Skills That Help you Think in Drupal
At the heart of “Thinking in Drupal” is data relationships. In this blog, I’m going to share how I acquired skills that ultimately enabled me to plan and build Drupal websites. Spreadsheets As a Project Control Manager, I used complicated spreadsheets to create budgets, estimate the impact of changes, and balance accounts against actual expenses.…
Overdraft Notices Can Be Avoided
I recently saw an television ad for a bank that offers overdraft notification so that you can choose how to fund the mistake. My first thought, “If the person was managing their money properly, they wouldn’t need this option.” And then I got frustrated. A bank wouldn’t create a service like that or spend money…
Credit Cards Can Make You Money and Raise Your Credit Score
We’ve all heard about credit cards that give you miles, cash back, and/or any number of benefits for simply using them. The tricky part about credit cards is their ease of use and how quickly the balance on the card can grow out of control. The following is a way to maximize the power of…
My Drupal is Showing
I posted a personal finance management series and opened one of the pages, just to see it live. I clicked on an embedded link and it went to a locked page. I recognized the locked page. Long story short, the links I used were to a version that was dated in June 7th. I scheduled…
Financial Headaches: A Series on Personal Finance Management
The process of balancing your checkbook isn’t just about knowing how much money you have to spend right now. It can yield huge insights into your future. “Years before I created the technique shared in this series, I gave a presentation for a speech class I had to take as part of my college curriculum.…
Lesson 1: Checkbook Duh! Factors
Before you can dive into managing your personal finances (checkbook balance, budgets, savings, loan payoffs, etc.), there are some basic money management concepts that you need to know. Duh! Right? Perhaps you already know the basics, but please give the following questions and answers a read before continuing to Lesson 2: A Map for the…
Lesson 2: A Map of Personal Financial Processes
In Lesson 1: Checkbook Duh! Factors, you were introduced to the concept of lagging and future commitments. In other words, the bank doesn’t know if a check is about to be cashed or that you will need to write a check for a bill that’s about to arrive. In this lesson, you will be introduced…
Lesson 3: Get Ready
In Lesson 2: A Map of Personal Finance Processes, you were introduced to the processes for managing personal finances. In this lesson, you will explore the process of getting ready to track your current status and plan your future. The effort to gather information about your financial commitments might seem obvious. However, it’s easy to…
Lesson 4: Set Up the Spreadsheet
A paper transaction register is part of the past, but its purpose never will be. With a spreadsheet, manual computing is no longer needed. And forget about sloppy handwriting. Typed entries are the way to go. In order to use the data collected in Lesson 3: Get Ready, follow the steps below to get set…
Lesson 5a: Single Monthly Paycheck Plan
If you completed the tasks in Lesson 3: Get Ready and Lesson 4: Set Up the Spreadsheet, you are ready to move forward in preparing your digital tracker and planner. In this lesson, you are going to focus on a scenario where you get one paycheck per month. This mimics a basic budget approach: income…
Lesson 5b: Twice a Month Paycheck Plan
If you completed the tasks in Lesson 3: Get Ready and Lesson 4: Set Up the Spreadsheet, you are ready to move forward in preparing your digital tracker and planner. If you reviewed Lesson 5a: Single Monthly Paycheck Plan, you will see the same steps below. However, the running balance will be different. In this lesson,…
Lesson 5c: Every Two Weeks Paycheck Plan
If you completed the tasks in Lesson 3: Get Ready and Lesson 4: Set Up the Spreadsheet, you are ready to move forward in preparing your digital tracker and planner. If you reviewed Lesson 5b: Twice a Month Paycheck Plan, you will not be surprised regarding the steps that follow. However, there is a difference so…
Lesson 5d: Front Loaded Paycheck Plan
Let’s start by explaining what I mean by front loaded. The concept is simple. The income from one month is used to pay the next months commitments. Instead of talking about it, consider a sample using the income and commitments from Lesson 5c: Every Two Weeks Paycheck Plan. Sample Front Loaded Digital Tracker and Planner…
Lesson 6: Tracking Actual Commitments
You planned that your electric bill in January would be $100. The odds that a utility bill is an even $100 are low so this is a perfect example of a planned commitment that needs to be updated with the actual cost. Updating your digital tracker with actual costs should be done with each transaction…
Lesson 7. Balancing Against the Bank
If you are just joining us, we are near the end of the series on personal finance management. This is the part where you reconcile the balance shown in your digital tracker and planner with the balance the bank shows. The process used for this task has been around for … well, for as long…
Lesson 8. Adjusting for the Future
At the end of Lesson 7, Balancing Against the Bank, the front loaded plan was balanced against the bank and the January withdrawals do not exceed the income assigned to that month, even with the $50 gift. However, how does the future look? Scrolling down, the first negative balance appears in the month of April.…
Instructions for Making Trail Mix Banana Bread
I wanted to practice my instructional writing. My recent discovery banana bread recipe found at https://kirbiecravings.com/healthy-banana-oatmeal-bread/, my lessons learned, and my customizations afforded me the perfect opportunity. Instructional Planning Learning objective: At the end of the instructions, a learner will be able to make either a banana bread loaf or multiple mini muffins.Audience: Adults or…
Hiring a Nonfiction Writer
Let’s get the obvious out of the way: not all writing assignments require the same skill sets. With that said, there are definitely overlaps such as the ability to compose a sentence, assemble paragraphs, and organize the flow of content. So, what do you need to consider when hiring a nonfiction writer? Two most influencing…
My Move to WordPress.com
You might have noticed that most of my published works center on the open source content management system called Drupal. I created my first Drupal 4.5 site in 2006. I have worked on numerous Drupal sites. I have provided training for Drupal 6, 7, and 8, and have written three Drupal books. So, why the…
Web Accessibility Blogs
My Website Accessibility blog posts on prometsource. WCAG 2.1 in 7 PerspectivesTop 12 Accessibility IssuesWeb Accessibility Overlays: True Fix or False Pretense?4 Key Success Factors for Driving ChangeDoes Your Website Need an Accessibility Report Card?Creating Accessible DocumentsAccessibility Remediation is a MustWhat’s New in WCAG 2.1Does an Accessibility Badge Make my Site WCAG 2.0 Compliant? Save Yourself…
Project Management Blogs
My Project Management blog posts on prometsource. Invent Your Own Development MethodologyThe Path to MigrationShould I Fix my Existing Site or Build a New from Scratch
Drupal Blog Posts
My Drupal blog posts on prometsource. Better Instructions for Your Drupal Content TypesDrupal Strategies for Landing PagesCreate a Plan and Still be Agile Drupal Best PracticesDrupal Don’ts: Pitfalls to Avoid Site SuccessEmpower the Content Author in DrupalDrupal 8 Makes it Easier
Training versus Education
The difference between training and education has been discussed for countless years. If you consult a dictionary, you might see that training is the process of teaching or learning a skill or job. And you might see that the process of educating is the imparting and acquiring of knowledge through teaching and learning, especially at…
Introduction to Change Management
Change, a process to become different, occurs as a result of many processes. Processes commonly known to create change include: training or education, new systems or tool implementation, and process improvement or re-engineering. Change can affect people, processes, and systems and without appropriate management consideration and facilitation, change can be more challenging than necessary. Change…
Instruction and Change
Instruction is often a success factor in the process of change management. When an organization changes, the change often affects how people work, how they complete their tasks. It is these changes in operation that often create change management issues. One way to help people accept change is to limit that which they have to…
A View of Business Process Redesign
Process redesign is about change. There are countless methods and techniques used to describe the various processes and tools used to identify and implement change, similar to Facilitation and Instructional Design. Process change occurs in many forms: From no process to an initial processFrom incremental improvements to an existing process to significant improvementsFrom re-engineering using…
A View of Meeting Facilitation
The Facilitation Process Highlights chart illustrates the various phases of facilitation which I support. I use various methods, tools, and strategies aimed at making the facilitation process work smoothly and productively while ensuring involvement and ownership by the participants. The goals for facilitated sessions can include, but is not limited to: problem-solving, incremental process improvement,…
A View of Training and Education Delivery
I believe that a successful training event depends on several success factors. Three primary success factors include: The design of the instructional materials and activities.The procedures and techniques used during the delivery of the training.The delivery skills of the instructor. Assuming the instructional materials and activities are at their best, the delivery procedures and techniques…
Success Factors: Instructional D3 Projects
What does the instructional development project need in order to be successful? The answer from anyone who has studied project management might include such items as: an appropriately sized budget;a schedule with enough time;human resources with the applicable skill sets;a development plan that considers risk; anda communication plan. If you were thinking about these success…
Requirements and Change Requests
“Bring me a rock, please.” Ever get the feeling that you are being asked to deliver a product or work that has not been completely defined? You assume you know what a rock looks like based on basic information provided. You find it and paint it, only to find the client wanted a small round…
Process versus System
In today’s world of do it better, do it faster, we often look to technology to save the day. There isn’t anything wrong with looking to technology for opportunities to improve. The challenge arises when the technology is chosen before the process that needs to be improved is analyzed. This happens for many reasons. Some…
Facilitation Tricks of the Trade
There are a lot books out there on facilitation. They all say basically the same thing. They tell you a well planned event is better than one you do off the cuff. This is true. However, the best made facilitation plans have unknown factors that can prevent the plan from being successfully executed. I started…
Understanding Measures, Metrics, and Measurements
I like to distinguish between measure, metric, and measurement because when it comes to process improvement, design, benchmarking, and re-engineering, there is a difference between what you want to know (measure)what it is that can be collected (metric)when that information is available (interval)what the measurement is against (process or product)what the information means (indicator)Below is…
A Drupal Life-cycle
The process of Drupal web design has moved to the front of my thoughts recently. I am not necessarily talking about the graphic design but instead the information architecture component of the design. I started thinking about how much has changed since I was creating basic HTML sites. What constituted planning back then seems a…
Online Instructional Development in Higher Ed
In brick-and-mortar higher education institutions, where online learning is a grass roots effort, the quality of the course is dependent upon the professor/instructor. In other words, online environments quite often mirror classroom environments. A good classroom environment often translates to a reasonable online experience as well. The professors who put as much energy into their…
Instructional Design versus Building Online Courses
When we are given a tool that makes the development of online learning easier for the novice, we risk loosing the power of the design process. The temptation to open the course shell in Blackboard, for example, and start adding sections, items, folders, documents, etc. can be overwhelming. Add to this temptation the fact that…
Building a Dynamic Workplace with Cross-Training
What is cross-training? I use this term to describe a management approach I tried as a Project Control Manager for TRW. A project control manager is responsible for managing the financial books of a government contract. The number of staff in this type of office is often limited in order to keep total project costs…
Building a Virtual Classroom (TM)
When I help instructors move from the classroom to online, I start with what they know (learning theory 101). It is easier to move forward one-step-at-a-time versus leaping. The following don’t have to be done in the order they are listed. Imagine I ask the instructors to close their eyes and imagine the first day…
Building a Certification Program
Most of us have either heard of someone being certified to do something or maybe we have been through a certification process ourselves. Depending on the certification, the process could be to simply take a test. Or, it could be more involved such as to include one or more of the following: multiple exams, training,…
Drupal Roles: Wearing Multiple Hats
If you do a search for Drupal jobs, the most common jobs listed are Drupal developer, Drupal themer, and Drupal designer. If you look at the skills required for each, they say basically the same thing: HTML, CSS, PHP, SQL, and Drupal experience. If the job is graphic, you might see additional requirements such as…
What is Information Architecture?
Information architecture (IA) is an emerging practice being integrated into multiple disciplines so it is hard to find one definition that multiple disciplines share. Below are three definitions. What is consistent is the idea that IA is art and/or science and IA has to do with organizing information. Information Architecture Institute defines IA as: “The structural…
Paper Clip Dilemma
I was a lucky student at Virginia Tech from 1980-1984. I had a father who wrote me letters on a regular basis. They were always entertaining and thoughful. My father has been an inspiration and mentor my entire life. He passed away December 18th, 2009 and as I remembered back on the many talks we…
Cindy McCourt 