Contextures Blog

Whether you’re the CIO of a large company, or working in a small IT department, or a self-employed consultant, do you hide behind words like “anomoly”, “specifications” and “process”?

I’ve been guilty of a few of those, when a user has a problem with a spreadsheet or database that I’ve created.

In The Naked CIO: Tech’s Weasel Words, the article’s author says, “We need to keep reducing the technical jargon that is so divisive and replace it with meaningful communication.”

My favourite point in the article is a communication tip that I learned long ago — avoiding the use of “but”.

“In my team I have outlawed people saying ‘but’. As in, “I understand what you are saying but…” or “That is a great idea but…”. It has no value and only harms attempts to build consensus.”

I try to replace “but” with “and”. It makes me think a bit harder before I reply, and the results are worth the effort.

If you’re writing an article or presentation, in many cases it’s better to use smaller words, that more readers will easily understand, than to fill your articles with five syllable tongue-twisters. Eschew obfuscation, as they say.

Now there’s Thsrs, an online thesaurus to help you simplify your writing.

Enter a long word in the input box, and Thsrs will return a list of suggested replacements.

One of the words in the list might be a good replacement for your longer word, and will spare your readers from confusion.

If you’re trying to solve those IBM problems from yesterday’s post, you might need the help of a calculator. Luckily, there are free online calculators that you can use.

The first one is a scientific calculator, Calculator Tab, with long-term memory that allows you describe and retrieve saved numbers.

Click the tabs on the calculator to see the hidden functions, to save and retrieve the results, or to clear the calculator.

There are buttons on the page, above the calculator, to view the calculator in a popup window, and to use the keyboard for input.

Another free calculator is calc5, a graphing calculator. There’s not much on the page when you arrive, but click the samples listed at the right, or enter your own data in the input box.

When you’re stuck working on a tough Excel problem, it may help if you set that aside and work on something else for a while.

The people at IBM research apparently do this, and have a monthly problem, Ponder This, that you can tackle when your brain needs a change of scenery. The problem is posted at the beginning of the month, and the solution is posted near the end of the month.

The first challenge was posted in May 1998, with this introduction:
“Here’s what happened… Business Week recently ran an item about a “little book of big ideas” we published for the people here at IBM Research. “Sort of like the Tao for people who think about computers all day,” they wrote. Seemed harmless enough.

The story highlighted some of the simple things our researchers do to get a new perspective on things, ending with this one:

Ponder something else. For example: If a belt were placed around the Earth’s equator, and then had six meters of length added to it, and you grabbed it at a point and lifted it until all the slack was gone, how high above Earth’s surface would you be?

Those of you with a short attention span, and a list of things you need to do, might like the Now Do This web site.

It certainly isn’t filled with distracting shiny things.

Click the ‘edit list’ link, enter the items you need to do, then click Save
As you complete each item, click the ‘done’ button, and the next item appears on the screen.

When all the items are completed, the web site is almost as happy as you’ll be.

At The Business Brickyard site, you can download a free copy of president Howard Mann’s book, Your Business Brickyard (download link is at the bottom of the page).

[Update: The free ebook is now available if you subscribe to their newsletter.]

The book is short, and to the point, with no fluffy filler. It covers twelve points that will help you focus your business on the basics, rather than following all the latest trends, and wandering in different directions.

I read it in under an hour, and found several ideas that I can implement in my business.

One of the points that Excel users might relate to is, “Fit your business on a single page.” As the book describes it, “At the end of every day, you should be able to scan a simple 8½ × 11–inch piece of paper and know exactly how your business is doing.”

There is a practice drill for each point, and a summary at the end of the book, for quick reference and review.

After reading the free downloaded copy, you might find it valuable enough to buy a printed version.

The Bits du Jour web site offers one discounted item per day (2 on Tuesdays and Thursdays) — either Windows software or a web service.

You can see the upcoming deals, and download a trial version, to see if it’s worth buying when the discount day arrives. You can also read comments from other users, which might alert you to any problems or questions about a specific product.

The products are ordered directly from the vendor, so you’re buying the full, current version of the product, not a limited version. The products appear to be downloads, so those of us who are outside of the USA shouldn’t have to worry about shipping problems.

A quick visit to the site, once a week, will keep you up to date, and then you can return if you’ve decide to buy something, on the day it’s offered.