Firefox 3 & online learning

Several people have contacted us about the Firefox 3 browser.
Firefox 3 is a major upgrade to this popular browser. It has several new features.

We can confirm firefox 3 does not affect any of our courses.

If you haven’t tried firefox yet - we recommend it. It is the browser of choice withing Sharp End Training.

Free training Course

Our latest course “display screen equipment risk assessments” is launched next week.

While not the most exciting subject around, this health & safety process is vital to keep staff happy, avoid accidents and make sure working areas are safe.

It is likely to be of interest to health & safety officers, union officials, managers & IT professionals.

To receive a free serial number - just make sure that you are subscribed to our weekly update by 5PM British Summer Time, 9th July 2008.

To sign up, just enter your details in the box on the left hand side of the screen.

As well as the course, you get our weekly update and access to the free subscribers only website which contains piles of training resources and downloads.

Help us - What courses do you want next?

We are looking at which courses to develop in the future and need your help.

In the right hand margin is the courses we are looking at developing.

Please “vote” for your favourite or preferred course.

You don’t have to leave your email address - voting is free. But if you subscribe to our weekly update at the same time (we can check with IP addresses!) we will send you a voucher for 75% off the cost of the course.

So go on … vote away…

A Training Ice breaker

Here’s a training ice breaker you may not have come across. This is suitable for any type of training or meeting where attendees or delegates don’t know each other and you want to lighten the atmosphere.

You will need a supply of post-it notes, small postcards or A5 sheets of paper.

Ask all delegates to take 1.

On it, they write 2 things.
Firstly, the answer to the question
“I have come today to this session because…”

and secondly, an amazing, unique or odd fact about themselves. (If they can’t think of anything, it’s OK to write what they dreamt about last night)

Put all the papers into a bag and delegates take out one (hopefully not their own)

Allow 5-10 minutes for delegates to find the person who has pulled out their paper.

Hopefully, this will lighten the mood, and encourage people to mix.

You can also ask people to write how far they travelled to the session and give a small prize to whoever has travelled the furthest/shortest and/or used environmentally friendly means of transport.

Effort driven tasks

Talking to a colleague the other day, the subject of staffing resources came up.

He wasn’t aware of the concept of effort driven tasks and non effort driven tasks.

So, for the benefit of others, here is an example.

Suppose you have a task, say moving a mound of earth from the bottom of the garden to the top. All other things being equal, the more resource allocated, the quicker it will get down.
(Resources being workers with wheel barrows, spades, protective clothing etc etc)

This is an effort driven task.

Now suppose that the task was installing a shower room in a pensioners “granny flat”. Space is likely to be cramped and there will come a limit when adding more resources is counter productive. (Mainly in this example because they will crash into each other…)

This is a non effort driven task

This principle is used extensively in project management but is worth knowing for the general manager.

Making the job easier or harder?

The HMRC lost discs

The report into last year lost discs has been published.

See the BBC report.

Most of our readers probably don’t work in organisations the size of HMRC but the lessons are there for everyone to learn.

• Poor relationship between management & staff
• Low morale
• No adequate procedures for data handling

(Incidentally - it was almost laughable to hear a junior minister on Radio 4’s "The world at 1" on Wednesday effectively say "Oh, yes, there are procedures, it’s just that no-one knew what they were")

To help with getting the message over - we have decided to make our course "The safe use of the web & email" available for just £12.99 per user until 31st July.

The course covers all aspects of using computers in the workplace including email, spyware & virus protection. It would be ideal as an induction or refresher course.

To take advantage of this offer - just contact us on 01909 772729 or email contact@(removethisforspam)sharp-end-training.co.uk

For more details of the course - visit the homepage

Display Screen Equipment Risk Assessments

Almost every office and workplace has PC’s and equipment covered under the DSE regulations.
However, most buildings were designed before the mass take up of IT. As a result, a regular risk assessment is not only a good idea but required under the regulations.

We have designed a course to walk managers and supervisors through the required steps to carry out a risk assessment.
However,final testing on this course has been delayed and we will issue further details in the next week or so.

Secure data procedures

There were a couple of lost data stories in the news this last week or so.

Firstly, the leisure clothing firm Cotton Traders were hacked - see BBC report

Later last week were the so-called “terror files” left on a train by an official. BBC report

At the risk of sounding like a stuck record, these high profile bungles should give a warning to all managers to put in place data handing procedures.

We are not technically minded (or rather not enough to give advice to Cotton Traders…) but amongst the things we have seen on our travels are the following;

Credit card numbers held unencrypted on servers

Customers actually asked to email credit card numbers unencrypted

Telephone order is taken and the telephone is in a public place. Orders are taken and numbers jotted down on a pad. The member of staff leaves the desk to walk about the store while a personal caller/visitor is sat at the same desk looking at the number.

Sound too far fetched to be true?
Sorry but it’s all true…

So, PLEASE put in place, safe robust, procedures for dealing with data and information - before it’s too late.

New Training Resources added to members area

To coincide with the launch of our latest course "Display screen equipment risk assessments" - We have added a risk assessment template to the members area.

This 6 page document takes the user through the steps needed to carry out a successful and efficient risk assessment.

Only subscribers can get this FREE document and it is very easy.

1. Subscribe to our weekly training update by going to the box on the left hand side of this page.

2. Enter your name & email.

3. You will be taken to the "almost" page and we will send you an email.

4. Click on the link in this email and you will be taken to the "success" page.

5. You will be sent your "welcome" email with your user name and password for our members lounge.

6. Log in to www.training-subscribers.info

7. Click "Downloads"

8 Click "Training Downloads"

9. Download it..

Project Management - which corners do YOU cut?

Talking to a colleague last week who had just been on a Project Management course. It wasn’t a PRINCE course but it taught the basic principals of risk, resources, cost etc etc.

From what he said, the group exercise was to develop a project plan for a log cabin in a ski resort. Obviously, the risks would include the weather, the local workforce etc and he remarked about how regimented it all seemed.

“I though at one point that there would be a form to go to the toilet” he said.

Then we got talking about cutting corners and that in reality, neither me nor him are likely to be involved in anything like building a log cabin. And that in reality, we tend to do quite a lot of “corner cutting”

But how do we know which corners to cut?
Is it experience?
Is it specific industry knowledge?
Is it your ability as an all round “good egg” who knows how to get things done?

Maybe all 3 - maybe more.

How do YOU chose which corners to cut and more importantly WHY?