Writers Helping Writers - A Noble Legacy

It is satisfying to be a part of such a noble tradition and to know that as a whole, writers are still inclined to lend a hand and encourage others in their craft. I think it is an inherent trait in the writer's soul, to be so generous. And in our time the Internet has allowed these efforts to be more obvious, has provided more opportunities for this warm tradition to be observed on a global scale.

The writers of old paved a literary path that we now enjoy. They could not have foreseen the legacy they left for us. I'd be willing to bet that even in this digital age where heart is so often replaced by a bottom line and spirit is starved by the electronic equipment we depend on so heavily, they would be proud to see that the spirit and nobility of the tradition of writing has survived and flourished.

As a writer who has been "in the ranks" for over 15 years, I toast all the hard work, dedication and tradition of all the writers I've known and have yet to meet. My hat is off to you all, and I wish you all prosperity, fame and most important of all, happiness in your work!

Cherie' Davidson is a freelance writer and Web content developer who lives in the Pacific Northwest with her toy poodle, Auggie Dog, her "energy muse." During her "day job" she runs her own freelance writing business, Suitable Words Publications (http://www.suitablewords.com), where she writes and promotes Website content, designs and develops e-books, hires out as a copywriter and writes a wide variety of articles and essays. She has finally caved in and started a blog for helpful and humorous comments and articles for and about writing. You are invited to visit her blog at http://suitablewords.blogspot.com or drop her a note at cherie@suitablewords.com

The Top Ten Qualities that Allow Business Operations to Grow Easily

My husband and I were enjoying our dinner meal one evening while discussing various plans and ideas. I was sharing that I wanted to submit articles and ads to a huge number of ezines to market my eProgram in a big way, and I wanted his help to make this happen. His response stopped me in my tracks, "Can your systems handle the increased demand?"

I know that my online systems and processes are capable of handling significant transaction volumes daily - but there are still a couple manual processes that are not as smooth as they could be and at times they may not create the very best experience. With the current demand, I can tolerate these manual processes and easily get by, but the additional demand that I expect from my marketing efforts will make these tolerations intolerable very quickly. If I had moved forward without changing and extending my systems first, I would have risked some very important things - my new customers' loyalty and my sanity!

It seems like I am frequently in this push-pull situation. The need to establish the right system setup conflicts with going after the opportunities. With my strategic sense, I can see several steps ahead. I often get really excited about those steps and I'm eager jump ahead before it's time.

I see this as a challenge for both large and small businesses alike. I believe the successful ones plan their operations and implement the correct systems to properly manage the increased demand loads. The key is to take strategic steady steps forward - you need to learn to walk before you run. All businesses need a solid foundation or platform of business operations so they are able to easily handle increased business needs and growth while serving the customers well. This is fundamental. Otherwise, the business owner may easily become overwhelmed.

The Top Ten Qualities that Allow Business Operations to Grow Easily:

1. Scalable - Operations are scalable, easily handling exponential, sudden demand.

2. Designed to create great customer experiences (while meeting business needs) - Operations provide a consistent, repeatable level of service that caters to the customer each and every time.

3. Flow through - Efficient operations allow all transactions to flow through the business effortlessly, with minimal manual effort or intervention where manual effort only occurring when it makes good strategic sense.

4. Professional looking - Operations help you present a professional face to the customer at all times.

5. Simple - The processes are simple and straightforward for both you and your customers. They are simple to use, simple to maintain and simple to execute. Everything is done quickly and efficiently.

6. Tested - Operational processes are tested and produce repeated successful results.

7. Backed up - Operational systems are always backed up and the back up is also backed up.

8. Documented - All processes are documented, including customers' experiences as well as team members' roles and objectives.

9. Understood - The whole team knows and understands the operating procedures and suggests ongoing improvements.

10. Improved Upon - Improvements are proactively discovered through the conscientious observation of the customer's experiences as well as though direct customer feedback. Adjustments to improve the customer's experience are incorporated quickly and with easily.

I believe that these ten qualities can be applied to any operation - at work or at home. Examples at home include, but are not limited to, meal preparation, house maintenance and bill paying.

Copyright 2004 Donna P. Lendzyk

Donna P. Lendzyk is a professional coach and creator of the Overcome Overwhelm System. She coaches businesswomen to "Overcome Overwhelm and Achieve Their Desired Results." She is the author of the multi-media "Overcome Overwhelm eProgram." To learn more about her eProgram and sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her website at http://www.overcomeoverwhelm.com

COSMIC: A Small Improvement on the Symons Method

The COSMIC FP (function point) software quality metric, is no longer 'proposed' but an actual system in use and internationally recognised, whereas MarkII, like other older systems, is not recognised anywhere, and, even in the UK is in decline if not actually dormant, so this debate is already over.

Historically, from my limited understanding of the situation, it seems that originally there were upwards of 35 variants of function point style metrics until the ISO developed criteria for a acceptable solution, ISO 14143: Parts 1 to 5 (1995-2002):

The COSMIC group reviewed existing functional size measurement methods, namely the work done in the late 80's by Charles Symons in the UK. The aim was to improve on Albrecht's size index (IFPUG FPA)

As stated in many sources, the most important feature of the COSMIC method is that, unlike Mark II, it was developed alongside the emergence of the newer software applications that did not exist when Mark II was devised, thus being compatible with modern software engineering concepts and unlike the previous metrics, this method was designed to be compatible with the ideas from structured analysis and design.

Because of these two features, COSMIC has Full ISO recognition and is has inherent flexibility for a wider range of software, this flexibility also makes the metric less sensitive to mistakes during analysis than is typically the case with the Mark II metric which does not have the same ability to capture size from multiple viewpoints

Function point style metrics estimation algorithms involve applying a set of rules and procedures to a given piece of software as it is perceived from the perspective of its Functional User Requirements. As size measures are not very precise, this gives a veneer of science to what is in effect a guessing game.

The result being that while Mark II can be used for sizing of the GUI and real-time systems which did not exist when it was created only after extensive adaptation, but which itself creates difficulties of interpretation due to conflicting procedures and rules.

An important issue with the Mark II method is that the "functional components of the method are difficult or subjective to interpret" 6, different measurers will get different results.

The COSMIC method of sizing the functional requirements of software has been approved as an International Standard (ISO/IEC 19761:2003). and unlike the previous variations, COSMIC is the first method to be designed by an international team, as opposed to being the product of one academic or entity. This is a positive because it will help standardisation which will in turn improve repeatability of the measurement.

The most important disadvantage to Function point methodology is that "it takes several days to learn function point counting and more time to become proficient. This hurdle has limited the pool of trained counters." 3 Many of the sources I looked at included warnings such the following "Function Point Analysis should be performed by trained and experienced personnel. If Function Point Analysis is conducted by untrained personnel, it is reasonable to assume the analysis will done incorrectly." 4

Function point methodologies are designed around the application of complex rules and procedures that result in a numerical "value of a quantity"2 representing the functional size of the software.

Unlike the Mark II method, COSMIC requires an extra step to identify layers' before indentifying the system boundary, however this process enables the analysis to better account for the inner workings of a complex system and reduces the probability of missing functions.

The general consensus from the materials that I have read is that fundamentally the measurement effort for COSMIC is similar to that needed for established sizing methods. However unlike the other methods, COSMIC functional size method is 'easy' or 'reasonably easy' to apply.

This is in part due to the removal of the technical adjustment factors from the specifications and simplification of the transactional functions rules and terminology. Fore example, using Mark II "a function is not a point unless specific rules are satisfied"3. Where as COSMIC counting rules consist of "three core rules that establish which observations constitute a point"3.

An important factor in general ease of use is the underlying mathematical framework for quantifying and summarizing function points but which involves a loss in information when summarized into unadjusted function points.

Using COSMIC there is no separate counting of files (ILF and EIF) and is Ratio/Absolute. We would identify for each functional process, the subprocesses (entry, exit, read, write); The measurement Viewpoint allows "all functions to be included in the size measure" unlike in Mark II method, then apply measurement function as follows; FP Size = Sum(number of Entries ) + Sum(number of Exits) + Sum(number of Reads) + Sum(number of Writes)

"The size of a functional process is the sum of its data movements (entry, exit, read, write) and the size of a piece of software is the sum of the sizes of all of its functional processes." 6.

Due to the concept of data movements as opposed to Logical Files once per system used in the Mark II, COSMIC results in amore accurate size measure for the complexity of processing stored data.

For example, in the given case above it is not unreasonable to expect the update inventory transaction input to the Inventory item entity to be output during the transaction and become part of the input the inventory_item entity this is information is lost.

Under Mark II rules, it is counted as an input once when the data crossed the application boundary, but not as an input in the Invontary_item entity because the data does not leave the application boundary again at that point.

For the update inventory transaction under Mark II we can a UFPI count of (0.58*9) + (1.66 * 4) (0.26*1) = 12.12, under CosMIC we would arrive at an equivalent count of 3+5+4 =12

In conclusion, the fact that function points are not (yet) a perfect measure of an application, COSMIC does represents an advance over the IFPUG and other '1st Generation' FSM Methods. Measurement of functional sizes can be more plausible, easier to make and repeatable.

However functional size measurement technology must keep evolving to meet market needs. indeed I would think that this is too subjective to be counted as a "measure". For instance, I personally know over 120 software developers at 20 different companies, and nobody had ever heard of Function Points before I did.

The addition in COSMIC of the concept of internal layers, for better identification of component to component interaction allows for more complete analysis, and is missing from MarkII. What is still needed is a defined standard for adequate precision and an effective way to describe the accuracy of the function points which could be achieved in fact through better guidelines. Due to the fact that COSMIC is free and accessible anywhere in the world it is more likely to survive and evolve, unlike MarkII which is UK only, and proprietary.

Bibliography
[1] Abran, Alain, Robillard, Pierre N., "Function Points : A Study of their Measurement Processes and Scale Transformations", Journal of Systems and Software, May 1994, pp.171-184.

[2] Steve Neuendorf. (2001) Let Size A = X Function Points, Online, http://www.serv.net/~steve/Let%20Size%20equal%20FP.htm, October 22 2004.

[3] Steve Neuendorf. (2001) Evolving Function Points, Online, http://www.stsc.hill.af.mil/crosstalk/2001/02/fischman.html, October 25 2004.

[4] Symons, C.R., 'Function Point Analysis: Difficulties and Improvements', IEEE Trans Software Eng., vol 14, no. 1, Jan 1988

[5] Total Metrics. (2001) Function Points FAQs, Online, http://www.totalmetrics.com/cms/servlet/main?Subject=Content&ID=165, October 22 2004.

[6] Unkown. (2002) Advantages of the COSMIC-FFP method, Online, http://www.cosmicon.com/advantagecs.asp, October 25 2004.

I am the website administrator of the Wandle industrial museum (http://www.wandle.org). Established in 1983 by local people determined to ensure that the history of the valley was no longer neglected but enhanced awareness its heritage for the use and benefits of the community.

How to Organize a Seminar or an Event

Seminars and events have always been implemented as a holistic experience to participants. Thus, organizing an event requires extensive planning and preparation with most work implemented at least a few months before the actual event. Most of the time, seminars seem to run like clockwork with all events flowing smoothly according to schedule. In reality however, much groundwork has been worked on with the purpose of developing the right atmosphere in addition to a beneficial experience to partipants.

1. Establishing the theme of the event

Each event follows a theme and purpose which will drive the event set-up, the target audiences or the participants, the guests and the marketing approach. In general, a business event such as an international conference for a particular industry will appeal to participants conducting businesses within that industry as well as sponsors who gain mileage out of publicizing their products during the event.

Apart from that, the theme of the seminar will also determine the type of marketing channels to be used to for publicity. This also holds true for the seminar marketing team who will need the event theme to correctly identify target participants and companies to sell the event to.

2. Selecting a venue

Venue selection is highly dependent on the scale of the event. Usually this is determined by the number of participants, the presence of any guests of honor (such as royalty or politicians) the activities during the event, or if there are additional floor space required for exhibition purposes.

A typical seminar of about 100 ? 200 can be comfortably implemented in a hotel seminar room, possibly in a theater style setting or classroom setting. However, larger scale events with participant numbers scaling between 500 ? 1000 may require a large hall, ballroom, auditorium or a convention center.

The location and quality standard of the venue is also important especially if the event involves the participation of VIPs. With this, a reputable location would be imperative, including good quality and wide range of seminar facilities available. It is always wise to explore the possibility of a few venues and examine their location suitability, level of services, ambience, and costs before coming to a decision.

3. Seminar Marketing and Publicity

Seminar marketing is by far the most critical and often most challenging task in event organizing, and is often regarded as the most critical factor of an event's success. This is because the number of participants turning up for a seminar is highly dependent on the strength of marketing activities and publicity. Whether or not the event achieves its objective or whether the organizers will walk home with a profit or loss largely depends on the marketability of the event. This means that the right marketing strategy and seminar positioning must be adopted in order to draw adequate event sign-ups.

Most of the time, event organizers who have large budgets will turn to above the line marketing such as newspaper and magazine advertisements as well as radio and television advertising to publicize the event. Press releases may also be sent in to major newspapers, in order to create the awareness of the upcoming event. Additionally, large advertising media banners and posters can also be purchased to advertise the event in high human traffic areas. When using print advertising, the specific magazine or newspaper used must have the target audience of your event as their primary readership base. Also all print media should be copy written with an enticing approach, highlighting the extensive benefits of participation.

However, if budget is a problem, then below the line marketing may also do wonders. If the event is industry specific, mass faxing to companies belonging to the industry would be feasible. Telemarketing is a very effective marketing channel to create awareness within the right participant group. Additionally, dispatching sales personnel to attend to the requirements of large participant groups is an ideal and effective strategy. Mass emailing has become one of the most cost-efficient methods to reach out to large target audiences. This would be really useful if the event organizer already have an existing database. Otherwise, a list of names can be rented from database companies to attain the same results.

4. Collaboration with sponsors

Getting reputable sponsors to participate in an event will help boost the creditability of the event, as well as reduce costs. Sponsors can also help with marketing, as they also help publicize your event to their customers. Apart from that, some of the sponsors can chip in on venue rental in exchange for exhibition space or publicity for themselves. Some sponsors also require a short message of their company to be given to the participants during the event. Others give away sample products or door gifts to participants.

5. Managing People and working with speakers

A seminar will not be successful without the people running it, as well as the speakers sharing their knowledge to the participants. Invite speakers who are of caliber and reputation to the event, and who will provide the participants with relevant information to their work, industry or business. Prepare the speakers beforehand and work with them on their Power point presentations as well as pre-inform them of the logistics processes, timing as well as the expected audience size. Check with them on any special requests, such as the requirement for an overhead projector or additional microphones to be used for question and answer sessions.

All events require a good team of people handling tasks on ushering, registration, customer service as well as handling financials. Familiarize the team with any required event protocol to eliminate the possibility of confusion or error. In order to ensure smooth implementation, each person should be familiar with their individual roles. This can be ensured through a preparation of a detailed schedule of events coupled with roles and responsibilities for each person. Ideally, a project manager should control the whole team and ensure that everyone is carrying out their duties efficiently. Apart from that, the project manager also has the delegated authority to deal with all parties such as the venue management as well as the sponsors and event exhibitors.

6. Actual Day ? Preparation, Registration, Ushering, Feedback

All seminar planning and preparations, constituting 80% of total work involved, cascade to the actual event which may last only for a few hours or a few days. On the day before the event, visit the venue to ensure that everything is in order according the requirements and specifications. Microphones, projectors, audio and video systems must be all checked to be in excellent working order. Over at the office, have a packing list prepared and get all require items transferred to the actual venue at least a day before the event. Event staff should be dispatched to work on site preparations, including setting up booths, decorations and posters, the day before the event.

On the actual day, staff should be present at the venue at least 1 ? hours before commencement. They should report to their duty stations and must be ready to receive participants half an hour before they are scheduled to file in. Registrations must be made at the door to ensure authorized access. Name tags, door gifts and event schedules or booklets will be given out at this point and ushers will show participants to their seats in the event hall.

Staff will also be responsible for providing advice or help to participants during the event. Finally, feedback forms should be distributed and then collected from participants to determine the satisfaction level on all aspects of the event experience. This is in order to receive pointers, ideas and advice for future improvements.

Matt Bacak, The Powerful Promoter and Entrepreneur Magazine e-Biz radio show host, became a "#1 Best Selling Author" in just a few short hours. He has helped a number of clients target his specialty, opt-in email direct marketing systems. The Powerful Promoter is not only a sought-after internet marketer but has also marketed for some of the world's top experts whose reputations would shrivel if their followers ever found out someone else coached them on their online marketing strategies.

For more information, visit Bacak's site at http://www.powerfulpromoter.com or sign up for his Powerful Promoting Tips at http://www.promotingtips.com

Star Wars the POSITIVE Effect !

In many ways the Star War movies are simply a reflection of everyday life on planet Earth.

Battles with inner conflict, jealousy, love, hate, passion, desire, laughter, drama, action, achieving goals, villains, friendship, success and failure.

Although we watch these movies for escapism, they also teach us about ourselves and the world around us.

I'm not suggesting that George Lucas is our extreme life or spiritual teacher but he has managed to get all the elements of life rolled into his movies.

We all aspire to be happier but it's not always as simply as smiling and our problems disappear, life is full of constant challenges and changing events.

It's how we face up to our daily life challenges that will eventually determine our happiness or lack of it.

Face every challenge the best you can with a positive mental attitude, not always easy, I agree, however, you are the only one who determines your attitude, be it Positive or Negative.

People and circumstances around you will be trying to influence how you feel BUT ONLY YOU DECIDE HOW YOU THINK!

So the next alien invasion or Darth Vader you run into, just remember, your Thinking is in your hands, so think with a positive attitude and even if you don't win this battle, you'll end up winning the war and live a happier life?may the force be with you!!!!

Garry Munro is a successful consultant, speaker & coach in the area of self-development.

Based in Sydney Australia he runs his own business "Minds Alike" and works with small business owners and individuals assisting them to set & achieve their goals.

Visit his blog site at http://www.mindsalike.blogspot.com for more articles on success, business and self motivation.

Words That Inspire - SIMPLIFY

What do you gain if you SIMPLIFY?

Dictionary* says:

to reduce to basic essentials, to diminish in scope or complexity, to make more intelligible.

What it REALLY means:

removing clutter and interference from your life and work; looking at large obstacles as the sum of small challenges; choosing to do less, have less, want less.

Why it MATTERS?

SIMPLIFYing, both physically and mentally, leaves more space for creativity, problem-solving, and exploring. Decision making is clearer, communication is enhanced and personal enjoyment is increased.

Questions that INSPIRE:

? What personal or professional situation would you like to SIMPLIFY?

? How would SIMPLIFYing make you feel?

? What do you gain if you SIMPLIFY?

? What barriers are in the way of SIMPLIFYing this situation?

? What one action can you make today to SIMPLIFY?

I hope you enjoyed Words That Inspire, a monthly glimpse at words that matter. To continue receiving this, please send an email to subscribe@juliecohencoaching.com.

Permission granted to forward or reprint, as long as copyright, subscription and signature information included.

*(Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, 1977, G. & C. Merriam Co.)

? 2004 Julie Cohen

Julie Cohen, PCC, is a Career and Personal Coach. She supports her clients to achieve greater career satisfaction. Formerly an Internal Executive Coach at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young LLC, she was part of the design team responsible for developing and implementing a national coaching program. Julie brings over fifteen years experience in corporate, non-profit and entrepreneurial entities to her work as a human development professional. Julie has a BA in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and a MS in Counseling from Villanova University. She is a graduate of Corporate Coach University International's and Coach University's Training Programs, is a Past-President of the Philadelphia Area Coaches Alliance and a member of the International Coach Federation. She can be reached at http://www.juliecohencoaching.com

Wedding Favors, a Special Thank You for Your Guests

Wedding favors are as unique and varied as the couples whose marriage they commemorate. From shot glasses to chocolate roses, coasters to napkin holders, the bride to be has literally hundreds of ideas to choose from.

Wedding favors have been a part of traditional wedding ceremonies dating back to the 16th century. The newlywed couple presents a gift to their guests as gestures of gratitude for having attended their wedding and participating in the couple's new life together.

The wedding favor may vary according to culture, wealth, the interest of the couple, or can be centered on the theme of the wedding. The ideas for a wedding favor are limitless. A bottle of vintage wine with a personalized label is a nice wedding favor for those couples with a large budget, or a simply made personalized candle is a nice gift.

My parents showed me a unique wedding favor they received at my cousin's wedding. The bride and groom had taken the time to have the music at their ceremony recorded on compact disk, and the guests were all given one as a keepsake. All they needed to do to re-live that special day is to pop in the disk and press play.

Whether you choose to record a compact disk of your ceremony, or seed packets, or chocolate roses, your unique wedding favor will help those who love you remember your wedding day. A unique wedding favor is a special thank you gift that will bring warmth, love, and joy to your friends and family for years to come.

For more information on planning your wedding, visit these sites:

http://www.WeddingFavorsInfo.com
http://www.WeddingPlanningInfoCenter.com
http://www.WeddingReceptionInfo.com