Edward Melvin

Today's march on the French embassy, by Irish football fans outraged at the Hand of Henry incident, is prompted by a simple sense of injustice.

It's not about forcing a replay. That will not happen. It's about the participants feeling deeply wronged, and responding to an unfair world.

Irish football fans were wronged by the sport they love; do not underestimate how passionate people are over football, or any sport. Marching on an embassy is a misguided, misplaced (and faintly ricidulous) action to take, but it reflects the depth of feeling. Many will march ostensibly 'for the craic' and with tongue in cheek. But most want their unhappiness registered, their voice heard.

This is the difference between fixing a problem & righting a sense of injustice. The group is not marching for video refereeing. FIFA will probably introduce this or some similar method of policing this area. So the specific problem this incident highlighted will be remedied.

Righting the injustice is what the march is about, and I would suggest that instead of a march, people do their bit to make the world a little fairer and right this wrong, in their own personal way.

Make a donation, volunteer, help out at a local club or sporting event, visit someone, take a kid out with a football. Any number of activities.

Sport, and this world, can be very unfair - but this sense of powerlessness which has prompted this march is misguided. It has better uses.

330,000 people have signed up to a Facebook group - how good would it be if this group was turned towards sports / community / event volunteering?

That way, this whole unhappy episode could actually end as a deeply positive resut for Irish football.

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I haven't played a CRPG since finishing Baldur's Gate for the 10th time about 10 years ago.
 
But the exciting world of PM needs more people schooled in RPGs, because RPGs teach you:
 
1. Risk Assessment
2. Managing team dynamics
3. Planning & scheduling
4. Task dependencies
5. Skills development
6. Team selection & motivation
7. Contingency planning
8. Problem assessment
9. Pattern recognition
10. Effective leadership
 
I can expand on these thoughts further and at length. However, the interested audience for this post is probably ridiculously small.
 
Bah. The exciting world of PM is as badly understood as the Forgotten Realms. I cast magic missile.

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So we've moved office here in ICAN. After several years in Malt House, we're now relocating to Warrington House, Mount Street Crescent.
 
I am trying to avoid sounding like a douche when I say that this new office is going to be good for us, our projects and our clients. It's proving difficult but there you go.
 
In short: the new gaff rocks. Big ups to Shenda & Flick.
 
More photos to come, but for now, here's a 'before' pic.

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This is a gigantic recipe tome from the infamous ElBulli, reputedly the world's best restaurant.

 8000 people get to travel each year to Spain, to dine at ElBulli. About two million apply.

 What's interesting about this is not the role-reversal of the diners being shipped to meet the ingredients (ha!) but the fact that the restaurant itself operates at a loss.

 Books and speaking engagements are the profitable side of the business at ElBulli.

 Was this the plan all along? Or did the 'alternative revenue stream' become the profitable side of the business? Did Ferran Adria want this model from the start?

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See below - a returns label done right. Courtesy boden.co.uk. Online retailers need to personalize the experience as much as possible. Good stuff like this helps.

 Their purchase process also includes options for 'what should we do if you're not in when we deliver this?'. You can then choose to leave with a neighbour, leave in a delivery box, call me, etc.

 Thumbs up for clued-in online stores like Boden. And for favourable exchange rates.

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This is the magazine stand at my local Borders. In advance of the inauguration on Tuesday, they have an Obamagazine section, as editorial teams on both sides of the Atlantic give the incoming president their covers.

 And so Obama's great project begins.

 Projects need leadership before management. Every project needs a vision, a clear definition of purpose. Management is just the science of execution. But leadership provides vision. Don't make the mistake of perfectly executing the wrong approach.

 Over a few years of project management, I've seen and led some really great projects, and some failures.

 But the key factor was nearly always the vision, not the execution.

 The next time you begin a project, before you involve people, define the vision. And make sure your people keep the vision at the heart of everything they do. Remember that the committee will never do this for you. And that if you don't have a vision for your project, someone else will.

 Want to lead a great project? Just create the vision.

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