The Road Less Travelled » The Code Factory

Summertime Series – Sharpening the saw

Ian — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:50:32 +0000

Regular readers may have noticed a decrease in the number of blog posts. I will be scaling back the number of blog posts during the summer to roughly one per week.

Steven Covey wrote several of my favourite books including; Principled Centred Leadership and the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Habit 7 is Sharpening the Saw. Sharpening the saw is a metaphor for taking the time to take care of you. The intent is to rejuvenate you in each of the 4 areas of; physical, social, mental and spiritual.

Part of rejuvenation involves more play and less work. Let the summer of the saw begin.

Ian Graham

Announcing “The Studio”

Ian — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 13:28:59 +0000

Coming to Suite 408 real soon “Media Style Studio @TheCodeFactory” The studio is a joint venture of Media Style and TheCodeFactory and our newly minted logo is shown above. Couldn’t wait to show it off.

The studio will be of professional quality for podcasting and video complete with Green screen and an array of tech gadgets. Expect an announcement about some custom TheCodeFactory content in the near future.

Ian Graham

appshowcase with MC Rob Woodbridge

Ian — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:15:11 +0000

When: Tuesday June 22nd
Where: The Velvet Room (62 1/2 York Street)
Why: Mobile apps rock and a great line up of Ottawa talent including Zeebu Mobile.

Registration Link: http://bit.ly/9qaF4T/

Presenters: Glitchsoft, Magmic Games, QContinuum, Wicksoft, Zeebu Mobile

Rob Woodbridge is quickly becoming a world thought leader in the mobile space. His Vlog untether.tv chronicles leaders in the industry and offers inspirations and insights into the business of mobility. Some of Ottawa’s rising stars in the mobile space will be highlighted at the appshowcase. Hope you can make it sign up is above.

Ian Graham

Summer Time Series – Small Victory

Ian — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 10:06:39 +0000

Perhaps one of my proudest moments in the past two years was last week when the summer time edition of Carleton University Alumni Magazine came out. Thank you to Zachary and Fateema for their contributions to the article. The article is entitled “Office 2.0” and has a picture of some of the really talented people that are Carleton Alumni and faculty. While I am not a Carleton Alumni I have worked very closely with the students, faculty at the university and like to think I share the same entrepreneurial spirit.

In the picture from left to right are:

Richard Alam – co-founder Blindside Networks, BEng/96, MEng06
Tony Bailetti – Associate Professor, Technology Innovation Management Program
Michael Weiss – director, Technology Innovation Management Program
Jason Daley – President Ucreate Media, BComm/99
Steve Muegge – faculty member, Technology Innovation Management Program, MEng04
Ian Graham – founder TheCodeFactory

Reflections, Small Victories and looking forward

Ian — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 14:02:40 +0000

TheCodeFactory quietly celebrated our second anniversary on May 26th, 2010. A very happy day and certainly cause for some reflection and the opportunity to look back over the last two years. There is also a time to ponder the infinite opportunities that have unfolded in serendipitous sort of fashion. Finally where does TheCodeFactory go from here …

I have decided to turn these thoughts into my Summer time series of blog posts. I am not really sure how many posts there will be or the exact content, however, I am really looking forward to writing this series. As the title suggests the themes will be:

- Reflections
- Small Victories
- Future Plans

These posts will be in a pseudo random order.

Next post – Small Victories – The Carleton Connection

Ian Graham

Time is a scarce resource …

Ian — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 13:04:11 +0000

… And the one you have the most control over.

I was letting people into a training session this morning at TheCodeFactory. The board room is designed to hold 16 people. The trainer called me in and pointed out that there were only 2 extra seats and they were expecting 3 more people, shouldn’t I look to find another chair for when the 3 people arrived.

The response was “when the third person arrives I will find them a chair.” My thinking was that right now this isn’t a problem and I have other stuff to do. The risk is relatively low and I know where to find a chair, why solve a problem that doesn’t exist.

When managing time does a stitch in time save nine or is solving problems that don’t exist frittering away valuable resources on useless pursuits?

Time will tell.

Ian Graham

HARD Goals

Ian — Tue, 18 May 2010 00:56:55 +0000

This is a guest post by Jamie Chapman whose newsletter I receive on a weekly basis. There are seems real gems in Jamie’s newsletter and he has agreed to share this one with everyone. I really like the idea of HARD goals. Here is this weeks note on HARD Goals.

After last nights game (6-0 for Philly over Montreal) some might question the choice of picture. However, both the Habs last two series started out the same way. Winning the Stanley Cup has got to be one of the hardest goals there is. ON that note here is today’s guest post.

When setting goals, instead of measuring them against SMART criteria, evaluate them against the following criteria:

• Is your goal dynamic – is it open to changing circumstances?
• Does the goal reflect the most important needs, as opposed to responding to standard expectations?
• What will be the impact on the organization if the goal is not achieved?
• Can the goal withstand failure?
• Will pursuing this goal conflict with other important goals?
• Will you and your team experience pride and personal satisfaction when you achieve the goal?

HARD goals are:
Heartfelt: My goals will enrich the lives of somebody besides me.
Animated: I can vividly picture how great it will feel when I achieve my goals.
Required: My goals are absolutely necessary to help this organization
Difficult: I will have to learn new skills and leave my comfort zone to achieve my goals.

If it was too easy anyone could do it. “Go Habs Go!”

Thank you Jamie!

Entrepreneurship Series from “The Road Less Travelled”.

Ian — Sat, 15 May 2010 16:32:41 +0000

This is the overall summary of the presentation I gave at O’Rielly Ignite Ottawa. The series was quite a lot of fun to write and draws on my experiences and those of other entrepreneurs I have meet along the road less traveled.

I have likened starting a business to going into a dark tunnel that slopes down. When you first start the journey all you see is the pitch blackness at the bottom of the tunnel. Eventually after lots of hard work when you are just about ready to give up you reach that low point at the apex of the bottom. Looking up you see there is light at the other side of the tunnel.

On that note lets begin the Entrepreneurship series.

1. Entrepreneurship
1.1. The Ugly, the bad, the good and the great.
1.2. The Road Less Traveled
1.3. The Bungee Metaphor

2. The Ugly
2.1. The only thing to be feared is fear itself
2.2. Fear of the dark
2.3. Fear of pain
2.4. Fear of Failure
2.5. If fear is the disease, Passion is the cure

3. The Bad
3.1. If passion is driving the cart reason better be holding the reins.
3.2. Fear and Faith (demons from within)
3.3. External pressures (demons from without)
3.4. Persistence

4. The Good
4.1. The harder I work … the luckier I get
4.2. Hard work
4.3. Small victories

5. The Great
5.1. Those who think they can change the world … are often the ones who do.
5.2. I love what I do!
5.3. People

6. In conclusion

7. Enjoy the ride

Chris on being an Intra-preneur / Entrepreneur

Ian — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:51:14 +0000

This is the second guest post by Chris Schmitt lead instigator for Team Camp.

For me, one of the biggest revelations that came from reading Seth Godin’s book Linchpin is that getting a better job doesn’t mean quitting.
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In the fall of 1997 I returned to work refreshed and energized after a year long sabbatical. I was (and still am) eager as hell to execute my vision of bringing telecommunications into the 21st century; in particular, moving a traditional telecommunications company toward a more collaborative, innovative, agile and open environment; one that partners with it’s suppliers and customers to build a better service.

Technically speaking, I’m not in a position of power within my company to actually do any of those things. I’m basically middle management. I started TeamCamp in the fall of 2008 because I was quite frankly bored with the content and seemingly glacial progress I was making at work. I decided to take the matter into my own hands and find other like-minded people that were interested in building web apps and learning about what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

A funny thing happened. Not only did I learn about starting my own business, agile development, minimum viable product, open source, etc., I also got better at my day job: I took more risks, I aggressively pushed my peers, my staff and management to think “outside the box”. I pushed the IT department to modernize the development process, I pushed Marketing to become more customer-focussed, I pushed our Technology team to become more agile, I pushed HR to introduce a better learning and development environment.

Still, I was afraid that if I pushed too hard I was going to piss somebody off and get myself fired. It didn’t happen. I started getting more challenging projects and more recognition.

Then I started pushing more; I cautiously started telling folks at the office about TeamCamp. Again, initially I was concerned that telling my boss and other key executives that I run a group that turns good ideas into startups might end up getting me the ‘boot’. It didn’t happen. Instead, I got put on a team to develop my company’s 2020 vision and strategy.

Suddenly, I feel like I’m beginning to achieve the vision I that had when I first returned to work in 2007. In doing so, I feel good about myself, and I believe I’ve become more valuable. I can also say that I’m proud to work for my employer, MTS Allstream.

The lesson I learned is this: If you’re unhappy with your job then for God’s sake do something about it. If you think there’s a better way to do something: learn about it. Write a proposal. Ask to try something new. If you think you can do something better yourself then try it. Only good things will come of it. Do these things and you will become a linchpin, and you’ll be a hell of a lot happier with yourself.

- Chris

Students and Start-ups 6 – Business Edition

Ian — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 16:36:28 +0000

Are you a marketing, communications, PR or business generalist student looking for work?

If the answer is YES do we have an event for you … Students and Start-ups 6 is coming April 26th to TheCodeFactory and you’re invited. Details on which start-ups are coming and signup at the link below:

Students and Start-ups 6

Why should you participate?

Well … if you are looking for a job all of our start-ups are looking to hire. Our previous event resulted in 1 hire, an additional 2 job offers and at least a dozen interviews.

- Kyle is the newest employee at Youi Labs Ottawa hottest and most funded Mobile Apps start-up.
- Robert and Manuel have been extended job offers from another company
- 12 interviews
- More interview, job offers and hires to come.

Spots will fill up fast so if you would like to attend please sign up.

Ian Graham