Be Different or be dead

November 30, 2020

What is the best way to decide among so many options?

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What is the best way to decide among so many options?

▪️You’re being inundated with information.
▪️You’ve got opinions from literally hundreds of people; there are too many ‘experts’ out there.
▪️You‘ve got too many choices; it’s like a restaurant menu with 15 pages.
▪️Theory seems to lead thought leadership; academics abound with their lofty advice.
▪️Those with the most lofty academic pedigrees seem to command credibility.
▪️Everyone seems to know what you should do.

All you want to do is make a decision that is right for you, but you can’t. There is just too much help; advice is ‘raining down’ on you — you have too many choices that you can make.

And as a result you’re stressed out, you’re stuck in the evaluation and consideration mode. You can’t move.

So what do you do when you are inundated with good intentions?

Here are a few suggestions based on what worked for me over too many years of sitting in the dark ‘under the mushroom’ while bits and bytes lay siege.

1. Get your priorities straight

You can’t evaluate the worth of someone else’s advice if you don’t know precisely (ok ‘sorta know’) what you want to do.
So sit down and define what you need; the specific objectives you want to achieve, and assess the advice out there with your needs as the context.

And try to define what you need in the short term rather than over a longer time horizon. The thing is, the long term never shows up if you can’t manoeuvre yourself through the short term. Long term results are achieved generally through sequential successes; there are simply no silver bullets you can rely on.
Do the hard work everyday. Get a nano-inch of progress everyday and the future will take care of itself.

2. Look for people who have similar backgrounds

You need to be able to relate to the person spewing advice at you, so take some time and research the advisors. Pick one who is the closest to you in terms of life experience, education goals and career aspirations.

Find someone who is relevant to you in the cloud of those who may have great credentials but are not on your wavelength.

3. Focus. Focus. Focus

Pick the top three things you need to sort out, not the total basket of goodies you face.
We all get sucked into ‘boiling the ocean’; believing that unless we solve each and every challenge we face, we are incomplete and will fall short of the perfect solution for ourselves.

The truth is that 80% of our problems come from 20% of the issues staring us in the eyes.

Roy’s Rule of 3: find 3 things that matter and conquer them; forget about the many other things that really don’t make a significant difference to your life.

So filter the volumes of information ‘raining down’ on you and pick 3 sources and study them; do your own due diligence on your discoveries to decide what is worthy of your attention and following.

The reality is that you simply don’t have enough time to chase every information source or piece of guidance anyways, so it’s critical to bear down on those few things that have a good chance of helping you achieve your goals.

4. Don’t rush

You didn’t reach your current state overnight so it’s ok to take whatever time you need to move forward.
I’m an advocate of ‘getting it just about right’ and then moving quickly to execution mode, and this applies to sifting through the barrage of data hitting us.

The thing is, though, try and be as thorough as you can in the briefest time available to you. If you need an extra week to assess the most appropriate course of action for you to take, then take it.

5. Track what you do

It’s important to understand what works for you and what doesn’t because your actual experience should inform subsequent actions you decide to take.
Your Plan A will not likely succeed; they rarely do. So it’s exceedingly important that you have data on your attempts to learn from and refine your next steps.

It’s great that there is a plethora of information at our disposal to help us make decisions, but there is a dark side that needs to be avoided.

The actions presented here when you have too many choices will help you navigate the information avalanche and find a nugget or two that will make the difference.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 11.30.20 at 05:45 am by Roy Osing
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November 29, 2020

10 easy ways to make your software business insanely different

There are thousands of software companies operating in the market today and this is no point of argument. Many software firms inaugurate and close every day.
In this huge sea, how can you be the drop of honeydew that catches the right attention?

Here are some tips that you can use and stand out from the crowd.

Be different

To be irreplaceable, you first need to be different. You know you are not the only one in the market. There are thousands and even more enterprises offering similar services to your target audience.

Now, what can you do to stand out? You cannot bring something new every time in the market, but you can absolutely do the same thing in a different way.

Yes, this approach can help your software business stand out from other competitors. Every software business has its defining attribute.

What you need to do is figure that out and present yourself in a creative way to attract more people. Your software brand identity can become your peculiarity and help you in spreading brand awareness.

Focus on details

Your software makes communication between humans and computers possible. For seamless communication, your software must be coded perfectly.

A perfect code is the result of keen attention to the details. Your software is the puppet of your coding. It will work the way you have coded it.

No matter how small the error is, it can disrupt the entire performance of your software.

To stand out, you must provide quality, which can be achieved by focusing on details. Always make sure that you are keenly looking into the details for preparing the final code.

Git it

On-time deliveries are really important for any business, be it software business, to stand out. Imagine a situation when you have lost all of your code and there is a deadline close at hand.

In this situation, all you can expect is a miracle. Fortunately, the miracle is already available and that is GitHub. This version control tool can be so handy while coding.

You can use Git to handle and save all the versions of your code and retrieve any version to use at any point in time. Git is your saviour from hassles.

All you need to do is to learn to wield Git. Getting yourself free from hassles and focusing on creativity can help your business stand out from the crowd.

Encourage developers to be team players

The foundation of a successful software business is its developers. Your software can be your differential peculiarity if you’re skilled and enthusiastic developers are coding it with all their creativity and dedication.
Encourage them to be team players so that they can help each other in solving issues.

When all the team players work together and share their expertise, they will end up developing a great product.

Develop a sense of respect among all the developers for each other and encourage them to lift-up everyone around. After all, great software is the result of a great team. 

Keep learning

In whichever field you are, learning never ends. When you are operating in the software business, technology keeps evolving and you have to keep up with all the latest trends in the market.

People demand more interactive and innovative software now. For this, new technologies are being developed and deployed. You need to learn them and show your expertise.

Use the Agile method

The Agile software development method can be imperative if you are using it in the right way. It is better to opt for the Agile method if you work on projects in a team.

The secret to the managed workflows of many of your competitors might be the employment of the Agile method. You can also learn and put this into use to gain a competitive edge.

The Agile method uses iterative workflows or sprints to develop software. All the team members collaborate and share their opinions at every stage of the project development so that no unplanned event can disrupt your workflow.

Build, Break, Rebuild

In software development, you can rarely expect a perfect result in just one go. Generally, you have to build software first, find mistakes or improvements, then rebuild the software to achieve the desired results.

Every time you work on a project, you have to challenge yourself to bring the best out of you. Your product will reflect the dedication and hard work that you put in.

Learning from previous mistakes will help you in coming up with new ideas to solve them. To learn, building-breaking-rebuilding is an incessant process.

This approach can enable you to bring a differential product & solution every time you work on a project and deliver the best results, which will eventually make you stand out.

Offer guarantees

Guaranteeing your software products builds trust in your brand and product. When you offer a guarantee, people do not hesitate in buying your products because of the assurance that you provide.

They know that you are there if anything unexpected comes up. Building such trust in your target audience can help you gain a competitive edge. 

Be social

Being social is a different approach that many businesses in the market are adopting to build a social and emotional connection with their target audience.

This approach can take your software business to the next level. People trust you more when you become a social business.

You can enhance your brand value and increase brand awareness by working for any social cause. Companies help needy people when their audience buys from them.

Many companies give a part of one’s purchase to the people in need in an effort to change the world. In this way, you can build a different image of your brand and encourage people to buy from you and help others through you. 

Define and focus on your niche

Defining your niche and focusing on it is very important for your software business. Defining a niche helps you target the right people. Focusing on your niche helps you in establishing yourself in the market as a service/product provider.

People must know if you are the right fit for them and for that, you will have to tell people your niche. It will not confuse people and the right people will come to you proactively to purchase. Trying to serve everyone can lead you in no particular direction.

To summarize

No one wants to be the sheep of the flock, but not everyone finds success in doing this. These tips can certainly help your software business to leave a distinguishing mark and have a remarkable presence in the market. We have shown you the way, now you will have to walk on it and achieve what you want.

— Harikrishna Kundariya is the co-founder and Director of eSparkBiz Technologies, A Mobile App Development Company. His 8+ experience enables him to provide digital solutions to new start-ups based on IoT and ChatBot. You can connect with him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

• Posted 11.29.20 at 03:07 am by Roy Osing
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November 25, 2020

8 simple ways Millennials can keep their job in COVID times

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8 simple ways Millennials can keep their job in COVID times.

Pandemics have shaken the financial lives of millennials who are suffering immensely due to the unstable economic situation in the country.

According to the Pew Research Center around 43% of people between the ages of 24 and 38, and 30% of Americans between the ages of 30 and 49 years have suffered financially. The numbers in Canada are not dissimilar. Either they, or someone in their family has lost a job.

If you are a millennial who desperately wants to keep your job during COVID-19, then it is natural to be apprehensive and stressed out.

However, there are a few ways to keep your job during COVID-19.

1. Give three hundred percent at work

COVID-19 has created an adverse situation in the country and the workplace. However, you have to remember one thing. The greater the adversity, the more important it is to resolve that now is the time to achieve victory in your life.

You have to keep challenging yourself. You have to consider adversity as an opportunity to prove yourself in the workplace. Work as hard as three people so that you become an indispensable employee of the organization.

2. Do all assignments without a grudge

Your boss may give you a few projects that are beyond your comfort zone. You may not have done that kind of work before. But you should try to do these assignments without any hesitation.

You should accept all the assignments with a positive attitude and not push back on your boss regarding anything they ask you to do.

And try to avoid thinking about your specific job only; look for opportunities to tackle assignments that create benefits for the entire organization. This might be a more effective way to save your job.

3. Come up with innovative ideas to save money

More than anything, the company needs innovative ideas to reduce operating costs, so any ideas you can come up with would be greatly appreciated and would definitely help you keep your job.

Give fresh ideas on how to complete a project on a tight budget or how to manage generally with limited resources. Leadership may accept some suggestions and discard others. Take any feedback you get on a positive note and be sure to ask for feedback on your suggestions.

Also, remember that company leaders are noticing your efforts. That will go in your favor in the long run.

4. Maintain a good relationship with customers

Never forget that customers are the reason companies exist.

If you have a customer facing role in your organization, make sure you go the extra mile and maintain good relationships with your customers and make them feel valued and appreciated.

Think about various ways to lure new customers to boost the revenue of the company. When a company is financially stable, employee jobs are also more secure.

5. Show up regularly at work

Undue absenteeism is something that companies will not tolerate during these times. If you have a habit of taking a day off every week, then it is time to change your attitude.

Companies will not be interested in keeping employees who aren’t committed and who do not take their job seriously.

6. Be flexible and develop new skills

COVID-19 has changed the work ecosystem. You have to be flexible and adapt to the new environment.

Take the initiative to develop new competencies that the organization needs to survive.

Don’t be afraid to take the lead to maintain the momentum. Have confidence in your ability and give it your best shot.

Learn to use new technologies and artificial intelligence to boost productivity in the virtual work ecosystem.

7. Manage your job stress

Too much job stress can hamper your performance at work, and during a pandemic stress is at all time high levels.

Concerns about being exposed to COVID at work, managing family matters, working with inadequate equipment, and the constant fear of losing your job all create stress which, if not successfully managed, will impact your performance and could jeopardize your job.

Here are some steps you can take to cope with job stress during the pandemic.

— Discuss how to overcome job stress with your friends and colleagues;
— Maintain a proper sleep schedule at home;
— Take short breaks during work to relax;
— Exercise every day outdoors to release stress and stay fit;
— Practice meditation every day to relax;
— Do fun things in your free time;
— Remember that everyone is in the same situation;
— Avoid alcohol and drugs;
— Connect with friends every day through social media platforms and share hearty laughter;
— Know about employee rights and laws so that you can avoid any sort of discrimination;
— Ask employers how they can access mental health resources to combat stress in the workplace.

8. Stay on good terms with management

Now is not the time to get into any kind of argument with management of the company. The organization may have to make some tough decisions during the pandemic which could involve pay cuts, reduced hours, or suspension of employee benefits.

While it is not easy to accept these kinds of decisions where you have to endure a financial loss, you have to think about the overall scenario. A job with a pay cut is still better than having no job at all. You cannot plan your financial future based on unemployment benefits.

Be on good terms with management even if you feel outraged inside. Keep silent if you cannot say anything positive to the management. Silence is better than criticizing the company’s decisions.
Your outburst will only put your job in danger. Remember, organizations are less likely to retain employees with a negative attitude during COVID-19.

Discuss what’s going on in your company with your colleagues and try to avoid being extremely negative about your boss or the company. Try and keep conversations upbeat and solution oriented.
You cannot depend on others to be discreet during this tough time because everyone is under pressure to keep their job.

These are extraordinary times requiring extra measures to stay working; give my suggestions a try and I hope they work for you.

Be safe.

— Valentina Wilson loves to analyze personal financial matters and help others manage their finances in a better way. Traveling is also her passion. She follows more animals on Instagram than humans and her greatest achievement is her blog. She believes that transparency and conversations about money are essential in gaining control of finances. To connect with her, visit her blog.

• Posted 11.25.20 at 06:43 am by Roy Osing
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November 23, 2020

5 simple reasons why people can’t follow the rules during the pandemic

Source: Pexels

5 simple reasons why people can’t follow the rules during the pandemic.

I’m a fan of Dr. Bonnie Henry, BC’s top doctor. I admire her leadership skills, her amazing empathy and her unrelenting belief that if people are given the right information and it is adequately explained to them, they will do the right thing.

She delivers a regular message on the status of COVID-19 in the province, and I am struck by the types of media questions that are being asked of her and the human ‘frailties’ the questions reveal in terms of how people respond to a virus we knew nothing about when the pandemic was announced in March, and that we are forced to learn about ‘on the run’.

COVID-19 is an extreme example of a shocking unpredicted body blow that every element of our society is absorbing in various ways with various outcomes.

Some organizations are morphing how they do business to conform to the new physical distancing rules, school systems are reinventing themselves to employ both in-class and virtual teaching and individuals are having to adjust their personal lives to keep themselves and everyone around them safe in the ‘new normal’.

While organizations are pivoting to conduct themselves differently in the COVID world, individuals seem to be having a more difficult time adjusting; they are struggling to adapt with the pandemic reality and the personal changes that it demands.

They are exposing some fundamental human frailties that in normal times pose a challenge for change leaders in organizations wanting to change their strategic direction and pursue a different course. But in COVID times, these frailties, by my observation, are accentuated, thus imposing an even greater challenge.

I’ve observed 5 COVID-induced frailties that must be addressed by individuals and leaders now more than ever.

1. People need to be told what to do

In every private, public or political organization, there is a role for a directive style of leadership. For example, effective leaders, albeit with employee input, decide on the business plan of the organization; it’s not created by consensus. And when it’s hit with a competitive assault, the leader makes the call on what response best serves all stakeholders.

Ironically, in uncertain and stressful COVID times, people want more direction in their lives not less. Dr Bonnie doesn’t provide public orders for every sector, nor does she provide specific rules for every personal and family situation.

Dr. B provides general guidelines which she expects every person to apply to their own circumstance. She does not tell people what specifically to do.

People are having trouble with this approach. They want to be told what to do. They are willing to have less say in the practices and rules that are required to stem the transmission of the virus and demand more command-type direction from leadership even though leadership is in a similar position of not completely understanding the correct action to take. They are ok with giving up their rights to control their own personal outcome.

The frailty revealed — people don’t want to think for themselves in trying times; rather they are willing to put their trust in someone who, by virtue of the leadership position they hold, is perceived to have the all right answers.
This ‘delegation up’ mentality in times of uncertainty and stress is troublesome as it’s essentially an abdication of one’s responsibility to take as much ownership of issues affecting them as they can.

Leaders need to engage people now more than ever on the issues and encourage them to take control of their lives. Yes, provide the direction needed but encourage individuals to be more active in and expressive of their own needs in the decision making process.

2. People have difficulty dealing with vagueness

My observation is that most people struggle with translating concepts and principles into personal action; they’re not totally comfortable with thinking holistically and deriving what they specifically should do to support the general thought and direction given.

For example, people have trouble grasping what physical distancing means in a variety of settings where the number of people allowed is a function of the size of the space available.

For example, when Dr Bonnie says you can have a maximum of 50 people at a gathering except in a 500 square foot condo it has to be a fewer number, I can see people throw up their hands and say “Is it 50 or not? Make up your mind!” And they’re surprised when they get hit with a $2,000 fine for having a party with an elbow-to-elbow crowd.

“Viruses don’t pay attention to our wishes” — The Honorable Adrian Dix, BC Health Minister

The world is not precise and this virus certainly doesn’t follow any formula. We MUST get used to living and making decisions based on a general understanding of the issues and trying many things to see what works and what doesn’t.

The frailty revealed — people expect solid lines when there are none. They expect clear focus when it’s impossible. All of us must get used to living with moments of discomfort and determining the appropriate way forward with just a minimal amount of concrete facts.
In this type of environment, planning on the run is the only practical way of dealing with the imprecision that uncertainty brings.

3. People don’t like leaders changing their minds

Leaders declare a course of action based on the best information they have at the time; experience yields things that work well and things that don’t. And based on the results and learnings achieved, leaders pivot on their original plan and advocate a change in direction.

At the beginning of the pandemic, Dr Bonnie suggested that people should keep a minimum physical distance of 3 meters (6 feet) between themselves in order to minimize the risk of transmitting the virus; this was the medical opinion at the time.

As time marched on and more was learned about how COVID was transmitted in various environments, Dr Bonnie described circumstances where a 1 meter physical separation was ‘probably safe’. Of course the other factor considered in the physical distancing issue was the need to get our kids back to school with a hybrid learning model and new school room topologies.

People are frustrated over this apparent change of position. They see this as a lack of leadership competence and shout out “Why couldn’t you get it right the first time?”.

The frailty revealed — people expect leaders to declare a plan and stick to it. It takes most of us time to understand and support why we are going in a certain direction, and when that direction is changed we lose our anchor and have to go through the process of understanding and taking action on a new direction all over again.
The challenge is for people to accept that we live in a world of relentless and unpredictable change and that if we don’t move with it, we’re done.

4. People like ‘the stick’ more than ‘the carrot’

It’s not unusual in a Dr Bonnie update to hear some media person ask the question “Do you think we need to take tougher measures with people who are violating the rules rather than continuing with the current gentle approach of encouraging them to change?”

Dr Bonnie believes that people want to do the right thing and that what is needed is to provide the right information to the public and encourage the behaviour needed to reduce the transmission of the virus.
‘Be kind, be gentle and be safe’ is her mantra and it drives her decision-making in public health matters.

The frailty revealed — people believe that noncompliance should be dealt with by imposing punitive measures rather than trying to achieve the desired outcome by changing behaviour. For the leader in chaotic times this frailty demands a balance of behaviour-changing and enforcement actions.

5. People like to manipulate to justify their own behaviour

Most of us don’t like change. Period. It’s unsettling, risky and downright uncomfortable. And when we find ourselves thrust in a new environment our first impulse is to hold on to our old ways rather than willingly move to a different paradigm.

Dr Bonnie’s direction, when the number of infections is on the rise, is that we adopt a ‘same six’ approach to govern our social interactions. It’s pretty straightforward: try and engage only with the same six people in your bubble; the risk for transmitting the virus increases as you interact with different people.

The actual behaviour exhibited by people, however, tends to be mixed with some believing they need only keep their circle to six friends and relatives while others understand they need to pull back and only engage with the same six people.

Those in the non-change group (incorrectly) interpret the rule to mean that it’s ok to engage with six different people everyday because it serves their past social norm which they steadfastly want to hold on to.

The frailty revealed — people tend to be selective in what they hear in the rules they are asked to follow. They pick and choose those parts that fit their past behaviour pattern and practise them; they ignore the personal change implications that the new rule requires.

For the leader, this is a major issue if real change is required. They must anticipate that this frailty will be revealed and have a plan to deal with it. This often requires communicating in excruciating detail exactly what the new rule means and what it doesn’t mean; painting a picture for people to reduce the amount of ‘wiggle room’ they have to avoid making the changes necessary.

Human idiosyncrasies have always existed; they have always challenged any change movement whether it involves an organization changing its strategic direction or an individual making a new career choice.

COVID has magnified the whole adaptive process for us all, however, and we must find a way within ourselves to move to our new world if we are ever to see the light at the end…

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead book series

• Posted 11.23.20 at 06:22 am by Roy Osing
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