Tytusblog has officially moved to it's permanent home.

Dear friends and followers.

I wanted to let you all know that the Tytusblog continues....  however, it is moved to a new platform.

Goodbye dear blogger.  Hello WORDPRESS!

Visit the new blog (and it has all the old posts too) here:

http://fastai.com/tytusblog/

Thanks,
Harlan T Beverly, PhD

New Year's 2017: Startup Resolution Revolution

This is an opus, a plea, a dream. This is 2017.
Let us agree to put an end, to the old startup trend.
Old startup was weak, it had a faint reek.
It smelled of false hopes, of untested dreams.

In 2017, we dream big still, but without the frill.
We dream and we test, and leave out the rest.
We give all we have to Lean, Lean Startup I mean.
No false hopes, just tested and true.  Lean Startup starts with you.

It's a revolution, not just a resolution.
It's a way of life, not just a passing trife.
Your way is simple, if you choose to accept it.
Just test your idea, before you reject it.

Get started today, if you want to, you may.
Don't fear the failure spider, to fail is more righter.
It's right to fail small, so try it all.
Lean Startup is trying, with the minimum of lying.

If your a funder, I plead. Demand more than greed.
Demand proof of their traction, before you do the deed.
Make sure they are tested, and validated and nested.
Make sure their growth, value, and problem, are all three fully vested.

So, this opus to you, this silly sentence so true?
It's about you and your startup, and starting up too.
Get started with Lean, buy my book to help the team.
Make progress without funding, and deliver the dream!

Harlan T. Beverly, PhD
The University of Texas at Austin

The 3 Things Great Managers AND Employees Do ~ Consistently

When it all comes down to it, great managers get results.  How do you get results?  It's not planning, it's not charisma, it's not even passion.  All of those things are great but useless without these 3 things.

If you are not doing these 3 things, and doing them well, you are probably going nowhere fast.  That's a strong statement, let's see if you disagree... comments welcome!

1. Prioritize

If you just do whatever you think of, you are going to get behind.  You MUST prioritize those things you KNOW will get results above those things you THINK will get results.  And even those things you just think will get results, prioritize those too, to the ones you think will be most likely to get the results.

PRO TIP - Every morning, get on an exercise bike and open http://toodledo.com or http://trello.com  (2 good online tools). Prioritize tasks to ones you think are most important to get results.

2. Draft Quickly

 If you aren't getting things done quickly, you'll never even get through all the important things, let alone to those things you think will get results.  The best managers and employees create drafts of stuff (whatever it is) very quickly.  Then, they refine the draft later up until the point where the quality meets expectations, then stop.  They don't over-engineer, over-design, or over-think their work: it's done it's done.  Ship it.  This is a key to shipping, get to a draft and see if it's good enough.  Ship when it is.

PRO TIP - Writer's block?  Just write it in super simple plain English.  That usually reads better anyways.  Remember, emails should be 2 or 3 sentences MAX!  I like to send emails of 4 or 5 WORDS when I can.

3. Delegate / Get Help Fast

Overloaded managers need to learn this trick: find someone you trust and ask them to "own" part of your project.   This is not asking for group-work, this is asking them to "own it" and get it done.  I've blogged a lot about ownership, and for good reason... it's been a key to my personal success for years.  Not having it, but giving it out!

Not a manager?  This applies to you too.  Delegate ownership of your work if you are overloaded.  Even better, ASK FOR HELP FAST!  If you are blocked, even 1% blocked, asking for help to get unblocked will keep you moving, make your boss happy, and more importantly, teach you something that will probably prevent you from getting blocked again in the future.

PRO TIP - Develop skills that help you get unblocked.  For example, learn how to Draft Quickly!  Also, learn how to "make a simple website".

Harlan T. Beverly, PhD on a Business Trip to Mexico

5 Ways to Empower Employees

What is empowerment?  To empower is to give power to someone else, hence taking it away from yourself or someone else, and giving it to them.  In the context of a job, it usually means giving 'ownership' of a task or project to someone and then stepping back.  You will still have to do work, but you will only do work that the empowered one asks of you.  There  is plenty of research that shows the benefits to Morale, Productivity, and Results by empowering employees.  In fact, I've written about this before in my green & clean post, but this article will give you 5 methods to empower employees, that maybe you never thought of before.

1. Be Explicit
You can't empower someone without both letting that person know, they are in charge, and really also the entire organization.   Here's a great way to do it by email:  "Hello everyone, just want everyone to know that I'm stepping away from Project X and putting XXX in charge.  She/He's empowered to take all actions necessary to get the job done within the approved budget."

2. Set Boundaries
Empowerment can be daunting, especially when it's used infrequently, for the first time, or with new employees.  In these cases, it's best to set boundaries!  Set a budget, explain the goals very clearly, explain what all the resources available are, and be sure to include yourself in those available resources.

3. Help Prioritize
In any organization, there is usually a lot going on, so much so that many employees feel overwhelmed and not sure what to work on in any given moment.  You can help by being clear with each individual what their priorities should be.   If you have projects that just need "a little attention each day" set a specific amount of time you think would be appropriate.  In general, set a clear priority to all work/tasks and try not to change it.  Remember, something you are empowered to do, will naturally be a higher priority.

4. Be Supportive
Supporting means touching base and reminding the person who is empowered of their resources (including you).  The more junior the empowered person, the more you should touch base.

5. Don't Take it Back!
Yes, you should be measuring and tracking results, but when things aren't going how you think they should, RESIST the temptation to jump in and take over.  If you do, you've destroyed empowerment, and it's hard to get it back.  They'll always know that you could jump in at any time, and start to expect it if they fail.  You have to let them fail, if its going to fail.  This is the hardest, why?  Because you know you can do it, and probably better... but YOU MUST RESIST!  Just offer support, help prioritize, and get out of the way.  Long term, if there is a performance issue, you can address it later, for now, don't break the empowerment you gave, or it will kill your credibility.