Every Ingredient is Important

You know what a recipe is, don’t you? A few cups of this, an ounce of that, and throw in a handful of those for that little something extra. Then, you mix it all together, put it in the oven and bake for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. (Sheesh; just writing this and my mouth is watering already!)

It’s something so familiar to most of us we even use the metaphor in other ways as well. For instance, let’s say you have some particular project in mind. What’s your plan – your recipe – for making it happen? See what I mean?

The problem comes when something goes wrong. Either you fail to follow the recipe exactly, or maybe get a bit confused about what to do when. That’s sorta what happened to me the other day.

There’s a particular show I love to watch on one of the cooking channels. The host not only teaches you how to make this or that, but he often laces his shows with why certain things work the way they do. It’s almost like an impromptu chemistry lesson – only it has to do with cooking and stuff. Very informative, and always fun to watch.

It’s fascinating how each ingredient in a recipe has a certain function, too. Although some are obviously just for flavoring or coloring, others perform in certain ways that, had they been left out, would seriously compromise the end result. Sometimes, a simple mistake turns what was supposed to be deliciously scrumptious into a colorless, tasteless blob of glop. (Trust me, this is experience talkin’ here. *sigh*)

It Seemed So Simple

Anyhoo – the other day I decided to make some pumpkin bread. (Yeah, you already know where this is going, don’t you?) That seemed like a simple enough thing, right? All I had to do was preheat the oven, open the box, dump said box’s contents in a bowl, add a few simple ingredients, mix, pour into the pan, and slide it into the waiting oven. Nothing to it. He said.

As it turned out, though, it wasn’t – quite – that simple. But it’s not my fault! Who knew the box had not one, but two different recipes on the back?

First of all, you could use the same mix for either pumpkin bread or pumpkin muffins. Wow, tough choice, I’ll tell ya – they’re both yummy. But, I started out making pumpkin bread, so I figured I might as well finish with it. Or so I thought.

The first thing that went awry was, after I dumped the specified amount of milk into the mix, that’s when I discovered the milk was for muffins, not for bread. Apparently I was supposed to use water instead. Hmph.

OK, I said to myself, I’ll make muffins then! Problem solved, right?

Then I realized I’d used the wrong amount of oil as well, getting them reversed as I did the milk. This time, though, the amount I actually used was right – for the bread, that is. It was, unfortunately, way too much for the muffins. Grbl grbl.

So what was I making, anyway? I wondered. The answer, it seemed was, Who knows? Still, I’ve successfully substituted milk for water before in other concoctions with good results, so I figured, still not a problem.

Finally, just for the heck of it, I threw in a cup of cranberries. Why? Hey, I like cranberries! Seemed like a good idea at the time, anyway.

A Little Minor Detail

The next question was a little more fundamental: which cooking time was the correct one? See, muffins are supposed to bake about 18 minutes (when in muffin cups, of course), but for bread, it was a surprising 40 to 45 minutes! So again, the question of what the heck am I making seemed to be relevant. (I had visions of pulling a smoking, black brick out of the oven here.)

Unfortunately I had no ready answer: was I making cranberry pumpkin breaffins, or pumpkin-cranberry muffibread? Or something never before seen on the planet? Only Heaven knew, it seemed and – at least so far – they weren’t talkin’. (Probably just as mystified as I was.)

Since there was really no way to know, I decided to set the timer for 20 minutes, then just watch and test the dough until the result was done. I poured the mix into a bread pan, popped it into the oven, and set the timer. Whew! Never have I  had so much trouble baking a simple little treat!

Nevertheless, in spite the annoying speed bumps, I finally managed to get the job done. My spirits lifted as I silently contemplated the tasty result. And that’s when I noticed that pesky little detail. You see those two eggs there in the photo? Well, after poppin’ my bread in the oven, I turned around and, still sittin’ there on the counter were those two eggs!

Time stood still for a moment as I contemplated – very briefly – just letting it go. But no, I was determined to eat something delicious this morning, whatever the cost. So I pulled the pan out of the oven, dumped it all back into the bowl and tossed in the eggs (minus their shells, of course!)

Back in the oven it went and finally it was well and truly time to sit back and wait to see what happened. I mean, after everything that had gone wrong so far, I would have been happy to just be able to eat whatever came out of the oven, y’know?

The Oven Test

Well, 30 minutes passed, and it was rising nicely – but not done yet. 35 minutes, 40 minutes, 45 – still not yet; a clean knife driven through the heart of the loaf (reminiscent of that gruesome shower scene in the movie Psycho) still came out with uncooked dough on it. Either this thing was going to end up light and fluffy – or that smoking black brick I had visualized earlier, I wasn’t sure which.

Finally, after 49 minutes, I dragged it out of the oven and set it on the rack to cool. Hmmm. Well, although it looked almost overdone, still, it wasn’t too bad. I gotta say though; it smelled wonderful! Maybe there was hope for it after all.

Well, I won’t keep you in suspense; my Frankenstein concoction actually turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself! Despite the violence done to the original recipe, the bread turned out moist and full of that delicious, spicy pumpkin flavor. And the cranberries I tossed in added just that little something extra I’d hoped for. Even I was surprised at how well it turned out; particularly considering all the things that went wrong.

Ah well, all’s well that ends well, I always say!

What Making Pumpkin Bread Teaches Us About Life

But wait! After all this discombobulation, you may be wondering just what the heck did it all mean, anyway? Was there, in fact, a lesson or two to be learned from such a zany turn of events? I mean, is there anything life has to teach us when what is supposed to be a dead simple recipe gets twisted up and all topsy-turvey?

And the answer is (all together now): why yes there is! In fact, there are several things we can learn when our so-called well-laid plans don’t quite go as we expect:

1. Read the Directions! All right; chances are you probably thought of this one just as soon as you started reading this little adventure. Yup; I guess the best lessons are usually the most obvious, aren’t they? I must admit I didn’t read the directions first but started out throwing this and that into a bowl. Even a cursory look at the box and I would’ve seen the two different recipes, and maybe none of this would have happened. Oh, I suppose, like a politician, I could always blame the box for messin’ me up here. But not even the box would be fooled on that score, right?
2. Every ingredient has its function. Sometimes it ain’t so easy to tell exactly what a certain ingredient adds to the final result. Oh, most folks know eggs are necessary for almost any baked good – but do you know why? It sometimes helps to know that sort of thing, just in case something goes wrong, y’know? Makes it easier to fix. As in life, I might add. My advice: don’t just do things “because”; do them because you know why you’re doing them.
3. Be flexible. One of the arguably more valuable things I’ve learned from life is the fact that, even when if things go perfectly (Q: have they ever?), something almost always happens you didn’t expect. Yep; that’s life all right, and it’s a laugh a minute, I’ll tell ya! The best way to cope with that sort of thing, though, is to be flexible enough to work with whatever comes your way. Sometimes you’ll have to make a few quick changes, or even be prepared to modify your expectations a bit (like my decision to *sigh* finally give up on bein’ a Spaceman). Just remember this: the only thing that stands a chance of rescuing even the most screwed-up outcome may be your flexibility.
4. Don’t leave an important step out! OK, like I said, some lessons are obvious. But despite the temptation to forge ahead anyway, lemme just say this: If you did forget something, then it’s definitely worth the trouble to take a step back and put what’s missing back in! I mean, there’s no telling how this thing would have baked up without those two eggs in it – but I’m absolutely positive it wouldn’t have been edible. I’d have probably ended up with something along the lines of that pumpkin-cranberry flavored brick I mentioned earlier. Sure it was a hassle; but it was worth it. Sometimes you gotta go backwards in order to go forwards, y’know?
5. Don’t forget to learn something! I’ll tell ya one thing; I’m not gonna make this mistake again soon! This was supposed to be a simple, easy treat, but it turned into an aggravatin’, teeth-grinding, trial of errors! I don’t mind tellin’ ya, I was about fit to be tied when I noticed them eggs sittin’ there, starin’ at me. Probably laughing at me behind my back, too. Well Bubba, it won’t happen again! I’ve learned my lesson quite well, thank you very much: know the recipe, follow the plan. Simple it is, but let’s keep it simple, shall we?
6. Don’t forget to laugh about it later. Hey, when everything is said and done, the fact is, more is usually said than done. And if you can’t get a chuckle or two out of it (given time, of course), then what’s the point, I ask ya? No matter what happens, you’ve got to keep a sense of humor about you or all is lost, y’know? Besides, when you’re a writer like me, it just makes a good story! Just sayin’.

Well, there you have it, folks. How I learned a few valuable lessons when a seemingly simple task turned into a near-disaster (at least, for my taste buds, anyway). To quote that great American philosopher, Captain John “Hannibal” Smith from The A-Team: “I love it when a plan comes together!”

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And now for something a little different, y’all.

Kay Plantes asked me if I would be willing to post the following article because she felt it was “a story that needed telling”. I have to admit, it’s a pretty good account of how the power of vision can make all the difference to the tale of success. And, in an amazing display of serendipity, it also happens to fit neatly into our What I Learned From Limits groupwrite project this month! Way to go, Kay!

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Seeking: College-town of 20,000+ college students, with 10,000+ year-round residents, active nightlife and eclectic cultural tastes to locate a unique pizza restaurant

Ian Gurfield, an Amherst University college student, created this vision statement during an academic semester in Italy. Following a post-graduation cross-country trip through America’s college towns, he chose Madison, opening Frances Street Ian’s in the heart of UW’s nightlife.

Ten years later Gurfield owns multiple Madison businesses, his vision far more sophisticated, evolving due to his curiosity, willingness to experiment and tenacity. Admirably, he’s held “not knowing” until the right answers emerged.

Gurfield opened a second Ian’s on State Street to retain an ambitious business partner and capture traffic at Madison’s Capitol Square.  He discovered the challenges of multiple businesses and that a winning location is necessary but not sufficient.  By expanding the space to offer eat-in dining, Gurfield found success.  A restaurant on Chicago’s Clark Street also joined the mix.

Ian’s also grew synergistically using new products.  A local, organic frozen yogurt recently joined salads and brownies on the menus.  A staging kitchen will soon open on Willy Street, relieving stores of ingredient preparation. To speed financial payback, the kitchen will run a retail bakery modeled after Portland, Maine’s Standard Bakery.

Through all this, Gurfield struggled with Ian’s longer-term vision. Growth for the sake of growth wasn’t important, but retaining talent is, and that requires growth.  Furthermore, according to Gurfield, “Franchising wouldn’t work as we’d lose the local-owner-as-manager climate critical to creating Ian’s unique taste and experience.”

Ian’s recently completed 2020 Vision is a best-practice example of visioning for a number of reasons. The vision:

• Is specific and unique—not the generic statements so many leaders settle for.  For example, by 2020 Ian’s will have created 16 businesses, with at least 10 retail pizza restaurants, and in at least two geographic areas. A central entity, Ian’s Soul Central, will establish best practices across sites and offer marketing, financial and management services. An internal investment bank (open to employee investment) will fund expansion.
• Is inspiring—capturing what matters most (such as sustainability and good jobs) to the people who will transform reality into vision.
• Is strategic—setting a direction, not merely elusive goals. Gurfield’s vision work solved how Ian’s will grow while still retaining the individual identity and entrepreneurship vital to any one location’s success. Ian’s will be a federation of independently owned companies (at least two per city) that share knowledge and central services to help entrepreneurs overcome an otherwise lonely, challenging journey. Ian’s Soul Central will also convene a board of managing partners, each overseeing a city’s individual operator-owner companies, like State Street Ian’s Pizza that Lexy Frautschy now fully owns.
• Stretches from today. Ian’s hiring and training practices will be recognized nationally, for example.
• Yet, is rooted in the company’s DNA. Ian’s will always focus on exceptional ingredients, expertly prepared – “A business with pizzazz, not pizza” – and a rewarding environment for team players, all Gurfield core values.
• Clarifies what’s in and out. After completing the vision work, Gurfield learned that an associate’s father had unused organic farmland. Immediately he saw a fit, given Ian’s commitment to sustainable business practices and starting new businesses. Yet another federation member is born.

What does your vision statement say about your organization? If it reflects a “check the box, did that” activity, start again.  Defining your vision is at the heart of thinking and leading strategically.

Kay Plantes helps business leaders make better strategy decisions, faster. Her 20-year old firm, Plantes Company, LLC works with leaders to redefine their organization’s business model to secure higher profits and growth. The MIT-trained economist writes a weekly blog on business model innovation, http://www.plantescompany.com/blog and is author of Beyond Price: Differentiate Your Business in Ways that Really Matter (Greenleaf Bookgroup, 2009) http://www.beyondpricebook.com

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Question: Do predetermined pathways dictate – or inhibit growth? Can they do both? Neither? What do you think?

Something I saw the other day made me think about these and a few related questions for a bit (which probably explains that gosh-awful noise you’ve been hearing lately).

On the Grid

Located right next to of one of my favorite local beaneries (Café Express in The Woodlands), there’s this geometric metal grid. It’s nothing special; merely an array of black-painted, square metal rods mounted on a wall. The building’s surface behind it is slightly bowed, causing shifting shadows from the afternoon sun to create a subtly-changing pattern within the rigid, perpendicular lines.

A vine, just beginning its quest for world domination, grows along the bars – first geysering vertically upward, then slithering horizontally outward. Its delicate, questing tips flow in a continuous snakelike spiral around the metal rods, seeking their boundaries as all living organisms tend to do.

Have you ever watched a climbing vine take over a trellis? As a pastime, it’s about as exciting as watching your hair grow, I’ll tell ya. But still… vines are ‘waaaay more interesting.

They initially follow paths created by the structural members of the trellis itself. You’ll see little questing tendrils twining ’round the bars, always heading upward and outward. In short order they thicken, and leaves appear along the strands. Occasionally a new stem pops out, going in yet another direction, all of ‘em racing away from the center of growth like an exploding green star – in slow-motion, of course.

Back at the heart of the mass of greenery, where the most mature growth is, you’ll eventually see the vines and leaves thicken until they begin to extend outside the directions initially dictated by the trellis itself. Soon, given time and the right conditions, there’ll be nothing visible of the framework that may (or may not) still hold the whole shebang upright.

Fruit of the Vine

C’mon, show of hands: Whenever you encounter limitations or boundaries – or have your pathways dictated for you – don’t you tend to become prone to the three R’s: Rant, Rave & Resist? But (and here’s the $64,295,176 question) then what do you do?

After wracking my brain for a few minutes (sound of brain, being wracked) I came up with several possible responses – fruit, if you will, of this particular vine of thought:

Stop – We can simply come to a stop, forgoing further growth in that particular direction. Is this a valid choice? Well, the answer is a most definite, “It depends.” Often we glibly forge ahead as if boundaries don’t matter. But sometimes it’s appropriate to stop going in a certain direction, isn’t it? Only you can determine if (or when) that point is reached, of course. Hey, all I’m sayin’ is, limits aren’t necessarily a bad thing; they may turn out to be a point beyond which it is not good to pass! (The edge of a 1,000-foot cliff comes to mind…) But is coming to a halt and growing no more the best choice?

Turn Back – You could, of course, turn around and go back. I mean, now that you’ve found your boundary, why try to go beyond it, anyway? After all, there’s plenty to seek and understand – and even explore – within the core of your own universe, right? Besides, there’s a certain vigor to be gained in growing bigger and stronger “within the core”, if you get my meanin’. But there’s an inherent danger of becoming “ingrown” if we turn back upon ourselves.

Change Direction – Just because you’ve hit a wall doesn’t mean you can’t keep growing. After all, there’s plenty of other directions you can choose other than going back the way you came. By fully exploring the boundary, you just may find a way around it. That’s how most people cross a river, by exploring in both directions until they find the best way, right? Nothing wrong with that. Besides, it’s still a new and unexplored path, filled with opportunity.

Upon further reflection (yet more grinding), there’s yet another choice, wouldn’t ya say?

Bust Through – There are certainly times when the right choice really is to bust right through that ol’ barrier and just keep on goin’. After all, human history is filled with great examples of that one. I mean, where would innovation and invention be if “beyond this point there be dragons” were the absolute last word on anything?

Ya Pays Yer Money and Ya Makes Yer Choices

Now, having carefully built the trellis and delineated the boundaries of choice for you here, it sorta begs yet another couple of questions, doesn’t it?

Let’s say you’ve encountered a limitation of some kind lately. (I know; it never happens to you. If that’s the case – pretend.) Now, which of the four options did you choose and – and perhaps more importantly – why?

OR… is there yet another option I failed to mention?

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Photos:

Geometric Growth 1, by Robert Hruzek

Spiral, by Robert Hruzek

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Since tomorrow is Valentine’s Day (sound of agonized screaming from all those guys out there who, er, forgot), I thought a little story might help get you in the mood.

During the first year of our marriage, Mrs. MZM and I attended a Newlyweds class during the Sunday morning Bible study hour at our church. In keeping with tradition, when Valentine’s Day rolled around, they organized a banquet for our rather large group (it was a very large church).

This particular year it promised to be quite a shindig. We had a great meal lined up, live entertainment, and beautiful decorations, including about a million red, pink and white balloons (and I should know; I helped inflate them!)

As preparation for the banquet, though, everybody was asked to submit an illustration of the “most romantic thing” our mates did for us while on our honeymoons. The idea was to read the entries at our banquet and then vote on the best one. The winner would be rewarded with a romantic weekend getaway at a local posh hotel.

Well, the banquet was a smashing success. The food was wonderful, the desserts suitably decadent. The fabulous decorations (Mrs. MZM helped with that) and lively entertainment really made the evening a fun time for all.

But finally it was time to hear what shining examples of romanticism our class members had contributed. (To be honest, I was really looking forward to picking up a few tips – something that might be useful in future years.)

Oh, there were all the usual things – flowers, carriage rides through the park, romantic dinners, moonlight walks on the beach, etc. But there was one that really stood out; a contribution from one of the wives. I’m tellin’ ya; it was a real doozy – and unanimously chosen as the winner.

Want to know what she considered to be the most romantic thing her husband did during their honeymoon?

When she had to “go”, he sat on the toilet seat and warmed it up for her!

Well, when that one was read, there were a few seconds of absolute dead silence (during which time you could have heard an ant walking). Then every jaw in the place dropped straight to the floor (I wouldn’t have been surprised if we had registered a 5.5 on the Richter scale!) We got to our feet en masse and began to applaud the somewhat embarrassed hero of the day. Talk about a show-stopper!

Well, after 25 years of marriage to the most Wonderful Woman in the World, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge. And yes, I’ve been asked a time or two for relationship advice; something I’m more than happy to share. (Admittedly, I’m nowhere near perfect *sigh*. To quote one fellow: Lemme tell you everything I know about women: Nothin’!)

But somewhere along the way I almost always relate this story because I’ve never heard a better example of out-of-the-box thinking when it comes to romance. After all these years, I’ve never heard of anything that can top it.

About the only thing I can add is: Gentlemen, go thou and do likewise.

Doggone! Aarrgh! Spit! P’tooi! (And what the heck: let’s throw in a Rats! while we’re at it.)

(Insert deep breath here.) OK, I’m better now. Have you ever had one of those days?

I’m an engineering project manager by trade (he said), so managing the zillions of details typically required during the design and construction of a project is pretty much par for the course. You’d think I’d be used to it by now, but there are times when, no matter what, things just seem to go wrong.

Let’s just take ONE example.

On this particular project, one of the tasks is to add a fairly large platform to the top of a pair of existing side-by-side horizontal tanks. Now, our normal procedure would be to find drawings of existing equipment so we know what we’re dealing with, particularly with regards to dimensions, materials of construction, etc.

Naturally, there were no such drawings available for these two tanks. So we did the next best thing – gather information directly from the field. Translation: a field hand goes out and measures the things with a tape (it’s not the most accurate technique – have you ever tried to measure something HUGE with a small ruler? Take it from me, it ain’t easy!)

Luckily, all equipment is required to have a name plate with critical information on it like pressure, temperature, wall thickness, etc. Of course in this case (and you knew this was coming, right?) there was nothing about the material of construction used. So we did the next best thing (actually, by now we’re doing the next, next best thing).

Well, sometimes, ya just gotta guess, you know? In engineering parlance, we did a S.W.A.G., which means scientific wild guess (I’m deliberately leaving out the A-word because this is a G-Rated blog).

Alas, and darn. We guessed wrong. Ah, well…

So what do you do when things just flat go wrong? Are you prone to follow the sage advice commonly known as (although I have no idea why) the Mongolian General Prudential Rule: “When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout”?

Um… perhaps there’s another way to cope.

So, if you find yourself in a pickle because too many things are going wrong and you’re having trouble getting a handle on things, well, here’s a few basic tips to get you started toward a solution. I call it the 7-Up Solution. (Note: feel free to add more of your own tips in the comments.)

1. Own up – First of all, when you’re dealing with clients who are paying you, like, real money, the first thing you absolutely must do is admit there’s a problem! (Sounds like the first step to an AAA meeting, doesn’t it?) Everybody faces challenges every day – some are self-inflicted, but some aren’t, but you gotta get that sucker into the open before any solution can even begin!
2. Open up – (It’s something like “don’t try this alone” .) Break out of the “I’ve got to solve this myself” mindset. The truth is, when a big challenge lands with a thud on your doorstep (sound of resounding thud), the more brains focused on the problem the better. (You might want to read yesterday’s post for a few quick thoughts on synergy and how different viewpoints can help.)
3. Look up – Now, it’s true that as a Christian, I can always ask God for help when things get overwhelming. But what I mean here is that chances are, if you have a boss, mentor, or some such higher-up, they may have possibly been in this exact situation before. It sounds simple, I know, but in the midst of the storm, we sometimes forget to ask them!
4. Tally up – See what resources you have available to solve the problem. By resources, I mean people, but there are also other information sources to tap as well, such as previous projects with similar situations.
5. Divvy up – This works great when you have a team working with you: divide the challenge into sections that can be conquered separately. The “divide and conquer” method works well when there are several pieces to the problem.
6. Giddyap - (Sorry, couldn’t resist that one. Hey, I am a Texan from Texas.) Once you’ve uncovered a few solutions, pick the best and move on! Don’t waste a lot of time feeling sorry for yourself, or looking for someone to blame. Save that for the “lessons learned” session. Time’s a wastin’ friends – get on with it!
7. 7-up – Now that you’ve figured out what to do, and you’re workin’ the solution – give yourself a break, have a seat, and take a load off; heck, fire up the computer and read Middle Zone Musings! Reward yourself with something quick (I personally like diet 7-Up; hence the name of this step). ‘Way to go, pardner, you done good!

There you have it, folks, the 7-Up Solution to problem-solving! Now it’s time for steps 7b-d: Feet up, pull hat over face, and commence the snores!

Cheers!

Last weekend I had breakfast with a couple of good friends of mine.  (Note: this is NOT a photo of us. But if it were, I’d be the tall one on the left.)

I love it when the three of us get together because you just never know exactly where the conversation will end up. What’s entertaining about these get-togethers is that while we all come from different backgrounds (engineering, marketing & graphic design), we have a way of visualizing things that each of us alone just can’t seem to match. It’s a lot of fun, and a great example of synergy, lemme tell ya!

Anyway, one friend related his recent trip across the pond to merry old England, where he had a somewhat, er, convoluted driving experience. You know what I mean, don’t you? There’s a particular spot you want to get to, but the directions are of necessity lengthy and complex. (Come to think of it, it’s very much like the experience you have when you’re in a hospital visiting a patient – or heaven forbid, you are one. Now stay with me on this one; there’s a reason why I used this example.)

For instance, in my friend’s case the hotel concierge was able to provide a very nice set of detailed driving directions. All very clear and easy to follow, no doubt; probably something along the lines of, “Take the A-40 to the Thames River East exit (I’m making this up – I have no idea what the actual directions would be) and turn left; follow this road to… yada, yada, yada.”

However, those of you in the audience who’ve “been there” (no, not England, silly – I mean you’ve been faced with similar, um, driving challenges) will not be surprised to find that this little excursion didn’t go quite as planned. (Although there were circumstances beyond his control involved.)

The distance wasn’t that far – only about 16 miles or so – and would have taken only a few minutes (except during rush hour, of course!) on most highways here in the States. I say “would have” because in actuality the trip (including various wrong turns, backtracks, a car breakdown and the subsequent repair time) took over 4-1/2 hours!

He summarized the experience quite nicely when he said, “In my entire life I’ve never been more lost!” (The story has a happy ending however; it turned out the wrecker driver grew up not three kilometers from the very spot he was looking for and led him right to it.)

It was ironic, then (which, as you know, means made entirely made of iron), that our other friend sitting at the table happens to work in the field of “wayfinding” – something I would loosely define as the means of discovering how to get from point A to point B, and covers informational, directional and other types of facility signage. (For instance, when a person goes to a hospital and has to visit a specific location within the – usually very large and confusing – complex, how do they find their way around? That’s the kind of customer challenge wayfinding can help solve.)

I found it quite ironic (see above) that the challenge my friend had in England was very similar to the challenges my other friend helps solve every day. And there they were, sitting at the same table!

It’s a great example of how different viewpoints, when applied to a challenge, can sometimes provide solutions that no one viewpoint would have discovered on its own. Not that we came up with a solution, mind you – but we could. (Sponsors, anyone?)

Now, admittedly when the three of us get together, we partake in more than our share of silliness. But the amazing thing is, by the time we leave, usually each of us has gained some new insight into a challenge we face in our own worlds. It never fails.

So (and you knew this was coming, right?) my advice to you is this: find a way to introduce new and different viewpoints into your life. For example, in your feed reader, make sure there are feeds from people who are completely different from you. And make an acquaintance (no, make several acquaintances) with someone outside your line of work – heck, outside your world!

You’ll be amazed at how powerful – and full of value – that simple practice can be!

Note: After spending three days of (ahem, have to use my deep ‘announcer voice’ here) Deep Thoughts (see yesterday’s post), I thought it might be fun to lighten up a bit today with something completely different…

Well, it ain’t your Grandpa’s pine box!

This month the coveted OOB* Award goes to British coffin-makers Vic Fearn & Company Limited (click on “crazy coffins”). Although they started out manufacturing the usual, er, stuff, it seems that after being asked to make a few “special” caskets (the first one was a scale model of a jet fighter, followed by his & hers scaled-down canal boats), there turned out to be a booming business in unusual sarcophaguses sarcophagum sarcophagi coffins.

In fact, they’re so amazing, they even send them on an art tour. Besides the Egg shown here, among the strange and unusual sartorial sachets produced so far are:

• Electric guitar
• Sports bag
• The Bride of Dracula
• Ski sledge
• Bell-shaped
• Skateboard
• Box kite

Well, with that kind of inspiration, let’s unleash the creative beast that lies within and have some fun, shall we?

Question of the day: If you could be put COMPLETELY in charge of picking the casket for someone, who would it be, and what would it look like? (Hmm… for the sake of propriety, we’d better use Liz’s rule here: be nice.)

Bonus Question: What would you choose for yourself? (As for me, I’d like something in blue – and definitely shark-shaped. And don’t forget the shades.)

* OOB stands for “Out Of the Box”

Today’s Endless Innovation points to Fortune Magazine’s series of Q and A’s from readers to various “cool thinkers”. The current Q and A article is with management guru Jim Collins, but the next one will be with Donald Trump. If you have any questions you’ve been dying to ask The Don (and we’re NOT talking “briefs or boxers” here, friends – but if that’s your burning question, then you’re stranger than I am - and may Heaven help you!), then now’s your chance!

Did you know Liz Strauss at Successful Blog hosts “open mic” night every Tuesday night? It’s a lot like a giant get together over coffee (or whatever else you might happen to have on hand) where everyone gets together and chats about whatever subject Liz initially selects (it was winter vacation spots this time). It’s pretty freewheeling, and lots of fun; it’s a chat without the chat room.

I know that sounds weird, but you should try it sometime. The advantage over chatrooms is you can keep track of every conversation and even participate easily, via comments. Every Tuesday night, 7 pm CST (-6 GMT).

The reason I brought it up is because of belly button lint. Yep, you heard me – belly button lint.

You see, it’s like this…

Monique Attinger challenged us last Tuesday to give her various topics, and she would then write a post on her insurance blog about how that topic is related to insurance. (Monique sells… well, you know.) Barely had I managed to think up a few but doggone if Liz didn’t beat me to it by suggesting “Euclidian Geometry and insurance”, “sequins and insurance”, and “thixotropic and insurance”. Pretty quick on the keys there, Liz!

Anyway, I suggested “lawn darts and insurance”, “the Roaming Gnome and insurance”, “sushi and insurance”… and “belly button lint and insurance”.

Well, a tip of the hat and an OOB (Out Of the Box) Award goes to Monique, because sure enough, she actually wrote a post titled “Belly button lint and insurance“. I gotta tell ya, Monique: Great Job!!

If you’re sitting there thinking to yourself, there’s no way belly button lint can have anything with insurance, then think again! Do yourself a favor and read it for yourself.

Excellent thinking outside the box, Monique!

In case you missed my post a few days ago (and shame on you if you did!), go back and check out Clive Johnson’s story in Fast Company featuring Gordon Bell, the Microsoft scientist who, among other things, is recording every moment of his life. Yes, every moment. Aside from the weirdness of the idea, there’s some pretty darned interesting implications, if you ask me.

However, in a follow-up post, Clive asks, “What would it be like to review your entire life in three minutes?” If I were you, I’d take a moment to think about the implications of this one, too. Especially since you’ll probably be doing it in the very near future.

“Imagine being 60 years old, and having one psychologically significant picture taken from each month of an entire life’s archive. That’s 720 photos. Scroll them by at the speed that Bill experienced — four per second — and your life would flash by in three minutes. What in god’s name would that feel like?”

If you didn’t read the comments, go back – you missed the best part. Especially the ones who say they might start doing this with their toddlers. Imagine presenting your daughter or son such an archive on their wedding day!

Makes me wish I had a time machine, to go back and capture those photos I no longer have, or missed. Now I have to rely on just plain ol’ carbon-based neurons; alas, they’re going fast.

No, I’m not talking about the latest GM recall, ya big galoot! (Oops, sorry – been watching John Wayne movies lately.) I’m talking about memory, and some new inroads into that Holy Grail of computer scientists everywhere: the ability to recall literally everything we’ve ever experienced. Wouldn’t that be… um, something.

A great article in Fast Company, written by Clive Johnson (I’ll warn you now, it’s a bit long but well worth your time), looks at some of the recent developments in this area, and it is worth pondering. Generally speaking, it focuses on Gordon Bell, a Microsoft computer scientist who’s been experimenting with “life storage” for some time now. A great story, and Clive’s lead-in is a grabber:

“Gordon Bell feeds every piece of his life into a surrogate brain, and soon the rest of us will be able to do the same. But does perfect memory make you smarter, or just drive you nuts?”

(NOTE: In order to process the rest of this post, you really should read the article. Sorry to require the extra effort on your part but, well, there it is. It’s OK, I’ll wait here.)

Most of us have probably wished at one time or another for the ability to remember things more accurately (or at all!), and this sounds like just the ticket. For example, even though most married men have only two really important things to remember (our anniversary date and, uh… what was that other one…?), on behalf of all men everywhere, I freely acknowledge the fact that we still need the help!

Of course, the technology would have to be a bit more unobtrusive before widespread acceptance would occur (no, that’s not a pimple, that’s my life-cam!) Actually, when you can download directly off the optic and aural nerves is when you’ll really be able to capture everything. Why not? It’s only a question of interface design.

If, as Ray Kurzweil recently predicted, computing power will increase a billion-fold within the next 25 years, this could well become a reality. But with all that information (talk about your information overload!) the next thing that has to be developed is a really useful way of searching all that accumulated information (but I imagine by then there’ll be a Google tool for that too – something like “GoogleBrain”, maybe).

“It gives his mind the chance, he [Gordon] says, to be more playful, to have more energy for creative thinking. But it is also a double-edged sword. Bell suspects MyLifeBits might be slowly degrading his real, carbon-based brain’s ability to remember clearly. When you have an outboard mind doing the scut work, you tend to get out of practice. “It’s like doing arithmetic,” he says. “Who does it anymore? You’ve got pocket calculators for that. I know I can do long division. But I haven’t done it for a long time.”

It’s a crazy experiment. But perhaps its craziest aspect is that soon you’ll be part of it too–whether you want to be or not. The way Bell sees it, computers and the Internet are now rapidly becoming capable of storing everything you do and see. Hard-drive space has exploded in size, and every day people are recording more and more of their lives: We blog about our thoughts, upload personal pictures to Flickr, save every email on our infinitely expanding Gmail accounts, shoot video on our cell phones, record phone calls straight to our hard drives when we use Skype.”
OK, assume for the moment that a perfect memory is actually possible by artificial means, just what would the ramifications be?

Imagine if you will the ability to recall exactly what was said in a conversation that occurred, say, six months ago (or six years, or 10 years). How would it change your behavior if everything was being recorded, all the time? Would it all end up as the biggest reality show ever? Well, maybe not. I mean, what’s the point? Why would you WANT to record every little bit of your life? (On the other hand, you won’t ever have an argument about what was really said or not said. Gee – could it change the face of politics as we know it? I don’t know about you, but it brings a certain former President to mind…)

I think along with the ability to do so would have to come the ability to consciously turn the storage function on or off at will. That way you can reduce the storage to what you might actually use. Perhaps even do like some security systems, storing images in a loop of several hours or days. When something important happens (assuming you actually have a life, and something does!), you can then store that memory in its permanent location, wherever that is.

That location will probably be internal – at the rate of increase in storage density, in thirty years or less, “infinite” storage should be possible in a size easily compatible with in vitro locations – and I have the perfect place in mind: why not use all that otherwise wasted space between the ears?

[Update: I fixed the link to Clive's story above. Sorry 'bout that!]

Hit the brakes! Stop the presses! Alert the media! You are about to enter a knowledge-enhancement zone. Do not pass Go; do not collect $200.Y’now, in my never-ending quest to find the one great contribution I can make to the world’s body of knowledge – that one thing that will make this world a better place; well, I may have finally found it. Yes, I know, I thought I had it once before, and even presented my thesis to you, my faithful readers. But alas, the Nobel committee never did call back. Can’t think why.However, I just may have it now. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, if (and only if) you are interested in elevating your consciousness to a higher level, please read on. But don’t say I didn’t warn you!

First some background.

BBC News UK reports that “scientists” have finally come up with a way to quantify the “beer-goggle effect” – that well-known phenomenon that enhances the attractiveness of someone (or something, for that matter) – at least until the morning after, that is. As it turns out, it’s not just the amount of alcohol, there are lots of other factors that may contribute to the effect.

“Researchers at Manchester University say while beauty is in the eye of the beer-holder, the amount of alcohol consumed is not the only factor. Additional factors include the level of light in the pub or club, the drinker’s own eyesight and the room’s smokiness. The distance between two people is also a factor. They all add up to make the aesthetically-challenged more attractive, according to the formula.”

Yeah, right. I wonder how many alcohol units (see below) they had to drink before they thought this line of research was attractive?

Anyway, here’s the formula and its variables:

• β = beer goggle effect (a score from 1 to 100)
• An = number of units of alcohol consumed (loosely translated: “beers”)
• S = smokiness of the room (and, presumably, sensitivity of eyes to smoke)
• L = luminance of ‘person of interest’ (in other words, how dark it is in the room)
• Vo = Snellen visual acuity measurement (how good is the viewers’ eyesight?)
• δ = distance from ‘person of interest’

OK, so far so good, right? But here’s where I make my contribution (strictly in the name of science, don’tcha know). After examining the equation, I believe it to be somewhat lacking in another very critical factor; something we’ll call the horniness factor (let’s designate it as “H”).

I would make a small change in the equation, thus:

H1 and H2 are the horniness factors for the viewer and viewee, respectively. You have to remember that no matter how large a number H1 is, the product of H1 and H2 becomes progressively less significant as H2 gets smaller. And the smaller the product of H1 and H2, the smaller the overall score, β. (It’s also worth noting that initially, even though H2 is a complete unknown, it must be estimated accurately within a very narrow range, or the entire calculation implodes and the viewer goes home alone).So there you have it folks, my contribution to the body of knowledge. I guess I can just roll over and go back to sleep now, my work here is done.

Wake me when the Nobel committee calls; I have a spot on the mantle all picked out.

A very interesting Project Management read comes from NASA’s Ask Magazine (issue 25) in an article written by Kim Ess titled Managing a Critical, Fast-Turnaround Project. It describes some of the challenges Kim faced as Project Manager when developing and deploying the Orbital Boom Sensor System (OBSS) on the space shuttle in the wake of the Columbia disaster in September of 2003.

“After the Columbia accident, no shuttle was going to fly until we had the capability to examine it for damage after launch, so any significant delay in building the boom would keep the shuttle program and the work that depended on it — notably the completion of the International Space Station — on hold.”

There are a lot of challenges to managing this type of project, and most notable was its high visibility. After all, this was to be the solution to the problem, and literally everyone – the media, the public, congress, and practically the rest of the civilized world – knew something had to be done, and this was it. When you manage a project in such a “fish bowl” environment it’s easy to succumb to fear of failure or of making mistakes. (Nothing like a little pressure to add that certain zest, that zing, that je ne se qoi, eh?)

I definitely admire her style, though. Practically her first task was telling the Control Board their estimated cost and deadline of $40 million and six months were unrealistic. Her team’s assessment set the cost at $100 million, with completion expected to take 20 months (they were within 5 % of this estimate at completion). This is not an easy thing to do. But precisely because of that, it’s absolutely necessary for project success.

“I’ve sometimes said, jokingly, “We were working so hard we didn’t have time to do anything but tell the truth.” But the truth in that joke is that telling the Board anything less would have made the project much harder — depleting time, energy, and good will — when we inevitably would have had to go back to management to ask for more time and resources.”

The collaboration aspect, though, is what I find most exciting. The key to success, Kim found, was not only communication – they had plenty of that – but actual face-to-face time with contractors, clients, and team members. This is something I don’t think is emphasized enough when it comes to big-ticket, high-visibility, or mission-critical projects. When the chips are down, there is no good substitute for actual face time. It helps align team members and develop that trust in each other that is invaluable in achieving the goal. Managing from a distance is simply not as effective.

This was useful in breaking through the NASA culture of “having a solution before reporting a problem”. When the entire team was appraised of potential problems they were able to successfully bring more resources to address the challenge before it caused the inevitable domino effect on other activities down the line. That trust, developed during face time, was invaluable.

“As people got to know and trust each other and recognize that we were all working toward the same goal, information about problems became just data for the team to work with, not indications of failure.”

Another thing that really worked was having a central repository of information and links that could be shared rather than having to distribute actual documents. Call this one a best practice for sure – it saves time, money, and IT overhead by cutting bandwidth dramatically.

One final lesson learned came from the fact that due to unrelated issues, their deadline kept moving; in effect, giving them more time. But extra time is not always a good thing (we engineers love to tinker and make things better), and a good PM knows when to draw the line. I’ll never forget a sign I saw once in an auto assembly plant production manager’s office: “Sooner or later you have to shoot the engineers and start production.”

Overall a great article. Discovery launched in July of 2005, and the new OBSS worked as expected. What more can a PM ask? Kudos to Kim and her team for a job well done!

Serendipity.

I’d be willing to bet that no more than half of you out there can define the word adequately. If you are among the knowledgable, please raise your left hand. Now lift up your right foot and stick out your tongue. OK, now repeat after me: “I wook widicuwous.”

Perhaps the best summation I could find is this one: “finding something fortuitous when looking for something else“. When something is serendipitous we think of it as a “happy accident”.

The Guardian Unlimited, a UK technology reporting website, has a story by Michael Pollitt of how a serendipitous moment may have led to a genuine long-term solution to the problem of counterfeiting, well, just about anything (physical, that is). The solution has to do with laser surface imaging; in other words, making nano-scale images of the surface of practically anything, and using that as an authentication technique. As a security test, it turns out it’s virtually impossible to beat.

But the discovery came about quite by accident, since Professor Russell Cowburn was actually trying to laser image computer chips. It was only when the chip fell off the paper they discovered that the paper holder, and subsequently other surfaces, all had images that were unique at the nano-scale level. What that means is that every passport, every credit card, every document has a unique surface shape – you only had to be able to look close enough to see it!

The ramifications in security technology are immense, to say the least. What’s really awesome about this is that it’s actually unbeatable. So until we perfect Star Trek transporter technology, manufacturing two items exactly alike at that scale will remain virtually impossible.

I did a fast check on other widely-known and used, yet serendipitous discoveries, and here are a few others:

Silly Putty was created while the inventor (actually, it was independently discovered by TWO people – no one knows who was first) was searching for a new artificial rubber compound for use in the war effort (WWII, that is). No one had a use for the stuff, but everyone loved playing with it. (As marketers would say, “It sells itself!”) 4500 tons of the playful glop has been produced since 1949. Now that’s a whole lotta silly.

Teflon (PTFE), the slipperiest solid substance known, was discovered by Roy Plunkett at DuPont in 1938, while he was looking for a new type of gas to be used as a refrigerant (strange to find a solid when looking for a gas, but there it is). Now you find PTFE in practically everyplace you look, from inks to industrial applications. Maybe we should start coating automobiles in it to make the evening commute quicker – instead of getting stuck in traffic jams, cars would pop out of close quarters like watermelon seeds squeezed between your fingers.

Rayon, the first synthetic silk, was invented by Hilaire de Chardonnet, an assistant of Louis Pasteur. When he accidentally spilled a bottle of collodion that was later discovered to have properties that allowed the production of stable fibers, he immediately quit his day job (“I quit. I shall become ze millionaire!”). Or something like that.

Penicillin, Viagra, quinine, Aspirin, vaccination, pap smears, high-temperature superconductivity, radioactivity, Pluto’s moon Charon, metallic hydrogen, to name just a few, along with a host of other items, were all discovered, uncovered, or recovered as a result of a happy accident.

So what’s the moral of this story? Well, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, surely you’ve heard (yeah, yeah, I know – don’t call you Shirley) the latest mantra in business innovation is the idea that in many failures there will be some successes.

Remember, though, we’re not talking about just failures, but purposeful failures. It wasn’t just luck. These folks weren’t just sitting around waiting for the Flying Fickle Finger of Fate to strike. It was their ability to recognize the potential in what they saw that was the key to making them into success stories.

So the next time you experience that sudden wild hair up the fundamental aperture, maybe it’s time to break out the drawing board and see what develops.

But in the meantime – prepare, my friend, prepare.

A fascinating article from Information Week titled “Kurzweil: Computers will enable people to live forever” sums up some of Ray Kurzweil’s more interesting predictions for the very near future. Being a dedicated fan of “hard” sci-fi (that is, the kind that develops plausible science that integrates seamlessly with the story itself) I’m always interested to see how some of our best futurists’ visions match up with various sci-fi authors’ visions. For instance, some of the sci-fi I read when I was a kid presented the future that we’re living in now. Just how close are we to those early visions of the near future? Well actually, not very. The problem was most of the predictions were made with inferior knowledge of the future, because they were made in the context of their time. Just take a look at an episode of the original Star Trek- you’ll understand what I mean. At the time it was cutting edge, but now we realize the big giant flaws (remember the analog countdown timer wheel on Sulu’s console?)

Thus you get stuff like the photo shown here (click to see larger image): The “home computer of the future”. I wonder – just what could that wheel possibly be for?

When I was younger, my initial reaction to articles predicting the future was usually something on the order of “Wow, what exciting times those will be! I can’t wait!” Ah, the innocence, the naiveté of youth. (How times have changed. The main difference, now that I’m no longer – cough, cough – young, is my thoughts are more like, “What can I invest in to take advantage of this?” But then again, if I could ever answer that question with any confidence, I would have “more money than Calvin Coolidge – put together!” **)Anyhoo -

Here’s just a few of the amazing things Ray Kurzweil is predicting for the near future (within 50 years):

• If you can make it another 15 to 30 years, you’ll probably be able to live forever
• Computational power will have multiplied by about a billion times within 25 years
• Computer intelligence will be about a billion times more powerful than human intelligence by 2045
• You can backup your memories by the late 2030s
• The common cold will be solved in the next 10 years.

If you’re really interested in see what the future may hold, you probably ought to check out this series of articles in New Scientist (scroll down past the top screen). About 80 people take a shot at predicting the future, and I guarantee you won’t be disappointed. Besides Ray Kurzweil, there are others, like:

• Sydney Brenner – Nobel prize-winner for medicine
• John D. Barrow – Cosmologist
• Benoit Mandelbrot – Creator of the Mandelbrot Set
• Robert Ballard – Oceanographer
• Christof Koch – Cognitive and behavioral biologist
• Irene Pepperberg – Harvard University psychologist
• Simon Baron-Cohen – Cognitive neuroscientist
• Peter Noorvig – Google’s Director of Research
• …and many more (they asked me to contribute – I’m sure they did; but alas, I just moved, and my letter must have gotten lost in the mail.)

The article with Kurzweil ends with a sobering thought, though. One of the things we’ll have to make sure we do (“we” meaning “we as a society” that is) is to make sure we can “stay ahead of the game”. I mean, it may be all well and good to live forever, but what about the ramifications? Where would you put all the people? What would it do to our culture? How would it change religion? And etc., etc., etc.It’s kinda like some poor goober winning $10 million in a lottery, but without having the knowledge or skills needed to handle that kind of money (and believe me, it takes some!), he ends up wasting it all. It’s sadly true that sudden vast riches can literally cause more harm than good for those unprepared for it. (Still, most of us, like Tevya from Fiddler on the Roof, can’t help but wonder: “Would it spoil some vast eternal plan/if I were a wealthy man?”)

Anyway, check out the articles if you want. But don’t be surprised if reality turns out to be more – or less – than predicted.

** Lena Lamont’s hilarious line from the 1954 classic movie, “Singin’ in the Rain”, starring Gene Kelly, Doris Day and Donald O’Connor. For those of you who’ve never seen it, I highly recommend you stop what you’re doing, go rent a copy, make some popcorn, and see it with your friends. It’s well worth it.