Ross Goodman » Misc

A Personal Manifesto / Dashboard / Scorecard

Ross (Admin) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 12:30:45 +0000

Those that know me will agree that I’m a bit of a “geek”.

Whilst I don’t always chase the latest and greatest geek toys or gadgets I do like to try and find a practical application of how technology can help me. This is a side effect of being a Business Intelligence consultant where I am striving to maximise (and measure) the benefits for my clients.

During a quiet moment I pondered – If I was to build a dashboard to measure/motivate/incentivise “ME” what would be on it?

photo credit: churl

After an admitedly quick brain dump this is what I came up with:

Health
No Chocolate
No Fizzy Drinks
Sleep 6.5 hours

Fitness
Run 4 times per week
Strength 2 times per week
Run 20km per week

Social
Work Blog once per week
Personal Blog once per week
EMail an “old” friend once per week

Development
2 hours personal reading per week
2 hours work reading per week
Take a “nice” photo per week

What are your thoughts?

What have I missed?

Of course I already have an idea as to how to capture and present this but that’s for another blog post.

Scottish Football – My Solution

Ross (Admin) — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 10:31:26 +0000

Today the Scottish government, police, SFA and the old firm are having a summit to address the problems following last weeks match.

The problem is, the football clubs are a business and unless everyone is involved, shareholders included, then this will go nowhere. There is also the problem as to how to make this fair and equitable for smaller clubs as well as the very top tier.

My Solution:

The Players
Any player recieves a yellow card they forfeit 1 weeks pay.
A red card – forfeit two weeks pay.
i.e. two yellows and a red is four weeks pay forfeited.
Even if a player recieves a red and then continues to protest the ref can issue another yellow or red as he sees fit.

The Management
The referee or another official has the ability to issue yellow and red cards to the touchline management staff with the same forfeit as above.
Now the management will loose their pay if their behaviour is not up to scratch.

The Team
A yellow card equates to one point, a red gives two points. If a team (players and management) accrue over 5 points in a single game, they forfeit their share of the gate money for the match. If the team accrue over 8 points in a single match they loose all income from the match gate, TV, food etc.

Who Benefits
The teams do not get to choose, the SFA or public can choose a charity every week or month and all fines get paid to them. This way the team is still out of pocket as they have to pay the player’s wage even though the player will not recieve it.

Lets see how long it takes for the teams to get their act together and play in a responsibe, respectful and sportsman like manner.

EMail–How I make it work for me !

Ross (Admin) — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 13:36:06 +0000

I have been reading a few articles recently on e-mail etiquette and thought that it was about time I described how I use e-mail.

Inbox Zero

You can read the concept behind this here.

My inbox is normally empty. If you have sent me an e-mail and then pop over for a chat to chase me up and don’t see the mail in my inbox, don’t panic, if it’s not in my inbox it means that it has been filed, if required it will be on my To-Do list (http://www.RememberTheMilk.com) or will have an Outlook reminder tagged on it.

Yes I do have two separate systems, this is due to client confidentiality issues. I use a single system where possible.

Conversely, if you see my inbox is full, don’t panic, it just means that I’m busy working and have decided to not process my inbox at the moment, I’ll get to it when I have some more bandwidth.

Priorities

As alluded to above, I don’t slavishly watch my inbox, I deliberately ignore it at times. If I’m really busy I’ll even close Outlook/GMail/Pidgin/Blackberry to ensure that I’m not disturbed. If something is urgent and I haven’t responded, IM me, or call me or come and see me. (I may tell you that I can’t respond at the moment, but at least you will know I’m alive!)

I have some colleagues that use out of office responses when they are “busy”. I don’t like this as it just adds to the “noise”. I may however book a meeting with myself to block out my calendar to prevent meeting requests when I’m working to a deadline.

Efficiency

To make e-mail work best:

Have a meaningful subject.
I will read the “blank” subject emails last!
Have a “management summary” at the top of the e-mail that includes what if anything you expect me to do and when.
Be concise.
If I know it will take me 10 minutes to read the body of the e-mail, I’ll do it later unless you grab my attention quickly (see my previous bullet)
This is one of the common comments on the e-mails that I send, they appear to be quite “terse”, this is not deliberate it’s my attempt at concise.
Carbon Copy (CC)
If you are just sending me a mail for “information” CC me rather than sending it TO me, it will get automatically filed into my CC folder which will get processed after my inbox.

Responses

If you must, feel free to send me a “Thanks” e-mail but it is not expected, I only send these occasionally, again to cut down on the “noise”. I can’t think of the last time I sent a “Your Welcome” e-mail, although I do really appreciate you all!

Thoughts On Getting “Old”

Ross (Admin) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 12:33:02 +0000

Since turning 40 (unbelievable I know) I have noticed a few changes:

We recently went shopping for a new sofa for the family room, to aid getting one the fitted I did a floor plan of the room in Visio.

I felt compelled to then do a plan of the whole house and garden!

I resisted!

I get annoyed by really trivial things:

I quite like (as an occasional treat) a Twix from the vending machine. It’s great because it’s chilled. But because it’s chilled it quite often breaks when it falls from the machine.

This really annoys me, even though I’m just going to bite it and chew it!

Fundraising – MND Scotland

Ross (Admin) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 10:58:41 +0000

Great Scottish Run – Half Marathon 13.1 miles – 6th September
Pedal For Scotland – Glasgow To Edinburgh Cycle 50 miles – 13th September

Background

On the 7th September my 17 year old daughter; Emma Berry Goodman died of Motor Neurone Disease.
Previously I had promised her that I would run a marathon before I was 40. I have just under a year to ensure that I do that.
The only experience I have of running was doing a 10k for MND in 2008 so the half marathon is the next logical progression.
Never one to do things by half I have also signed up for a 50mile cycle ride as a “cool down” event after the run.
If you have never heard of Motor Neurone Disease have a look at their website http://www.mndscotland.org.uk/ I would pay particular attention to the video. The film has been given a cert 15 classification. It is a graphic portrait of how many people diagnosed and living with this illness can feel.
In addition to making a donation here, it would be fantastic if you could either join me on either or both events or if you could come along on the day and cheer me on!

Thanks

Ross Goodman

The Great Gardening Project

Ross (Admin) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 21:32:29 +0000

Whilst nowhere near as ambitious as J.D. and Kris’ project here I have decided to do some work in the garden this year. I’m a few weeks behind writing up my progress so I’ll try and summarise after the break.

You can track my progress in my Flickr gardening set.

Sunday March 29th 2009

Bought these nifty bags for growing the strawberries in.
Planted Tomato, Chilli and Pepper seeds into our new “greenhouse”.
Dug out the base for the path and dug out about half the length of my vegetable patch.

Sunday April 5th 2009

Planted my first early potatoes, “Charlotte” I think, I’ll double check.
Laid more of my path.
Dug out the base and laid slabs for underneath my new shed.
Gave the front and back grass it’s first cut of the season. Blades were set very high so only half a grass box of clippings. I managed to rake out two black bags of moss from the front grass alone.

Friday April 10th 2009

My new shed was delivered and built by Elite Fencing in Airdrie.
Got a 20yard skip and a 3 tonne digger to help clear the ground in the side “garden”.
Did most of the digging out.
Started filling in the vegetable patch.

Monday April 13th 2009

Finished the digging out for the new “lawn”.
Finished filling in the vegetable patch.

Tuesday April 14th 2009

Spent the day in the back garden.
This was “just” a tidy up session.
Removed a dead lavaterra.
Weeded all of the rear flower beds and dug them over.
This was probably the hardest task of the last few weeks, the soil is very clay, I dug some sand through to hopefully improve the consistency.

Edinburgh Charity Fashion Show

Ross (Admin) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 22:01:10 +0000

I have just seen this link on the MND Scotland web site.

Hailed “Europe’s most successful student-run fashion show”, The Edinburgh Charity Fashion Show (ECFS) is set to impress the unimpressionable by creating a revolution in fashion.

With five rousing years behind it, ECFS is now entering its sixth consecutive year, having raised over £200,000 in the past. ECFS 09 now aim to raise this figure substantially.

The prestige and professionalism of ECFS over the past five years has shown continuous growth. This year it will continue this upward trend, by showcasing some of the most innovative, highly regarded and revolutionary designers, in front of an array of Britain’s A-list and some captivating forms of entertainment.

With the help of a dynamic and devoted committee, alongside thirty uniquely beautiful models, we will achieve our mission for ECFS 09: to raise more money than ever before for our chosen charities.

Although specific details of the show must remain concealed, I can reveal that ECFS 09 has some new, inconceivable ideas set in place, which has made this the event of the year, that you do not want to miss.

ECFS 09 are proud to be supporting three powerful charities. Maggie’s Edinburgh, The Neurology Unit at the Western General and Motor Neurone Disease Scotland. Tish & Peder

For more information on the charities, details of the show, past press, as well as how to buy tickets and donate, please see the rest of the website.

We are Revolting…in the name of charity.

Joni Mackay

Chairman, ECFS 2009

Valentines Gift In Glasgow – Buckie Gift Pack

Ross (Admin) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 23:00:35 +0000

My sister in law Lynne just sent me this:

Spotted this cheeky little gift set in Haddows, Copland Road, Govan last night – the guy at the counter says they sell like hot cakes!
A bottle of Buckfast, 20 Mayfair and a packet of skins – you couldn’t make it up! BUCKY GIFT PACK ONLY £9.08

Now THAT is a competition prize !

Ross (Admin) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:40:28 +0000

I saw this poster at work today.

Just a glance at it and I started sniggering.

There was something about the prizes that tickled my fancy.

I wonder if anyone can learn how to do this:

BBC News

Ross (Admin) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:38:13 +0000

This made me laugh out loud when I was eating my lunch !