I was reading a blog post by Trevor Miles the other day and found this sentence that sums up perfectly why software implementations (WMS, TMS, LMS, ERP, etc.) are so hard. Not only do you need the right people to define the future state, you need the right people with the right skills and experience to get you there!

Analyzing a situation is fairly easy, defining a future state is a lot harder, but the really hard part is defining the path to achieve the future state.

- Trevor Miles

I was listening to a podcast this morning called Six Pixels of Separation while working out and I heard a definition of experience by Liz Strauss that really made sense. Liz said that experience is the time invested in having to face a whole lot of decisions. She further goes on to say that the difference between a 35 year old and 40 year old is not necessarily the skill set, but rather the number of decisions they have faced. I love this definition of experience.

I was looking over our sales figures by customer last week, and I started to spot a interesting trend. At Open Sky we typically have 2 types of customers that we work with. They are either a customer who is starting a implementation of a Supply Chain Execution System (SCES) such as a Warehouse Management System (WMS), Transportation Management System (TMS), a Labor Management System (LMS), or a combination of the above. Or they are a customer who has implemented one or more of these systems and the system is not meeting their expectations and they need to fix it.

What I found very interesting is that our customers who engaged Open Sky at the beginning of an implementation project spent about the same amount of money as our customers who engaged Open Sky for a get well project. While we don’t know what our customers total spend was for the SCSE system implementation, I think it is reasonable to assume that the total spend was more with a system that needed to be fixed than one that worked from the start.

I do plan to spend more time looking into this data to see if I can find out why the numbers are so similar. My suspicion at this point is that the original implementation took some shortcuts that eventually caught up with the system or the original team made some bad choices.

So it would appear that the following quote does apply to SCES implementations:

It takes less time to do things right than to explain why you did it wrong.
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

If you concentrate on loyalty, satisfaction is no longer relevant.

- Jeffrey Gitomer

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

What the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.

-Earl Nightingale

One computer monitor keeps me adequately busy.

- Peter Ellis, said in response to asking if Peter wanted to have a dual monitor PC (which he now has!)

I take care of my people, my people take care of my customers, my customers take care of my shareholders.

- Hugh McColl (founder of Bank of America)

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.

- Albert Einstein

Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.

-Theodore Roosevelt

You've got to think about big things while you are doing small things so that all the small things go in the right direction.

- Alvin Toffler

Personal Note: This one is so true. I am getting in the habit of stopping several times a day and asking myself if what I'm doing right now is contributing to my goals.

I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.

Mark Twain

Personal Note: Also very true... read "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living" by Dale Carnegie if this is a problem in your life.

What we anticipate seldom occurs; what we least expected generally happens.

-Benjamin Disraeli

Personal Note: Read "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living" by Dale Carnegie if this is a problem in your life.

Do the things you need to do when you need to them, and the day will come when you will be able to do the things you want to do when you want to do them!

-Zig Ziglar

Simple, clear purpose and principles give rise to complex and intelligent behavior. Complex rules and regulations give rise to simple and stupid behavior.

- Dee Hock

This is one of our favorite quotes and a strong part of our management philosophy at The Open Sky Group, LLC.

People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them.

- George Bernard Shaw

Personal Note: This little quote was instrumental in me taking control of the direction of my life in my late thirties. More evidence we need to read more in our twenties and watch less TV!

If you don’t like your results, look at your actions. If you don’t like your actions, look at your attitude. If you don’t like your attitude, look at your philosophy.

– Jeffrey Gitomer

Philosophy drives attitude. Attitude drives actions. Actions drive results. Results drive lifestyles.

- Jim Rohn

Personal Note: I had created something similar before finding this quote from Jim. Then I deleted what I had created as it was not nearly as complete as what Jim has here.

One trouble with people [...] is that they do not realize the immense value of utilizing spare minutes.

-Orison Swett Marden

Note: Orison would have loved the iPhone back in 1908 when he wrote this little gem. With the right applications on the iPhone (or any Smartphone) you can often turn spare minutes into productivity.

Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.

-Benjamin Disraeli

There are many times you need to share very large files with friends, family, customers, and vendors. The company that produces our Project Management/SCRUM software, Axosoft LLC, has a great tool for sending big files. It is called (obviously), http://transferbigfiles.com/.

Give it a try the next time you want to send that video clip or huge zip file.

Ok I'm convinced, the iPhone is a serious business tool. I'm finding accessing e-mail, making phone calls, keeping track of appointments, and keeping on top of my Tasks is easy and fun on the iPhone 3GS.

I've also started to use the Voice Control via my Motorola HS710 Bluetooth headset and I've finally figured out the trick to getting Voice Control to work (just say Call, Last Name, First Name, Mobile/Office/Home/Work). A simple touch of the command button on the HS710 and I just tell the phone what to do.

UPDATE: I've switched to the newer H17 Bluetooth headset and it is even nicer than the H710 with one exception, I can wear the H710 much longer than the H17 as it is more comfortable for long term wearing.

A fellow supply chain execution systems professional, Mark Fralick, has wrote an article over at Supply Chain Digest that hits the nail on the head with regards to good solid Integration Design and Architecture. The article can be found by using this link.

Mark drives home the principal that good integration design and architecture is not the same thing as writing interfaces. Proper integration takes into account how the data will be used and if it will be useful. It considers the physical flow along with the logical flow.

We have seen time and time again where interfaces have reduced a companies’ ability to respond to customers due to poor design. At Open Sky we make a big point to have an Integration Architecture and Strategy phase with all of our integrations before the interfaces are mapped out or coded.

Once you have spent the proper time on design, interfaces can be inexpensive and fast. Unfortunately this has been a hard principal to explain to first time buyers of interfaces.

One of my employees who was filling the role of project manager at a recent WMS go-live sent me a thank you note about Inbox Zero. He told me that he had read on my blog (wow - my employees read my blog? I better be careful!) posts about using Inbox Zero on go-lives (a time of very high e-mail volume).

Last year Open Sky created formal training classes to teach users of RedPrairie software how to better utilize the tools they have available to them.    We do our training classes a little differently than you may be used to.  We do training in the customer's environment so the users are seeing the version they are used to with the customizations they use every day installed.

We will also incorporate deliverables into the training the customer is looking for such as a new screen, label, or report. This way by the end of the class, our customer has learned how to better use the tools they have, and they have something of value that was created as part of the class.

So far the feed back is fantastic.  We have received comments like this: "Not only do you learn how to use the tools, you learn why to use the tools."  

If you are interested in training your people how to better use this software, have a working training environment (we can also help you set this up if you don't have it), and have some things you want to create, go over to the Open Sky website to contact me please.