Mockery for beginners

We've started.....
I hope to make many mistakes. However I'll call them learnings which I'm sure is common corporate speak for "don't know what I'm doing". We are debating the style of blog to adopt on the public blog. So my "Hello World" post is a bit naff. The biggest thing for me yesterday about the start of ProjectRedStripe.com is that we only have six months. I never thought it was a long time but now I think it's a very short time.... My first day felt more like a course than a job. Or perhaps a corporate away day. One thing that occurred to me was how long it took for us to simply get sorted. It took me five minutes to find a suitable spoon to stir my tea. My laptop took a while to set-up and the printer longer. Essentially you forget, when you're used to the corporate IT team fixing everything, how hard PC's are to basically get running smooth. Economist Group IT support are actually pretty damn good. I just never thought about it. We all had problems with stupid password e.t.c and getting access. My mistake, pictured, is actually a post I wasn't sure would succeed.

Labels: IT, starting

This is the reading material I need to get through before the 29th. I have to bring back one key message from each text to tell to the team.

1. Sticky Wisdom (?What If! ISBN, ISBN-10: 1841120219)

What you should take away from reading the (whole) book:

Behaviours that nurture creativity

?If at first an idea is not absurd then there is no hope for it? Einstein (quoted on P.114)

The story of courage on P. 175

2. Innovation ? The classic Traps (Rosabeth Moss Kanter)

What you should take away from reading the article:

How we can avoid mistakes that others have made

3. The Innovators Dilemma (Clayton M. Christensen, ISBN-10: 0875845851)

What you should take away from reading the abstract:

How listening to existing customers can inhibit innovation

4. The Power of the Tale ? Chapter 2 (Julie Allan, Gerard Fairtlough, Barbara Heinzen,ISBN-10: 047084227X)

What you should take away from reading the chapter:

The value of storytelling to a project; this video carries the same message

5. Outside Innovation (Patricia B Seybold, ISBN-10: 006111135909)

What you should take away from reading the (whole) book:

The precedents for involving customers in the innovation process

Labels: infrastructure, innovation, reading, starting, team

I want to blog for the next six months heavily. Remembering that I will be the only person to ever read this I feel I need to blog to take note of the amazing journey I will be on. I'll be starting a company or at least trying with someone else's money.

Maybe I'll turn it into a book if we become a google.

Labels: starting, team

The time to start the new project is nearly here. We've ordered laptops and mobile phones, an ADSL line from BT and a NetGear 54g router (dg834g) On Monday 22nd I'll go to check out the office. The laptops are pretty large but we are not getting desktops. The mobiles will not be complimented with landlines. I'll probably get a bluetooth thingy for mine Mike, the boss, has started us a section on http://www.centraldesktop.com/ I'm impressed with it so far. Apart from reading material to check before we start we need to plan a half day outing for the team each. My initial thoughts are all about corporate law breaking and tequila drinking competitions but that won't work. I've just purchased two cans of coke a minute apart from each other. I'd simply forgotten I'd bought the first one.

Labels: "empty cans", infrastructure, starting