My Fundemental Beliefs

Over the years, I've come up with a lot of sayings. These quips are culminations of the voices in my head. Before you judge me, let me explain. I think the voices come from somewhere near my conscience. Sometimes I don't listen to them and it always comes back to haunt me. Most of these voices are parts of my core beliefs and while they originate from my working life, I also find that these beliefs carry over into my personal life.

1) It's amazing what you can do when you believe that you can do it - Sounds like B.S. But I've seen it happen more times than I can count. I didn't belive the person who first told me this about a project we were working on. I was wrong.

2) The key to happiness is expectation management - You can't always control what you can deliver, but you can control what someone expects. No one has ever been unhappy when their expectations were met or exceeded. When you try to set expectations, don't set them too low and over deliver. The difference needs to be subliminal, otherwise they will adjust thier own expectations next time.

3) Speak to others in their langauge, not yours - We all think and learn in different ways. Don't assume that what works for you works for everyone else. I'm a big fan of true colors. When I meet someone, I try and size up what "color" they are. I was a big skeptic at first, but I'm a believer now.

4) Be direct - don't be an a$$hole behind someone's back because then you are an a$$hole and a coward. When you aren't telling it to someone "straight", you are probably doing it for selfish reasons so that you don't "feel" like a bad person.

5) If something sounds really stupid, it's likely that only know part of the story - Most companies have very smart people, if something sounds dumb, there's probably more information that, when added to the percieved dumb decision, makes sense.

6) Good managers realize that their most important work is usually boring - face it, writing requirements and clear direction is boring. But when done correctly, it will really help someone get something done.

7) Good news can wait; bad news cannot - Fairly obvious here. But so often we do the opposite.

8) It's every manager's job to promote and grow their employees - there are many ways to success. Pick the path that best aligns with employee's career goals.

9) A poor unified vision is more likely to lead to success than several disjoint brillian visions - I've worked for companies that have too many "cooks in the kitchen".

10) Move the Rock! ( it means make progress..even if it's not right )

11) If you aren't two weeks ahead, you are two weeks behind - I've never worked on a project that couldn't use two more weeks of polish. If you are too weeks ahead, you are on schedule...don't take a break. It's also not a good time to add features...again...you are on schedule.

12 ) Lie to yourself - sometimes, this is the first step in doing anything you believe you can do.

13 ) You are too close to the problem - You can't understand the "Duh" factor ( see next ) when you have worked on something for too long. Empathy isn't achievable because you are too biased.

14) Listening to people is good, whatching what they do is better - This is in regard to useability testing. What they say is useful, but sometimes they don't realize what they need or understand what they are doing.

15) The "Duh" Factor ( borrowed from Paul Dana ) - it's a new standard for simplicity.

16) Argue with the facts, not the person - Why argue head to head with someone...get on the same side of the table and argue with the facts.

17) A small business is managed chaos - the sooner you accept this, the better you will get at managing chaos

18) Never hold someone else to a standard that you don't hold yourself to.

19) I may not be as smart as you...but I will work twice as hard as you.

20) My personal favorite: People respect you when you allow them to get more done more easily.