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A Few Words from Jesse
Dear Fissure Friends,
First
I have to apologize to Brett Favre and everyone else for misspelling his name
in the last newsletter. No excuses, just poor spelling and poor quality review.
It's
easy to get caught up in the "new year" this year. We have the normal beginning
of a new year with the usual resolutions - did you make any this year? Are you
still following them? It's not something I usually do, except to lose the extra
pounds I always manage to put on over the Holiday season. I'm not sure what the
lack of New Year's resolutions says about me, I guess I'll have to let those of
you who know me tell me what it means.
Another
aspect of the "new year" this year is the beginning of a new decade. I have
seen a few of these (OK, more than a few) through the years and the biggest
difference I find is that now when I write the year part of the date 1/2/10, I have to catch myself
immediately. Going from "08" to "09" I could start with the "0" and still catch
myself before writing the "8" by habit, or at least it was easy to change an "8"
to a "9". It's pretty hard to change "09" to "10". Beyond my own challenge with
remembering to write the new date, associated with each new decade is the
challenge to find a description of the previous decade. The phrase I have heard
most often for the last ten years lately is the "lost" decade. I'm thinking I
don't have all that many decades in my life span and I'd hate to think I lost
one. The "Naughty Aughties" and "Uh-Ohs" can also be found on the web as
potential names. I'm not too crazy about thinking the decade was naughty or a
mistake either. As an optimist, and I think leaders especially need to be realistically optimistic, I would like
to see a more positive name for the decade. If you have one, send it to me and
I'll share them in the next newsletter.
Obviously
a big reason for the negative view of the past decade is the severe economic
downturn we suffered the last 18 months or so. The loss of income, jobs, homes
and savings has left a pretty bad taste in our mouths. It will probably be
there for quite some time and may take a prolonged period of economic growth
for us to start feeling confident again. Is there anything else we can do to
start feeling more confident? As we closed the Fissure books on 2009 I easily
fell into a negative view of the year (and decade). It was easy to do as
revenue was down, we struggled and we had to let a valued employee go. When
people would ask how I was doing, lately I would usually end up describing the
negative impact the economy was having on Fissure and me personally.
With
the New Year and the new decade I have decided to make one serious New Year's
resolution this year and that will be to stay focused on the good things that
happened in 2009 and to be positive about 2010. As I'm writing this article I
can identify several good business things that happened in 2009: -
We added a good number of new clients
-
Our new Business Analysis classes have been
a huge hit
- We started a new development project that we
are extremely excited about (more to come in later newsletters)
- We celebrated twenty years as a company at
the end of 2009
I
encourage everyone to take a few minutes to list some positives (professional
and personal) about 2009 and then make a resolution to be just a little more
positive about the potential of 2010 because at this time next year, there will be positives for 2010 too.
Speaking
of positives, many positives can come from volunteering, consider the volunteer
need Tim Firnstahl shares in "Fissure News".
Make
sure you checkout our new feature continuing in this issue. For the next
several issues one of our instructors (guides) will give you a firsthand look
at their work, teaching and life experiences, and how they came to be Fissure
guides. I think you will enjoy their stories and getting to know how they came
to be so passionate about helping others learn and develop. This month is John
Kaman.
We're replacing Geof Lory's usual article with a
timely article from Brian Toren, our resident futurist. Brian has collected
some future predictions in technology, population, jobs, and education. Project
managers appreciate the ability to understand and predict the future. We all
know the relationship between knowledge and certainty. If only there was
certainty in my golf swing
Our upcoming public workshops can be found
on our website (http://www.fissure.com/workshop_registration.cfm)
- our computer simulation powered workshops the most effective and fun way to
learn AND EARN PDUs. Make sure you also check out what's happening at Fissure
(Fissure News).
Thanks for reading and let's make this decade
a positive one,
Jesse Freese 
Fissure, President Back to top |
 Futures Forecast - 2010 and Beyond
by Brian Toren
 It's the first of the year and time for forecasts. These are
summarized from reading the Star Tribune the past few weeks. The specific
author is listed after each category title. The forecasts focus for the most
part on Minnesota, but most apply to all states. Some thoughts are my own(in
italics & blue). Read them and consider the impact on project management and your own
role in project management.
Population and Jobs Source
Suzanne Ziegler
The forecast is for a 40% increase in the population of
Minnesotans 65 and older. This is coupled with a decrease in the number of
children born. There will continue to be opportunities in the medical services
sector including the building and hiring for more senior facilities. There will
be a need for more family physicians and doctors trained in geriatrics and home
health care services. There may possibly
be less work for pediatricians due to fewer children.
The new millenniums (people born between 1980 and 2000) will arrive in college just in
time to train for the new jobs in nanotechnology, robotics, and energy industry
related activities like hydrologists and automation. While some of these jobs
require new skills and jobs, automation will mean elimination of jobs in sales,
and services as these jobs move to on site computers for self service access on
line. McDonalds could even become a "McHorn"
and "McHardarts." Someday in the far far future, you may even be able to print
out your pizza order on your 3D home printer.
Education Source, Norman Draper
There will be more high school students opting for enrolling
in college courses while in high school, thus getting a better education and
getting their college degrees more quickly since students will graduate early
and attend college with some credits already earned (this could mean more immature people getting through school and into
the job market before their brains are fully developed).
Schools may be sharing space with other agencies and even
senior citizen housing facilities (gyms, student housing, etc), helping public schools with their funding as
underutilized facilities are used and paid for.
There will be more
charter schools as parents become dissatisfied with the pubic school system.
There will be more on line courses available and as a consequence more home
schooling. A new and powerful source of on-line training is a web site called
Second Life. This started as, and still is, a social networking site, however
several education institutions including Harvard and Yale are using it to
provide a realistic classroom experience on-line. You can actually walk (or fly
if you rather), in the form of an avatar into a classroom, sit down and see an
avatar instructor give a lecture. The instructor will lecture, show videos,
slide shows, share notes and have interactive discussions with the students.
The students will interact with each other and stay after class to talk to the
instructor and other students. The instructor also sees the student avatars
sitting in the classroom; many still sit in the back of the classroom just as
in real life
All of theses
innovations are going to reduce the funds available public schools, hence the requirement
of sharing facilities for a rental price or maybe even laying off employees.
Technology Source
Randy A Salas, quoting Joel Barker
E-book readers are still in an early adopter phase. Joel
believes that they will take off when color is introduced. He feels that once
the color is introduced they will become another cell phone phenomenon. There are a few of us, however, who will be
hold outs and prefer to sit in a comfortable chair and read a good hard cover
book. If it's your own you can tip pages and write in the margins. It's not the
same in an e-book. I will probably feel this way until the book is pried out of
my cold dead hands.
There will be refinements in personal technology, but not
necessarily any innovation over the next decade. Cell phones will become more
ergonomically comfortable, but it's doubtful that 3D will be added.
This is all there was
in the Star Tribune under Technology, So, what are some other things we can
look forward to in science and technology?
Nanotech Scientific American - July 24, 2006
While the article did mention nanotechnology it did not go
into any detail. Over the next couple of decades, nanotech will evolve through
four overlapping stages of industrial prototyping and early commercialization
2010 - The
development of three dimensional nanostructure circuits and devices.
These can be
used to build, or address rejection of, implants; or creating scaffolds on
which to regenerate tissue or even creating the artificial organs themselves. This
would reduce the rejection problems of implants.
After
2015-2020 - The next step is producing molecular nanosystems creating molecular
structures as distinct devices. These will function better then proteins inside
cells in that they will function in more adverse environments then the body's proteins
and could be much faster.
Computers
and robots could be reduced to extraordinarily small sizes. Medical
applications might be as ambitious as new types of genetic therapies and
antiaging treatments. New interfaces linking people directly to electronics
could change telecommunications.
Eventually
nanotechnology will benefit manufacturing, health, the environment and many
other aspects of life. Nanotech does, increase risk in some areas. Will nanodust
create health problems if ingested or inhaled? Will little robots run amuck and
do nasty things? Will terrorists use them? All of these indicate a need for
some regulation oversight and the winning over of the general population to
this new and exciting technology.
Some of the
many possibilities:
Batteries
embedded in paper Mutation
of wildlife Industrial
and medical use of nanodevices which bend under the force of light Nanotube
coatings for electromagnetic shielding Using
the Casimir Effect for breakthrough technology Smart
pills Drug
dispensing contact lens Dirt
resisting and self cleaning materials Solar shingle manufacturing Oil spill cleanup Synfuel manufacturing Cell imaging Artery cleaning robots Drug dispensing robots Tumor and cancer cell warriors Someday, singularity?
Inspiration and source for this document: Minneapolis Star
Tribune January 1, 2010. http://www.startribune.com/local/east/80451547.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUs Back to top |
It
has been an interesting ride to 2010--sometimes bumpy, sometimes smooth, and
sometimes circuitous. But always
interesting!
I
started off my career as a co-op student in mechanical engineering at 3M
Company back in 1967. This may seem
to be a long time ago, but I have very fond memories of working in 3M's Duplicating
Products Division laboratory, where we designed and developed copying machines.
By the time I had joined the
division, 3M was in fierce competition with Xerox for market share. You see, 3M invented the first dry
copying process with the introduction of Thermo-Fax™ copiers, and during the 1950s 3M had an overwhelming
market share. Then in the early 1960s along came Xerox
with the first plain paper copier, and they stole the show. So by the time I finished my college
degree in 1970 and became a permanent 3M employee, we were playing catch-up and
trying to get our market share back from Xerox.
Thus
began what would turn out to be a 25-year career for me at 3M. During my 13 years in the Duplicating
Products Division, I contributed to the development of five different copiers
and in doing so I grew my career to become a laboratory manager. As many of you know, 3M is divided into
approximately 40 divisions, each with independent business operations and so in
1983 I decided to moved into the Magnetic Audio Video Division. I then spent ten years there, managing
projects to reduce cost and improve the quality of our Scotch® video-tape products.
Along the way, my teams generated numerous creative ideas for new
products and processes, and we were granted 16 U.S. patents.
During
the early 1990s after years of managing numerous project teams, I came to the
realization that my main interest focused on "how people work." You see, in my early years I was very
interested in "how things worked,"
this was my original motivation for becoming a mechanical engineer. Now as a manager, my focus became my people
and project teams. So I took a
leap, went back to school, and obtained a Master's Degree in Psychology and
Human Development. Little did I
know at the time that my focus on "soft skills" would come in handy later in my
career.
In
1995, I (along with 12 thousand fellow 3M'ers) was informed that we all were being
spun off to a new company independent of 3M. This new company came to be known as Imation Corp. I continued my career at Imation,
where I spent the next 5 years, but in 2000 I decided to leave and go out on my
own. I formed a company, Whitewater Coaching and Consulting focused on leadership
skills, coaching project managers and project management education. I have taught one of my most popular courses, Project Manager
as Coach™, to over 500 people, and have had the honor
of teaching it at PMI's Seminars World and Global Congress.
My
journey has led me to the Minnesota Chapter of the Project Management Institute
(PMI) and through some of my newly-found friends there, I was introduced to
Jesse Freese and Fissure. I
obtained my PMP in 2002 and began teaching for Fissure about that same time. Fissure's courses, based on
Simulation Power Learning (SPL®), focuses student interest and creates a learning experience
that is valued and fun! Students report
that they are able to retain and immediately apply what they have learned when
they return to work.
On
a more personal side, my wife and I recently built a cabin in Northern
Wisconsin and we find ourselves spending weekends working on the cabin while
enjoying the solitude that nature has to offer. My summers would not be complete without a trip to the
Boundary Waters to explore and to do a bit of fishing. We also like to do long-distance
bicycling and over the years we have biked across Minnesota, North Dakota and most
of Montana. Our next goal is to
bike through Glacier National Park.
So stay tuned for our next adventure.
Back to top
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Fissure News
Fissure recently trained 128 of
Microsoft's top escalation engineers from around the world utilizing Simulation
Powered Learning®. Four
Fissure guides led simultaneous workshops covering a three day period on
Microsoft's Redmond WA Campus. The reviews were fantastic!
 Citrix team members heard
one of our webinars on Business Analysis and then invited us down to Florida to
train their BA team. The sponsor of the training said "it went great, quite a success and
it really met our expectations."
IHS  has invited
Fissure back to present its third 5 day PMP Prep Workshop to their engineers. The courseutilizes Simulation
Powered Learning® to help applicants not only with the necessary knowledge but
the ability to apply that knowledge
in both passing the exam and in improving their project management skills in
the workplace.
 Fissure has reached a milestone; we
celebrated our 20th anniversary in December. We want to thank all our clients
and partners who helped to make the first 20 possible. Here's to the next 20!
 For anyone located in the
Twin Cities metro area looking to lend a helping hand Fissure is looking to help
the Fruit of the Vine food shelf. Fruit of the
Vine is the largest food shelf in Dakota County serving over 300 families a
week. They need help Fridays from 11- 3 to prepare the food for handout. Please
contact fissure if you have interest.
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