Idea maps as visual blogs

I just started thinking why idea maps seem effective. Usually blogs or journals are the easiest way of expressing our inner thoughts and feelings. Perhaps because the spoken and written word is the way we are taught to express ourselves so it comes easily to us.

Now visual thinking introduces a different way of expression. We can express ourselves and our inner thoughts visually. Mind mapping provide simple rules to follow (to prevent us from descending towards incomprehensible doodles). Are we headed towards a way of visual communication where all we do is send idea maps to communicate? No more verbal or written e-mails but mind maps.

Sometimes the same feeling of relief is felt when we finish a blog or journal entry as when we finish a mind map. It's as if some pressure or stress has been released with the act of writing or visual mapping. The psychological result is the same: serenity (due perhaps to clarifying thoughts or experiences and expressing ourselves). So which method is better? Do we communicate more effectively in a visual manner?

I wonder if the princess can focus and express herself better if she practices visual thinking. She again wrote an email pointing faults and grandstanding. I sometimes feel she like to read her mails in the same way that some people like to hear their own voice. But I am being unkind. She is just getting emotional but she has a way of zeroing out into off tangent subjects that never fails to provoke me so I end up being emotional as well. So I have to stick to the high ground and focus on the issues.

I attach a map on improving relationships at work. One key skill in this area is negotiation and persuasion. I need to move away from being reactive and emotional and focus more on the issues at hand.

Get the work done

We will meet the boss man at late afternoon. Sp and the princess are not available because of their meetings. I realize Sp is not a bad guy after all. Involving him in the meetings of the S projects has made him happy now that he is involved. I think he can help me manage the princess as well. I think bringing him into the loop is good overall as the boss man will also know the problems we face especially with their team.

Managing contributors is getting to be a crucial part. Often people think that writing emails and making long PowerPoint presentations show the project is moving. To a certain extent it may be true but it is also important to have face to face working meetings and interactions. One important element is to determine what is the next step as explained in D. Allen's book Getting Things Done.

I think this is a key skill which I think E.de Bono talks about known as 'operacy'. It is more like the ability to get the work done. We are all good at some skill like writing emails or making presentations but the core skill of moving a project forward or 'operacy' may be missing. This is the key point that I believe is lost in the company. But the project management methodology is a step in this direction by providing a structured methodology to use.

I have to finish the project plan for the meeting today so I have to go to work early. We hope to have cleared the budget mess last Friday with the phone conferences and meetings. We agreed to reduce the budget at our end to account for the needed work until June. Hopefully our counterpart at head office will take up the slack and put the amount needed from July to December in his budget.

I think our accountant committed the mistake by not having the account created in our system. But I guess the issue is bigger than that because it's more a governance issue which is tied to managing work and its corresponding costs. But at the end of the day the customer should not suffer which is what will happen if this mess is not cleared. Now I understand the frustrations of the boss man with our department.

Full blown budget fight

The budget issue has now reached terrible proportions. No one is backing down. A silly issue really because it does not affect the boss man's company. More a governance issue in our department. It looks more like an issue caused by the transition to our new time sheet program. No one seems to budge despite the seeming triviality. But one thing is clear, work cannot stop with the boss man's company due to this accounting issue. It's just not possible to stop work maintaining his system without dire consequence to their business.

I spoke to Roger about this problem as he is the boss man's accounting head. He told me not to fight this battle. It's not my concern. But I cannot just lie down and let this go. At the end of the day, I will have to tell my people to stop work if worst comes to worst. Roger advised not to go to the boss man and tell him this problem. Using his words, we will just get slaughtered like the Spartans in the movie '300'. But this will reach him eventually and need to find out how we can frame the discussion. He suggested that my managers address the issue to him.

We never had this problem in the past years. It's only recently with this new system and processes being put in place. It's actually the French accountant's problem and he should speak to the boss man about it and solve this issue. Every one is in on the discussion: sp, my new boss, the overall customer manager. But no one really cares. They prefer to focus on the other countries perhaps because they have a chance to travel. Meanwhile, no one cares for the operations right here in our back yard. Except me as I am directly involved. Life is not fair but I guess this is the challenge.

So I plan to write a good strong memo this morning and explain the situation clearly. We will be meeting with the boss man next Monday and I cannot let this information slip by him because my ass will be on the line. I have to ask FA to come with me and own this issue and have it resolved. Otherwise, we bring it on the table and face the boss man and the corresponding consequences. The boss man has no choice but to request a bigger budget to the big cheese at head office. It is important that the timing is right and the right time at the latest is next week before his business trip.

I attach a map I made about a book called mind mapping in 1 week. It helped me understand the concept and apply it to my life and work.

Snake's protegee (sp)

The meeting went well yesterday on the S project. The boss man was in a good mood. My former supervisor - the snake's protegee (sp), his staff - the princess and I were in the meeting. We cleared up a lot of things. It was good because the princess and sp finally admitted to the boss man that they have resource problems. I think he finally realized the issues. What is also important is that the S project is moving along, the proper attention is given and, more importantly, we showed that we have the attitude to continue plodding along.

The sp, true to his nature of being the snake's protegee, proposed that the I should not be in the loop. I did not take it personally and I am glad that the boss man did not take his suggestion. Now the sp knows that I still am in the confidence of the boss man. But the fact that sp would propose what I think is a silly suggestion and the princess, who I considered my friend, would even suggest it is quite surprising. But I should not take it personally because he feels that it would improve the process.

The boss man will be travelling next week and he will be not around in the coming months so he requested a meeting next Monday to review our proposals. I am glad that the sp and the princess attended the meeting because they are now committed to the delivery of the project. I hope that the boss man still thinks I can provide value in the work. This is the key word in the whole thing which is to provide value. The value I provide I think is that I can be relied upon to deliver the project. I can stick in there despite the pain and humiliation so to speak and keep plugging along. In other words, being a good soldier.

I attended a good seminar last night with some sections in providing value to the company. This people are considered indispensable because they either increase sales or cut cost. I don't know if I fit in the equation except to cut costs by doing the projects which help the business. Another important concept which was explained last night is scalability. This allows one to multiply value a hundred times. This is an interesting challenge on how to multiply value in an office environment. Let's see what I can think off in the coming days.

Condolence to VT families

Sad news on the massacre at Virginia Tech. I think that it shows that we all have to develop coping mechanism to help overcome our problems or inner anxieties. I know how inner paranoia and turmoil can sometimes flip a person over the edge. Writing a blog or journal has, believe or not, helped me cope with the pressures at the office. It is simple and engaging activity if done every day.

Another way that I find useful is to use visual thinking tools like creating idea maps. It clarifies complex ideas by making associations to different concepts. It relieves the mind from over thinking via conventional or verbose ways. In fact it frees us to process information in a different way. I believe that it helps clarify thinking towards a more rational framework.

These days indiscriminate shooting seems often to occur in common social environments like schools and office places by seemingly normal people. Perhaps this occurs when troubled individuals can no longer cope with the social pressures they face - whether imagined or not. Still the complex world is getting to be more difficult to adjust to and perhaps technology offers a way to help. It may sound silly but blogging and visual thinking I feel have helped sort out and relieve stress from people like me.

I just thought that today I should not write about myself and my problems but allow today's entry to show support to the victims of the shootings. So much tragedy seems to have affected the US these past years. I attach a visual map I did on a book chapter about reliving stress and worry.

April announcement?

There is still some news that an announcement will be made at the end of this month about further restructuring. This news came from my boss and seems to concern another department. But again the rumor mill says that it will affect us. So it sent some shivers through me. I am always afraid that I will be caught unguarded and a sudden announcement affecting me will catch me by surprise. So I should always cultivate this always ready attitude that expects the worse.

I heard yesterday that Philip is away but it seems that he is afraid of his losing his job. I don't know if the story he said that he is bringing his mother on holiday is true or that he is contemplating on leaving his job. I am not aware of any incident which caused him to think like that. We are releasing a new version this week it is not the best time for him to leave. He plays a critical role in our work and I think I should make that known. Perhaps our small rivalry at work is affecting him.

The snake left last night for a few weeks training at headquarters. He is also not sure if he has a position when he comes back. All these rumors do not help in keeping a good atmosphere at work. I talked to a colleague back at the old outfit and she was afraid of losing her job. I told her that large organization usually fire the generals and not the colonels or captains who are on the ground fighting the war. She is implementing a world wide project and the result in this region is not that great so she is afraid of losing her job.

I also have some anxieties now and again especially with my recent exchange of mails with the French accountant who did not do his job. I am afraid that he may get vindictive and take revenge on me. The talk of another announcement this month has brought this all together for some minor attacks of anxiety. But I am feeling much cmore onfident and know that I can whether the outcome what ever it is. I will be meeting the boss man tomorrow for our meeting on the S project. It is my performance in his organization which I hope will save my career for the short to medium term.

Keeping my job will depend on my performance this year with the boss man so I should focus on the customer especially with his managers. This is the first time that I will be meeting more with established managers. I have often meet with young managers and their staff and this is the first time I will be working closely with top notch managers at an extended level. So it is a different type of interaction at a higher more sustained level. I attach a picture of the bay with some Chinese lanterns. A good place to walk after work to relax.

Great weekend

Last week I headed towards a great weekend. The meeting with the boss man went well and he finally acknowledged the improvements that we started with release management. None of his managers were able to attend the meeting because they were busy. I met with most of them the day before and they were comfortable with the pace we were moving. I think the meeting outcome surprised both Philip and my rival as they mat have expected some fireworks.

The nagging issue on the budget was also resolve and the customer services boss and I had a phone conference with his counterpart from head office. He finally cleared the the issue by sending us the email on his discussion with the French accounting. The accountant apparently forgot to have the accounts settled last November which resulted in this mess. I think he maybe also spreading the news that I was the one at fault.

Philip is away for more than a week starting today. I have to meet some of the managers for the next round to prepare for the next release. This week will also be the deployment of the release 4.0 and we are also going live with another project. So it will be hectic. I have some tasks coming for phase 2 of the request that that are going to come. The supervisor of the old outfit is out this week for training. So I have to spend some time with the boss man's managers and staff. It's all about customer focus.

We will have another meeting with boss man this Wednesday to talk about the S project. I initiated this meeting and I invited the princess and my old boss. I think it's a good way to bring everything out on the table and plan the way ahead. I think it is a good way to clear the page and lay out all the cards. I think I may have thought that some conspiracy was afoot as the boss man was meeting some outsource agents but I finally realized in the last meeting that it was my imagination again.

I attach a picture of an artist painting on the floor of the nearby art's center. A good job I think without the rush of office work.

Ready for the battle

I woke early today to download a software for the boss man. It concerns a request from the one of his critical managers. The download is blocked in the office so need to do it at home. I tend to do more work for the office during my free time at home. Maybe a sign that I am getting more responsible. It's just that we promised to deliver this request at the end of the month and nothings seems t be moving so need to step in. I like to be actively engaged in the day to day running of things though I often step back and let the experts do their work.

The meeting with the boss man will start in a few hours at 9am. I spoke with his manager who were invited by Philip. Seems that none of them are keen to attend because they are quite busy. It is good that I meet with almost all of them yesterday to review the presentation I will show in case they attend. It is more effective to join their managers meeting instead of them joining the our meeting. I guess Philip is grandstanding again following some advise from his local mafia (snake + rival + former supervisor + other local people with their agenda).

I don't feel nervous or anxious unlike before because I have done my home work. Besides the boss man has a meeting at 10 am so it will be short. I think that he wants to get it done with. I have sent him the minutes of my meeting with his managers and I think he already appreciates this work. I think they are very sensible and protective of their time so meeting them very briefly yesterday was good and showed me that they value their working time. The bottom line is that they would like to avoid meeting with the boss man himself as his mood may turn ugly.

The turning point for this year with the boss man is the S project which will tied to my variable pay. I get nothing if I don't deliver. I spoke with the princess on the project and she seems to be over our stressful exchange before the Easter holiday. So I sent her the materials from the managers and she did not panic. We get to have more conversation on this project and I need to give them some time especially with her key staff leaving in a few days. I guess it is back to the basics of project management again. This is the key point that Philip misses which is to give attention to the details instead of sending out emails.

Meeting challenge

I have the a meeting with the boss man tomorrow morning. It is our monthly session. Philip invited the other managers to attend. I don't feel very worried because I met with each of them in the past weeks. It will be the first time I would meet with them again since last year where we had a few unpleasant moment. Now I hope it will be different after initiating more meetings since last March to improve our communication. Today I will meet with them again for just a few minutes to touch base so I can avoid any embarrassing moments tomorrow.

I don't know why Philip invited the other managers. It is not part of our monthly sessions. Originally it was scheduled during the boss man's weekly meeting with his managers. We hold a separate session for our area with him and don't mix the two. The series of meetings that I have initiated is a working meeting where and plan and thresh out issues. So tomorrow will be more like a reporting session to see if anything was missed.

Philip's invitation to the manager set me thinking again. Did the boss man instruct him to do it? Or did my rival persuaded him to do so? Or maybe it was Philip himself as he is not part of the regular sessions with the managers? I think he will not send out the invitation unless someone urged him to do it. But it will be a test of sorts to check if the regular sessions with the managers is improving the communication. I still need to complete and plan out the meeting for tomorrow. The presentations have to be completed by today.

I attach a map of the book 'The New Alchemist' by Charles Handy. I made it long ago to remind myself of the features that bring about change.

The snake departs ...

Yes there is problem recording the time sheets for the development team and myself for our work with the boss man's company. The solution seems to be simple but funny. We just don't record our time in the new time sheet program for our work for this year. Perhaps use the old system which was suppose to stop this year. What a mess!

It seems that the global customer manager for the boss man's company should have placed the budget under his purview. This was the procedure last year. But he claims the it should have been the customer manager in the Asia region who should have done it for this year. The local manager claims that it should not be so. So it is turning out to be a problem.

The snake knows nothing about it or so he claims and we called him to discuss this problem. He was pointing to the manager who replaced him in the old outfit. There seemed to have been a meeting where this topic was discussed last year and the budget for this type of work was discussed. Apparently the budget for this work was removed without any thought of the consequences. But this is typical of the snake who tends to point fingers. It just shows that no proper transition was done with his successor.

But it's only a problem in our end with regards to using the new application to report our man hours. I spoke with the accountants in the boss man's company and they said the budget was approved by head office. So the mess only belongs to our department and the new French accountant in our department did not do any thing to help us. What a waste!

It is good that the snake man is leaving this week. He is moving out of his apartment and he will stay in a hotel until he departs for headquarters for a 6 week training. But it seems to be more of a cover story and he may be leaving the company soon. His family is moving back to their home country so it looks like this story may be true. Let us see.

Budget problems

I may be heading towards a potential big issue today. Last Thursday before the Easter holidays, I had a discussion with the snake's replacement about the budget for the boss man's systems. Seems that no budget has been allocated. I remember that I did not look into this area because I thought the my rival and Philip would be in charge. The new French man who handles accounting was suppose to help as well. It seems that nothing happened as the actual man hours have gone beyond the group budget.

Now all hell can break lose if no solution to this can be found. Last year I was handling the budget for the boss man for our particular work and I worked with our counterpart in the head office who placed this under his budget in the office. We were trying to call him last week to work out this issue but he seemed to have gone out early for his holidays. I hope this has been budgeted under his overall account or we will be in a lot of trouble.

I should have placed more attention on this area. Ideally I am not responsible for this area and it is really my rival's work but this mess will really result in unplanned transitions. I should have followed-up on this point but perhaps my mind in it's wisdom prevented me from getting a more responsible role because I thought I should be minding my own business. It is now a big mess that I hope to solve today.

My next big concern is the coming meeting with the boss man. I have to finish the minutes today and place them into the work sheet. I also have the assess the time line for the S project as well. So it will be a lot of work this coming days and I need to thresh out the support concerns with the princess. I think I should prepare a lot and frame the correct questions with the princess because she is reacting emotionally.

Conflict with the princess

I had a particularly stressful session with the princess supervisor. I use that name because she has this attitude that she is the best around. She is quite hardworking and good at her job but her attitude of being the best blinds her on her mistakes and prevents her from moving forward. She is actually a good friend of mine and I have worked with a lot of projects with her and have helped her in a past project which was in trouble. She has also helped me in my projects as well.

But I guess her recent challenges have prevented her from seeing the correct perspective. Admittedly she is still very young and it's part of her age that she is still emotional, reactive and a bit immature from my perspective. So I have to try to find a formula to help her even though she thinks I am not helping her. At the end of the day, she and her team will be the main actors in the S project. Her main problem is that her key people are leaving her team and we are faced with scant resources.

I think I have the same problem with the boss man and the princess. Both are highly intelligent with strong views. So it is a question of trying to communicate properly the ideas that I feel strongly about and to persuade and lead them to the direction I want them to. For the princess supervisor, there are larger political issues at work with involves the old outfit. I think the snake is working with her as well to try to move the work away from the old outfit into his outsource partner in India. The princess supervisor has also a strong group of friends particularly my immediate boss so I have to tread carefully.

I think the main source of conflict is to determine how the project should advance. I have asked my own team at the old outfit to help the princess staff due to the their turnover. But the princess supervisor may think it's a power grab. So I have to seek some allies with the boss man and perhaps the new customer head who has replaced the snake in his job. The bottom line is to get the project back on track and complete the deliverable as planned.

Day's clashes

I was in a lot of unpleasant episodes yesterday. I did not arrive for an early morning meeting with the boss man. I did not think her secretary would inform him of the early morning appointment. I saw him in the elevator when I arrived and he joked about waking up late. But I was able to meet him again late in the morning and I updated him with the feedback I got from meeting his managers. I explained that I wanted to meet him after talking to the final manager that I have not met with yet and I only had this meeting with the quality team in that morning. So I tried to recover from this minor faux paus by writing the minutes and sending them out to all managers before the end of the day with a copy to him.

The quality team focused on the S project and I tried my best to explain the delays, which had to do with the boss man as well. I admit that I had some fault myself and I did not grasp it properly as it is in an area where I have only few experiences. I think this will be the deciding factor in my performance with the boss man this year. The other difficult episode yesterday was when I spoke the supervisor who is helping me in this project. I tired to explain the concerns but she became defensive and emotional in my view. She is a good worker but she is still immature and and tends to take things personally. This will be one of the major areas of personal disagreement in the coming months.

Today is a holiday and I get to relax and to take stock. I have not been swimming lately. My work will now be scrutinized more closely and I have to step up the mark. Yesterday there was a problem on the booking of expenses for work done for the boss man’s company. Some misunderstanding with the customer support manager in the head office and I could not reach him as he may be on holiday. So I talked with our second in command head of the department who raised this issue. A good guy actually. I explained to him the situation and he was pleasant and we will need to work on it next week when we get to the office after the holidays.

Another battle to come

I had another nasty exchange of letters with Philippe yesterday with copy furnished to all the staff in their company. I replied with some comments that their system is obsolete plus some remarks on how to improve their system performance. It was all about the slowness of their application at certain times and I gave out some general advice. My main point is that he is complaining on performance based on his suspicions while I replied based on facts I think. But I hope to have presented a fair reply rather than a subjective and emotional one.

In the back of my mind were the snake man and his colleagues initiating some moves as they had a lunch appointment with the boss man that day. Somehow I linked in my mind the mail sent out in the morning with the goal to discredit my work and the meeting of the snake and the boss man with I think an external software provider. I have a suspicion that the snake and Philip are acting behind my backs. Philippe I believe is being influenced to challenge me in an attempt to get back his influence. Admittedly I have no proof on this suspicion and the train of events had me think that there was a link.

So I reacted out of these thoughts but in fact I consciously turned down the nastiness of my reply. I had hoped to work on the principle of being fair and factual despite my inner fears which I think is a good sign that I am not reacting blindly. I also had another exchange with a colleague who is also working with me on the S project. She is also a difficult person to be with and I am not satisfied with her reactions. It also involves the boss man’s company and I think that we are not getting the correct attention. So I replied with my usual irony that she is focusing more on group project rather than local projects at our expense. I think there will be a battle soon with her team especially with my old bosses plus the snake. For my case, I may be able to bring the boss man on my side. Let’s see.

I attach a map on thinking straight.

Snake in the grass

My suspicions was proven right. My old bosses are maneuvering behind my back. They scheduled a lunch meeting with the boss man and another supplier. The old snake has struck. I think he will try to entice the boss man in outsourcing the project to his preferred supplier instead of the old outfit where the snake man no longer has influence.

I had mistakenly thought that the boss man will remain loyal to me and the old outfit. But god knows what sort of lies the snake and his associates have spread about me and the old outfit. Many possibilities come to mind. For instance, I will be retrenched soon or I am corrupt and earned some kickbacks in some outsource contracts or the outfit is closing soon and work will move to India.

But my recent performance is not helping much. I am just starting to get back into my groove and a few good reviews. I just need to be consistent. Admittedly the outfit is having some trouble with some recent turnover of staff. The remaining resources for the project is inexperienced. I am trying to get some external resources to help the internal team. At least it wont be the snake man's resources.

Hopefully, the boss man will see through the maneuvering of the snake man. But he is a hard business man and will go to the person who can deliver the goods Even to the snake man. So I think I have to make the case that the old outfit can do the better job at reasonable cost. I think that I have to speak to him frankly in the morning.

I think I am second guessing myself that I am unable to respond in the proper way. For instance, I think the snake man and his associates are talking behind my back because they know something about me that I don't know like I am in the list of people about to be retrenched. This is the reason my paranoid mind think why these fools have the confidence of doing these back room dealings. But I am just sinking into self pity and playing the victim or martyr.

This is not true and I should fight back. My mind is so open that I prepare for anything and everything. In other words, I think to much. I made a map of all the possible options or plan of actions I will undertake in case I lose my job, transferred abroad as an expatriate, returned to my homeland, etc. In the end, nothing will happen after all.