Design

Dr. Sketchy in Northampton

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Dr Sketchy Noho

I heard there was a Drink and Draw at Hugos or was it the Elevens in Northampton.  Sooooooo, I went out searching last Friday and didn’t find a Drink and Draw.  I did find Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School which was started by Molly Crabapple, who in 2005 dropped out of art school and started the Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School as an alternative drawing movement.  There are now Dr. Sketchy’s in over 100 cities world wide.  Not bad for an art college drop out.

Oh and it turns out The Elevens, in Northampton, have Dr. Sketchy’s night every first Friday of each month starting @ 7pm.  Get your paper and drawing tools……

Savasana = Nap

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SavasanaI practice Bikram Yoga which is done in 104 degree temperatures and between 40 and 60% humidity. 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises.  Roughly the first 45 minutes are warm up to what Bikram calls ‘The real yoga!’

During the second half of class we do postures and in between we have savasana, which literally means: corpse pose.  I’m told we have 20 second savasanas in order for our blood to circulate once throughout our bodies.  Seems plausible.

It’s like a tiny nap…..and naps are the real reason for this post.  I LOVE naps.  Naps are highly under rated in the United States.  When I moved to China, in 1990 [and first visited in 1987] daily between 11 and 2 the entire country took a rest time.  European nations know this ritual as well and it is based on sound logic.  Our bodies do better with   some rest.

And after going full on, usually from 4:45 am….by mid-day I am ready for a savasana.  I usually can pump out more productive activity after just 20 minutes of rest.  On the weekends I attempt to push that time out to 45 or 60 minutes of nap time.

Try it yourself and let me know how it works for you.  I’m willing to bet you’ll be more productive, rested and happier….and you’ll be more inspired.

Rework the Project Charter and Run Projects

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CompassJust when we thought we got the Project Charter figured out, the book Rework, by Jason Fried & David Heinemeir Hansson, debunks ‘Planning as Guessing’.  In fact, they go on to say, “Unless you’re a fortune-teller, long-term business planning is a fantasy.  There are just too many factors that are out of your hands: market conditions, competitors, customers, the economy, etc.  Writing a plan makes you feel in control of things you can’t actually control.”

They advocate, “…you have to be able to improvise.  You have to be able to pick up opportunities that come along.  Sometimes you need to say, ‘We’re going in a new direction because that’s what makes sense today’.”

Before you stress they do add this: “Now this isn’t to say you shouldn’t think about the future or contemplate how you might attack upcoming obstacles.  That’s a worthwhile exercise.  Just don’t feel you need to write id down or obsess about it.  If you write a bit plan, you’ll most likely never look at it anyway.  Plans more than a few pages long just wind up as fossils in your file cabinet.”

Seems to me, some planning-or having some sort of ‘general guide’ is a good thing….just as good as knowing when to make adjustments.

And Seth Godin doesn’t even want us to call ourselves Project Managers, he prefers the title: Project Runner.

Bicycles Built for Two

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Tandem Bike

The overall project plan support, and are, supported by the Instructional Design [ID] documents as they are constructed in much the same way. Similar to a couple riding a bicycle built for two the overall project plan balances with the ID design document as both work in tandem moving the project forward.

While the design document is composed of learning objectives, key points of content and concepts along with processes and activities. The project plan works with the design document via the initiating  and planning stages [creating project charter & identifying stakeholders].

Both ‘riders’ of the tandem bicycle might take turns riding in the front or back of the bicycle or even propelling the bicycle solo, for short periods of time.  Yet, a bicycle built for two arrives at its destination [the specified project stages of completion], fastest and in best form, when both riders are working in unison.

The instructional design process is similar to the project management process in that both spend a vast portion of their life span in the analysis and planning stages. Just as one may ‘plan and plot’ the path for a long bike ride, adjustments to the bike, changes in weather, and even detours can cause riders to change course and make adjustments yet the bicycle [and riders] do arrive.

The similarities are that it is all about the journey, not the destination.  Both the Instructional Designer and Project Manager are headed to the same destination-project completion.