Architecture + Business + Software…
Ask any architecture student for the names of great architects in the last 100 years and Frank Lloyd Wright is bound to pop up.
Ask about some of Wright’s work and again Falling Water is likely to pop up.
I just recently found this which I thought was pretty cool – not a bad house design for 75 years ago!
Fallingwater from Cristóbal Vila on Vimeo.
If any of you have read my page about running you may have thought me a little strange with regards to using running as a way to clear my head and think through problems and issues.
As it turns out I’m not so strange!
During one of my MBA papers I read a paper about the use of Reflecting on Experience as a valid way of learning.
The paper outlined that running – being something we do virtually sub consciously – is a great opportunity for the brain to reflect.
During my MBA I started running again and found it a good way to relax but also to resolve in my head many of the ideas that I needed to use for my various assignments.
While there is now some academic research to confirm what I have experienced I am sure many will think I am now more weird!
Well that’s it! Typing this up as I wait for my test to finish and then that’s Quarter One Year put to bed – just need to wait for the results.
The first quarter has flown by but been incredibly busy. With only 5 lectures for each paper it is more what you do out of hours that counts.
In general things have gone well and my results surprised me for one of my papers (surprised in a good way that is!)
Everyone in the class is looking forward to a three week break though for most of us it is likely that work will fill any void created.
I’ve already got the text books and course notes for next quarter and while I’m not planning on jumping straight into those I will need to review them at some stage as I [unfortunately] miss my first lectures next quarter as I travel to Budapest of the GRAPHISOFT International Partners Conference.
UPDATED: 12/03 Full Press Release on Lance’s Site + Technical Details
It is great to see a lead being taken with regards to New Zealand’s broadband (and over at Stuff)
This is exactly what we need to get New Zealand business competing on a world stage.
I can’t say I am too surprised to see this as Rod @Xero has been advocating this for a long time, obviously to the point of him saying – well no one else is doing it, we might as well do it ourselves. Sam Morgan also eluded to it in the latest issue of Idealog.
Lance Wiggs (who is now also part of the Cadimage Team) is also part of the group behind Pacific Fibre so I look forward to hearing first hand how this progresses.
I can’t wait for this to come on stream so thanks to the group for doing what Kiwi’s do best – just getting on with it!
Time is racing by and the last week is a case in point!
Last Friday at our lecture on Quantitative Methods we had a two-hour test on confidence intervals, hypothesis testing and regression. Then on Saturday we had to hand in our 3,000 word essay for Managing People and Organisations. The essay covered a personal case study using the four frames from Bolman and Deals Reframing Organisations.
However, to really indicate how fast time is flying by, yesterday I received the course outlines for our next two papers:
Operations and Supply Chain Management
Financial Reporting and Control
Within 15 days our first quarter will be wrapped up and we’ll have a brief break before launching straight into quarter two!
The winners for the 2009 ArchDaily have now been announced:
http://www.archdaily.com/51666/archdaily-building-of-the-year-2009-the-winners/
It was great to an ArchiCAD designed building took out an award:
http://www.archdaily.com/51658/building-of-the-year-2009-sports-zamet-centre-3lhd/
As a company we have continually engaged external sources to help us with the ongoing development of our business.
Two years ago we undertook a significant strategic planning exercise with Helen and Greg Cross from Cross Ventures and we are currently working extensively with Brian R Richards with regards to the strategic branding of our international business.
Both of these engagements have been project based engagements which have focused on specific areas of the business. Strategy however, isn’t something that can be simply looked at on a project by project basis and requires constant review and adjustment.
I am therefore pleased to announce that Lance Wiggs has joined the Cadimage Board of Directors. This is a significant step forward for the Cadimage Group as Lance is our first non-executive director and this marks the start of our next growth phase.
Lance brings a wealth of experience from around the globe and has already started contributing to the direction of the business with a full on 3 hours yesterday afternoon to drop him in the deep end.
Tracey and I are really excited about this next period of development for our business and are stoked to welcome Lance on board! (pun intended)
There are just a few days left to vote for your favourite architecture of 2009 in the ArchDaily Building of the Year Awards.
It is great to see New Zealand’s very own Pacific Environments Yellow Treehouse in the finals along with a number of ArchiCAD finalists from around the globe.
Check out the finalists and place your vote: http://www.archdaily.com/49280/archdaily-building-of-the-year-awards-2009-the-finalists/
Last Wednesday I visited the sunny (or not so sunny as the case was) Hawke’s Bay for Accelerate 2010.
For a number of years Rod from Xero has been wanting to hold a conference to help accelerate growth in New Zealand business’ – specifically hi-tech.
The conference was held at the wonderful Black Barn Vineyard a wonderful setting.
Apart from the delayed flight the day got off to a great start with Andy Lark giving us his latest views on the Virtual Era.
A long lunch gave ample opportunity to network with everyone and sample some of Black Barn’s wines.
The afternoon session was quite loose with a chance to share ideas and issues that people are experiencing and hear insights from some of New Zealand most successful entrepreneurs and investors.
One of Rod’s aims was to get the ‘city folk’ into the provinces and as such it was great to meet a number of new people all based in the Bay.
Overall it was a fun day and I look forward to next years event
Cheers Rod, Odette and the Black Barn.
Well it’s been 23 days since my first MBA Diary which is a direct indication of how busy it has been!
Having not been at Uni for a number of years I felt it was important to attend a number of courses regarding how to get at all the wonderful resources and it was just as well I did as with the development of the Internet the Library is far from what I remember. The ability to access enormous resources and databases is both amazing and overwhelming.
Following these seminars we had our first ‘real’ block of lectures which went amazingly well. The concept of a 6 hour lecture sounds full-on and to a large extent it is. However, the lectures break up the time well and so far 6 hours has passed incredibly quickly.
Last week was not a ‘lecture week’ but I still managed to visit Uni four times! We have a group Presentation to make this Friday so we have had a number of group sessions to pull that together. It has come together well and this week we are into the final tweaking and rehearsing. While we are looking forward to the presentation it will also be good to ‘knock it off’ so we can concentrate on other aspects of the course as well.
Last week I also attended a monthly MBA breakfast which is a great opportunity to meet others who are at various stages of their MBA. Last weeks breakfast featured Bill Payne an angle investor from the US. The breakfast helped reinforce one of the main reasons for doing the course which was to network.