Author: Campbell

Rework

Yesterday I read Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson – the guys behind 37signals and products such as BaseCamp and Highrise.

While controversial is probably too strong a word to describe the book it certainly is not your standard business guide. When you boil it down the book could almost be described as common sense though I expect there are many who would disagree!

Some of the section headings that show this non-conventional approach to starting a business include:

  • Ignore the real world
  • Learning from mistakes is overrated
  • Planning is guessing
  • Build half a product, not a half-assed product
  • Throw less at the problem
  • Good enough is fine
  • Underdo your competition

I could go on and on but you can see the theme. As book it was certainly an easy read and I was surprised how quick I got through it.

That said I think I will read it again soon as there was an enormous amount to take in – though as with all my reading I take all the ideas and concepts with a grain of salt and adopt aspects that I feel will benefit my business and me most.

Ideas

It is a common myth that success is built on great ideas. While it is important to have an idea to begin a business, true success comes from execution and actually making the idea a reality.

I have recently read Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky that is all about the execution side of ideas. You’ll notice the book is from a website called the 99 percent – highlighting that the ideas is only the first 1%.

The book gives a number of good pointers as to how to turn ideas into reality while at the same time highlighting why in many cases ideas never see the light of day. It talked about the challenges in team building and leadership that also hinder many ideas.

The recent issue of Idealog had an article on the Casualties of coincidence which looks at plagiarism and how many ideas emerge at the same time from different places. At the end of the article there was a link to a Malcolm Gladwell article that talks about the fact that many of histories great inventions were actually invented by more people than receive credit.

The article is a great read and it talks about a firm that has been set up simply to invent ideas which reinforces the theory that the idea is only the start.

If you enjoy Gladwell’s article then I also recommend his latest book What the Dog Saw – a collection of articles he has written for the New Yorker.

MBA Diary #4

Its been a few months since I last reported on my MBA studies. In that time Quarter 2 came and went and then I withdrew from the course.

While I can see value in what the course offered for many of the participants for me it was really a case of not adding value. When I looked at both the actual cost and the time involved it really wasn’t adding up, and as a result was also limiting the time I could invest in my business.

I enjoyed the classes but at the same time felt limited in what else I could fit in – since quarter 2 finished I have read 6 books and have another 6 in my pile still to read.

On the upside it provided me a discipline of working on my business one day a week – a habit I plan to continue.

Quarter 3 is now under way and I wish my team mates well as they continue their studies.

Another milestone!

While we were busy getting our new website together we also passed another significant milestone with Cadimage.

$1,000,000 USD in Online Export Sales.

While this milestone has taken longer than we would have hoped the graph below shows that sales are growing at an increase rate.

You can also see (as would be expected) that sales jump everytime there is an ArchiCAD Upgrade.

Note: The graph above shows till the end of 2010 hence the flattening off!

My team and I are extremely proud of this achievement and it is especially rewarding knowing the revenue is 100% export based which complements our existing New Zealand business well.

Big week – Big Milestone!

It’s a while since I did a 80+ hour week but this last 7 days once again cracked that number (and yes that means I worked most of Queens Birthday Weekend.)

Over the last week we have put the finishing touches to our new brand and website.

It has been a long project with the inevitable last minute rush but we hit our target date and we can now all breathe a sign of relief!

The new website is only the beginning and we have a whole host of projects we will be working on through-out the rest of the year.

The Euro

“absolutely conceivable that the euro will replace the dollar as reserve currency, or will be traded as an equally important reserve currency”

Alan Greenspan 2007

All my purchases of ArchiCAD and related products are transacted with GRAPHISOFT in Euros so I keep a constant eye on the ups and downs of the Euro.

As can be seen from the above quote the Euro was once seen to possibly be a stronger  currency than the Greenback in the longer term – how things have changed!

With the recent turmoil in Greece, many commentators are questioning how long the Euro will survive.

For those of you interested I found this article in the NZ Herald (originally published by the Independant in the UK) quite informative.

Gábor Dénes’ Birthday

Today I was pulling up Google and was intrigued by the current Google Doodle:

Due to my dealings with GRAPHISOFT and frequent visits to Hungary I was aware of two facts that related to the doodle. First I knew the Hologram had been invented by a Hungarian and also that the inventor had won a Nobel Prize.

What I didn’t know was the inventors name – Gábor Dénes – or his birthday – 5th June 1900 – of when he received his Nobel Prize – 1970.

Google were therefore celebrating what would have been his 110th birthday!

As a side note on Google Doodle’s I heard that while most people stay on Googles search page for only a minute or so, the day Google celebrated Pac-Man’s 30th Birthday the average site visit was over 30 minutes!

Where have I been?

With such a long time between posts I imagine many of you may think I have been travelling again – but following our epic 73 hours return from Europe I haven’t actually left the country!

Not surprisingly life has been a little hectic with balancing work, study and relaxing (not that much of that has happened!) So finding time to blog has taken a back seat.

Over the last 5 weeks a number of things have happened though so thought I should share a few highlights:

Board Meetings

We’ve had a couple of Board Meetings with our new director Lance Wiggs with another scheduled for later this week. Lance’s no BS approach is both refreshing and challenging. While it is early days the formalisation of Board Meetings has already provided a discipline that Tracey and I enjoy as we look to grow our business.

New Website

A couple of weeks ago we launched a new Website as the first step in a series of strategic branding steps. Over the last 9 months we have been working with Brian R Richards Limited to build our brand by following an approach similar to Better By Design. The new website consolidated two of our previous offerings in to a single platform on which we will build and deliver future solutions. Keep an eye on the website on the 9th June when we plan to launch our new brand.

ArchiCAD 14

GRAPHISOFT have announced the next version of ArchiCAD so our team is busy preparing for both the international and local release.

My Volcano Story

So did you hear the one about the volcano that disrupted European Travel? If not then I’m not sure where you have been for the last two weeks!

Last Wednesday I was quite happy to arrive in Budapest after 29hrs of smooth travel. I was attending the GRAPHISOFT International Partners Conference – the first in Budapest for fives years, having visited Prague, Garmisch and Malta in the years inbetween.

By Thursday once the conference started talk of the volcano had increased and about 3 people were stuck in the UK and would miss the conference. Still no stress from our end, how long can this thing blow anyway?

Roll on Saturday afternoon as the conference draws to a close and European Airspace is closed and GRAPHISOFT have arranged five buses to transport partners back to Venice, Calais, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Helsinki – a great effort by the Team at GRAPHISOFT, but not so good for the Kiwis, Aussies, United States and Asian Partners.

Our Sunday flight home is, not surprisingly, cancelled and once re-booked we find we have an unexpected 10 days extra time in Budapest!

After much to’ing and fro’ing a plan emerged to get us home as follows:

  • Wednesday depart Budapest on a bus for a 26 hr trip to Athens
  • Fly Athens – Doha – Singapore
  • Stay Overnight in Singapore (where I am writing this from)
  • Fly Singapore – Auckland

So we’ll end up home 4.5 days later than expected (though 6 days earlier than it could have been) and instead of a ‘leisurely’ 29 hr flight total travel time will be 73 hours – yes a touch over 3 days!

26 Hours on a bus was less than fun, but we got to see Serbia and Macedonia by night! Also I took small comfort in hearing that some of our Swedish friends had to endure a 35 hr bus ride to get home.

I expect memories of this Volcano will be discussed at GRAPHISOFT IPC’s for many years to come…