting Things Done with Work-Life Balance. The blogger I read gave it such high praise that I decided to give it a try. I’m glad I did!

Getting Things Done, or GTD, is a time management or work management methodology created by David Allen, a self-described “black belt” in the “martial art” of work and productivity. Allen offers this information in many formats. I opted to purchase the full version with the audio CD’s, workbook and other support tools. I’m glad I did too! Since I already had a problem with getting things done, I didn’t want to add another book to the shelf of books I intend to read – someday.

With the CD’s, all I have to do is put them in my car and within a week of driving back and forth to work, I’ve “read” the whole book. I like to give them a fresh listen at least once a year. The concepts are so simple and actionable that I was able to put them into practice right away.

I will share with you the basic components of the GTD methodology. The subject is far too broad to cover in its entirety, but here is a brief overview.

Collect

The first step in the process is very simple and to me, the most fun. Everything you’re commited to do and you haven’t done yet – write it down. Whether you write it on paper or capture it electronically is not important. Whatever you’re most comfortable with.

The Payoff

Putting all your commitments into an external system frees up the part of your brain that keeps trying to remind you of all the stuff you need to do. You know, that part of your brain that wakes you up in the middle of the night to remind you you need to buy milk at the grocery store. That part of your brain is not very smart and has no sense of time. I experienced a literal rush of mental energy and creativity after completing this step.

Clarify

Go through each commitment collected in the “collect” step and define what it means. Simple tasks like “buy milk” need no further clarification. Anything that requires multiple steps and can’t be completed in one sitting, Allen defines as a “project” that must be clarified. The great thing here is, you don’t have to figure out all the steps in the project. All you have to do, is clarify the desired outcome, and the very next action to move you toward that outcome. That’s it! It’s important to make the outcome as clear and concrete as possible. So for example, “lose weight” is not a good desired outcome – too ambiguous. “I want my size 32-inch waistline trousers to fit me loosely” is a good desired outcome. It is specific and concrete.

The Payoff

Once completed, this step makes it much easier to engage with those projects that you might otherwise resist because they seem so big and you don’t know how to accomplish them. By defining the next action, you relieve yourself of the stress of figuring everything out and you give yourself some task that you can accomplish and get a win, and feel confident that you are moving toward your ultimate goal.

Organize

This step helps you put “blinders” on so you can focus your attention appropriately. For example, if you’re at work, you don’t need to be reminded to clean your garage because cleaning your garage is something you couldn’t possibly accomplish while at work (assuming your workplace is outside your home). In this step, you organize your tasks and projects onto lists in a way so that they are visible only where they need to be visible.

The Payoff

Once completed, this step reduces unnecessary distractions. When you’re in a meeting with a client, you’re not distracted by phone calls you need to make because that information is “parked” in a system where you know you will see it when you need it. Likewise, when you’re playing with your puppy, you’re not distracted by your strategic plan.

Process

This is where you address your list of actions and you get them done.

The Payoff

Big, amorphous problems are broken down into discreet chunks. You get to experience the feeling of completing tasks and “checking off” things from your list more regularly. You get a tangible feeling of success and winning as each task gets done.

Review

This is where you regularly set aside blocks of time to keep your lists current. Allen recommends a weekly review at a minimum. Not only do you go through the previous steps of the process, but you also define your purpose, vision, goals and responsibilities. During review, you might discover there are some projects you really don’t want to commit to any longer. Deciding not to do something is okay. It’s good executive decision-making to say “no” to things.

The Payoff

This step allows you to look at all your commitments from a higher level. You discover that your work is not something that defines you – rather, it is something you define for yourself according to your purpose and what you want to accomplish in your life. It gives you a sense of empowerment.

If you’re not already using a system or methodology to manage your time and your tasks then I definitely recommend Getting Things Done. Above is just an overview. There are many other nuances and tips that I couldn’t go into here that are worth exploring. I get something out of it each time I review it.

Suggested Resources

In the first post of The Data Whisperer, I presented the relationship between data, information, knowledge, and wisdom. I also defined data and wisdom respectively as “facts taken out of context”, and “knowing and doing the right thing at the right time”. With this in mind, how do we consistently take a bunch of facts and turn them into actionable knowledge? What skills or domain does one study to become proficient in the alchemy of spinning data straw into insight gold? Is it analytics? Visualization? Statistics? Data mining? These are all useful skills, but none is broad or inclusive enough to encompass the systematic practice of turning data into insight. After thinking about this for a long time, I was surprised to find I had learned about this dark art many years ago in elementary school.

As a boy sitting at a desk, I learned of these wizards who turn mere observations into understanding of our world and our universe. I learned the magic they use is powered by methods passed down to them through the ages. These wizards are scientists, and the magic they use is reveled to us mere mortals as scientific method.

In the context of business, Steve Miller suggests here that the scientific method we employ looks like this:

Don’t fret if you don’t have a lab coat and you are not currently surrounded by test tubes and beakers. You don’t need those things to do this kind of science.

Consider this scenario. An accountant produces an annual educational course to teach small business owners what he has learned from decades of analyzing financials of successful and failed businesses. Every year he sends out mailings inviting prospects to a free seminar where participants are offered enrollment in the paid course. The response rate to the mailing is predictable based on past results. On the advice of an expert marketing consultant, one year he makes changes to the format of the mailing to increase response rate. The response rate plummets and the accountant suffers a loss in course enrollments for that year.

The lesson? Don’t make risky decisions based solely on the hypothesis of an expert. Do an experiment instead. The accountant learned he should test changes to a proven mailing by applying the changes to a sample instead of an entire campaign. This little experiment would have insulated him from the risk of losing enrollment in his educational course for the year while still exploiting the possibility of improving his mailing response rate.

So if you want to do more of the right things at the right time, the stuff you need to use is science, which you already learned in elementary school. But don’t throw out the statistics, analytics, visualization, and all the other stuff you learned since then. That stuff will come in handy too!

What’s your story? Have you ever had success employing scientific method to a problem in your business? Ever had a failure where you regret you didn’t? Please share in a comment below.

I recently saw The Social Network. It was a fascinating look at the story of the founders of Facebook. I found it to be thoroughly entertaining and I recommend it if you haven’t seen it.

It is truly amazing that the events in the movie took place such a short time ago given Facebook’s current popularity. A report earlier this year revealed 6.8% of business internet traffic goes to Facebook and by now that figure could be higher. As you can imagine, all this Facebook use at work has employers concerned about loss of productivity and security risks. As a result, some have chosen to restrict access to Facebook or block the site altogether.

So what? What if your employer blocks access to Facebook? I mean, you are using company resources, and those resources should be used in a way that benefits the company. Why shouldn’t they restrict or block access to a site that just sucks up bandwidth and wastes time?

But is Facebook a waste of time? Sure, it can be. But does it have to be? More specifically, is there any business value in allowing employees access to personal Facebook accounts from work?

At one point in the movie, Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) and Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) discuss whether it’s time to monetize their creation. Zuckerberg responds with “we don’t know what it is yet” as an objection. Later in the movie, Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) echos the same sentiment. In the same way the characters in the movie needed to understand what Facebook “is” before figuring out how to capitalize on it, organizations need to figure out what it is in order to understand how it might benefit or harm the business.

So what is Facebook?

First of all, Facebook is not a social network despite the movie title. Rather, Facebook is a website, service, and software platform that helps people build and interact with their social networks. So in a larger sense, in order to understand the business value of Facebook, we have to understand the value inherent in the activity of employees building and maintaining their social networks.

So what is a social network?

A social network is social structure where people or organizations are referred to as nodes, and they are connected by interpersonal ties . These ties can be either weak or strong, and they represent the amount of information that is transmitted between the nodes. A strong tie carries more information and a weak tie carries less information.

It’s all about information

So a social network is really all about people and the information that passes between them. Understanding this flow of information is key to understanding and evaluating the value of a social network. So in terms of information, can you guess which ties (strong or weak) are most valuable within any given social network? Keep reading to find the answer.

This is where the lights came on for me. I did not inherently “get” Facebook. In fact, I remember the first time someone suggested to me that I should sign up for an account. The conversation went something like:

Julius, you should sign up for Facebook. It’s more grown-up than MySpace. I was able to reconnect with a friend from middle school through it. It’s really great!

I think I smiled and was polite and all, but I really had no interest at that point. My personality and perhaps my generation made me disinclined to see any inherent value in establishing digital ties to people I may have known long ago but now are practically strangers.

My attitude changed two years ago when I attended my 20 year high school reunion. (I know, I’m dating myself) That reunion was a blast! Through that experience, I understood how much fun it can be to reunite and catch up. One of the first things I did when I got back to San Antonio was sign up for Facebook.

Ok, so two years ago I went from believing Facebook had no value, to believing Facebook was fun. Like the person who suggested I sign up, I became an advocate and encouraged other people to sign up. Why? Because it’s fun! If anyone had asked me then if there was any business value to being on Facebook I would have responded “that’s what LinkedIn is for”. However, after learning of the relationship between social networks and information, I began to change my tune.

Social network value

I credit Andrew McAfee with helping me see Facebook and other social software platforms in a different light. Because of him, I learned the shocking truth about the value of weak ties. Yes, weak ties! If you guessed (like I did at first) that strong ties are most valuable then you would be wrong.

The theory, first introduced by American sociologist Mark Granovetter in his appropriately named paper The Strength of Weak Ties , goes something like this (paraphrased):

Strong ties carry lots of information, therefore the people who share strong ties also share a lot of common or overlapping knowledge. Weak ties carry little information, so people who share weak ties have less knowledge overlap. What this means is, the biggest potential to receive novel information (something you didn’t already know) is through a weak tie.

So being connected to people with whom I share little common knowledge gives me access to novel information. This was a huge revelation by itself, but McAfee helped me recognize something else about the value of Facebook. He pointed out a specific innovation built into Facebook and other emerging social software platforms that makes it possible to get value from social networks in a way that was not possible with previous forms of communication – the status update.

With a status update, you can post information you want to push out to your network. You can also receive information from your network by reading their status updates. In this way, you can share things with your network they probably didn’t know and you can learn things that you didn’t know. Hopefully, some of the things you learn will be useful to you.

Mobilizing the network

But you don’t just have to hope. A status update also allows you to post a question as well. By posting a question in a status update, you can mobilize your network of weak ties to provide you with information – specific information that can help you resolve a variety of problems. Just because Facebook is social, doesn’t mean the problem can’t be work related.

So maybe you are faced with the dilemma of what to do about all that traffic at your organization going to Facebook. Maybe you have considered blocking access. Maybe you have already blocked it. In either case, make sure you consider the potential benefit of keeping access open. Make sure you don’t make the same mistake I did of believing Facebook has no business value or it’s only about fun. It’s really about information, and blocking access will cut you off from the potential benefit of that information.

So instead of a complete ban on Facebook at work, consider the following strategies:

• Remind employees that work resources are primarily for work purposes and that they should limit social activities to reasonable levels
• Have clear conversations about what information is ok to share and what is not ok
• Train yourself and your employees about the potential business value of social network activity – they may be like I was and think it is only useful for entertainment
• Encourage employees to share updates about company events – new products and services, web seminars, promotions, job openings, etc
• Encourage employees to mobilize their networks to help solve company non-sensitive problems they may be stuck on by posting questions as status updates
• Ask your employees for their ideas on using Facebook for business – especially the younger ones

What do you think? What is your company’s stance on personal Facebook access from work? Are you convinced like I am that there is potential business benefit to keeping Facebook access open at work or do you think it’s hogwash? Please feel free to weigh in with comments below.

I recently read a discussion from the CIOs.com: Chief Information Officer Network group on LinkedIn called What’s missing from Business Intelligence? (Please note you will need to have a LinkedIn account and be a member of this group to view the discussion for yourself)

The conversation was kicked off with a claim that 54% of organizations do not realize the desired benefits from the Business Intelligence (BI) solutions they have implemented. The community was polled for their plans to overcome the common business and technical challenges of BI implementation and their thoughts on what’s missing from BI.

Having been a part of several large IT initiatives that have both succeeded and failed, I had my own ideas about the cause of BI failures. I have found it is easy for people to get so caught up in the features and functionality of the system being implemented, that they lose sight of the purpose for which the system is being implemented in the first place.

What Are You Trying to Accomplish?

A perfect example of this can be seen in this blog post where the author was approached by several different people at a conference asking for his advice on choosing a vendor for a Master Data Management (MDM) solution. In his words (paraphrased a bit), each request went something like this:

Which MDM vendor should I choose?

What are you trying to accomplish?

<Some conversation about features and functionality>

So, what are your priorities?

We know we need MDM, but our company hasn’t really decided what MDM is. Since we’re already a [Microsoft/IBM/SAP/Oracle/SAS] shop, we just thought we’d buy their product…so what do you think of their product?

This scenario perfectly illustrates what I have seen in IT failures. There seems to be a sincere belief that success can be achieved with the right vendor or set of technological features without first figuring out what you’re doing or why you’re doing it or what it really means to the company’s mission, purpose, and strategy.

Now, back to our LinkedIn discussion.

I felt the topic of “What’s Missing From Business Intelligence” was a perfect opportunity for a technology-centric conversation. I was sure there would be lots of comments about the must-have features and cutting-edge technology. I wondered how many comments there would be before anyone spoke to the business purpose and strategy side.

Intelligence First

To my surprise (and much to my pleasure I might add) it wasn’t long before I saw comments that spoke about the need to understand what you’re trying to accomplish from a business perspective before you can hope to be successful with BI technology. One comment by Carol Rizzo came early in the discussion and really set the tone for future comments. Here is what she had to say:

In my opinion, there are no tools that can provide insight if you do not know which questions to ask, and cannot identify which information/data is relevant to getting you the answers, or what you might do differently if you had the information. This may today be called BI, but the same issues exist in CRM and previously in EIS (Executive Information Systems).

Call me old fashioned, but I have built realtime information systems for traders. They don’t know the answer but they generally have a good idea of what data is in the mix and what patterns or ranges or contrarian behavior they need to see in order to make good decisions and change their strategy or know when their strategy is beginning to fail.

Sometimes, I think we fail to look at the obvious. If you don’t know the question and which data is key, how can you possibly get the benefit of any business information system. As anyone who has built an expert system will tell you, you model how people make decisions… what information they use and what are the triggers for either gathering additional information or making a decision. YOU NEED THE INTELLIGENCE FIRST!

Respectfully…

“Intelligence first”…I like that!

It’s BI…not AI

Another excellent comment came from Patrick Walker , who explained how some business users may have unrealistic expectations of what BI is and what it can do. Here is what he had to say:

I have worked fairly intensely with corporations on creating “Business Intelligence” systems from the old DSS environments through ERP and CRM into Knowledge Management and differing hybrids.

From this understanding, the problem that I most often face is that the Business seems to have a differing perspective to BI than the technology industry. The business user’s perspective is closer to the perception of “Artificial Intelligence” being BI than just the ability of a system to crunch numbers, scenarios and what-if statements.

Quote from Dr. Mark Humphrys, University of Edinburgh

What is AI? In some sense it is engineering inspired by biology. We look at animals, we look at humans and we want to be able to build machines that do what they do. We want machines to be able to learn in the way that they learn, to speak, to reason and eventually to have consciousness.

Therefore the business user is looking for BI to be informative about what does the business need to know, rather than the business asking the question.

BI for the business seems to mean “Tell me something”, I shouldn’t have to ask, where my profit losers are, and the systems should tell me when it happens and why.

The business seems to want a system where it, the business, doesn’t have to programme the information or knowledge, just the raw data and the knowledge and information and how to use them are magically produced by the system. We dot think, the machine does it for us.

Therefore, until we can explain to the business that BI is a co-operative, symbiotic relationship where business needs to provide as much intelligence and the system will produce improved intelligence,there will never be a happy understanding of BI and it will always fall short from a business perspective.

Summary

So, how do you succeed at Business Intelligence? Start with the business (purpose, mission, strategy, etch.), add intelligence and stir. Seriously though, if you are considering implementing BI, consider the following before discussing tools and technology:

• Define your questions – What are the strategic decisions in your business that you need to be smarter about? What questions, if answered, would make those decisions better?
• Define your action – What would you do differently if you had the answer to your question? You can’t expect to gain business value from a BI initiative if you don’t plan to take action based on the knowledge you gain.
• Identify the data needed to answer questions – Resist the temptation to begin a BI initiative data-first. Start with the questions and then identify the data that will be helpful in finding the answers because…
• “Business Intelligence” is not “Artificial Intelligence” – Don’t expect to simply throw raw data at BI tools and have them “tell me something”. Manage business user expectations accordingly.

Now it’s your turn. What has been your experience in implementing Business Intelligence? What helped your success? What was the cause of failure? What would you do differently if you had to do it over? Please share your experience and reactions in the comments area.

Do you consider the role of the CIO as focusing on creating value through technology, or first and foremost running an efficient IT shop?

This is the question that was posed to a CIO discussion group on LinkedIn. The discussion was extremely lively and there were tons of insightful, intelligent responses favoring both sides of the question. Below is my take on these responses and my reaction to them.

Core IT First, Add Value Second

Many replied that a CIO must focus on running an efficient IT shop FIRST, or else he/she will never have the credibility and trust with the other C-Suite executives and board members to get approval for “value add” activities. There is some truth to this statement. Certainly credibility can be damaged if users are constantly frustrated with unreliable systems and poor support. However, generating business value through technology is not some lofty goal that can only be achieved AFTER core IT processes are perfected. On the contrary, business value should be the driver for all IT activities. For example, suppose some IT systems supporting complex, unique back-office functionality are not running smoothly. A lot of time and energy can be expended focusing on getting these systems to run smoothly. A focus on business value allows a CIO to evaluate the business processes themselves and not just the IT systems that support them. If these unique processes are not differentiators for the business, business value can be generated by simplifying and standardizing these complex processes instead of supporting them with complex IT solutions. Of course, that same CIO will need to be equipped with some good communication and persuasion skills in order to convince some IT consumers within the business to part ways with these pet processes.

CIO Is Strategic, Managers Are Operational

Many comments stressed generating business value through technology as the most important job of the CIO. Many commenters agreed that the business value-focused CIO should delegate operational aspects of IT to a capable operations manager. In other words, the “real” job of the CIO is to generate value for the business through technology while day-to-day operations are a distraction. While I agree the “real” job of the CIO is to generate value for the business, I disagree that the CIO gets to have all the fun! Generating value for the business is everyone’s job – not just C-Suite executives. The next great innovative idea to reach new customers, offer new products, or expand to new geographies may exist in the mind of someone lower in the organization than the executive level. It would be a shame for the business to lose out on these great ideas because the CIO is a “business value hog”.

The Conflict Resolved

Because of the way the question was posed, many of the responses favored one side or the other. Some commenters recognized this fact and pointed out that the question is really a false dichotomy. Many agreed that running an efficient IT shop and generating value for the business through technology are harmonious goals that need not be placed at odds with each other. Running an efficient IT shop generates value. If you truly focus on business value, you will not ignore running your IT shop smoothly. Although the question may not have been perfect, it was good to see so many willing to take a step back and exchange ideas on IT leadership.

Now it’s your turn.

What do you think should be the primary focus of a CIO?

In a recent blog post, Andrew McAfee suggests a model for developing superior business processes may have been discovered in the world of chess.

In 1997, IBM created a computer that was able to beat the world champion Garry Kasparov for the first time and it only cost them $10 million to do it! Today, because of computing advances, commercially available chess programs running on standard hardware can consistently beat even the best human players. The cold, calculating precision of the machine is just too much for the human player.

Our deep-rooted mistrust of the coldness of machines prohibits us from turning over our most trusted decision-making to them. In the 2004 movie I, Robot, Will Smith’s character, Detective Del Spooner expresses this sentiment while describing an incident where he was rescued from a sinking automobile by a robot. The robot decided to save the detective instead of a young girl in the same situation based on a calculation of chance of survival. Regarding the girl’s low chance of survival compared to his own, Spooner says:

11% is more than enough. A human being would have known that.

Is there any reconciliation between man and machine? Surprisingly, McAfee points to recent research that a partnership between man and machine is not only possible, but may be the most powerful combination available. In chess competitions allowing any combination of humans and machines, it was found that a human plus a weak laptop were able to consistently beat even the strongest computers.

McAfee’s post is fascinating and worth a read. I encourage you to check it out.

Did Garry Kasparov Stumble Into a New Business Process Model?

So what do you think? Is it possible for humans to embrace a partnership with computers?

The Purpose Alignment Model

The model consists of two axes with regions divided into four quadrants. First, the “‘market differentiating” axis displays the degree to which a particular activity differentiates you in the marketplace. In other words, this activity helps you gain market share. These are the things that make you “different” or “special”. The second axis is the degree to which activities are mission critical. In other words, while they don’t help you gain market share, these activities are important and the business will be put at risk if they are not done well.

About the Quadrants

• The highly differentiating, highly mission critical activities are the truly differentiating activities of the organization. These are the activities where the organization needs to excel and innovate and be the best. Creativity and experimentation in tactics and analytics to measure the success of these activities should abound in this quadrant.
• The highly mission critical, low differentiating activities are “parity” activities. While these activities are highly valuable to the organization, they do not derive their value from being unique or special. On the contrary, these activities derive value from adhering to industry best practices and standards and being simplified as much as possible.
• Highly differentiating activities that are not mission critical require some thought to determine if they should be taken on or not. These are opportunities to partner with another entity to add this capability and eventually move it into the “differentiating” quadrant.
• Finally, anything that doesn’t differentiate you and isn’t mission critical is something you should stop doing.

Applying the Model

The first thing you have to do is determine the one or two things you do that are truly differentiating for your organization. Yes, it will be only one or two things. You can’t be the best at everything.

The next thing you do is find out where your activities fit into the model and agree to treat them accordingly. Don’t be disheartened that a lot of activities fall into the “parity” quadrant. Just understand that simplifying and standardizing parity activities will free capacity for you to use your creativity to excel at your differentiating areas.

More Information

I’ve just provided a brief introduction to this model here and I highly recommend the following resources for more information.

Breaking the Project Management Triangle – InformIT article

Four Things a CIO Can Do To Deliver Immediate Business Value – Video presentation hosted on on24.com. Requires registration with an email address to view. It is about 50 minutes in length but very entertaining. This is the only place I know of where this presentation can be viewed. I searched for a YouTube version with no luck.

What do you think of Nickolaisen’s model? In what ways do you think it might help your organization make better decisions? Do you disagree with the model? Do you think I need art lessons? Please feel free to share and comment.

As a database developer, I normally focus on data structures and code, and not on database administration. Recently, I worked on a small project where I had to take on the database administration role as well. As such, the project reached a point where I had to make a backup of the data mart I had built. Later on, at lunch, I shared the experience with another developer friend.

Me: I just backed up a database.

Friend: How did you make sure the database was in a consistent state – or whatever it is? I hear that’s really difficult.

Me: I shut down the database.

Friend: Oh, then you cheated.

Me: How is that cheating?

Friend: What if the database had to be available 24×7? Then you’d have to take the backup with the database running – and that’s more difficult.

Me: But my database doesn’t need to be up 24×7. I have two users. I told both of them the database would be unavailable for a little while and had it back up in about fifteen minutes. No big deal.

The point my friend was trying to make was that if I had taken a hot backup, I would have learned a new marketable skill. I’m all for gaining new skills and always looking for opportunities to learn new things. However, I don’t believe in unnecessarily complicating a process in order to do so.

In this particular case, it wasn’t necessary for the database to run 24×7, so I shut it down to take a backup. If the database did need to be up 24×7, I would have taken a hot backup. Even in that case, I wouldn’t invent a hot backup process unless it was absolutely necessary. Most likely, I would consult the documentation and user forums of the particular database engine to mimic a procedure or best practice created by someone else.

In a classroom setting, using the easiest techniques or copying someone else’s solution may be considered cheating. If these practices are still considered cheating in business, then I will cheat whenever possible.

I don’t play golf, but I recently heard a golf-related anecdote I felt was worth sharing.

Prior to taking his shot, an avid golfer pulls out a fancy (and no doubt expensive) GPS unit and proceeds to calculate the exact distance to the hole. “Hmm. Is this accurate?”, he says, and then searches for the nearest distance marker as a quick calibration. After convincing himself he now knew the exact distance from his position to the hole, he began deliberating over which club to use. “Should I use the 6 or the 9?”, he asked his opponent.

Exasperated, his opponent said “you should just hit the ball!”

Finally, after selecting a club, the man walks over to his ball, waggles a bit, and swings. Pow! Straight into the trees and nowhere near the hole.

“You see! You should have just hit the ball. You’re not that good.”

Information Overkill

In this case, knowing the exact distance to the hole, or exactly the right club to use, made no difference to our golfer because he lacked the skill to consistently hit the ball in the intended direction. Instead of being concerned with high tech devices and the accuracy of his information, he would have been better served by practice – hitting the ball.

Personal Lesson

After hearing this story, I had to laugh at myself. When I decided to start this blog, one of the things I was sure of was that I would use web analytics and data to monitor its performance. I spent a lot of time making sure all of the technical aspects were in place. I created a Google Analytics account and added the java script tags. As I made tweaks to my site, I visited my analytics dashboard to make sure it was registering my activity. I then thought I should add filters on the IP addresses I normally use to access the blog so my activity doesn’t taint the results. Let’s see, there’s this computer, that computer, this work station I use sometimes, and what about my mobile device? Can I filter my phone from the analytics report? How do I identify my IP address? Do I need to contact my wireless provider?

I was really excited about the upcoming launch of my blog and was telling people about it. “Soon” I would answer when friends asked when the blog would be launched. Finally, my wife asked, “When are you going to post something?” It was then I realized my blog wasn’t going to ever be launched if I didn’t start actually doing the activity of blogging! I put my analytics activities on hold from that point and shifted focus to writing ideas.

Data Measures Performance…So Perform First

Don’t get me wrong. I believe in the importance of using data to improve performance. This blog isn’t called “The Data Whisperer” for nothing! I just realize from the story of our golfer friend and from my own experience, that data – no matter how sophisticated and accurate – cannot improve performance that is not built on actions that are consistently and correctly executed. Focus on hitting the ball straight before you worry yourself with accurate distance data. Focus on generating content, attracting an audience and building community around ideas before you worry about the accuracy of your web analytics!

Just hit the ball!

Now it’s your turn. Can you recall a time when you got caught up with the accuracy of information before establishing the correct actions? What did you do to get back on track? Do you still need to get on track?

Suppose you have a software development project that will take you one year to complete. What if you broke the work up into two projects of six months each? Which approach would be better? Would it make a difference? What if you broke the work up into four three-month projects? What about six two-month projects? I could go on, but you get the point.

If you’re like me, you may be thinking “what difference does it make as long as the software gets developed?” If so, keep reading. You may just change your mind.

Getting Smarter

If you execute the software development effort as a single project, you have to wait twelve months before your product gets into the hands of the users. For twelve months, you will have developed software without the benefit of the one thing that only users can give you…feedback. Breaking the project up into smaller projects allows you to have the benefit of user feedback from previous “chunks” with each successive “chunk”. Feedback is essential to learning. Smaller projects means shorter feedback cycles which means faster learning. In other words, you get smarter! Longer projects…well, now the title of this post makes sense!

Lessons Behind the Wheel

Still not convinced? Imagine you’re learning to drive a car. Maybe you over-steer. Perhaps you drift out of your lane and hear the “bump, bump, bump” of your tires rolling over the road reflectors. Whatever you do, you’re probably getting immediate feedback – probably from the screaming person in the passenger seat! Now, imagine trying to learn how to drive if you had to preset all of your acceleration, steering, braking and turning moves ahead of time – say for twenty moves at a time. Few automobiles would survive long enough for anyone to learn how to drive.

Start Small for Big Results

I admit I am no expert on agile software development methodologies, but isn’t delivering working software on short schedules one of the core principles? If so, it would appear that agile software development supports faster learning. You may not be ready to jump in and adopt an agile methodology, and that’s okay. But why not look at the next software project you have to plan and look for a way to deliver it in two shorter parts instead of one long part? It’s a step in the right direction and if you learn from the experience, you can try to go for even shorter cycles.

What about you? Do you plan to apply agile techniques to your software development? Have you already adopted agile? Do you think going agile might make you and your organization smarter?