Seth Godin published his newest ebook book today -- all 464 pages and 2.4 Mb. Bull Market 2004 is timed to coincide with the release of Free Prize Inside, The Next BIG Marketing Idea on May 11th. He is selling the ebook for $21 with all proceeds going to Room to Read. He's allowing any company or blogger mentioned in the ebook to give it away. If you like the book I urge you to go make a donation.

Aside from featuring Reforming Project Management in the ebook, why would someone interested in project management care about this book? Bull Market 2004 is a collection of companies and individuals who Seth says can help you make something happen. I know that I could use some help with my projects. Whether I get stuck, or I just need some help, these are companies that can take your project to the edge. Seth claims that being on the edge is what makes our products and projects remarkable.

Have a look at Seth's books and the associated websites. Quite the projects.

posted by Hal at 7:09 PM | link  |   |   | Google It!  | Email This  |

Clarke Ching offers his take on Free Prize Inside, The Next Big Marketing Idea: They "traded autonomy and craftsmanship for high pay and stability". "(P)age 43, sent a wee shiver up and down my spine." Read on...

posted by Hal at 2:28 PM | link  |   |   | Google It!  | Email This  |

Too much of our time on projects is spent working alone. Programmers code by themselves. Estimators estimate by themselves. Architects detail alone. To make it worse, many companies have erected closed spaces -- offices with closed doors, cubicles with 6' walls -- and other impediments for making collaboration the usual practice. Project work so often requires innovation and learning. Both occur in a social context. That context is collaboration.

The Project Reformer's e-Tip of the Week

025: Collaborate, Really Collaborate

Whether you believe two are smarter than one, or three are smarter than two, all but trivial projects depend on more than one person to complete. Large projects might number in the thousands of performers. Why isolate people from each other. Learning and innovation are both social processes. Judgement also benefits from broad perspectives and experience. Here are 5 questions to get you started to make collaboration your habit: Who could help me with this? What do I have to offer others? What new ways can we meet on a regular basis? How can we stay in tune with each others' changing project work? What can you do to be more responsive to each other? Share this e-Tip with your team at your next meeting. Use the five questions to generate actions you will take as a group. Revisit how you are doing each time you meet. The Project Leaders' Studio™

©2004 Hal Macomber | weblog.halmacomber.com | e-Tip Archive | PDF | Submit Tip

Write me about your experience with this and feel free to share this Project e-Tip with others.

posted by Hal at 6:15 PM | link  |   |   | Google It!  | Email This  |

Seth Godin writes a monthly column in Fast Company where he rails against our attachment to our common sense. There are too many favorite Seth Godin FC essays for me to mention here. Now I have a 'new favorite'. It appears in his new book Free Prize Inside.

The book is about going all the way to the edge as the place from which to innovate. The edge is a free prize. Not just another feature. Rather, working at the edge we have the opportunity for creating something remarkable. Seth calls it edgecrafting.

The 'new favorite' essay appears on pages 46 and 47 of the book titled You Can Wreck the Factory Where You Work by Following the Rules. The same can be said for projects. Here are some highlights:

We've fooled ourselves into thinking that white collar work is supposed to be as repetitive and rule-based as running a punch press. So we often fight the innovations in our midst.

Why do we see this as acceptable? Rather than asking, "What will it take for this to be successful?" we encounter sabotage, foot-dragging, and inaction. For me the worst is the attitude "Let's see if this will work."

We've embraced the upside of Henry Ford's bargain (getting paid a lot for work someone else could do), but since change has become the essential output of our work, we've abandoned our half of the deal. Idea workers get paid to change the rules.

Your job is to make something happen.

Don't put up with people who are not intent on making something happen, particularly when that someone is you.

posted by Hal at 1:34 AM | link  |   |   | Google It!  | Email This  |

Seth Godin is at it again. This time there's something for us to learn about projects. His last book Purple Cow was the number one selling marketing book of 2003. I got my hands on a prepublication copy of Free Prize Inside. Seth has selected my weblog to include in a 500 page ebook that will be published concurrently with Free Prize Inside. He also selected fellow bloggers Johanna Rothman and Clarke Ching. The ebook is titled Bull Market 2004: Companies that Can Help You Make Things Happen (I'll provide copies to readers of this weblog.) He did something similar with Purple Cow by concurrently publishing 99 Cows. (See my postings from my visit with Seth last year.)

So what does a book on marketing have to do with projects? Marketing is all about projects. Every campaign, product launch, introduction to new market, etc. involves going from idea to implementation. Seth devotes the middle third of the book to selling your idea and building a team around you. You need to read the book for his advice on leverage alone. (Levers only work with a fulcrum.)

Here's the condensed version of Free Prize Inside. Still not sure that Seth knows anything about projects? Then check out this PMI announcement. Seth is the featured speaker at the up-coming Project Management Confab in Bloomington, IL.

posted by Hal at 1:37 PM | link  |   |   | Google It!  | Email This  |

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