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Take time to get it right

After you’ve selected a consulting partner and communicated your basic expectations and deflined who has responsiblity for keeping everyone in the loop, the following tips can help ensure overall project success:

• On the front end, clearly define what’s in and what’s out of the project.
• When additions to the software occur, expect give-and-take. If features get added, you’ll need to expect more time added to the deadline along with more dollars or get ready to pick what you exchange for the new feature you’re adding.
• Expect to take time on the front end of the project to define the requirements because an outside provider doesn’t know your business—you do.
  

Also, use milestones. In the same way a bank pays a custom homebuilder only as each step of the building process is completed, you should pay only for products, services or software actually delivered ("deliverables"). For each milestone, list five to seven tests to verify it has been reached. If you already have a contract, amend it to include the items discussed above.

Frequent milestones are linked to good software regardless of the business. When payments are tied to discrete milestones, the vendor is forced to finish one step before moving on to the next. If your service provider goes under, leaving finished pieces behind -- rather than an incomplete whole -- will make the transition to another vendor much simpler. The ideal frequency for your milestones can vary. In general, each milestone should be six weeks to three months apart. When in doubt, err on the side of more.

Tom's Takeaway: Milestones help keep projects moving forward smoothly. Even small projects should have several milestones. Whatever the case, define these milestones in the contract.

Communicate at the beginning to avoid problems at the end

New relationships, no matter whether personal or professional, get off to the best start when the people involved communicate their expectations and listen to the expectations of others. I've seen new business relationships both thrive and wither because the players involved either communicated well or poorly.

Working with an outside vendor is no different. To launch a succesful vendor relationship:

• Define clear lines of responsibility to stop turf wars before they start. After clearly defining the role of the vendor be sure to share this information to your staff
• Clearly state expectations to put everyone on the same page
• Choose a central point of contact for both the vendor and your company
• Clearly state priorities when flushing out functional requirements
• Communicate constantly
  

Tom's Takeaway: Communiation is the key to successful relationships. Communicate early and often and you'll be rewarded with effective vendor partnerships.

Intertech Trained? Get a $10 Starbucks Gift Card

If you're a past Intertech student, get a $10 Starbucks gift card when you exhibit the Intertech Trained logo on your blog, personal website, or other online presence.

The Intertech Trained logo is granted for students who complete an Intertech course. The Intertech Trained logo validates your training and skills.

To get your logo, simply email tcaswell@intertech.com with your name and the class you completed.

Once you’re displaying the Intertech Trained logo on your blog, personal website, or other online forum, let us know and we’ll send you a $10 Starbucks gift card. Email tcaswell@intertech.com with the link to the Intertech Trained logo and a mailing address for the gift card.

Here's more information on the Intertech Trained logo.

Good Habits for a Greener PC

You can reduce power consumption and achieve significant energy savings when using your PC simply by acquiring a few good habits. Read the handy tips below.

The monitor
In a PC, the display is greatly responsible for overall energy consumption. Some estimates for laptops show that the monitor accounts for 40% of total energy consumption. The figure is not much different for desktop PCs. LCD monitors typically require between 15 and 60 watts, while a CRT (cathode ray tube) screen requires between 50 and 125 watts.

In order to reduce energy consumption and in particular battery consumption, it is recommended to not change the standard configuration set by the manufacturer. In fact, after a certain period of inactivity, the monitor automatically “goes to sleep”. In this mode, it consumes just 1 to 3 watts of energy.

Windows operating systems, in particular from Windows XP onwards, allow you to easily adjust the monitor’s sleep cycle. To lower consumption, you can shorten the idle time, activating the sleep phase earlier and so saving energy.

Another important factor in energy consumption as regards the screen is its brightness. It’s natural to write in black on a white sheet, but a very bright page is heavy on consumption, and strains the eyes. Therefore, experts suggest that screen brightness be reduced until your eyes are comfortable. In this way, especially for laptops, battery consumption can be greatly reduced and battery life lengthened.

PC hibernation mode
The most effective way of reducing consumption when your PC is not in use is to put it in hibernate mode. Rather than shutting down your PC every day, restarting it, then re-opening all your applications, it is much better to “suspend” PC activity, because energy consumption in this mode is roughly 5 watts for a desktop PC and 1 watt for a laptop.

In Windows Vista and later systems, you can also save energy by setting your PC to awaken from hibernation to execute scheduled tasks. For example, with the TV program recording function, you can set your PC to activate itself and record your favorite program at a set time. After completing the recording, the PC returns to hibernate mode.

Switch off the Wi-Fi antenna
Today’s laptops and some desktop models are equipped with antennas for transmitting and receiving data via radio waves using hotspots, microcells equipped with Wi-Fi antennas that comply with wireless standards 802.11 a/b/g/n and allow Internet browsing in bars, airports, at work, or in the home.

Radio antennas consume a lot of energy and battery power when they kick into operation. Windows Vista and Windows 7 natively support the ability to disable the laptop antenna when not in use. This ability to disable the antenna for short periods of time helps to prolong battery life.

New Windows PCs normally have the Wi-Fi antenna enabled for best performance, meaning they are not configured for power saving. So it is up to you to use your wireless antenna in a way that maximizes battery life. If you don’t need to browse the Internet or connect, you can switch the Wi-Fi antenna off completely.

Regulate Windows Search indexing
One of the most interesting changes in Windows Vista is the ability to index all PC content, from e-mails to documents to images. This is a task that Windows Vista performs in the background or while you are doing something else, but it’s a task that inevitably consumes energy.

There are three possible settings for the Windows Search indexing system:
--Maximum Savings: Windows indexes only files defined as high priority or e-mails.
--Balanced: Windows indexes files defined as high or normal priority.
--Maximum Performance: All indexing functions are active, including searching for new content on the Internet.

Selecting a sensible indexing status, depending on the electrical or battery connection, can help you better manage and prolong the useful working life of your laptop.

Power Savings Features in Windows 7
Windows 7 runs with fewer background activities so your PC processor doesn't work as hard and draws less power. Other innovations include less power-hungry DVD playback (handy on long flights), automatic screen dimming, powering off unused ports, and a more accurate battery-life indicator.

Work the vendor interview process

Much like the employee hiring process, hiring a vendor takes time and preparation. When interviewing prospective vendors, be sure see their past work and meet with the actual people who’ll be involved with your project. Think about the following during the interview:

• Do they ask questions? In order to create a solution, any consulting firm will need to understand the problem. Asking questions shows they care and that they’re prepared.
  
• Does it seem too good to be true? For example, if you’re considering five firms for a project and four of the five have stated that your delivery date is unrealistic but one firm can, somehow, hit your deliverable, they may be just telling you what you want to hear to get the business (and will disappoint you by missing the deadline once you’re signed on the dotted line).


• Do they pay attention to the details? In the sales process, you’re most likely going to see the best side of the firm. If they’re late or don’t follow through on small details in the bidding process, it won’t get better once you’ve engaged them.
  
• Look for a fit at the cultural level. Similar to having employees who fit the culture of your company, look for a cultural fit with your outside provider.
  

Tom's Takeaway: Hiring a vendor should be undertaken with the same level of preparation and scrutiny given to hiring a new employee. Ask tough questions and play close attention to what is said -- and left unsaid -- by all vendors you consider.

10 Tips to Get a Job

1. Get recommendations on social networking sites like LinkedIn, Plaxo, and Facebook. Asking for referrals is done best face-to-face or live on the phone. For any recommendations, send a hand-written thank you.
   
2. Participate in online and in-person communities related to your profession. For example, LinkedIn has a bunch of groups targeted to professions. If you don’t see yours, create a group. In most cities, there are user groups or profession-focused organizations. Join. To be a valuable contributor, continue to learn thru self-study, webinars, and seminars.
   
3. Create an online brand. To demonstrate your expertise, you can blog, tweet, record YouTube how-to-videos, podcast, and post slide decks or papers to SlideShare—all for free.
   
4. Know the business. When interviewing, for the firm your considering, know the stock price, leadership changes, new products, and general company news. Knowing and showing interest says you’re serious.
   
5. In an interview, what preconceptions exist? Proactively shut them down. If you’ve had a short-lived job but there’s a solid reason behind why you left the job, share it. If you’re older and concerned that a future employer may think you’re just going to retire in a few years but you plan to work 15 more years, say so. If you’re not sure what preconceptions may exist, have a friend review your resume.
   
6. Know the pay norms for your position (using salary.com or a similar service). If you’re above the norm, have clear points of difference that matter to the employer that account for the difference in pay.
   
7. In an interview, ask questions. Write your questions down before the interview. If all goes well and you get hired, you’ll be spending 1,000’s of hours at this organization… ask questions to make sure this is a place where you want to make that sort of commitment.
   
8. Be clear on what you want. If you’ve been in leadership in the past but would prefer to be in the trenches, say so. Saying that you’re “open to anything” creates the impression that you don’t know what you want.
   
9. At the end of the interview, ask where you stand. The interviewer may tilt their cards. Ask when you can follow-up on next steps or expect an offer.
   
10. Throughout the process, nail the basics. Show up on time. Say please. Say thank you. Use people’s names. Be friendly. Smile. Ask questions. Write thank you’s.