Justin G. Roy

An Uncle of mine sent me this picture after I graduated from Assumption College.  Since I just came across it again, I thought I would share. 

I remember when:

1. The biggest fight you got into was who got a turn on the swing-set first
2. Clothes did not matter – in fact, we did not fully understand laundry
3. You could eat junk food all day and not gain a pound
4. You hated going to bed early
5. Trust was given to everybody and did not have to be earned over a period of time; everybody was good.
6. Rotary Telephones
7. Parents worried about having enough batteries for our toys – the world would end if we were out of stock

You know what really grinds my gears?  Booking a flight online.

Who ever thought of the system had to be on crack, and I am very serious about this.  Here is a list of my gripes, and if anybody knows a decision maker at an airline please pass this on.

1. I cannot click the back button.  If I do, I am thrown into a world of “page cannot be displayed” and “must refresh”
2. Having 32 windows open, making sure I am getting the best deal. 
3. What do you mean by ONLY $35 for more leg room?  I am 5’6”.  I don’t need the amount of leg room I have already.  AND, how is this charge $35 one way for a $115 flight?  Will my seat, leg room, and service be 30.4% better and bigger?
4. It is not easy to change your mind about a particular time or day you want to fly.  So I naturally click the back button to choose an alternate day/time….see number 1
5. Does the aisle get narrower towards the bathroom?  Do people waiting have to stand so close to me?  Reference #3 and imagine why I would rather them stand facing the back or the front of the place and not sideways facing towards or away from me.  

OK, I know this list may have went into more than just the booking online, but hey, it’s what grinds my gears.

Last week I had the chance to sit down and chat with Tim Sanders, author of Saving The World At Work.  If you are not familiar with Tim, he has also written The Likeability Factor and Love Is The Killer App.  (both are must-haves for anybody who works with customers)

Hands down an amazing book.  Tim talks a lot about sustainability and green design, which I think would really peak a lot of architects and engineers interest.  Further, Sanders talks about the Responsibility Revolution and how businesses are starting to (and will continue to be) judged based on their environmental and social policies by their clients and customers. 

As a recruiter, I have to comment and say potential employees are also looking at not only the company policy, but the plan and results from their efforts.  

Highly recommend the book, and I would be very interested in hearing some other thoughts, opinions, or discussions from other readers.

I was rummaging through some boxes this past weekend (all of which had about a pound of dust – gross, I know) and came across a shoebox of old notes that I received while in middle and high school.  Not sure why I kept them (this box has not been opened since I packed up my room and shipped off to college), but what I found was pretty interesting.

These hand written notes were in what we call today, text language.

It was funny to see what was so important to us at the time where we HAD to send a note in the middle of class.  The shapes these notes were folded in also amazed me; why and how anybody thought to fold a note into a football, square with a flap, ect is beyond me. 

At the time I did not think much about the notes, just read a few and threw them away.  However, I was talking with one of my colleagues, Jeff Simeone, about my weekend and mentioned these origami-shaped football notes.  As we started to reminisce about “the old times” (somebody please tell me when this happened), we started to talk about some of the shorthand we would use. 

For example: 4 UR (insert picture of an eye here) only = For Your Eyes Only

As part of generation Y, this got Jeff and I to thinking about some claims (some might have been mine) that the use of technology to communicate has spoiled an entire generation, and continues to put them at risk for losing all emotional intelligence, or soft skills.

Granted, I have claimed many times how instant messaging, email, text messages, and whatever other form of online communication you can think of, will destroy an entire generation’s ability to communicate with somebody face to face.  I have heard many examples where two people will be texting with one another and having an entire conversation; average time is about 30 minutes for what I would consider a 5 minute conversation.  Additionally, I have been the victim of leaving a voice message for somebody on their cellular telephone, just to have them text message me about 60 seconds later saying “what’s up”. 

Now move into the business world, and similar situations are happening.  Take the message example, countless number of times has my voice message been returned with an email.  Not an email at 10pm apologizing for not getting back to me, but an email about 15 minutes later responding to my message. 

How absurd.

So where am I going with all this?  I think I am publicly withdrawing some (not all) comments and claims made against technology and my generation.  First, and foremost, I will say that neither instant messaging nor text messaging was the root of the problem.  We were writing in this “Gen Y Code” long before I was dialing up to chat with some friends. 

Anybody else remember the rotary telephone?

Here is a great blog about Guy Kawasaki’s article 10 Ways to Use LinkedIn.  In the post by Mario Sundar he revisits the original 1o ways list and says how they have stood the test of time and still work for LinkedIn.  LinkedIn can be a very powerful tool in the architecture, engineering and landscape architecture industries and I encourage all to check out the article.

Check it out by clicking here.

Here’s an interesting article I came across recently. It takes a look at the fact that sometimes an unsuccessful job search is a reflection of a tight market with a slowdown in hiring, and sometimes it’s a matter of an unemployable candidate, according to Anthony Balderrama.

As an executive recruiter for the consulting engineering industry, I see numerous candidates send along resumes to me in search of new employment. Oftentimes, I can take one look at a resume and know that there simply aren’t any firms in that individual’s area who would be interested in making that hire. Other times, I see a quality candidate who might simply be approaching the job search process all wrong. As a consultant to engineering firms of all kinds in regards to hiring needs, I often need to ensure that the prospective candidate is properly presented and reviewed.

There are some interesting points in this article that should appeal to headhunters and candidates alike. Take a look here.

The first full (work week) official, well in my mind at least, week of Fall is over (for some people).  How did your week go?

One thing I have noticed is many people write off the entire summer, noting that their clients are on vacation, or their vacation is in 3 weeks so they better not start a project now.  I have a hundred more if you are bored. 

Additionally, a lot of people write off the week before and after Christmas.  Same excuses as above.

This got me to thinking.  How much time do we waste at work making excuses for the level of productivity?  I imagine we spend just as much time reporting nothing and coming up with the why, as we do producing.  What are some ways around this?

First of all, if you have a goose egg for the week, report a goose egg (nothing – or a zero) and work on getting some results. 

If you are in a sales role, consider taking your vacation at another time in the year.  Granted, many people think they should vacation when their clients are away, but that will only hurt you….severely.  There is always a #2 person to work with at your clients firm; if not, then use this time to catch up on your clients, paperwork, ect.  Take a vacation during a week when the orders are coming in and going out; appoint somebody in your office to take care of the rare emergency.

Try getting everything done….yes, everything…..by Wednesday at 5pm.  Allow Thursday for people to call you back about marketing calls, shipments, drawings, or whatever you do.  Spend the time following up with everything on M-W.  Friday is a great day to get your paperwork and reporting done, as well as start setting yourself up for another great week.  Make your call lists, daily and weekly plan, ect.

Anybody else have suggestions?  Do people work their week differently depending on their industry?  Are architects more likely to draw/draft in the beginning of the week than consulting engineers?  Does the A/E industry take vacations opposite of real estate developers?