Doug's Blog Archives – Page 48 of 58

15 Apr 2009

If the Shoe Fits…

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:31:27-06:00April 15th, 2009|Categories: Current Events, Doug's Blog|

A few weeks back I attended the funeral for my uncle and then went to my aunt's home afterwards. There was quite a crowd from all over.

Later in the day, when I went to leave, my dress shoes were missing.

Luckily, I had another pair of casual shoes in the car, or I would have been driving for two hours in socks.

Well, my relatives (my aunt, mom, and grandmother) tracked down someone who had left their shoes at the gathering. Apparently his eyesight is not too great and he noticed he had the wrong shoes about halfway back on the drive to Winnipeg (from Brooks, […]

14 Apr 2009

The Art of Delegation

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-06T12:19:34-06:00April 14th, 2009|Categories: Doug's Blog, Dream Teams, Leadership, Mindset and Motivation|

I’ve noticed something over the years that often happens to three categories of people in many situations:

Managers,
Subject Matter Experts, and
Suckers.

Managers

Team members that report to managers are either unable or afraid to make decisions and have learned that they can pass the hard part off to the manager, who will take the work back because they are too busy and frustrated to deal with the problem.

Subject Matter Experts

Team members come to the subject matter expert with a problem. Instead of looking for ideas in finding a solution, they pass the problem onto the subject matter expert for resolution. The […]

8 Apr 2009

Web Site Redesign

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:31:37-06:00April 8th, 2009|Categories: Doug's Blog, Marketing, Sales, Software Development, Technology|

I have spent the last year or so thinking about redesigning our corporate website. I'll be the first to admit our company's website is dated and the content is a bit stale. It has been kind of the story of the shoemaker and his kids… too busy working on other people's stuff.

I could just take the existing content, update it a bit and put a new front on it. But that didn't really feel right.

Sure there are lots of static and dynamic brochure style websites out there to emulate. This is who we are, these are our products, these […]

7 Apr 2009

Tar Sands – Dirty Oil

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:31:42-06:00April 7th, 2009|Categories: Books and Courses, Current Events, Doug's Blog|

I recently read "Tar Sands – Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent" by Andrew Nikiforuk. I found the book to be both dry (lots of statistics and numbers) and disturbing at the same time.

Now to be sure, the book is really about all the negative aspects of the exploitation of Alberta's oil sands. However, I do think it is important to see both sides of the story and welcomed a chance to understand some of the issues better.

Most of the book was about the socio, economic, political and environmental issues. There was one chapter at the […]

2 Apr 2009

Good Business Coaches

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-04T16:46:50-06:00April 2nd, 2009|Categories: Doug's Blog, Leadership, Mindset and Motivation|

An Example – ProCoach

I went to a seminar put on by Andrew Barber-Starkey of ProCoach Success Systems a number of years ago here in Calgary. The information presented in the seminar was decent, and of course it ended with limited time options to enter their program for a special price.

A few years later, I am still receiving newsletters from them. Sometimes there is a good pearl of wisdom in them. Recently, Andrew has started interviewing well-known authors and posting those interviews on his site.

Superficially, he appears to share a number of common business success principles […]

1 Apr 2009

101st Post

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:31:52-06:00April 1st, 2009|Categories: Current Events, Doug's Blog|

Still working on the visualization and goal attainment. Even when I achieve it I will probably still be doing something entrepreneurial with my spare time. The big difference is I will also have more freedom of choice for my time.

Well it's April 1st and at least I didn't fire anyone this year. Yes, a number of years ago our staff played a nasty one on management while we were at a lunch seminar with the CEO of Dell. Since then we changed the rules to exclude jokes about operational matters, too dangerous to get out of hand.

Happy April Fools Day […]

1 Apr 2009

100th and Last Post

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:31:57-06:00April 1st, 2009|Categories: Current Events, Doug's Blog|

This is my 100th post. I've enjoyed sharing my thoughts, experiences and lessons over the past year.

One of the recurring themes of my posts and my motivational reading is the power of visualizing the end goal.

Well, the power of visualization and alignment has paid off.

I've reached my goals and I have decided to retire from business and writing. Yup, nothing but beaches and sailing on sparkling blue water for me.

As the dolphins said as they left Earth in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy:

"So long and thanks for all the fish!"

Nothing else to say… bye.

31 Mar 2009

Intel’s New Nehalem Zeon Processor

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:32:02-06:00March 31st, 2009|Categories: Doug's Blog, Technology|

Just read some reviews on Intel's newest Zeon processor. Looks like the increase in processing power over prior versions and the competition is a very substantial jump… like double. Just as big is the increased support for virtualization to take advantage of features in Windows Server 2008.

Doubling the processing power while reducing or keeping steady the power consumption is significant.

We are hosting some client applications at Q9 Networks. They charge for power and bandwidth. If I can cut my power consumption in half to get the same work done, that would give us a substantial power […]

30 Mar 2009

Long Winter – Spring on It’s Way

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:32:07-06:00March 30th, 2009|Categories: Doug's Blog, Mindset and Motivation|

It has been a long winter here in Calgary… lots of lingering snow, recent snow and below average temperatures. The trees and plants are showing little sign of rebirth, though there are small signs that nature is waking up if you take the time to look.

On a personal note my business partner and I recently received recent news of deaths in our extended families. Families and friends are gathering from far and wide to pay their respects and show support for the living.

My uncle ran a small business doing survey work out near Brooks for the oil and gas companies, etc. […]

26 Mar 2009

The Show Must Go On

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:32:12-06:00March 26th, 2009|Categories: Doug's Blog, Leadership, Mindset and Motivation|

I think I've mentioned that I like to play Celtic and Maritime music as well as do Canadian step-dancing.

Well recently the band I am in (Get Reel) had two gigs scheduled, one at a church hall on Saturday and one Wednesday evening at a senior's residence with our step dancing class as well. We currently have three members in our band (Greg Black, Deborah Mandzuk and myself).

We worked up a really nice set with all of us playing our multiple roles.

Just before the weekend, Greg called up and told us that because of a tear in his retina and his laser […]

Doug’s Blog

Managers

Subject Matter Experts

An Example – ProCoach