Tools & Methods

Why not write an ebook and share your knowledge?

eBooks / By

Why Write an eBook?

It’s not true that everything that has been said has already been written. Since that unfortunate axiom came into use, the whole universe has changed. Technology has changed, ideas have changed, and the mindsets of entire nations have changed.

The fact is that this is the perfect time to write an ebook. What the publishing industry needs are people who can tap into the world as it is today – innovative thinkers who can make the leap into the new millennium and figure out how to solve old problems in a new way. Ebooks are a new and powerful tool for original thinkers with fresh ideas to disseminate information to the millions of people who are struggling to figure out how to do a plethora of different things.

Let’s say you already have a brilliant idea, and the knowledge to back it up that will enable you to write an exceptional ebook. You may be sitting at your computer staring at a blank screen wondering, “Why? Why should I go through all the trouble of writing my ebook when it’s so impossible to get anything published these days?

Well, let me assure you that publishing an ebook is entirely different than publishing a book in print. Let’s look at the specifics of how the print and cyber publishing industry differ, and the many reasons why you should take the plunge and get your fingers tapping across those keyboards!

Submitting a print book to conventional publishing houses or to agents is similar to wearing a hair shirt 24/7. No matter how good your book actually is, or how many critique services and mentor writers have told you that “you’ve got what it takes,” your submitted manuscript keeps coming back to you as if it is a boomerang instead of a valuable mine of information.

Perhaps, in desperation, you’ve checked out self-publishing and found out just how expensive a venture it can be. Most “vanity presses” require minimal print runs of at least 500 copies, and even that amount will cost you thousands of dollars. Some presses’ minimal run starts at 1,000 to 2,000 copies. And that’s just for the printing and binding. Add in distribution, shipping, and promotional costs and – well, you do the math. Even if you wanted to go this route, you may not have that kind of money to risk. Let’s say you already have an Internet business with a quality website and a quality product. An ebook is one of the most powerful ways to promote your business while educating people with the knowledge you already possess as a business owner of a specific product or service.

For example, let’s say that you’ve spent the last twenty-five years growing and training bonsai trees, and now you’re ready to share your knowledge and experience. An ebook is the perfect way to reach the largest audience of bonsai enthusiasts.

Ebooks will not only promote your business – they will help you make a name for yourself and your company, and establish you as an expert in your field. You may even find that you have enough to say to warrant a series of ebooks. Specific businesses are complicated and often require the different aspects to be divided in order for the reader to get the full story.

Perhaps your goals are more finely tuned in terms of the ebook scene. You may want to build a whole business around writing and publishing ebooks. Essentially, you want to start an e-business. You are thinking of setting up a website to promote and market your ebooks. Maybe you’re even thinking of producing an ezine.

One of the most prevalent reasons people read ebooks is to find information about how to turn their Internet businesses into a profit-making machine. And these people are looking to the writers of ebooks to provide them with new ideas and strategies because writers of ebooks are usually people who understand the new cyberspace world we now live in. Ebook writers are experts in Internet marketing campaigns and the strategies of promoting and distributing ebooks. The cyberspace community needs its ebooks to be successful so that more and more ebooks will be written.

You may want to create affiliate programs that will also market your ebook. Affiliates can be people or businesses worldwide that will all be working to sell your ebooks. Think about this? Do you see a formula for success here?

Figure out what your subject matter is, and then narrow it down. Your goal is to aim for specificity. Research what’s out there already, and try to find a void that your ebook might fill. What about an ebook about a wedding cake business? Or an ebook about caring for elderly pets? How about the fine points of collecting ancient pottery?

You don’t have to have three masters degrees to write about your subject. People need advice that is easy to read and easily understood. Parents need advice for dealing with their teenagers. College students need to learn good study skills – quickly. The possibilities are endless.

After you’ve written your ebook

Getting your ebook out is going to be your focus once you’ve finished writing it, just as it is with print books. People will hesitate to buy any book from an author they’ve never heard of. Wouldn’t you?

The answer is simple: give it away! You will see profits in the form of promoting your own business and getting your name out. You will find affiliates who will ask you to place their links within your ebook, and these affiliates will in turn go out and make your name known. Almost every single famous ebook author has started out this way.

Another powerful tool to attract people to your ebook is to make it interactive. Invent something for them to do within the book rather than just producing pages that contain static text. Let your readers fill out questionnaires, forms, even crossword puzzles geared to testing their knowledge on a particular subject. Have your readers hit a link that will allow them to recommend your book to their friends and associates. Or include an actual order form so at the end of their reading journey, they can eagerly buy your product.

When people interact with books, they become a part of the world of that book. The fact is just as true for books in print as it is for ebooks.

That’s why ebooks are so essential. Not only do they provide a forum for people to learn and make sense of their own thoughts, but they can also serve to promote your business at the same time.

How to do a RACI Charting and Analysis – a Practical Guide

Tools & Methods / By

This is a post from the main forum on RACI Analysis

This post is to find on: RACI Analysis Tutorial

How to do a RACI Charting and Analysis – a Practical Guide

RACI is an acronym that stands for: Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed. A RACI chart is a matrix of all the activities or decision making authorities undertaken in an organisation set against all the people or roles. At each intersection of activity and role it is possible to assign somebody: Responsible, Accountable, Consulted or Informed for that activity or decision.

When you hear these types of comments in and organisation a RACI Analysis may be overdue:
‘My boss always overrules my decisions whenever she wants’
‘The approval process for even the simplest item takes so long today’
‘It seems everyone is putting together a spreadsheet on the same data’
‘Things are always slipping through the cracks’
‘I have the responsibility, but not the authority, to get the job done’

Definitions of the RACI categories: –

  • Responsible: person who performs an activity or does the work,
  • Accountable: person who is ultimately accountable and has Yes/No/Veto,
  • Consulted: person that needs to feedback and contribute to the activity,
  • Informed: person that needs to know of the decision or action.

A RACI analysis is useful for:

  • Workload Analysis – when used against individuals or departments overloads can be quickly identified,
  • Re-Organisation – to ensure that key functions and processes are not over looked,
  • Employee Turnover – newcomers can quickly identify their roles and responsibilities,
  • Work Assignment – allows duties to be redistributed effectively between groups and individuals,
  • Project Management – allows for flexibility in matrix management situations allowing for the right balance between line and project accountabilities,
  • Conflict Resolution provides a forum for discussion and resolving interdepartmental conflict,
  • Documents the status quo – the output from RACI is a simple yet effective method of documenting the roles and responsibilities in an organisation.

How a RACI exercise is done:

  • By Identifying the functions and processes within the organisation or department and describing the key activities taking place. Avoid obvious or generic activities such as; attending meetings.
  • By Describing each activity or decision by using a suitable action verb. Examples: Evaluate, Record, Monitor, Collect, Develop, Publish, Authorize, Schedule, Determine, Prepare, Approve, Inspect, Report, Decide, Write, Operate, Update, Conduct, Train, Review or Plan.
  • When the action implies a judgment or decision (for example, evaluate, monitor, inspect, and review) create a phrase to indicate the primary outcome. Examples: Monitor service desk customer requests to identify training needs. Analyze call statistics to identify product problems.
  • The activities or decisions to be made should be short and apposite and apply to a role or need, not to the specific person currently carrying out the task.
  • Create a Matrix with roles along the top and activities or tasks down the left side and in each of the table cells enter the appropriate RACI code.

When the analysis is done and the RACI matrix populated, any ambiguities need to be resolved. The Matrix is reviewed and questions are asked of the data pattern to explore what it is telling us. The way to do this is to proceed along the vertical and then the horizontal axes in turn and for each column or row asking: If I find … then what does this mean?

Vertical Analysis

  • Lots of R’s: Is it possible for the individual(s) stay on top of so much? Can the activity be broken into smaller, more manageable chunks?
  • No empty spaces: Does the individual(s) need to be involved in so many activities? Are they a ‘gatekeeper’ or could management by exception principles be used? Can (C)onsulted be reduced to (I)nformed – or can things be left to the individual’s discretion when something needs particular attention?
  • No R’s or A’s: Should this functional role be eliminated or have processes changed to an extent where resources could be reassigned?
  • Too many A’s: Does a proper ‘segregation of duties’ exists? Should other groups be accountable for some of these activities to ensure checks and balances and accurate decision making throughout the process? Is this a ‘bottleneck’ in the process—is everyone waiting for decisions or direction?
  • Qualifications: Does the level of the person fit the requirement of this role? Are too many senior personnel involved for routine decision making that could be deployed downwards?

Horizontal Analysis

  • No R’s: Who is doing the job and getting things done? Are there too many roles waiting to be approved, be consulted or informed. Whose role is it to take the initiative?
  • Too many R’s: Is this a sign of ‘over the wall’ activities?
  • No A’s: Why not? There must be an ‘A.’ someone must be accountable for the thing happening – the buck stops with this person.
  • Too many A’s: Is there confusion with too many fingers in the pie? It can also create confusion because every person with accountability feels they have final say on how the work should be done.
  • Too few A’s and R’s: The process may slow down while the activity is performed or the procedure may be outdated and can be streamlined if not needed.
  • Every box filled in: Do all the functional roles really need to be consulted? Are there justifiable benefits in consulting all the roles or is this just covering all the bases?
  • Lots of C’s: Do all the roles need to be routinely informed or only in exceptional circumstances – too many in the loop can slow the process down?
  • Lots of I’s: If they are too many people are involved—usually too many C’s and I’s can dramatically slow things down.

Change Management Issues

Developing RACI charts surfaces many organizational issues because it reconciles the three elements of roles and responsibilities:

  • Role Conception: what people think their jobs are,
  • Role Expectation: what others in the organization think another person’s job function is and how it should be carried out and,
  • Role Behaviour: what people actually do in carrying out their job?

RACI is a useful tool which can become overused and be a catch all for all types of problems so be sensible about the level of granularity for the definition of tasks/activities. Take it to a deep enough level that it is meaningful and at a level of that is sensible – who is responsible for making the coffee is not required. It is also important to stay focused on the original reason for undertaking the RACI exercise and ensure that this goal is achieved. Rather than creating a perfect RACI covering the organisation in exquisite detail be realistic and understand that 80% of the reality of a situation will be more than the organisation ever knew before the exercise was started.

Tool Kit Raci Slideshare