ROAR!!! Then wait. Repeat as necessary.

I’ve always loved March’s “in like a lion, out like a lamb” dichotomy. On the one side, there’s a fierce restlessness and on the other, a kind of peaceful hopefulness.

It’s not much of a stretch to say I’ve repeated this pattern in my life almost as if, being born in this month, I was given a script by which to operate.

I can be very Lion-ish about certain things. I once identified it as my leadership style. The entrepreneur in me, the would-be punk with mismatched clothes and wild hair, she’s a Lion. Nonconformist, freedom-loving, and willing to debate and argue politics. She’s been woke these last few years after #MeToo, #Resist, and #ShePersisted. She’s been willing to admit her privilege and tried to be empathetic to the journey others are on.

A lion is a pack animal, protective and focused on doing what needs to be done. We’re talking the Nala kind of lion, not Simba the slacker.

Photo Courtesy ScreenPrism.com

My lion side wants to force things, take the lead, share a vision that others embrace and respond to. She’s writing the entrepreneurism “textbook” (more of a digital course supplement than traditional textbook). She sees gaps in the marketplace.

My lion side gets discouraged and frustrated when she can’t rally people to the cause. Why don’t we have more listeners on our radio show? Why can’t we get people to participate in our local authors book club? Why is it so hard to build a tribe?

If you build it, they will come isn’t exactly a business strategy. My lion side knows this. She wants to work, to hustle, to build.

Then there’s the lamb. She sacrifices herself. She accepts a certain kind of dismissal, overlooking, and low expectations. She doesn’t bite back when people say, “If you can do it, so can I.” (Cuz really, fuck that. No, you can’t.)

She smiles with grace and dignity when she’s denied funding for an idea. When she loses a sale. When she’s ignored by decision makers, king makers, in this town. She defers: recommends and promotes others into roles she ought to be Lion-ish about. She gives.

And then she lays down and waits.

And this frustrates my lion side. I want to advocate but am I standing on an empty shore and spitting into the wind?

It’s my birthday month. A traditional month of introspection for me. The year I turned 40 I started a little journal of the “well-lived life” things I was going to do: read more female authors (check), spend more time with family (check), donate more clothing (umm), build Hollie’s scrapbook (umm), submit to more journals (yes, but with sad results).

It’s three years later and I’m no worse off now than I was then. I’ve published a book, earned a full-time faculty position, and established the only school for consultants in South Carolina. I’ve also gotten into some of the habits I wanted to establish like attending live events and blogging more regularly.

This month I’ll be taking stock again. The lamb in me wants to understand where I’ve been and how to course correct. The lion in me wants action.

3 Things Business Can Teach the Government

I know we’re all sick of the government shut down. Mostly I’m sick of how painful they’ve tried to make it for us, regular people. Who does that to their customers?

Which makes me wonder about a few of the operating policies of the government. Businesses don't take revenue for granted, don't treat their customers poorly, and don't let their employees refuse service; at least, not if they want to stay in business.

Making Connections that Matter

For the fifth time in two weeks I walked into a room of strangers. I’ve been networking. It’s the hard work of introducing myself to as many people as possible, spurting the same 30 word/30 second bio and hoping the person’s face lights up.

 

The Kasie-Makes-a-Living-Being-Kasie Networking Tour began two weeks ago with a series of Chamber of Commerce events.

I went to the council meeting, then the business at Midday meeting, then the new Chamber member orientation meeting, then the breakfast at Sunrise meeting.

I also went to the ITPSC luncheon, a Tech After 5 event, the ASTD Chapter Meeting, and made a gallant effort to attend the Social Media Club of Columbia’s Thursday night meeting in the Vista. But, come on, people, the corner of Park and Gervais at 7 p.m. on a Thursday? 

I would have needed 90 minutes to find parking. I bailed.

Anyway, this week I went to an open mic poetry reading at the Red Door Tavern on State Street. I was invited by my Columbia Writers’ Alliance buddy John Starino.

The headlining poet was Dayna Smith. It all felt very theatre, very improv-y at first and I expected some quaintness to the readings. It was anything but quaint.

Dayna Smith’s poetry was charged with defiance and anger and frustration. She let her passion free and I imagined it galloping through the room like the black smoky horses of Jude Law’s Boogeyman nightmares.

She was breathtaking.

Saving Daylight

I went out for a run at 3:30 in the afternoon. I usually go at 9:30 in the morning but it was raining so I held off until 3:30.

Not too long ago I had a single time slot for a workout: 5 a.m. If I got up and went I was proud of myself, if I missed it there was no second chance and I’d berate myself all day.

Now, though, my days are much more fluid.

I eschew schedules. Always have.

I have a certain number of things that need to be accomplished and I will put them in logical order and work through them. I will work until they are done. But the same thing every day? No, thank you.

I didn’t used to have this freedom. I had to have my butt in a chair every day by 8:30 a.m. I was stuck in that chair until 5:30 p.m. That was me paying my dues.

But now I have control over my own destiny and I’m a little bit like the new pilot asking in mid-air, “where to?”

Software Consultant For Hire

The project is the mapping of a proprietary end-to-end enterprise resource planning platform (ERP). The CIO described a sort of subway map design that would enable any user to locate a process – like a colored tube – and then see all dependent processes, resultant processes, and points of intersection or change.

The idea is brilliant. I mentioned it once before, with some over-indulgent transcendentalism chatter. At the time I was just thinking casually about it. But a month ago I actually volunteered to do the project. They did not hire me. That’s fine.

If I were going to do the job here’s how I would do it:

1. Outline the objectives
2. Create a scalable plan
3. Identify and define core processes
4. Categorize secondary processes
5. Code the elements

Begin with the end in mind

Objectives must be clearly defined and agreed upon as both reachable and beneficial to the business. In this case, the primary objectives are:

• create a universal reference via knowledge base
• identify gaps and inconsistencies for maintenance
• define operating standards to which all future developments can be compared.

I would then create a scalable plan.

Set Expectations

Something like mapping a complete end-to-end ERP could take years. So laying out the first phase and creating some boundaries that translate into progress and some others that represent phase two, phase three, etc. can help set expectations.

A preliminary scalable plan might be organized one of three ways:

• By Priority – let’s use neighborhoods to identify the various blocks and streets that may depend upon one another. A city model might work here as some elements of software are firm grids and others are winding half-streets or dead ends. Organizing by relationship allows the plan to scale based upon the focus of the construction efforts. For example, if the sales screens are receiving developer focus, then the mapping should work the sales screens first. Sales screens are revenue generators; they will receive the lion’s share of resources.
• By Relationship – how are the transactions in one neighborhood similar to those in another neighborhood? Organizing a plan by relationship allows the map to employ similarities to duplicate elements but also develops a natural compare and contrast analysis, useful for objective #3.
• By Accessibility – there is nothing wrong with approaching any project by completing the easy tasks first. So a plan built on accessibility would get the easy maps out of the way first. Those processes we full understand, that are wholly independent, or that are run by people in the same time zone could be tackled first.

Scalable plans have the unenviable task of suggesting how long the entire project will take. They should also include likely challenges, potential threats to completion, and alternate suggestions should the plan not be completed within the original scope.

Use Broad Strokes for Landscapes

The next step, after the plan is decided upon, is to identify and define core processes. The processes with which to begin are dictated by the plan. The mapping of those processes requires investigation, transcription, documentation, verification, and publication.

I would begin with interviews in the investigation phase. I would use transcription to identify the key elements of the interviews and to categorize the responses. Documentation would combine of all sources of information into a single process outline.

Once that outline is verified, the map should be drawn or published. This process is repeated for all of the core processes and should result in a skeletal model of the system.

Fill in Detail

Secondary processes will be discovered during the investigation of the core processes. A running list should be kept in preparation for the secondary process stage of development. After adding any additional known secondary processes which are not on the list, I would categorize the secondary processes.

Categories can enable duplication to be used when documenting and mapping. If, for example, one process has a similar trajectory, duplication will enable the map to maintain consistent vocabulary, style, and relevance.

Finally comes the coding of elements. On a subway map symbols indicate stations where riders can change trains and colors maintain train identity from point to point.

When mapping a software system using process trajectories as patterns and shared tables as intersections, we need symbols to show common behaviors. The data is retrieved in the same way, but used differently. Symbols work as categories and help identify similarities and differences between elements.

Why it matters

In all enterprises there are certain activities which receive laser focus. Countless hours of dedication and effort are applied to them in the hopes of ensuring success. These activities are usually the sexier, profitable activities, those more interesting to the actors or more immediately profitable.

Yet many processes suffer from poor initial construction and the enterprise can spend any number of hours patching and fixing instead of growing and developing. If it were up to me, I would apply at least a modicum of focus to the underpinnings so as to avoid wasting hours "fixing" one side of the structure while inadvertently weakening another side.

When they didn't hire me, they turned a job that needed doing into something that will never get done. But like I said, they didn’t ask me.

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