Andrew MacNeill - AKSEL Solutions

There's an age-old image of project management that looks something like this: And there have been various adaptations of it --- one I found recently (and appreciated) is this one from Jan Tielens: What is the actual process that a "solution" goes through? The client dreams up an idea or has a problem that needs to be solved. They attempt to describe it to someone who then attempts to build it. At the risk of anthropomorphizing a concept like a solution: The Birth: Wow...now this is more like it. I'm not just a little thought in someone's head anymore - I'm going to be great. I'm going to solve the world. Now I just have to figure out... The Terrible Twos: OK...I can go a variety of ways - I just need to focus on what I want to do. What?!? Who are you? Oh...I have to do it this way....no wait, now who are you?!? This way instead? Argh!!! Primary School: So I have to do this so I can really be what I want to be. That sucks. I guess you know ...

If you are using gMail and ever wondered what your usage is really like, check out gMail Meter. What does this do? Well, it may help you change your email habits by showing your patterns. The link from LifeHacker is here You create a new spreadsheet in Google Docs, name it Gmail Meter and then run a script from the Script Gallery. Then let the script run. It can take a while to run but you can just let it go, it will send you an email when it's done with all of the stats. What kind of stats? Here's just a smattering of the stats: Very cool!