Quick W.I.T.S.

Those of you who read my blog regularly will know that my old work laptop is dying, and I've been in the process of ordering a new one over the last month or so (covered previously in my  worst customer service ever  article). Well, good news! The shipping tracker says my new laptop should finally be arriving today or tomorrow. After all the hassle with the last new computer and its defective parts, I'm a little surprised to realize that I'm still excited to have the new machine, even though a part of me is exhausted from it all and just wants it to be over. Getting a new computer is a pretty huge ordeal... for computer nerds, anyway! We don't generally settle for machines that you just open the box and turn on, and you're done. There is a lot of customization that has to be done, optimizing components, installing the software programs we're used to using, getting used to new software already on the machine and deciding whether or not to keep it, etc. I expe...

This week in Tools of the Trade, we will be discussing project stakeholders - the key people in your company that will help you implement changes or fixes to your processes, programs, or business practices. If you're not sure how to identify the problems that require changes or fixes, be sure to check out our previous Tools of the Trade article, Process Mapping . What is a stakeholder? A stakeholder is, simply put, anyone at your company who has a role or a stake in the process you are working on improving or adding. They can be the employees who perform the actual work, employees who are affected by the work once it's done, employees who depend on the results of the work to do their own work, managers who are responsible for the department the work gets done in, and so forth. The stakeholders of your project will be your key allies in figuring out what is causing your problems, deciding how to fix it, and helping you get the job done. Why are stakehol...

I didn't really have a proper article planned out for today, so it seemed like a good time to talk about time management. As a small business owner, you have to wear a lot of hats on a regular basis. In addition to whatever your actual company function is (IT consultant, plumber, electrician, artist, or whatever), you may also have to act as your company's accountant, bookkeeper, lawyer, tech support, receptionist, marketer, ad executive, web designer, research assistant, and so forth. That's just if you're a single employee company! If you have actual employees working for you, then you may also have to act as HR, trainer, manager, payroll, and conflict resolution as well, on top of your normal (paying) work. As a self employed family man with a working wife, the list gets even longer - I'm also a chef, personal shopper, house cleaner, and chauffeur. It's a daunting list of daily tasks all cutting into your work time, potentially preventing you from doing ...

When I came up with the idea for Tools of the Trade, the very first thought that came into my head was Process Mapping. It's pretty much the first thing any business analyst or project manager whips out of their bag of tricks whenever they start a new project. It's ubiquitous in the industry, because it's so powerful and diverse. Despite this, it's not something that has really made its way outside of the project management toolbox. I think that's a real shame, because it's so useful. With a bit of work, it can easily be adapted to almost any industry or small business, and help them to identify problems, make better decisions, and track their progress. So for my first Tools of the Trade article, we're taking an in-depth look at Process Mapping. What is process mapping? On the surface, process mapping is exactly what it sounds like. It is a visual representation of all the steps in a process from start to finish. To create one, you map out all the st...

Since I started this blog several months ago, we've talked extensively about many subjects related to running a modern small business, but almost all of it has been focused in some way or another on web design. We've talked about why businesses need a site, methods and design philosophy for the building the site itself, how to write good content, how to market yourself, and what makes good social media content. Starting this week, in my new Tools of the Trade series, we're going in a slightly different direction. For those who don't know, I worked as a Business Analyst and Project Manager for 20 years before I started Whistler IT Solutions. My job was to help companies streamline and optimize their operations, which included making custom reports, automating mundane tasks, reviewing and updating processes, and creating other custom software solutions to improve the level of information managers had access to and help them make better decisions. A lot of the skills ...