The Whiteboard Rules

White Boards Rule One of the things I love about blogging is that I learn so much from other’s perspectives on subjects. So I cruise the Internet with my RSS feeder and Google key word searches to learn more about what it takes to be a Cubicle Warrior.

Over on Small Business Transitions (http://www NULL.smallbusinesstransitions NULL.com/), there was really an informative post on the need to consolidate 11-years(!) worth of blogging into a new blog and what was needed to be done to make that happen.

Since I had just recently moved my hosting company for my four sites to Bluehost (http://www NULL.bluehost NULL.com/track/kninjyco/cube), documented over on Ten Keyboards (http://tenkeyboards NULL.com) with The Problem: My Hosting Company Sucks (http://tenkeyboards NULL.com/2007/08/03/the-problem-my-hosting-company-sucks/) and then The Solution: Changing Hosting Companies, (http://tenkeyboards NULL.com/2007/08/06/the-solution-changing-hosting-companies/) I could really relate to the problems associated with consolidating so much information into something new. I had just lived it.

One of the things Greg talked about on “I learned that I had to let go to move on (http://www NULL.smallbusinesstransitions NULL.com/i-learned-that-i-had-to-let-go-to-move-on/925/)” was to put together a strategic plan. In the comments, Greg noted how difficult that is as “we get so close to our own business that we cannot see the forest for the trees.”

In my comments, I noted that to gain perspective, I use a whiteboard. And Greg asked my in the comments how that works.

I answered, of course, but I think it’s a useful thing to describe some of the dynamics — for me, this doesn’t work for everyone — on how you get to your creative self.

For me, the answer lies with this simple statement that I’ve characterized myself as for twenty years: I’m an analog guy in a digital world.

It’s a simple statement, but it has tons of implications.

In the digital world, I’m pretty close to bleeding edge. I need the reliability of technology before it can be considered mainstream, but I’ll try anything digital to see how it works.

But I think best in an analog mode. And the best analog mode is a large, blank whiteboard with an eraser and a set of five different colored dry erase markers.

The whiteboard becomes a pallet that addresses a subject. It is an object for brainstorming, organizing, discarding, and adding to ideas. The whiteboard becomes the canvas of ideas that eventually translates chaos, to creativity, to structure.

For me, there is no better feeling at work than a marker in hand with a clean whiteboard waiting for myself and others in a room to create. It is a powerful tool for solving problems, identifying solutions, and creating what business needs to succeed.

The whiteboard rules.

Scot