Organize IT

Excuse the rambling nature of this post but I’ve had a few thoughts about creativity recently and I want to get it off my head (in the spirit of my last post). You see, creativity seems to be associated with hippy-like ideas about thinking big and opening your mind to new ideas and different experiences. Don’t focus on small things, think about the big picture! But I’m not so sure…

I’m pleased to announce that this month marks the third birthday of Organize IT. Unfortunately there won’t be a party or cake but I’m still very proud of this achievement, and just a little bit amazed because, ignoring such things as holidays and the little matter of my wedding last year, this blog has been active each and every week of those three years. Given that most blogs die a lonely, neglected death within their first month, it’s safe to say I’m pretty damn happy with what I’ve achieved so far.

This guest post was written by Daryl Furuyama of WhiteHatBlackBox.

James wrote a post a little while ago discussing the myths about simplifying your life and he has been kind enough to let me explore the myth a little more. Living a simpler life is definitely appealing. I sometimes imagine living without the hassles of everyday life – paying bills, cleaning the house, dealing with people that aren’t particularly nice. Sometimes I wish I could just give it up and breathe. Just looking at a person meditating brings up feelings of peace and calm that I want in my life.

This guest post was written by Sherri of Serene Journey.

A couple of weeks ago James wrote an article about the importance of identifying the root cause of a problem and not just addressing the symptoms. Having done root cause analysis for companies on a number of issues, I’ve seen first hand the benefits of taking this approach to problem solving. It’s not always easy to just sit down and do it. It does take time, practice and patience and it also helps to have a guide on how to do it.

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I’ve always frowned upon the whole idea of tracking your time in detail. As useful as it might be to know you spend 40% of your time at work, 5% of your time commuting and 10% of your life on Facebook, if you do genuinely need to know that information there are deeper issues to resolve. Such data might reveal to you where time is being wasted, and that by taking a different route to work and paying less attention to Facebook, you may resolve that problem. But it doesn’t resolve why you’ve got that problem in the first place (anyone want to suggest what the root cause may be?).