Professional development

Principles learned from Pathfinder mission, #4
Plan….and improvise

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Principles learned from the Mars Pathfinder mission. Adapted from the book, “The Mars Pathfinder Approach to Faster-Better-Cheaper” (Pritchett and Muirhead,1998). Plan….and improvise. Some of the author’s comments: “In your own pursuit of spectacular results, start out by doing some “deep planning.” Anticipate as best you can. Make your very best guess about how the situation … Read more

Principles learned from Pathfinder mission, #3
Deliberately choose to do things differently

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    Principles learned from the Mars Pathfinder mission. The third in a series of seven columns highlighting some of the principles from the book, “The Mars Pathfinder Approach to Faster-Better-Cheaper” (Pritchett and Muirhead, 1998) Deliberately choose to do things differently. Some of the author’s comments: “Don’t wait for innovation to happen by accident. Make it … Read more

Principles learned from Pathfinder mission, #2
Let limitations guide you to breakthroughs

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  Principles learned from the Mars Pathfinder mission. The second in a series of seven columns highlighting some of the principles from the book, “The Mars Pathfinder Approach to Faster-Better-Cheaper” (Pritchett and Muirhead, 1998) Let limitations guide you to breakthroughs. Some of the author’s comments: “Constraints and limitations can be more of a blessing than … Read more

Principles learned from Pathfinder mission, #1
Set goals that make you stretch

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  Principles learned from the Mars Pathfinder mission. The first in a series of seven columns highlighting some of the principles from the book, “The Mars Pathfinder Approach to Faster-Better-Cheaper” (Pritchett and Muirhead, 1998) Principle #1: Set goals that make you stretch. Some of the author’s comments: “The most important aspect of how to begin … Read more

Stumped for ideas? Do as Bernie, Eric and Tom do

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Do you blog frequently? Would you like to, but are often stumped for ideas? If that’s the case, then do as Bernie, Eric and Tom do. Curious? Read on.

As one who tries to blog regularly, I sometimes am stumped for ideas. Oh, I may have lots of ideas running through my head, but few if any are worthy of a column. That is until now.

You see, I always felt that a blog column had to be rather lengthy (by blog standards): say, 500 to 700 words. Shorter pieces could go out with e-mail broadcasts, and even shorter items might end up as Facebook posts or Tweets.

I exeperienced a mini-revelation recently. Oh, it’s nothing new or earth-shattering. But it caused me to rethink my approach to blogging. It should allow me to blog more frequently, which is a good thing. And it’s something you can benefit from, too.

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