Audio File for LiveValidation.com Review
(1 minutes 12 seconds)

For you web developers:

Finally… with all my extra time during the summer, I’ve spent more time coding.

I’ve always had a “I can do it better” coding style. I can think of hundreds of times that I’ve seen a piece of software (or code) and said, “I can do it better.” Then I go out and sure enough, I do it better

The problem is that I spend hundreds of hours doing it.

Just recently I needed a form validator. The form validator simply needed to verify that two different passwords were typed correctly. Although server-side data validation is required, its ugly. Server-side validation requires a user to hit a submit button and wait for a response. I wanted something that was real-time… So, I reminded myself how much time I waste trying to recreate the wheel and I set out to find a solution that was client side (preferably JavaScript).

And I found it… I’ve started using LiveValidation.

LiveValidation is a javascript library that provides form validation on the fly. It’s open source and completely free. You can find a ton of examples on their site. And if you can’t find an example, LiveValidation has well-written documentation (something that is hard to come by these days).

Good Luck

      

Audio File for Effective Time Management
(2 minutes 19 seconds)

As some of you know, I’ve been going to law school at UALR for the past year. It’s a part-time program which fits nicely into my work schedule but has cut deeply into my time availability.

During the Semester
During the semester, a typical day starts around 8am and as soon as I get off of work, I’m in class by 5:30pm. I sit in a class room until 9pm. I then get home, reply to emails, return urgent calls, prepare for the next day’s work, and then start reading for the next day of classes.

When I sit in class, I think about all of the thing that I COULD accomplish if I were not in school.

Needless to say, when I got out of school for the summer, I couldn’t wait to get out and see how much I could accomplish. As the summer began, I thought that I needed to work long hours to “get caught up.”

Now, in mid-August, I’m still working late hours and probably getting just as much done as I did while I was in class.

I’ve come to the realization that I lack time management skills. Actually, I don’t lack time management skills… they just go away if they’re not required. My formula looks something like this:

The more stuff I have to do and the less time I have to do those tasks… the better my time management skills. This follows my theory of:

“If you push yourself to accomplish more than you think you can handle… you’ll surprise yourself with how much you can actually accomplish.”

So, a few things that I’ve learned while trying to fix my time management skills.

1. Do not work with outlook open. Set time aside to respond to emails.
2. You do not have to answer every phone call. Set time aside to respond to phone calls.
3. Prioritize your task list. Not every task is equally important. Hone in on tasks that are important.
4. Log Your time. To measure your time management, you must know where you are spending your time.
5. One task at a time. I’m the worst at trying to do three things at once. But time and time again, I’m reminded that making a list is a better solution.

I leave you with a book that was given to me by an ex-girlfriend that told me long ago that I had time management problems. Admission is the first step to solving the problem.

      

I’ve just added twitter updates to my sidebar. By doing that, any of my readers can see what I’m doing right now (assuming I’ve told twitter).

I’ve played with twitter for a while now and I am still trying to gather my thoughts on the product.

The Service
For those who don’t know, twitter is a web application that allows registered users to post what they are doing “right now.” They make updates pretty simple. You can update using their web site, text message 40404, and email.

You can follow other users as well. So, if I want to know what my friend Jeff Noble or Capillya is doing, I “follow” him. Once I follow someone, it text messages me an update of “what they are doing.”

The Usage
Twitter makes it easy to update what you are doing… allowing me text message what I am doing it great. In addition, there are some really nice apps that make updating really simple. For instance, Jott.com allows me to call a toll-free number and make twitter updates via voice calls.

The Review
A friend of mine (after discussing twitter), told me that it isn’t a viable service. He called it a “feature” not a product. His thought behind the statement is that this is something Facebook and most other social networking sites have built into their product.

I guess I sort of agree. My only argument is not the service itself. The twitter service is similar to Facebook status update. Facebook does allow you to update status and you can even receive mobile updates when someone updates their status (this is something I’ve had to literally show someone).

The argument is the way the service is used. Facebook users update their status as a statement of feeling while twitter users utilize updates as statements on what they are doing….

Typical Facebook updates look like “RJ Martino is bored” or “RJ Martino is lucky to have such a great friend”

Typical Twitter updates look like “RJ Martino is writing a review on twitter.com” or “RJ Martino is going to a court appearance”

This is hard to explain… but to sum it up, facebook updates tell followers how they are feeling… twitter updates tell you what people are actually doing, not what they’re feeling.

So, as a technical review, I don’t think twitter is much than Facebook. But after using it for some time, there is no doubt that they are used in two different ways.

It seems almost certain that twitter is a viable product by the number of users but I’ve stopped making predictions on product viability.

      

I am trying Jott.com out and it’s really cool. I recommend it. It’s a lot of fun. This will actually sent using Jott.com. listen

Powered by Jott

      

Employee Empowerment
When people ask me about my management style, I usually respond with something corny like “employee empowerment.” The idea is that the people I work with are smart enough that they don’t have to be managed. They know the company goals and they know how to take care of a customer. Let the employee manage themselves. They’ll hold themselves to a higher standard, make their own deadlines based on reality and work load, and they’ll put the customer first because of their own inner drive. Overall, I think this management style has worked for me. It might be the lazy man’s way, but I think if you have good people, you’ll see great results. It’s less time consuming than other management style’s and I think the employees get a lot more, long term gain out of this style of management.

When Employee Empowerment Doesn’t Work
But, “employee empowerment” doesn’t always work. You don’t want to use this style when you’re working with people that don’t care about quality, their customer, or future. These people live for today, not the long term. They over promise and under deliver. They say they’ll be there and never show up. They promise you’ll love the work and you end up hating it. They swear they didn’t see the errors you point out. They make excuse after excuse. They make errors without any excuse at all. They promise to change and they don’t. You don’t want to work with these people but sometimes you have no choice.

When It Doesn’t Work
When I notice that empowerment isn’t working, I switch to what I call “Reward Management.” This is typical in some industries such as the construction industry. This is also typical when you’re working with sub-contractors. The basis is, you only get paid when the job is done and when the job is done right. This is the last leg for me. I’ll call it quits if they can’t get the job done, maintain a great quality, pickup the phone when I call, or they can’t get it done when they say they’re going to get it done.

That’s it. Those two things are my only management options. Sometimes, I get handcuffed to a bad worker. Sometimes, I get a guy who starts a project and they’re so deep in the project, its hard to get them off of it. From experience, its always worth getting them off of the project as soon as possible. Don’t give them a third and forth shot, just get rid of them.

Conclusion
Good people are the hardest things to come by. When you find them, treat them as good as you can and be prepared to treat them better than you treat yourself. Don’t double cross them because you’ll need them in the future. And get them on your team as soon as you can.

Bad people are a dime-a-dozen. Dump them as soon as you can. Don’t give them a third chance and don’t think they’ll change.

      

I was lucky enough to be highlighted by an exciting new publication Talk Business Quarterly. You can read the article below.

Although Talk Business Quarterly is new, Talk business has been covering Arkansas Business since 1999. Roby Brock is the host and executive producer of Talk Business and his show can be seen on Fox 16.

Check out his website at www.talkbusiness.net

In exchange for his nice article, I thought I’d give him a little exposure on my media outlet… rjmartino.com… I probably got a little more exposure than he did.

Read the article
Young Guns.pdf

      

http://del.icio.us/ – A social bookmarking web site… if you don’t use it, try it out… You can see all of my “favorites” at http://del.icio.us/rjmartino.

Does anyone use twitter.com?

      

Opinion: The offer is going to get accepted.

Microsoft obviously wants it, Yahoo!’s stock price is too low, Yahoo! isn’t competing with Google, and the price is right.

Paul Kedrosky describes ways that the YHOO/MSFT deal could be killed, but the chances are slim… very slim.

      

Saturday night Amy and I ate dinner with friends… We had a great time and had some stimulating conversations. It was fun… but then… when we thought the fun was over… we went to Rachel and Chris’ house.

Rachel and Chris have a kid that is 20 months old. Santa brought him a 4-foot basketball goal… for the next three hours Chris, Daniel, and I played games on the 4-foot basketball goal including HORSE, free throw contest, and 1-minute 3-point contests… it was a blast.

I love life… but I’d rather be a kid any day of the week.

      

Obviously Arkansas Business thinks we should go bigger.

Link to Article

A SMALL apartment project in Jacksonville drew an $849,000 transaction. Martino & Carrasquillo Investments LLC, led by Ronald Martino, acquired Loop Road Apartments at 306 Loop Road from Carl and Claudia Clem. The deal is backed with a 30-year loan of $678,960 from Imperial Capital Bank of Glendale, Calif.

PS… don’t call me Ronald.