Rohdesign Weblog: Observations

Here you'll find all posts file under the Observations category.

May 19, 2008

First Day at Northwoods

Today was my first day at Northwoods Software and I think it went very well.

The 15 minute commute was enjoyable. It provided a time to mentally shift gears and prepare for work, while enjoying El Ten Eleven tunes in the car.

Everyone was very welcoming, and I felt right at home in the culture, even though I was processing so much information. I know I'll eventually learn the new names, the way things work, and settle into a work groove.

With such a significant change of environment, culture, people and systems to adapt to, a little shock to the system is to be expected. I'm OK with that, because I know this is the way every new job is. It's a challenge, but I'll adapt. Just knowing this is normal, frees me to relax and enjoy the adaptation process.

I found it strange my first day to not being working from my home office. While I'm sure there will be times when it makes sense to work from home, shifting away from the comfort of my regular work environment was a big change.

My office is still very sparse, featuring only a desk, computer, dual screens and two chairs. However, I'm looking forward to adjusting the room orientation, adding furniture, artwork and applying paint to the former hospital room.

Northwoods has a DeLonghi Automatic espresso machine in the kitchen and I plan a daily visit to create creama-topped shots of espresso. Yum!

I'm excited about this new phase in my life. Having an opportunity to be challenged, to grow in new ways, and to share with others is what life is all about. :-)

Permalink | Comments (0) | Observations | add to del.icio.us

May 2, 2008

Clay Shirky & the Power of Disposable Attention

Thanks to Derek Dysart, I was able to hear Clay Shirky's "Gin, Television, and Social Surplus" talk from the Web 2.0 Expo, embedded for your viewing pleasure:

Clay's assertion is that like gin sold from pushcarts helping Londoners cope with the sudden shift from rural farming to urban industrialization, the TV sitcom helped post-WWII society cope with a new surplus of leisure and free time:

If I had to pick the critical technology for the 20th century, the bit of social lubricant without which the wheels would've come off the whole enterprise, I'd say it was the sitcom. Starting with the Second World War a whole series of things happened--rising GDP per capita, rising educational attainment, rising life expectancy and, critically, a rising number of people who were working five-day work weeks. For the first time, society forced onto an enormous number of its citizens the requirement to manage something they had never had to manage before — free time.

He argues that society is awakening from a focus on TV sitcoms, and is realizing that they are in a position to create the content they want. They are able to contribute to the discussion, in ways not possible before:

And it's only now, as we're waking up from that collective bender, that we're starting to see the cognitive surplus as an asset rather than as a crisis. We're seeing things being designed to take advantage of that surplus, to deploy it in ways more engaging than just having a TV in everybody's basement.

What Shirky calls a cognitive surplus, I like to call disposable attention. Some may choose to spend attention on one-way activities like TV, but this is changing with the new generation. Shirky shares this story about one young girl's reaction to TV:

I was having dinner with a group of friends about a month ago, and one of them was talking about sitting with his four-year-old daughter watching a DVD. And in the middle of the movie, apropos nothing, she jumps up off the couch and runs around behind the screen. That seems like a cute moment. Maybe she's going back there to see if Dora is really back there or whatever. But that wasn't what she was doing. She started rooting around in the cables. And her dad said, "What you doing?" And she stuck her head out from behind the screen and said, "Looking for the mouse."

I'm fascinated at how deeply this 4 year old has been impacted by interactivity in her life. She so wanted to have an impact on the TV show she was experiencing that she had to "find the mouse" in an effort to make an impact. Consuming was not enough for her — she wanted to interact.

There are many new opportunities available to us that were not available 10 years ago. We have the power to create. We have the power to write our own stories on blogs, tell them in podcasts and show them in videos. We can contribute to larger projects like Wikipedia or attend BarCamps.

The encouragement to me in all this is we're moving beyond the stage of simply sitting on a couch, accepting what's being presented. We're given the opportunity to create and share our own stories, finding there are others like us out there, interested in our stories and willing to share theirs with us.

Here are a few great parting quotes from Shirky's talk:

Here's something four-year-olds know: A screen that ships without a mouse ships broken. Here's something four-year-olds know: Media that's targeted at you but doesn't include you may not be worth sitting still for. Those are things that make me believe that this is a one-way change. Because four year olds, the people who are soaking most deeply in the current environment, who won't have to go through the trauma that I have to go through of trying to unlearn a childhood spent watching Gilligan's Island, they just assume that media includes consuming, producing and sharing.

We're looking for the mouse. We're going to look at every place that a reader or a listener or a viewer or a user has been locked out, has been served up passive or a fixed or a canned experience, and ask ourselves, "If we carve out a little bit of the cognitive surplus and deploy it here, could we make a good thing happen?" And I'm betting the answer is yes.

Related Links
Transcript of Clay's talk
Book: Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations
Mark Bernstein: Shirky and History

Permalink | Comments (3) | Observations | add to del.icio.us

April 17, 2008

Moleskine Planner Hack: 2 Years Later

Amazing to think that almost 2 years ago, I created my first Hacked Planner from a pocket sized, 192-page, ruled Moleskine notebook. Better yet, I'm still using a hacked Moleskine planner (my 4th) to manage my personal life.

Below is an image of the 4 hacked planners I have used these past 2 years:

I've been wanting to gather my thoughts about the Moleskine Planner Hack for some time. This seems the perfect opportunity to capture my observations:

Still Surprisingly Popular— The hacked Moleskine book photo, with it's myriad hover notes is the most popular image of my Flickr collection, currently at 53,484 views, with and 344 people calling it a favorite. The post on my blog is regularly the highest hit page of my site, which after nearly 2 years amazes me. It would seem logical that creating a custom planner to suit your own needs is striking a chord with people on the net.

Customized to My Needs — I've loved having a planner I can tailor to my needs, even if they change. Pre-printed planners and calendars are OK, but If I need more note pages, I can't add them. If I prefer a different schedule view that fits how I work — out of luck. With a custom, hand-drawn planner, I'm the boss. It takes a little work to create, but the complete control and flexibility it offers is worth the initial effort.

I Write & Sketch More — Having free pages in the back of the book encourages me to write my thoughts, capture ideas and important info, and sketch things I see or are on my mind. Always having paper and pen makes this possible and pleasurable.

Makes a Great Carrying Case — Carrying a Moleskine allows me to keep business cards, coffee cards and other tidbits in the back pocket, so they're handy when I need them. The pocket works great for carrying a backup $20 bill along.

Works Well with Index Cards & Sticky Notes — The pocket sized book works very well with both index cards and sticky notes. I now put my task lists on sticky notes and place them in a tasks area, so they can be easily updated. I can also place sticky notes on the cover of the planner. I can also carry index cards along as needed.

Overall, the experience of moving to a paper-based, custom planner has been very positive. Of course there are some things missing, like a full list of contacts and alarms. However, my iPod touch handles the alarms, and provides access to my contacts (not to mention email and web access with WiFi).

Give the Planner Hack a Try!
If you're on the fence about creating your own Moleskine Planner Hack, why not pick up a Moleskine and give it a try? Visit my dedicated site PlannerHack.com for more details on the hack, and links to other hacks available.

Permalink | Comments (10) | Moleskine | add to del.icio.us

January 9, 2008

Year in Review: 2007

Happy New Year!

I know it's a week into 2008 as I write these words. It's taken a week to process my thoughts on 2007.

Here are a few thoughts on what happened and what I've learned, in no particular order.

Lessons from Belize
In July, Gail and I and 30 others from our church headed to Belize, Central America for a service trip. What an amazing experience. We spent the week visiting nursing homes, running a Vacation Bible School, playing sports and hanging out with the people of St. Margaret's Village. The people were friendly, the food was delicious, and the landscapes were incredibly beautiful. I sketched.

Initially, I found the poverty of Belize, especially in the village, a bit shocking. However, as I lived among the people for a short time, I came to see how content and free Belizeans were with their lack of stuff. It's had an impact, causing me think much more critically about all of the stuff I have, much of it gathering dust or in boxes. This is something that will be dealt with in 2008.

The openness of the villagers was wonderful. On several occasions, small teams walked through the village, stopping to meet people. We'd talk, with no regard for time. In one case we were given fresh pineapple juice and 3 pineapples to go, after a visit with a hospitable Mennonite family. We said thanks with a sketchtoon.

I now realize how truly precious clean water is, after drinking so much of it daily. I'll never look at water the same way again.

Selling & Buying Homes
This year sold our house, buying a little bit larger place. We worked hard to prepare our home, cleaning, storing stuff off-site and staging it for an open house Memorial Day weekend. The hard work paid off in a quick sale (5 days).

Searching for houses tough work too. After staging our home, we were amazed at the condition a few sellers showed their houses in. After hours of visits and showings, we found a place we really love, in beautiful area. I'm just glad it's done.

My advice: locate the best real estate agent you can find to guide you. Be picky. Our agent, Donna Best, spent time educating us, searching house and making everything about the process so much easier. With a trip to Belize in the mix of selling and buying, having Donna on our team was literally a Godsend.

Moving is a Pain
Moving took its toll on my productivity. The new office features a window, which is a great improvement, though I came to see how much work I'd invested in setting up the original office these past 6 years. After 5 months in the new office, I'm just starting to feel settled and on the road to full productivity.

We still have boxes to unpack, and areas to finalize in the house, which is also a bit painful. Fortunately, the opportunity to remake the house into our own space counterbalances the pain somewhat. A remodeled kitchen is on the top of the list.

I Love Blogging
Its amazing to have celebrated 4 years of blogging at Rohdesign in 2007. Back in February 2003, I never would have guessed I'd still be here four years later. I'm pleased that the Rohdesign Weblog has maintained its general nature, while gaining a focus on design in the past couple of years.

I've especially enjoyed sharing my logo and icon design processes, and those post seemed quite popular. In 2007 I've had several readers hire me to help with corporate identities, websites and icon design work. This year especially, I've found my blog is an excellent reference to my design work and thinking, 24/7/365.

Declining Apple
Back in October, I made a decision to decline a job opportunity to apply for the Apple iPhone/OS X team. Since writing that post, I've received many replies from readers, clients, friends and family, thanking me for sharing my story. The more I talk with friends and ponder the choice, the clearer I am about choosing my current path.

Sharing caused a few friends to share their own stories of turning down lucrative or prestigious opportunities. They've all encouraged my decision to choose my family, my work with MakaluMedia and Milwaukee over the glitter of Silicon Valley.

Business was Great
In 2007, business was great. After 3 years starting from scratch in offering my design services, I feel I've stepped to a new level. I'm working with great clients, doing very interesting and challenging work and making a profit.

I've been focusing on several key areas: logo design and branding, web design and icon design. Of these I most enjoy logo design which I can then apply to multiple other mediums like websites, business cards, stationery, manuals, ads — branding. I thoroughly enjoy building consistent packages from an identity, because I know the extra effort provides my clients a competitive advantage. It pays to notice the details.

Working with MicroISVs has been a wonderful, as I have access to the decision maker. Not only does this reduce excess communications with a group, it speeds the decision making process considerably. Plus it's fun being a MicroISV's secret weapon.

A Great Year
Overall, 2007 was a great year for me. Yes, selling houses and moving was a pain, but long-term is was a good move for our family. Belize was life-changing, work was satisfying and fun, and being approached by Apple was a huge highlight.

Thank you for reading my words, leaving comments, sending emails and sharing 2007 with me. I'm looking forward to new opportunities in 2008.

Permalink | | Observations | add to del.icio.us

December 10, 2007

Goodbye Marc Orchant

I heard the news last night that my friend Marc Orchant passed away.

The world has lost a truly great man.

Marc suffered after a massive heart attack last week Sunday morning at his home in New Mexico and never recovered from it.

I met Marc when Jeremy Wagstaff contacted us both about a Loose Wire article for WSJ.com on the Moleskine. We started an email conversation from our shared appearance in that article, and had kept in touch ever since.

In my dealings with Marc, I found him an incredibly optimistic, encouraging and passionate guy. His optimism rubbed off on me every time we talked, and his encouragement of my work and me as a person will not be forgotten.

Even though we never met in person, Marc had a way of immediately treating me as an old friend. I was always encouraged by talks with him, and his high opinion of my work and thoughts. Marc bought the coffee items I created and sold, and constantly supported me with his encouraging words.

Marc, I'm really going to miss you buddy.

Photo: Brian Solis

Permalink | Comments (1) | Observations | add to del.icio.us

December 4, 2007

Brett Favre: Sportsman of the Year 2007

Have you ever wondered why Packer fans in Wisconsin and around the country are so nuts for quarterback, Brett Favre?

Now you can find out: read Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year 2007 Award article.

In this in-depth piece, Sports Illustrated's Alan Shipnuck covers Favre's on-field excellence, leadership role with the Packers, and his efforts off the field with sick and disabled kids in Wisconsin and Mississippi.

I love watching Brett play, but I'm even more impressed and inspired by his off field persona.

The Favre family have been to hell and back the last few years, yet they keep on fighting. Cancer, death, addictions, injury, just about anything a family could experience, the Favres have come through it.

"People here treat us like family, and I think they care for us like family," says Deanna. "Because of everything we've been through, they don't see Brett as untouchable or as some kind of superhero. And they've been through it with us. The fans here feel close to Brett because they've all had their own similar struggles. Nothing against Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, but I'm not sure their fans relate to them in the same way."

It's how they've come through adversity that inspires me. Never complaining about the hand they were dealt, they kept positive and kept fighting, showing their real mettle in how they handled the worst life had to offer.

"The funny thing is, it's not only about the touchdowns and the big victories. If I were to make a list, I would include the interceptions, the sacks, the really painful losses. Those times when I've been down, when I've been kicked around, I hold on to those. In a way those are the best times I've ever had, because that's when I've found out who I am. And what I want to be." — Brett Favre

I love John Biever's photo (above), because it so perfectly captures Brett's attitude.

Congratulations Brett! You deserve it!

Permalink | Comments (2) | Observations | add to del.icio.us

October 30, 2007

SEED Conference Thoughts & Sketchnotes

Whew! I'm back from Monday's excellent SEED Conference in Chicago.

What a great event! The Illinois Institute of Technology and Rem Koolhaas' Tribune Student Center building, was an incredibly cool venue. Funky lines and the architectural space provided a unique backdrop for the sessions of the day.

Carlos Segura
All of the sessions were very good, though the most interesting for me as a designer was hearing Carlos Segura speak. He talked about taking risks and thinking deeper for clients and going beyond only what they ask to figuring out what they really need.

I was especially inspired by the Corbis Stock Photo case study, where Carlos' team changed the stock agency's overall approach to consider their clients (designers) and in doing so, changed an entire industry.

Segura also stressed keeping small, working on projects and with clients you really want to work with. Good work comes from these situations, and by staying small you aren't constantly taking jobs you dislike just to keep everyone busy. In fact, this turned into a thread that connected all of the talks of the day.

Jason Fried
Jason spoke very briefly, so he could open the floor for lots of Q&A time. He recommended these 5 items:

• Watch out for red flags
• Keep your team small
• Make sure your staff has alone time
• Keep meetings short and focused
• Make tiny decisions instead of massive ones

Jason also recommended a small team size, though his perspective focused a little more on communication issues with small vs. large teams and scaling projects to fit your team size rather than scaling your team to fit scope.

I resonated most with Jason's call for alone time. I work remotely, but even though I work alone, there is always a temptation towards IM, email or phone calls, and I find that blocking out chunks of alone time makes a difference. I know this may be a tough one for the multi-tasking generation, but I think it really can help your focus.

Jim Coudal
I loved Jim Coudal's candor and relaxed approach, and especially his openness in sharing his firm's successes and failures. He shared several stories and films, and drew ideas from them. My take away:

• Be curious
• Choose people on their taste
• Don't be afraid to fail

Jim talked about his curiosity and how many of the things he's been curious about have turned into business ideas. Curiosity helps with client work, since you can get to speed quickly and often see a problem from a different perspective than the client.

He also talked about identifying people and hiring them on taste over technical talent. Not untalented people with taste, but rather if you had to choose between two people and one had good taste, go with taste over talent.

Coudal suggested that failures are OK. They're learning experiences which often create opportunities that might never have happened otherwise. You have to learn to identify and capitalize on unexpected opportunities that often grow out of failures.

Discussion Session: Segura, Fried & Coudal
The most interesting of the sessions was the final hour or so of open discussion time with Carlos, Jason and Jim at the front of the room. They fielded all sorts of questions from attendees about their ideas. Questions about small teams, marketing, simplicity, community, building products while still managing client work, questions about creating apps that rely solely on other platorms (Facebook), and more.

Of all the sessions, this was the one I and the 4 other guys I met, thought was the best of all. Why? Because they had a chance to respond immediately and candidly to random questions. I also enjoyed hearing them discuss and explore ideas in depth that hadn't come out in their talks. Finally, it was interesting to hear their similarity of thought and subtle differences of approach and opinion on the same questions.

Sketchnotes
As mentioned last week, I took my pocket Moleskine sketchbook along and captured 17 pages of sketchnotes, from the entire day's talks and discussions, including Carlos Segura, Jason Fried, Edward Lifson and Jim Coudal.

I didn't try to capture everything said during yeterday's event, since others were probably doing that.

Instead, I took time to listen and analyze the talks, distilling and capturing the main ideas I was hearing. By doing a bit of on-the-fly processing, it forced me to boil down what was being said, then express it in ink on the page in a way that would be meaningful to me and to others who might read my sketchnotes later.

To make the notes interesting, I played with typography and images with the sketchnotes, to provide a little texture and depth beyond pages of gray text.

SEED Sketchnotes on Coudal Partners
Seems my notes have struck a chord. Jim Coudal of Coudal Partners emailed about my sketchnotes on Flickr and made mention in their Fresh Signals feed. Thanks Jim!

SEED Sketchnotes on Signal vs. Noise
Awesome! 37signals noticed them too: Mike Rohde's SEED Conference 2007 sketchbook notes. Thanks Matt!

Pretty cool to have speakers and sponsors mention notes taken during the event. :-)

Overall, SEED Conference was well worth the time and price to attend.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Permalink | Comments (5) | Design | add to del.icio.us

September 19, 2007

10 Years of Rohdesign.com

This morning iCal beeped at me, as it sometimes does, though today's message kinda surprised me:

rohdesign.com 10 is years old!

Wow, 10 years! Time has passed qucikly since registering rohdesign.com in 1997.

So much has changed. When I first registered the domain, I was using Adobe PageMill to build my sites, fighting with layout quirks and strange code that seemed to appear when layouts got a bit too complex. What painful days they were.

I had a "Home Page" back then, and I was migrating from a tiny bit of space on AOL's servers, provided as a subscriber. I'd run into limitations with the space, was struggling with PageMill and it was time to take the next step.

I was playing with BBEdit by then, learning how HTML code worked, how to create fast-loading images, exploring FTP posting to my new space with Anarchie.

1997 was also the year I seriously considered joining Matt Henderson in his new company ExpoNet, which later became MakaluMedia, and visited Germany for the 3rd time, to attend the wedding of my friends Martin and Thea.

It's wild to see how far the web has come since 1997, and how I and my friends have changed in 10 years. In some ways I could never have imagined how different 2007 would look, while in other ways, how many things have remained the same.

Happy birthday Rohdesign.com! :-)

Permalink | Comments (16) | Observations | add to del.icio.us

August 29, 2007

Infomania

Today I came across an interesting paper on Infomania — the deadly combination of email overload and constant interruptions. It's a challenging piece, which really got me thinking about Infomania's impact in my work and personal life.

Written by Nathan Zeldes, David Sward and Sigal Louchheim, the paper describes the severe effects of Infomania on productivity and quality of life for knowledge workers, as well as its impact on businesses:

In this work, we show that this phenomenon places knowledge workers and managers worldwide in a chronic state of mental overload. It exacts a massive toll on employee productivity and causes significant personal harm, while organizations ultimately pay the price with extensive financial loss.

Lately, I've been much more aware of interruptions and how they work against my productivity. I've spent about a month setting up my new home office, trying to establish a regular work pattern after the move — It's been difficult. In this in-between state I can see how damaging interruptions can be.

Fortunately, my office and work patterns have now stabilized, and I'm eliminating interruptions and distractions. Even so, there are always temptations to allow interruptions to steal my focus.

Solving this problem would have a positive and immediate impact on organizational results, while restoring computer–based communications technology to its rightful role as promoter of personal and organizational effectiveness.

I have more recently felt the need to physically avoid my office on weekends and evenings. I just want to be somewhere else, so I can recharge for the next day's work.

It's not for a lack of loving what I do — design work, my clients, and the company I work for — there is something deep within me that yearns for separation.

Time away from the computer during the workday is refreshing. I'm fortunate that a large portion of my work is research, thinking and sketching with pencil and paper.

What about your situation?
Do you feel the pressure of Infomania at work, at home? Do you have established times away from technology for refreshment? Have a journal you can write, sketch and get away from technology in?

I recommend Reading the paper and pondering the evidence.

Thanks to Dave Gray for the Infomania link!

Permalink | Comments (7) | Technology | add to del.icio.us

June 14, 2007

"Trying to look good limits my life." — Stefan Sagmeister

I love that quote from Stefan Sagmeister.

It questions concerns with looking good, in context of being real and taking risks. Trying new things. Doing something that may not exactly fit your image.

Why are we so concerned with looking good?

Of course, I understand why on one level. You want to look good for your friends and family, your employer, customers, prospective clients, and people in general. That's not what I mean.

I mean maintaining "appearances" rather than letting down your guard and being real.

I mean sharing weaknesses with your family and friends now and then.

Trying the sushi, kimchee or flaming cheese, exactly because eating those strange foods is both scary and exciting.

One thing for me it's not always letting others know what bothers me.

I'm getting better about being assertive and sharing these things, but it's hard. I don't want to hurt feelings. What might people think?

On the other hand, I need to be real and honest. It's limiting my life.

I'm working on it and will try to let go of looking good in exchange for being real.

How does trying to look good limit your life?

Here's Stefan's TED talk, in which he talks about happiness and how it relates to design. This quote is mentioned near the end of his 15 minute talk.

Check out more information on the design piece "Trying to look good limits my life" on Sagmeister's company website.

I've also found a Hillman Curstis short film on Stefan, sponsored by Adobe.

Finally, Stefan's interview at DesignBoom.

Permalink | Comments (3) | Observations | add to del.icio.us

June 2, 2007

The Starbucker Meme: What's in Your Glass?

My friend Terry Starbucker, whom I met at SOBCon07 a few weeks ago, has tagged me with his new Starbucker theme.

His questions for me are:

How full is your glass?

75% full.

What kind of glass is it?

A hand-made ceramic coffee cup.

What's in the glass?

Strong, delicious coffee of course! :-)

Reasons for #1, #2, and #3

I have a wonderful wife and son and supportive family, great friends, and I live in a wonderful place: Milwaukee. I have a job that allows me to help small businesses define their identities, which I love to do every day, and I'm living and participating in one of the most exciting times in history.

There are certainly challenges, but I'm realisticly optimisitic. I know that there is good and bad in this world, yet I choose to have a positive attitude toward life by loving God and loving others.

As for type of cup and contents — I'm a coffee fan, so what else could I say? :-)

Thanks Terry!

Permalink | Comments (3) | Observations | add to del.icio.us

May 16, 2007

SOBCon08 Suggestions

Now that I've taken a little time to unpack my thoughts about SOBCon07, I felt it would be a good time to share my suggestions for SOBCon08:

• More Workshops — I would love to see more workshop sessions, like we did with the "Iowa Caucus" of Mike Sansone, Mike Wagner and Drew McLellan. The ideas and collaboration from this session was energizing, but we ran out of time.

• Longer Breaks — I wished for more/larger gaps between sessions, to congregate with others and get to know them better. I just popped out to meet with people to solve it, but I'd prefer not to choose between sessions and meeting others.

• Free WiFi — T-Mobile WiFi was available for individual purchase, but I'd prefer a free, SOBCOn WiFi service to encourage more blogging during the event. I think 3 or 4 WiFi base stations would have been about right to avoid a saturated network.

• SOBCon Speaker & Attendee Page — I'd love to see an official speaker and attendee page on the SOBCon site, with names, photos, bios, 5 favorite posts and blog links. This would help new attendees "meet" other attendees before the event.

• Unified SOBCon Page & RSS Feed — What about a single Page and RSS feed, where any post with "SOBCon" and "SOBCOn08" tags would be included? Attendees could follow a single feed, and see every related post before, during and after the event.

• All Day Coffee — In the afternoon on Saturday, a couple of attendees and I were searching for coffee but found only stacks of soda bottles. It'd be great to keep hot coffee available all day, for those of us who like the rich, black brew. :-)

I hope these suggestions will encourage the '07 attendees to suggest some ideas in the comments, and be useful for SOBCon08 next year.

Permalink | Comments (13) | Blogging | add to del.icio.us

May 15, 2007

Unpacking SOBCon07

I'm not surprised to find myself still brewing and unpacking the reverberations of this weekend at SOBCon07. The conference was a concentrated burst of energy, community and challenges, that I haven't been able to completely process.

Part of it for me, and I think for many attendees, was diving headlong into something completely new, without any expectation of what to expect, or what we'd get out of it.

I didn't know anyone but my buddy Phil Gerbyshak, so I had to step out and meet some new people. That's the wild thing though — people were stepping out to meet me, treating me as an old friend.

Some of this must be chalked up to knowing Phil, but much of the warmth and friendliness of other people seemed to be at the very core of the SOBCon vibe.

Here are some observations after much brewing and pondering:

We all came to give and take. Everyone present came ready to give something away, while being confident they would receive that much and more in return. Everyone I met was sharing energy, which encouraged me to keep sharing my energy.

This was our conference. Bloggers dreamed it up, handled the logistics, showed up and then created it like a barn raising. We connected and encouraged each other, challenged each other and made it happen. Two nights in a row, I witnessed people spontaneously gathering to talk, pulling chairs into circles until no chairs were left.

We are brands, like it or not. One thread running through the Saturday sessions was how we're all projecting a brand (ourselves), whether conscious or unconscious. From our writing to our blog design, everything we project and communicate is our brand. The challenge for everyone was how to sync your brand with who you really are.

We're communicators, not bloggers. David Armano challenged us to stop calling ourselves bloggers, and instead consider ourselves “conversation architects.” I'm a communicator — whether with words, sketches, graphics, sound or video — I aim to communicate with others through this space on the web. Rohdesign is now operating without "Weblog" in the title to reinforce this idea.

Conclusion: I had a great time at SOBCon07!

It was more powerful than I expected, and the people were wonderful. I've already established relationships with several people I resonated with, and plan to build more relationships as the week goes on. Relationships really are at the heart of SOBCon.

I was also challenged to step my communication to the next level. After 4+ years of writing at Rohdesign, I'm energized to keep on sharing, encouraging and learning.

I can't wait for SOBCon08!

SOBCon07 Attendees:
Liz Strauss
Wendy Piersall
Andy Sernovitz
Phil Gerbyshak
David Armano
Mike Sansone
Drew McLellan
Mike Wagner
Terry Starbucker
Christine Kane
Rodney Rumford
Ben Yoskovitz
Chris Cree
Robyn Tippins
Diego Orjuela
Vernon Lun
Jonathan C. Phillips
Sandra Renshaw
Brad Shorr
Timothy Johnson
Tammy Lenski
Sean Rox
Muhammad Saleem
Lorelle VanFossen
David Dalka
Todd And
John Yedinak
Joe Hauckes
Tim Draayer
Jeremy Geelan
Carolyn Manning
Sheila Scarborough
Steve Farber
Dawud Miracle
Doug Mitchell
Jeff O’Hara
Dave Schoof
Jamy Shiels
Adam Steen
Hannah Steen
Chris Thilk
Barry Zweibel
Eric Bingen
Ellen Moore
Cord Silverstein
Jean-Patrick Smith
James Walton
Sharan Tash
Vernon Lun
Tony Lee
Scott Desgrosseilliers
Mark Murrell
Kammie Kobyleski
Easton Ellsworth
Mark Goodyear
Ann Michael
Kent Blumberg
Ashley Cecil
Robert Hruzek
Sabu N G
Mazur Krystyna
Lisa Gates
Franke James
Chris Brown
Troy Worman
Karen Putz
Jesse Petersen
Terry Mapes
Andy Brudtkuhl
Lucia Mancuso
Peter Flaschner
Derrick Sorles
Thomas Clifford
Rajesh Srivastava
Claire Celsi
Jason Alba
Alex Shalman
Cristiana Passinato
Brad Spirrison
Ari Garber
Dr. Rob Wolcott
Cheryll Cruz
Sharon Scherer
Jason Wade
Jill Pullen
Doug Bulleit
Wendy Kinney
Brenda Friedrich
Ella Wilson
Chelsea Vincent
Ayush Agarwal
Paul Mangalik
Premchand Kallan
Xochi Kaplan
Michael Snell
James Bergstrom
Raj Majumder
Keith Levenson

Special thanks to Jonathan C. Phillips for providing this extensive list of attendees. :-)

Photo: Vernon Lun

sobcon07

Technorati Tags: sobcon07, rohdesign, mike+rohde

Permalink | Comments (12) | Blogging | add to del.icio.us

May 4, 2007

What Would My Great Grandfather Think of Me?

Have you ever wondered what your ancestors would think of you, your life and the time you live in?

About a month ago, I received a book of family history, which traces our family history from Bobitz, Germany in the Mecklenburg region (near the Baltic Sea).

My great grandfather, John Martin, came to the US in 1873, and settled near Juneau, WI where he lived, established a farm, and had children, one of which was my grandfather Edwin.

What Would He Think?
Reading through our family's story, I've begun to ask: what would John Martin think of me, my life and the time, place and culture I live in?

I ask this probably for validation, but I think more for curiosity sake. I'd be very interested in his reactions, and to hear his wisdom, learned from years of hard experience as an immigrant, husband and father.

I wonder if he would he be amazed at the Internet, which allows me to work from Milwaukee with colleagues, clients and friends around the world? Being a farmer, what would he think of the virtual world I live in?

Would the "magic" of computers and tiny gadgets surprise him or would they seem like cheap flashing toys to him?

I wonder what he would have been like, quiet or talkative? A reader? An artist?

Obviously, I may never know, but it's interesting to ponder.

If I Were to Guess...
I think he would be proud to see the family continuing on, adapting to the world in which it found itself. John Martin lived through some amazing shifts in culture: the German Revolution, the turn of the century and the rise of industrialism, World War I, the Great Depression and more. How cool it would be to hear his stories now.

The sketch above was done early this morning, as these questions bounced around in my head. I wanted to capture an image of John Martin as a way of personalizing and honoring him as my great grandfather.

John Martin, I hope I'm making you proud.

Permalink | Comments (7) | Family | add to del.icio.us

April 28, 2007

The Power of Encouraging Words

This week I've been given many encouraging words from friends and family on my design, writing, for the person I am, and what I mean to them.

Sincere words of encouragement from people you trust, are incredibly uplifting. Words of encouragement can keep me going strong for weeks or months.

Here's my challenge:
if you admire someone, either for who they are, what they do, or what they mean to you — tell them today! The surge of positive, heartfelt words will encourage them, maybe more than you know.

Life is so short — don't miss a chance to make a positive impact!

Permalink | Comments (2) | Observations | add to del.icio.us

April 24, 2007

Doubt Sketchtoon Notes

A few weeks ago, Tom Slye, the youth director at my church gave an excellent message on doubt. He talked about what doubt is, and offered ways to think about and deal with doubt in a realistic ways.

I often take notes during messages, as it helps my mind process the words. Lately I've been toying with the idea of capturing notes in a graphical way — using typography for emphasis — to force myself to focus on the core of the talk within a limited space.

On the right is my one-page sketchtoon from Tom's talk on doubt, which I think turned out pretty well.

There are a few things I want to try on future talks, like mental imagery and drawings embedded in the text, even color if I can pick up a small set of markers or pencils that are easy to carry along with my Moleskine sketchbook.

In general, I find sketching out notes offers a different, more focused way of engaging of my whole brain, rather than just left brain.

Just yesterday I was inspired to explore this idea of sketching notes, when I came across Dave Gray's wonderful LIFT Conference sketches. His stylized sketch notes are another cool way to capture notes from a talk in a more visual way.

Here's a great talk by Dave Gray and Dana smith on Visual Thinking, with some exercises you can follow along with. Be sure to check out Dave's Visual Thinking School on Squidoo. All good stuff, check it out!

I'll post more sketch notes here as I do them, now that I'm inspired to explore this area a bit more. If you have ideas for me, leave them in the comments! :-)

Permalink | Comments (9) | Moleskine | add to del.icio.us

March 29, 2007

Learning Good Value from My Local Garage

Today I was pondering why customers hire me to help solve their design challenges.

I believe it comes down to one simple thing: providing good value.

What's good value?
It's demonstrated by my local garage, Gordy's Service on 84th and Bluemound in Milwaukee.

Why? Because the guys there treat me well, tell me when fixes are truly critical and try hard keep my costs reasonable, as long as it doesn't jeopardize our family's safety or our car's well-being.

They open early and stay open late. They're up the street from Stone Creek Coffee, so I can do a little work while I wait for my cars to be serviced. Their guys are friendly and quick and they tell me the truth.

When it was time to buy new tires last year, I went to Gordy's. Turns out they weren't much more than the big retailer at the Mall. I know if I have questions, Gordy's guys are there to help. In fact, I think they were a better value, because I knew the same guy who installed them would be there if I had a question.

What happens when Gordy's gives me a good value? I tell other people about them, and faithfully get my work done there, even if I have to schedule an appointment because they're busy.

This is what I strive for daily in my own business dealings with clients. To be honest and clear, helpful and understanding. To help solve challenges for a reasonable price. To be fast, good and to tell the truth.

To provide a good value to my clients.

What's your definition of good value?

Photo by Michael Bowman (Duff Suds)

Permalink | Comments (6) | Observations | add to del.icio.us

March 19, 2007

Embrace the Creative Process

I've noticed a recurring theme emerging in the logo, icon and web design work I've been doing the past year — the importance of loving the creative process and embracing design iterations, rather than fighting them.

Sometimes design iterations can feel like barriers to finishing a project. However, I find that by flowing with iterations and the process of design, I end up with better work in the end. Design is all about iteration, and exploring crazy, spur of the moment ideas.

I think this quote sums it up nicely:

"Keep in touch with your soul by developing your technique. There are no mistakes, so... just work. The more you work the more you'll figure out if that's your bliss." — Fernando Araujo

Embrace the process. iterations are a chance to push yourself to the next level. When you embrace and enjoy the process, you'll see your joy reflected in your work.

Permalink | Comments (3) | Design | add to del.icio.us

February 27, 2007

Fascinating Taste3 Talk on Starbucks

Last night I came across this fascinating talk on Starbucks, given by Temple University History Professor Bryant Simon at the Taste3 Conference:

It was fascinating to hear Bryant deconstruct how he believes Starbucks works, and how our patronage of Starbucks reflects our culture. He discusses three aspects: the functional, emotional and expressive aspects of Starbucks.

"What we drink has meaning — it says something about who we are."

Bryant talks about the high caffeine content of Starbucks coffee (about twice other coffees), the emotional reasons why we buy (self-gifting, ordering language use and predictability) and the expressive aspects of Starbucks (being part of the performance, and showing our ability to afford the luxury of a fancy coffee).

Bryant's talk was both fascinating and disturbing, which for me is a good thing.

Technorati Tags: starbucks, taste3, culture

Permalink | Comments (5) | Food & Drink | add to del.icio.us

February 17, 2007

Remote Working Question on LinkedIn Answers

As a member of LinkedIn for a while now, I've been impressed with how that service has been adding value and making their service better and better.

I've been especially intrigued by the new LinkedIn Answers feature, where members can ask questions of their connections and see answers listed on a dedicated page.

My friend and fellow Milwaukee blogger Phil Gerbyshak asked an interesting question about the best questions to ask to know someone better and got 70 replies as of this writing. Wow! I thought I'd give this new feature a shot myself.

My LinkedIn Question
Being a happy remote worker for 8+ years, I wanted to get some good ideas for improving how I work and sharing these ideas with others, so I asked this question:

If you work remotely, or from a home office, what are your best tips and suggestions for keeping on track and sustaining your passion for work and productivity?

I love remote working, but I'm quite sure I don't know everything! I'm sure I can improve how I work, so it makes sense to seek the knowledge and wisdom of others. If you are a remote or home worker and wish to reply, the question will remain active for 7 days, so don't wait too long. :-)

If you are a former remote worker, or are a more traditional worker with ideas to share, I'd love to hear your answers at my LinkedIn Answers page.

Related Links
For background on why this idea came up, here are some related links:

Full-time freelancing: 10 things learned in 180 days (Cameron Moll)
Farewell to freelancing: Final lessons learned (Cameron Moll)
Working from Home (Joel on Software Discussion)
My Unusual Work Life (Rohdesign Weblog)

Permalink | | Observations | add to del.icio.us

December 28, 2006

Greatness Inspires Greatness

"Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions.
Small people always do that, but the really great
make you believe that you too can become great."

— Mark Twain

Permalink | | Observations | add to del.icio.us

October 9, 2006

You Are a Leader, Whether You Like It or Not

In the past 3 years I've been reading books about leadership, discussing leadership with friends and pondering what leadership looks like in my life. Though my reading, discussing and pondering, a theme has emerged:

You are a leader, whether you like it or not.

You may not want to be a leader, but it's too late. Someone, somewhere already considers you a leader in spite of the ideas you may have constructed about yourself.

When I came to understand the idea that leadership emerges from my personality — that it forms itself based on who I am — that old self concept of just being a follower had to change.

You see, I was never one to think of myself as a leader. As a child I was a follower. In my mind, I defined myself as a follower, not as a leader. I considered others to be leaders, but not me — I was the quiet, reliable, encouraging team player who supported leaders behind the scenes.

In reality my "follower" qualities were my "leadership" qualities. I started to see other qualities I'd dismissed as my curious or encouraging nature: the desire to see others get better, excitement about learning and teaching, the willingness to try new things and share my experiences. Listening, thinking, acting, connecting.

Whoah. Why didn't I see these attributes? Why did I miss this leadership qualities in my own life?

Simple. It's because I'd created a lens or a filter through which I saw my own life and actions. Because I didn't consider myself a leader, the things I did with my life weren't leadership, they were something else. Anything else.

I was and am a leader — I just hadn't realized it.

Now that I've accepted that I'm a leader, I'm thinking like a leader. Not a self-help book or the month leader who simply adopts the latest theory about what a leader should be — rather I'm letting the leader already in me emerge.

Ideas, experiences and practical applications from my life define who I am as a leader. I'm constantly reviewing who I am, striving to improve myself and striving to see others improve through my leadership.

You are a leader, whether you like it or not.

The deeper question is this — what will you do about it?

Permalink | Comments (11) | Observations | add to del.icio.us

September 11, 2006

In Rememberance: September 11, 2001

5 years.

5 years since the terrorist attacks on New York City, The Pentagon and Pennsylvania.

5 years since everything changed for families of those killed.

5 years since the world has changed for everyone else.

I have not forgotten.

Permalink | | Observations | add to del.icio.us

June 29, 2006

Thoughts on Continuous Partial Attention

This week I came across the podcast Attention: The *Real* Aphrodisiac which challenged me about the Continuous Partial Attention in my own life.

The talk, from the 2006 Emerging Technology Conference, was given by Linda Stone, formerly of Apple and Microsoft. She begins the talk asking questions of the audience about their experiences in an Anywhere, Anytime, Anyplace, Always-On lifestyle:

1. When people talk to me I really pay attention.

2. When people talk to me I pay partial attention so I can be aware of other things coming up (my phone, blackberry, other people, etc.)

3. The way I currently use computer and communications technology improves my quality of life.

4. My quality of life is often compromised by technology.

5. Technology sets me free.

6. Technology enslaves me.

Pretty interesting questions for anyone living with technology.

Linda coined the phrase Continuous Partial Attention back in the 90s, as she saw this new type of lifestyle emerging in the high tech sector.

Continuous Partial Attention is different than multi-tasking, where the motivation is productivity: giving equal attention to many activities.

Continuous Partial Attention's motivation: being a live node on the network, gaining meaning from the network, being ready for new opportunities at any moment.

But there is a problem. In Linda's experience, people of various ages living this way, share with her a desire for strategies to deal with an always on lifestyle. They want ways to deal with the flood, overload, and over-stimulation of being a live node on the network. I love this quote:

"But this always on, anytime, anywhere, anyplace era has has created an artificial sense of constant crisis. The adrenalized fight or flight mechanism kicks in.

It's great when we're being chased by tigers. How many of those 500 emails a day is a tiger? Or are they mostly mice?

Is everything really such an emergency?

Our way of using the current set of technologies would have us believe it is."

24/7 lifestyles are great, until you can't turn off the fire-hose. We need limits, natural cycles and downtime, to deal with ever-increasing demands and noise we need to continuously filter.

Rather than a continuous barrage of information, input and connections, we need time to focus, to find purpose, to understand the meaning and wisdom from the constant noise all around us.

Check out Attention: The *Real* Aphrodisiac — It's well worth the 24 minutes.

Related Links:
The Power Of Focus by Michael Ashby

Permalink | Comments (4) | Technology | add to del.icio.us

June 12, 2006

Analog Tools Foster Reflection, Creativity and Flow

It's been almost 3 weeks since switching from a Palm handheld to a custom Moleskine weekly planner, which I'm happy to report is going quite well. I'm enjoying having a thin, pocketable planner which can take a beating and never needs a charge.

But beyond my positive experience with paper planner, I've been considering the advantages I'm finding in making use of various analog tools.

For a little perspective, I've been incredibly busy at MakaluMedia, making good headway with my backlog of logo, icon and web design work. I'm finally seeing daylight. I enjoy being busy, especially doing such varied and challenging design projects. I think my latest work is elevating my craft to new levels, and I love it.

However, this state of busyness has made me keenly aware of the fleeting lifestyle I'm living. Jobs come in like waves at the seashore to be quoted and kicked off. Emails build up and must be dealt with constantly. Streams of communication flow through my Mac every day, with clients and colleagues. RSS feeds seem to grow beyond my ability to keep up, so that occasionally I "mark all as read" and move on.

How can I step back, even for a brief moment, and take time to think?

I've found that the analog tools I've adopted, help me step back from the digital edge. Whether it's sketching or writing — placing pen or pencil to paper provides the necessary thought space I need to process, explore, create and think — before I'm sucked back into the computer world.

Why is this? I think there are several factors to why analog tools work so well:

1. Using analog tools forces me to slow down and ponder ideas I might normally skip past while in a computer-accelerated state of mind. I have to process the words I'm planning to write, or consider the shape I want to convey on paper — before or during the writing or sketching. In writing especially, this minimal mental delay slows my mind down and allows me time to build words a little differently than on a keyboard.

2. The feel of pencil and pen on paper provides a different tactile experience than a mouse or keyboard, which helps break computer-mode. There is something supremely pleasurable about smooth graphite or flowing ink on good paper stock. For me, this tactile feeling is a positive part of the drawing process. I find my state of mind and tactile senses are different than when I'm on the computer in Illustrator, Fireworks or Photoshop than when I'm sketching in my Miquelrius with a soft pencil.

3. My creativity is free to roam on paper, which is critical in the design stage. I feel free to explore crazy ideas, less concerned about how to pull them off technically and more interested in getting into a flow and iterating them into to a great idea. This freedom allows me to try many different ideas quickly, and lends itself toward a flow of ideas, rather than getting over-focused on details too quickly.

But to be clear — I am not anti-technology! I use computers daily to manage and perform my design work and appreciate the power and control they offer. I amazed at what can be done with a Mac, and will continue to use one for producing great solutions for clients.

Rather than being anti-technology, I'm challenging computer users to consider analog tools. I'm suggesting we should use the tools (analog or digital) that help our work become the best it can be. That might mean an analog and not digital tool.

I challenge you to explore analog tools as you might already explore digital ones. See how an analog approach might change your perspective, your thinking process, your creativity, your freedom.

Maybe that analog tool will allow you to breathe, ponder, flow and enjoy the creative process even more.

Related Links:
Under The Loupe #4: Keeping a Sketchbook by Jason Santa Maria
Under The Loupe #5: Visual Thinking by Jason Santa Maria
Visual Thinking School by Dave Gray

Technorati Tags: technology, sketches, visual+thinking, design, makalumedia, creativity, drawings

Permalink | Comments (14) | Observations | add to del.icio.us

April 8, 2006

Believing In Others

From today's Quote of the Day:

"We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us something is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch.

Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit."

— ee cummings

We have opportunities every single day to encourage and value others. I'm reminded again and again just how powerful our encouragement of others can be.

The simplest smile and warm "how are you today" might be the ripple which changes someone's day for the better. The constant high value I choose place on relationships may be the ripples which change lives forever.

(The photo is of my son and his buddy, walking and running on a college campus last summer. It was taken with my Zire 72 camera.)

Permalink | | Observations | add to del.icio.us

March 28, 2006

Dogtown, Z-Boys and Old-School Skateboarding Memories

I was digging through our DVD collection on Saturday, when I came across Dogtown and Z-Boys, a documentary I'd picked up a few years ago, about the birth of extreme skateboarding in the late 70s.

While my search for this DVD was for a friend, I decided to watch it once more, before I loaned it out. Wow. I'd forgotten how powerful the Dogtown film was in the years since first watching it. It's the story of a couple of surfers, Jeff Ho and Skip Engblom and how they sponsored a team a local Venice California kids as the Zephyr team (Z-Boys) who shook the world of skateboarding with their extreme yet stylish moves.

As the story unfolded about this crew of misfit guys turned skateboarding rock stars, I was transported back to my youth, and the long summer days spent cruising our neighborhood on skateboards. In the mid and late 70s, I was a skateboarder, along with the rest of my friends in our North Side Chicago neighborhood.

As soon as it was warm enough to ride on cement in the spring, we were out cruising the sidewalks, alleys and streets of our neighborhood. We would ride our boards from early morning 'til late at night — we practically lived on our boards — riding to the store, the park, wherever. Anything out of skateboard range we'd cover on our bikes, with skates under our arms.

We didn't have much vertical terrain or pools like the California riders did, so most of our skating was on the flat, up and down curbs, and on whatever curving bits of cement or blacktop we could locate. Our mission was to find the smoothest terrain, or most challenging areas, then ride them until dinner, eat and get back until we couldn't see for the dusk.

When we started seeing pool and ramp riding take off in Skateboarder Magazine, we managed to construct a quarter pipe in a friend's backyard, riding clear to the top and cracking our wheels on the 1x2 chunk of wood nailed on top, to keep us from flying off. We spent hours perfecting our moves on that ramp, enjoying every run to the top.

Some guys across the street were also into skateboarding, and built a wider, more technically challenging half pipe ramp and challenged our guys to a contest. So, we had a "battle royale" in that cement backyard across the street. our crew did well, matching their guys and proving we could ride ramps with the rest of the skaters on our block. We'd earned their respect and it felt great.

When it was too dark to ride, we would head home and read through the pages Skateboarder, where guys like Craig Stecyk wrote about the Dogtown crew of the Zephyr team — The Z-Boys. We wanted to be like the Z-Boys: Stacy Peralta, Tony Alva, Jay Adams, Bob Biniak, and Wentzle Ruml to name but a few.

Now in reality, our crew of North Side Chicago skaters would have paled in comparison to the Z-Boys, but it didn't matter. Those guys challenged us to be the best we could be. They reminded us that skateboarding was about the pure joy of riding: being free and feeling the wind in our hair as we cruised across a stretch of flawless blacktop, the ground rumbling through our wheels.

I still own an old-school Town & Country skateboard, which I pull it out for rides now and then. After seeing the Dogtown DVD, I'm inspired to head to the neighborhood black-topped parking lot for some riding. I think the joy I experienced as a kid in the 70s is still be embedded in the deck of my old board.

I can't wait to find that joy again. :-)

Technorati Tags: mike+rohde, rohdesign, skateboard, skateboarding, documentary

Permalink | Comments (3) | Observations | add to del.icio.us

February 23, 2006

Glowing Morning Sky

As I walked toward the cafe this morning, I was welcomed by the most gorgeous glowing sky. At the horizon were a blaze of intense oranges and reds, above them, aqua and azure blended into deeper blues. Far to the south, the crescent moon was shrouded by a group soft pink clouds.

I stopped halfway through my walk to snap a photo with the Zire 72, attempting to capture the moment. Even with serious modification in Photoshop, the image above is a poor attempt to capture to the beautiful morning sky I experienced today.

Life is short, and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are traveling the dark way with us. — Amiel

That quote of the day seems to fit well with the image above. I'm reminded on days like these that even something as simple as a beautiful morning sky can alter my attitude for the better.

I am given the choice: to see a gorgeous sky and let the moment pass, or to embrace the moment and let it change myself and others around me.

What will you choose?

Permalink | Comments (3) | Observations | add to del.icio.us

October 8, 2005

Simplicity

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." — Leonardo DaVinci

(via Teri Martin's Quote of the Day) Photo: Happy accident with the Zire 72

Permalink | Comments (1) | Observations | add to del.icio.us

September 28, 2005

Process vs. Specs

Recently I was reminded of some wisdom my dad shared years ago:

“Photography is not about the camera, it's about process of capturing photos. A great photographer can take incredible photos with the simplest camera. It's not about the camera!”

Now, that may sound simple, and really it is. However, I've observed many people getting hung up on Specs when they ought to be focused on Process. I do it too. In fact, here are some of the ways I've learned to move focus from Specs to Process:

Computers: Focus on processor speed, hard drive, screen size, RAM, rather than what can be achieved with the machine as a whole. I'm much more interested in a balanced machine that gets out of my way and lets me get work done, than how powerful the machine is.

Cameras: Focus on the f-stop, shutter speed, lens size, megpaixels, brand name or whatever spec you care to insert here. Some of my favorite images have been captured in my Zire 72's crappy-cam, or on a vintage twin lens or SLR film camera.

Design: Getting hung up on fonts, colors, shading, shadows, shapes, etc. when I should be focused on the message I want to convey to the viewer. I've found that sketching ideas on paper, besides being very fast, removes options and forces me to focus on the idea. There's no plethora of tools or effects to distract — It's my mind, a pencil and paper — anything can happen.

Writing: Focus on spell-checking, grammar, font, leading, layout, etc. when I need to just sit there and hammer out my idea. When I write I like plain text editors or pen and paper for this very reason — there is nothing to distract me from capturing my thoughts.

Transformation: Placing my focus on doing the "right things" in order to appear transformed, rather then being open to real transformation. Doing the right things takes energy, because I'm caught up in how I look to others — being open to transformation takes the effort out of my hands and puts it in God's hands. However, when I am transformed, the "right things" flow naturally and effortlessly.

Setting my mind on Process rather than Specs is difficult in that it requires deeper effort. It's easy to let myself get caught up in activity, focusing on doing the "right things" when in fact I ought to be stopping to think, ponder and plan where I want to go.

However, I've repeatedly found when I move from Spec level to Process level, the results flow naturally, give me more joy, and produce results far better than I could have achieved just focusing on Specs.

Technorati Tags: happiness, creativity, simplicity, transformation

Permalink | Comments (5) | Observations | add to del.icio.us

August 15, 2005

Lessons from the Zoo Train

My son Nathan loves riding the Zoo Train. We live very close to the Milwaukee County Zoo, so when Nathan plays outside and hears the Zoo Train whistle, he lights up and yells “ZOOO TRAIN!!”

Any visit to the Zoo must always begin with a pilgrimage to the Zoo Train. It's just the way it's done. Zoo Train first and then the rest of the zoo afterwards, dad. That's just how civilized 2 and a half year olds do it.

The Zoo train is a scale locomotive, which runs completely around the Milwaukee County Zoo. There are two engines, a steam and a diesel, and the steam engine is highly preferred among discriminating Zoo train aficionados, like Nathan.

Upon entering the park, we head directly for the Zoo train, buy our tickets (Nathan still rides free) and wait for the next one to pull into the station. Excitement builds as the train unloads, then the conductor waves our line forward to board.

Nathan is somewhere between utter buzzing excitement and reverence for the Zoo Train. His eyes widen as he soaks in every microsecond of the experience. Once we've settled on a passenger car, we await the parting whistle.

The engine chugs, the cars jolt forward and the ride begins. In a matter of moments we're rolling at full speed, trees and grass flashing past our open train carriage, Nathan smiling a deep, satisfied smile. He's exactly where he wants to be at that very moment in time.

We wave at the people as we pass railroad crossings, laugh as we see other kids in cars ahead and behind as the train bends around the curve. Nathan lets out a giggle whenever the engine toots its whistle. This is 7 minutes of sheer perfection.

When the ride is complete, Nathan is completely content and satisfied. He never fights to stay onboard and never demands a second ride once we're done. Somehow he's found happiness in a single, perfect ride on the Zoo Train.

What a great lesson for me. How can I learn to be content and satisfied when joyful times come? Learning to accept, absorb and revel in those moments, without any thoughts of reviving the moment later or in vain attempts to recreate the moment by grasping for more.

Like my son, I must learn to live in the moments and embrace them for what they are. I desire to become fully satisfied — just like Nathan on the Zoo Train.

Technorati Tags: happiness, kids, simplicity

Permalink | Comments (6) | Observations | add to del.icio.us

July 31, 2005

Time, Stuff, Integration and Balance

It's been 11 days since I've posted to the weblog, and I have to say, I needed the break. Because of our yearly family vacation to Western Pennsylvania and the prep beforehand, I've taken a little blogging vacation, and it was good.

I've also felt a bit disconnected with the news and blogging world, even though I had the Powerbook along last week for emergencies, and the Zire with WiFi card for playing around. It was good to have these tools along, even if they received minimal use during the week.

I truly resisted any draw of the Mac on my time. Surprisingly, it wasn't difficult to walk away from the Powerbook, the web or the blog world. Even Lance's 7th Tour de France was virtually wrapped up before we headed Eastward. The week away from my normal routine has revealed how much energy I expend simply “keeping up” with the world around me.

Sometimes I wonder how much of the multiple bits of info I track is worth the energy. Web sites, RSS feeds, podcasts, books — all useful and informative, but also time consuming. Scanning my NetNewsWire RSS subscriptions just yesterday, I wondered why I've subscribed to so many, and have resolved to trim them down this week to a manageable, reasonable level.

In general I'm feeling more and more challenged on how I spend my time. As I've passed the 40 mark, each hour I spend doing something is seeming more precious. I was struck by a comment made about Lance and the Tour, how he must consider each stage and what level of effort he should give. Should he chase down every attacker? Should he aim to gain seconds in aggregate, or blow his reserves for a 5 minute lead on the top contenders, if it means losing 10 the next day because he's spent all of his energy?

In the same way, how should my time be spent to its best use? How am I spending time with God? My wife and young son? Family and friends? How valuable is time spent with them in relation to everything else I expend energy on? I think, as always, it's a matter of finding a balanced integration of time, while continually identifying and trimming away that which is not important.

I've also been challenged while away to consider all of the “stuff” I have (we have) cluttering our home. How much of it do I really need? How much of it do I actually use? This is particularly true with the aging hi-tech gear, gadgets and peripherals I have moldering in the corners. I think it is time to slim down the hoard. So, don't be surprised to see some things put on eBay announced here.

Seems this theme is a recurring one for me after coming home from Amish country, and a week away from the daily grind, which I'm glad for. If I didn't have a little time to reflect, then how else would I see my life more objectively?

Technorati Tags: simplicity

Permalink | Comments (3) | Observations | add to del.icio.us

July 7, 2005

London

I wanted to take a moment today to send my prayers warmest thoughts to British friends and residents after today's horrendous bombings in London. I first learned about the news from my Friend Randy over morning coffee, I'm now streaming BBC to keep up on what's happened and the details.

BBC News Coverage

I'm actually a bit worried at the moment, as my friend Andy is in London for a university field trip today — I'm hoping that he was not effected by the blasts, but I've not heard anything back from Andy just yet.

Update 9:15 AM CST: Andy is in London and OK. He responded to my friend Lo's SMS message a short while ago with this reply:

I am in London as I was scheduled to visit [...] Didn't happen as all pub transport was off. I'm fine but didn't achieve what I came to do. :-(

Good to hear Andy is OK, however there will likely be many who are not, and that is very disturbing.

Permalink | Comments (4) | Observations | add to del.icio.us

March 12, 2005

Clean Inboxes are Addicting

This week I've started re-reading David Allen's Getting Things Done this week. I'm only about 1/3 of the way through the book, yet I've found it very satisfying. I'm happy to report that for the first time in my memory, I had a completely empty work and personal email inbox on Friday after work.

Actually, I this is my first real 'reading' of GTD — in reality I'd only scanned the book the first time. After my initial scan, I took a few ideas and sort-of made use of them, but not fully. Last weekend I finally got to the point of feeling the need for something to help me better manage all that I had to get done. I saw GTD on my bookshelf and resolved to really read it this time. So I started reading again...

Wow!

While I've not fully sorted out the whole 43 folders idea just yet, nor have I completely integrated the principles David suggests. But rather than wait to complete the book, I decided to take one overarching idea away from my 2nd reading — to turn as many inputs as I could, into 'next action' tasks, then file those inputs for later reference (if needed).

I decided on Monday to first focus on email. I resolved to go through any open email in both my work and personal email clients and do one of 3 things:

1) Reply to the email. David Allen suggest that anything which takes 2 minutes or less can be dispatched immediately, so I followed this advice. I even dealt with some emails that took longer, just to trim down the list of unanswered emails.

2) Turn relevant info into next action tasks. I've recently switched from Palm Desktop to Apple iCal and really like the simplicity if offers. I created several new contextual categories suggested in GTD, and created many, many next actions. It really felt good to put those things into a solid place like iCal (synced to my Palm).

3) File processed emails. Finally I filed away emails I processed, and deleted or filed emails which really shouldn't have been there in the first place. It felt so good to see my email inbox shrink as the week progressed!

By the end of the day Friday, I had successfully emptied out both of my email inboxes. What a great feeling it is having an empty inbox! Even better was knowing that all of the latent tasks embedded in my emails had been turned into tasks in iCal.

Actually, using the GTD approach at work was very smooth, even though I know I've not yet got my head fully around all of the GTD principles. I felt productive and active without the nagging feeling that I was 'missing' something.

I'm looking forward to finishing the remaining 2/3 of GTD in the next few weeks, taking notes in my Moleskine notebook for books I've started as a result of Bren Connelly's How to Read a Business Book postings. I'm finding that taking notes with books really helps me crystalize the concepts and better ingest them.

So, if you've considered the Getting Things Done approach but haven't taken steps to give it a full try, I recommend it. Even taking some of the principles to heart could positively impact your stress levels and work style.

For an interesting interview with David Allen on the concepts behind Getting Things Done, check out Richard Giles' Gadgets Show Podcast (39 min @ 13.6 MB).

Have a great weekend!

Permalink | Comments (10) | Books | add to del.icio.us

March 5, 2005

Just Do It!

It's a dark Saturday morning, and I'm up early to get ready for a conference. In my morning email, I read today's quote and it reminded of the power of doing things now, figuring things out as you go along.

Do not wait; the time will never be 'just right'. Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along. — Napoleon Hill

This week I came to the realization being complete expert is not the requirement for doing things — rather it's by accepting and admitting my limitations that I'm able to make a step toward becoming an 'expert' in what I do.

There is something freeing about admitting to yourself and others "hey, here's where I am, I'm not perfect, but I want to learn and grow." I'm coming to see that this honesty with self and others takes the stumbling block of needing to "be an expert" out of my path, letting me become more of an expert.

Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

If you wait around for permission to "know" something before starting, you might never begin. Give yourself permission to start something you have no idea about, and the permission to become an expert in that thing, if you like.

Just do it!

Permalink | Comments (3) | Observations | add to del.icio.us

February 24, 2005

Just Good Business

While talking with my good friend Michael Ashby during lunch today, we came upon the topic of being a good business person. What was interesting about our chat was, how basic and simple those activities and habits seem to be.

What brought this to mind?

Well, I've entered a logo design contest recently, being voted upon by registered members of a community. As it turns out, the leading logo candidate may have been done with the use of a cookie-cutter logo from a logo-off-the-shelf website. I was amazed that someone would copy a logomark, verbatim, and try to pass it off as a unique submission!

This of course bodes well for my own, original submission (currently in 2nd position). But more importantly, it reminded me what some seem willing to do to win contests or projects — and conversely, what being a good, decent business person means.

From the chat Mike and I had, here are some of the things we see as just basic common sense ideas for good business:

Be human. I think this is really at the heart of the Cluetrain Manifesto. People are social creatures and want to connect to others, personally and professionally. Not everything need be about business 24/7. Besides, opening yourself as a human being provides a window into yourself that can encourage clients to relate to you and remain loyal.

Communicate. Do it often. Do it when things are going well and especially when things not going well. I follow the rule "contact the client before they contact you" in daily business life. That means being the first one to share good news or problems — especially problems. I'm the first to admit I fail sometimes, but I try to improve each day. It's a process that takes effort.

Be honest. Rather than trying to make yourself look good, be honest with those you are dealing with. I've found that telling things as they are has a credibility that can't be matched in any other way. It's also good for your soul and conscience. :-)

Share. If you see something your client might be interested in, let them know about it and why. If you think background on a decision you've made will give insight to the decision, share it. I like to offer detailed notes about every design I offer, because I can share the 'whys' with clients. I've found my notes not only defend my ideas, but often will resolve questions and issues which would have arisen had I not clarified my thinking. Sharing details also shows you are thinking and reasoning through your client's problem toward a solution.

Be generous. If you can give a little more than you've promised, it generates good vibes right from the start. It's been described as 'under-promise and over-deliver', but I like the term generosity better. Being generous might mean a little less short-term profit, but in the long term, it shows you have the client's interests at heart as well as your own, and breeds loyalty and appreciation. I love the