by Chaitra on July 12, 2010
Credit : Kevin Lim
As you know I love to research and share my thoughts around Mobile market trends. My quest to find out if mobile trend is truly a billion dollar market has been successful. I spent last 2 weeks doing research to find out what companies are building and why they are building them.
I could not believe the solutions that were available today in our marketplace. I think they are very impressive and attractive for consumers. I think the next 5 years will be a life changing experience for all of us. Mobile solutions will truly change how we interact, share and collaborate with each other. In addition, they will also save time, money and resources.
What I am planning to do is share my research on Mobile Killer apps in 3 part series. This will help me share killer solutions that will either help you save money, time or resources.
With future due, here are my top 5 killer mobile apps that focuses on saving you time.
- Diacarta : I was mesmerized when I saw the video on Youtube . Imagine an app that helps you plan your day more visual. It not only helps you make right choices but also helps you drop appointments that are not good for our health. You know what I am talking about! This app allows you to create a picture of your day by adding an icon for each activity. They have 50+ icons to make your day amazing!
- PaisaGate : Would you like to track your expenses at the time of your purchase. Now, lets go one more step further, would you like to plan and manage your budget & expenses any place, any time in a centralized way. Paisa Gate is a blessing for mobile families where you spend track budget and expenses easily. It is a money management service that helps users with budget planning and expense tracking using SMS, mobile application or online interfaces. The service enables users set up a budget e.g. home budget, family budget or project budget and track expenses against that budget – thus helping users increase their net monthly savings each month. For me it is my time that is maximized!
- Roadify.com : Have you ever been frustrated to find parking and public transit nearby. Not anymore! Roadify is a new mobile platform that will let you know about parking and public transit in your close vicinity. All you have to do is send a text message and you will receive specific traffic and transit information. What a time saver solution! Download today..
- ScanBizCards.com : Do you remember the time spent on finding the business card? I do, I spend way too much time looking for business cards. Personally, I am always looking for the right solution that can help me manage my contacts easily. Now we have a mobile app solution which takes scanning your business cards one step further. You can act on the new contact in more ways than one (twenty five, to be exact). For example, you are allowed to send the new contact an email introducing yourself the moment that he has been added to your address book. You can also invite the new contact to catch up with you on LinkedIn. When you add a contact number, email address and URL will become highlighted, and you will be able to use such data by merely tapping it. If you had agreed to phone or get in touch at any specific date when you first met the person and you exchanged cards, you can always add a calendar reminder in order not to forget doing so. What a great interaction!
- Ubercab.com : We all have been waiting for cabs and they don’t stop for you. I always imagined why cannot we have a mobile app where we can easily request a car service. Ubercab actually read my mind. The basic premise of this app is letting you hire a vehicle (a high-end sedan) using your iPhone. An app is designed for us to request a black car limo service within a reasonable amount of time (IE, a couple of minutes) for about half the cost of hiring a cab. Isn’t that cool! I have not personally tried this service. Waiting for an opportunity to give it a try!
This is just a start! Keep your eyes open for killer mobile applications that will dazzle your life. Share your thoughts!
by Chaitra on June 16, 2010
Picture Credit – Scoobie 1993
Few weeks ago, I started reading the book ‘Head, Heart & Guts‘ by David L Dotlich, Peter C. Cairo, and Stephen H. Rhinesmith, which focuses on building complete leaders. Chapter 5 caught my attention because it was dedicated to “Getting Things Done”.
Well, to get things done you need to make many decisions! Don’t you? I wanted to understand the art and science of decision making. To make it an interesting learning experience, I reached out to my favorite Linkedin Group called Leadership ThinkTank.
They are an active group of leaders who voice their opinions and insights to make a difference. I posted my discussion topic: “Decision Making – Why it is not easy” and got 35-plus comments. I personally want to thank Randy Pound, Jeff Hoffman, Bill Frazier, John Haran, John Prpich, David Knowles Leak, Navneet Nayar, Graham Courtney, Naved Khan, Michael Redpath, Amulya Kapoor, Fiorenza, Laura Eardone, Chandan Singh, Olga Hengi, Kirk John Larson, Amanda Bouch, Galen Tom, Bogdan Motoc, Lynn Ferrari, Dr Mark Kilgallon, El (Rick) Beets, Joseph Noone, Gaurav Gupta, John Manning, Rajiv Lochan, Carole Lalonde, Russ Cheeseman and Jose Luis Romero for sharing their deep insights on this topic.
All the comments I received were great, but these two struck a chord with me and got me thinking:
- Indecisiveness is fatal. Go for the 70% rule: 70% assuredness, 70%confidence, 70% due diligence, 70% consensus, by Joseph Noone
- The best decisions are made with the heart, or the intuitive mind, by Laura Coldone
- What separates the inspirational decision versus the emotional decision versus the intellectual decision ? It is all relevant to the mind set and the setting of mind focus in the process of making the decision. The complexity of the simplicity of this process is fascinating, by David Meeker
- Decision making required , trade skill set, knowledge, experience analytic power and a cool head by Arun K Singh
Here is a summary of results on the topic from some of the best leaders on the planet. I recommend following the tread on this topic.
Top reasons for identified for Indecisiveness:
- Very few of us were taught “how” to make a decision, so most of us struggle with the process of making a decision
- Do not want to take responsibility
- Not sure whether it’s the right decision
- Avoid a possible disaster
- Habit to delegate decisions
- Does not want to say “yes” or “no”
- Does not make decisions at all
- Unclear about the Change
- Clarity on outcomes and priorities. Decisions can have scary, painful, unexpected and unintended consequences.
- Fear of failure if you make a bad decision or things just turn out badly.
- Many people actually end up solving the wrong problem, which guarantees disaster.
- Not knowing what decision making tools to use in a given situation
- Not knowing where to get the information needed to support or disprove propositions
- Not knowing who to involve in the process
If you look there are so many reasons, that can stop us from making decision. The statement that made total sense to me was Randy Pound’s take: “Decision making is an art only until the person understands the science (process).”
Here are some strategies the community shared that will help make decisions and getting things done easily!
- Define clearly what the “decision making” is to the decision itself. The definition should include the entire process, including understanding the need, engaging key stakeholders, ensuring effective communication, assessing alternatives, developing consensus, making and planning the decision, communicating, executing, and following-up on the decision. In other words, decision making is a process . . . not an event. (Quality of Data – By Randy Pound)
- Getting quality advice from people you trust and respect
- Go for the 70% rule: 70%assuredness, 70%confidence, 70%due diligence, 70%consensus
- Get out of your comfort zone
- Become accountable and answerable to you and your team
- Identifying the “stoppers” in my life has made the act of decision making much easier.
- Implement a easy process : Define Problem:Develop Alternatives:Evaluate Alternative: DECIDE: Implement & Mointer: Adjust (start the process all over again)
- Franklin D. Roosevelt’s simply rule: If you have consensus on an important matter, don’t make the decision. Adjourn it so that everybody has a little time to think.
- When there is a committed focus, decisions come easier as the internal computations are quicker, sharper and to the point in regards to the goal vision.
Getting things done is easy if you make decision making easy. Let me know what you think?
Related Articles:
