David Jacobson's External Insights

Gmail

I have 6 Gmail invitations to give away (one per person) .

These will allow you to open a free Gmail account. Gmail, is a new search-based webmail service owned by Google that offers:

- 1,000 megabytes (one gigabyte) of free storage
- Built-in Google search that instantly finds any message you want
- Automatic arrangement of messages and related replies into "conversations"
- Text ads and related pages that are relevant to the content of your messages

Send an email to davidjac at gmail dot com and I'll send you the invite.

UPDATE 2 November: 2 invites left.
UPDATE 5 November: none left.

Queensland Economy

From the October NAB Economic Update, comes this data about Queensland:

For the year to June 2004, Queensland is outperforming the rest of Australia in consumption, business investment, dwelling investment and domestic demand.

Plus there is an overseas tourism recovery, unemployment rate is dropping, retail sales increasing.

The net interstate migration to Qld is 1200 per week. The population growth in Qld is 2.2%pa (20,000 people each quarter. Total migration is 15,000 and natural increase is 5,000.)

Building approvals are solid and although house price growth has peaked, Qld will continue to outperform other states.

Multiprojecting

Fast Company has this story on how to best manage multiple projects.

Project managers were asked: How can we do more -- with less? How do business leaders manage multiple projects? How do team members keep track of the wide range of changing requirements and priorities so nothing slips through the cracks?

Some answers:

work on the right number of projects concurrently but stage them in a way to optimize the use of shared resources

Each week, a committee considers project managers' proposals, ranks leaders' requests, and establishes teams' priorities.

change priorities as ... understanding of a project shifts, new challenges arise, and different teams need more resources

Instead of working on multiple projects during the same work day... dedicate every other day to a project.

maintain a list of the top 10 risks to ... projects and update it weekly

.

South East Queensland

A draft South East Queensland Regional Plan has been released by the Queensland Government.

It is intended to co-ordinate development on a regional basis to the Sunshine Coast in the north, south to the NSW border and west to Ipswich and Toowoomba and identify infrastructure needs as strong migration into the region continues (forecast: another 1 million people in the next 20 years).

The site offers an interactive mapping feature to show how your property is affected. It will put your property into either the Regional Landscape and Rural Production Area, the Urban Footprint, the Rural Living Area or an "investigation area".

Product Development

In this article (pdf) I explain how changing existing products or introducing new products without proper planning can lead to compliance, marketing and financial disasters.

Outsourcing

Rather than reducing risk, outsourcing brings its own special risks.

This paper (pdf) outlines the issues you should consider when entering an outsourcing arrangement.

Journalling

Johanna Rothman has observed how journalling has helped her in project management.

Journalling is one way you can force yourself to reflect on what has been going on before you go to the next project. All too often we fail to evaluate our last job to take advantage of what we have learned, sometimes making the same mistake again.

I found Living Words by Stephanie Dowrick a useful journalling tool.

Online contracts

Here is the PDF of the powerpoint presentation I recently gave on this topic. Email me if you want to discuss any issues.

An ecommerce Best Practice Model Review is in progress.

The Gamer Generation

From HBS Working Knowledge comes this interview of John C. Beck and Mitchell Wade, the authors of Got Game: How the Gamer Generation is Reshaping Business Forever .

The key quotes:

Gamers approach the business world a bit more like a game. They see the different companies—and maybe the people they work with—as "players." They're way more competitive and are very passionate about "winning." They are both more optimistic and more determined about solving any kind of problem you can imagine; they think there's always going to be some combination of moves that will result in success. That drives them to be incredibly creative.

We're moving towards a more gamer-centered universe, both from a marketing and a management perspective. Boomers who don't understand the transition will run the risk of being left behind, unable to adapt.

Review of AS3806 (Compliance Programs)

AS3806-1998 is accepted by industry, regulators and the courts as the benchmark for compliance program design principles.

Standards Australia has released a draft revision for comment. Comments close on 17 December 2004.

The draft refers to the changes since 1998 including the development of specific standards for complaints handling, good governance principles, fraud and corruption control, organizational codes of conduct, corporate social responsibility, whistleblower protection programs, risk management, occupational health and safety, quality management systems and environmental management systems.