http://www.tobiaswright.com/blog/ en tobias@tobiaswright.com Copyright 2010 2010-03-01T02:15:38+00:00 http://www.tobiaswright.com/site/are-you-better-than-yesterday/ http://www.tobiaswright.com/site/are-you-better-than-yesterday/#When:02:15:38Z This is a great article: The Big Question: Are You Better Than Yesterday?I really like the notion behind this article. It focuses on small non-intimidating things that are problems of larger projects. Folks in the comments criticized it as not being analytical enough, but some things like weight or personal projects have to be taken day by day and cannot be measured or to time consuming to measure. It’s a simply question, any answer will only inspire you to do more the next day. So. Did you? 2010-03-01T02:15:38+00:00 http://www.tobiaswright.com/site/leadership-lessons-from-dancing-guy/ http://www.tobiaswright.com/site/leadership-lessons-from-dancing-guy/#When:04:57:38Z 2010-02-22T04:57:38+00:00 http://www.tobiaswright.com/site/planning-fallacy/ http://www.tobiaswright.com/site/planning-fallacy/#When:23:13:30Z A wonderful on article on planning fallacy: People tend to generate their predictions by thinking about the particular, unique features of the task at hand, and constructing a scenario for how they intend to complete the task - which is just what we usually think of as planning. When you want to get something done, you have to plan out where, when, how; figure out how much time and how much resource is required; visualize the steps from beginning to successful conclusion. All this is the "inside view", and it doesn't take into account unexpected delays and unforeseen catastrophes. As we saw before, asking people to visualize the "worst case" still isn't enough to counteract their optimism - they don't visualize enough Murphyness. But all is not lost:So there is a fairly reliable way to fix the planning fallacy, if you’re doing something broadly similar to a reference class of previous projects. Just ask how long similar projects have taken in the past, without considering any of the special properties of this project.  Better yet, ask an experienced outsider how long similar projects have taken. Lately, I’ve been trying to take the outsider view and planning realistically, although I’m finding I may not doing well enough. For example I should be working on a website project that I’d like to finish by Friday. However, we’ve been struck with server problems most of the day, which pretty much kills any ideas of getting to bed early tonight if I want to even try to get this thing done. Lucky for me there are plenty of other projects that have over estimated timelines that I can work on. At any rate. Read the rest of this fascinating article and adjust accordingly. 2010-02-08T23:13:30+00:00 http://www.tobiaswright.com/site/oldie-but-goodie-the-stop-doing-list/ http://www.tobiaswright.com/site/oldie-but-goodie-the-stop-doing-list/#When:00:42:38Z Fabulous article from 2003 by the author of Good to Great and Made to Last, Jim Collins. She then gave me what I came to call the 20-10 assignment. It goes like this: Suppose you woke up tomorrow and received two phone calls. The first phone call tells you that you have inherited $20 million, no strings attached. The second tells you that you have an incurable and terminal disease, and you have no more than 10 years to live. What would you do differently, and, in particular, what would you stop doing? That assignment became a turning point in my life, and the "stop doing" list became an enduring cornerstone of my annual New Year resolutions — a mechanism for disciplined thought about how to allocate the most precious of all resources: time. This sentiment is also echoed in The Dip by Seth Godin. Starting something is just as important if not more important than knowing when to stop. What are you going to stop this year? 2010-01-27T00:42:38+00:00 http://www.tobiaswright.com/site/solider-on-partner-halls-ads/ http://www.tobiaswright.com/site/solider-on-partner-halls-ads/#When:19:43:48Z I actually like these ads. While not terribly original, everyone can relate to these ads especially in the light of cold season. However, here's the one thing I don't like. Shouldn't these people if they are that sick be at home in bed? More images after the jump. Critique, Design 2010-01-18T19:43:48+00:00 http://www.tobiaswright.com/site/foward-leaning/ http://www.tobiaswright.com/site/foward-leaning/#When:23:56:53Z The newspaper industry is one of the favorite a whipping boy of a lot people and of course everyone one has the answer, even I've sounded off on it. The answers are not easy for the newspapers and magazines, but not many people are talking about book publishing. From my point of view some of the practices are archaic if not downright counter-intuitive. The one thing that book publishing still own are the lines of distribution, but the music industry thought the same thing and probably spend way more time fighting the future instead on embracing it, and learning new ways to make money. Stephen R. Covey, author of one of my favorite, inspirational business books, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” maintains he owns the digital rights to his book and has released them on ebooks much to the chagrin of his publisher. One paragraph in the New York Times article really stuck out for me, Drew Herdener, an Amazon spokesman quote, in it he is referring Carolyn Reidy, the CEO of the publisher: “Simon & Schuster is backward-leaning,” Mr. Herdener said. “Carolyn wants to corral readers, force them to buy what they wouldn’t buy if they had a choice. It won’t work. The better approach is to embrace the evolution of the book and give customers what they want. Forward-leaning publishers are going to clean up.” I agree and I hope that people with this mindset find themselves in positions of influence at publishing houses or book publishers may find themselves in the same position as the music industry, in a losing battle with progress. 2009-12-21T23:56:53+00:00 http://www.tobiaswright.com/site/pushing-through/ http://www.tobiaswright.com/site/pushing-through/#When:23:14:17Z Oft times in my profession it's hard getting started. This does not change no matter how extensive you project brief, how well your creative brief is done and no matter how many times you sit down with the client. There are times when jumping into a project is next to impossible. This can especially be true in a large project which can seem even more daunting. I had an experience with this recently. Here's what I like to try to do in effort to push through:1. Define the scope. This is usually handled by a project brief. Sometime it’s hard to start because you don’t know where to start. With a scope of work at least you have an idea of what you shouldn’t be thinking about. 2. Think small. Most projects can be broken down to small task. If a task seems to big, spend some time in breaking the job down. The only thing to be careful about here is becoming a task robot, keeping busy does not mean you are working. 3. Make some good habits. If you have problems getting started on a job, dedicated time to it in your calendar every day or every other day. Like in the previous step it’s really easy staying busy, but if you schedule time to work on a particular project, you’ll start to make a habit of it. During your dedicated time stay focused. Here’s a tip: don’t allotted an unreasonable time to a project if you don’t have to. Make your dedicated time something you know you will complete. If it’s twenty minutes then it’s twenty minutes. 4. Don’t worry about being right just get started. After all it is part of the creative process. Also if you start at the very least you and your client or co-workers are both starting from the same starting point. 2009-12-15T23:14:17+00:00 http://www.tobiaswright.com/site/one-problem-really/ http://www.tobiaswright.com/site/one-problem-really/#When:02:03:52Z Love this graphic. I think it's clever and relevant but really there is one problem, not everyone knows 99 Problems by Jay-Z. As a professional communicator it’s my job to make sure info-graphics can connect to it’s audience. Does this do it? It’s arguable, but it is still a very smart graphic. Graphic created by this guy 2009-12-13T02:03:52+00:00 http://www.tobiaswright.com/site/wall-e/ http://www.tobiaswright.com/site/wall-e/#When:23:54:35Z Finally saw Wall-e this week. The best part in my opinion is the closing credits. It basically showed the (re) evolution of man through art. Great piece. 2009-12-11T23:54:35+00:00 http://www.tobiaswright.com/site/bad-ideas/ http://www.tobiaswright.com/site/bad-ideas/#When:23:57:25Z What do we do with bad ideas? The bad ideas that I am refering to here are the small ones. The ones not worth fighting against. Those bad ideas that are easier to get them done and over with. In times like this I go back to what professor said once upon a time. He said that as creative people out job is to make even the smallest job and make it beautiful. This is a little had to do with a bad idea. However, I’ve found that even with bad ideas, at the very least I can make the execution beautiful. Shallow, I know, but when execluded from the conception process with these small bad ideas, sometimes you have to just get in there and do the work and make it beauticful. 2009-11-18T23:57:25+00:00