November 16, 2010
-
More Brainy Books
Can you ever have enough? More good advice:
From Scott Belsky “Making Ideas Happen”
Making an idea happen =
1. The idea +
2. Organization and execution (prioritize) +
3. Forces of community (Use what you have, share your information liberally, capitalize on feedback, and be transparent and accountable.) +
4. Leadership Capability (Intrinsic motivation/reward, appreciate others liberally, leaders should talk last, and share ownership of ideas)
“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it” –Dwight Eisenhower
From Tom Peters “The Project 50″
1. Reframe: never accept a project/assignment as given–turn it into a WOW project. No JAMS: Just another mediocre success
2. Translate your daily experiences into “cool stuff to do.”
3. Become a benchmarking fool: look at everything small thing that happens to you as a golden learning opportunity
4. Make it beautiful. beauty is more important than you think.
5. Make sure you are making someone angry–because WOW projects change the rules and that makes people upset.
6. Have diversity and range of perspectives, hire the freaks because they know what is cool
7. Give yourself a deadline. Do it.
8. Find–and then nurture–a few co-conspirators.
9. Make sure the project says “Wow! Beautiful! Revolutionary! Impact! Raving Fans!” Life is too short for non-wow projects
10. Write/describe your project on one 5×7 card, able to explain in an elevator ride.
11. Tell your project through stories. What is your story?
12. Everyone is in sales. Are you ready to sell your project/product?
13. Never forget your friends. Appreciate your team
14. Don’t try to convert your enemies. Don’t waste time on them.
15. Become a master bootstrapper. Too much initial money kills
16. Try out the prototype. A lot.
17. Play hard
18. Keep recruiting: wow projects call for wow people
19. Make lists. lots. Keep a binder, like the “project manual”
20. Master the 15 minute meeting. Use an egg timer. Do not go over. Keep everyone updated.
21. Don’t forget to celebrate. If it is worth learning, it is worth celebrating (That is from supercamp). Write up the project history and throw a celebration party.
From Dan Roam “The Back of the Napkin”
Visual thinking process:
1. Looking: Collecting and screening: what is there? is there a lot of it? what is not there?
2. Seeing: Selecting and clumping: do I know what I am seeing? have I seen this before? Any patterns?
3. Imagining: Seeing what isn’t there: can I make analogies/connections to other things i’ve seen in the past? Is there a better way to do this/rearrange this?
4. Showing: Making it all clear: Of all i’ve imagined: what are the three most important pictures for me and my audience? What is the best way to convey the idea? when I go back to the beginning, does it still make sense?
22. Pass on the project–sell out! To someone as passionate about it as you are.
