You’re on the hook to deliver something outstanding, within a short timespan. In fact, the project you’re on is more important than last, with many stakeholders waiting for results. Not only that, the resources promised to you have been reduced.

What do you do?

• Cower in your office for days, hoping your project manager delegates it to someone else.
• Agree to deliver, though silently reducing features or quality
• Call the cavalry and outsource that bad boy!

In the past, all were options. In today’s climate, hardly! you will need to strap on your hard hat and decide how to take the plunge. If indeed impossible, the rewards will come either through recognition or experience.

Plan loosely

Gather and make a few assumptions about the project, imagining that the capabiities to do the task exist in your team. Map out the steps you’d take if working on the project alone and notate instead which team members would need to own that piece…oh yeah don’t forget to brainstorm-you should be familiar with this.

Dig In

Now, take back the assumptions you made earlier and tackle the first part of the project, no matter how long you think it will take you. By now, you’ve overcome the most difficult obstacle: STARTING!

Step back

As you revel in having led the charge, analyze the progress you’ve made and re-assess the project relative to total output. Teammates should now be able to help you increase momentum. The momentum needed to begin spinning is much greater than the force needed to keep the wheel spinning.

Re-engage

Now that you understand the project ecosystem and have had a swing at some deliverables, your role should be clear. This assessment buys you piece of mind. Peace of mind you need to be creative. Piece of mind you need to do your best work with confidence. Awareness of your progress in relation to due dates comes with the continued stepping back and re-engaging yourself.

Go work out

Break off when you’re having the most difficulty and progress is slow. By completing the workout and trading some stress for some sweat, you’ve increased endorphins and allowed your mind to create new neural paths. You’ll need these to overcome obstacles and keep morale high.

Even if deadlines are at risk, when you’re able to think on your feet, everyone’s better off. Don’t sacrifice quality to meet deadlines if you can help it. Be sure to allocate more time than you need, so that you can practice creatively managing your project output.

Wrap up

Make the project 120% complete while celebrating your achievements! Not only have you overcome your fear of challenge, you’ve managed to keep your brain flexible. Your team has more respect for you, and your next project will be even more rewarding. No two projects will be alike, so you’ll need to repeat the creative project strategy to reap the best results.

Don’t have $1,499 to drop on the new Creative Suite 5? or $999 to dish out on Photoshop CS5? Not a problem. For a limited time, Adobe has a $20 rebate on its $99 product making it accessible to designers on a budget. Buying on the Adobe website was modestly easy, but downloading took several hours for the 1.0Gb download.

Once downloaded, you still need to de-archive and run the .cab file. Seems like LOTS of work for a light program.

Several things differ in Photoshop Elements that could make a difference in your workflow, depending on how much of a power-user you are. Some of the changes are subtle, such as the Rasterize option you might be familiar with becoming ‘Simplify’ in the Layer menu.

A quick glance at Elements 8.

The UI is re-done and looks darkened so as to not put too much glare into a digital workroom. In addition the Red-eye removal tool (Y) is available in the toolbar by default (and is available in Photoshop CS as a plug-in).

Also unique in PE8 is the Create menu, which lets you choose between different projects. This option is new if you’re moving from Photoshop CS to PE8. This is useful for novice and experienced users of photo editing software.

Also hot: the ‘Enhance’ Options for easy photo editing. These tools actually make Photoshop Elements 8 more suited to the photo production environment than Photoshop CS

Conclusion

Photoshop Elements 8 is great for sub-notebooks and netbooks. If you’re a photographer and need to make some field edits, this is a great program to carry with you. Though it could be used for more design work, it leaves quite a bit to be desired. Elements 8 is good if you’re just beginning your design career or if you are a PC user looking for a cheap way to edit photos and graphics.

If you’re a photographer using a PC (rather than Mac & Aperture), then Photoshop Elements is a fantastic choice.

Regular static ads don’t cut it anymore. When it comes to getting people’s attention, it’s of grave importance to be different. Everyone’s seen square ads with a photo of a girl with a headset. Don’t do it!!
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This walk-through assumes basic knowledge of Flash of Photoshop.

1) We begin with a stock photo of a woman relaxing. The background doesn’t matter, but we would like it to contrast with the animation. In this case, green and our proposed sky backdrop work well together.

Final image:

2) In Photoshop, we will add a background layer to begin cutting out the woman. Make sure the background layer contrasts with the foreground. I picked light blue…

3) Begin erasing the background from the woman. I like to start from the edge of the subject, and do that in great detail, so the rest will be easier.

4.) Use the lasso tool to grab the remaining background and erase it, leaving the woman layer with no background. You should be able to see the background layer
completely.

5) Delete the background layer so we can create the transparent .PNG image.

6) Find a sky photo with some clouds. Size the photo about the same height as the ad, but having enough horizontal space to scroll sideways.

7) Copy the background once, and erase the overlap with a fuzzy brush. This will give the illusion of a continuous seamless sky

Open flash, and create an .FLA movie 400 w x 300 h, with a framerate that will allow smooth animation. I like to use something 24 fps to 32 fps. Anything above that is not really necessary, unless you’re creating a flash game.

9) Drop the transparent woman .PNG along with the long sky background onto the stage into separate layers. Toward the end of the movie, put the original photo into the last few frames with fade in using Motion Tweening. Below I’ve shown you the timeline as well as several elements of the movie.

10) Create a movie clip of the sky, by right-clicking and selecting ‘convert to symbol’

11) Double clicking into the new sky movie clip, create a motion tween that scrolls the background and then resets. You will need to use some trial and error by testing the movie clip and working toward a seamless animation that looks like the sky is continually moving. The movie clip will automatically loop, so there’s no need to put any actionscript to get it to replay.

12) Click back to Scene 1

13) Add some text transitions using different fonts. Don’t be  afraid to experiment. Here, I’ve picked Bell MT and Bell Gothic Std Black. Using fonts within the same family is somewhat easier, though not required.

You can see that I haven’t labelled anything in my timeline, though you should if your movie has more than 2-3 elements! Tweening and transitions are the key to putting finesse in your flash projects.

An example of the seamless scrolling sky:

Here’s the finished project (click here to reload the page):

What’s a social robot you might ask? They come in different models:

1. The worker bot - this worker bot is the staple of any social media circle. Having a decent sized sphere of influence, the worker bot tends to the needs of the family unit by being helpful, sometimes overly helpful. The standard hangouts of the worker bot are websites like www.experts-exchange.com and www.linkedin.com where they spew out answers in hopes of gaining some recognition or ‘reward points’ such as where the ‘best answer’ designation is awarded (as the question asker perceives it).

Once a regular of forums where groups of crazy like-minded  individuals hung out, the worker bot trolls the internet looking for ways to contribute. Though their cause is gallant, they expend tons of energy on slackers lacking the creativity to come up with their own answers.

An example – there are seriously vague questions such as this one posted every second on websites like LinkedIN.

Q. How do I setup Twitter?

A. Chosen as Best Answer Good question! I am a Twitter expert with mega crap-tons of followers. Twittering is both an art and a science that is easy to pickup but hard to master. What you need to do is tweet, tweet, tweet until all the search engines pickup all your awesome keywords like #nowplaying #iamanexpertatseo, or #ilovegoogle . Then, the rest is easy my friend =) =)

2. The construction bot

The construction bot likes to build stuff, and cater to the masses by being funny, likeable, and somewhat irreverant. Good examples of this include Maddox, whose website has generated a collection of nerd followers wanting to be as cool as he. His posts include topics like ‘The iPhone Sucks’ and ‘Pirates are awesome.’

At the bottom of every page there’s a visit counter that resembles this: “I am better at Guitar Hero than 1,531,641 people.”

Though his posts have little literary value, his website generates tons of hits. In addition, he’s brought customer service departments to their knees with floods of fan e-mails commenting on his experience with Orbitz, the travel company. Actually, I have had great experiences with Orbitz, in part thanks to active consumers like Maddox that have a piecemeal internet following.

In the end, Maddox quit his job (or was terminated) and is now a social robot looking for another book deal. Another good spinster would be Tim Ferriss. Cool guy, but bad businessman. Don’t listen to his advice, it will get you fired. His book is a good read though…hope his money goes a long way ’cause he’ll never work again and he’s on the hook to produce something newer and better next. Lest he be a one book wonder!

3. The news bot

Seemingly docile and unpresumptuous, the newsbot is by far the most insidious. Having a few computer skills to hone its craft, and even photoshop or dreamweaver skills, the newsbot is a handy dandy helper to mainstream news outlets.

Typically seen wandering around urban jungles, the newsbot totes an iPhone (possibly an iPad) and captures everything, processes it, and digests it into 140 character chunks his crowd enjoys. The typical routine of a newsbot is to first post some replies to its fellow newsbot, such as “LOL @newsbot3 @newsbot4 #inthelunchline #booya.”

Then, it proceeds to hash out his or her own version of the topic of the hour, be it a natural disaster, new gadget release, or a random meetup of newsbots (as if it didn’t happen on a daily basis). “I’m at starbucks with @coolbot and @nerdbot. btw, the new ipad comes out tomorrow .”

The newsbot almost ALWAYS has a blog where they expand on their tweet earlier in the day and embellish it with funny details and/or anecdotes.  The post occupies every category in wordpress (because their concsciousness encompasses the sun and the stars). Most of the time they have a day job and looking for 10 minutes of fame with their crew by the end of the shift.

In the end, the newsbot is the star of his own social media show, which is pretty awesome to his cadre of followers.

Highlights of 2009-2010:
Tweeting while in a plane going down in the Hudson river. Awesome and newsworthy, good fodder for the nation’s army of newsbots.
Balloon boy. funny idea, bad execution. Due to indiscriminating newsbots, it got some undeserved attention.
Obama on Twitter. Come on newsbot staff, give him the mic.
Obama on Blackberry.  Rockin’
Tiger woods jokes. Saw some I can actually use on friends.
Foursquare. Fun. overrated…
#ipad. beat to death.

To sum up:

Don’t lose your individualism. It’s your only weapon against mediocrity.

Ever wonder how to get more done? The answer lies not in what you can change in your work situation but just how you view yourself.

• how you view challenge
• how you combine rational thought with objectivity
• conventional wisdom combined with personal experience
• unplugging and re-engage yourself constructively (this is harder than it sounds)
• acceptance of own limitations and belief in a higher power

How do you stay creative?

“Who’s your city” by Richard Florida explains which cities are the most creative….the answer lies in yourself!

Happy Friday! Working harder & smarter is now a basic requirement to getting things done. Used to be, being smarter got you a raise and a high five. Now, if you don’t work like there’s no tomorrow and put in a little PLANNING, you’re toast. Let’s recap financial wisdom of the ‘crowd’ in the last decade:

• 1999: Everyone thought the Internet and .coms were the key to making a million bucks for little work. If you had a 9 to 5 job, you dreamed about starting your own online business on a path to being just like Bill Gates
• 2000: Oh snap, it looks like IPO’s weren’t the wave of the future after all.
• 2004: ‘It’s OK’ said the average joe. We’ll make back all the money we lost in the stock market with REAL ESTATE. Yeah, that’s a good idea since rates are so low and the government wants a piece of my investment in taxes. No problem, we’ll buy a house cause we’ll be approved fosho, and then flip it with the quickness, yo! Anyone who doesn’t do this is a sucka.
• 2007: Dayum, what happened-all the houses on my street are for sale, and nobody is buying. Forreal, this is whack. Obama, please bail us out in the form of tax breaks and incentives to buy a *new* home.
• 2010: ‘Shiz, thanks Obama for cash for clunkers…now I have a new whip, and a phat house.’ there are also big spenders living in posh neighborhoods saying ‘Dude, wtf is with this health care tax? I need to put more money into my new home and cadillac escalade.’

Average joes including me gotta remember: So we ain’t gonna be a silicon valley .com superstars, we lost some serious dough in the stock market….twice, and we just had a healthcare bill passed at our expense and we’re shellin’ out taxes on Social Security (and have been for 2 decades). So my advice to the pundits and average joes who can’t shut up about new taxes:

Just chill and worry about how you can contribute to society, and help make the world better for others.

Look so we can’t change conventional wisdom, or should I say ‘idiocy’ that much, but at least we can be positive and work harder & smarter.

This facebook comment got me red-faced mad – here’s a young individual who has the ability to live it up and have lots of status. Sums up her appreciation for sacrifices of all hard-working americans by saying ‘I am seriously considering moving out of this damn country.’ It also came from someone who is barely of driving age.

E-mail Tiffani or find her on Twitter. If you have a chance, write her a few words and let her know what a privilege it STILL is to live in the United States.

Maybe it’s just generation gap (Generation X’s) have seen a lot of challenges. The generation gap is definitely widening…Patriotism 101 – Love:

the Freedom to work for our own money (instead of collective fail i.e. socialism. Reformed healthcare is not socialist.) Freedom of religion. Freedom of speech.

If you stop appreciating, then you’re probably an ‘average’ hater looking for something to blame your problems on. I believe the immigrants coming in from all over can be my guest and stay near my home, as long as they don’t mind working for what they get.

And for those hard-working joes and janes that love America, truck on!

Launched website: www.mhnewstart.com a collaboration between IDEA, 713.222.CARE, and 3 Memorial Hermann Hospitals.

Markets look good:

…and the coffee was already made when I got to my desk!

What more could a guy ask for on Monday….

This has happened more than once where my trackball will move any way but upward – I tried pulling out the ball (no-go) for the Tour, hard and soft reset, and plain hard scroll, but this method works best:

1.) Spray Windex on a paper towel and rub between your thumbs.

(Or)

2.) Score a wet nap from Buffalo Wild Wings

3.) Scroll with the paper/wet nap then your thumbs.

Should be good as new!!

In a busy team, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. If you feel under-appreciated and vulnerable, you’re not alone: the more you accomplish it seems like the higher expectations are set, and the more responsibilities you have.

Clean up your inbox
Your goal in the morning is to avoid making your e-mail inbox your main task list.
Why?
Trust me: your job isn’t the colored flags in your mailbox…e-mail doesn’t convey emotion or urgency, and certainly doesn’t replace phone calls. One phone call can save you from two days e-mailing back and forth, especially if both sender and responder are extremely busy.

• Do the smaller and quicker tasks first.
• Schedule regular housekeeping items to all take place on one day per week such as Friday or Monday. That way, there’s less of a chance of dropping the ball on anything.
• Set Outlook to check E-mail every 2 hours instead of every 15 minutes
• hold off on hiring interns until absolutely required. The management overhead can take away some of the productivity gains you receive. Its a tough spot trying to keep the intern busy if there’s downtime. Unlike you, they may not know what to do once the backlog is complete – in the meantime you’ll use your strategy mojo planning theiir day instead of yours.
• Try to leave for lunch. Your image takes a hit, but there’s a silver lining-in fact eat out at least twice a week at most 3 times. The creativity you need for management recharges when you’re not in work-processing mode. A byproduct of sacrificing a bit of productivity for being sane: People prefer working with humans rather than robots
• If someone else dropped the ball, give them a quick phone call instead of making a spectacle. Cover for your teammates, especially if they’re known to be high-strung. Seeing a teammate go down even if they’re not your favorite person doesn’t contribute to the overall effectiveness of your group which is where the rewards come in.
• Lastly, if you know someone is in danger of the ax, let the ax play its part unless they’re mission critical. In the moment, the endangered species is willing to take you with them-beware.

Nearly all workers feel burned out from time to time, and its your job to let your team know you need help with your load. Particularly, your bosses should be understanding since they’re graded on your happiness as well. Happier workers tend to produce better results and in time earn merits. not to say you should act happy, when you’re in fact miserable-honesty is something management will appreciate. If you’re extremely dissatisfied with the way things are run, vote with your two feet and start a business!

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Lastly, keep your resume.up-to-date…so that you can keep track of your accomplishments and purpose. It also helps you stay focused on your career goals….Just don’t leave printouts of it in the common printer area!