I'm an audio engineer.
Many audio engineers would see a 'cool' building like an unused church and think that would be a great place for a studio.
Usually we 'find' these buildings because they are in busy places which we are going past on our day to day.
Disused churches or utility buildings are actually terrible places to build a studio because of the amount of money that needs to be spent to keep noise out.
As an audio engineer you want to spend your money on high quality audio equipment and making the working space comfortable (good seat, lighting, painting etc) - after all you will working here 10-12 hour days for 7 days a week. If you have to spend major dollars on sound proofing 'outside' noise then you are taking money away from the important stuff.
The other problem will studios in 'busy' environments is the different types of noises. The deep bass rumble from a bus stopping and starting is very hard to eleminate, it's possible but expensive. The only way to stop it is using thick concrete. But....Here is an interesting idea - if you spend a lot of money keeping the outside noise 'out' - you also get the problem of 'inside' noise reflecting back...it's a little bit hard to think through but if a loud guitar sound is made inside a well sound proofed studio the noise will be absorbed (yes) by the expensive soundproofing but will also be 'reflected' back into the studio!
Cheaper than thick concrete (and eleminates the sound reflection problem) is the bass trap. The only problem with a bass trap is that is doesn't stop the noise from the drunken people who are waiting for the bus....right when your trying to capture an Emmy winning performance on mic.
There isn't a perfect place to setup a studio - but right on a main street isn't a good place to start.
"We don't necessarily need to build it," Negroponte told Forbes. "We just need to threaten to build it."
CherryPal just announced it's Africa Netbook available for sale today through it's website for a retail price of just $99, something that OLPC had promised years earlier and failed to deliver upon. While it is certainly not developed to live up to the specifications of the XO, the Africa Netbook does boast:
ICT supports the Business to achieve its objectives. The first document you need to look at is the 5 year business plan for the University. The ICT strategy takes into account the Business Strategy for the 5-10 year outlook. Other keys documents are the Business Process diagrams for each key business area. You might like to document a Business Information Model that looks at how data/information flows WITHIN the University and EXTERNAL information flows. Hopefully the Business Strategy takes into account any key government or other Policy changes that are on the horizon,if not you need to gather these as well.
You sound like a creative and interesting person, someone who has lots of good ideas and interesting perspectives on all sorts of aspects of life. I'm sure some of your ideas are money makers and some of your ideas are perspectives on life. But I wonder why you hold yourself back from expressing yourself to other people? Talking through thoughts with other people is one of the great joys in life. I actually read your question with sadness because I see you as an intense person, thinking deeply about lots of issues - but if you hold yourself back from expressing yourself you will always be the impotent loner. Is that what you what to be? Scared to stand up and put your idea out there in case some 'steals your thunder'? As an exercise I suggest you take your number 1 best money making idea and give it to the world - throw caution to the wind and go talk to the 'subject matter expert' and spill your guts....something wonderful will happen - I promise you!:)
I work as a Program Manager and the HR dept reports to me. I've worked on multiple large projects and recruited whole project teams for multi-million dollar projects. Just telling you this because I actaully know what I'm talking about.
If you want to get a job without a degree - thats cool - no problem.
Here is a great tip - when you put your application in...actually ring the agency up and introduce yourself and have an open and honest chat about the position you applied for. Very few people actually do this.
Once you have a job - work hard and take an interest in the company and by respectful of other people. Be aware of your experience and take full responsibility of tasks assigned to you. Follow up with people and ask for feedback on your performance. After quite a few years of working like this you will find yourself moving up the ladder.
Hi Soulskill,
At this stage you need to write the Business Case or you could write a Business Plan. Ethier way it will give you some hard parameters and documentation to move forward with.
The Busines Plan is a great document for you to really challenge your idea and work through the analysis.
If you want to include other people in your idea you need to explain it to them and you can use the Business Plan to do that.
Man this comment made me laugh - your so right. I always wondered what 'six sigma' was all about. Last year I worked with a 'green belt' - she was OK.
There all a bunch of jass asses and 2 months ago my manager told me I was rated as a B. He also told me no-one was an A, 4 people got B's, most got C's, and a few got D's. My manager got fired yesterday and ALL of the D's kept their jobs.
Your missing the point as to what this is used for
My friend is currently organising 3 skiing trips this session with about 30 people in total attending. Last session he emailed spreadsheets back and forth - this session its all google - very cool I'm currently planning my wedding - my girlfriend and I are using Google spreadsheets so we both can update details as we book/arrange This will be MASSIVE!!
Replacing business critical or CORE systems is always expensive - however its vitial to make the right choice. Spending extra to get exactly what you need is critical. The system will have a shelf life of 15-20 years, therefore the cost of the project must be considered over this time period.
The software is only part (50%) of the cost. You need to migrate all the old data over (this is ALWAYS expensive). You need to train people in the new system. You need to host the software on the right hardware and back it up daily - and be able to roll back at least 30 days.
Custom software is great because you can tweak to get exactly what you want. The problem is finding a guru to make it for you - also it can be difficult to get them back 2 years down the track when you want an update.
Off the shelf software is good becuase you can get updates as software and hardware moves on. For buying off the shelf it is important to get software that really will be supported in 10 years time.
Replacing CORE software is a really great way to get big efficiency gains. You guys use the software all day every day - if you can save an hour or 2 a day over 20 years then that is worth heaps of money, maybe a better system will help you service you clients better - give them a new report, maybe it can integrate with sales and improve sales, maybe with new software you could open a new business channel or make a business channel effictive.
Replacing a core system needs a champion (sounds like you) - talk to EVERYONE in the company - build the business case - do it - if you make the right choice and it works brilliantly every one will think your a champion for the next 20 years and no-one will care how much it cost.
Sounds like the partnership is going to fail...sorry
Your at the very start of the business (thats currently worth $0) and yet your already bitching about the politics of your title...jeez what a bunch of tossers!
We are running a $75M government project and brought ourselves a simple issue tracking application that cost $800 bucks
It wasn't til I tried to get it hosted on our corporate servers ($1000/month) that we found out it requires admin rights on the server to run. Also the software requires the database and the web server have to be on the same machine.
After spending god knows how much money testing/configuring/getting 10 managers to sign a piece of paper we said TO HELL WITH THIS - and put the application on a server with one of our IT outsourcing companies.
Unfortunately there are too many options for bad design of applications - I wonder if it would be possible to have an framework or standard architecture that would sort these problems out?
I'm a IT Project Manager - so for me the path to a successful project seems simple. But its good you asked the question.
You always start with the Business Case. The Business Case states the objective of the project, the benefits of the project, and importantly how the money is going to work. You need to map out the costs of the project. Consider the hosting costs, development costs, advertising costs, and your time! You can even have a few different models - consider that the development might cost twice as much as you think!(IT projects always seem to cost twice as much as what was in the Business Case) The Business Case also incorporates how you are going to make money. How long will it take to re-coup the project cost.
You also need to map out the delivery time for each portion of the project. Have at least monthly milestones (or weekly if you can)
Very very often your great idea doesn't look so hot once its all mapped out like this. At this point you make the decision to bank roll the idea or not. Let your wife look at it, and also maybe someone you admire for their business skills. They will give you feedback about your idea.
You idea doesn't have to make your rich - sometimes its just great to do something interesting!!
As for finding developers - again thats a question that I find very simple. All you have to do is hire one ! Good ones will charge at least $100/hour. It seems like a lot to you but when you are free lancing 1/2 your time is chewed up finding work. Most consulting firms charge 3 times what they pay to the worker. Thats just how the $ works out.
Go for someone local, interview a few people and find someone YOU can work with. You have to be upfront about the contract. (Yes - you have to write a contract with this person). It can just be 1 A4 piece of paper with your company logo and details. YOU own the code! For $100/hour YOU own everything that they do - and they have to give you all source code. Give them 20% up front to get them started. On the first protype (at least most of the major functions should work) give them another 40%. The rest on delivery once you have checked everything works.
Once the site is up and running you are going to want to make changes. The best person to do this is coder you just hired. So keep a good relationship with this person. At this point you are probably going to hire them by the hour. Write down all the changes you want and get them to tell you how much each will cost. That way you can prioritise your upgrades. (This is called benefit analysis).
Amazon does it so much better Google Searches don't even give all the albums - a search of "The White Stripes" didn't show the 2nd album "De Stilj" or 4th album "Elephant"
I used to have an excel sheet - preformatted as an invoice - and each client had a seperate invoice. At the end of each day I typed up what I did in each invoice and every two weeks sent off the invoices.
Also I write detailed descriptions of what I did. Every now and then I did have disputes with clients regarding the totals of invoices. Having the details was great - one time having all the details added up to $8000 and another time a days work was only reduced by 1 hour.
The guy who I shared an office with had a paper clip board with a standard week split into 15 minute intervals. Each day he used a pen to write down the clients name. Usually he worked on one client in the morning and another one in the afternoon. Each month his wife took the clip board and created invoices.
PART OF RUNNING YOUR OWN BUSINESS IS ORGANISING THE CASH FLOW!! If you don't like it - maybe you should go back to working for the man?
This is really great advice The worst thing you can do is hang around in a de-moviated environment - yeah its great to slack off and take it easy. But unfortunately that attitude gets carried into your next job interview - therefore your next job will also be in an office that is de-moviated - get the picture?
Actually de-moviated offices CAN provide opportunities! Always have a positive attitude in your de-moviated office and you will really shine - I myself got a promotion to a manager with a couple of de-moviated people working for me.
I've just had a similar situation - so bare with me here as I give you the background.
I've just recently finished a project with a good friend of mine. He was brought up on a farm but I met him when we studied engineering together. 2 years ago he left his job and started up his own technology company selling RFID soltuons to farmers. In Australia all cattle moving from one property to another HAVE to be registered on a national database. He won a few projects and needed a coder to come in and deliver them - since he didn't have the time - and really isn't that great a coder. Over about 4 months I crashed through the projects he had lined up and he was paying me $50 hour - all was good.
Now comes the CRUNCH! He was out at a client site and was talking with them about how the current software on the market didn't fit there needs....so on the spur of the moment he said - I'll build you that software for the same price - and I'll fix the issues. My friend made a business call - a business decision. It took 3 weeks to design/code/test the project but he only got paid for 1 week. He took the RISK that later on he could sell the product - he ALSO placed himself in the market as a guy who services his clients needs. I turned over the whole code base and I didn't expect any on-going commission from sales. Having met quite a few farmers one thing I did reliease is - I COULD NEVER sell to Farmers. I wasn't brought up on the farm.
Audio colleges no longer train audio newbs in Akai samplers - its all Reason now.
Personally I use an Akai sampler - I find hardware works much better. Plus the AD/DA conversion is much better - plus the lantency is better - plus my Akai sampler JUST WORKS!!! everytime.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm an audio engineer. Many audio engineers would see a 'cool' building like an unused church and think that would be a great place for a studio. Usually we 'find' these buildings because they are in busy places which we are going past on our day to day. Disused churches or utility buildings are actually terrible places to build a studio because of the amount of money that needs to be spent to keep noise out. As an audio engineer you want to spend your money on high quality audio equipment and making the working space comfortable (good seat, lighting, painting etc) - after all you will working here 10-12 hour days for 7 days a week. If you have to spend major dollars on sound proofing 'outside' noise then you are taking money away from the important stuff. The other problem will studios in 'busy' environments is the different types of noises. The deep bass rumble from a bus stopping and starting is very hard to eleminate, it's possible but expensive. The only way to stop it is using thick concrete. But....Here is an interesting idea - if you spend a lot of money keeping the outside noise 'out' - you also get the problem of 'inside' noise reflecting back...it's a little bit hard to think through but if a loud guitar sound is made inside a well sound proofed studio the noise will be absorbed (yes) by the expensive soundproofing but will also be 'reflected' back into the studio! Cheaper than thick concrete (and eleminates the sound reflection problem) is the bass trap. The only problem with a bass trap is that is doesn't stop the noise from the drunken people who are waiting for the bus....right when your trying to capture an Emmy winning performance on mic. There isn't a perfect place to setup a studio - but right on a main street isn't a good place to start.
CherryPal just announced it's Africa Netbook available for sale today through it's website for a retail price of just $99, something that OLPC had promised years earlier and failed to deliver upon. While it is certainly not developed to live up to the specifications of the XO, the Africa Netbook does boast:
7-inch display
400MHz processor
256MB memory
2GB flash storage
Linux or Windows CE
4 hour battery
olpcnews.com
If you are a normal corporatation (using Office) I would recommend SharePoint instead.
ICT supports the Business to achieve its objectives. The first document you need to look at is the 5 year business plan for the University. The ICT strategy takes into account the Business Strategy for the 5-10 year outlook. Other keys documents are the Business Process diagrams for each key business area. You might like to document a Business Information Model that looks at how data/information flows WITHIN the University and EXTERNAL information flows. Hopefully the Business Strategy takes into account any key government or other Policy changes that are on the horizon,if not you need to gather these as well.
You sound like a creative and interesting person, someone who has lots of good ideas and interesting perspectives on all sorts of aspects of life. I'm sure some of your ideas are money makers and some of your ideas are perspectives on life. But I wonder why you hold yourself back from expressing yourself to other people? Talking through thoughts with other people is one of the great joys in life. I actually read your question with sadness because I see you as an intense person, thinking deeply about lots of issues - but if you hold yourself back from expressing yourself you will always be the impotent loner. Is that what you what to be? Scared to stand up and put your idea out there in case some 'steals your thunder'? As an exercise I suggest you take your number 1 best money making idea and give it to the world - throw caution to the wind and go talk to the 'subject matter expert' and spill your guts....something wonderful will happen - I promise you! :)
My advice is to go for it. The good replys all come from experience - and the only way to get that experience is to do it.
If you want to get a job without a degree - thats cool - no problem.
Here is a great tip - when you put your application in...actually ring the agency up and introduce yourself and have an open and honest chat about the position you applied for. Very few people actually do this.
Once you have a job - work hard and take an interest in the company and by respectful of other people. Be aware of your experience and take full responsibility of tasks assigned to you. Follow up with people and ask for feedback on your performance. After quite a few years of working like this you will find yourself moving up the ladder.
Good luck!
At this stage you need to write the Business Case or you could write a Business Plan. Ethier way it will give you some hard parameters and documentation to move forward with.
The Busines Plan is a great document for you to really challenge your idea and work through the analysis.
If you want to include other people in your idea you need to explain it to them and you can use the Business Plan to do that.
Good luck with the idea!Paul
There all a bunch of jass asses and 2 months ago my manager told me I was rated as a B. He also told me no-one was an A, 4 people got B's, most got C's, and a few got D's.
My manager got fired yesterday and ALL of the D's kept their jobs.
My friend is currently organising 3 skiing trips this session with about 30 people in total attending. Last session he emailed spreadsheets back and forth - this session its all google - very cool
I'm currently planning my wedding - my girlfriend and I are using Google spreadsheets so we both can update details as we book/arrange
This will be MASSIVE!!
The software is only part (50%) of the cost. You need to migrate all the old data over (this is ALWAYS expensive). You need to train people in the new system. You need to host the software on the right hardware and back it up daily - and be able to roll back at least 30 days.
Custom software is great because you can tweak to get exactly what you want. The problem is finding a guru to make it for you - also it can be difficult to get them back 2 years down the track when you want an update.
Off the shelf software is good becuase you can get updates as software and hardware moves on. For buying off the shelf it is important to get software that really will be supported in 10 years time.
Replacing CORE software is a really great way to get big efficiency gains. You guys use the software all day every day - if you can save an hour or 2 a day over 20 years then that is worth heaps of money, maybe a better system will help you service you clients better - give them a new report, maybe it can integrate with sales and improve sales, maybe with new software you could open a new business channel or make a business channel effictive.
Replacing a core system needs a champion (sounds like you) - talk to EVERYONE in the company - build the business case - do it - if you make the right choice and it works brilliantly every one will think your a champion for the next 20 years and no-one will care how much it cost.
How a about you give me that code
Your at the very start of the business (thats currently worth $0) and yet your already bitching about the politics of your title...jeez what a bunch of tossers!
It wasn't til I tried to get it hosted on our corporate servers ($1000/month) that we found out it requires admin rights on the server to run. Also the software requires the database and the web server have to be on the same machine.
After spending god knows how much money testing/configuring/getting 10 managers to sign a piece of paper we said TO HELL WITH THIS - and put the application on a server with one of our IT outsourcing companies.
Unfortunately there are too many options for bad design of applications - I wonder if it would be possible to have an framework or standard architecture that would sort these problems out?
You always start with the Business Case. The Business Case states the objective of the project, the benefits of the project, and importantly how the money is going to work.
You need to map out the costs of the project. Consider the hosting costs, development costs, advertising costs, and your time!
You can even have a few different models - consider that the development might cost twice as much as you think!(IT projects always seem to cost twice as much as what was in the Business Case)
The Business Case also incorporates how you are going to make money. How long will it take to re-coup the project cost.
You also need to map out the delivery time for each portion of the project. Have at least monthly milestones (or weekly if you can)
Very very often your great idea doesn't look so hot once its all mapped out like this. At this point you make the decision to bank roll the idea or not. Let your wife look at it, and also maybe someone you admire for their business skills. They will give you feedback about your idea.
You idea doesn't have to make your rich - sometimes its just great to do something interesting!!
As for finding developers - again thats a question that I find very simple. All you have to do is hire one ! Good ones will charge at least $100/hour. It seems like a lot to you but when you are free lancing 1/2 your time is chewed up finding work. Most consulting firms charge 3 times what they pay to the worker. Thats just how the $ works out.
Go for someone local, interview a few people and find someone YOU can work with.
You have to be upfront about the contract. (Yes - you have to write a contract with this person). It can just be 1 A4 piece of paper with your company logo and details. YOU own the code! For $100/hour YOU own everything that they do - and they have to give you all source code. Give them 20% up front to get them started. On the first protype (at least most of the major functions should work) give them another 40%. The rest on delivery once you have checked everything works.
Once the site is up and running you are going to want to make changes. The best person to do this is coder you just hired. So keep a good relationship with this person. At this point you are probably going to hire them by the hour. Write down all the changes you want and get them to tell you how much each will cost. That way you can prioritise your upgrades. (This is called benefit analysis).
The product needs to integrate with Outlook. Transfer data back and forth (meetings, emails etc.).
Amazon does it so much better
Google Searches don't even give all the albums - a search of "The White Stripes" didn't show the 2nd album "De Stilj" or 4th album "Elephant"
At the end of each day I typed up what I did in each invoice and every two weeks sent off the invoices.
Also I write detailed descriptions of what I did.
Every now and then I did have disputes with clients regarding the totals of invoices.
Having the details was great - one time having all the details added up to $8000 and another time a days work was only reduced by 1 hour.
The guy who I shared an office with had a paper clip board with a standard week split into 15 minute intervals.
Each day he used a pen to write down the clients name. Usually he worked on one client in the morning and another one in the afternoon.
Each month his wife took the clip board and created invoices.
PART OF RUNNING YOUR OWN BUSINESS IS ORGANISING THE CASH FLOW!!
If you don't like it - maybe you should go back to working for the man?
I found this web site yesterday and reading it made me incredibly sad.
Maybe all you WoW players should delete your silly characters and live in the real world
YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY NEED YOU!!
The worst thing you can do is hang around in a de-moviated environment - yeah its great to slack off and take it easy. But unfortunately that attitude gets carried into your next job interview - therefore your next job will also be in an office that is de-moviated - get the picture?
Actually de-moviated offices CAN provide opportunities! Always have a positive attitude in your de-moviated office and you will really shine - I myself got a promotion to a manager with a couple of de-moviated people working for me.
One of my projects is to create a Sudoko J2ME game for a Seris 40 Nokia.
A nokia 40 phone has a perfect interface for sudoko.
I've just had a similar situation - so bare with me here as I give you the background.
I've just recently finished a project with a good friend of mine. He was brought up on a farm but I met him when we studied engineering together.
2 years ago he left his job and started up his own technology company selling RFID soltuons to farmers. In Australia all cattle moving from one property to another HAVE to be registered on a national database.
He won a few projects and needed a coder to come in and deliver them - since he didn't have the time - and really isn't that great a coder.
Over about 4 months I crashed through the projects he had lined up and he was paying me $50 hour - all was good.
Now comes the CRUNCH!
He was out at a client site and was talking with them about how the current software on the market didn't fit there needs....so on the spur of the moment he said - I'll build you that software for the same price - and I'll fix the issues.
My friend made a business call - a business decision. It took 3 weeks to design/code/test the project but he only got paid for 1 week.
He took the RISK that later on he could sell the product - he ALSO placed himself in the market as a guy who services his clients needs.
I turned over the whole code base and I didn't expect any on-going commission from sales.
Having met quite a few farmers one thing I did reliease is - I COULD NEVER sell to Farmers. I wasn't brought up on the farm.
It has to automatically backup every day and there has to be off-site storage.
I think a tape drive on the server is the best option.
Personally I use an Akai sampler - I find hardware works much better. Plus the AD/DA conversion is much better - plus the lantency is better - plus my Akai sampler JUST WORKS!!! everytime.
be a man - and buy that iBook right now!!