Ronnie’s Blog of Stuffs

Are Goals Enough?

2020-02-18T23:00:49+00:00

I started to ask: “Are goals enough?” at the beginning of the year. It became a more intriguing question as ITProTV had our annual company wide meeting to set goals for 2020. Professionally, goals for what we do have always been SMART goals–Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic and Time-Based. There’s never been a need to formally state it, it’s just been part of the ITProTV way.

I was surprised that for 2020 we had picked a theme that centered around goals and outcomes. It’s not that unusual, but at the time, I thought it was redundant. Then there came a point during that meeting, I wasn’t sure if I had thought they as being distinct concepts. As the week continued, I started to believe they were different.

With my interest piqued I had to look up the context for SMART goals. The originator of the concept had the same question “are goals enough (even if they’re SMART goals)?” He wrote:

“Notice that these criteria don’t say that all objectives must be quantified on all levels of management. In certain situations it is not realistic to attempt quantification, particularly in staff middle-management positions. Practicing managers and corporations can lose the benefit of a more abstract objective in order to gain quantification. It is the combination of the objective and its action plan that is really important. Therefore serious management should focus on these twins and not just the objective.” - George T. Doran

It was this statement that helped to clarify for me that not only is there a distinction between goals and outcomes but also the “why it matters.” SMART goals are about quantification (metrics). Outcomes are tricky because as Doran states; they are “a more abstract objective.” So that means they are less quantifiable. Both Goals and Outcomes are “twins” that deserve attention.

Goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainble, Realistic and Time-based are not insignficant or dispensible. The direct result of SMART goals makes teams more manageable and their work quantifiable. Another term for both these concepts is accountability. Accountability is key in every organization and that is where SMART goals are truly valuable for a company. But goals do not help us to achieve that other part of the “more abstract objective.”

So, what do we need to consider when setting up your team for success. We need put infront of our team that less quantifiable and the “more abstract objective” that I will call outcomes, the other twin.

More on that in the follow up part 2 article.

Check out the Jekyll docs for more info on how to get the most out of Jekyll. File all bugs/feature requests at Jekyll’s GitHub repo. If you have questions, you can ask them on Jekyll Talk.

Are Goals Enough? pt2

2020-02-18T23:00:49+00:00

You want your people focused on outcomes instead of goals. Remember this is the “abstract objective” called out by Doran. Unlike the way I described SMART goals in which every element is quantifiable, outcomes are not. Rather than quantifiable, outcomes are desirable objectives and motivating to the individual, why? Essentially, outcomes are what we really desire to happen after we hit our goals. They are the lasting positive results that are useful to that person and ultimately make that person more valuable to the team and company they’re apart. So, we should focus more on outcomes, than goals. If we want to help people to thrive in what they do, we should help define outcomes clearly.

So, I came up with an acronym that I believe will help. Outcomes should be HEARD. What do I mean by that?

(H)elpful – results that I find useful to myself or others. Let me give you an example. I can earn a certification like the CCNA (goal) but what I really want is the knowledge behind that achievement that make’s me a better networking professional.
(E)nduring – When I focus on the goal as an end result, I find the knowledge enough for the goal quickly fades once I’ve achieved my goal. An outcome should be where the value and knowledge doesn’t disappear as quickly. It is the difference in reading for meaning versus reading something to say you read it. One will impact you, the other will not.
(A)ccesible – I work with a bunch of smart people. I’m always in awe that my teammates can pull the knowledge out of their head when needed. This is an outcome that we should strive for rather than a short term goal where I forgot it a soon as I got to my goal.
(R)eliable – The outcome should be reliable. That means that it’s not only good for a day but valid until proven wrong, if ever proven wrong.
(D)emonstrable – An outcome should help me to be demonstrable. It’s not about proving how smart you are. It’s more about can you do it called upon to do it?

Take the time with your team to define the outcomes you want to achieve in as much detail as time will allow. This will not be wasted time. Doing this, your team will hit their goals. They will focus the efforts based on results they already desire achieve and are motivated to doing it.

Check out the Jekyll docs for more info on how to get the most out of Jekyll. File all bugs/feature requests at Jekyll’s GitHub repo. If you have questions, you can ask them on Jekyll Talk.

Is 23 February 2020 is your exam deadline? You need an action plan!

2020-01-31T19:32:49+00:00

Many people have been pushing hard studying and preparing for the current CCNA and CCNP exams because the last day of testing is 23 February 2020. To those that have near the finishing line, great Keep Going! You still have about 2.5 weeks for serious study. You need a plan. So what should we be doing? Here’s 6 things to do with the deadline pressure on your shoulders.

If you haven’t registered for your exam, do so now. Remember everyone is under the deadline. Remember exam seat availability may be limited should not be the thing that keeps you from getting your CCNA or CCNP. Do it after reading this post!
Make sure you’re doing subnetting every day. Work on different scenarios that you believe you can be tested on subnetting, including binary, CIDR notation, subnet mask, wildcard masks, hosts per network, number of networks…etc.
Each study session should include 1 hard topic and 2 for review. If you do multiple sessions a day,fine. Use my pattern: Review topic, Hard Topic, Review topic. Start with a review topic to get your mind ready to work (10-20min); Dive hard into your hard topic(1hr+); then end your session with another review topic (10-20min). Let’s be real right now. With only 3 weeks left, there shouldn’t be many topics that are left outside of your comfort zone. Before the study session know what the hard topic you’re studying for that session.
Print out the exam topic blueprint from Cisco. This will help you identify the hard topics you have left to cover. Put a ‘+’ for a review topic and an ‘*’ for hard topic. Go ahead and write out all your hardest topics you have. If you have more hard topics than days left before the exam…You may need help–ask for it, review a class or add more sessions on weekends if you have a job.
Watch your diet. You’re going to stress about the upcoming exam. Believe me, junk food and bad eating habits will make it more difficult for you to focus during your study time. Hydrate during your study. Only, snack during your break times..snack sensibly. Make the snack something that will keep you satiated for 90 minutes before your next break. For example, I drink water or hot tea and I snack on cashews…as much as I want a bowl of candies and chips. If you do, you’ll be either too sleepy to study or too distracted to focus. Be sensible about your snacks!
Oh by the way, breaks should be no more than 15 minutes at a time. Not long enough for you to get distracted but enough time for a snack and bio breaks then back to it. Distractions are just small dragons! Leaving the study session to long before starting will definitely derail your progress.
Keep a strict study schedule. In these last few weeks, a schedule is a must. As much as you can, realistically. Study comes first if the exam is your goal. So you realized I can’t count.

Let me know what you think! email me: ronnie@itpro.tv

So, I’ll share more soon. ~ronnie

Check out the Jekyll docs for more info on how to get the most out of Jekyll. File all bugs/feature requests at Jekyll’s GitHub repo. If you have questions, you can ask them on Jekyll Talk.

My first website and post!

2020-01-29T19:23:49+00:00

Hello, this is my first post and first website. I’ve chosen to create a static generated site using Jekyll and pages.github.com. This was more challenging than I thought so I needed some help. I want to give shoutout to Justin Dennison forhis help when I finally installed Jekyll and then said: “now what?”

Why a website? Well I wanted to see if I could do it and thought about it as a way to catalog thoughts and anything I find interesting. I’m a tech guy and have been teaching IT for many years but I have thoughts that I thought would be good to make sure that I had a place to store them.

How I am I attempting to do to this? I’m learning and my goal is to use just the terminal to do so…yes completely in the terminal. So there may come a time I don’t know if it can be done…but I’ll have help along the day to let me if I can do it or not.

So, I’ll share more soon. ~ronnie

Check out the Jekyll docs for more info on how to get the most out of Jekyll. File all bugs/feature requests at Jekyll’s GitHub repo. If you have questions, you can ask them on Jekyll Talk.