Don't Be Held To RansomWritten by Arthur Cooper
I was talking to a businessman other day who was bemoaning fact that company for whom he works was being held to ransom by a single individual, a freelance contractor, who was only person capable of maintaining a vital software system for them. He could more or less charge them what he liked.How had this come about? How can you avoid this in your company? In past, in order to speed up software development and prolong life of their older mainframe computer systems, this company had invested heavily in a particular proprietary “Rapid Application Development” (RAD) software system. This became an integral and essential part of many of their critical applications. Unfortunately, this particular RAD system did not catch on in wider marketplace. It is not widely used, and is now also rather dated. Consequently it has become increasingly difficult to find people with necessary skills or wish to acquire them. Those few individuals with required skills can hold company to ransom. Don’t let this happen to your company. Here are a few simple guidelines on how to avoid finding yourself in same position. 1.Don’t be an “early adopter” of new software systems. Make sure a product has an established client base before climbing aboard bandwagon. 2.When you buy a software package, use it as close to standard as you possibly can. Don’t demand masses of special modifications. You will be building up huge maintenance problems (and costs) for future. 3.If you must have non-standard add-ons to standard packages, get knowledge transferred in house. Don’t put yourself in hock to your suppliers. 4.If replacing old systems, make sure you do it fully. Don’t let an old system be kept and used for just one small function. The eventual (increasing) maintenance will far exceed (reducing) usefulness. 5.Don’t loose sight of life cycle costs of a system (purchase, installation, maintenance, replacement). Don’t stop at just first two of these items.
| | Ten Fun Ways to Liven up Any PresentationWritten by Sandra Schrift
Publishing Guidelines: You are welcome to publish this article in its entirety, electronically, or in print fre*e of charge, as long as you include my full signature file for ezines, and my Web site address(http://www.schrift.com) in hyperlink for other sites. Please send a courtesy link or email where you publish to sandra@schrift.com Thank you. ___________________________________________________________TITLE: Ten Fun Ways to Liven up Any Presentation AUTHOR: Sandra Schrift CONTACT: sandra@schrift.com COPYRIGHT: ©2004 by Sandra Schrift. All rights reserved ___________________________________________________________ Ten Fun Ways to Liven up Any Presentation Most of us would agree that having humor in our lives increases rapport, strengthens our relationships and overcomes communication barriers. People who work in a positive, often playful environment are more likely to stay. Productivity and creativity increase while stress is reduced. We just feel better after a good laugh. Think funny! 1. Open with a humorous story. . I remember time lights when out and I fell off stage. I wasn’t hurt and quickly said, Now I will take questions from floor. I’m at my best when taking questions in dark. Before you can be funny, you must learn to see funny. Find humor around you, in your life every day. The lady who takes an aisle seat rather tan sit next to window . . . doesn’t want to mess up her hair. Practice telling story out loud, and cut out any parts that aren't crucial. As Shakespeare so wisely said, "Brevity is soul of wit." 2. Use props (candy bars, hats, funny faces, etc.) Props can be used as a metaphor or an analogy for a point you are introducing. They get your creative juices working while providing an anchor for your audience to focus on. 3. Cartoons use your own or others a picture saves a 1000 words. Put cartoons on an overhead or use as part of a PowerPoint presentation. 4. Humor - should be relevant to your topic. Tom Peters said, I deeply believe in humor; not in jokes. Humor is spectacular. Humor relieves anxiety and tension, serves as outlet for hostility and anger, and provides a healthy escape from reality. It lightens heaviness related to critical illness, trauma, disfigurement, and death. It comes as no surprise that many people are utilizing humor to deal with trying times. But is humor timely? Is it appropriate?
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