2015 - Page 3 of 4 - Michael Bianco

Why You Should Blog and How to Get Started Quickly

I’m a strong believer that everyone should start a blog. I understand the resistance to committing to it, to getting out there in the conversation, to possibly failing or feeling like you have nothing to say. I was talking to a close friend the other day who was giving me a hard time for my more technical blog posts: Everyone has something to say: it hasn’t all been said before! Here are three reasons you should start blogging now: It clarifies your thinking. I’ve found that since I’ve started blogging on productivity I’ve implemented more of the principals I’ve blogged about because I’ve created clarity around those principals or thoughts in my own mind. It puts you in the conversation…

Split Shipment Fulfillment with NetSuite

NetSuite natively supports partially fulfilling a SalesOrder. However, updating an ItemFulfillment record (NetSuite’s equivalent to a ‘package’ or ‘shipment’ in other systems nomenclature) after it’s been created comes with some unique edge cases in NetSuite. Here’s the NetSuite state that I was operating in: Sales Order is created. order_status = _partiallyFulfilled An ItemFulfillment exists with ship_status = _picked A CustomerDeposit representing the payment coming from an external system is associated with the SalesOrder The contents of the created ItemFulfillment need to be adjusted and a second ItemFulfillment needs to be created…

Send & Receive Faxes Online for Free

An important aspect of building a business that’s scalable – one that operates when you aren’t around to “press the buttons” – is eliminating paper. I’m going to be writing about what I’ve put into practice over the last couple months to eliminate all my paper in my software consulting business. One of the easier (and obvious) aspects of going paperless is eliminating the fax machine. Yes, even if you run an internet-only business you will run into a vendor that only offers a fax machine as an alternative to snail mail. Here’s how to setup your business to send and receive faxes online with no monthly fee…

How I Learned to Never Forget Anything

Remembering things is hard. The constant firehouse of information – especially if you’re a entrepreneur everything-is-a-potential-new-product-or-idea type – is overwhelming. Here’s the secret to never forgetting anything: write it down. I’m not kidding, it’s that easy. Just follow these couple rules: Write it down right away. When you have the thought, or an action item is assigned to you, write it down right away. Don’t wait even a minute or two. In the moment, as the idea or action item is coming to mind, write it down. Don’t use paper. Some people would disagree with me here, but I believe this is crucial. Paper gets lost. Paper isn’t with you all of the time. You can’t edit paper. Paper isn’t backed up…

Closing the Loop vs Completing the Project

Completing the project is crossing the entire thing off the list, eliminating the chunk of work completely. It’s moving a project from development to maintenance. Closing the loop is different. It’s eliminating the dependency that someone else has on you – or at least updating them on the state. Every project has dependencies, and if you are pushing for excellence your role is most likely key to the projects success. Leaving others hanging is the worst thing you can do. It’s when someone’s dependency on you becomes a blocker to the project or a drain on the projects momentum. And it’s one my biggest faults. I’m a recovering perfectionist. I love when things are complete and I can deliver them to a teammate or client…

Why I Break Up Task Lists

I’ve been using Todoist for a couple months now. It’s a great implementation of the Getting Things Done system. I highly recommend both. However, using a robust task manager doesn’t eliminate the trappings of a yellow legal pad: pages of tasks and ideas without context or prioritization. The lists can still get out of control. As a type-A personality, I love creating tasks and crossing them off a list: the temptation to constantly grow my task list doesn’t go away with a robust task management system. It only gets worse. Less Than Ten You can only do so much in a day. I’m optimistic. I enjoy looking at the day and imagining all that I can accomplish. But, I can only do 10 tasks a day. I’ve tracked, tested, and analyzed this…

Disruption Ahead: The Sharing Economy Revolution

Yesterday I used an Uber for the first time. I’m not in the city without a car a lot: I rarely have the need for a taxi. However, yesterday I needed to get across town as soon as possible: it was extremely cold and the buddy I was meeting only had two hours before he had to go. I didn’t want to waste 40 minutes of it in a bus. As I pulled up Google Maps a ad for Uber appeared at the bottom of the public transportation options. It promised 1/4 of the travel time. In context ads filling a real need I’m experiencing right now. Great job Google & Uber. What I Learned From the Driver I setup the app (awesome on-boarding experience; the app is great) and hoped in someone’s car within minutes…

Other’s Urgent is Not Your Own

I’m a people-pleaser. I love helping people, having a conversation, giving away my knowledge, etc. Over the last year it’s been important for me to learn to say no and not feel guilty. It’s easy for me to let another’s urgent become my own. Whether it’s a friend, a family member, a client, or someone within your organization. Defending your “domino task” – the one task that will move the needle and make the biggest impact – is incredibly important. It’s also really hard. Completely ignoring urgent requests of those around you isn’t possible, but helping the task along with a minimal effort is…

How I Learned to Stop Being Dominated by My Inbox

I Turned It Off Everyone complains about email. There’s a reason: it’s a big stack of todos without context, priority, categorization, and some emails are hard to quickly handle and sit there representing a bunch of non-project work that needs to be done. Message queues with no context destroy your productivity. They scramble your brain. The best way to handle queues – whether it’s email, text messages, project management, etc – is to turn it off and batch process in a constrained amount of time. Tim Ferris checks email only twice a day. This might be too extreme given the culture you are working in, but turning off your email for hours at a time could be a game changer. Try it…

How to Outsource Everything

There are only a couple things that I’m really good at. That list does not include sending invoices, copy editing, fixing cars, scheduling doctor’s appointments, making small WordPress edits, designing flyers, going grocery shopping, going through paper mail, processing paper receipts, bookkeeping, filing taxes, or 100s of other tasks. I can do all of those things, but they aren’t things that only I can do well. As much as possible, it’s important clear the decks and make sure you are concentrating on those items and eliminating any items that don’t fit within your unique sweet-spot. Think of delegation and outsourcing in terms of systems, not just people. Here are some examples: “Outsource” shopping to Amazon…

Year: 2015