Embracing the Unfamiliar: A Developers Perspective

My eyes slowly open as the panorama of Eastern landscape gently rolls past. The gentle swaying of the train steadily propels my sleeper car through each changing region from Chicago to New York city. My trek to the east coast began much earlier than this 17-hour experience as a train-passenger. Meeting new people while attending college in the Midwest, where I grew up, I encountered new groups of personalities and ideologies. The realization not all people are cut from the same cloth, so to speak, pushed me to seek opportunities exploring notable cultural differences existing across the various regions of the United States.

In October of 2021 I decided to visit our nation’s capital during Memorial Day weekend in hopes to also get a sense of what diversity I could find in a new city. Determined to enjoy not only the destination, but the journey itself, I took the often-overlooked opportunity to take a passenger train through what I hoped was the scenic route.

I was not disappointed as the train finally arrived in the capital around 1:30 PM. What was the plan? There was no detailed agenda. As a programmer at ASI, I thrive in stepping into unfamiliar projects and absorbing the environment before transforming problems into solutions.

Although there was more to see, I stayed the course toward the next destination – New York City. Despite the city feeling like a bigger version of Chicago, I was again lost. It wasn’t long, however, before I found the World Trade Center. I was born in 2002 and wanted to visit the tribute I heard so much about in school. Taking in the views of the towering building before me and the 9/11 memorial was unsurprisingly eye opening to experience.

Problems deciphering direction found me immediately as I stepped off the unfamiliar platform into the chaos of the crowded National Mall. I began walking past the line of ice cream and food trucks unapologetically parked eagerly serving the flock of tourists gathered to take in all historic DC had to offer. After a few minutes of walking, I was rewarded with the sites of our nation’s Capital building, the impressive Washington monument, and the historic White House. The images in my AP Government textbook lacked the magnitude of the real-life versions of these buildings.

While my head spun with the people and sites I saw on my journey Northeast, it was time to head back home to the familiar. My enthusiasm for problem solving increased as I navigated new geography successfully. I returned to my desk at ASI equipped with a clearer view of what might be next in my future, a new appreciation for our nation’s history and a small taste of Northeast Corridor culture. I’m ready for the next chance to visit more sites that time did not permit and expose myself to new people and experiences.

I hope by reading this, you are encouraged to let your curiosity get the best of you. You never know how overcoming a challenge or initiating an opportunity will grow you. We talk a lot at ASI about “personalized innovation.” Now consider what might result if you partnered with ASI to stretch, grow, and manage your organization.

An Ode to the Supermoms

With the passing of Mother’s Day comes the hopeful passing of stress-induced days COVID-19 offered to Mothers everywhere. 

As a mom myself, I faltered under mounting stress as I maneuvered caring for my household of four other people and working from home. Being committed fully to work and family at times felt like an impossible task. The weight of everything was exhausting and thankless, being perceived as not fully present as an employee or a mother. But moms are resilient and created to make the best of all situations.  

My co-worker, Michelle, quickly became my greatest empathizer, being a mom herself and caretaker of her own mother during this time. Together, we discovered three key areas where stress turned to lessons learned. 

Communication 

The first challenge I conquered was to verbally admit to my co-workers and family I was overwhelmed. Of course, my team was understanding and offered a couple solutions, along with encouragement. It was a turning point I needed to take control of my work-from-home situation. I began to see stress was a waste of my limited energy and I stopped taking myself so seriously. I can’t be a perfect mother 24/7, nor can I be the perfect professional 24/7.  

Creating Boundaries 

One of the most important solutions that emerged from meeting with my co-workers was to adhere to firm working hours. Since I no longer had physical distance from my work, I needed to find a way to also have mental distance during non-work hours. Untangling home duties from work duties was a challenge, but a few simple rules proved to alleviate much of the stress such as: don’t open or reply to emails after dinner. Don’t eat lunch at your desk. Don’t feel guilty about taking a screen-free break to play a round of Candyland with the kids when they ask. Oh yes, and do NOT forget to sign out of Microsoft Teams at the end of the workday. 

Michelle was a quicker study than I and immediately moved into a private workspace, but agreed it took awhile to learn how to unplug and transition during the short commute back up the stairs.  

But it’s Not all Bad…. 

The more lines I drew in the sand, the more I realized my number one priority during this challenging moment was to protect the time I had with my kids, while I had it. It was then, I started seeing that I wasn’t a failure as a parent or an employee. In fact, I’m proud my young ones watched their mom shoulder these responsibilities with strength and resilience both working on the computer and handling home duties. They witnessed our small business seamlessly adapt to a new situation and work as a team to overcome inconvenient circumstances. 

Michelle decided she was blessed to work from the comfort of home and chose not to return to the office. We still talk to her frequently via Teams, but while it is not the same without her, I am happy she found delight working from home. I since returned part-time to the office. Yet another shift in the dynamics of my family’s lives, but I will always be thankful for both the opportunity to continue my employment and be present during a crucial moment in my children’s lives.  

Although Mother’s Day is behind us, consider showing your wife, mother, or even colleague some well-deserved appreciation.  

Hold the Mustard

Noel recognizing Ablesoft has reached the pinnacle of its success in offering Chicago style hot dogs to his employees.

Despite the weather saying otherwise, Spring is here. With that comes the sound of birds chirping in the morning, the sweet smell of fresh cut grass, and the beginning of baseball season.  To contribute to the transition of the season and the opening day for the MLB's, Noel brought in Chicago style hot dogs. After the employees assembled their dogs with the appropriate toppings (no ketchup), we enjoyed our lunch while the Top 100 MLB plays of 2021 played in the background. (One hour of highlights featuring a stellar play by a White Sox outfielder .

We are looking forward to the warming weather and longer days filled with sunshine. Happy Spring to you and your office companions.  

Thanks for reading. 

-Ben

Alan and Edgar beginning their hot dog eating contest. Inspired by the MLB highlights.

The Jargon We Hide Behind

The murky waters of jargon filled communication…how inviting….

With my entry into the corporate world in 2014 came the entry into a world of jargon filled communication. "Innovation", "real-time", "internet of things", "machine learning", were some among many terms used to demonstrate a speaker’s business savviness but reveal little information. Coupled with the equally vague management terms such as "collaboration", "synergy", "circling back" and “wordsmithing”, a sense of unease grew in me on not knowing what was truly being said when communicating with colleagues. In response to this I did what was natural. I too submerged myself in the mirky waters of this jargon filled communication style. If you cannot understand them join them.

It was not until I came across the author William Zinsser's book “On Writing Well' did I realize how common my situation was in the working world. The over reliance on jargon, vague expressions and management speak across companies has become as routine as a cup of coffee to start the morning. Zinsser has a chapter in the book specifically dedicated to this trend in business.

Here are some of my key takeaways from the books chapter on Business Writing along with quotes of Zinsser’s that I particularly liked: 

Writing Comes in Different Forms

Warning: Recognition of the skill for writing may trigger flashbacks of critical grades.

Emails, proposals, summaries, and reports are all different forms of communication that require writing. The convenience of sending an Excel workbook to make one’s argument may seem reasonable, but it generally requires additional explanation behind it to be effective. The same goes for PowerPoint presentations. Writing may seem like a skill that was long forgotten since the days of the college essays or critical High School teachers, but the truth is these different methods of conveying information are writing. Embrace it so you can improve it.

Be a Person, not a Company

“But just because people work for an institution, they don’t have to write like one.” 

Look at the smiles that a little personality brings.

In previous Newsletters of Ablesoft’s we tended to emphasize our technical abilities, professionalism, and certifications across the varying articles we sent out. These are sound traits to convey, but only when they are read. Over time, we noticed the more we inserted our employees and our personal stories in the articles we wrote, the more views we would see. If someone is going to read our articles, they are more interested about the ideas of the people behind Ablesoft and not the company itself.

Embrace the simple language

“Be natural...(readers) are suspicious of pretentiousness, of all the fad words that social scientist have coined to avoid making themselves clear to ordinary mortals.” 

I am still guilty of using vague language at times. In part, it is inevitable that those words will sneak into a response to a prospect, customer, or in certain marketing materials when referencing more technical concepts. It is habit to avoid. Simple language does not reflect a simple mind, but rather a more organized one that is clearer to understand by its recipient. Be kind to your colleagues, customers, and prospects and consider using concise language. 

Make the Effort

“Any organization that won’t take the trouble to be both clear and personal in its writing will lose friends, customers and money.”  

This continues from my previous point on recognizing office communication as ‘writing’. It takes time to organize one’s thoughts and lay out their reasoning as to why a person, either an employee or customer, should consider what they have to say. If in the writing of the email or proposal there isn’t a sense of purpose to it, why should it be read? Taking the time to be clear is challenging, and it is something that many sacrifice for the sake of speed, but what could truly be sacrificed is your recipient’s willingness to pay attention.  

Writing takes time, can be incredibly frustrating, and generally does not have the immediate recognition of a well delivered presentation. But with practice it helps bring organization to one’s mind and a deeper kind of satisfaction that only comes with patience and practice.  

Thanks for reading.
-Ben

If interested in reading the full chapter. You can read the PDF version by following this link: On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction (richardcolby.net)

Entre Spring X-Tech Assessment Teaser

Building Our Sounding Board of Directors

In 2018, I transitioned from the Corporate American culture to the entrepreneurial lifestyle in running Ablesoft with my brother and Dad. As one could imagine, there came many drastic changes with the move. The loss of cushy benefits, expanding my responsibilities from one to multiple functions of the business, and of course, the horrific night terrors that attacked me in the most peaceful moments of sleep when the thought arose, ‘are we doing the right things?’. 

My routine night terror once moving to the entrepreneurial lifestyle.

 Fortunately, as time passed and stability with the business came, the middle of the night fear spasms calmed. The leadership team better fell into our roles and learned how to communicate with each other despite our differences. However, we still recognized the limits of our decisions. Just because we formed a solution did not necessarily mean it was the best one. What we needed was someone with an outside perspective that had been through a similar spot and had a vested interest in our success. But we were not in a spot financially to shell out big bucks for a consultant. For this, we turned to SCORE.  

SCORE is a volunteer-based group of retired business leaders who provide coaching and advising at no cost. They have regional hubs across the country and are made up of a variety of advisors who are willing to invest time, broker resources, and provide training to the needs of your business.  

In October of 2020, we were paired up with Bob Dolan who had led the sales and marketing strategy of a software supply chain company’s journey to going public. He had since retired and was interested in advising businesses as one of his many activities. Since our initial meeting, Bob has transformed into a trusted advisor of ours who is frequently brining us valuable perspective.  In addition, two more SCORE members have offered us advising with our Finance and IT strategy with the joining of John Lafferty and Ripujit Singh.  

After a little over a year in working with Bob, John, and Rip, here are some ways in which the ASI leadership team has benefited from our SCORE mentors. Some of which we did not foresee.  

Direction on where to focus efforts 

It is easy to get overwhelmed by the quantity of issues to resolve day to day in running a business. This amount only grows when trying to account for the consequences of these decisions in the long term. Do we need to focus on our marketing or operations? Should we invest our time in new technology or processes? To what extent do we focus on growth with our current customer compared to pursuing new ones?  

Our SCORE advisors pointing where we should focus our efforts.

Having a person who is not bound by the same daily constraints, and that can guide you on which issues warrant the most attention can be a great time saver. Our conversations with Bob, John, and Rip have helped us better prioritize which issues should be focused on and solved before others. With this confidence, we can more tactically address problems knowing they are the right ones to focus on. 

Accountability outside of the business  

A demonstration of my cowering form to disarm Eric’s attacks

The leadership team meets annually, quarterly, and weekly to establish and review our responsibilities to ensure we are holding each other accountable. This process becomes more complicated when factoring in the past. Memories such as Dad changing Eric and my diapers, or my childhood abilities of cowering in room corners to avoid Eric’s torment (which I can still execute flawlessly) can add an extra layer of complication when holding each other accountable. 

In working with Bob, John and Rip we have additional stakeholders to answer to that fall outside of the leadership team and our family. Having that additional group to review our results with has created an added layer of accountability in following through on our decisions.  

Encouragement 

One of many encouraging pep talks from our SCORE mentors.

Some days the long-term goals feel far out of reach. Receiving encouragement that we are on the right path and to celebrate the incremental gains helps instill our sense of vigor in the moments it is needed. Our SCORE mentors have done just that.  

‘Sounding’ Board of Directors 

As discussions with the different mentors have evolved over the year, we have decided to add an additional layer of formality to our engagement. After every three months we will present our ‘Quarterly Review’ to both our employees and the recently appointed ‘Sounding Board of Directors’ made up of Bob, John, and Rip. I cannot take credit for the term, but I will use it (thanks John).  

Opening one’s business to an outsider can be a daunting task. But, if the right mentor can be established it will make all the difference in establishing more stability and higher confidence in running one’s business, and just may help reduce those night terrors. Thank you to Bob, John, Rip, and the other resources that SCORE has to offer in instilling more confidence in our business and helping us get closer to sleeping like babies. 

Thanks for reading.  

Confessions of a Virtual Intern

The joy’s of having a fully virtual internship are evident.

In January, we brought on our first fully virtual intern with the hiring of Taylor Copas. She is an international business student at Illinois State who joined the marketing team to scale our campaigns and prospecting efforts. With our last intern, we managed a hybrid model where the internship started virtually but converted into a trip to the office at least two times a week. Since then, we have been working with Taylor for the past three months on a purely virtual basis.

In a recent conversation, I was surprised to hear that this was already her third purely virtual internship. With that, I asked her to write on her key take ways she observed in participating in a fully remote workforce. A tell all confession in other words. Here they are: 

The Pro’s 

Flexibility & Accommodation – Being a purely virtual intern, working an in-person job, taking 15 credit hours, and actively engaging in my on-campus organizations while gearing up for graduating in May has been an equally rewarding and challenging experience. Having all my meetings, messages, and tasks just a computer screen away has really helped me adapt to the virtual environment, not to mention the availability and flexibility of the team I work with.  

Internship Variety – I have had 2 previous internships, all of which have also been virtual (thank you COVID). My first virtual internship was with an international insurance firm, so not only did I have to adjust to the purely virtual environment, but I also had to get accustomed to meetings at unconventional times to allow my overseas coworkers to participate. The second virtual internship was with a large company, and my days were packed with meetings from 9 to 5, with little time to complete individual assignments. My current virtual internship with ASI has been a good mix of meetings throughout my week, with most of my time spent working on my individual tasks. The amount of job experience variety was in part due to the virtual nature of the roles.  

The Advantage of Small Business – Having worked for a larger organization, I got used to constantly shifting my priorities. I would have plans for meeting deadlines for the day that would change less than 5 minutes later because I had 3 new meetings come up unexpectedly. Working with ASI and getting used to the small business environment has been a breath of fresh air. I can spend time working towards deadlines without the threat of last-minute mandatory meetings and there are a lot more opportunities to see the inner workings of a business.  

 The Cons 

Not Being Too Available – One caveat to working virtually is not being able to go fully “offline” at the end of the workday. I have set hours that I will be working through my Outlook Calendar, so that way the ASI team knows when I will be actively working and able to respond to messages. However, I have quickly gotten into the habit of constantly checking Msft Teams, even when I have been clocked out for several hours. The flexibility of being online is great, but it is oftentimes difficult to navigate. Being on the same page about working hours with your team is imperative.

Getting the Vibe of the Office – Because I have only had virtual internship experiences, it has been quite easy for me to adapt to new teams in a virtual environment (remembering to unmute is one of the hardest obstacles). However, I do think that there are opportunities and connections forgone by not being present in the office. I also think it is harder to gauge company culture virtually, and it takes longer to adapt to it. Despite not seeing everyone in person, I do look forward to my ASI meetings throughout the week because one of us usually has an interesting story that gives everyone a good laugh. 

One tradeoff: Taylor does miss out on the juicy office gossip. Ben said what??

 Virtual vs. Onsite – I think there is value in being purely virtual, especially now that so many companies are allowing their employees the option to work from home indefinitely. While I do enjoy the flexibility of being virtual, I think that the benefits of in-person work outweigh the flexibility of virtual work. With my current on-campus job I am in-person, and I can do a much better job working with students face-to-face than I would virtually. However, I do think some jobs can be done better virtually, and hybrid is always a great option as well. I think that within the next couple of years job seekers will be looking for positions that allow a hybrid work structure, with a good mix of in-person and work-from-home opportunities.  

There you have it. Straight from the fingers of a current intern on some of the pros and cons of having a purely virtual internship. Mask mandates are dropping, employees may be coming back to the office, but the benefits that can come with a virtual worker should still be considered by businesses, especially small ones. 

Learning How to Get Lean

Working for a business that emphasizes improvement through software, the world of lean manufacturing and continuous improvement was quite foreign to me. Vague memories from past college lectures came to mind featuring colored cards across manufacturing floors, a rainbow of belts representing six sigma abilities, and Japanese terms like ‘kanban’ and ‘kaizen’.  The concepts were intriguing, but never explored until recently.

Upon making a routine prospecting call, I had inadvertently connected with the regional president of a group dedicated to embracing lean manufacturing. The organization is called the Association of Manufacturing Excellence and is a collection of manufacturers and non-manufactures dedicated to reducing waste in their processes, increasing efficiency, and delivering more value to their customers. Workshops, weekly ‘coffee meetups’, and free virtual tours are a sample of opportunities offered to members (and non-members at times) providing a great opportunity to dip one’s toe in or jump in headfirst into the world of Lean. I have been attending a variety of events over the past six months and find the experience energizing.

In the spirit of trying to understand these principles early on, Ablesoft formed our first book club and assigned The Toyota Way as our first read. The book describes the unique accomplishments Toyota was able to realize by growing and enforcing a culture aligned to lean practices. It is considered one of the foundational texts and speaks to the origin of the lean culture. In addition to the book club, minor initiatives have taken place to better organize the office space, re-think processes, and further mature our understanding of Lean.

1st book of our club

You may note that I am not offering up any details or specific tools in defining what Lean is. This is due to the incessant reminder by AME members that Lean is not a single tool or straightforward methodology, but rather a philosophy that instills a continued belief of improvement in its believers. Although we are in the early days of our lean journey, it is an exciting path to embark on. The goal of ascending to the best version of oneself is a noble one, and something that aligns well to the principles of lean.