My whole life, I've either not had a printer, or had a crappy inkjet printer. Two weeks ago I bought a color laser printer (at semi-random) for 200$, and every time I print I get a perfect, dry, color print. I have no complaints what so ever, it's just awesome.
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Cool Tools: Kindle
If you don't have a kindle, go buy a kindle paper white right now. If you own a kindle, skim this post to make sure you know about these features.
Things I love about the Kindle:
Features I use:
Cool Tools:
Things I love about the Kindle:
- All my books, all the time - no shelf space required.
- No need for a nightlight - The back light lets me read at night, without the hassle of lights.
- Indestructible Media - I can stop worrying about spilling coffee on my books.
- Light weight - doesn't matter if it's a 2 lb mega book, or a few page poem, it's just weight of the kindle.
- Fungible - All kindles are same, get a new kindle, it downloads all your books, bookmarks and highlights.
Features I use:
- Sync between kindles - if you use multiple kindles the kindle sends your latest page location to all kindles.
- Look up word - Press and hold a word to see the definition. A great way to build your vocabulary.
- Highlight Passages - Run your finger over a paragraph to highlight. You can see your highlights on other kindles, or export them using the cool tools below.
- Re-size fonts - Having a big font is wonderful for low strain reading.
Cool Tools:
- Send To Kindle - Send content (like web pages or word documents to the kindle)
- Bookcision - Export your kindle highlights as text
Soft Skills: Read the best book you can.
When I have time to read, I want to read the best book I can.
When I hear about a book I want to read, I either add it to the list of books I want to read, or I start reading the book immediately. If I add the book to my "to read" list, I'm almost certain I'll never read the book. On the other hand, If I start reading the book right away, I'm almost certain the book is worse than books I've already added to my "to read" list.
So, I'm going to try to build the discipline to only read the best book on my "to read" list, instead of reading the last good book mentioned to me.
I suspect this technique will be hard, but reading the best books might be worth it. If this works, I'll try to apply the same technique to other aspects of my life like movies, toys I want to watch, and people I want to have lunch with.
When I hear about a book I want to read, I either add it to the list of books I want to read, or I start reading the book immediately. If I add the book to my "to read" list, I'm almost certain I'll never read the book. On the other hand, If I start reading the book right away, I'm almost certain the book is worse than books I've already added to my "to read" list.
So, I'm going to try to build the discipline to only read the best book on my "to read" list, instead of reading the last good book mentioned to me.
I suspect this technique will be hard, but reading the best books might be worth it. If this works, I'll try to apply the same technique to other aspects of my life like movies, toys I want to watch, and people I want to have lunch with.
Monday, April 7, 2014
Soft Skills: Instilling stewardship delegation.
Stewardship delegation is a form of delegation where the responsibility for the delegated task is transferred to the delegatee. Stewardship delegation requires upfront effort, but the long term effectiveness it creates is second to none, so I recommend learning and applying it.
To establish stewardship delegation you must convey five concepts to your delegatee. The desired results, the operating parameters, the available resources, the measurement system and the consequences of their stewardship.
I strongly recommend the delegator spend significant time ensuring the delegatee understands these five concepts. Most of my failures to delegate are caused by the delegatee not understanding the concepts. Having the delegatee involved in defining the concepts, especially the accountability model and the consequences helps build their buy in and tests the delegatee's understanding.
The desired results is the outcome the delegator wishes to achieve. Desired results should be conveyed in terms of what is desired, not in terms of how results should be achieved. By specifying what, not how, the delegatee has the maximum freedom to achieve the desired results.
The operating parameters are the guard rails within which the desired results should be achieved. While the delegator should give as few as possible, they tend to have experience and prevent the delegatee from making obvious mistakes.
The resources available are what the delegatee may use to get the desired results accomplished. Because the delegator tends to have experience they can often suggest useful resources, however the delegatee should have the freedom to ignore the unneeded resources.
The accountably model defines how the delegatee will be measured. This includes the measurement function, the measurement frequency and the way the measurement will be reported.
The rewards and consequences defines how the delegatee will be rewarded for their efforts. This includes the both rewards for success, and consequences for failure.
By using these delegation guidelines you should be able to kick off steward ship delegation. Even though it takes more time upfront, the overall return on investment is excellent.
By the way, I'm trying to leverage the stewardship delegation method with myself, by taking a desire I wish to achieve and going through the five delegation concepts. I expect I'll find this method very effective.
To establish stewardship delegation you must convey five concepts to your delegatee. The desired results, the operating parameters, the available resources, the measurement system and the consequences of their stewardship.
I strongly recommend the delegator spend significant time ensuring the delegatee understands these five concepts. Most of my failures to delegate are caused by the delegatee not understanding the concepts. Having the delegatee involved in defining the concepts, especially the accountability model and the consequences helps build their buy in and tests the delegatee's understanding.
The desired results is the outcome the delegator wishes to achieve. Desired results should be conveyed in terms of what is desired, not in terms of how results should be achieved. By specifying what, not how, the delegatee has the maximum freedom to achieve the desired results.
The operating parameters are the guard rails within which the desired results should be achieved. While the delegator should give as few as possible, they tend to have experience and prevent the delegatee from making obvious mistakes.
The resources available are what the delegatee may use to get the desired results accomplished. Because the delegator tends to have experience they can often suggest useful resources, however the delegatee should have the freedom to ignore the unneeded resources.
The accountably model defines how the delegatee will be measured. This includes the measurement function, the measurement frequency and the way the measurement will be reported.
The rewards and consequences defines how the delegatee will be rewarded for their efforts. This includes the both rewards for success, and consequences for failure.
By using these delegation guidelines you should be able to kick off steward ship delegation. Even though it takes more time upfront, the overall return on investment is excellent.
By the way, I'm trying to leverage the stewardship delegation method with myself, by taking a desire I wish to achieve and going through the five delegation concepts. I expect I'll find this method very effective.
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