Posts Tagged ‘focus’
Posted By Aly Juma / 22nd June 2011
There are all kinds of business models out there, but I think the most ingenious one has to be universities. They are massive money making machines and its crazy how they are able to get everyone to pay for an education they can’t afford.
When you look at the university industry from a business perspective there is one thing that they seem to disregard that is central to any business, having a customer focus and by customer in this situation I mean the students.
Universities have become too big to be flexible and meet needs of their students anymore, essentially they do what they see fit and everyone else has to fit into the box that is a university or major. Think about the choices you have as a student. Basically you can choose your major and perhaps a few electives here and there, but that’s all the choice they allow. This may not be true for all colleges, but it is for the majority.
If you think about, when was the last time a university asked you, the paying customer, the student, what YOU wanted from the school?
When the students are what makes the universities prosper, make millions of dollars, and empowers them to continually raise tuition, then shouldn’t the students be better served? Shouldn’t they have a larger voice? Universities don’t serve their customers adequately for how much we pay them.
Fortunately, at the same time we’re seeing a counter movement in education in the use of technology, content, and design to deliver a higher quality, individualized experience to students that meets their needs. Organizations such as the Khan Academy, P2PU, and Academic Earth are giving the power to the students instead of the teachers or institutions.
I can understand how many are saying the education system may be the next bubble, but at the same time no real change will occur until our preconceived perceptions of these systems and their value are broken. In the meantime, let’s continue paying off our student loans.
Posted By Aly Juma / 1st June 2011
Managing your time is probably the most difficult thing to do. There’s a number of methods out there that cover ways to approach time management and today I’m going to go over the Time Management Matrix.
In this technique, there are four different quadrants that you divide everything into: The Quadrant of Necessity, The Quadrant of Quality and Personal Leadership, The Quadrant of Deception, and The Quadrant of Waste. The matrix is seen below.
Quadrant I: Quadrant of Necessity. Everything in this quadrant is an important and urgent matter. Essentially these are things we have to do.
Quadrant II: Quadrant of Quality and Personal Leadership. This quadrant is characterized by non-urgent but important matters. Basically these are things that need to be done but we don’t do them because they aren’t urgent.
Quadrant III: Quadrant of Deception. This quadrant includes things that are urgent but not important, such as phone calls, emails, and meetings. These are things that seem important, but ultimately are not.
Quadrant IV: Quadrant of Waste. Quadrant IV is all about non-urgent & non-important matters. These include all the distractions, time wasters, and non-productive activities (i.e. TV, facebook, video games, etc). These are complete wastes of time.
Essentially we want most of our matters to be focused on quadrants I and II, while we avoid quadrants III and IV. Easier said then done of course. There are of course many different approaches to time management, so its important to find the one that works for you, but this is one that I’ve always found to be a good reminder of how I’m using my time.
Posted By Aly Juma / 2nd February 2011
When I first started looking at this infographic I thought it was being serious, but I quickly realized it was a satire of how the focus of many startups is on things that are far from vital for their success. This list probably comprises of some of the least important things you should be worried about for your new business at the start. I’ve been through it as well and I guess thats how you really learn these lessons, but all the same, this makes a great point. Nice work from Rob Walling at softwarebyrob.com.
Posted By Aly Juma / 19th October 2010
This is one of my favorite quotes by Heinlein from the book Time Enough For Love. Essentially this is giving his point of view between focusing on a particular area vs. being a jack-of-all trades, so to speak.
I can understand the value of specialization to a point, but I think when you become too much of an expert, your ability to see the bigger picture, connect ideas, and think outside the box diminish. The perfect balance, from my perspective, is to have just enough understanding of an area to grasp the major concepts and effectively communicate with true experts in the field. Anything beyond that loses value because you slowly lose your ability to provide a unique perspective. Below you can find the full quote from Heinlein:
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for Insects.” - Robert A. Heinlein.
Posted By Aly Juma / 8th February 2010
There’s all kinds of possible issues that could arise when you are starting a business with your friends or family, but truly, what matters most is the relationship between those involved because that’s the only real area where the dynamic is a bit different to any other business.
The key lesson here is when you are doing business with friends or family, you have to drop the ego and just put that relationship aside for the good of the company.
Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses and realizing and utilizing this fact is the key to success, but time and again this point is overlooked when it comes to business with friends and family. A lot of the time we get caught up with titles and whose CEO, whose President, whose in charge of this, whose in charge of that, when really it doesn’t even matter.
If everyone just focuses on what they are good at, you have the recipe for success. What difference does it make whose CEO? The person that is, should be suited to that position and have strengths of looking at the big picture and running a business, whereas someone tasked with COO would be more analytical, strategic, and capable of the day-to-day grind. And really, at the end of the day, it only benefits all of you because its your business, despite what your title may say.
So just drop the ego and be successful!
