So I've finished my Crock-Pot pulled pork recipe. Even if I do say so myself, it gives Chipotle a run for it's money! It's a little bit spicier than Chipotles - but then again a little flavor never hurt anyone. I'm still looking to recreate their (Chipotle's) rice and black beans recipes. Check out the recipe here.
The Second Rule of Consulting
Good enough is Good Enough!
I don't know how many times I've watched companies fail to pull the trigger on advances, improvements, or just plain updates, in a timely manner because they were shooting for perfection. So let me clue you in - perfection is not obtainable!
I had a gig one time with a large medical company (who shall remain nameless.) This was just after Novell released NDS - and everyone was trying to figure out how to best implement this new (revolutionary even) technology in their IT infrastructure. They decided to have Saturday afternoon Design Jam Sessions - bringing together representatives from all over the company - IT Infrastructure, IT Software support, IT software development, Finance (both corporate and site,) facilities, and end users from each of the main departments. All in all there must have been 30 people involved in a Design Committee - people who understood the needs of the staff, customers, and the business. I was hired to act as "facilitator" - basically pass along my knowledge of sound NDS design and help guide the group toward an implementation that would meet the companies' needs. Our "charter" was to meet every Saturday until we had a design, implementation plan, and budget hammered out.
Management expected that we would have 8-10 meetings and then the project would be on it's way (and I would be out of work, unless they decided to keep me on in some sort of project management role.)
The bottom line is that the meetings were a mess. Nothing I did could get these people to agree, compromise, or even agree to disagree. Everyone wanted the perfect solution for themselves, without thinking about the big picture of how it all would have to work together. Of course any system built without compromise is a system that can't be built - and that's exactly what we ended up with.
The good news was that I got paid for a bunch of Saturday afternoons that would have otherwise been wasted time for me, the bad news was that by the time this group finally agreed on something, Novell had released another version and many of the ideas were no longer valid.
In life, as in business, there comes a time when you have to pull the trigger - get the best possible out of your work, but realize that perfect is either impossible or fleeting (believe me, todays' "perfect" is tomorrow's "done that.")
I don't know how many times I've watched companies fail to pull the trigger on advances, improvements, or just plain updates, in a timely manner because they were shooting for perfection. So let me clue you in - perfection is not obtainable!
I had a gig one time with a large medical company (who shall remain nameless.) This was just after Novell released NDS - and everyone was trying to figure out how to best implement this new (revolutionary even) technology in their IT infrastructure. They decided to have Saturday afternoon Design Jam Sessions - bringing together representatives from all over the company - IT Infrastructure, IT Software support, IT software development, Finance (both corporate and site,) facilities, and end users from each of the main departments. All in all there must have been 30 people involved in a Design Committee - people who understood the needs of the staff, customers, and the business. I was hired to act as "facilitator" - basically pass along my knowledge of sound NDS design and help guide the group toward an implementation that would meet the companies' needs. Our "charter" was to meet every Saturday until we had a design, implementation plan, and budget hammered out.
Management expected that we would have 8-10 meetings and then the project would be on it's way (and I would be out of work, unless they decided to keep me on in some sort of project management role.)
The bottom line is that the meetings were a mess. Nothing I did could get these people to agree, compromise, or even agree to disagree. Everyone wanted the perfect solution for themselves, without thinking about the big picture of how it all would have to work together. Of course any system built without compromise is a system that can't be built - and that's exactly what we ended up with.
The good news was that I got paid for a bunch of Saturday afternoons that would have otherwise been wasted time for me, the bad news was that by the time this group finally agreed on something, Novell had released another version and many of the ideas were no longer valid.
In life, as in business, there comes a time when you have to pull the trigger - get the best possible out of your work, but realize that perfect is either impossible or fleeting (believe me, todays' "perfect" is tomorrow's "done that.")
So my gas grill gave up the ghost over the winter - the burners had burned themselves into pieces, the heat tents were rusted through, and the grill grates were a mess. I started to price the parts necessary to rebuild it - but when the total reached $200 I realized that there was no reason not to just buy a new (and better) grill.
For $279, on sale, I got a new 7 burner unit … better than my old one, new, and no danger of my "fixit" skills blowing up (literally) in my face.
I'm happy, and tonight's the first test (just burgers - nothing tough :)
It seems fitting that the first load placed in the bed of my new (to me) pickup was a new grill - I guess I *AM* Bob The Grill Guy!