Catching up on some blog reading over the weekend.  When my Google Reader is flashing "1000"+ and has been for two weeks, you know it's bad.  So, when I make a New Year's resolution and pledge to browse daily, I have to start from scratch, and that means not everyone gets read.

One cat who I always take the time to read in those circumstances (every post) is Steve Roessler of All Things Workplace.  Change management, leadership development, and of course, common sense in the business world.

Here's an example of the gold you'll find at All Things Workplace:

"Vendor We Recommended: "Tell me more about what you want to do with it so I can give you an accurate answer." We did. Then we heard (and saw), "Here's how you would do that. (Demo). What are some other potential reports you might generate?" We described them, he demonstrated how to do it, we watched, and the conversation continued.

Vendor We Nuked: (In a very deep, officious, voice): "Our platform offers configurable functionality. The back-end capability is state-of-the-art and clients have access to data entry. Of course, it is also designed for maximum security so you never have to be concerned that those without the proper passwords can ever access the information."

By the time he was finished I expected to hear, "For English, press 2."

I'm sure that Nuke-boy thought he was impressing us. Actually, he depressed us to the point of boredom. His software could probably do the job. The client didn't want to have a long-term relationship trying to communicate with someone who responded in buzzwords and platitudes. He wanted someone who would work with him to build a system that could be operated and tweaked by anyone.

Thought for Today: Language can communicate or obfuscate. Speak WYSIWYG."

That's one of the reasons blogs work and whitepapers don't.  Talk like a normal person, not like a scientist.  Thanks for the reminder, Steve.

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