I read The Good Life and How to Get It this weekend. Over the years I’ve read a whack about Great Harvest and how the Wakeman’s ran it. One of the things they discuss in this article that I’d forgotten is how they painstakingly tracked hours, down to the minute.

Having spent years consulting and having to track every minute in order to bill clients, I’ve come to view tracking hours as jail and not having to track hours as freedom. In recent years I haven’t had to track anything beyond what I deem as success and I love it. Tracking hours feels like a massive step backwards.

Reading again about how the Wakeman’s track hours got me rethinking all of this. I have a multitude of hats I wear these days. Most of those hats are my own, which is lovely. The problem with those lovely hats is that it’s tough to know when to take them off. When you work for someone else, you spend a lot of your time striving to ‘get home’. When you work for yourself, it can be easy to just keep working.

In the Wakeman’s case, they track hours in order to limit how much they work on their business. It forces them to have lives beyond work, be productive when they are working and create business systems that don’t rely on them.

I prefer tracking history and making small changes over time rather than creating prescriptive budgets. To that end, I’m starting a new experiment today where I track my hours on anything resembling a business. Once I have a month or two of data, I will review and based on that set some annual limits for myself as to how many hours per week I will work on my various projects/businesses.

If it works, it will force me to not ‘put in hours’ in my own businesses, create systems that don’t rely on me and build sustainable companies. My guess is I’ll lose patience with tracking hours before I get that far but I’ll let you know.

Tracking hours as a means to freedom, who knew?

I read about FISI while reading about SparkFun here.

FISI = screw it, ship it

While I’m sure it’s roots are in traditional products and engineering, it’s far more relevant in this web world some of us inhabit. A lot of us literally have no experience building or selling real objects. We build these amorphous things that go by terms like apps, sites and scripts.

If you were selling real world widgets, or better yet let’s make up a real world example. Your family owns a small restaurant. You grow up watching them trade their time for cash by making people breakfast. You decide you want to try selling products instead of time. Your parent’s give you permission to sell some stainless steel coffee mugs at the counter in their restaurant. You save up some cash from your paper route and buy $100 worth of coffee mugs.

Once you receive your first shipment, you unpack them and setup a lovely display at the counter and promptly sell 7 mugs on the first day. The pace continues and you can see the promised land when you’ll have your cash back and start making some. Three days after your first sale, the ugly starts.

A handful of your original customers start complain about the handle. It doesn’t fit into their car cup holders, which makes the mug almost useless for them. They aren’t asking for their money back but they aren’t happy either. As well, some of the mugs have started to leak. For those customers, you offer them their money back.

Immediately you get on the phone with the manufacturer. The good news is they’re aware of the issues, explain that their next version will remedy them so you can look forward to that when you next order. The bad news is you still have 3/4 of your order unsold. Naturally you take those unsold mugs and toss them in the trash and place another $100 order for the new and improved mugs so you can start selling again. Right?

Well clearly not. In the real world we rarely toss out perfectly good product simply because we think we can make it better. Even in the above example, there’s no proof the next batch of mugs will be any better than the previous. In fact, there’s as much chance they could be worse. When the product is software, it’s all too easy to toss out the previous batch because we’re not willing to sell it. It doesn’t represent us well, it’ll hurt our reputation, etc. The cost of manufacturing software can be easy to forget about.

The next time you’re deciding if your software is ready for market, take a moment. Think about what your sales targets were. 100, 1000 licenses? Now imagine that’s a box of 1000 widgets sitting on your desk that you’re about to toss in the landfill. FISI may be closer than you think.

We’re set for DemoCampGuelph 17 next Wednesday June 8th. If you plan on attending, please make sure you’re signed up at next.DemoCampGuelph.com. I’m really looking forward to hearing what Mike McDerment has to share with us.

You may notice that we’re now sold out of ‘live music supporter’ tickets. Thanks to everyone who supported the tunes and a special thanks to Amy and the crew at Wildeboer Dellelce for snapping up the rest of those so we can enjoy Jessy Bell Smith.

I had a great chat last week with a close friend who is literally burnt out. He lamented the fact that he did it to himself and it was for a venture he didn’t own himself. He does have an equity role but it’s minor.

If there’s one thing I do have experience with, it’s being involved in way too many projects, companies, events, and ventures. I’ve learned the hard lessons over time of knowing where to draw lines. If you’re good at what you do, people will often drag you into making decisions about their business. If you allow it, they will gladly abdicate core business decisions to you.

When I was greener, you could pull me across these lines all day. I was eager to experience those business decisions and learn from them. I wanted to treat your business like it was my own so that I could one day have my own.

Today, I answer a lot of questions like this…

“You hired me to write software for you and be your technical team. What you’re asking is a core business decision, not a technical one. I can offer my opinion but I’m not sure it’s worth much as this isn’t my business.”

It doesn’t matter how strong my opinion is or how correct I feel I may be, the reality is I may do more harm than good by answering certain questions. Yes, we all want to be diligent and great at what we do. We all want to help. We all want the communities around us to succeed.

Ultimately I described it to my friend like this. On every project you need to decide, and remember, whether you’re the parent or the grandparent. If you’re the grandparent then yes you need to treat that project like it’s your own baby when you’re working on it. Yes, you want to see it grow up strong and independent but when it shits it’s pants and starts balling it’s eyes out, you get to drop it off at the parents house and head out for dinner, a pint and ultimately a nice restful sleep. Yes, parents don’t stress about their kids safety when they drop them off at the grandparents but they also know there are lines.

If you’re the parent then you need to be prepared for the drop off when the shit hits the cloth. Assuming you’re working with experienced folks who recognize they’re grandparents then you will get the call…

“Hey, sorry but your startup shit itself again. I’m the grandparent and until that changes, this mess is yours my friend.”

PS…On the funding side, be careful how much equity you ask for. You may find yourself parenting where you intended to be a golfing, fun loving gran-pappy.

I know I’ve hinted at it but I’m not sure if I’ve officially announced that our new coworking space here in Guelph is for real-live-live. The doors are open, people are here working, it’s a real thing now. While our sign out from still says Brainpark, we’re now called ThreeFortyNine Coworking. We will, at some point soon, host a proper ribbon cutting ceremony, for now this post will have to do.

Stuff We Still Need Your Help With
Yes, you knew I was going to ask for something. The reality is that ThreeFortyNine is still a going concern. Without the support of the Guelph community, we won’t, and shouldn’t, last long. You can help us out with any/all of the following:

• Come visit us and/or come work for the day with us. Coworking‘s tough to explain but simple to try out.
• Spread the word!! Write about us anywhere, tell people about what we’re doing, blog, tweet, yelp, tumble, whatever your poison. Help us fill our space with great folks.
• Sign up to our mailing list to let us know you love us. We’ll occasionally email you about local events. As well, we’ll be giving away day passes, memberships, etc to people on our list.
• Help us find supporters and partners in our community who can help us make this place great.

Stuff We’ve Done

• Successfully sponsored and hosted The Guelph Seven.
• Helped reboot Guelph Coffee and Code.
• We’re slowing converting the office itself to better support coworking, including building a massive table in our shared space room as well as buying a whack of cozy Herman Miller chairs for our lazy asses.
• Welcomed Microsoft Canada as a sponsor.

Please stop asking me to find developers for you. Yes it takes work. No it isn’t easy. Yes it can be done. No it isn’t accomplished with expensive recruiters, job boards and reading mountains of resumes (or at least I can’t personally afford the cash and time those paths require).

Ben always talks about how recruiting is now about building a magnet. You need to draw people in. Love that! I’d add another simple one, you have to get out of your office!! No one cares about your company and your product so while I love the ‘build a magnet’ model, it’s rarely done well. A simpler approach is to just get out of your office and start interacting with the existing community. If you aren’t the person to do it then hire someone or encourage a developer you currently work with.

A few real examples?

I can guarantee you Leila and Corey are hiring some of the best developers we have in Canada. How? They not only get out of their office, they get out and create real things like HackDays for developers.

No, they didn’t create HackDays with the sole intent of building a hiring pipeline but that’s besides the point. They are creating meaningful ways to contribute to developers. They’re not just participating, they’re creating. Start by giving before you worry about taking. You’re owed nothing simply because you can pay someone a salary. Give, help create and support our talent and always work on giving, and creating, more talent than you take. Obviously we can’t all create something like HackDays but you can sponsor an event or ask a local organizer what you can do to help them with their event.

Another example of late? I’m amazed that we didn’t have a lineup of local employers loitering around ThreeFortyNine coworking while The Guelph Seven were here. Here you have seven local students skipping school and organizing themselves to build seven applications in seven days. The same employers who aren’t showing up to mingle with these guys are busy paying to post jobs to job boards so they can read fictional resumes. I could care less if any of the Guelph Seven ever write a decent resume, I’d jump at a chance to hire any of them.

Things have changed folks. Stop reading resumes. Start getting involved, give more than you take. As Howard Lindzon says foreplay, foreplay, foreplay!

I figured I should update you all and let you know I lost my battle to untether and am now the proud owner of a lovely iphone 6c.

Oh you’re so gullible. No, no, rest assured I’m still living the caveman life with no data plan or SMS. It’s been over a month and so far I have no regrets and highly recommend it to anyone considering the leap. Combined with a kindle I find myself reading a lot more and wasting time much better. By wasting time better I mean I work when I work, I goof off when I goof off and I’m more focused at each.

Not allowing myself to be so easily distracted from important work, like staring at the wall or playing mini sticks with my boy, is dreamy. So much so that I want more. I’m considering moving to a more strict email diet. While I’ve dabbled with this in the past, you’d be surprised how difficult this really is.

Some interesting myths related to this experiment…

Receiving more phone calls will make me less productive

I share my phone number everywhere I can, my intent is to be highly available by phone. It’s in all my email signatures, on websites etc. As well, I intended to reply to emails demanding urgent replies with a polite “I don’t have a data plan, please phone me if it’s anything that demands an immediate response”.

When I explain this approach, people’s initial response is “oh, that wouldn’t work, all those phone calls would be distracting”. The reality is there is no increase in phone calls. All that’s really happening is that I’m able to better manage expectations. People expect frequent responses over email from me, but not immediate, and they always know they can reach me with a phone call.

Your phone will not ring off the hook. You will not be bombarded with calls. Trust me.

Phone calls in general are more work, take longer

How many times has this happened to you in the past month over email, IM, skype, SMS, etc? You go back and forth until you realize you’re both having your own damn conversation and getting nowhere. You give up, pick up the phone and within a minute realize they were being sarcastic when they said “you’re mean” and you explain that you really meant it when you said “let’s sell them”.

Now, when was the last time you were on a phone call and said “let’s just switch to texting and sort this out as we’re past the point where voice based…..”. The answer is never.

The reality is that as you move down the list below, you’re dealing with less and less information. Face to face communication includes voice, smell, touch, subtle twitches, cringing, etc. Remote video has less but you can see some facial expressions. Audio includes all the audible subtleties but you lose everything else. By the time you’re down to text only, you’re at the bare bones.

1. Face to face
2. Remote video and audio (skype video)
3. Audio only (phone calls)
4. Text based

While I realize everyone else is headed in the other direction from me, texting all the time, and the carriers are quite pleased about it, you will have a hard time convincing me that’s it’s actually better for us. Let me know what you think below. As always, phone me if you need an immediate response.

I’m working these days with Innovation Guelph in their venture services group. That means that if you’re interested in talking with myself or any of the other EIR’s, you can fill out this form and we’ll be in touch with you to see how we can help.

I wanted to try something a little lighter though. Inspired by Brad Feld’s random office hours, I’m setting aside an entire day on April 11th which I’d like to fill with 30 minute meetings at the Innovation Guelph offices.

Although clearly I’m most interested in discussing Guelph technology related stuff, there need not be any agenda. I’m happy to talk about the Leafs or how much love I have for planet bean espresso, it’s entirely up to you. I’d suggest it’s a good opportunity if you’re curious about Innovation Guelph services and whether you, your project, your company should engage with us.

So if you’d like to take me up on this offer, please schedule a 30 minute meeting with me using tungle for April 11th or contact me directly to set something up?

It doesn’t seem that long ago when I didn’t own a cell phone at all. When I moved to being an independent contractor, almost a decade ago, I “needed” a blackberry. The logic was sound as I was the person emailed or phoned when certain client servers stopped breathing.

I haven’t looked back since diving head first into digital tether land. Sure I’ve dabbled with cutting the cord on occasion but beyond the odd sabbatical I’ve been fully connected to web, email, phone, twitter, etc all my waking hours. While I’d love to report on my unwavering self control with respect to this connectivity, the reality is quite the opposite. When there’s the slightest pause in the real world I inevitably reach for the digital tether and dive into a virtual world. Almost immediately my mind is back in the office instead of watching my son play hockey. Or I’m reading something useless on twitter instead of saying hi to someone who walks by, right in front of me.

I’m not going to pretend for a second that mobile devices and the associated connectivity are going to do anything except continue to proliferate. We do, however, have a choice that is often hidden and that’s to be in control of how available and connected we are. This isn’t about keeping us from a promised land, this is about protecting what we already have, that being the space to think, grow, learn.

I love Windows Mobile’s new ad campaign in which they save us from our smart phones, however, I’m not sure the solution to being disconnected from the real world is a better smart phone.

What I loved, and miss, about not owning a cell phone was the ability to be unavailable. More importantly, to be more available to the real humans, and world, around me. I enjoyed being difficult to interrupt. I enjoyed being highly available to the people sitting in front of me. So I’m experimenting with a new setup and have no idea how long it will last. I withhold the right to come screaming back tomorrow with every iThing I can buy.

The experiment? I’ve ditched my smart phone entirely and moved to a voice only cell contract. I intend to combine that with a 3G enabled tablet soon, to allow me access to email, web etc. I am, however, waiting for the next round of android tablets before committing to a device. That will allow me to leave the tablet at home and venture into the world with nothing but a cell. I know it sounds scary but I’ve heard some people have lived through this.

To get me through my tablet-less days, I’m using a 3G Kindle and it’s free global 3G access. No it isn’t a tablet but yes you can browse, use email and web based calendars in a reasonable fashion. I have to admit, the kindle has impressed the hell out of me and the end result is I’m reading a lot more than pre-kindle but it’s early days still.

I’m a week into this and I’m really enjoying it so far. What’s painfully obvious is how much of my life was filled with reaching for a “smart” phone for no reason other than idle time. It’s surprising what you can do when you have that idle time back. I stare at walls, I see people, I think about stuff. It’s also surprising how I still reach for my ‘dumb’ phone only to realize there’s nothing to check on it. It demands little of me. What the hell will I do with myself?? Call me, we’ll talk.

We’re a week away from our 16th DemoCampGuelph and we’re going to making one reasonably large change. We’re going to have live music after we’re done. Kenny Phelps from The Speakeasies will be playing a set for us. So hire a babysitter and plan to stick around a little longer for some heavy mingling and music.

Now we need your help on three fronts:

1. Attendees: Remind folks that it’s next Wednesday and get them registered.
2. Demos: The list of demo submissions could be larger so please drum us up some demo submissions as we need to announce the demo spots later this week.
3. Music: In order to fund the live music, which includes venue, sound setup, musician etc, I’ve opened up a bank of $10 ‘tickets‘. No you don’t need a ticket to get in, this is simply a way of showing your support for the live music. You’re welcome to purchase as many as you like.