Plan, execute, analyze, revise… repeat

Learn by doing. I say it to my 5-year-old all the time. And it applies to grown-ups as well. Unless you are that rare individual who gets everything right the first time you try, if you don’t take the time to analyze what you are doing, and make periodic modifications as appropriate, you’ll never improve.

Question: Do you sometimes (or always) feel like you’re starting from scratch, every time you set out to start a new project or new endeavor? Do you feel like you’re constantly re-inventing the wheel?

Here is a suggestion: When starting your next project, take a few extra minutes to lay out your plan before you begin. On a single piece of paper, script out your expectations of your project. Define some specific goals you hope to achieve and how you intend to go about achieving them. Don’t go overboard, just use enough detail to describe what you think should happen.

Don’t worry, your plan doesn’t have to be exactly “right” this first time you lay it out – it isn’t supposed to be. What is important is to actually get your plan down on paper, so you have something concrete to go back to for review. The real work begins – and the real value of this exercise comes in – after you have put your plan into action.

Once you are into your execution phase, carve out some time to reflect on what is happening. What is working? What isn’t working? Use a single, dedicated notepad. Write down your observations throughout the project cycle. Keep these notes safe. They’re going to come in handy soon enough.

When it is appropriate to do so (at the end of the project, or in between phases), review these notes and analyze where things went right and where things went wrong. With this information, go back to your original plan and make any revisions you feel are necessary.

When you are done with this exercise, you will have a much better plan of attack (and maybe more realistic expectations) for your next similar project. And if you keep doing this on each successive project, you will start to see truly amazing results.

When you use your own experiences to sharpen your approach, remarkable things begin to happen. You become more efficient and much more productive. Learn by doing. It’s free, and will save you time and energy in the end, all while increasing your effectiveness in the long run.

Organization and Communication Key to Success

Have you ever heard the expression “Drinking from a fire hose”? While I hope you have never actually experienced putting your lips to the stream of a fire hose, I am sure you understand the metaphor: Too much coming at you, too fast.

Most of us have the feeling that we are so busy actively doing what we do, we have not the time or energy to even consider “how” we are doing it, and whether there might be a better way. But if you did take the time to look at what you are doing and how you are doing it, you might be surprised to find that there are other ways – more efficient ways – of doing what you do.

I developed REDNP to help with the process of making yourself (and your team, and your projects) more efficient – To make things more manageable – To slow that stream of water down so it doesn’t feel like its going to rip your lips off (okay, maybe too graphic) – And to give yourself more time to do the other things that need doing.

The REDNP Platform provides an easy to use online location to organize yourself, your thoughts, and your operations. And when you are more organized, you can start to communicate with your team members more clearly, and more effectively.

So go ahead. Take a look. See if REDNP can help you turn down the water velocity – so you can drink more comfortably and get more done.

Relevant in 2009

What makes you relevant this year?  With so much uncertainty, what are you doing with your business that makes you stand out?  What makes you special?

REDNP is a business organization tool that offers a central online location to manage task lists, organize documentation, and communicate with team members.  The REDNP Platform provides users with a remote shared server and a consistent format on which to manage multiple projects simultaneously.

How about you?

What are your new priorities?

Today’s Question:
What priorities have changed for you during these uncertain times?

Let us know what you think…
Please tell us what you’re doing – whether differently or the same – in today’s uncertain economic times. We will collect your responses and post a few on our website – with your logo if you provide one. Take a look to find other people’s responses. Go ahead, tell us how you and your firm intend to take advantage of the world as we find it today.

Get online or get left behind

Well, thanks for allowing me the liberty to talk on and on about how the REDNP Platform can facilitate your staying afloat in this “interesting” economy. I have shown how you can:

1. streamline your operations,
2. conserve cash,
3. find efficiencies wherever you can, and
4. use technology

Now we talk about how the internet can set you free.  I feel silly writing about this here. If you’re reading this post, you clearly already get what I have to say. And if you’re not online, you can’t read it, so I wouldn’t be able to get through to you here anyway!

But, oh choir, I think it is important, so here it is: The internet is the future, plain and simple. We already do so much online.  We shop, we bank, we communicate…read the news, watch the news, date, catch up with long lost friends, file our taxes, tell jokes, pontificate (I could do with less of that overall – online, or off!)….. Suffice to say, the list is long and growing.

So why not coordinate your project teams online? Back up important documents? Create a complete archive of an entire project team’s efforts?  REDNP is an online project management / team coordination software application where you and all your team members can go (from anywhere in the world) to see everything there is to see regarding all the projects you are working on.

Why not leverage the power of the internet to create efficiencies with each of your team members? Many people are already tuned in to this burgeoning. You should too!

REDNP allows team members to coordinate, collaborate, and archive information – from remote locations – in a new, easy to use, secure way. Check out our one-minute demo at www.rednp.com – let me know what you think. Get on board. Take advantage of what there is at your disposal, and leave the others behind!

Check this blog again in the coming days to find out how you can register yourself to win a $100 gift card, or a classic iPod. See you soon!

Use technology to get ahead

Welcome to the 21st Century.  It is in fact a brave new world.  Technology is now nothing new – but it is still changing the way we do things, everyday.  Here are just some of the benefits of today’s technology: speed of transaction, satellite servers, (servers in general!), work from anywhere, conserve paper…  The list goes on.  Please add to it!

The problem with technology has been however, it is difficult to learn how to use, and if you don’t really know how to use it, it can slow you down. REDNP to the rescue!  REDNP is a little bit of technology that goes a long way.  From archiving information to organizing your project and your project team, REDNP can make you more efficient than you ever thought possible.

And, you can learn how to use it within a one-hour training session!  If you can use email, you can use REDNP’s task manager, document manager, contact manager, and resource manager.  Why don’t you take just a minute to check out our demo, and see what you think!

Better yet, let me know what you think!  Stay tuned for information about our new promotion that can get you hooked up with a $100 gift card or a beautiful new iPod! Now, talk about using technology…

Next up, Get online!…

Gaining Efficiencies with REDNP

Last week, I listed five commonly stated ways to survive this economy. To recap, you have to:

1. streamline your operations,
2. conserve cash,
3. find efficiencies wherever you can,
4. use technology, and
5. get online.

In my last two posts, I have explained how the REDNP Platform can help you with the first two ideas, and now I continue this story by talking about efficiency.

The reality is that today, maximizing efficiency is the name of the game. The information society works at a fever pitch, and anything that slows the pace creates agony. How often do you find yourself growling that you have to wait at a red light? Did you know that traffic signal cycles work at about 20-30 second intervals? Let’s face it, patience the virtue has left the building. But I digress…

So, what can we do to make ourselves ever more efficient? For one thing, we can stop wasting the time we so desperately covet. Question: do you manage your dealings – professional or personal – with your email inbox? Do you re-mark emails as “unread” so you remember to do something with that subject? Do you find yourself sifting through your email inbox for documents you just knew you got the other day, but can’t remember where you saved it, or what it might have been named? That wastes time. And you complain about stopping at a red light??

REDNP is a new software application that helps you stop using your email inbox to manage you life, without having to spend hours learning a new way of doing things. (What’s efficient about attending a half-day seminar, just to learn how to use some software program that no one else you work with knows how to use?)

The REDNP Platform is a remarkably easy to use, yet remarkably robust application that allows you to collaborate with others on group to do lists, whether your project is complex or simple. REDNP allows you to save commonly used task lists, and apply them to multiple projects – so no more re-inventing the wheel (efficient). REDNP integrates with the most commonly used computer tools – email and calendars, to allow you to do things the way you used to do them – just more efficiently.

Best of all, REDNP can be mastered in just one training session. If you can use email, you can use REDNP. And REDNP offers way more than email, making you way more efficient than ever before.

Get the point?

To learn more, check us out at www.rednp.com. Watch our one-minute (ultra efficient) demo video, and contact us for more information.

Next up, using technology…

Conserve Cash by using REDNP

It is an unfortunate reality, but times are tough right now. Revenue is down and credit is scarce. It is harder today to stay afloat, let alone thrive. In order to survive, some tough decisions must be made. You have to get leaner. You have to spend less money. That means fewer employees, contractors, and consultants to help you do things. It means reducing waste to nothing. It means…well, you fill in the blank.

Throughout all of this, one thing remains true: You don’t want your operations to suffer as a result of your reorganization. You don’t want to do less. You want to do more. You want to grow. You want to get through this time stronger, not weaker.

Never fear, REDNP offers a solution. REDNP is a web-based coordination tool that allows users to get more done – with fewer resources. REDNP help you get and organized, coordinate internally, reduce waste, collaborate with project teams more effectively, and stay on top of more things at once.

REDNP is less than a quarter of the cost of – and more reliable than – your average office coordinator. It is available 24/7/365, and it never calls in sick. You are in control of your documents, not someone else. And they are better organized and accessible from anywhere there is an internet connection. In short, REDNP is what you’ve always needed – regardless of economic conditions. It simply makes things easier.

Get more info by clicking here.

Next up, finding efficiencies wherever you can…

Streamline Your Operations with REDNP

Pardon the shameless plug (or, more accurately the next five shameless plugs), but I am now going to talk (shamelessly) about how using the REDNP Platform can help you accomplish each of the five ways to survive this economy I outlined in my last post.

Today, I start with #1. Streamline your operations:

REDNP helps you streamline your operations, and do more with less, by providing a central hub for you and your team members to do manage several aspects of your projects at once. The REDNP Platform empowers you to:

1. Create and manage custom Task Lists remotely,
2. Assign responsibility of tasks to team members,
3. Copy custom task lists to your profile for use on other projects,
4. Upload Documents to store and share,
5. Manage project resources,
6. Link task lists with local computer calendars,
7. Archive communication.

And so much more… Check out the Reliable Efficient Dynamic Navigation Platform (REDNP) at www.rednp.com today!

Next up, how to Conserve Cash by taking advantage of the services REDNP offers

Five ways to survive in this economy

While reading several top ten lists expounding on ways to survive this economy, I keep seeing the following five ideas come up over and over again. So I thought I’d offer a top five version:

1. Streamline your operations. It may go without saying, but it seems to be news to lots of people. In order to do more with less, you have to stop wasting the things you have to use – like time, money, and other resources.

2. Conserve cash. It is always a good idea to spend your money conservatively. But now it may be the difference between surviving and folding. You may need to let some of your staff go, or hold off on hiring or contracting others. The bottom line is the bottom line. You may have to do some more things yourself these days.

3. Find efficiencies wherever you can. If you do have to do more yourself, with less than you had before, you may think about doing things differently than you have done them (or had other people do them) in the past. There may be ways of doing things that take care of multiple items at once. Maybe go through the carwash with the windows down. Now you don’t have to spend all that time in the shower.

4. Use technology. There is a piece of technology for every need in the market today, both hardware and software. Some is better than others, and you do have to do your research. But there is a reason mathematicians don’t use the abacus anymore.

5. Get online. It is amazing to me how many people operate in this world without taking advantage of the Internet, and all the things it enables us to do. And it’s not just email anymore. It is as simple as this: get on board (or online) or get left behind. Of course if you are reading this, I am preaching to the choir on this one…