- Successful! – Back in late December, our company purchased a company for a big customer that they had. We had less than a month to bring this customer onto our system. About 10 days before the acquired company was being booted from their building (which was also the deadline for the IT project), the customer’s IT guy and I had an “oh shit” moment. There were assumptions about things that were wrong at both companies. This project was going to take a lot longer. Wednesday, we went live. And the customer had issues. Then Thursday, we had issues as did the customer. Today – today seems like a good day. But regardless, two months after the “oh shit moment”, we are live and things, while not perfect are not a failure either. And the internal capital this has gained not only me personally but our department is HUGE!
- Annoyed – I have been backing kickstarter projects for about 6 years now – 55 in total, if I’m going to be honest. Of those 55, I have not received 9 of the items I’ve backed. Of those 9, I expect to receive 6 with the remaining 3 being dead projects. So, of the projects I’ve backed, 94% of them have been successful. That’s not bad given when you “invest” in a project on Kickstarter, you know you are taking a risk – you may get nothing for it as most of the people have never done what they are trying to do. This morning, I woke up to an email from a creator. He had posted a video calling people out for some of the shit they have been saying to him and about him. His project is currently 4 months behind schedule. Listening to the video knowing he is only 4 months behind schedule when I have one creator 12 months behind schedule and another who is 2 years behind schedule, well, I was annoyed for him. And disgusted really. I worked for a manufacturing company where even with a team of engineers, procurement specialists, and our own in-house manufacturing; and I product could slipped 12-24 months depending on small factors found during the process. And that was for a company who had been doing this for 20+ years – not some guy who had an idea he’s trying to bring to life & is getting an education as he goes.
- Even more annoyance – I had an artist whose are I’ve had for a month now. Sitting in my dining room. A week ago, I got this message from her like I was holding it hostage. So I told her to come get it. I don’t want it. I had people at the house during the time she said she would be there. She didn’t come. After I poked her, she was like, “oh, I’ll come tonight but after this and then after that.” I made her give me a time. She didn’t get it. She finally sent a message giving me some BS about her ex-husband or something. Then wanted to reschedule – “maybe tomorrow?” I have not answered her yet because, well, I’m annoyed.
- Book I’m Obsessed With: Switch by Dan and Chip Heath. I could do a whole blog post about this book. It has really turned some of the things I think about on its head. The authors do a good job showing the psychology and sociology behind why certain things fail while other action succeed – and all because of how you try to make “the switch” or get people to make that switch between what they were doing and what they should be doing now. And this is applicable to any part of life too. It has made me realize why certain times when I have wanted to change something why it has worked and why it has not worked. Fascinating book that has definitely opened my eyes to a number of things.
