zondag 23 augustus 2015

Project management and a brief holiday

I'll be leaving for a short holiday tomorrow with the wife and kids to get away from it all. It will be nice to be a week without internet and just a good book in the evening. Can't wait.

Meanwhile, at home..... I had a brainwave earlier this week in that the boxes I use to send out stuff actually make good project boxes. A bit on the big side (a bit bigger then A4 size) but very suitable, as as I can get them from work for free (we only get these from one customer who packs all of his motherboards in the same standard box, and we don't use them for shipping as they are single layer cardboard, so we just throw them out) I have a unlimited supply.

So, 5 minutes with my trusty labelwriter gives me this:


All of my current projects, (not so) neatly stacked and labelled. I plan to repack my older projects in the same manner and store them in the attic for now. Anything on my desk now (that does not belong into any of the Ikea sorting boxes I have) should be put in bags and boxes asap and stored in the attic.

Of the 7 projects you see (3x 20mm and 4x 28mm) the Bandit Buntai box is a future one cause I feel my skills are not up to that task yet. The EW Germans have the problem that with half the army missing in the post, and not sufficient funds to buy replacements, this has stalled before it has started. The other 5 I can work on now.

In other depressing news, the manager of the local GW and a dear friend of mine got fired. As a result, I will no longer be using the friday night hobby club at the GW (and many more people with me) as we all support the manager (and not GW for this insane move).

As my wife does like to see me go out once a week to preserve my sanity, I've contacted my old gaming buddy Modhail to do a weekly/bi-weekly friday night hobby and/or gaming session. In a few weeks time this will start and we'll see how it will work. One week at his place, one week at mine seems to be the idea. And mutually motivating to get things done, I like that :) Even his wife approves! Just brilliant :)

7 opmerkingen:

  1. Did he get fired for not meeting his numbers. I think GW is setting some pretty hard goals for the one shoppers given how little they really control. And even if you make it one year the next they just up it again.

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    1. He expressed worries about not meeting the amount of sales he was supposed to, but he'd only been in business for 6 months and there aren't that many GW gamers in what is the 6th largest city really (200.000+ residents). His volume of sales was increasing each month and I was seeing more new faces every 2 weeks or so. I think it is a stupid move as he was well liked, well versed in gaming and really went for it.

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    2. Being GW they probably have a numerical model based on population density and income levels to determine what the target sales should be. GW Retail was really weakly performing in Continental Europe last fiscal year (June 2014-May 2015) so heads probably have to roll.

      While I have plenty against GW, I feel for the Red Shirts who have to make their numbers to pay the rent and feed the family but really have very little control of anything. They do not design the rules or minis, control the release schedule or the distribution of information, set the pricing or really even decide what they stock. Currently they essentially have 2 versions of the same game basic with hammers and arrows, or advanced with guns and chainswords. They can really only control their hours(up to what is allowed by law) and how they interact with the customers. But your hours are really determined by the location(which you do not control) as to when customers are dense in the area. Given that you are undercut by online discounters and your own company which offers online exclusives and limited editions, I think it is probably a rough go.

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  2. Sorry about your buddy losing his job. But good to hear you are getting more organized. I need to do the same myself soon.

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  3. We appreciate a good bit of wargaming and official and non official dymo use!. And we would love to see further pictures.

    Kind regards,

    Paul
    Dymo customer service

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  4. Hey, a Buntai! Cool, I may just have to dig out my TAG samurai at some point then, so we can do a paint-off.... :)

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    1. Well, the idea was to have kept this secret for you for some time till my painting skills have improved! Oh well, extra motivation :)

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