Scope Creep.
During my day job, a term was brought up during a project meeting. Our shop was given a task to accomplish with the customer’s needs. As the meeting progressed, the customer started to request more and more without considering budgeting. Although, this was the initial meeting prior to our shop preliminary survey. As professionals, you don’t want to promise the customer anything until there are full inventory and cost estimate that is agreeable to both parties.
Scope Creep is when the customer goes beyond what the project was agree upon and ask to add more adjustment after the project has started. Given the opportunity, it is best practice to make the customer specify what they need and allow the customer to decide on options based on delivery and timeline. Example, Option A has a shorter timeline without X, Y, Z feature and Option B has a longer timeline with all specified feature.
There is a lot of debates on whether to get a certificate or a degree for any sort of specialize job. Essentially, it all depends on your career goals.
Certificates:
Certificates are offered at trade schools and even at some colleges. Although, going through colleges for certificates will require you to take some core classes with no guarantee of a certification. They may only offer lectures to cover the materials for your specific certificate.
- Duration: Typically shorter. Some are self-paced and requires passing difficult exams.
- Cost: Often less expensive than degrees.
- Focus: Highly specialized in a particular skill or area of focus.
- Career Impact: Beneficial for career advancement, skill development, and career field specific.
- Examples: Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), coding bootcamps.
Degrees:
Degrees requires a lot of commitments. Some of slow paced, some are accelerated. Depending on the school, it also offer networking and alumni resource that is priceless.
- Duration: 2-4 years for undergraduate degrees and additional years for advanced degrees
- Cost: More expensive.
- Focus: Provides a broad or in-depth understanding of a field, covering theoretical and practical aspects.
- Career Impact: Required for specific professions (e.g., engineering, law, medicine) and can open doors to higher-level positions, promotions, or career shifts.
- Examples: Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Master of Business Administration (MBA), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.).
I am currently working both. I’ve learned that the resource and learning material is very broad in a degree specific coursework. But it doesn’t prevent you from using that knowledge or skills to apply to your own research. On the other spectrum, earning a certificate was definitely quicker and cheaper. Although, I believe it was harder because I was cramming a lot of information in a short time just to pass an exam.
I know there are influencers and business guru that is all about GRIND, GRIND, GRIND. But your body can only handle so much. Take the time to rest, especially around/during the holidays.
Benefits of resting:
- Improved Decision-Making: When you take the time to rest, you are removing yourself from the situation. This gives you time to think clearly and see the problem from an outside perspective.
- Sparking Creativity: Creativity flows better when there is no stress involved. Creativity tends to lead to more productivity in a more fun and productive way.
- Better Health: It goes without saying, resting not only helps with your health but the health of the business. when you’re at your peak, the business is also at it’s peak performance.
- Long-term Sustainability: Success is a marathon, not a race. Most business fail within the first 3-5 years. Business that overcome the 5th year are more likely to expand and grow.
These are a few ways that resting can benefit you and your business. Don’t take days off lightly, it can help recharge and improve business decision when you can keep a clear mind.
It happens a lot. Things don’t go as planned.
When this happens, we can prepare for them. It good to have a back up plan. Don’t stress or waste time to deal with the frustration and anger from failed plans. But use that energy to work towards the next step. Sometimes when plans fail, it leads to new ideas, opens new doors.
Speaking from experience, almost 99% of my plans fail and have to go to Plan B, C, or even D. Most of the time, it was caused by a force that is outside of my control. Additionally, you could use this opportunity as a learning experience and note the next step if you come back to the same block.
Of course.
If it does go as planned, celebrate when you can. Even the small victories needs to be recognized. But don’t get too distracted that you made yourself lose track.
Deadlines are important. We live in a fast-pace society where instantaneous satisfaction for customers can make or break your business.
Why they are important
- They are dates that requires someone to deliver some sort of product or service.
- They are dates that keeps people on tract. A plan without a set deadline will continue to drag out indefinitely.
Make them less about stress but more as achievements.
There are ways to deadline less stressful.
- (The obvious) Break bigger projects into smaller ones
- Do a little bit of work each day.
- Block out time for job same time each day
- Ask for help
- Use available resource (technology)
While traveling, I was seated next to a lady that express herself as a career woman. She believe that every opportunity to learn and acquire new skills gave her the ability to move higher and higher in the respective company she worked for. She use her companies benefits and training courses to become a candidate for higher position she wanted to pursue.
Alternately, not everyone is blessed with opportunities like this lady. Fortunately, we can create our own by sparing some times to improve ourself. I have mentioned before that starting off with just 10 minutes a day on a new skill will eventually turn into 15… 20… 30 mins… or more. Once, it becomes a habit to expand your knowledge and skills, it becomes addicting and watch how more door open up for you.
Since I am moving forward to study into two masters programs. One particular studying technique that I recently learn take up between 30 sec to 1 min. Simply pick a particular section of the subject you’re learning and list out all the facts and concept associating with it. Once you have that, build on it and list out more. Then, you will ask that same question again the next day and see if you can repeat all the answer. Repeat until you get it 100%. Once you got that, erase and move on to the next section.
This particular technique is use to remember a lot of different types of information (or definitions). Test that are concept or solving problem doesn’t work.
I want to bring more business terminology onto this site. One specific term I recently learn is Oligopoly. The is where the market is controlled by a few selected business that sell similar products but the pricing are not depended on each other. Meaning go after your dreams and build a business, learn from others in the game and make it unique. The way you price your product or service should be depended on how much you and your customer values that type of products or service.
Always Keep Improving Yourself and Your Business.
Let make Wednesday the day for updates and news. This gives me a week to create content and build my website. I will try to come up with a new topic or content each week.
I was trying to post monthly and hopefully develop a habit to post weekly but it seem like I failed to do so. This was suppose to be an easy habit to engrain since it take less than 10 minutes to type up a simple update. This whole project is an outlet of information or database that can be easily access so that I will not have to remember everything, yet I still forget to post a weekly note to help me get organized in my thought and update what going on with this site.