Effective information management is a bit like multi tasking and getting it right

Anyone that really knows me in person should be aware that I like to be on top of things information wise. Like the seeker I take great pride in getting relevant info and go to great lengths to organize that info for effective use (I think I got this quality from my dad). And feeling particularly generous or scholarly today I want to bless you with my “Seven habits of highly effective information managers”; hereby referred to as HEIMs. On a Zain level I’m in a frenzy like one of my previous bank big boss, who was twice flown in from Lagos to lecture us in training school, and on both occasions ended up basing his talk (both talks independent of the other) on Stephen R Covey’s “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”. So let’s get started on capacity building information management wise.

1) HEIMs abhor illiteracy in all its forms because to really appreciate the importance of information management one has to be technologically aware, pragmatic and open minded. HEIMs would probably work in intelligence if they were in the army. For the young ones in secondary school my advice would be not to limit oneself to only reading the Bible, religious books and self help books but to explore the world of contemporary Nigerian fiction. Personally my favourite reads are informative/write ups/novels which come with a heavy dose of humour.

2) We would all the more be HEIMs in Nigeria if we probably had a good database management system in place. All my analysis leads me to the conclusion that if we fixed that we would be on the road to resolving a lot of our national problems. From census and population planning, to voter registration, to crime detection/prevention, to fiscal control and bank loan supervision, to academic records availability and so on and so forth. That’s why it behooves on us to take the issue of record keeping and maintenance seriously in our daily dealings. There are little things in life as sweet as being updated about the past in a jiffy and thus being privileged to make inform choices in the present that will affect your future positively.

3) HEIMs excel in phone bookkeeping and are forever grateful for the miracle that is telecommunication. They understand the beauty of talking the talk and getting thoughts across at the touch of a button. So characteristically they are always reachable by phone, text and call generously as the need arises, excel at colleting contacts of useful people and those they just must deal with on the daily, have a good contact backup culture, have more than one line considering the peculiar unstableness of our telecoms networks, and understanding the importance of networking strive for phone number retention. Some extra tips: for ease of backups you might want to jot down your numbers daily as you collect them and exploit the PC suite and sync function of your phone. Also aim for hand sets with unlimited contact storage. To get ahead 200 SIM memory plus 200 phone memory handsets are not the way to go. Additionally learn to save names in full or with descriptive suffixes for ease of recall.

4) HEIMs understanding the reality that is information overload, trash programming and junk content are constantly trying to stay geeky/nerdy yet work and leisure balanced. By analyzing and sieving what is available before brain consumption they stay on the natural high. Personally I try not to over indulge myself and stay away from things that don’t add anything substantive to my IQ. This means I’m constantly battling procrastination in favour of studying and computer programming. And when it comes to news feed, favouring blogs with original content as against gossip blogs and news recyclers.

5) HEIMs being aware of the power of the world wide web/computers practice the complete use of it as a means to an end. Here’s what you’ll find them doing. They streamline their email addresses as much as possible and harness the powers of Gmail and email clients. You’d be hard press to find them on the loosing end of domain drops because of unread/unreceived renewal reminders. They are on top of password management (at my former job FinnOne, a banking suite software failed partly because of the issue of password forgetfulness). And they embrace the idea of website and company portals as information nests. A case in point: it’s dumb…almost criminal for INEC not to publish the list of qualified candidates/test invitees on its website during it recent recruitment exercise. Also as seen in many companies the issue of sending out important memos/policy updates only via email without repository on the company’s portal for easy long term reference is akin to dishing out instructions and the receivers inundating it from one ear and letting it slip out through the other.

6) HEIMs are by nature effective. In line with this they wholly embrace the use of a diary in their day to day planning. Not being cyborgs people grapple with the issue of forgetfulness but HEIMs keep on top of their schedule and plan accordingly with diary entries and reminders. Be them electronically on phone/computers or in hand in books. A follow up trait of effectiveness is getting things done without having to be prodded and doing so as if the direct gain was for oneself. In other words HEIMs treat with dispatch issues which require their attention. And in doing so they keep it scientific, scientific in the sense that their workings are carried out in a way that on analysis a third party can easily understand what has transpired thus and take relevant follow up action.

7) Lastly but also very importantly HEIMs don’t have an attitude problem. With globalization should come the common sense that nobody’s indispensable and that we all need each other sooner or later and as such we should treat each other with courtesy and respect. On a Majek Fashek-2face Idibia tip, little little patience and cordialness in our conduct now can have big positive implications later. Tolerance, politeness, a thank you here, excuse me or sorry there can in some way get you that information when the need arises that’ll help you break fronts.

The world Cup South Africa 2010 being now 40 days away, the true Super Eagles fan should have these three World cup songs on his/her playlist:

1) Power of Naija. Guinness commissioned World Cup song performed by Omawumi, 2face Idibia and Cobhams
2) Waving flag (Nigerian Version). Coca-Cola commissioned K’naan’s World Cup song performed by Banky W & M.I.
3) Goalaaaso (Inside The Net). Paj featuring Tolumide. From Paj of “Ghana go hear wien (2006)” and “skatta dem (Ghana go hear wien part II 2008)” fame.

Two extra years in UNN, partially my fault/
But fuck it I’ve now got my statement of result/
Enough lessons learnt, give all praises to Jah/
NYSC next level, come September I ja/…one!

Interpretation: I’ve now OFFICIALLY joined the prestigious group of people with a first degree from UNN. I sent the above sms to some friends. Here’s my favourite reply; it’s from Stanclef:

Your next target, the labour market/
You’ve got your statement, the future is now the present/
Get a job, get married and raise rugrats/
Finally hommie congrats/…go get high

So I’ve got two months before service, seems I’ll be interning at one of the radio stations in Abuja. Let’s see how it goes.

Catherine: What do we do now, Nick?
Nick: Fuck like minks, raise rugrats and live happily ever after.
Catherine: Hate rugrats.
Nick: Fuck like minks, forget the rugrats, and live happily ever after

One of the classic movie quotes/last lines. It’s from Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas’ Basic Instinct. Talk about being pussy whipped.

WorldCup ’06…it’s almost over; just had to put in some of my observations. Have you noticed the alarming number of early goals scored in this tournament; particularly in the group stages and in the second round? By early goals I mean goals scored in the first ten minutes, and to be precise in the fourth minute! It almost became a ritual, game kicks off and I’m looking at my watch. Four minutes later, pronto! The net is shaketh. It’s really that easy…or is it?

Have you also noticed the glaring similarity of team jerseys? I swear it’s annoying; uniqueness has been thrown to the winds, as except for colour teams now wear virtually the same jerseys! There was no difference between the white jersey of the Swiss and that of the Tunisians. Both teams were kitted by Puma (the main offenders in this case) who kitted a total of twelve teams at this finals, all with the same design template. What ever happened to the good old France ’98 days when each team had a completely different jersey design from the other even if kitted by the same sports company? Uniqueness is a much cherished human value…what more when it comes to national pride it goes without saying.

Johan Djourou of Switzerland and David Jemmali of Tunisia

Has anyone resident in Nigeria being having GSM voicemail issues? Well I have, but this article really put me through. You might want to check it out. Just know that the default voicemail number for Globacom is 0805111 and that of VMobile is 08020100155.

Two days back Ore was talking about information overload well for me I think it’s definitely music overload. I mean everybody’s dropping dope tracks. Dare Art-Alade (I can so relate with his “escalade” song…the things we do for girls. On the other hand my friend told me: “o boy kill the love shit, make your money first, the girls will always be there. It’s kind of true considering the fact that there’s no romance without finance), El Dee, Sound Sultan, Paul Play Dairo etc. So who are we going to listen to? The funny thing is that despite all this popularity most of our artists barely manage to survive. It’s hard out here for a pimp…I mean for Nigerian musicians. And it’s all because we ain’t got the super rich and powerful record companies over here. In the States if you’ve got talent you’re signed (or if it’s mass appeal you’re still signed but provided with ghost writers). They’ll hit you with more money than you can spend; all you now have to do is concentrate on the music. They’ll take care of the rest: promotion, sales, welfare etc. but in Naija in most cases one person is the artist, manager, promoter, distributor at the same time. You’re survival depends on the number of shows you can rock. The ones who make it big have tight schedules: Lagos today, Abuja tomorrow, Port Harcourt at the weekend and a tour of the States or Europe to perform at that big Nigerian function next week. You’re seeing 2face, Styl Plus and PSquare everywhere abi? They’re the privileged few.

Since it’s all about me/I just bought me a V/this is TRAE to the zee/phone number number three/. That’s the text I sent out to some of my peeps to tell em I just got a V-Mobile line. Glo hooked me with their sms, V-Mobile with their voicemail, MTN with their…i don’t know. It was the only option as at the time I bought it. It’s gone now though. Least I forget our favourite GSM e-zine is back! More power to Sagai J. Adam.

It’s really kind of funny the hatred some people can have for you. If I was a Nigerian politician I’d say my life is in danger as the dynamic duo of Nubiansoul and Sokari want to assassinate me … assassinate my character. In another way it’s kind of shocking. It’s like an evil dictator versus activist scenario, where the activist goes to any length to see to the evil dictator’s downfall. Damn ma, agreed I have my short comings (but who doesn’t) but if you really get to know me you’ll see that in truth I’m the harmless simple version of the mister nice guy brand (not to be confused with nice guy syndrome oh). Abeg live and let live jare. Thanks.

The notion that our leaders don’t care was partly proved wrong to me recently. I received a mail from David Clark in response to a post made on my blog where I explained why I ditched my MTN line for a Globacom line. He’s the Operations Manager for MTN in the Western Region and he’s based in Lagos. He wasn’t happy that I was abandoning my MTN line for a Globacom line and he wanted me back. We exchanged ideas on the MTN and Glo subject matter via e-mail and on phone (he should be a white dude from his voice). And it all amounted to him sending me 6,000 Naira airtime credit to recharge my MTN line. That’s about two months of validity/access days! I was stunned cos it’s girls that normally receive such stuff from their numerous admirers. But all the same I’m highly grateful to him for the kind gesture; though I sold the credit cos I had more pressing financial matters to deal with. I will recharge my MTN line with a 400 Naira air time credit later on. That’ll guarantee that my MTN line will be active for another four months and make everybody happy . Final word: if MTN rocks your world big ups to you, but as things stand now I’ll still be using my Glo.
An MTN kiosk. One among thousands that are situated all Nigeria

So much for MTN making my day, now on to being gay (not the sexual type, embrace your dictionary)cos of football. The Nigerian Under-21 team: the Flying Eagles have been making our day here in Nigeria for weeks. Under the tutelage of Coach Samson Siasia (an ex Nigerian international) they’ve been excelling in the FIFA World Youth Championship: Netherlands 2005 and are into the final which is to be played today. They’re a wonderful squad full of talented players. Here’s our journey so far in the tournament
The Flying eagles before one of their games.

0-0 versus Brazil (Group stages). Cautious game, once it’s Brazil, whether it be the Under-13 or Over 50 team it calls for caution.
1-2 versus South Korea (Group stages). Painful loss, lost concentration and threw away our lead in the final minutes.
3-0 versus Switzerland (Group stages). Handled their biz well and spanked the Swiss, to send us into the 2nd round.
1-0 versus Ukraine (2nd Round). Nice game, Taye Taiwo saved the day with a wonderful free kick.
1-1 [10-9] versus The Netherlands (Quarter finals). Nerve racking game, beat tournament host on penalties.
3-0 versus Morocco (Semi finals). Very sweet game, taught our North African brothers the game of soccer.
?-? versus Argentina (Final). Big one, reminiscent of the Atlanta 96 final. What’s it gon’ be? We pray our boys prevail. The match’s coming up in a few hours time. Let’s all keep our fingers crossed and wish our boys the best of luck. Peace!
The Flying Eagles celebrate after scoring.

What’s this overnight celebrity thing? You’re wondering hey? Well I Just won an e-zine (online magazine…”e”-zine) competition and I’m feeling very pleased with my self. Well actually I won the competition over a week ago, but I was just interviewed on my win and it’s in the latest edition of the e-zine. And that’s the source of my present joy. You know it’s like the rapper Twista said: surprisingly becoming a celebrity and all of a sudden granting interviews. Whatever man I ain’t tripping cos I know I’m far from a celebrity. But the novelty of being interviewed that’s new and real cool. For answering five GSM based questions I won an MTN #750 recharge card. And I guess it’s like my only ever lottery or competition win. Lord knows I’ve been dreaming big about winning one of the numerous mouth watering lotteries/competitions going on in the country. And I guess this is only a first step. Who no like awoof sef? E dey run belle no be small. Anyway enjoy the full interview below jare.

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INTERVIEW WITH GSM QUIZ COMPETITION WINNER: TRAE
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CONGRATULATIONS ON WINNING OUR GSM QUIZ.
HOW DID YOU FEEL WHEN YOU READ IN THE EMAIL
THAT YOU HAD WON?

I felt happy naturally, but some how i expected i’ld win.
Cos i acted fast in suppling the answers and they were
all correct.

DID YOU ANSWER THE QUESTIONS OFF-YOUR HEAD OR DID YOU DO
A LITTLE RESEARCH?

To be honest with you man i owe my success to google…
and of course my personal interest in GSM matters and my
natural inquisitiveness habit. I researched on all the
questions with google.

THE QUESTION ON THE MEANING OF “MTN” KNOCKED PEOPLE OFF.
MOST SAID MOBILE “TELECOMMUNICATIONS” NETWORK. HOW DID
YOU GET IT?

As i said i googled it all up! But it took quite some
time to get the answer though.

HOW DO YOU KEEP YOURSELF INFORMED ON CURRENT TRENDS IN GSM?

Well on the internet i rely on your newsletter and the
mobilenigeria site almost 99%. Besides that i read the
papers, listen to the radio and watch the news.

AND FINALLY, HOW DID YOU SPEND THE FREE AIRTIME?

Texting, flashing and more texting.
Made a few calls though.

Interview in session; Listen and learn a thing or two. Lord knows I’ll be granting many more interviews in future (smiles).

Yep, putting what I was saying in this post’ subject in lay man terms I’ve decided to stop being a subscriber to the MTN network and have bought a Glo (Globacom) line instead. And you know why? Well being a celebrity, Paris Hilton made me change my number! Ha-ha, just kidding. On the real it’s funny how public…Internet opinion makes one changes his/her opinion on a particular issue. In my case the Internet opinion was from www.mobilenigeria.com , a Nigerian GSM discussion forum where I’m a member. On the forum we GSM freaks discuss and exchange ideas on the Nigerian GSM market. And learning about the new Globacom 35 free Glo to Glo text per promotion from the site I was finally convinced to ditch MTN for Glo. Let’s face it save for their wide coverage, MTN sucks. They’re the most expensive network and history shows that they’ve hardly done any thing at anytime substantial to decrease their tariffs. In fact am a go ahead and give y’all seven good reasons to Glo as you go/and not fuck with Y’hello/.

1) They have much cheaper tariffs than MTN. on the Glo network it’s 70k on per second billing to call Glo lines and 80k for other networks. As against MTN’s 80k irrespective. It’s also #7.50k to send text to Glo lines and #15 to other networks. As against MTN’s #15 irrespective.
2) Their recharge cards are affordable with longer access days/validity and easy to get unlike MTN. Glo has recharge cards of #500 and #1000 with 5 and 10 days access days which are widely available in the market. MTN on the other hand has #750 and #1500 recharge cards with 5 and 15 days validity respectively. Even their so called affordable #400 virtual top up airtime is very scarce in the market and has a validity of only 4 days. To compound problems the #750 and #400 airtime sells for #800 and #450 respectively in the market. That if you ask me is open exploitation.
3) They the most advanced network in Nigeria. They got the GPRS, WAP and MMS (something very common and indispensable abroad, it’s still catching up here sha) thing, which MTN doesn’t have. As the experts say they got a 2.5G network while other networks operate 2G networks.
4) They allow you to send 35 free Glo to Glo text per month. Something MTN can never dream of cos they’re the greedy network type. Like coolapostle said MTN = (M)ilk (T)hose (N)igerians!
5) Calling customer care on Glo is much easier than on MTN. And they only charge you #20 no matter the length of the call. Now tell me which network cares about their customer’s satisfaction more.
6) Glo doesn’t disturb you when your credit/access days (validity) is about to expire as much as MTN does by telling you to please top up your account as if you don’t already know. They’re like some cyber cafe’s timer software. they disturb you when it’s about to finish but not all the way till it completely finishes.
7) Glo tells you your validity/access days straight up (when checking your credit balance with #124#) unlike MTN which charges you to do so (by calling 556) or puts you through a rigorous process to do so (texting “8″ to “131″, it’s free of charge though).

What more can I say. Glo is the shit and MTN are clearly not performing. MTN only started the per second billing after Globacom brought the competition to them.

Now I’m beginning to feel like them Firefox loyalists who despise Microsoft and are highly anti Internet Explorer. It’s like I’m supporting the better company against the more popular but greedy and less efficient company. Ha-ha, whatever. I guess Glo have finally got me like they planned to do on their ongoing promotional tour of leading Nigerian universities. Shit I’m regretting why I wasn’t on campus for the show, I heard it was lots of fun and Ruggedman (Ehen!, Peace or war, Baraje. Big bros and Oh oh are definate hits. Nice skits too. Rest of the album ain’t too impressive) was on stage. Anyway the good thing is that Glo’s now in Nsukka and being that they’re also in my villa and of course Abuja (the three places I’m mostly at) my switch to them is all the more wise. I ain’t gotta worry about MTN now. I guess what I’m about to do ain’t so advisable security wise but am a do it anyway. Here’s my new Glo number: 08057058033 (+2348057058033), and my MTN is 08036135788 (+2348036135788). Although the best bet on reaching me these days is to holla at my Glo. Nice numbers hey?

it’s no more get Firefox and fuck Internet Explorer, it’s now get Glo cos MTN is a no show!