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I came across this slide in slideshare and thought share it with you. It’s quite useful.

By the way, here is a free mind mapping tool (software).

Last week in my MBA class (Management Control Systems) I had a case-study about “Balanced Scorecard” and how it was implemented in a particular company in the banking industry. Obviously the company had a lot of challenges and issues during the BSC implementation.

One of the lessons from the case was, for the BSC to be implemented successfully and fully, you need to keep improving it as the implementation phase moves along. One of the reasons cited for BSC implementation failure was because some companies want a perfect BSC - from the start. But that’s not possible, since BSC is a continuous thing, which has to be improved, changed, and adjusted over time.

Relating it to web-projects

This case-study reminded me of few occasions where I noticed how some people want everything to be perfect. They pay attention to the wrong (or shall we say less important) parts of the project. Every project consists of different parts, if it is a web project for example, then it could be divided into design, development, choosing hosting, choosing domain name, marketing, advertising etc.

However in order for the work to begin, you only need design and development (i.e scope of work) first. So don’t waste your time thinking how you will promote the website after its completion. Similarly, if you just want to test the waters whether the project will work or not, then don’t delve too much on the design of the interface. Just get a functional user interface that will do the job fairly and see if your project will stand the test. Because I noticed that some people will spend so much time perfecting the design of the website that they delay the launch of the project, or even worse the project gets not launched at all.

Because in most cases, it’s not the user interface that determines if the project will work or not. It’s the IDEA that determines the fate of your project. If your idea is good, then even if your website is not that “good looking” - it will still work! But not vice versa. You might have the best designed website, but still fail.

Lessons to be learned

So, in conclusion; first prioritize your tasks, identify the parts that are most important for the project to be completed. Once you have identified, work on those important parts first. Don’t waste your time on the tasks that will follow after the project has been completed.

Secondly, try to learn how to sacrifice on the design. Yes great logo is important for the brand, but don’t search for it 6 months until you delay the project. Same goes with the design of the website, some people spend so much time on the design that the real objective of the project gets forgotten. If your site supposed to be an auction site, once it has all the features developed and can do the job fairly well - just launch it! Don’t kill the web designer with small insignificant adjustments that won’t contribute to the overall objective of the project.

Remember the text based scheduling tool that I blogged here? This tool (look screenshot to the left) is a similar scheduling tool, but it’s more advanced, Web2.0 based tool that comes with all the dragging and real-time response functionalities.

Basically, it allows you to input few day (time) options into a calendar as seen in the screenshot, and send the link to your group members. Your group members can choose which day is ideal for them (and which days are not). In return, they can also suggest their own time preferences and leave comments.

Advantage of this tool over other tools is that, it allows you to set meetings internationally, across all time zones and daylight saving changes. Did I mention it was free? (but for how long?) www.scheduleonce.com

David Seah has created a mini calendar for 2008 that can fit one A4 paper. Actually, it will fit in less than half pf the page.

You can use it as a mini organizer to schedule the important events, as shown to the left. Since it’s just one paper you can always carry it with you, inside your book, folder, pocket…etc.

I will surely be using this calendar for my MBA class, to capture important dates, such as: assignment deadlines, exam dates, holidays, presentation dates etc.

You can download the PDF file at davidseah.com/page/compact-calendar

Do you use Google Calendar? If yes, do you use it as a “visually enhanced to-do list” application? I do, and in this post I will share with you guys how do I do it. I am sure some of you must be already doing it.

Create a new calendar

First thing is to create your own new calendar, in fact create two calendards. One - for things to be done (to-do). And another - for things that are already done (completed). After you have created and named them properly, give them distinctive colors. So that, when you look at your calendar, you know what is done and what needs to be done.

Here is how my calendar looks when viewed by month (see below). Red colored items are things that I need to do, when the time comes. And light brown colored items are things, that I have already completed.

This is how it looks when viewed by Agenda (see below). Notice that there is one red item among the light brown items. That is the Top5 sites that I was supposed to update. I am planning to get it brown these coming few days ;)

After you are done creating your calendars, you are ready to post some to-dos. So, go ahead and post them. While creating your to-do items, do not forget to assign them your “to-do calendar”. Otherwise tasks won’t look colored and you won’t know if it is a “to-do” item or “completed” item.

Setting Reminders

Another important thing while creating your to-do items is, to set reminders. Usually for weekly tasks or tasks that repeat often I just set one reminder. But for the things that happen once a year, or once in 6 months etc, I will set two reminders. One is, one week before the task, and another, one day before the task.

This way, it gives me enough time (one week) to get prepared for the task. So that on the second reminder, I will be ready to do the task without delay.

When it comes to advertising, one week notice also allows me to send emails to my advertisers notifying them of their advertisement expiry. It’s a good thing to send early notices, because not everybody may check, reply or decide last minute whether to renew the ads or not. So, one week notice will give them ample time to think about the renewal (e.g checking stats, click-throughs, ROI..etc)

Note: There are two types of reminders; email and pop-up. Please choose the option that suits your needs best. Personally, I use the email option.

Task is done!

Finally, when the task is done, don’t forget to assign your “done calendar” to the completed task (see below).

That’s it! I hope you found this article useful. So, will you be using Google Calendar as your to-do list?

Why gCalendar?

Some of you might ask why use Google Calendar when there are many other softwares and web applications specifically developed for to-do lists. I use Google Calendar because it has some advantages that other softwares or to-do programs do not have. Some of the advantages of gCalendar are:

1. I can access my to-do lists from anywhere on the net
2. I can visualize my to-do lists right on my calendar, and not just as a list with some dates
3. I can get reminders right into my email
4. It’s secure and private when necessary

… an many more.

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During weekdays, especially tuesdays and wednesdays I will get lots of emails. While I try to answer them all, some of them will be left un-answered for days… I try to get most of the emails replied the same day, I do this by applying my own “less than 5 minutes” rule. And most of the emails (about 80%) fall into this rule.

How does it work?

First I go through all emails, and if I think I can reply particular email in less than 5 minutes, I will go ahead and reply. But if I think the email needs my attention for more than 5 minutes, then I will select “unread” option from Gmail, so that I can reply the person when I have more free time.

What are these “less than 5 minutes” emails?

They are emails like… “I have this site, would you like to exchange links?”, the answer would be simple “okay or not interested (in polite way, of course)”. Or “How much a custom web design for a typical corporate website cost?”, the answer would be “about $800 - $1200, for a static corporate website. please send your requirements so that I can give you a detailed quote”….etc

Objective of this rule

The idea here is to reply as soon as possible to your customers, so that they won’t wait too long to get an answer for their simple questions. People who asked simple questions would expect to get faster response, while people who have sent longer emails that needs to be studied won’t mind to wait for few days or even weeks (depending on the requirement).

So far the rule has been working quite fine. Do you apply this kind of rule to your email checking? Or if you are the sender and if you asked someone simple question through email, and you didn’t get back from him/her for few days… how would you feel? what would be your thoughts about the person? would it make him/her look less reliable?