In Uni we have learned that if you cut out the middle man in your supply chain you are making more profit if you are the product manufacture / supplier and you can provide the product cheaper than your retailers (if you want to). Apple just does it, the price thing,  the other way around.

Today I was after an iPod classic with 120GB (actually just a little over 111GB net) to support my whole library as it has outgrown the older classic with 60GB. I was checking the Apple Online Store and found it there for AUD $ 339. As Apple is pretty strict with their price dictation to resellers I thought I would be able to buy it at officeworks or Harvey Norman for the same price or a little more expensive.

After arriving at Officeworks today I was wondering that the device was actually 11 Dollars cheaper than buying it at the Apple Online Store.

Bottom Line: You get a device cheaper at the retailer that has to buy it from Apple first off, that has to get his margin out of it and has to pay for staff and store retail space and so on. So imagine what apple is making out of it without having these kind of costs. Well done. The Online Store experience for some might be worth the additional buck, not for me.

I wrote a lot about the “Presentation Zen” approach in former posts. My Keynote at the IQPC Project Risk Management conference earlier this year was based on that approach. Now Garr Reynolds the Author of that book “Presentation Zen” and Presentation Guru (at least perceived like that on the audience and by his follower) offers a free webinar on that topic.

On Monday, December 15 I will be giving a free live webcast for Safari Books Online. The time is 2:00pm on the west coast of the US, 5:00pm on the east coast. (This will be Tuesday, December 16 at 7:00am for me here in Japan.) Wherever you are around the world I hope you can join live as there will be a chance to ask questions.

So what does this mean for us Aussies:

• Brisbane: Tuesday, December 16, at 08am in the morning
• Sydney: Tuesday, December 16, at 09am in the morning
• Adelaide: Tuesday, December 16, at 0830am in the morning
• Canberra: Tuesday, December 16, at 09am in the morning
• Perth: Tuesday, December 16, at 07am in the morning

Garr will structure the presentation in a different way, he will talk about How to Think Like a Designer (and why it matters).

The applications of the items I discuss will focus on presentations, particularly presentations that are given with the aid of slideware, but the ideas can be applied to other types of presentations and even other types of disciplines such as web design and professional communications of all types.

So go and have a look, learn and read the full article here.

Accenture published another interesting article how to lead and manage change in a Multi-polar world.

What do they mean with that? Lets see!

Accenture is talking about a company in Brazil that was expanding their business model from producing just iron ore  into nickel, copper and coal. And in doing that acquired assests in Australia, Canada and China to increase and strengthen their competitive position.

Based on this example, as the company’s business became global because of their growth strategy to describe the critical success factors to lead and manage a company  effectively through that change.

The stunning emergence of a developing market multinational like Vale (the company used in the example) is possible only in a multi-polar world—one in which the flow of innovation, talent and capital is truly global and no respecter of political boundaries. It’s a world with astounding possibilities, to be sure, but astounding risks and pitfalls as well. Executive leadership will be challenged more than ever to manage the elements of organizational change now that companies can reach further, bring together more people and cultures, and serve more customers at almost every point of the compass.

As we as project managers sometimes are the executive power to put the strategy in place based on projects and programs that are delivered we need to be integral part of that leadership and managing approach.

So go and read the full article here to understand their investigated principles.

via Mail

Boston.com is widely know for their fantastic picture series. This time its about the Booming City Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. After the new Atlantis resort officially opened with a 35 Million AU Dollar ceremony a couple of weeks ago, I doubt that the UAE and Dubai will see something like this in the near future. Large investment projects have been put on hold incl. the 1000 Meter high Schumi-Tower and the surrounding area which would have been a 70 Billion Euro investment. The boom is coming to an end which after 10 years of construction boom and growing from 3.8 Million People in 2004 to 6.5 Million people this year the market is slowing down rapidly. 35% of all available crans worldwide were located in Dubai. So lets enjoy some phantastic pictures …

… if you develop the first generation of the Orb, a rotating persistence-of-vision display that creates glowing 3D images. A short, cool tale of invention. It will not be long until we see this without a rotating device and with high resolution.

There is a guy called Matt, travelling around the world attracting and convincing people to dance with him in front of famous places and locations. Some of you might have seen this video that is the outcome of his journey. Viewed by almost 30 Million people there are some key lessons we can learn from the “Making of …”.
Watch the video first.

In the following Video below Matt describes the “Making of” in 5 minutes and 15 slides. He is explaining how he started the idea, how it developed and how he was able with the help of his girlfriend to attract people all over the world to dance with him. He planned it all upfront and found models for different cultures and age groups. He also explains why the second take was always the good one.

And then see what happens after his presentation … Unbelievable.

It shows how things can be planned in advance with a different, intelligent and creative approach and how a great outcome can be presented as a video plus in a short presentation.

Even if you haven’t had the chance to attend PMAsia in Singapore earlier this year, the papers are available for download. There are some interesting topics to look at:

• Managing Projects with Overseas Consultants
• Risk Management in Complex Situations
• PRINCE2, Less than Meets the Eye - But Less Can Be More
• Understanding Programs and Projects - Oh, there’s a difference

Have a go and a pick.

PMOZ 2009 is calling papers. PMOZ is a well established Project Management conference within Australia that will get together again in 2009 in the Australian Capital Canberra from the 10th to the 12th of of August 2009 in the National Conference Centre.

I have attended the PMOZ 2007 at the Gold Coast and and PMOZ 2008 in Melbourne and have always taken away something. I have met great people working in the same profession, learned about new trends, step deeper into existing skills and I also had a great time during the breakouts. Presenting was also a very good option to get yourself out of the comfort zone and to expose yourself to others that are interested in your topic. A great and easy way in getting known to new people as they most likely will approach you after a speech.

What we can see from the website that PMOZ got a new CI (Corporate Identity) that is now in sync with PM Global.

So the call for papers is on. Make sure you secure your spot as slots are running out quickly.

Please download the brochure here and understand what to do to be accepted.

Here in Australia the iPhone is pretty new. Just being introduced a couple of month ago with according to the iPhone 3G introduction and almost a year later than in other countries like the US.

So I am still approached and asked by others about my iPhone that i bought after my John Muir Trail spending almost 4 weeks outside the civilisation. Yes, its a phone and it does other things really smart and the user interface is mind blowing and setting new standards.

How ever, what really makes it, are the almost 10.000 Applications available for this device and many more hit the AppStore every day.

Google has just recently introduced the Mobile Operating System Android and the first phone has been introduced, the G1. Of course only available in America so far.

This is another application that is a real killer. Look at the video and you understand what I am saying. These are the applications that will rule the mobil market.

via BasicThinking

dis⋅grun⋅tled
[dis-gruhn-tld]
–adjective
Synonyms:displeased and discontented, sulky, annoyed, bad tempered, bellyaching, crabbing, crabby, cranky, disappointed, discontent, discontented, displeased, dissatisfied, griping, grouchy, grousing, grumpy, irritable, irritated, kicking, kvetching, malcontent, malcontented, peeved, peevish, petulant, put out, sulky, sullen, testy, uncontent, ungratified, vexed

After the storm passed by and the dust has settled it is time to put the pieces back to gather and look at what has happened from different ankles angles.

Some of you might have seen the stories online in the news.
I developed a board game based on the snakes & ladder theme enhanced with action cards which was reflecting on funny project situations me and the team faced during the 4 month we worked on that project together.

What was intended to be a farewell email to close colleagues ended up in a small media storm.
And sometimes your legacy becomes bigger than anticipated as I am now mentioned in newspapers here, here, here and here, discussed in Forums here, here and here and blog posts are written about the game here, here, here, here and here.

I would like to look at it from different ankles angles (thx to Margot for the correction) as there are some great lessons to be learnt out of this as well as experience that I gained that I would like to share with you. So, please do not expect a whingeing post or a justification or anything like that. It will be analytical and looking at facts and at key lessons everybody could learn from.

I will have a series on that split in four parts.
Part 1 - What has happened - a timeline
Part 2 - Putting things into the right perspective
Part 3 - What does media attention do to you?
Part 4 - Lessons learnt and the experience

I will call the Story “TNGDG” - “The NextGen Decision Game“