Here, in WYSIWYG Tales, you will find tales about people who have used WYSIWYG Wizardry and how that has helped them. In The Wizard of Oz movie, Dorothy and her companions had, within themselves, the traits they sought but could not see. The Wizard found ways to help them see those things. There was no real magic in what he did. He just created situations in which their actions made it easy for them to visualize the fact that those traits had always been there. All he did was help them see. People call me the WYSIWYG Wizard because that's the kind of thing I do and want to tell you about. The people I work with do many different types of things. They build things, they write things, and they change things. Sometimes they work alone and sometimes they work with other people to provide services or complete projects. And, like the seekers in the movie, they cannot always see clearly what they do. They do well most of the time but they also have problems, make mistakes, and have crises. They would very much like to avoid all of those difficulties but they can't see how to do that. You, your friends, and your co-workers may be like that also. You may be skipping down your own yellow brick road, doing what you do, not fully seeing and understanding what you do and how you fit in all that. A little bit of WYSIWYG wizardry can help you. No magic is required. All you need are some simple, down-to-earth, practical visualization techniques to help you see, better understand, and improve what you do and the way you do it. Take a moment and ask yourself if you would like to: -See and understand how things you do fit together - or not-See ways to solve your problems and avoid crises-See how you can improve coordination with colleagues and friends-Help others see beneficial things they can or should be doing-See how to organize your thoughts and activities-See things that are really important and focus attention on themThen, get into the book. Read about Sarah and how she solved her coordination problem. Then see how Anne and Fred got better ways to see how they spent their time. Read about the group that finally stopped being late and another that no longer makes too many mistakes. Read the other tales and see how other people solved the kinds of problems you sometimes have. Let them show you ways to see things about what you do that you have never been able to see before Learn the practical visualization techniques that you and the others on the road with you will be able to use to be more successful. Learn how you can also be a WYSIWYG Wizard.
About the Author: Bill is an experienced consultant specializing in process improvement and project management. Prior to his retirement he worked as a project manager with MITRE Corporation and SRA International developing and implementing major government information systems. At SRA he managed 85 projects with a perfect cost, schedule and performance record. Since retirement, he has taught project management and systems engineering for American University and the Center for Systems Management. At CSM he developed and ran a process improvement practice that has conducted over 100 process assessments. Bill has been a frequent facilitator of process improvement workshops for government agencies and their contractors.