I love a good self-help book. George Moon’s “Lessons Learned” is a memoir of his experiences in development and management during more than 30 years in R&D. Each story concludes with a collection of the lessons he learned as a result of that specific situation. When my wife bought me the book at a recent meet-the-author event, she suspected that I would relate to George’s tales – and I did. Like George, I have over 30 years of R&D development and management experience.

While the technologies are different, I found myself saying, “this is just like the time when…” The book is an easy read, and even though I had no familiarity with George’s R&D area, I always understood the lessons.

For someone new to technical management, there are many excellent lessons here. This is not a book on development techniques or processes. It is more like sitting down with George over a pint, listening to fables and the morals each story conveys. I read the book in two days and had trouble putting it down.

Lessons Learned

Management and Leadership for a Technical World

Through Experiences Remembered

George C. Moon, M.Sc., P.Eng.

ISBN 978-­0-9812181-­0-­6

$24.95

http://moonlitesystems.wordpress.com/book-orders/

If you’re starting a business and looking for financing … a bank won’t touch you without a solid business plan. A website is like a business, it should be started with this same sort of “plan.”

Questions you need to answer before starting a website.

1. Who is your target audience?
2. How will your target audience find your site?
3. What differentiates your site from your competition?
4. What will people who visit your site for the first time see?
5. Why will people return to your site?
6. How will your website be interactive for your viewers?
7. How often do you expect content to change or be updated?
8. How does your website support the business mission?

I’ll write a series of posts on these questions.