Been so busy, little time to update

Life sometimes throws you ... well, lots of stuff at once. I am working on a follow up entry to service management at home, but have been overwhelmed with work recently (a good thing I suppose).

Exploring Service Management Concepts in a Home Environment

As a professional in the space of Service Management, I am often tasked with business analysis, process improvement, organization, and application of theory in a business setting. The area of Service Management where I focus has its roots in ITIL® and is very much Information Technology focused. Some of the goals of Service Management are the consistency of providing services to your customers, the increase in overall customer satisfaction, and continual service improvement.

At home earlier this week we experienced an unusually high number of “incidents”. Among these, we ran out of milk in the morning, my son’s favorite breakfast food had been used up the day before, both our primary and secondary dining areas were completely cluttered with junk causing numerous complaints, dinner wasn’t ready on time because of unscheduled conference calls, nothing good was on television, and my son had a meltdown because we left one of his toys at daycare. In a stroke of lack-of-sleep genius mixed with utter insanity, I thought that maybe if I could take some of the theories I apply so well to my business customers, and apply them at home, we could avoid these issues in the future, and in general make our home life more organized and comfortable.

In this light-hearted series of posts, I will take concepts borrowed from ITIL® and IT Service Management (ITSM®) [both ITIL® and ITSM® are care of our friends in the UK OGC], and see how well they apply in a completely non-corporate environment, in this case, as a parent in Parenting Service Management (PSM). Since I am writing these at 3am during my sleep deprivation times, it is guaranteed to entertain.

So let us begin by taking a serious look at the organization I call “my family” with primary place of business being “my home”. What sets this organization apart from most normal businesses is the fact that every employee is both a service consumer and service provider in almost every aspect of the organization. Where this organization is similar to most other businesses are in the facts that while some needs are fairly static over the course of time, other needs and wants change from month to month and year to year, that when customer satisfaction of services is low it can lead to moral issues, lowered productivity, and increased complaining, and that some employees think and act like four year olds (in my case, one *is* a four year old).

In following a recommended approach to adopting ITSM, we will start our road down PSM maturity by taking a good hard look at the services we provide and the consumption model of these services. We will then take a road-map approach to discuss where we are with PSM and where we want to be in the future before delving into the details.

See you next post!

For more information on ITIL® and IT Service Management and applying it in an actual corporate environment, please visit my company's website at Third Sky, Inc.

New Years resolutions you can keep

It never fails. This time of year people think about the new year coming up, look at the year past, and try to come up with resolutions that will make their life better, make them a better person, or are just crazy, wacky, or that the person has no chance of ever achieving.  So this year, I'm starting a list of resolutions you can be sure to keep... Feel free to add your own.

The one I alway start with... I resolve to have a new year's resolution I keep next year (it's worked so far ;) ).

The obvious: I resolve to be grow a year older and a year smarter.

The local: I resolve to not complain more about New England weather than I did this year...

The simple: I resolve to make my desk less messy... at some point

The confused: If I lose weight, I resolve to find it again as soon as I can.

The omnipotent: I resolve to not let it snow in July... in Florida.

The BEST Sweepstakes Site on the Internet.

I have been an on again, off again member of OLS (aka http://www.online-sweepstakes.com/) for several years. In fact my first paid subscription was back in 2005.  OLS has helped me win a number of small prizes over the years, a few gift cards, a few useful things, and even a few things I wonder why I bothered entering the contest for in the first place.

OLS is more than just an Sweepstakes and Contest site; it is a community. It is a community of many interesting, diverse people from all over North America, and I would even guess some from other continents as well. The people in this community are generally friendly, kindhearted, and... well... lucky! After all, we're all there to win a little, learn a little, and share a little. For those of you who frequent OLS, I am known as Schmoolander. I also have to be honest here.. that OLS is the *only* sweepstakes site I've really looked at. I know it is the best... but I really haven't done any comparisons :)

As a member of OLS, I have an uncontrollable urge to check my mail daily, my email every minute, peep out the front door for FedEx, UPS, DHL, and other delivery services, and get excited when a box is on my doorstep... even if it is something I ordered myself. With my birthday coming up (and no, I won't say exactly when, so don't ask), I expect a few more things in the mail... cards, the occasional freebe signed up for online, etc., but today I got something unexpected... a second "My Parent Rewards" card. I'm not completely sure where the second one came from; maybe it was a mistake; maybe I won a second blog contest and was never notified. I received my first one only two weeks ago. I have yet to use it, but it looks promising. Now, I'm not here to review the card, tout its pros or cons, or any of that. In fact, they aren't even a sponser of this blog. It just happens that I have an extra card, and decided to try my very first blog contest!
...And just to give back a little to OLS, this one is only for OLS members.

The giveaway:
1 unopened, unusued, My Parents Reward card (http://www.myparentrewards.com/)... from my mail to yours. No sponsor. Just a prize. No need to visit the site, comment about it, etc.

Here's How To Win:
1) You MUST be a member of OLS, and have been a member since before December 21st, 2009 (the posting of this blog entry). You do not need to be a paid member, just a member.
2) You MUST comment on my blog... otherwise I won't know you entered. Please comment something about OLS. I really don't care what. Or comment about the Blizzard of 2009. I am going to respond via email care of the blog for the winner. If you do not have an email address as a public part of your profile, please enter it in the comment.
3) If you win, you may choose the prize for yourself, or for any other OLS member. The winner email will ask for your OLS username, or the username of your designated prize recipient. I will verify you on there.

BONUS ENTRIES
Everyone love's bonus entries... which is why I'm not having any. Nah Nah. Everyone get's a fair shot. No Twitter, no Facebook, No Problem!

For a full list of rules please read HERE. Giveaway will end on Tuesday December 24th at 9am EST.  U.S. and Canadian entrants only please.

Good luck!
No Purchase Necessary. Void where prohibited by law. I received the product in the mail, and am not reviewing the product, condoning the product, or have anything to do with the product originator or company of origin.

Contest Results:

Congratulations Lilyk! I'll be contacting you soon.

Working from home with a 4 year old

We decided to keep our son home from Daycare for a few weeks over the holiday. My mother-in-law is coming next week, but the past week and this week it has been difficult for me to get my work done. My son is an only child, and he still insists on including me in EVERY activity. Lucky him, he is getting his fill of TV and computer games while I work.  I just wish he understood that when I am on the phone (especially with a client) he needs to keep quiet. Oh well... the clients are understanding.

I'm doing what you are doing...

This is about one of those things that you don't find in any parenting book, or hear about in any parenting class. I think this is one of those cruel jokes that other parents have... they have been through it; they know you are going to go through it... and they stay silent, sit back, and watch with a grin on their face. It hits when the kids are about 3 1/2 years or so. So if yours are younger... be forewarned.

Oh sure... it's cute for the first week. Oh sure... it makes you feel good that your kid likes what you like, and wants to follow in your footsteps... for the second week. But now I'm on MONTH four, and it really gets on your nerves sometimes. It has many names... "I'm eating what you are eating", "I'm watching what you are watching", "I'm what you are ". Where was that independence you showed just 5 months ago? 

Nobody told me I was going to have to act like I was sleeping at 8:30pm just so my kid thought I was, and would do the same. Ahh... the joys of being a parent.

And a blog was born...

Hello world. That seems like the appropriate opening to a brand new blog in cyberspace. It is definitely more appropriate than "How now brown cow". This is my first blog, at least my first personal blog. I figured that contributing to other people's blogs was good, but having my own is better.

So let me say "Welcome!" to all.