How to prepare to interview your Web design client

Web Client Interview Form

In the last 5-6 years many file access solutions have emerged, all requiring some sort of uploads and downloads. I have tried several and given up on them due to their cumbersome nature. Recently, I tried one of the new services recommended by several magazine articles and Web sites: Dropbox.com. I am writing this post to recommend this service to my colleagues and students. It is totally automated and works like magic.

You may have received an invitation from me to join Dropbox. But even without an invitation, point your browser to Dropbox to see how simple this can be.

1. Click on the big blue button that says “Download Dropbox”. It will initiate the download.
2. When it is complete, double click on the downloaded file to start the installation
3. Accept all the default settings it suggest, they can be changed later if you like
4. When the window comes asking whether you have a Dropbox account or not, choose the one that says you do not have an account
5. Enter your information
6. You may skip the brief explanation that requires going through several windows by clicking the appropriate button
7. You now have 2GB of storage totally free of charge on Dropbox

The installation creates a Dropbox folder on your desktop, which is the magic portal through which full synchronization happens.  You can create new folders there, load them up with files, they will magically appear on your Dropbox account which you can access wherever there is a Web browser. Now, you can go to the Dropbox Web site, login and you will see the contents of your local Dropbox folder. But, wait! There’s more!

On your second (or third, or fourth,… ) computer, say your office computer, and your laptop, go through the steps 1-3 above. When you come to step 4, choose the option that you have a Dropbox account and enter your e-mail and password. Dropbox will install on that computer, create the same Dropbox folder on the desktop (or wherever you decided to put it) and to your total amazement will make the files you put in your Dropbox at home appear in your Dropbox on your office computer. You can repeat this on other computers you use with the same automatic synchronization feature, in all directions. DO NOT INSTALL DROPBOX ON PUBLIC COMPUTERS WITH YOUR LOGIN CREDENTIALS. That will give access to  your files to anyone sitting at that computer. Instead, access your files using a Web browser on those public computers, in the lab, at a friends house, at a cafeteria, …

Now, are you satisfied? But, wait there’s more!

Say you are collaborating on a project, be it a group project in a class or collaboration on a paper with a colleague, or you simply want to show some photographs you have taken during the spring break with your family. (What? You do not want them to see those photos? Why? Oh, well, never mind.) Create a folder in your Dropbox for sharing with one or many people. Put some files there. Then share this folder on the Dropbox Web site. You will see the menu tab for this purpose which simply requires that you choose the folder to share and enter the e-mail addresses of the people who should see the contents of this folder. That simple. Your friends will receive your invitation to access the shared folder (you can have multiple shared folder for different group of individuals) and arrive at the Dropbox Web site. If they do not have a Dropbox account, they can create on on the spot, or use their login credentials to login to their Dropbox account and accept your invitation to view the folder contents you shared.

I suggest that you go in small steps and get comfortable with the software and the service. It works with remarkable ease and the storage space they give you free of charge is rather generous. You can almost use it for off site backup purposes.

Now, you can stop worrying that you left your USB drive at home. Your files are at your fingertips, wherever you are.

Note: I have found out after posting this message that anyone who registers at Dropbox from the links on this page will add more capacity to my account. Feel free to start your account and share your link with your group members so that you get more capacity if you need it.

1. Point your browser to the Providence College master account on the Qualtrics site:
   http://www.qualtrics.com/providence
2. You will see a link to create your account (see below), click on that link and follow the instructions. It is important that you use your Providence College e-mail address to have an account with full access to all the features of Qualtrics
   
3. Once you log in with your account, visit “Help and Tutorials” menu option at the top of the page. You will find many useful tutorials. I suggest that you start with “Create a Survey and My Surveys” group to get familiar with the software.
4. Additionally, you will find other types of help, tutorials, helpful documents in the area they call “Qualtrics University”. Explore them all.
5. Go ahead and create a sample survey with a few questions, try different question types, use available scales, etc.

Remember, you are learning something new which may feel awkward at first, like when you learned how to ride a bike. As you use the software you will learn its working paradigm and become more comfortable with its myriad of features. The idea is not to use them all, but to be able to choose what tools to use. A huge tool box is useless if you are trying to drive a nail to the wall and you cannot find the hammer; worse yet, you do not recognize the hammer!

Have fun (indeed many students find the survey creation part of this course to be fun; believe it, or not!)

1. Login to your domain control panel. You need to point your browser to:

   https://yourdomain.ext:8443

   Not the “s” at the end of http and the trailing :8443

2. You may receive a warning about the certificate not matching the site, ignore that and continue to the site
3. For login ID enter your full domain name, for password use the password I sent to you when I set up your hosting account. You will find yourself at the domain “desktop”
4. Click on “Home” on top of the left column, this will take you to the actual control panel. You should see the following (click to enlarge)
   
5. You need to create a MySQL database, so click on the “Databases” icon, then on the following screen “Add new database”
6. The system will suggest a DB name, enter your own, don’t make it too short; write down the name that you chose on a piece of paper, you will need that. Make sure that you select from the drop down menu MySQL for the type. Then click on OK to create the DB
7. Now you need to add a DB user for this database with a password. Click on “Add New Database User”. You will need to enter the DB user name and password. Make sure they are not easy to guess or too short, you will not need to remember them after the installation. Enter the values into the fields and write them down as you will need them
8. Now, go to http://www.wordpress.org and download the application, it most recent version is 2.7 and you will see a link to download it on the front page. Save the file to a known location on your local computer
9. Using a ZIP utility, like WinZIP or ZIP Genius, extract the contents of the ZIP file making sure that you create the embedded directory names and contents
10. Locate the wp-config.php file and edit it to reflect the DB name, DB user name, and DB password. There are a couple of other fields that ask you to enter an arbitrary phrase; don’t overlook them.
11. Using your FTP client, login to your hosting account, change to httpdocs directory, and create a new directory called blog which will be the location of your WordPress installation. Note that there are no uppercase letters in the directory name.
12. After creating the directory, double click on its name to open it; then upload the contents of the WordPress extracted files into it
13. You are almost done, now point your browser to:
    http://www.yourdomain.ext/blog/wp-admin/install.php  and you will see the following screen:
    
14. Enter a blog name, you can change it later, and enter a working email address. Click on Install WordPress.
15. WordPress will complete the installation and give you a very cryptic password. Select the password (double-click on it with your mouse) and copy it (Ctrl-C)
16. Click on “Login” and enter admin for user name, paste the password you copied and login. Do not put a check mark in “Remember …”
17. As soon as you login, click on the admin name on the top right corner to edit user information. Scroll down to the end of the page to see “New Password fields, you will need to enter it twice. Enter a password you will remember. Click on Update Profile button
18. Look for the Users on the tool bar on the left, click on it to expand its menu choices. Click on Add New and add a new user. Set this user’s role to “Administrator” as well. You may do the same for all the group members. Make sure you have a division of labor and do not perform the same maintenance functions at the same time.
19. Congratulations, you now have a working WordPress installation

We will then tweak it to do more than the basic installation provides.

Presentation made on April 22, 2003
Yeditepe University Graduate Colloquium
Istanbul, Turkey

A. Cemal Ekin

We are all social scientists studying social phenomena that affect the business world in one way or another. I would like to explore a few critical and related terms we use both in our scientific endeavors as well as in our daily lives. After the presentation, I do not expect you to know more than you already do but I do hope that you will have more nagging questions that seek answers in your mind. After all, science is all about finding answers to questions.

Science, in a very general sense, is the sum total of our efforts to understand the world around us. Since the humankind looked at the sky and saw things that inspired awe, our curiosity to know more about our world, our universe and our selves never stopped. As a result, we have accumulated an enormous amount of knowledge yet what we yearn to know is even greater than what we already know.

Science uses reasoning, both deductive and inductive. Deductive reasoning typically starts with a statement about the general nature of things and proceeds to arrive at a conclusion about something specific. Inductive reasoning, on the other hand, starts with many observations and attempts to arrive at a generalization. Deductive reasoning is a more robust method of reasoning but not always applicable to social sciences. In deductive reasoning, if the premise and the following statements are true, then the conclusion must be true. In social sciences, however, we typically do not know how things generally are and resort to using inductive reasoning. If I see many drivers on the streets of Istanbul who drive recklessly, then I may conclude that drivers in Istanbul do not obey the traffic rules. Clearly, this will not be true for all drivers who take to the streets in Istanbul. This approach to reasoning is inductive reasoning and is not as robust as the deductive method since our inductive conclusions are “probably true.”

As humankind showed interest in diverse things as the stars, numbers, making fire, eating herbs to get well, and so on, certain logical thinking patterns evolved into different branches of science that we take for granted today as astronomy, physics, and medicine. Together with these so called “hard sciences” we have also sought to know more about societies, about people, about how they create and acquire value, and these gave us sociology, psychology, and economics that we call “soft sciences.” Regardless of whether it is hard or soft, easy or difficult, all branches of science share some common traits mainly on their philosophy of studying what they study. They share a common methodological foundation called the “Scientific Method.”

Scientific Method

Scientific method is not a tool chest that contains a bunch of tools that we grab to do our work. Rather, it is a philosophy of studying things and its tenets are shared by all branches of science, it is a method of thinking. We use the term to distinguish what we do in scientific research from the coffeehouse discussions which are largely nonscientific. What makes an approach scientific is not the people who use it but whether the people adhere to some rigorous standards in their pursuit of knowledge and truth, concepts that we will shortly visit. We seek five fundamental principles in our research if we want them to be considered scientific:

• Objectivity (another term we will visit): Science seeks truth (another term that needs to be explored) rather than to prove a particular conclusion.
• Systematicity: Scientific studies approach their subjects systematically so that logical conclusions can be drawn and other phenomena, like relations, can be studied.
• Reliability: The methods used must yield similar results (not necessarily identical) under similar conditions when studies are repeated. Replicability is essential in scientific inquiries.
• Comprehensiveness: The necessary elements, variables must be included and unrelated ones must be excluded.
• Precision: The statements, hypothetical or otherwise, must be precise so that logic can be applied to them.

In other words,

• we see certain things happening,
• we ask why they may be happening,
• we offer answers,
• we ask if our answer is true what else must also be true,
• we conduct tests to prove or disprove our statements.

In all this, we must understand and accept the fact that we are merely proving that our statements “seem to be true” for truth is an elusive concept and what we prove to be “true” today may very well be absurd in the future. As we seek the truth we must accept this as a matter of fact since knowledge, based upon which we make our assertions, is not a static concept, and “truth” is not as well defined as we think. Trying to understand the meaning of “truth” and “reality,” which are two fundamental concepts in science, is like trying to grab a handful of Jell-O. The tighter we hold the more it oozes out.

Truth

In English the word “truth” can be spelled with a lower-case “t” or a capital-letter “T” with different meanings. The capital-letter spelling, “Truth,” refers to the supreme reality and the ultimate meaning of existence. In this form, the word and its meaning is based primarily on belief and often dogma, like the belief in a supreme creator, God. Some consider themselves to have found the “Truth” and others may argue that their “Truth” is a better one. It is not possible to reconcile this sort of differences using reasoning since their foundations are rooted outside logic and reason. Our concern is not with this supreme truth since with our meager minds we cannot pretend to understand such supreme things. Rather, we are concerned with the truth with a lower-case t that deals with something with which we can work.

The American Heritage Dictionary of English Language defines truth as: (Atomica, April 21, 2003)

truth (truth)
n., pl. truths (truTHz, truths).

1. Conformity to fact or actuality.
2. A statement proven to be or accepted as true.
3. Sincerity; integrity.
4. Fidelity to an original or standard.
5. 1. Reality; actuality.
   2. often Truth. That which is considered to be the supreme reality and to have the ultimate meaning and value of existence.

The definition is laden with other slippery words like “actuality,” “fact,” and “reality” which are accomplices in this conspiracy to hide the meaning of “truth.” For the sake of brevity, I will follow one of the definitions given above, “reality” which is implicit in the other definitions as well. But, what is “reality?”

Reality

Reality is a state of thing which we may or may not perceive correctly. The same dictionary defines the word as: (Atomica, April 21, 2003)

re·al·i·ty (re-al‘i-te)
n., pl. -ties.

1. The quality or state of being actual or true.
2. One, such as a person, an entity, or an event, that is actual: “the weight of history and political realities” (Benno C. Schmidt, Jr.).
3. The totality of all things possessing actuality, existence, or essence.
4. That which exists objectively and in fact: Your observations do not seem to be about reality.

Now, there is something troubling here. “Truth” refers to “reality” which refers back to “truth.” In the mean time, they also introduce other elusive concepts as “objective” and “existence.” In short, the recursive references to and from these words do not help us understand the actual meaning although we can think about statements that refer to reality. As we make statements about reality, some of these statements will conform to reality and we will call them true. Although the logic in the previous sentence is correct, it only refers to the relationship between “truth” and “reality” rather than what they really are. Another critical concept is objectivity which we use as a mantra in scientific studies.

Objectivity

As I presented as part of scientific method and implied and stated by the definitions of truth and reality, objectivity is also a difficult concept to deal with. If we think of “subjective” as “proceeding from or taking place in a person’s mind rather than the external world” then “objective” becomes that which is external to the mind. What makes this particularly disconcerting is that we rely on it as one of the cornerstones of our inquiry. If we look up the definition, we find:

ob·jec·tive (?b-jek‘tiv)
adj.

1. Of or having to do with a material object.
2. Having actual existence or reality.
3. 1. Uninfluenced by emotions or personal prejudices: an objective critic. See synonyms at fair¹.
   2. Based on observable phenomena; presented factually: an objective appraisal.

The circularity of the references shows its presence one more time to complicate the matters even more. If I am to talk about the external world, I must perceive it in my mind, which makes it internal to my mind and thus “subjective.” Now, this is not a mere play with words but the nature of science and how we accumulate knowledge. For example, Ptolemy looked at the stars and the planets and presented a view of the Solar system in which everything revolved around the Earth. We now know that that paradigm is utterly incorrect but also know that in his day it was considered to be an “objective” and “true” view of “reality.” Copernicus and Keppler changed that paradigm with one where the Sun is at the center of the Solar system and all the planets revolve around it which became the new objective truth about reality. Who knows what else we will learn in the future that will affect the way we view the same phenomena with a totally new paradigm.

So, what makes “objective” objective? If we all look at the real world around us to find the truth using the knowledge at our disposal with the current paradigms, and realize that as soon as the real world enters our minds it becomes subjective how can we ever objectively deal with anything? The answer is not as difficult as it appears as the scientists over the centuries have discovered. If we all see the same real world we are all in agreement in the way we see reality and truth even if it does not correspond with the way things really are. We call this objective, which is nothing more than collective subjectivity. Therefore, we find truth in our agreement which is how science works in general.

Personal values, biases and scientific open mindedness

I have attempted to create a scientific world where there is no room for prejudice, bias and personal values. This view is generally correct and desirable, but is it really possible? We try to maintain a scientific “open mindedness” in our inquiries to such extent that we may become rather close-minded without realizing. Take for instance “faith-healing.” Medical scientists may not “believe” in such hocus-pocus in making people feel better. However, refusing to study the phenomenon is a result of close-mindedness. I am not suggesting that we must pursue every idea and every whim, rather I propose that scientifically studying “faith healing” is possible whether we believe in it or not.

We must also recognize that we practice science as humans and thus, we are subject to all the human qualities that we bring with us. As long as we use the notion of collective subjectivity as the basis of objectivity, which we must, we will be influenced by our liberal or conservative, religious or secular, feminist or humanist, capitalist or communist beliefs, views and paradigms. As long as we are humans we will carry our own biases and values into our research. Knowing and accepting this is the best way to deal with our biases. Denying that we may have biases will likely prevent us from seeing the very biases we try to avoid where acceptance of the possibility of personal biases will make us more diligent in our research and in our thinking.

I would like us to remember that knowledge is dynamic and ever changing not only over time in societies but also in ourselves. Therefore, it should only be natural that we change as we learn. In fact, learning itself is defined in terms of overt or covert changes that occur in people as a result of acquiring new knowledge. That being the case, the only thing we may be certain of is the change itself and our never ending quest for more knowledge.

Descartes, who is considered to be the father of modern science, said Cogito ergo sum or “I think, therefore I am” as evidence of one’s own existence as a thinking thing. We can also seek comfort in the same thought that thinking is the only thing we can be sure of and practicing this trait is utterly important for us humans and a responsibility for scientists of all disciplines.

May most of your statements about reality conform to reality.

Thank you very much for listening.

This presentation has been inspired and influenced by a series of essays by Earl Babbie as he presented in his 1986 book “Observing Ourselves: Essays in Social Research.”

Definition of other words that participate in the circular relationships between the words mentioned in the presentation.

ac·tu·al (ak‘chu-?l)
adj.

1. Existing and not merely potential or possible. See synonyms at real¹.
2. Being, existing, or acting at the present moment; current.
3. Based on fact: an actual account of the accident.

fact (fakt)
n.

1. Knowledge or information based on real occurrences: an account based on fact; a blur of fact and fancy.
2. 1. Something demonstrated to exist or known to have existed: Genetic engineering is now a fact. That Chaucer was a real person is an undisputed fact.
   2. A real occurrence; an event: had to prove the facts of the case.
   3. Something believed to be true or real: a document laced with mistaken facts.
3. A thing that has been done, especially a crime: an accessory before the fact

This sort of analysis is not a historical narrative. You need to look for connections, triggers, discontinuities, inventions, new entrants, and other insights and all changes that will help us learn from what might have happened in an industry. This requires studying a time span no shorter than several years and preferably covers five to ten years. You need not have a day-to-day account of what has happened in that time frame since events of strategic importance does not happen every day. In a five year time span, you will probably find several events with significant strategic importance.

What is analysis

Although analysis requires a full understanding of factual information, this mere understanding is not analysis. It requires looking at what is being analyzed through a window of selected standards using appropriate tools. In marketing we use a variety of tools like market share behavior, product life cycle (PLC,) demand characteristics, break-even analysis, financial statement and ratio analysis and so on. They all have their application areas and you should learn when and how to use these tools.

As an example, let us consider the implicit and explicit analyses we may use when buying a new hat.

1. Most of us do not know our hat size. Therefore, the best method of analysis is to try it on for size, first hand experience and actual product trial is necessary. This is explicit and very direct.
2. We may not also know how we might look wearing a certain style of hats. Again a look in the mirror, or opinions from friends may be essential before the purchase.
3. As we do this several times, we develop more convenient tools of analysis like hat sizes and styles. Now, we can look at a catalog and analyze the decision to purchase a hat simply from a photograph and a short description of it. When this happens, we will have detached the analysis from the object under consideration. Significant efficiencies and additional insights emerge as we leave an object-based, first hand experience analysis and start using tools that we have developed, and tested for this purpose.

What goes in to this report

You should try to have a similar (of course an appropriate) method of analysis and try to use the following as tools to crystallize your thought. These are areas of analysis, tools of analysis, approaches to analysis, that may or may not be useful in your case. Use them as seeds for your analytical thoughts.

1. Decide on the level of analysis. Should you include electronic distribution of music as part of the entire music industry or study it as an emerging method of distribution by itself. Should it include digital music players or should it be limited to the music sales alone. The level of analysis will focus the attention sharply on what is important without leaving important parts out.
2. Analyze customers, key market segments. Who are they, what are their characteristics, needs? How has the market been segmented, is there a better way of segmenting it?
3. Analyze markets, market definition, demand trends, PLC and identification of key success factors. Consider the growth rate of the market, primary demand behavior, time and place affects on demand.
4. Analyze major competitors, their strategy, weaknesses and problems if any, sustainable competitive advantages (SCA) that they may have and how they may have acquired it. Why?
5. Look at the past strategies of a few important competitors, what worked and what did not. Why?
6. Analyze major environmental changes, trends and opportunities and threats stemming from them. Are there any major changes pending that may affect the industry? How?
7. How does the industry look from the viewpoint of GE industry attractiveness dimension, or BCG market growth dimension?
8. If possible, interview a manager from the selected industry to get better insight into the above
9. Assume that you are advising a client who wishes to enter this market? What strategy would you use and why is this strategy important?

When writing the report, if you try to be comprehensive you will lose sight of what is ahead in favor of what was behind. Your analysis of competitors, market trends and important environmental changes should help you and your client gain better insight to your current situation. You are writing a business report, not a marketing history book.

Remember to use the proper style and format as explained in the section of this syllabus about writing.

What is a case study anyway?

All case studies have one common goal: to help learn the subject matter in hand. Therefore, you should not approach case studies as isolated assignments that you need to submit to get a passing grade. Basketball players shoot free throws during practice so that it comes easier in a game setting. Likewise, cases allow learners to practice and hone their skills in their chosen disciplines so that they can do it better in real life.

Learning changes the learner in overt and covert ways. Because of this, we do not spontaneously start exuding brilliance but our behavior, in the broadest sense of the term, changes in many important ways. Since this change takes place in the learner, it must rely on his or her mental processes. In other words, the learner must experience the phenomenon in a uniquely personal way. Many things, like riding a bike, need learning from our experiences. In a similar way, we can learn from our experiences in studying marketing cases. In normal class settings, experiencing marketing may be difficult for variety of reasons. This is where cases emerge as substitutes for real life experiences.

A well-prepared case study, as a microcosm of real life, gives the learner an opportunity to project him or herself into a situation and interact with the information and the imaginary participants in the case. From this interaction, all readers may extract slightly or substantially different learning experiences. In order for this process to be fruitful, the learner needs to treat the case as an opportunity, as a challenge rather than a chore, an assignment that must be completed, turned in and forgotten. The process of analyzing a case and discussing it with others is very much an integral part of the learning process.

How to get the most out of cases

Quite often, case studies will narrate the circumstances covering a particular period with corresponding data of different sorts. The selected case studies in a course need not be “current” to be instructional. Not every piece of information or data directly helps in understanding and analyzing the case. Separating the chaff from the wheat is an essential part of the learning process, as we must do the same in our professional lives.

Although everyone may develop his or her personal way of studying cases, some general guidelines may help the beginners. In the following section, you will find some general suggestions. You should take them as what they are: suggestions. No single analytical template will suit everyone’s or every case’s needs to arrive at intelligent conclusions. If such a template existed, every decision maker would use it to make the best decision under all circumstances. Obviously, this cannot happen.
Suggestions

In studying cases, always remember that you are learning marketing. Learning at advanced levels, as you will, requires foundation knowledge. Do not rely on your “common sense” as the sole or even most of your analysis. You need to use marketing knowledge to analyze marketing problems. Your analysis must use well-established marketing knowledge and theory glued together with logic and common sense.

• Before tackling the full case, familiarize yourself with it. Depending on the length of the case, this may require more or less time but probably not more than several minutes. Quickly skim the material to develop a general sense of the structure, the people involved, the kind of organization under study, and similar general information.
• Return to the beginning and start reading the case carefully, underlining what might be important information, and making marginal notes as necessary. Be selective in what you underline for its purpose is to attract attention to key ideas. Also important is to make connections among ideas both mentally and visually. So, draw a connecting line if some ideas are related. You may even consider writing on the connecting line the essence of the relationship as you see it.
• Try to understand who is trying to make what decision with what kind of constraints. “Who” may refer to an individual or an organization such as a company.
• Separate the symptom from the problem. Do not accept what the case presents without critically evaluating the information. If the case says, “our promotion has not created the desired result” do not immediately assume that the core decision area is “promotion.” “Promotion not working” may very well be a symptom of another or a deeper problem.
• Determine the strategic area where a decision is necessary. Your knowledge of the subject matter will be your first line of defense of attack. Although there are no “best” solutions to cases, you must firmly seat all “plausible” solutions in a body of supporting knowledge of marketing. What makes one case analysis better than another is not the “answer” or the decision but the quality of analysis-synthesis and the support given for it.
• Use appropriate tools of analysis. If the case offers relevant financial data, use financial analysis tools like financial statement analysis, financial ratios, and the like. When dealing with behavioral information, you will tap into your knowledge of consumer behavior and theories explaining behavior, and so on.
  Do not assume that you can simply use common sense for analyzing information although common sense is a desirable trait. Remember that the purpose of studying a case is to help you learn the subject, marketing. “Arm-waving” with common sense will result in, well; arm waving which is not the same as sound analysis.
• When writing the result of your analysis, do not simply rehash the information in the case. Do not include sections from the case to retell the story. Present your analysis and use the material from the case as evidence when necessary. Tell the reader what that information means, what needs to be done, and why. Focus your attention on the result of your analysis of the case rather than the material that you used. At times, you will find it necessary to point to a particular piece of information or data in the case. In such circumstances, refer to the information directly and be brief.
• Your written case report must convey your thoughts clearly. Do not leave points open for interpretation. The reader of your report may not interpret them the way you want and expect. Clearly articulate your thoughts using proper marketing and business terminology and clear English.
• Remember that there is no “correct answer” to a case. The reason for studying them is to remove the illusion that there may be a singularly correct answer to questions faced by marketers. In learning with cases, the road traveled is more important than the destination.
• Pay attention to the “road” since you will travel that many more times. Reflect on what you have done, observe what you have learned, and understand why. This is precisely the reason you study a case.

Study by objectives

Understand what you are trying to learn before the study session begins. Quickly browse the chapter in five minutes or less to get familiar with the general nature of the material. Then, write on a piece of paper several learning objectives.

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes

There is no doubt that we will all make a mistake sooner or later. There is a great learning opportunity in what you might otherwise call failure, like receiving a low grade on an exam. Instead, take that as a great opportunity to find out why you received that grade and devise ways to prevent it from happening again. The greatest failure is the failure to learn from mistakes and the worst mistake is the one we repeat.

Assess learning

After you finish studying, refer back to your objectives to assess their achievement. If necessary, go back and review the part that you may have missed. You may save a great deal of time this way since you only have to study what has not clicked yet.

Teach to learn

Teaching is an excellent learning method. Try explaining what you have learned to a willing friend. You will be surprised to see how much more sense the material makes all of a sudden.

Don’t daydream, have fun

Daydreaming is a black-hole that swallows your time. In a contest, leisure wins over study. Don’t let them compete. Spare time for fun. Don’t steal from your study time and feel guilty about it. Have fun after serious studying.

Don’t procrastinate

“Later” is too close to the deadline and the end of the semester is sooner that you think. After procrastinating for a while, the backlog will be so great you will fall into another trap: “there is too much to study, I don’t know where to start.” It is easier to go over little hills than great mountains.

Manage time

One of the most important factors in good class performance is time management. The most likely reason of missed-deadlines is lack of organization. You need to have a system that will let you handle several classes with assignments, upcoming job interviews, personal commitments, and a good dose of “senioritis”. Organize your day, week and the semester to do all that and still have a little time for fun.

Be realistic

Don’t underestimate the time required to complete a project. You feel comfortable when you have the most time at the beginning of the semester and panic when you can least afford it, at the end of the semester. Remember, most projects will take more time than you think.

Set a schedule and stick to it

If you don’t stick to your schedule, time will slip through your fingers. Do things on schedule, not later or tomorrow.

Visit these pages periodically

If you have tips to share, send them to me. I will incorporate them to these pages with due credit to you unless you wish to remain anonymous. Wisdom cannot be told but experiences can be shared to build it.

Organize early and you will be rewarded. Select a team leader who can organize meetings, keep assignments on time, and make the administrative burden much lighter on everyone. Exchange telephone numbers and e-mail addresses with each other and make sure that I have a copy of this information for the entire team.

Schedule standing meetings when everyone will show-up. Allow extra meeting time during the heavy load periods if necessary. Remember, the only people responsible for an efficient team are the team members! If there are minor difficulties in scheduling, assignments, etc., at the beginning, I will be glad to lend a hand to organize the team. I am a member of every team!