Professional Chaos: Dump Microsoft

Thank you Microsoft, for moving the microcomputer generation to where we are today. Now, it’s time to step aside.

Let’s face it, there are better hardware and software alternatives available. Think of it… no more blue screen of death. No more plug-n-play compatibility problems. No more boring, over architected, bloated OS and software. Free yourself from stagnation and explore alternates that are better than before.

I know, your defense mechanism is kicking in. “Give up Windows? No way–that’s crazy, liberal, hippie talk.” I used to think that way, but I was so frustrated and made a leap of faith. Looking back, I wish I had done it sooner.

My recommendations:

• Hardware: Intel-based Mac
• OS: Mac OS X
• Office Suite ($0): OpenOffice.org, gOffice.com, Writely.com, Spreadsheets.google.com (Mac or Linux)
• Browser ($0): Firefox (Mac or Linux), Opera (Mac or Linux), Camino (Mac or Linux)
• Email Client ($0): Thunderbird (Mac or Linux)
• Photo mgt ($0): iPhoto (Mac)

Plus, with a bit of research, you’ll discover freeware for all the utility applications you may need (FTP, VNC, chat/voip, etc.)

I hesitate to recommend Linux. It requires an investment of time. Sure, it can be extremely satisfying, but if you need out of the box, ready to run solutions, the Mac platform is the easier route. If you are adventurous, check out Ubunto for the easiest Linux install available.

Take inventory of your hardware and software.

Is it time for an upgrade anyway? Think about what you truly still need and what you want to be able to do. Then spend a little time looking into what is available. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

I’ll wrap this up with a video you may enjoy. It’s a bit long, and yes, it is biased, but it reinforces a message. Don’t stick with something just for legacy sake. If you’ve out grown it, don’t be afraid to move on. It’s not as hard as you think.

What are your thoughts?
-Roland

10/13/2006 Update: Writely and Google Spreadsheets are now collectively known as “Google Docs & Spreadsheets.”

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional who has been abused by Microsoft Windows for way too long. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

Go Google yourself

It’s time to clean up your online identity. Just like it’s important to check your credit reports annually, you should check out your what’s public about you online. Why? Because employers and savvy HR managers now look for such info before making hiring decisions. It’s the easiest background check for maturity and professionalism.

Good stuff you want them to find:

• Press releases about your promotions, accomplishments.
• Article contributions.

Bad stuff you should never have posted online:

• Your personal rants about a former employer, teacher, school mates, etc.
• Your Web site with links to naked pictures of celebrities.
• Your YouTube videos of yourself doing stupid human tricks.

Use common sense.
Once you release your comments, pics and video too the wild WWW, chances are they are out there for good. You’ll be doing damage control and explaining them for years to come.

What if someone else has written negative things about you?

• You could try to make peace with that person and have the content removed.
• You could contact the ISP and request they remove the content. (Highly Unlikely)
• You could hire a Search Engine Optimization expert to implement an SEO campaign to effectively bury the negative content about you and elevate positive content about you.

What if your name is very common?
If one or dozens of people share your name, you should take steps to single yourself out.

• Create an index page of links to positive content online about you.
• Use a free service like ClaimId to create an online profile of yourself.

Then you can publish those links on your resume to help steer prospective employers to relevant online items about you.

Related links:

• Claim ID
• LA Times: Oops, Mom Googled Me

I hope you find this helpful. Please post any suggestions.
Thanks.
-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional who is not ashamed to admit that he Google’s himself. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

Client Chaos: Design by Committee Fails

Maybe you’ve seen this already. Imagine if Microsoft had designed the iPod and was attempting to market it. It’s a hilarious example of how design by committee fails.

Sure this video is a bit exaggerated, but doesn’t it remind you of some project you’ve worked on? Some client who was afraid to push back on all the irrational requests of upper management?

Think about how many participants are involved in a typical project:

• Project Sponsor
• Project Manager
• Stakeholders
• Subject Matter Experts
• Research
• Strategist
• Information Architect
• Creative
• Copywriter
• Developers

They all have an opinion. They all want to be heard. They all think they are right.

As the Project Manager, what do you do?

Be a leader. Listen to the request of stakeholders, but don’t be afraid to push back. It doesn’t have to be defensive or in a way to embarrass someone. But if you can clearly articulate and backup with facts why a request is not good, you succeed.

Manage scope creep. If it is not part of the original assignment, it should not be accommodated without a reassessment of the whole project, objectives, budget, timing, etc.

It is always a bad idea to piggy-back multiple marketing messages and brands onto the core product. Sure it is tempting, but quick reads are what a consumer is looking for. Globs of text will just be a blur to the consumer. Remind the overzealous stakeholder that additional messaging might be appropriate via another medium. Better yet, develop custom vehicles for different messages and manage each one independently. It’s more work, but it gives each a chance to stand up under their own merit.

Remember, if a project fails, you know the blame storming will begin and the Project Manager’s name will be high on the list.

What do you think? Please submit your thoughts.
-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional who has watched great ideas get mucked up. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

Thank your IT support team

Stop for a moment and think about the unsung heroes of your office environment. I’m speaking of the IT department. Their job is to tackle the technological complexities of hardware and software solutions and keep you up and running.

I’ve heard colleagues say nasty things about IT staff. Quite frankly, it’s unjustified.

Downtime is costly to a company in terms of lost productivity. A key responsibility of the IT department is to protect your office environment as best possible from threats of insecure software and careless computer users.

In an agency environment, we constantly need to evaluate software apps and browser pluggins to determine exciting and useful tactics for our client campaigns. But consider the risk that such software actually exposes a company to.

So when your IT department pushes back on your request to install something or relax the admin privileges on your PC, don’t get angry. Work with them on a compromise. Explain exactly what the software is for and how it will be used. Perhaps set up a test station that can be isolated from the rest of the network. Yes, it’s a bit inconvenient, but isn’t that better than the backlash if you accidentally unleashed chaos on your corporate network.

What do you think? Please post your comments. Thanks.
-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional who tries to respect the needs of others. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

Article: Portrait of an identity thief

I found a thread on Slashdot.org this week: “Portrait of an identity thief” talking about a profile The New York Times did recently on a young man in his early twenties, who scammed hundreds out of thousands of dollars.

NYTimes.com (07/04/2006): Identity Thief Finds Easy Money Hard to Resist

Excerpts…

Identity theft can, of course, have its origins in a pilfered wallet or an emptied mailbox. But for computer-savvy thieves like Mr. Sharma, the Internet has forged new conduits for the crime, both as a means of stealing identity and account information and as the place to use it.

Apparently, he became quite adept at being able to con novice Internet users out of their personally identifiable information. With the money, he acquired better tools to conduct more elaborate online cons.

Among the items seized from his parents’ basement were a computer, two digital cameras, a scanner, nearly 500 blank plastic identity cards with magnetic strips, two Marine Corps ID’s — with Mr. Sharma’s name and photo — and a newer model Eltron photo ID printer. A search of his computer revealed personal identifying information on hundreds of people from across the country.

Take away lessons…

• Use common sense.
• Don’t believe every thing you read online. Be suspicious of any email that asks you for your information, credit card, or to login to your account. Especially watch for misspellings, a common sign of a con. If the email seems legitimate, call the customer service number of the company you deal with to verify.
• Be mindful of social engineering traps. Con artists might call you over the phone for a simple request. Before you realize, you may have given away a piece of private information.
• Look carefully at the Web page url. A common trick is to substitute other characters or numbers in a url. At brief glance, you may not realize the deception. For example, www.aol.com might have a zero substituted for the “O”, or a capital “I” for the lowercase “L”.
• Never, never, never send private details by email, even to close friends or relatives. Although extremely convenient, Emails sent over the Internet are often insecure packets of information that can be viewed or intercepted by people with the right tools. It is better to call the other person and verbally pass confidential information, passwords, etc.
• Watch your home mail box. Put a lock on it if possible, or be vigilant to pick up the mail as soon after the letter carrier has delivered. If you can afford it, a P.O. Box is safer.
• Shred papers and statements before you throw them out. Tear the name and address labels off your magazines, too, before you discard them.
• Watch the gas station attendant or restaurant server when they take your credit card. Some carry special hand held card readers to pull the data off the magnetic strip of your card. Then they sell all that data to some thief with the equipment to manufacture replacement cards with your data on them.

Links…

• NYTimes: Graphic of an identity theft scheme
• Chaos365: Protect your personal information

I hope you find this useful. Please post your opinion.
-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional who is concerned about how personally identifiable information is handled. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

Professional Chaos: Take responsibility

Kenneth Lay died this week at age 64. For all his personal accomplishments during his career, he will be remembered mainly as a liar and schemer, responsible for devastating thousands of employees and investors financially.

If you tell a lie often enough, you eventually believe it’s true. Apparently, he still maintained his innocence to the end.

Lesson learned… Don’t be remembered for being a selfish, scheming liar.

If you make a mistake…

• Take responsibility for your actions. Don’t cover them up or try to shift the blame elsewhere.
• Assess the damage and come up with an action plan to immediately correct it.
• Notify your supervisor or person(s) affected as soon as possible.
• Accept the consequences of your actions — good or bad.

People are more willing to forgive you and move on if your honest and up front. The longer you delay, the worse the repercussions may be. If your honest, at least you’ll sleep better at night and keep your dignity.

I hope you take this to heart. Do the right thing! Your legacy depends on it.
-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional who takes responsibility for his own actions. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

Get rid of incompetent co-workers

I really hate discussing politics. It is so polarizing. But I heard something on the This Week in Tech podcast that was outrageous. Please listen to this audio clip of Senator Ted Stevens, Alaska, arguing his point about “Net Neutrality.”

Regardless of what side your on (pro or against, republican or democrat), the fact that a representative of the American people can’t articulate his arguement is downright scary. The effect of this Net Neutrality debate will impact consumers and businesses in many ways.

So why am I bringing this up? In business, we often find ourselves working with people who:

• can’t articulate their thoughts, ideas and opinions
• have bad thoughts, ideas and opinions
• repeat other people’s comments or state the obvious to hide their lack of experience or knowledge
• just like to hear themselves speak

What should you do?
These people are a hindrance to your project and your professional success. Keep them as far away as possible so they don’t infect your work or your team. Don’t invite them to meetings. Be polite, but be firm.

• If it is a supervisor, run interference and keep that person away from the rest of the team.
• If it is a team member, get him/her reassigned off your project.
• If it is a client, try to work with his/her superior.

Don’t give up. Hate something, change something!

More information:

• AskMen.com: Dealing With Difficult People At Work
• Twit.tv: Episode 60
• Wired.com: Sen. Steven’s June 30th Speech Transcript
• Wikipedia: Net Neutrality
• Wikipedia: Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska)

FYI…Sen. Stevens is also responsible for the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere” pork barrel spending.

What do you think? Please add your suggestions and comments.
Thanks.
-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

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