the [non]billable hour

links for 2006-03-28

• Orb Networks | What is orb
  (tags: orb free tivo software)
• A VC: My Favorite Business Model
  (tags: entrepreneurship startup)
• Socializer - free automatic social bookmark submission
  (tags: bookmarks del.icio.us)

Productivity Test

Need to get more done?  Try this tip from Scott Berkun:

Here’s a test to help sort how your attention is working for you. Make a list of all the things you read, check, skim, or browse every day (Include every gadget or device you use once a day). Make a second list of why you’re spending your attention on them. What are you trying to achieve or feel? Rank the first list based on the second. Then cut the first list in half or by one-third and see what happens.

links for 2006-03-24

• ext337: The magic number is 6
  (tags: community collaboration group)
• Best of Getting Things Done | 43 Folders
  (tags: GTD productivity procrastination)
• Secret to a long life - get even more often - SeniorsHealth - Health In Focus
  "being friendly against one's will causes nothing but stress"
  (tags: customer+service)
• Wal-Mart courts upscale shoppers
  Great, now even makers of high-end, luxury goods will be forced to offshore their production to China.
  (tags: walmart pricing)

LexThink! Lounge Logo

I couldn’t resist posting this.  It will be on the back of a bowling shirt.  More details tomorrow.

Do Your Trial Exhibits Pass This Test?

Dave Gray has been doing some terrific blogging at Communication Nation.  In this post, he shares the results of a study about how people create visual diagrams.

A 1997 study found that when people create visual diagrams, they use about 6 to 12 visual elements, or "nodes" to describe a system.

What's interesting to me is that this is true no matter what tools they used and regardless of the complexity of the system.

Dave suggests that the ways people create diagrams is related to the ways people understand diagrams from others.  His thoughts:

1. People construct "mental models" when trying to understand how things work

2. Most mental models seem to be made up of 6-12 components

3. A diagram with more then 13 components will probably not become integrated into people's consciousness as a mental model

To me, that means that if you want your system to be understood and integrated into people's thinking as a mental model, you had better boil it down to a simple picture.

If you are a lawyer that uses diagrams to communicate with clients (or juries), you should take another look at your materials and see if you can simplify them.  Maybe Bill Gates should take the same advice:

In this slide alone, I count almost 40 components — and I’ve seen a lot of trial graphics that are a whole lot worse.

Knowledge Arbitrage for Attorneys

Writing about 10 ways to get more ideas, Rajesh Setty shares a gem that should be in every lawyer’s toolbox:

4. Harness the power of association

The more you associate things the faster you will get new ideas. Knowledge arbitrage is one way of associating things. Here is a simple way to develop your association muscle. List all the people that are close to you in your network. Also list their current projects and interests - basically list what matters most to these people. Once you have this data handy, whenever you meet a new person, see if there is a match in the interests of the new person and one of your earlier contacts in your network. If there is a mutual gain possible, connect these two people without expecting a gain.

The hidden benefit from the above mentioned approach: The more you do this, the higher the chances that the power of reciprocation will kick in and more people will be introduced to you. The more new people in your life, more fresh perspectives they will bring into your life. In turn, more new ideas will flow in.

This is one of the best ways to keep your existing clients happy and to get more.  Can you go though your client list and compile your clients’ current projects and interests?  Do you collect this information in your intake process?  You should.

Technorati Tags: knowledge, networking, relationships

links for 2006-03-23

• How to manage a maverick
  (tags: management)
• When it's OK to love your worst possible customer
  (tags: customer innovation)
• The Wikiversity: the latest disruption in online learning
  How long until WikiLawSchool?
  (tags: learning education lawschool)
• UnConference Ideas
  (tags: unconference innovation)
• Turn your company into an artist colony
  (tags: innovation collaboration)

Price like a Professional

Sean D’Souza gives some advice on raising prices in The Price is Never Wrong.  A comment to the post caught my eye:

Adam Kayce writes:  Darn good point. Every time I’ve raised my prices, not only do I make more money (which is nice), and not only do I seem to get more business (also very nice), but two other things rise, too: what you call “respect”, and “business self-esteem”.

People see me as more of a professional, the more my rates increase. It’s all perceived value.

But also, as I charge more, I give more - and I see my work as more valuable. That’s the business self-esteem rising. I believe it, so I embody it, and the value of the work increases. Great cycle.

I’d never thought about how pricing relates to business self-esteem before.  What do you think?

Technorati Tags: pricing, value, services,

Scanner or Planner?

Are You a Scanner? (via)

“If you're a Scanner, you are a very special kind of thinker. Unlike those people who seem to find and be satisfied with one area of interest, you're genetically wired to be interested in many things. Because your behavior is unfamiliar -- even unsettling -- to the people around you, you've been taught that you're doing something wrong and you must try to change.

“But what you've been told is a mistake -- you have been misdiagnosed. You're a different creature altogether. What you've assumed is a disability to be overcome by sheer will is actually an exceptional gift. You are the owner of a remarkable, multitalented brain trying to do its work in a world that doesn't understand who you are and doesn't know why you behave as you do.”

I know I am.

Risk Aversion and the Glass Ceiling

I pass on this interesting survey (pointed out by Rob May at BusinessPundit) that suggests that one reason women earn less may be because they prefer the “sure thing” of a fixed salary instead of a riskier (but potentially higher paying) performance-related pay package.  What does this say about the partner compensation model in law firms?