We have just joined the Monroeville Chamber of Commerce. So we’re now proud, card carrying members. We also rejoined the Pittsburgh Technology Council. Both are great organizations within which one can network for new business, new partnerships, new services, learning, etc.

I had previously given up on actively networking because it didn’t seem to be a good use of my time. But I have recently realized that networking isn’t dead.

Networking events are sometimes full only of sales people looking to make a quick connection and a quick sale. But if you plan well, you can go to events that aren’t so salesy…that are more useful, and where you meet other people, in addition to the sales people.

I have started to find success with these organizations that, among other things, facilitate networking. It’s good to get out there and meet people, shake their hands, look them in the eye, have some good conversations, and learn from people, and look for how we could potentially help each other meet our objectives. I actually started to make some good connections with people and organizations at one of the first events I went to after I started back at it.

If you gave up on networking, you should try it again. Maybe it requires a small change in your focus of who to talk to and what to get out of the events, and maybe what events to go to.

Having a focus and being selective is a big help in getting more out of your networking, as well as getting more out of life.

I have found several good books from which I can learn a lot about how to run the business, new ideas to consider, etc. Also note i listen to many of my books as audiobooks rather than reading. Only the good ones i go out and buy so I can reread it and mark it up for more learning.

Anyway, sometimes, though, I get totally overwhelmed and find myself not able to come up with new ideas, or not able to step away from the business mentally and recognize problems or areas for improvement and growth.

I have found that books by the same or similar authors where they have a list of ideas presented in no certain order are nice. One such book is David Allen’s book Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life.

It is a great compilation of ideas and discussions based on his seminal work Getting Things Done.

If I am feeling stuck, I just turn on this audiobook when riding my bike around town for exercise and Bam! loads of ideas.

I have an iPad and use it for so many things, email, blogging, research on the web, YouTube, and several other activities. I had a Kindle before the iPad and used it for one thing, reading.

That single-use device can force you to do one thing. It doesn’t let you get distracted and jump to the browser, or check your email real quick, etc. You just read. It’s great!

I was inspired on this track of thinking by David at 37 Signals for his post Rekindle my love of reading post.

Think about it, then go dig out your Kindle, charge it up, and see how much more you read.

I almost hesitate to mention this because it’s sometimes better for a company to keep its secrets. But I believe in a level of transparency, not only with the teams in the company, but also externally. Yes, the competition might learn what you’re doing and for whom. But I what I say to that is, “Good luck keeping up with us!”

Here’s a quick, high level sampling of what’s been happening:

• Hired more staff, some great guys, Manny and Phillip
• New phone number
• Significantly improving internal processes and tools
• Getting more new customers and starting more new projects

And here’s a little taste of what is to come:

• Continuing service quality improvements
• Even more new customers and projects
• Adding more staff to handle the work

Everything we do is related to custom software development. Some of the projects that have kept us busy recently are:

• Completing a custom web application that allows users of a utility construction company to add and edit schedules of crews, from the office and in the field.
• Creating a new application that allows a engineering and construction company to estimate new jobs more accurately than previously possible.
• Continuing to modify an existing custom application for creating proposals and orders for a sales company
• Launching a new project to create new order entry applications for departments at a large customer.
• Extending the features of two applications for separate divisions of a manufacturing company.

Every project is different and interesting. It’s this new, custom, every-day-is-different kind of work that keeps us excited and interested in what we’re doing. This is fun stuff.

If you have a software project your considering and aren’t sure if it can be done or not, give me a call and we’ll talk about it…call me, Kevin, at 412-923-3002.

We recently spent two weeks on vacation in Italy. The first week in Rome with friends and the second week in Venice on our own. It was great.

Now that I’m back from our great vacation where I didn’t work much, I am so much more energized to tackle a lot of new, great projects and strategic initiatives. I also suspect that everyone I work with is happier, too. I’m less grumpy, more productive, etc. Even more importantly, my wife Allison is happy to see that I’m generally happier, healthier, and nicer to be with

Of course one of the major keys in being to enjoy the vacation was the part about not working. This can be facilitated by the people around you at work (team members, boss, the company leaders, etc).

Our custom software development company has been growing. We have been hiring and working with some really great people, including Manny, Phillip, Mahesh, and others. Once great people like that are on board, I know that things will run smoothly while I’m away. That allowed me to only check emails once a day, and to spend 10 minutes or less each day doing that. It was beyond wonderful being able to not work like that.

For people who don’t have appropriately large or successful teams to support them while away, seriously consider finding someone to cover for your while you’re away and put customers and projects on hold. Yes, I know you might say that your customers won’t understand and will leave you. Actually, you might be surprised. If you have good relationships with your customers, they might actually be happy for you and support your brief absence while you relax and re-energize.

So, the lesson is take a real vacation, where you don’t work much. Everyone around you will be happier for it, and you will be, too.

I’ve been trying to keep up reading lots of books to learn and grow as an owner of a custom software development company. One book I rediscovered recently was Behind Closed Doors by Johanna Rothman.

I actually bought the book a few years ago and put it on the shelf to eventually read. Well, I didn’t think it’d take me 3 years to get around to reading it. But I’m glad I found it this past week.

It is written by an author and coauthor that have a lot of experience being managers of software development companies and departments, as well as consulting in this arena, etc.

The book covers a lot of topics within the management area, but it is specific to departments of large companies that do software development. I really like that specialization. I’ve read a lot of material on management, but it’s all been generic as far as the type of business it applies to. It’s nice to see loads of great examples specific to software development. It’s so much easier to relate to.

Admittedly there is a fair bit of content in the book that is common sense. Though, just because it’s common sense doesn’t mean we all do the things they suggest. We get caught up in the moment, we forget, etc. It’s a really great reminder, and reference source, as well as a source of new ideas.

And did I mention that it’s a short book? That’s great. Good book.

They are running  a really interesting business in Pittsburgh, providing wifi access for coffee shop owners, residential apartment buildings and other businesses.

They also really care about their customers and the service they provide to their customers. So much so that they have made an investment integrating the customer into their internal/external portal web application.

We added some features to this web portal application. They will help Green Light Wireless provide some great service to their customers.

It’s good to work with great customers who care about their customers!

Here are two good summaries of GTD:

• Wikipedia summary of GTD
• 43 Folders summary of GTD

And here is the site of the man himself and his company, David Allen and GTD.

I like GTD a lot. I is a good delineation of how to get control of the various tasks and responsibilities in your work and personal life. It is a model or framework of how to deal with all of those tasks that stem from your various responsibilities.

Nozbe is essentially a really, really good task management or ToDo list tool. It implements a lot of the GTD features like Next Actions, Contexts, etc. Nozbe is available on most mobile devices as well as most computers using an installed app or browser app…it is a cloud-based application.

By implementing GTD so well and being cloud-based, it ends up being a tool that you can really closely integrate into your everyday life, assuming you stay “connected” to you revives most of them time. And even if you’re not always connected, the author, Michael Slewinski, dealt with that eventuality by creating reports on which you can print out your tasks.

I started using Nozbe using the GTD system. It worked pretty well. I was able to stay on top of tasks, not forget things I had to do for my company and for customers…and even for my family like buy birthday gifts, etc

But I eventually found that I had a massive Next Actions list. I think GTD had a way to deal with it, but it just didn’t make sense to me…just didn’t mesh with my internal wiring. So I ended up changing how I use Nozbe.

I found Michael Linenberger’s Master Your Workday Now system. I read the book, realized it made more sense to me, and then implemented it.

I’ll provide the details of how I use it in another post.

I have solved that problem with EverNote. EverNote is not so much an application as much as it is a service. I can get all of my notes on nearly any device and take it with me. I can access my notes from any web browser, on my laptop and desktop computers without a browser (can install a desktop application), on my iPhone, and on my iPad.

The service isn’t expensive, has the right features for my needs, and it’s very easy to use.

I will say that I don’t store every bit of information in EverNote. I keep something things in other places, such as customer files and project data, and information that I share with our developers (internal company content and customer related content).

One of the bigger problems I have encountered when I started using the product was how to organize the information. EverNote gives you a lot of flexibility in how to organize your data, which is a good thing. But then you have to come up with your own, reliable method that makes sense to you. Luckily the search feature works really well.