I have always loved telling stories, and scored great marks because I was able to draw my professors in. I always got docked for not staying on topic though. I just got inspired by tangents and left the reader asking “What was that even about?!” Obviously I was never a fan of pre-writing, mindmapping, or outlining. Often I would just turn a paper in right after I finished it. (Before MS Word, the spelling and grammar might have caused serious injury)

This morning my Mother-in-law and I were talking about her Storyteller Archetype and I shared with her the secret that helped me and my team create awesome papers through our MBA program. I even use it for emails when I have a lot to communicate or am really upset and want to prevent myself from ranting.

Create an Outline of Questions to Guide Your Writing

The big secret wasn’t the outline. Sure, it helped, but it left me staring off into space more often than not. Why go through all of that effort if at the end I still didn’t have any clue where to start?

That is when I decided to ask questions. I can answer a question! I read all the time, I’m constantly talking to people about class topics, and I am confident with my knowledge talking to someone. It just makes sense to make an outline of questions and then to answer each question.

Top Level Outlining

Usually there is a top level question. Professors are usually pretty good at communicating their views. Not usually about their assignment, but usually verbally, and if you listen you will pick out the points they want you to discuss in a paper. for this example, lets have some fun and talk about windsurfing!

1. Introduction – What is windsurfing?
2. What are the basic elements of windsurfing?
3. What are the different types of windsurfing?
4. Where are the best places to windsurf?
5. Conclusion – Why should someone try windsurfing?

Already we have a  pretty good outline of questions! This seems pretty short for a 2,000 word paper though, so lets break it down further.

Multi Level Outlining

Now we are going to break each of the top levels down by doing the same thing and asking a series of questions about that topic. You can go as deep as you want, but for brevity, lets only do one more level.

1. Introduction – What is windsurfing?
   1. When/where/who/how did it develop?
   2. What are some major advancements that have occurred?
2. What are the basic elements of windsurfing?
   1. Describe board/mast/sail/boom
   2. What are the different types of wind?
   3. What affect does water have on windsurfing?
3. What are the different types of windsurfing?
   1. Slalom – What type of person?
   2. Freestyle – What type of person?
   3. Wavesailing – What type of person?
4. Where are the best places to windsurf?
   1. Why is wind important, and what places have the most wind?
   2. What conditions are needed for each type of windsurfing?
   3. Where are the most popular windsurfing destinations?
5. Conclusion – Bring it all home! (Conversion: this is where you SELL IT!)
   1. Do it because I said so!

Now that would be pretty easy to write 1,000 words on, right? Usually when I’m done with my outline I have almost a full page and knocking out 2,000 words was a cinch! Usually would take me 3 hours total. The hard part was when the professor had us combine all of our 2,000 word paper into a single 800 word paper.

Hope that helps! If anyone has other tips or tricks, share with the rest of us in the comments.

Today I go to say goodbye to a dear friend. Today I have to concede that I won’t be getting any random phonecalls. We’ll no longer meet for drinks back home, no more smoke breaks. Today the loss of a friend will be bringing all of us back together again.
Anna was a part of our group of friends in high school. Most of that time was at coffee shops, Denny’s, and the ever popular Rock-n-Bowl. We were a crazy bunch, but I guess most were in high school.

Recently she was my buddy when I went back home. We were the last of the singles that could be out after 9pm.When you go home, sometimes ya just need to get out and have a cocktail! We would hit Minnies or Tiki and talk about relationships, jobs, roommates, but mostly laughed at all the crap we used to do.

…all until one day when she called to say she had cancer. We all thought it would be treatable and go away, but over the last year it kept eating her alive. 500 miles away the best I could do was call as often as possible and text message to remind her that she was loved and how important is was for her to heal. I tried to visit, but she only let me see her once, just a month before she finally let go. She was usually in too much pain to talk, but when I called and hit the morphene timing right she would go on and on. Bowel movements, operations, needing to smoke, but a lot of the conversations were about Lindy and Stacy, and her saint of a boyfriend David. No one should be able to call themselves a man till they can live up to Anna’s description of David.
After surgeries, infections, chemotherapy, radiation, our Anna finally died of the most curable cancer around, just because she didn’t have health insurance to get checked. Some very dedicated freiends are now putting together AK Love Her Memorial Fund to help girls who can’t afford it gt the papspears that could save their lives.

The memorial service was nice, but didn’t feel right. None of us were very much at home in a church. However, friends came in from all over and we had a night of laughter she would be proud of! The pastor asked us to think on her, and though I tried I couldn’t find a memory of her where she wasn’t laughing. If I was God in heaven, she would be one of the fist I’d call too. 32 is still too young.

The past year my MBA program has taken over my life. I haven’t seen many friends more than once in that year. Losing the opportunity made me readjust my priorities. Life needs to be lived! I graduate in May and from now on friends and my health are getting a promotion.

When I first met Chelsea I promised to take her skydiving. On our second date I managed to wrangle my foot chasing after some jerk who snatched her purse. I had fractured a bone in there a year prior learning to climb. After Matt Alavi acupunctured me up, life became a lot easier so we decided to jump!

As a birthday present to each other Chelsea and I bought each other’s tickets and for a graduation present I bought her pictures and video. To keep the price down, and the excitement up, I organized a large group of us. Since I had one friend that had gotten his certification at Otay Lakes, we all listed him as our referral and he jumped all day for free! I have never seen anyone so happy! He was bouncing up and down all day, on the ground and in the air.

Chelsea and I went up on the same trip. She got to jump first, but we still beat her to the ground! I learned before my first jump years ago that being excited on the ground will lead to a VERY fun trip down. My tandem spun us all over, over and under the canopy, swooping, and having a blast! Absolutely amazing! I already can’t wait to do it again. There is no feeling of letting go like rolling out of the door of an airplane 13,000 feet in the air. It is the pinnacle lesson on decisiveness, commitment, and liberation!

Chelsea and I loved it so much, that we both decided we want to get certified to skydive. Another adventure to add to the growing list of things to do after graduation. Maybe one of these days I might get her SCUBA certified as well.

Professor:
Robert McCullogh

Required Reading:
Jennings, M. M. (2006). Business: Its legal, ethical, and global environment (7th ed.). Mason, OH: Thomson.
Ferrera, G. R., Lichtenstein, S. D., Reder, M. E. K., Bird, R. C., & Schiano, W. T. (2004). CyberLaw: Text and cases (2nd ed.). Mason, OH: Thomson.

Ancillary Reading:
Fritz, R. (1989). Path of Least Resistance: Learning to Become the Creative Force in Your Own Life (Rev Exp ed.). Chicago: Ballantine Books. [Link]
Shuen, A. (2008). Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide. Sebastopol: O’Reilly Media. [Link]

Synopsis:
I was somewhat let down by this class. Business Law has always interested me, but this class seemed to only be about tort law until the very end. A business being an actual entity under the eyes of the law is one of the most interesting things in business!

Even in not learning, there is something to be learned. The professor answered almost every question evasively so as not to appear to be giving legal counsel. for a moment I started to think all professors were incontinent, always answering “it depends.” Deeper down I started to realize that every question was full of contingencies and started researching my questions for myself.

I saved one of the best for last. Tara Hunt was one of the first people I followed on twitter (@missrogue) and she is the person that got me so excited about Social Media. She introduced me, along with many others, to the heart behind business. Her book The Whuffie Factor just came out and I will have my copy shortly! The following are the notes I took of her presentation. Because she is so Web 2.0, I was able to include her slideshow. (Notice how social networking works here?)

The idea of Whuffie came from the book Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow

Favors added up and the society became one of Reciprocity

5 Components

1. Turn the bullhorn around!

DellHell was a response to a failed attempt of Dell trying Web 2.0

Direct2Dell was how Dell turned it around. Instantly responding to customers

Dell created a blogger lounge where you could communicate with the CEO

The lounge became an idea storm. Dell used the ideas, giving the customers what they wanted, and the customers gave Dell the sales. (ex. Linux)

2. Become part of the community you serve

Who do I serve?

What problem am I solving and for who?

Why would they give a damn?

3. Create AMAZING customer experiences

10 Things to create AMAZING experiences

1. The dazzle is in the details
2. Go above and beyond (TED talks)
3. Appeal to emotion
4. Inject fun into the experience
5. Make something mundane fashionable
6. Let people personalize (moo cards)
7. Be experimental
8. Simplify (37 Signals)
9. Make happiness your business model
10. Be a social catalyst

4. Embrace the chaos

Balance security with the need for openness

Be better prepared for the unexpected

Join the conversation and be welcomed

Opportunity for collaboration

Create supporters you didn’t know you had

Whuffie is a gift economy

5. Find a higher purpose

Born from passion? Born from need?

Find how to give back to the community

Do well by doing good

Think customer-centrically

Value something bigger than yourself, change the world!

Three vital components to building a successful online strategy by Gerardo A. Dada

Trilogy:

1. Build a Social Media Strategy
2. Build a Community
3. Roadmap for Success

Why Social Media? – Low cost marketing, we have to do it, getting traction

Only 12% measure Web 2.0 as effective. How do you measure? team, strategy, document

2007 it was “why?”, 2008 was “try”, 2009 is embrace.

1. How do I build a Social Media Strategy?

• Don’t! Social Media should support a business strategy
• It is a tool that needs to be used throughout a company
• Get the passionate people talking
• Get employees involved and increase employee retention
• When people do leave, Social Media makes it easier to find, recruit, and train new employees
• Deliver an integrated user experience employee <-> partner <-> customer
• Customers expect personal, multi-channel, social, immersive connections

2. How do I build a community?

• Enhance it, grow it, promote it
• “Fish are where fish are”
• Engage customers, tools are secondary. Be flexible to the needs.
• What is a community?
• “a group of like minded individuals that interact with each other about topics they care about”
• Understand what people are saying. Who and where?
• Content is King!
• Create a content Strategy
• Create metrics and be agile enough to move where the community does
• What is the rich media strategy for your company? post, moderate, store, tag

3. How do I succeed in Social Media?

• Transform into a customer centric company
• “Ability to reach outside of ourselves and connect”
• Engage and interact with the conversation in the marketplace
• Be transparent and authentic
• Participate, listen, and act when asked or when needed
• Get employees involved in the community by making Facebook, twitter, or blogging a part of their job (1 hour a week, 2 hours a day, etc) Suggests Radiant 6 CMS
• 5 Steps to Success
  1. Get people on-board
  2. Develop a strategy
  3. Define clear goals and metrics
  4. Resourcing
  5. Promotion
• Social Media = Marketing + Information Technology
• Next consolidation is governance

Sören Stamer of CoreMedia led one of the most inspiring talks about the need to evolve business paradigms to fit the changing world. Marketing has shifted, the way people want to be engaged has shifted, and only the companies that realize this have a hope to remain competitive in the coming years.

This talk has inspired me to go back to Eldorado Stone and show them how to interact in social media, how to work more with the end consumer as well as the distributors. I will raise their knowledge and bring them to this new shift I see happening around us. I will make Eldorado Stone a community that will keep us in the forefront of our industry!

Notes:

http://www.web2expo.com/webexsf2009/public/schedule/detail/8848

Massive networking drives change

Consequences

1. Lingering Dynamics – 6000+ days of web changing society
2. Rising Complexity – Impossible to predict so be agile
3. Increasing Transparency – http://www.ratemycop.com/ Its happening!
4. Globally Synchronized – Creates opportunities and criticism
5. Collectively Smarter (or dumber)
6. Abundance of Options – Declining GDP, explosion of services and information
7. Exponential Growth

How deep is the impact?

Fundamental Change – Be agile and expect unexpected

10 Patterns and How to Exploit them (Websites evolve: engage people!)

1. Empower your community and build your tribe. Feedback loops rule and drive business and evolution
2. Engage in Conversations. Emotions connect us.
3. Be Personal. Engage as a human person. Virality is the new power.
4. Make Ideas Contagious. Personal resonance counts. iPhone App SonicLighter allowed users to see map of the world showing everyone using app creating a community.
5. Use Established Paradigms. He who is open and focused wins. Encourage competitors to use your platform.
6. Open Up and Do Less. Evolution is hard to predict. Twiiter has all functionality immediately displayed and is totally simple
7. Let It Go. Don’t try to predict, adapt and grow with the community. People pay for attention. $1000 iPhone app just to show you spent the money. Facebook grew exponentially past MySpace because of their API allowing other applications to integrate with it
8. Provide Ways to Earn Attention. Yelp shows a user’s statistics, friend counts, updates, rating, etc.
9. Enable Multiple Touchpoints For Your Service. Google Search: “making money because of …”
10. Find Ways to Offer Great Service For Free. Ryan Air changed the business by offering free flights and charging destinations for the tourism. Skype, the largest global carrier.

CoreMedia – Increase Return on Engagement!

http://www.web2expo.com/webexsf2009/public/schedule/detail/8823

UX = User Experience

RIA = Rich Internet Applications

Make applications that build happy faces!!

User Experience (8 Criteria)

1. Accomplish Goals
2. Ensure Performance
3. Be Trustworthy
4. Provide Feedback
5. Be Consistent
6. Become Familiar
7. Be Efficient
8. Engage your Audience

Create experiences with criteria as “senses”

/* Interject a demo of Random Houses book widget compared to Barnes and Noble and Amazon’s. Seriously, check it out. What they did for Random House blows away the other two interfaces! */

Create perception that differentiates you from the rest of your vertical

The better the user experience, the more business value is created

Business Value comes from employee satisfaction through ease of use

70% of projects fail because of bad user experience

/* attendee mentioned they found every step in a checkout process led to 5% drop off from the site */

IBM “Every $1 spent on UI returns $10 – $100”

Step 1 – Understand the End User

• Companies tend to build for themselves, not for actual users of the product

Step 2 – Do Not Hope for Silver Bullet Design

• The big idea is important, but should be driven by end user
• “Strong opinions weakly held”
• “$300 Million Button”
• Trust your users
• Add “Empathy” to job description and/or title
• Be willing to throw out ideas based on user feedback
• Don’t take feedback too literally, the customer might have an issue but there might be a better way to deal with it. ex: Asking for refresh button when auto-refresh really improves the experience
• Embed user feedback process in the launch
• Use analytics and data to track usage/feedback with changes

Step 3 – Do Not Hope Developers Will Make Good Design

• http://www.buigallery.com/ visit and learn!
• Don’t let politics get int he way of great software
• Communicate between Design and Development often
  • Share technical issues and develop new paths
• When in doubt, ASK YOUR USERS!
• Remove the word “I” and replace with “Our Customers” to get buy-in from other departments

Step 4 – Do Not Build For Everyone

• The iPhone Curse
  • Apple had HUGE budgets for design
  • Full control over integration
  • Market budget for familiarity
• If you build for everybody, you end up building for nobody
• Define value for 3 personas and delve deeply
• Think about their circumstances, contexts, and how they will use it

Step 5 – Plan for Imperfection

• Cone of uncertainty

http://people.westminstercollege.edu/faculty/ggagne/spring2009/322/chapters/cohn/chapter1/index.html

• Great software requires iteration (often) and flexible processes

Step 6 – Value Product Over Process

• There is no scheduling innovation
• Planning only accounts for 20% of end product, change happens!