Tuesday, January 20, 2009

The KAIZEN Approach

I have recently learned a new process for goal achievement: the Kaizen approach.
Apparently the word-for-word translation for it is: good change; while the more accurate translation is improvement.

What is your daily life about?
I was first happy for having found passion for a subject. Then I found myself adding up issues and goals to achieve. I drained myself in too many ambitions and spread myself so thin that I ended up tired for having thought about them all; and still stood in the same place, looking up, as the goals I had set were too high and seemed almost impossible to reach.
Now I need to move forward. I took a break from bumping my head against a wall and feeling guilty of being unproductive. It seems that waking up early and sleeping late are not enough in order to get things done. Something else needed to be changed.

Solution? moving backwards with the process:
So this is where I need to go. How do I reach it? by creating small steps and turning them into a ladder. I had not invented the wheel.

This step by step approach to getting things done have been around for ages: "The seven step approach to financial success", "a 5 step approach to behavioral change"... everything seems possible when it is taken one thing at a time. Apparently this has a name in the Japanese culture. It is called the Kaizen approach: setting small goals to reach the big one. Too bad, I had to learn it the hard way.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Google, eBay and Microsoft jump into cost-per-action sales

2008- the digital world was met with an escalating interest in pay-per-action advertising modules. The Internet big names are fighting for the web dollars. Google, eBay and Microsoft all embarked in this challenge. The news created shock-waves that promised to change the online advertising industry for good.
By the end of the year Google had retreated from it's pay-per-action plan while it was still in its betta version. Two "substitute" programs were introduced; none that equates or nearly replaces the initial plan.
Did they meet with failure? Perhaps, an obstacle that the world's top search engine was not able to defy? or were they scared to hamper or impede their current stable advertising revenue? Surely, shaking the industry in which you're on top could generate some odd repercussions on your company; had this risk suddenly come to surface?
The race is still on, as the cost-per-action plan is yet to reach utmost optimization and conquer the web. My say is: this is the future.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Wikipedia: The Common Human Knowledge Database

I have just recently conducted my first contribution to Wikipedia. While the system is perfectly crafted, it left me wondering about the credibility of the information provided.
1-Anyone can edit the information, regardless of his capabilities
2-The data entered is automatically displayed, without any "clearance"
The concept is simple. The text can be mercilessly edited continuously; bringing about a common knowledge ground that can happen to be an accepted misconception of the truth. It is really great to entrust people with such a powerful "weapon", but wouldn't it, one day, turn into a destructive tool?
Surprisingly, so far, the information I added have been reviewed without any major changes, links have been constructively added to other Wikipedia articles and my references have been included in the footnotes.

Quite an impressive tool indeed.