Quality of life – MyTaskPanel Agile | Software de gestión de proyectos ágiles

What you should know to avoid the failure of a digital project

Brenda — Fri, 09 Oct 2020 12:36:45 +0000

What you should know to avoid the failure of a digital project

Regardless of whether you are thinking about a service or a digital product, before carrying out the project, you have to take into account the keys to avoid possible failure.

Below, we tell you what tips we think are the five most important ones:

Be prudent with the first investments

Although every beginning requires an effort of time and money, the optimum situation would be to make a small, effective and concrete investment in order to recover it in a reasonable period of time. When the business begins to grow and pay off, you can increase your investments.

At first, if possible, remember to use free or low-cost software. Select key characteristics for your minimum viable product (MVP), establish stages and avoid starting a new one until you have finished the previous one.

Make sure you have a quality proposal and know how to transmit it

When creating your website, ensure that potential clients find, at first glance, what they are looking for and avoid a graphic design that is too baroque. Everyone should see clearly what you are selling, without animations that act as a distraction.

Know the actions of the competition

Look at your competitors to always keep the references in mind. Without the need to imitate them, take them as a lesson from both good decisions and mistakes.

Just like your company, the competition will also suffer changes of course, problems and disappointments. Recognize your priorities and objectives to define strategies that help you reduce the consequences of those bad times.

Define clear objectives for the entire company

Set the necessary objectives by hierarchy: quarterly, monthly and weekly. And every time you reach them, don’t forget to acknowledge them.

As a suggestion, you can choose a tool to record this information: efforts, deadlines, problems, costs, delays.

Take care of company staff

For the company to function satisfactorily, the team must feel developed and satisfied with its work. The worst thing that could happen to your company is that the staff is in a situation of monotony and technological stagnation.

Your professionals must understand the business and know the objectives and strategies in the medium and long term. You can periodically introduce resources that provide other insights and new knowledge.

Do not hesitate to seek the advice of experts in business management and not only in technology. In general, someone very technical will give you good advice on architecture and infrastructure, but they will not think too much about whether your project is commercially viable or not. If you have any questions, write to us without charge or commitment.

La entrada What you should know to avoid the failure of a digital project se publicó primero en MyTaskPanel Agile | Software de gestión de proyectos ágiles.

Is it worth leaving the comfort zone?

Mario Rosal — Mon, 30 Dec 2019 14:15:15 +0000

Is it worth leaving the comfort zone?

If you ask anyone what he wants out of life, he will probably think for a few seconds and then begin to list a list of material and/or individual things. However, what he is trying to say is always more or less the same: being happy. The real question would be another one: how to get it?

Happiness is not something tangible, although it is felt in the depths of our being and radiates outward creating a kind of aura almost visible around us, which others can perceive, although not everyone likes them. Neither it is a goal to achieve, but a way of life or an attitude towards it. As I always say, someone can decide to be happy or not. It sounds weird, but it’s not so much. There are three things (only three) that are needed to achieve the sought after happiness:

Decide to want to be happy
Know what you want from life
Put all the energy into achieving it

Decide to be happy

I mean really wanting to achieve it, not just wishing it and complaining about not being able to be happy. This seems simple, but it is actually the hardest part. It is necessary to adopt an optimistic attitude towards life.

The first step is to know that what you want is always possible.

I have read many books and watched videos that explain it in different ways, but they always reach more or less the same conclusion: the universe is not just matter and what you want to achieve must first be projected. That is, if you wish to be a successful person, you must believe and behave as such (and this does not mean to pretend). If there is a stumble on the road (we all have it), we must not become depressed, we must learn from the mistake and capitalize on the experience acquired.

I guess that more than once you have made a mistake in life or have had a bad experience (on my case, for example, I merged with my first company, to name one). What do you tell yourself about that experience? Is it a bad memory for you or an experience that enriched and strengthened you?

Know what you wish

It is clear that not all of us seek the same in life. Each of us has different tastes, desires and aspirations. It does not matter what areyours, but that you know them.

I am obviously talking about deep things, not superfluous ones. I mean, you may want a new cell phone or computer, but I’m sure that will not achieve anyone’s happiness.

I always knew, from the age of 16 or so, what I wanted from life, although over the years those goals have been changing (broadening or being more specific). To give an example, I talk about me. My first goal was to form a well-constituted family (a woman I respect, admire and love, children who fills me with love and pride, and a home which is my refuge for peace). Years later (during college) I decided to be independent, have my own company and achieve professional success. I was never ambitious, but I always wanted to have a good economic pass (No quiero mucho más dinero del que necesito, pero tampoco falta). Much later, almost by chance, I discovered my passion in this life: traveling.

The foregoing constitutes, in some way, my concept of happiness. That does not mean that my whole life revolves around it or that it’s always a fairy tale. I mean, I like to have breakfast outside on weekends, go out for a drink or have dinner at a restaurant two or three times a month, make some exercise, take care of my health, get up early to listen to the singing of birds, etc., etc.

All this is part of my way of enjoying life, accumulating happy moments (so that they are more than the others), but I never forget my most important goals.

To sum up, it is very difficult to feel optimistic and happy when you do not know what you want out of life. I have spent a lot of time meditating (generally in the middle of nature: by the sea, on the top of a hill, in a forest, or wherever you feel at peace with myself) to think about my life, where I am, how I got there and where I should go next.

Struggle to achieve it

Love and passion. That is the key to achieve it. Put all the desire, effort and passion into everything you undertake.

There are some things that depend too much on chance (for example, knowing the ideal person to share the rest of life together). I think we all cross that person, but we do not always realize or take advantage of the opportunities that come our way. You have to keep your eyes open and trust that everything happens for a reason.

Not all goals are so difficult to achieve. For example, traveling is something that is within the reach of the majority. Obviously, it requires to achieve certain economic pass, but that would be just another goal to achieve if it leads to the desired objective.

Anyway, here appears again the theme of attitude. Only certain types of people have what it takes to persevere, for years if necessary, to achieve the desired objective. As Diego Dreyfus always says (a life coach worth listening to):

“… you’re going to die, what are you going to do about it? …” That phrase means that you only live once. If you are not satisfied with what you have in life, what do you expect to change it?

I am going to tell you a short story…

Back in 2012, 17 years after we got married and around the age of 40, with our house already finished and our children already teenagers, we could make the honeymoon trip with which we have always dreamed (I drop a tear of emotion remembering it): to know the Caribbean.

That turned out to be not only our dream trip, but the event that changed our lives. I discovered that my passion in life was to travel (I could not get an idea out of my head … if what I was seeing was so beautiful, how much more was there to discover?). And best of all: my wife was also caught by the same passion.

Immediately after finishing that idyllic journey, I began to think what I should do to continue traveling. And I did not stay there. I made plans, researched, read everything, I subscribed to any forum, application or flight program that I thought would be useful, I changed the way I handled the business of my consultant, I imposed a vacation bonus, in short, all that could help me fulfill my goal: keep traveling. I discovered all the tricks to buy cheap flights, I understood that vacations should not be a seasonal event in high season, the different types of accommodations, how and when to buy, etc., etc.

To sum up, I became what many of my friends consider as a travel expert. In fact, I created a blog to help others get it and tell my adventures.

After a while, I started to go on holidays two or three times a year. Then, every two months. Getaways of 3 or 4 days up to 10 days at the most, interspersing an international destination with another one of cabotage, so that the costs are not so high.

Today, 8 years later, I am living in Valencia, Spain. One of the reasons why I am here with my family is to travel in Europe. I had to leave my comfort zone (sell my house, leave a comfortable economic position, friends and everything that I know) to achieve a new goal. Believe me: it was worth it.

Is it worth leaving the comfort zone?

My life is not perfect, it is far from it (I do not even know what the hell a perfect life means), but I can say without hesitation that I am happy. Besides, I know why I am and how I got it. I read a lot and I am interested in different aspects of life. I think I have an open mind and I like to listen to others, in order to know other cultures and ways of life (that’s why I love travelling).

Life is not a competition. Strange as it may seem to our competitive nature, we can all win.

I do not live in a bubble. I know that there are many different realities, that some people are born in situations that should not exist. Maybe this applies only to a certain sector of humanity. It is sad and unfair, but I can do little to change it, beyond collaborating with foundations that aim to eradicate extreme poverty and inequality of opportunities in the world.

Now, the most likely thing is that you, who are reading this article, come from more or less what we could define as “middle class” (low average, medium high, it does not matter). Obviously you have access to the Internet, to a computer or a smartphone, therefore surely you also hace access to drinking water, food, education and probably medical coverage. I do not know how your home or your friends would be. Anyway, you should always take the best of what comes your way and learn from what is not. Leaving behind what does not work and progressing towards what you want to achieve.

So I ask you again: do you think it’s worth leaving the comfort zone?

Life can be as wonderful as you can possibly imagine.

La entrada Is it worth leaving the comfort zone? se publicó primero en MyTaskPanel Agile | Software de gestión de proyectos ágiles.

Do you have trouble keeping your ideas organized? I can help you

Mario Rosal — Mon, 30 Dec 2019 13:41:18 +0000

Do you have trouble keeping your ideas organized? I can help you

Have you ever had the feeling that time is never enough for you to do everything you wish? Do you have plans but never finish taking them forward because you get lost on the way? Do you have goals to fulfill but you never achieve them? Do you find it difficult to determine the priorities of your multiple objectives? I will give you some tips that will help you put your ideas in order, prioritize them and transform them into a concrete plan to execute and measure their compliance.

Everyone who knows me knows that I am an extremely organized person (which is not the same as a structured one). Putting my ideas in order and putting together a plan to fulfill them was never a hard thing for me to do, because it came out naturally.

At some point I realized that this was not the common case. Many times, relatives, friends or colleagues told me their concerns and I really did not understand why that was a problem, they just had to do this or that. Or I saw that they had a plan, but instead of focusing on that question, they were discussing another plan that was obviously secondary. I will try to explain how I do it. I said try, because as it is part of my personality, it is a bit difficult to analyze and recopy in order to explain it.

First of all, let’s differentiate what is an “expression of desire” and a “goal to achieve”. We can desire many things in life (that’s easy). When we really care about something, we have to make a plan to carry it out. That differentiates a simple desire from an objective to fulfill.

I think the best way to help you is giving you a series of steps you should follow. Anyway, the best thing is that you find your own system and adapt it to your way of being and thinking.

1.- Make a list of objectives

You have to make a list with all the objectives you aim to achieve.

As I mentioned in another article, if you do not know what you want in life you will not be able to achieve success. Also, if you omit important things on that list, you will not achieve the others neither, because your mind will be elsewhere.

I recommend you to start where it hurts most. That is, ask yourself a simple question: “Are you happy?” Which was the answer?

Yes
No
Yes, but…

Do you know what is the best? That the answer does not matter.

If it was “yes” I would say “okay, but don’t you want anything else? Do you have absolutely everything?” I’m sure you’re not, because you would not be reading this if you were. Besides, nobody has everything..

If the answer was “no”, analyze the reason (what is bothering you the most?).

If the answer was “yes, but …”, what are those “buts”?

I recommend categorizing your analysis. We all have different types of goals in life:

Economic
Professional
Spiritual
Personal
Etc.

2.- Filter the list

Some objectives may not be as important as the rest. Do not try to reach them all, because surely it will be too much. Focus on what is paramount to you.

Besides, some objectives may depend on others. Focus on the first step to take, then you can worry about the following ones.

3.- Redefine the objectives

Now that you have a limited list of objectives to achieve, you must rewrite them so that they are S.M.A.R.T. objectives (I will not explain this, ask Google about it, I’ll leave you an image attached as a clue).

Once defined, if the deadline to reach any of the objectives exceeds 12 months (to give a reasonable measure), remove it from the list and replace it with a previous objective that takes you a little closer to that other goal so far away now.

4.- Prioritize the list

At this point, if you have done well, all the objectives are concrete, possible and have a date to reach. Well, which is the most important of all of them? Is there anyone that does not have the same weight as the rest? Which category will give you the most satisfaction?

5.- Make a plan

A plan is nothing more than a series of steps, tasks or objectives of a lower level (let’s call it “goals”) that will bring you closer and closer to the main objective.

The plan must have measurable milestones, to know beyond doubt whether or not you met a particular task. We could say that each defined milestone should also respect the SMART principle.

Be honest with yourself. For example, with respect to work, do you want professional growth, something that challenges you intellectually or do you want a better economic reward? It is very important that you are clear with this, since the plan that you will have to make to achieve one or another objective is not the same.

6.- Check your execution

You could think that in the previous point the work ended, but it is not like that. It is very important that, after a certain pre-stipulated time, you check whether or not you achieved each planned objective.

If possible, you should be able to determine to what extent you reached or not the goal. For example, if you defined an economic objective consisting on increasing your income before the end of the year in order to reach 3000 euros per month and, when the time has come you have managed to earn 2000 euros per month, you have reached the goal by 66%.

Something that could help you is to use a good tool to record your objectives, the plan to fulfill and control your evolution. This could be from an Excel spreadsheet or a more specific product if the objectives are multiple and you want greater tracking power.

I hope you can put these tips into practice and organize your ideas, transform them into concrete goals and make them true.

La entrada Do you have trouble keeping your ideas organized? I can help you se publicó primero en MyTaskPanel Agile | Software de gestión de proyectos ágiles.