Reflection time

An alternative title for this post might have been acknowledging personal limits.

I’ve had a rest. Blimey I needed it. We all deal with things in different ways. With a family, a marriage and friendships to evolve, home and work responsibilities and lots of change to deal with, I’ve forced myself to pause for the last couple of weeks to establish a new basis for what I believe will allow for a more harmonious arrangement.

I push myself pretty hard a lot of the time. Sometimes without taking to time to observe, I over do it. Then I need a rest. During the recent rest I’ve had some great conversations that have helped me share and learn much. Since the turn of the year I’ve had a lot going on. At home we’ve embarked upon a new family situation with both parents working full-time. This is a decision that’s caused us a lot of stress. We live within our means. Neither of us has ever really been motivated materially and so we’ve lived. Having children opens up a wonderful new world that presents new challenges and as I’ve learned, needs a different type of commitment to that required by work. Aligning or balancing all the relationships and responsibilities together is tough, but thankfully we’ve had a lot of support and are making sound progress.

I’ve experienced stress. There – it’s written. Stress is a strange thing – a lot of people experience it and yet it’s got a bit of a taboo around it, as if it’s perceived as a weakness. I’ve caused myself to be in stressful situations. That’s something that I’m seeking to change. I’ve thought about it enough, relaxed, conversed and resolved to deal with it.

Looking up a definition of stress on Wikipedia returned some interesting results. I suspected that engineering and medicine would offer a definition but wondered how it would be defined in relation to people or individuals – on a more holistic, humane basis. Stress management has a link otherwise to

’stress (medical) medical or psychological stress; types of medical stress include:

• Chronic stress
• Eustress’

I’ve chosen to seek psychological theories for definitions for stress as I’m not convinced that I’d rather seek medical explanations. I haven’t looked, but I’m sure there’s mention of chemical imbalances etc.. which leave me cold. I’ve been reading about psychology and have found the person-centred approaches of many theorists/practitioners such as Carl Rogers, Fritz and Laura Perls and others chime with approaches I’ve discovered and experienced in design (user-centred design, participatory design, service design) and many other areas of my life that depend upon positive communication. So perhaps Wikipedia needs a definition of ‘personal stress’.

For me, personal stress is a feeling of being under inappropriate pressure which can result in worrying too much. I might feel qualified to offer a better definition in the future. I intend to make understanding of and the alleviation of conditions conducive to stress a focus of what I do. I know that relaxation and loss of worry is possible through the expression of creativity, practising yoga, listening to music, playing an instrument, enyoying my own and the company of family, friends, and colleagues.

I’ve also learned that listening and reflecting is very important. Over the years I’ve found that various forms of people-centred support such as mentoring, coaching and counselling to be very effective in re-establishing a more harmonious existence. With this learning I’m charting my work adventures along a path that makes use of communication as a concept to help personal and organisational growth. On a personal level, my most enriching and satisfying work experiences have been defined by personal growth, both in myself and in others. Having been a leader, mentor, catalyst and doer I’ve encountered a stack of different relationships. I’ve always enjoyed getting to know people. On an organisational level I’m really interested in cultures and how they form and evolve which is I guess is a next step – individuals getting to know each other in the form of a community.

To make something out of this I’ve resolved to seek greater congruence in my life and work.

Here’s some things I am aiming to do:

• to take myself less seriously – a light and relaxed perspective is important
• to give myself a break – I shall be booking holidays and doing yoga on a thursday evening
• to give myself time for creative expression – I am trading my mandolin for an easier to learn and play instrument, the Ukulele
• to learn about people-centred approaches in theory and practise – by undertaking a course at the Wealden Psychology Institute. It’s an introduction to counselling which I believe will help me and everyone I work with.
• to clarify and manage the scope of my work – I am now heading up some really exciting new opportunities at Spannerworks at a time of great change. I’m excited about this and in particular am looking forward to:

• continuing to work with one of my most valued friends and collatorators Antony Mayfield
• leading the establishment of a Design and Development team
• growing the role of Client Partner.

Observing your own behaviour is hard some times, as is being patient with yourself under a certain amount of inevitablepressure. It’s something I’m working on and hopefully, my aims will be true.

Bonus: Best track I’ve heard recently – Free Stress Test by Professor Murder.

Spring in my step

Bluebells in Stanmer Park, Brighton, UK

Originally uploaded by jamesbyford.

I love spring. Catching sight of the bluebells in Stanmer Park this weekend was a joy to behold. Lots more on Flickr.

Out of the wilderness into Spannerworks/iCrossing

At the tail end of last year I stopped doing the London commute and said goodbye to my new friends at Headshift. Whilst I enjoyed the company of the people and the buzz of the social software/enterprise 2 thang it proved too much. I missed reading stories to the girls at bedtime and hated standing from London Bridge to Haywards Heath more often than not (if I could get on the bloody train in the first place!).

Fortunately, a good contact of mine, Ray Richards at Spannerworks, phoned me in November and asked what I was up to. His timing couldn’t have been better. Having spent a couple of months in a consulting capacity at Spannerworks, working with Ray and helping my good friend Antony Mayfield develop the Content and Media offering I jumped at the chance to get more deeply involved at the turn of the year.

I did read John Batelle’s book in October last year which was typically freerange of me and thankfully it served to confirm much of my thinking about the evolution of search as a marketing framework and the success of Spannerworks and where it’s heading.

Here’s the five reasons for joining Spannerworks:

1. The people. I’ve known Arjo Ghosh the founder since about 2001 and have always thought him to be a man of integrity, incredibly smart and focused on growing a great company. I’ve known Ray for a similar period of time, and his decision to join Spannerworks full-time five years ago confirmed many instincts about the company. When Antony Mayfield joined Spannerworks, another penny dropped. To be working with these dudes is great. They’re sound and going places. As I gradually get to know the other members of the team – now around 60, I can sense purpose and a very positive attitude to learning and growing.

2. The challenge. So far I’ve been extremely freerange in my work with involvement in projects spanning brand and product development, social media research and consultancy and an emerging focus as a client partner feeding all of the above. This is great as there’s nothing better than a mix of challenges that draw on my strengths and experience.

3. The tie-up with iCrossing. Creating a global digital marketing organisation of the future is a very interesting thing to be involved in. I completely subscribe to the Jeff Herzog (the founder of iCrossing) view of search marketing turning advertising on it’s head.

To quote Jeff:

“The interactive capability of the internet has turned the traditional advertising model of blasting out messages to the masses on its head. Today, the customer seeks the business – where and when they want – ushering in a new generation of media and advertising.”

4. Technologies
There’s some tools emerging at Spannerworks that make me smile. Having been part of the team that made AOL a huge success in the UK in the late ’90s and a pioneer in open source with Getfrank, (even if Charlie Leadbeater refers to me as Frank Byford ) I like to think that I can spot useful tools for communication every now and then.

5. Brighton (and beyond)
All of the above happening and I’m in Brighton. Yes, the home of the football team I’ve supported all my life, where I can walk to work and all that. But even better, there is a now a work-related beyond as Spannerworks begins it’s overseas expansion.

Bring it on.

ps: Haven’t been posting much recently as the last couple of weeks have been all about getting the brand integration and website ready. A remarkable story in it’s own right given the timescales.

Moldovan businessmen acquires largest carpet factory in Romania

We don’t get much in the way of news about Moldova in the maintstream UK media. Tony Hawks’ rib-tickler, How to Beat the Moldovans at Tennis, prompted a little bit of commentary a few years. back. Otherwse, personal organ sales (livers etc not Hammonds) is the only news story that I can recall over the last while.

Having had some great adventures in Moldova, I have resolved to use one of my RSS feed sidebar widgets to bring you some news and entertainment from Moldova.

And what is currently going on in Moldova? After a quick search, the first story that struck me was the title of this post. It both delighted and amused me to hear this as amongst my fondest memories was discovering that Moldovans are very proud of their tiny little carpets, half the size of an average doormat. So things are obviously on the up.

Link:

Moldovan businessmen acquires largest carpet factory in Romania – actual story

First blogging week

At the end of the first week of writing this blog, I’m delighted to have managed near on a dozen posts, started to feel comfortable with finding a voice, received a couple of encouraging comments on the site and seen traffic rise dramatically as inbound links start to emerge. I’m also realising the value and importance of writing headlines with search terms in mind and the need for brevity. There’s always that challenge!

I also managed to get my face on Yodel Anecdotal – the blog about Yahoo inside, as the company confirmed it’s purchase of MyBloglog. I happened to have been a recent visitor to some blog or other from which they screen-grabbed the ‘recent visior’ list. Thanks to friend and former client of mine, Farhan Lalji for pointing this out. MyBloglog by the way is a great concept of community – connecting readers of blogs, like a fan club.

This adventure will continue as I like most of all, the anticipation factor. I started off with the simple goal of committing to doing this and writing some stuff. However, having got some words down and as a bonus, having got a modest amount of views and a couple of real comments I’ve quickly realised that I’ve got the blogging bug and that now I’ll move forwards with a bit more focus and consideration for others who might actually be reading this.

Onwards!