Wicked Game

Good guitar music is a luxurious thing, it prompted me to search around Youtube to find two of my favorite ones … and I found those – Wicked Game and Maria Elena. Enjoy …

Wicked Game by guitarist Greg Reiter

Maria Elean by, of course, Los Indios Tabajaras

And … the original Wicked Game by Chris Issac …

Project management for the layman

I am sure many of us already mastered the use of Microsoft Project – we can produce good-looking Glant charts, critical path diagrams and even resource utilization reports. But I am also pretty sure that most (if not all) of us don’t know how to manage a project, even with the powerful Microsoft Project software.

So what can you do to manage a project, if you are not a professional project manager ? The books “Getting things done” and “The 4-hour workweek” both suggested one simple method to manage your projects … here is it:

  1. Write down the name of the project;
  2. Write down the goal or desired outcome of the project;
  3. Then, spend some time, think about the project for a little while … then;
  4. Write down the possible next step to do … to achieve the goal / desired outcome;
  5. Lastly (!), go ahead to do that “next step” and repeat from the step 3 above.

Believe me, it is simple, it works, and it keep things moving !! Give it a try and tell me what you think.

Made to stick

Finished the book Presentation Zen (see below) some time ago but still I was puzzled by one thing. That is, even we can create the most eye-catching slides with today’s advance graphic software, but how can we make the message we send across stick in the audiences’ minds ? It’s the reason we do the presentation, isn’t it ?

That’s why I bought the book Made To Stick (again, see below) and I am glad to tell you all that it’s a very good read. This book outlines a very practical approach to increase a message’s “stickiness”, and it’s called SUCCESs:

  • Simple — find the core of any idea
  • Unexpected — grab people’s attention by surprising them
  • Concrete — make sure an idea can be grasped and remembered later
  • Credibility — give an idea believability
  • Emotion — help people see the importance of an idea
  • Stories — empower people to use an idea through narrative

Except some minor irrelevant sections in the last chapter, the book is very well written and included many good references and case studies. So if you want to improve your presentation, don’t miss these two books !!