Reviewing the wacky of world of entrepreneurship - one post at a time.

With the high price of fuel these days, you probably have recieved a few requests for or have implemented telecommuting. Is it worth it the hassle? From my experience a well thought out telecommuting plan can be implemented with decent results and in some cases extraordinary results. The key is to make sure that the expectations by you (the employer) and the employee are the same. It is obvious what will happen if they are not.

Some managers are very reluctant to allow staff to work from home simply because they believe that they aren’t actually working. With today’s technology that allow connection to the office via the internet, employee’s could be sitting in their office or at home and you wouldn’t know the difference.

But how do you know that they are working? In my case I do IT work for a client where I have an office at their location. I also have my own company office as well as one at home. I often find that I am in my home office before and after hours working remotely. I start at 7a.m. - hit the office at 9:00am, back home by 6:00pm and online until 10:00pm or so. For a good portion of the day I am telecommuting effectively and some days I don’t go in.

One way my client keeps tabs on me is via an instant messenging service like AOL, Yahoo or Skype. These intstant messaging services allow them to send you a quick chat message while you are online. That way if the employee is on the phone (they can see your IM and respond back with a quick “I’m on the phone with …., I’ll call when I’m done.” or something to that affect.

So using one of these tools can help you the manager get past the “where are they, what are they doing?” roadblocks.

But, it’s not just getting hold of them that is important. What are they working on? This is where the manager has to apply some written guidance. What are the objectives that need to be completed (wherever the employee is) and when are status reports/staff calls. A telecommuting employee must know what needs to be sent and how often in regards to status and when to either participate in staff meetings by phone or better yet in person if possible. To have an effective telecommuting policy some basic rules are in order:

1. Agree with the potential telecommuter that you expect them available by cell phone, home phone, email and/or instant messaging during work hours.

2. Have defined written/agreed deliverables that both you and your employee agree to.

3. At a minimum have a individual 1 on 1 call with each of your telecommuters to make sure you are both on track. Call doesn’t have to be long and can be done face to face. Just do it.

4. Agree a trial period where you will TRY out telecommunting. Two weeks is a good start and can be extended to a 4 week trial if the initial test is successful.

5. Finally, if it doesn’t work out make sure that you are clear with the employee why.

With the high price of gas - telecommuting is going to become the norm. Prepare for it and you may find you have a more productive team that is less stressed and more willing to support new initiaves. Do not underestimate the effect of employees that find a better work/home balance will have on your bottom line. Just make sure you don’t forget the telecommuters when you have functions in the office that should include all employees!

Good luck.

Today the BBC reported in an article titled “Bust-up with the boss?” about an interesting and troubling solution to problem employees.  A new online database called the National Staff Dismissal Register (NSDR) is scheduled to go live at the end of May. This register is an online database that employers can utilize to list their dismissed employees that were accused of stealing, forgery, fraud, damaging company property and or causing a loss for their employer or supplier.

Seems to me that potential charges of that caliber should be determined by the appropriate police unit before an entry is made into a national database. The database will also include a list of employees that resigned before they could be fired for one of the above offenses. What if your employer is wrong in the accusation? What if a jealous, hateful, spiteful co-worker made the allegations knowing that you would be sacked? It’s bad enough you lose your job but to be officially blackballed across the nation as well? without being formally charged by law enforcement?

I understand why an employer might find a database like this useful. My question is how reliable is the data and what recourse does an employee have if their data is included in the database wrongfully.

What do you think?

Ever worked for a boss that didn’t manage? You know - the guy or gal that doesn’t have staff meetings; doesn’t require status reports of any frequency and manages by the seat of his/her pants?

If you have then this blog entry is for you.

Don’t despair - just make sure that you do not pick up their bad habits no matter how tempting. In order to get things done - you need to know what needs to be done, when it is required to be complete and what the current status is at the very least.

One way to manage quickly is to use a RAG or Red, Amber, Green report to highlight the status of tasks, projects or programs.

• Red - status means the task or project is in “critical status” and requires immeadiate focus.
• Amber - status means that the task or project is not on-target and requires more managerial oversight or assistance.
• Green - simply means that the task or project is on-target.

Is this the best and only way to manage a task, project or program? No - but it is an effective way to get an idea of what is going on within a group and the areas that need oversight.

Obviously, there are some potential flaws:

1. You rely on team members to classify the “state” of a task, project or program.
2. Your percieved notion of an “amber” status for a particular task may not be the same as the task’s owner who classifies it as “green”.
3. It is a subjective status vs an objective one.

So, if you have nothing and projects are getting completed on time - then give this solution a shot. All you need is a table that contains the following headings:

1. Project Name
2. Owner
3. Description
4. Status (R,A and G)
5. Due Date

Sort by either project or by the status and use it as a cheat sheet to keep track of the tasks or projects that you are responsible for managing. Make sure that you review the list weekly - in some cases - bi-weekly. Failure to review the list on a regular basis and request status from your team on a regular basis will result in data that is stale and information that becomes more irrelevant at the end of the week.

That’s how I see it from here. Stay tuned for another project management tip later in the week.

Six months or so ago, I went to visit a business here in Orlando that needed the help of an external business advisor. The business owner was energetic, bright, charming, creative, full of ideas, energy and he had problems. While he had built a business to $2M a year in revenue - he had little to no cash. More importantly, he needed to sell his home and take the equity out to place it into the business. He didn’t hire me that day - and today, roughly six months later his business is in bankruptcy court.

I’m not suggesting that if he had made the decision that day to hire my firm that Bankruptcy court could have been avoided. Frankly, it sounds like he was out of business then if not before and just didn’t know it. Cash flow management or the lack thereof can strangle a business slowly at first and then with a rapid finish. If you find yourself wondering how to make payroll every two weeks - then maybe it’s time for some outside advice. Not all consultants or business advisors are just after money. Some will look at your business and give you an honest recommendation if they feel yours is in serious trouble. Frankly, so will your accountant if you are honest with him or her.

Find an external advisor when you don’t need one - and maybe you won’t find yourself in the same position of the client that never was.

That’s how I see it from here..

Recently, I had the opportunity to work with a group of engineers that while technically competent; they were ineffective. Let me explain. Each team member is an expert in their field. Unfortunately, due to a lack of leadership the team didn’t function as well as it could causing the reputations of each team member, the organizational VP and the group as a whole to be tarnished. So how was this solved.

The first thing I noticed was that there was no one in charge. Yes, there were people writing emails, calling meetings and the like. But no one was leading. Even though one of the team members was given the role of a “technical lead” he refused it publicly.

Leadership is not a comfortable position for most people. You have to take risks, make uncomfortable decisions and sometimes fail. The average joe wants the perks that come with the position - but not the responsibility.

Twenty two years ago - a Vice President at a large telecommunications company dressed me down in front of my management team. It was public humiliation - repeated by each layer of management again as they left the room one by one. Later, as I returned to my desk, the phone rang and it was the VP’s secretary (yes there were secretary’s not administrative assistants or executive assistants as we refer to them now) calling to inform me that the VP wanted to see me in his office at 5pm sharp.

Two long hours later I took the elevator up to the top floor, walked down the hall in the plush carpet, through the doors that seemed taller and stood in front of his secretary’s desk. She got up, took me into his office and quietly closed the door behind me. He motioned for me to sit down in one of the chairs in front of his desk and then he said this:

“I’m mad because you wasted my time. Every day, executives and outside business people attempt to get on my calendar. Some wait for several months. I gave you an hour of my time and you wasted it.”

I looked at him very intently - knowing now that I probably looked like a deer caught in headlights.

“You didn’t give me anything t do. There wasn’t a decision to be made, you told me the project as in shambles, but didn’t give me options on what could be done to complete the project. In short, you wasted my time.”

He then took a copy of a management book (a 1st edition BTW) from Tom Peters and gave it to me to read. And he told me to read it, understand it and return it when I was done. With that the conversation was over.

That meeting had a profound impact on me as a professional. I never considered myself a leader and sure wasn’t back then. But simply, because someone in the position of authority took the time to reach out and give me a tip on how to better myself, I took the time to try. Not all engineers, sales clerks, restaurant managers or the myriad of other professional job titles that have a modicum of responsibility are going to be great leaders.

But if you have a performance problem within a team, take the time to look at each member of the team and determine if there is someone that just needs a “tip”. You just might find a willing student that has been secretly hoping for an opportunity to learn.

And remember that just because someone has been in the industry or the job for a long period of time - they are not always the best choice; just as the most junior team member may not be as well. Look for the quiet, confident one that listens more than they talk and share a book with them. You may be surprised. It worked for my old VP and it may work for you.
That’s how I see it from here.

Ever wondered why some of your staff seem to get everything completed that is assigned to them, while others cannot seem to complete anything? Ever wondered why? Recently, while working at a firm where chaos reigns, I was reminded of a podcast that I did with Nicole Bachmann on Procrastination (click on “Procrastination” to listen). The podcast is hosted at a Podcast site I developed called - “BrainSmack Radio - where we smack around the issues of Business.” In this interview, Nicole talks about how ones mental makeup assists in determining how and why they procrastinate. But, while I found them and still do now - the interview fascinating. I found another reason for things not getting done - they don’t want to do the work!

Consider a group of technical staff that has the competence to complete the work assigned - yet very little real work gets completed. Real work being defined as “design documents and plans” the type of work that is considered boring by some and completely neccessary by others. I fall into the latter category. Documenting what you want to do, plan to do and hope to do is critical for ” Getting Things Done or GTD”. Failure to do so wil result in a alot of activity (some useful) but the overall long term direction suffers from a lack of a map. The map being comprised of those documents (i.e. designs, plans etc) that the team lead wants. Don’t get me wrong - writing documents doesn’t imply that everything that needs to be accomplished will. But it is a start.

So, if you have a team that appears to be lost and not accomplishing what they should. Ask yourself, if they have taken the time to write out in a formal manner what is needed, why and how. If they haven’t than that’s part of your answer. The other part may be found in the psychology of procrastination that Nicole so expertly describes in her podcast.

That’s how I see it from here….

I have a client that is having an issue with Sexual Harrassment. Let me explain: A female employee claims that a male supervisor had his pants undone when she went past his office door. The supervisor denys the claim. To compound the problem; the female employee is not performing her job to the level expected. What do you do as the owner of the firm?

One - they called their PEO and had a human resource specialist interview both employees. No evidence of sexual advancement or harrassment was found. However, the supervisor was made to go through “sexual harrassment” training in order to make sure that he understood the implications and the scope of what could be considered harrassment. The employee was not put on a performance plan in order for the company to not look like it was “punishing” the employee as a result of the claim.

So was this the right response?

Well it gets worse - it turns outs that the supervisor has had extramarital activities at a previous firm. The female employee knows about the activities and is discussing them with other co-workers and ex-employees. And, an attempt to discuss her work performance has resulted in another claim of “hostile” work environment.

Now what?

My recommendation was as follows:

1) Investigate the claim with the PEO.

2) Seperate the two employee’s immeadiately as there is obviously now a “hostile” environment in BOTH directions.

3) Ensure that ALL employee’s are aware of the companies “Harrassment Policy” and are aware of the ramifications of not following the policy.

I couldn’t stress enough to the owner of the firm ( a small family owned business with less than 40 employees) that he cannot tolerate any percieved, implied or actual harrassment within his firm. The issue that he has is that the Male employee’s past is being successfully used against him by another employee. This is detrimental to the firm and the Male employee is now feeling harrassment of another form. The PEO in this case needs to do a better job of managing the situation and it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Thoughts?

I’m here at Clearwater Beach in Sunny Florida attending a conference on Earned Value Methods hosting by the Project Management Institute or PMI. 300 or so project managers are attending classes on:

• - how to measure Earned Value or EV
• - how to managed projects successfully using EV,
• - integrating the project’s technical components,
• - mangaging the business case and many other subjects.

It became apparent to me that while the current buzz phrase is “Earned Value” the reality is that a project that is not clearly defined from the beginning is in trouble period. Irregardless of how you manage, report, audit or re-baseline a troubled project is a troubled project.

True some of the software tools that are available today due a great job of analyzing schedules and helping you via Monte Carlo Simulation to plot the Optimistic, On Target and Pessimistic completion dates of a program with an accuracy that is hard to beat. However, even with these tools (which can be expensive to implement and manage over the long term) the old adage of “Garbage In - Garbage Out” or GIGO is still true.

A bad plan is just that - a bad plan and no amount of software or training on the latest tools to manage earned value will correct that. Earned value calculations have their place - but well trained project managers with an understanding that it is still about delivering the product or service is still what is most important.

What’s the old adage from our woodworking days again - ‘measure it twice and cut once.’

That’s how I see it from here.

The Chief Pickle

-p.s. - for those of you that want more information on Earned Value Methodology here are some resources.

- Project Smart

- Benefits of using Earned Value Analysis

With the acceptance of the World Wide Web(WWW) and email as part of daily business communication and sources of leads/sales – international commerce is becoming more and more a reality for business’s worldwide. But how does one conduct business globally? Here are some quick tips.

First, agree that there are different business customs around the world that are still important in the age of “instant gratification” that the Internet appears to have empowered. Americans are typically generalized as “in a hurry, yet at the same time being dynamic and entrepreneurial.” Sometimes the American trait to getting down to business quickly and kill a deal before it is ever established. This can be especially true in Latin and Asian business cultures where they like to get to know you before discussing a deal commercially. For insight into how to do business in the “New Europe” try “Mind Your Manners: Managing Business Cultures in the New Global Europe” available via Amazon.com. Or if China is the target culture try “Chinese Business Etiquette“. There are also books on Latin/American and “Business Culture” in general.

Second, exchange rates and import taxes can quickly turn what was thought to be a profitable transaction into one that you never would have entered into sanely. It is important that you understand the your countries rules and regulations as they impact your industry and business. Here the use of a competent tax professional and other business advisors with international experience is critical. For resources available from the US Government to US firms here is a link to a “State Department” website.

There’s a great deal to cover when it comes to international business. If you sell bike parts on the internet and you get an order from Italy, your now an international business. You can make alot of money via international commerce but a well thought plan as to why you want to expand and how is critical.

Finally, don’t ever do business with someone that sends you more money than the item you or service you are selling originally cost, and then requests a refund of the difference via Western Union. For example an international postal money order for a $1000 for a $250 massage. This is a variant of the “Nigerian scams” that now plaque small business’s worldwide. Use Paypal or some other secure service and consider the small transaction fee on your end to receive payment a small price to pay for piece of mind.

That’s how I see it from here…

During my research of problems associated with USB memory Sticks I came across two articles that sort of shouted “hey look at me!”. The first article was titled “Afghans selling US army files” and the other was titled “Cabbies put the brakes on USB Security Risk“.

The ubiquitous USB memory stick is suffering from an image problem; it’s become a major data security risk. By now most business’s are well aware of the need for data security protection on their computers; but what about externally connected devices like USB memory sticks, USB external hardrives, iPods and even digital cameras. These are typically personal devices that are disconnected from office networks and data. However, once they are connected then they can immeadiately fill up with information that you would not want to see in a competitor’s hands if the owner is so inclined.
Remember the mention of Yellow Cabs in the opening paragraph - well it turns that some of the employee’s of the co-op that provides cars to Yellow Cab found a USB device while converting an old police car into a taxi. It was a USB device that contained “suspect names, arrest records, addresse’s and Social Security numbers. It had apparently fell out of the officer’s pocket and gotten lost in the car.”

This is why the IT manager of the co-op had all of the USB device ports on the companies PC’s disabled. He recognized that one USB memory stick could hold the entire co-ops financial system and records! How many memory sticks would you need to take all of your customer data home?

Blocking the USB ports worked until PC’s starting being configured with USB printer’s, keyboards and mice and the “blocking strategy” had become less effective.

Imagine what could be on a USB drive that one of your disgruntled employees’s is taken home every evening. Does this mean that your firm should ban the drives? Possibly yes, depending upon your position. Or you may adopt a more flexible stance depending upon whether there is a legitmate need in your company for these devices. Software and hardware solutions are available to allow you to manage access to these devices from your computer network. One firm that offers a solution is Centennial Software (The Rotten Pickle does NOT have any financial or other arrangement with this or any other firm mentioned in this blog entry.) has a device called called the “Device Wall” that promises to protect your company data and network from a multitude of issues. While I have no personal experience with the product a visit to the company site offered a wealth of information on the sbject and they are worth exploring further. There are other companies and a search of the web via your favorite search engine will bring up a list.

So what happened to the drives the Afghans were selling! The US Army bought them back with box’s of local currency and the price was no object. You have to love capitalism.

The key point of this blog entry is to understand that there is a significant data privacy issue with portable devices within the companies. There are solutions available and a review of your firms policies with your IT staff is probably in order.

Whether you choose to recognize the problem and follow up is your choice.

That’s how I see it from here..