Using Google Wave II

I have now much more experience with Google Wave. Especially in real-live collaboration with others.

Problem Solving vs Goal Realizing

During my education I wrote an application letter for an internship pointing out my problem solving skills. The reply was short: "we don't have problems". At that time my mindset was such that I only could laugh; who doesn't have problems to solve?

Dealing with Half-Backed Ideas

Plenty of situations where you, or others, might have an idea. The idea sounds okay or even great, but ...there is a but. The idea is not 'perfect'. The idea has some serious negatives as well. Result: some people try to chop the idea down, some are resisting the chopping.

Oded Cohen of the Goldratt Institute in the UK developed years ago a very practical approach to deal with these kind of situations. This approach is now known as the NBr or Negative Branch.

Book Review: Think! Before It's Too Late

Think!: Before It's Too Late by Edward de Bono I read the Dutch Translation "Creatief Denken - Slimme technieken om problemen op te lossen"

The first couple of pages I thought: WOW! I got some good insight in some of the Thinking Processes (Theory of Constraints). Key in this was 'perception'.

While progressing in the book I became disappointed. More and more I got the impression: this guy is frustrated. A lot of complaining (pretty much in the style he dislikes from others), quite a bit of repetition of why he and his tools are so great, plenty of references that he is so good.

Acer Timeline 1810TZ

I was looking for a new notebook and I got one for my birthday. An Acer Timeline 1810TZ

The thing was, I wanted a small notebook with long battery time. Easy to take along and no real need to have a powerplug available within a hour or two. These specifications pointed out to a netbook.

Netbooks seem nice, but they are not quite powerful; maximum 1 GB memory and an Atom (like) processor. Nor do they tend to have a reasonable good display. I was looking for a notebook in a netbook format.

Using Google Wave

I have been using Google Wave since Septeber 30^th 2009 and although not perfect, I like it.

The first 2 months I was playing around with Google Wave and trying all kinds of Apps and Robots. This I'm still doing for it is not only great fun, some people really make nice useful things. In this sense Google Wave is still evolving quite nicely. In December 2009 and Januari 2010 I started using Google Wave also for my work.

Project Management versus Line Management

What is so special or different about Project Management? Nine out of ten will anser:

A project:

• Is unique
• Has (clear) predetermined deliverables
• Has a (fixed) start and finish
• Has a (limited) budget
• Works with a multi-disciplinair team

What we found is that regardless the type of industry, the above list is equally, if not more, applicable for non-projects - operations. Below is a generic description, but I like to invite you to verify if it is also applicable in your own experience.