How to not work

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
  - George Bernard Shaw, Maxims for Revolutionists

I love the book The Four-Hour Workweek. I love The Energy Project. And I love this Harvard Business Review blog post.

The gist of these grand tales is that we should stop working so much, and start prioritizing our lives to be what we want them to be. The risk inherent in this, of course, is that a) we fail to meet deadlines, b) we fail to look like we're working as hard as other people, c) we fail to get as much stuff done. So I think we're seeing that it's a fear of failure here (at least it is in my world).

But I like the principles and I am learning from my new manager (of about 6 weeks now) that this is actually possible. If you ignore the chatter of the silly, you can focus on the challenges that matter. One more book for you: Long Fuse, Big Bang. This one has a great quote that really stuck with me - "Don't let the tyranny of the urgent stifle the pursuit of the important."

Set aside time to think. Prioritize prioritization. Calm your mind and reflect on the day behind you. Then calm your mind and prepare your head for the day in front of you.

Now, to get to that 4-hour workweek... (though I'm fairly certain I could never really just work just four hours a week as I would be bored out of my mind...)

How to write an RFP

It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information.

  - Oscar Wilde

I have had some really great successes creating RFPs for event projects (and have received some great feedback from my partner companies responding to the RFPs), so I thought I'd share some of my guidelines.

My RFP template comes from an amalgamation of RFP templates provided to me by my industry friends including 3D Exhibits, Czarnowski, Jack Morton, Event Marketing Partners, and Derse, among others, and my learnings from the last half-dozen or so RFPs I've completed in the last year!

1. Cover page: I always name the project and provide the contact information necessary throughout the process, as well as the due date for the proposal.
2. An overview of the business issue: This is the place to describe the project in a brief paragraph. Be specific and concise in describing what the final product should look like.
3. Description of product and services: In a few paragraphs, describe what you are looking for the company to produce. I also like to put in this section the type of partnership I am looking for from the company (execution-only, strategic consulting, etc.)
4. Company information needed for proposal: In this section, I share all of the details of the project and about the company or department that would be helpful to the agency to know. Not a place to air dirty laundry, but be very upfront about the way the group likes to work and any challenges that the company may face.
5. Proposal format: Let the respondents know what you are expecting by way of response. If you want giant, bound books of designs, or if you want everything done in a pdf or Power Point, share that here. One of my best practices is creating a survey (even a short one in Survey Monkey) to gather the basic information from each respondent in an easily-comparable format.
6. Due date: Very important!
7. Timeline: Respondents understand that this may shift, but sharing the basic timeline for them is very helpful. For example:

• February 11, 2011: RFP sent out
• Week of February 14: Q&A calls with (Company Contact 1 & 2)
• Week of February 21: (optional) (Company Contact 1 & 2) available to pre-review proposals and make suggestions
• March 4, 2011: Proposals due
• Week of March 7: Internal core team reviews proposals. Core team made up of (list names here). Core team to set up calls with candidate companies to review proposals.
• March 11, 2011: Business awarded, planning calls begin

8.  Questions: On some of my RFPs, I let respondents know that we will answer questions at any time and all questions emailed to us will be shared with all respondents, unless the respondent requests the questions be kept confidential.
9. Estimated budget: This is a very debatable section - especially between myself and my procurement team! My procurement team believes that we should let the companies come back with their own proposals. I firmly believe that the respondents need parameters. I generally like to give a budget range, but ask for the proposal to be priced out in an a la carte format so I can understand the pricing structure (hourly, project-based, etc.)
10. Detailed Business Requirements: If not already covered in the sections above, I spend about a page here describing the details of the project and the outcomes we are seeking. If we are RFPing for booth design, there are a number of specific questions to ask... including what rush charges for graphics are!
11. Selection criteria: In this section, I clearly articulate what we are looking for in our partner and how we will evaluate the proposals. I also list the names of the selection committee and their roles as it relates to the project. I like to use a spreadsheet with weighted criteria for areas like account management, pricing, customer references, creativity, case study examples, previous relationship with our company, etc.
12. Performance Metrics: Here I describe the cadence of partner reviews and evaluations. I make sure the partner knows that they will be evaluating us as a client, as well. Partnerships do not work with the client just gets to evaluate and blame the partner - it's a two-way street!

I'm very happy to share my RFP templates with anyone in need. Ping me on Twitter @lizlathan, or drop me a note here!

Why work doesn't happen at work

The real problems are what I like to call the M&Ms: the Managers and the Meetings.
  - Jason Fried

I am huge fan of flexible work locations - coffee shops, home office, whatever. I enjoyed this Ted talk by Jason Fried about why work doesn't always happen at work. Where do you go when you really need to get something done? The answer is rarely the office, and usually either early morning or late at night. Especially creative people (take event producers, for example), need long, uninterrupted time to complete productive activities.

Jason makes the connection of work and sleep. Both are stage-based activities. Sleeping in multiple short bursts is ineffective and you are more exhausted in the morning. Working in multiple short bursts is ineffective and you don't accomplish as much as if you were working on one major task at a time.

Solution possibilities:

• No Talk Thursdays.
• Switch from active collaboration to passive collaboration - meaning don't pop in to each other, use email and other things that can be managed on your own schedule.
• Cancel your next meeting.

What would happen?

Time and Energy: Only one is flexible

Until you value yourself, you won't value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.

 - M. Scott Peck

As I mentioned, I've been reading The Way We're Working Isn't Working. So far, I've learned about the body's natural rhythms and how we have the most energy in the morning, and the least energy mid-afternoon. The recommendation is to exercise first thing in the morning and eat a substantial breakfast. Have a natural, mid-morning snack, and a healthy lunch. Then between 1 and 3, you should try to fit in a 30 to 90 minute nap and 10 to 30 minutes of exercise. This will renew your body and allow you to be at your ultimate level of productivity between 3 and 6:00, when you end your workday and are refreshed enough to have energy for your family in the evenings. A light dinner and a calming ritual before a regular bedtime is essential.

So... now for reality. There is no way I can skip out after lunch to take a nap. And unlikely that I can skip out to exercise. BUT, perhaps I could take an afternoon conference call on my cell phone and walk around the building while on it. Or perhaps I can at least stand at stretch in my cube during those afternoon calls.

My biggest challenge is the early morning exercise. I firmly believe that is the best time to fit exercise into my day, but I just can't get myself out of bed. So there's my challenge to myself this week. Roll out of bed and take a 20 minute walk at 6:15. Let's see if I can do it three times this week.

The challenge is on!