Top 4 Commuter Tips and Tools
In Boston, my commute was 90 minutes a day, in the car. In New York, it was 3 hours, each day on the train and walking across midtown Manhattan. Now in Michigan, I still spend 2 hours a day in the car. You might say I am proficient at commuting. With this proficiency comes many solutions for maximizing productivity during the commute. Here's what I find helps and recommend to fellow commuters:1. iPod / MP3 Player: The obvious. I won't say much about it, as an MP3 player is ubiquitous these days. However, it also underlies many of the tools / tips below.
2. Audio Books: Audio books can be immensely helpful on your commute. If you spend just 20 minutes a day listening to a book, you'll find your library rapidly expanded. You will not absorb as much in one "hearing" of a book as a "reading". However, I listen to the best books 4 or 5 times. By that point, I've absorbed far more than one read, often in less time. For resources, many people like audible.com, but I find iTunes has most of the same books and have not made the leap to a subscription service yet.
3. Podcasts: Better than audio books for current events and technology updates. If you want to stay on top of the latest news, why not do it on the commute and save that time when you're home for the kids or other activities?
4. Dictation: Dictation is the greatest productivity tool. With the right tools, you can use dictation for everything from email, to drafting documents, book writing, blog posts and more. The trick is finding a good microphone and digital recorder, then obtaining the right software for conversion to text. My recommendations follow:
4.A Digital Recorder: There are lots of good digital recorders. However, I prefer to use the Griffin iTalk Professional, which allows me to reduce the number of devices I carry by converting my iPod into a digital recorder.
4.B Headset Microphone: You'll need a quality headset microphone to ensure the background / road noise is minimized. The products vary here as well. However, I've had great success with the default headset provided by Dragon Naturally Speaking. Most important, remember that the positioning of the microphone is unbelievably important, so a flexible arm is also good.
4.C Dragon Naturally Speaking: The best software for speech-to-text I've used. Although Vista now comes bundled with it's own speech-to-text software, it simply does not compare. The Microsoft product still seems a few generations behind and there's no simple way to do recorded dictation from an audio file. For $150, DNS will save you a lot of time. I use the preferred mobile edition.
4.D Audacity / Sound Editing Software: This helps when the background noise from your recording is too great for automated dictation. A simple sound editing program can fix this. I love the open source (free) Audacity program. With this tool you can edit out background noise and improve the automated dictation results.
4.E Transcription Service: When all else fails, transcription services are pretty inexpensive these days. Checkout eLance or similar sites for the best rates & reviews on service providers.
Text-To-Speech: I have not found a text-to-speech program I like. If you have a recommendation, please share it here.
So the next time you are commuting a long distance and worried about wasted time, turn those lemons into lemonade. With the right tools, you may find your commute turning into one of your most productive periods of the day.
Labels: Career, Open Source, Productivity, Tactical
Fundamentals for IT Management in SMB
I have noticed a disturbing trend, for IT leaders (CIO, CTO, VP and Directors) in the mid-market to focus too much on the big picture and overlook the fundamentals. Sometimes, these executives that must also maintain an eye on the tactical become too absorbed in the crisis-of-the-moment and lose sight of the basics.I was recently browsing one of the leading websites for IT management content, when there was an error in their application. The resulting screen display was the default error page for the web server (blocked out in the copy below):
Within an hour or so, the site was back up and functioning properly. Still, in that short period of time, the organization likely suffered a small impact to their credibility and provided lots of great information (web server version, database and version, method of connection between the two and application code structures) for would-be hackers. What (black-hat) hacker would not love to bring down and IT management content website?
In this case, it was an organization known for IT content that had (apparently) not yet customized their default website error pages. A simple, 15 minutes or so and the developers could have tailored the site for a more appropriate message.
All that said, it is easy to overlook these concerns. I confess, when I came across this error, the first thing I did was double check my own error page (on www.lichtenwalner.net). It is better now.... click here if you don't believe me.
Labels: Fundamentals, Management, SMB, Tactical
First-Time CIO (Entrepreneurial style)
CIO.com recently published, "What It's Like to Be a First-Time CIO" an article on first-time CIO Jason Scott of Innovation Ads, Inc.. This article was a great representation of what it is like for a first-time CIO in a very entrepreneurial environment. Jason's candor in the piece and reflected management style were refreshing, even as he fended off unprofessional, negative feedback from some folks from the old hierarchy (see the article's comments). As CIO Senior Editor Tom Wailgum reflected of Jason:
...You are, in my humble opinion, the next wave of CIOs that IT writers like myself have been yearning for and blabbing about for years... You have been shaped by a wealth of 21st century technological experiences that those people who are displaying "the hate" wish they could have had. You are a product of a generation of technologists who don't play by their 20th century rules...The article and subsequent discussion thread through comments reflected the challenges new CIOs face, especially in smaller organizations, where so many new IT Leaders get their start in the executive office. Unfortunately, it's not always as positive of a result, as many readers comments suggest. Kudos to Jason for his candor, hard work, success and effective leadership - not only at Innovation Ads but also to the IT Leadership community.
If you are an IT Leader in an entrepreneurial organization, or considering such an oppportunity, this short article is a great read.
Labels: Entrepreneur, SMB, Strategy, Tactical
