Understanding a Statement of Work (SOW)
Man Thinking About How to Write a Statement of Work.
A Statement of Work is not something many small businesses provide or ask for when they are selling or receiving a service. It could be because many small businesses are satisfied with just an invoice or a project proposal. It could also be that many small businesses don’t really understand what a Statement of Work is. If you are a free-lancer working by yourself, then it can be daunting to try to write any kind of statement up when you may not have any background in business, but don’t let that be an excuse.
A Statement of Work (SOW) is a document that shows specifically what type of work is going to be completed and how long it is going to take. Yeah…it’s pretty much that simple.
Now the reason this is important for you is because it can help a small business outline with details what they can expect from the company providing the service with costs and time associated with it. If the providing company then doesn’t do what they have stated in the SOW then you have something you can hold them to and if you have to, take them to court with. You could almost look at it as a sort of insurance policy.
SOWs are like project proposals on steroids. After you read through one, you should have no questions about how long the service will take, how much each step will cost, or how the process will roll out. If you do, then it needs to be revised.
Now let’s say you are interested in writing one. I’ll overview the very basic sections you should include to clarify any confusion.
OBJECTIVE
This is the area where you want a detailed summary of the end product or service that is expected to be delivered. Create definitions of what success looks like and what failure looks like.
APPROACH & METHODOLOGY
There needs to be a section that really lays out what is going to happen and how. There should be a task list of pre-production, production, and post-production that all needs to happen so that neither side of the agreement is surprised by the events that need to take place.
MILESTONES
It is so important to have milestones. Create a time table with milestones along the way so that it is easy to track how far along a project is. Outline any costs that have to happen during these milestones to keep the work moving and avoid delays. It is also highly recommended to schedule formal reviews at key points to double check everything and make sure everything is continuing as planned and expected.
COSTS
This section should outline every cost and where the money goes. If you are trying to figure this out, walk through the process and think about the cost at every step. Then write those down. Think about material costs, time costs, testing costs, and delivery costs. It is even ok to have a miscellaneous or unforeseen costs. The more research you do before hand, the better and more accurate these numbers become. Make sure to include costs for extra work that might need to be done for revisions. The more detailed you outline the costs the less friction there will be when getting paid.
STATEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING & SIGNATURE
After you lay everything out as detailed as you can, have both parties sign that they understand the agreement before you start doing any work.
Now you know the basics of a Statement of Work. They can get much more complicated than this and often do, but now you know a good framework to start from.
One Cartoon Explains How to Increase SEO
SMART-HD Goals
Let me start by explaining that a SMART goal is an acronym that stands for:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Time sensitive
If you create goals using this method, it can help you better strategically think through your company goals. But I think that this method can be improved upon even further. Even though attainable and realistic are safe words to use when creating goals, I think that they create a sense of underachievement. Don't get me wrong, we want our goals to be attainable and realistic, but goals should also be motivating and create a desire to want to achieve them. That's why I like what LeadershipIQ has suggested with their HARD goals
Heartfelt - My goals will enrich the lives of somebody besides me
Animated/Affirming - I can picture how great it will feel when I achieve my goals.
Required - My goals are absolutely necessary to help this company.
Difficult - I may have to learn new skills and leave my comfort zone.
I would take out Attainable and Realistic from he SMART goals and replace them with Affirming and Required. I don't like the word Animated so I would use Affirming because when you feel good about completing a goal it affirms you and encourages you in your work by telling you that you are capable. These replaced words would help make the goals matter more to the goal-setter by allowing them to visualize their success and be more relevant to the company.
The Specific, Measureable, and Time sensitive would stay the same, but I would add HD at the end which stands for Heartfelt and Difficult. These two words would enrich the company environment and push employees to grow personally and professionally in their work capabilities. The combined result would be:
Specific
Measurable
Affirming
Required
Time sensitive
Heartfelt
Difficult
By combining these two methods to create SMART-HD goals, you would get superior goal setting that would inspire employees or yourself to push your goals to the edge while being energized with a stronger desire to achieve them.
Leadership IQ Study: Are SMART Goals Dumb?. (n.d.). Leadership IQ. Retrieved April 07, 2015, from http://www.leadershipiq.com/materials/LeadershipIQ-AreSmartGoalsDumb.pdf
Yes, You Can Use a Mac for Work (and an iPad Too)
photo by ugmonk
Many people are haters on anything mac (except they like their iPhone). But to be honest, it usually comes down to the fact that Apple is expensive and most of us are bad at being patient enough with wanting a new laptop that we settle for the best option that we can afford at the time. This article is probably not for you.
The second reason is not a hatred towards mac as much as a mandatory PC environment at work. The business world uses a lot of PC only software and some of the versions made for the mac are troublesome to open files on Windows and Mac because of formatting issues.
So we relent and give in to buying a PC because it is just familiar and easy to give in.
BUT....have no fear, you can have your cake and eat it too.
The MacBook Pro was judged to be the "best performing" Windows laptop, according to a study by PC services company Soluto. Also ZDNet last year said that running Windows 8 on a Mac is better than running it on a PC. So there are many people out there running tests and concluding similar ideas.
Virtual software has advanced so much in the past few years that running Windows inside your Mac operating system is seamless. Parallels 10 just recently updated and runs windows programs like they are part of your mac OS. However, running Windows natively will still always be the fastest and most reliable way to operate which is why you can still use Boot Camp. Boot Camp comes on every mac for at least the last 5 years.
A lot of small business owners already own iPhones and even an iPad too. They get frustrated because syncing with them over their PC has produced more problems than solutions. Now, you can utilize a mac with anything you need for Windows and have the incredible smooth syncing of iCloud with all your devices.
Macs also tend to have a longer shelf life. My wife is still using my old MacBook Pro from over 5 years ago and it still runs great. Every PC we have ever owned tends to slow down dramatically within the first year and then it becomes a computer with constant maintenance issues.
Switching to a Mac environment will save you time which is priceless since every business wishes they had more time. There is also more longevity in your computers which means a lower turnover rate of replacing machines.
So the next time you are looking at replacing your work computer, try a Mac. You won't regret it.