Archive for April, 2010
Managing Expectations to achieve Customer Satisfaction
What’s customer satisfaction? How do you achieve it? Let me give you a Project Manager’s perspective on this. After years of completing large scale enterprise deployments , I definitely have learned the hard way what contributes to success. Customer satisfaction can be tricky, because although there are many elements which go into customer satisfaction, it’s not necessarily about how well you meet their needs and requirements but about how well you match their expectations. And to do that you need to know what they are and how reconcile them.
Recreating the Wheel – Based on a True Story
Last week, I bought an iPad for my wife and spent most of the day “setting it up for her”. It came ready to use, which meant, despite a full calendar or appointments and tasks, I spent the rest of the day playing with it and testing its capabilities…I have to say that I love it!!!
Now I recognize I’m late to the iWhatever game, and by that I mean I haven’t personally owned an iPod or iPhone, so this new found fascination might be “old news” for some out there. What impressed me the most about the iPad was Apple’s accomplishment in making a complex technology straightforward for the end user. From the moment you take it out of the box and turn it on, you realize that you are holding something that has a lot of power and functionality but it was so simple to access. The iPad gives you the ability to do so much without even opening up a user guide. Need to take notes during a conference…there is a built in notepad with a handy keyboard; want to quietly read the paper at a coffee shop…you can do so with ease and without the hassle of flimsy pages; you-tube videos (or any video) – you can watch easily and clearly on the big screen; need to make changes to the presentation that was just emailed to you – you can do it without logging on to a computer. Apple was able to take many different features and literally put them right at your fingertips, giving me and any other iPad user a simple power that is hard to describe.
What is your Earth Day Resolution?
Earth Day Resolution?…what is that? Oh…It’s just a little something I’ve done every year, since I was in 5th grade. It hasn’t caught on quite like its big Brother the New Year’s Resolution, but it’s the same concept. Let me explain.
The New Year’s Resolution works like this, every year at the stroke of midnight you kiss your partner and declare something you are going to change…usually something that will better YOU in some way – exercise more, drink less soda/beer, eat baked potato chips instead of fried, etc.
Earth Day Resolutions work the same way, except there is no kissing (I guess you could go kiss a tree, or a baby seal if there is one lying close to you…but that might be weird) and instead of doing something that will better you, you make a change that will better the Earth…or at least the part of Earth in which you live in. It doesn’t have to be something extravagant, just something simple that you can work into your daily life and keep up. The goal is by Earth Day 2011 you are still doing your 2010 resolution and are ready to add on to it!
Conversation in the Workplace
Do the events we have on work time always have to be obviously synonymous with the work we do (i.e. meetings to discuss upcoming projects or meetings to brainstorm solutions to problems)? And should meetings always take on the same form – PowerPoint presentation with one or two speakers while everyone else takes notes, a 10 minute discussion period, then back to your desks?
While traditional meetings and brainstorming sessions are both important and efficient, it is also important to schedule time to kick back a little, with a gathering that doesn’t have the traditional protocol of a “company meeting”. The reasons to schedule these kick back times can range from presenting new and exciting company news, to calling attention to a team effort that was well done.