My Christmas Gift to Culvers

This weekend we travelled back to Canada for a family pre-Christmas party.

Whenever we make the trip we always have three "to-dos". We visit Swiss Chalet (a franchise that specializes in roasted chicken). We visit Tim Horton's (Canada's most famous coffee and donut chain) and finally we try to drop in at Harvey's (a burger chain that features my favorite hamburger in the entire world.)

Yes - our lives revolve around food.

One of the menu items at Harvey's is Poutine - an unfamiliar (to Americans) but delicious mixture of french fries, cheese curds and beef gravy.

As soon as I saw it on the menu, the idea struck me.

This would be a perfect menu addition to Wisconsin's favorite local food chain - Culvers. Think of it. Culvers originated in the heart of cheese country. We love our Green Bay Packers.

Introducing Packer Poutine. Mmmmmm.

I think it's time Wisconsin adopted this delicious treat and made it it's own. Philly has cheese steak sandwiches. Chicago has deep dish pizzas. We have beer and brats. But we need a great side dish.

By the way, in case you don't know, this dish isn't heart or diet friendly - which makes is soooo good.

C'mon Culvers. Let's introduce Packer Poutine before the playoffs!

The REAL Price of Black Friday

Brady Forrest of O'Reilly Radar writes about a recent trip to China where he discovered a treasure trove of product knock-offs. iPhones, iPods etc.

Now that China is becoming the manufacturing center of the world (and some would say stealing American manufacturing jobs), they've also long been taking something arguably more precious.

Our intellectual property.

China is quickly becoming America's largest economic threat. And perhaps the world's as well. They are poised to become the world's largest consumer of oil and seem to have little regard for (or any interest in) developing and/or following responsible environmental policies.

Never mind our massive Chinese trade deficit.

Never mind China's human rights record.

Never mind the recent news filled with manufacturing horror stories from China - tainted pet food, lead painted toys, Plastic aqua dots made from the same chemical found in date rape drugs..

Because tomorrow, millions of us will line up outside Wal-Mart - China's single largest product distributor, to buy cheap stuff for Christmas.

In America, Black Friday celebrates the most profitable retail day of the year. We revel in all our cheap holiday purchases.

In China, they celebrate Black Friday for a different reason. Every Black Friday symbolizes another nail in the U.S. economic coffin.

It's tough to fight an economic war when your citizens are providing aid and comfort to "the enemy".

Believe it or not, I'm NOT a protectionist. I don't believe that we should necessarily impose restricted trade or tariffs on goods from China.

I do believe that we need a public discussion and debate about the price we're really paying for those $1100 50" LCD TVs.

"Have a great day and thank you for shopping at Wal-Mart."

Rush to Judgement

Amazon just announced a brand new reader called Kindle. Click the link to see a short video explaining it's features. Over the past 24 hours I've been reading countless reviews of the new device.

Let me save you some time. Depending upon who's review you're reading, it's either "been there, done that" or the "next big thing".

One thing is certain. We're in a rush to judgement. And that's a mistake. Books and magazines have been around for hundreds of years. With all their drawbacks (weight, storage, environmental impact, lack of search, time to purchase) we're used to them. We know how they work. They're part of our everyday lives. They're familiar.

And it's for these reasons we should wait several weeks before reading any meaningful reviews. If there's one thing for certain, many people resist change - until they've tried it or been exposed to it for a period of time. And we're suffering from a lack of experience with the product.

On the face of it, Kindle offers the advantages of (virtually) instant delivery of your reading material, be they newspapers, magazines, blogs or books. It's lightweight and doesn't take up much space. It has a battery that enables it to last a long time.

It's biggest disadvantage? It's new.

Another disadvantage? It has hit the market after the iPhone. Now iPhone customers are suggesting that their phones would also be a good place to read books. While I understand the desire to consolidate a book reader into the iPhone (after all it already has a browser), I'm not sure how well it would work as a book reader. Smaller screen, shorter battery life etc.

So my advice? Keep an open mind and judge slowly.

Start reading the reviews mid December after early adopters have gained the wisdom of having actually used the product!

AdSense of Humor?

There's something about this story on The Raw Feed, and the embedded ads that struck me funny....

The "Big 10" Economy

The Big 10 Network is the gift that keeps on giving - to local bars.

While the majority of Badger fans hate the fact that they can't see all their beloved Badgers football games on cable TV from the comfort of their own homes (because Time Warner and Big Ten Network couldn't reach an agreement on broadcasting rights), local establishments with satellite TV are enjoying a tremendous benefit.

Last Saturday, my wife and I journeyed to the Marcus' Majestic Theatres, because they were going to show the Badger's game in hi-def in their Palladium theatre. For the uninitiated, the Palladium theatre features a huge screen along with food and (alcoholic) beverage service within the theatre itself.

We were running late, and showed up about ten minutes before game time. Fans were streaming into the theatre. As we entered the lobby, we heard the staff telling people that they had sold out (tickets were free) - even after opening a second theatre. They did allow a few fans to sit/stand in the lobby to watch the game on the screens there (but without any sound).

Apparently fans began lining up outside the lobby doors at 9:30am (for an 11:00 am kickoff). The lobby doesn't even open until 10am!

Marcus Theatres must be jumping with joy. Their best promotion ever - thanks to the greed of the Big Ten Network.

On our journey home, it was pretty easy to tell which bars featured satellite TV. As we passed by several local haunts, their parking lots were jammed to capacity.

Maybe the Big Ten Network is a blessing in disguise - for the local economy.

Go Badgers! You'll be in my thoughts - if not on my TV.

Getting the Priorities Right....

Is it me or is the current Writers Guild Strike getting waaay too much coverage on TV? This morning as I write this, the TV coverage continues with up to the minute "person on the street" interviews with the disgruntled scribes.

The hosts are talking about the "first casualties" of the strike - David Letterman, Jay Leno, Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert. Sounds like someone needs to organize a bake sale. Each of these shows uses somewhere between 5-20 writiers for their nightly comedy content. With all that brainpower, you'd think they'd be funnier.

"Next up...Pakistan".

Huh?

You just transitioned from a 12,000 member union strike (that no one I know cares ANYTHING about) to equally brief coverage of the suspension of rights (martial law?) in Pakistan - an alleged ally in the fight against terrorism. The same place that (allegedly) hosts the summer home of Osama Bin Laden. A country with at least 20 nuclear bombs in its arsenal.

Oh - now we have breaking news that this has been the deadliest year ever for our soldiers in Iraq and Mary Matalin is now stating this is proof that "the surge" is working.

And now, back to the ongoing strike in New York....

Maybe the networks have it right. Now is the time we need a few laughs.

Reach

Taking a look at Google Analytics this morning helped really underscore something about Web2.0 technologies - Reach.

I write blog entries as if I'm talking to a neighbor over coffee. I envision the audience as local and familiar. I never really saw the communication in any other way. I'm grounded in the physical world with my local network of friends and business associates here in Wisconsin.

This morning I looked at who was visiting my blogs and was shocked to see that people in seventeen different countries/territories were reading my work!

Seventeen countries!

I suppose for some bloggers this discovery seems pretty trivial, but I've been working in technology for more than two decades and while I understand that people in virtually every country on Earth have browsers and internet access, I never expected any of them to actually visit my blogs and read my work!

After 18 months of blogging, I've discovered "reach".

And it makes me wonder how many companies have yet to learn about "reach" - the chance to craft a unified coherent message (marketing, communication, or whatever) around the world.
Or how many companies understand how that message can be crafted FOR you - by unsatisfied customers, or by competitors in other countries, you may not even be aware of.

Understanding reach and putting strategies in place to leverage (or respond to) the reach of the Web, needs to be a vital component of corporate strategy. Now, you need to manage your message - everywhere.

You never know who's listening - or where they're listening from.

Web2.0 Lessons (So Far)

Over a year ago, I began my Web2.0 experiment. I decided to find out what all the fuss was about and so I signed up for a free blogger account and wrote my first blog entry. That was in June of 2006.

In the past 18 months, I've experimented with a second blog (Liquid Canuck) , a Squidoo lens, an e-book published on Lulu.com, an instructional video on YouTube (for our 5Rules company) and I occasionally write for our company blog at the 5Rules website.

I use sites like Technorati, Del.icio.us, Flickr, StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit and Truemors.

Here's what I've learned so far.

1. When writing for the web, having a subject focus will help set expectations for your readers. My first blog, is a mixture of personal stuff about my family, living in Germantown and business and technology lessons learned. This mix makes it difficult for readers to know what to expect from day to day and this impedes reader loyalty. So I started a second blog to try to separate business lessons from family, friends and home life - (I'm still not very good at it!)

2. Readership improves when I write something I'm passionate about or hold a strong opinion about. Readers like to be with you or against you.

3. I try to write everyday, but if I'm uninspired, I'd rather not write anything at all. The lack of frequency hurts readership, but crappy articles hurt readership more.

4. We're a nation of watchers. My experiments with YouTube and video demos prove this out (at least in my case). Our instructional demo video gets several views per day on YouTube. Our video demos at 5Rules are viewed about 8x more than the same information in screenshot format on the same website. Average length of visits DRAMATICALLY improved when we added video.

5. YouTube videos work like ice fishing. You bait the hook and position the rod over the hole in the ice and wait for nibbles. They're out there working like bait 7x24x365. Provide an interesting value proposition, valuable information or entertainment and you will be seen.
In my opinion, web based video is the single biggest underutilized marketing and communications opportunity for business today.

6. The rules for success in the web world are no different than for the brick and mortar world. The rewards go to those who provide the best value (information, services, entertainment, networking, products or services). And the web allows the word about great companies to spread fast! (and bad ones too!)

7. The web puts everyone on equal footing. No longer do huge marketing dollars guarantee an advantage. Viral videos on YouTube probably sold more Mentos and Coke than did their respective company's huge ad budgets - even if the result was that their products were used in combustion experiments rather than being consumed!

Need another example? Look no further than how Captain Jim, a Charter boat fishing captain, competes with Cabella's.

8. The Web2.0 world really offers you the opportunity (at virtually no cost) to build a networked fanbase - to connect with customers and colleagues in a way that is far more difficult, expensive and time consuming in the "real" world.

And we're all just getting started.

Great Data Visualization Example

Here's an interesting mashup brought to you by O'Reilly's Radar blog. It's called wikipediavision. This mashup enables you to watch Wikipedia edits in (near) real time.

While this isn't something that the average Joe will do for hours on end, it is a powerful example of data visualization - something that every business should be experimenting with.

Want to reinforce your image as a Global company? Why not show an interactive map demonstrating each realtime sale around the world? Are you a locally based company trying to build a local business? You could do the same thing to help reinforce the message that lots of local customers trust your products or services.

Want to visually demonstrate how a cross-selling campaign is working? Show companies that are purchasing (for the first time) from multiple product lines. Flag telemarketing sales as they occur and show them to your internal call center.

There are thousands of ways data visualization (in the form of mashups) could impact your business.

The Perfect (Geek) Storm

Last night my son returned from work just as a Boston Red Sox player had stolen second base. In case you weren't aware, Taco Bell promised America a free taco should anyone steal a base in the World Series. (You can collect on Oct 30th from 2pm to 5pm).

When he heard the news, my son, who is a picky eater and seems to exist on Taco Bell (how's that for an oxymoron?) declared "This is the best day ever!" A free Taco from Taco Bell and tomorrow Leopard (Apple's new O/S) is released!

I guess for a geek - it's a perfect storm.

Told You So.

Back in July I wrote a post called Color Me Cynical about how we were going to start seeing nature's colors used by the world's biggest polluters, in an effort to market themselves as environmentalists. Isn't the logo pretty? Doesn't it remind you of daisies?

Today BBC reported that BP has been fined $373 million for fraud and environmental transgressions.

Doing the Right Thing for the Wrong Reason

If people like Seth Godin can't convince you that permission marketing is the path to take to grow your business in the 21st Century, you may be persuaded by Catalog Choice.

As reported in Guy Kawaski's blog, Catalog Choice is an organization funded by environmental groups to help reduce the tremendous waste and environmental impact caused by the printing and distributing of 9 Billion (that's with a "B") catalogs per year.

The service is free.

It acts as a slightly more cumbersome "unsubscribe" button - for paper catalogs. The website handles the communications with the catalog publisher. You simply sign up for the service and list the catalogs you no longer want to receive. After about 10 weeks, the catalogs should stop - or you can report "abuse".

I hope the service is effective in forcing those "old school" Direct Mail Marketers to begin to really embrace Web2.0 "permission marketing" - even if they're doing it because they have no choice.

The Bullshit Poll

A couple of days ago, I wrote how Chris matthews is Joan Rivers, complaining about how the political pundits are talking about everything BUT the issues.

Thanks to Jeff, who provided me a link to a video from the Onion News Network, who feel the same way.


Poll: Bullshit Is Most Important Issue For 2008 Voters

eWeek's Subscription Blunder

I'm not sure which genius developed the subscription process for eWeek, but I do know that they should be shot.

Today I received an email from eWeek, offering me a free subscription. Of course, the fee for subscribing is divulging information about your position, buying influence, industry and I.T. budgetary information. It takes a minute or two to complete all the questions.

I'm fine with that.

But don't position your publication as a trusted source for I.T. decision making - a source that will help me be more successful in my career, and then, within seconds of my subscription, undermine that sales pitch with a poor cross-sell.

Case in point.

No sooner had I signed up for eWeek, when I received a confirmation email and an offer to subscribe (for free) to CIO Insight and Baseline magazines, from the same publisher.

Less than 60 seconds earlier, I had just completed their subscription application and when I clicked on the subscribe button, they were asking me to provide the same information again!

With processes like these, I don't know you're going to help ME be more successful.

Any thought to a one click subsciption for other Ziff-Davis publications after I've completed the application? Or a chance to subscribe to other Z-D publications within the original subscription process?

Note to Z-D: If you're wondering why the cross-selling efforts aren't yielding the desired results, put yourself in your customers' shoes and try out the subscription process for yourself.

Chris Matthews IS Joan Rivers

I used to be a fan of the Sunday morning political talk shows. I watched MSNBC nightly to see Chris Matthews and his guests dissect the political landscape.

But recently I've come to the conclusion that Chris (and all the other pundits, liberal and conservative alike) are as relevant to the political scene as Joan Rivers is to the Oscars. They're all part of the same circus and their commentary has no affect on the outcome.

I think the final straw was when I saw comedian Steven Colbert make an appearance on Meet the Press and get treated like a serious Presidential candidate.

If you've watched recently, the pundits debate "issues" like "Is Obama Black Enough" and spend time talking about Hillary's "cackle" or her cleavage or John Edwards hair or whether Ann Coulter's vile remarks are helping or hurting a democratic candidate. They talk about which Republican can court the religious right or which candidate is most like Reagan.

High school stuff.

They aren't covering a United States presidential race. They're treating this like an election of the High School Prom Court. Now I ordinarily wouldn't have a problem with that, except that the High School Prom court won't be leading the country after they're elected.

The political pundits have the same informational impact on the 2008 Presidential race as Joan Rivers has on who wins Best Actor - none. It's all about style, swagger, who's hot and who's not. It's about who is buzzworthy. "Who are you wearing dahling?" It's a friggin' popularity contest instead of a contest of ideas.

I understand that to win, people need to vote for you. They need to like you.

Our parents used to vote for people who proposed ideas to make each of our lives a little better, healthier, safer, more prosperous, more free. It seems like our generation pulls the lever for they person they'd most like to have a beer with.

And it's a shame. Because I think that if the political pundits scratched below both parties talking points, they could help move the debate on the issues forward. They could help clarify where each candidate stands. They could help the nation actually decide on a candidate based on what they would DO when they got into office. They could hold people accountable for policy details and for action.

But that would be harder than commenting on style.

I want to know how any candidate can accept special interest donations and claim to be unaffected by them.

I want to know how any candidate who proposes that private health insurers are the answer to our health insurance crisis, will offer coverage to everyone, affordably - including people with pre-existing or chronic conditions.

I want to know how no-bid government contracts for services are in the best interest of the American people and why we have to out-source Iraq security to Blackwater or our port security to Dubai.

I want to know how we will transition from oil based energy to alternate fuels.

I want to know how we will address global warming, border security, illegal immigration, outsourcing of manufacturing jobs, the declining dollar, torture, trade deficits, the national debt, the future of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid.

And I want to know that before November 2008.

Chris Matthews et al, can continue to cover breaking news - like how many 9/11 references Rudy has made in a recent speech or whether Obama is wearing his lapel flag pin.

Or they can drive discussion and debate to help us elect an effective President.

Otherwise stop wasting my time.

Sneaky Buggers.....

This afternoon I happened to have my IM window open when I noticed a friend's IM record with a headphones icon and the name of a song listed. I thought he was trying to sell something using his IM profile.

When I IMed him, he was unaware that anything was going on. In fact, he had been listening to a song on his iTunes. But he was unaware that I knew that! He hadn't made any changes to his profile settings, the information had just appeared.


Not only that, but the artist and song was also an active link... to MSN Music, where you could purchase the song!


My friend had provided an unwitting endorsement of the music he happened to be playing. When we finally figured out what was going on, I think he felt his privacy had been invaded. Perhaps this "feature" has been around a long time. But we'd never noticed it before.

Microsoft you sneaky buggers.

The 2 Minute Drill

Football fans are very familiar with the term "2 minute drill". The term refers to the strategy employed by teams (usually playing from behind) to maximize effectiveness during the final 2 minutes of a football game.

They use a "no huddle" offense, signalling plays using gestures or audible calls. The entire team rushes to the line of scrimmage. They run plays designed to preserve time on the clock - running the ball out of bounds or passing sideline routes.

The pace of play is dramatically increased. The defense has little time to react to offensive formations and no time to substitite players.

An effective 2 minute drill can be a game saver or a game winning strategy.

And so teams practice the 2 minute drill all the time. You never know when you'll need it and you have to be ready, just in case.

The 2 minute drill shows you how well your players perform under pressure. They help distinguish the players who come through in the clutch. The practice takes performance to a higher level (just when you need it most).

In business, we don't have the equivalent of the 2 minute drill. We can't practice performing at a higher level for a short duration. There's no way to know in advance which employees will rise to a stressful challenge and who will fold under stress.

Or is there?

A couple of years back, we were faced with an ERP version upgrade. Typically these can take 6 months or more to complete. They require much of the same testing, documenting, training efforts of the original implementation. They are a tough challenge.

We couldn't stand the idea of spending the next 6 months of our lives going through that hell.

So we decided to do it in 8 weeks.

It was our version of the 2 minute drill.

I must confess, not everyone believed in the mission. A couple of very good functional analysts said it couldn't be done. But we started anyway.

The time constraints caused us to work much smarter, and much faster. But we couldn't sacrifice quality. The system had to work properly, documentation had to be completed and training materials updated. No shortcuts on the results.

This "crisis" forced us all to re-examine the standard processes. We looked for ways to shortcut the process - to do things in parallel. So we installed the new system in its own environment. We began unit testing while our application developers re-integrated customizations we had made. Original test scripts were used and slightly modified. We developed training materials simultaneously with testing. Because the entire team was focused on getting this done quickly we adapted.

We didn't make our 8 week deadline.

We took 12 weeks. But we did it in half the time a typical upgrade takes to do. And the results were spectacular.

We learned several things from the exercise. We discovered who worked smarter and who didn't. We discovered how individuals handled the self-imposed pressure. We saw people "watching each other's back" and helping out where it was required.

Most importantly, we learned that it could be done. We had done an upgrade in 12 weeks. Three months earlier, only a few thought it was possible.

Now I'm not advocating that this be done all the time.

No team can run a 2 minute drill throughout the game. The players would be exhausted, your team incapacitated.

But if you pick and choose the right task or project, and try your version of the 2 minute drill, you'll end up discovering who the star players really are. You'll know your team's true potential and show them what's possible, in the process.

And if your team begins to think that anything is possible. It is.

Ahead of their Time

Apparently Silicon Valley is rethinking the office cubicle. Funny, that's something my team did about 7 years ago.

We were moving into a new building. For the first time, all my local I.T. staff would be under the same roof. As part of the planning for the new building, we had to figure out where cubicles would be located and how they would be configured.

To keep everyone happy, I delegated the cubicle layout task to the various team managers (Helpdesk, Knowledge Management Team, Infrastructure & Networking Team, SAP Team and Application Development Team). The only constraint was that each group could only utilize 64 sq feet per employee.

While most teams stuck with the traditional rows of cubicles, our Knowledge Management group took a different approach.

Since they typically hired interns and teamed them up with full time developers, they chose an arrangement of side by side desks (no barrier in between). Where there were walls, they were only about 4 feet tall. Their space also included a common, open concept meeting area - conference table with whiteboard and network connections for impromptu meetings - only steps away from their desks.

The open "communal" concept fit their work style perfectly. Communication and interaction were maximized and no one seemed to suffer from a lack of privacy.

After about a year in the building, I heard laments from others outside this group that the KM area was far "cooler" than the standard cubicles everyone else was using.

They were ahead of their time. Seven years later, Silicon Valley is catching on.

Radiohead Needs a Lesson from Steve Jobs

Seth Godin blogs this morning about Radiohead's new album. He may have jumped the gun. While Radiohead is adopting a "new" marketing strategy with a "pay what you want" for the album download, it may be more a classic case of buyer beware.

As reported this week, many fans are disappointed with the quality of the .mp3 files. Apparently produced with low bitspeed, audiophiles are starting to report that they're feeling ripped off - that the quality of the art is suffering from it's digital production.

Cynics believe that is new marketing ploy is simply a way to get early adopters to buy the downloads, then be forced to purchase the higher quality physical CD at a later date - morphing a "pay what to want" campaign, to a "pay me twice" outcome.

If this is the case (fans would argue that this would be highly unusual for Radiohead to do), they had better take a lesson from Steve Jobs recent iPhone price slashing debacle, and figure out a way to make higher quality downloads available at no extra charge, or somehow generate an online coupon to allow download purchasers a shot at buying the physical CD at a discount.

One thing is for certain. In a Web 2.0 world, they had better address the issue quickly, because the word is out - everywhere.

Four More Ideas - How to Create a great Website

Seth Godin has a quick read blog this morning on How to create a great Website.

Good ideas all. We (3 of us) just finished (for now) the 5Rules website, complete with Forum and company Blog. All 10 of Seth's principles rang true.

Here are a few more suggestions.

1. Steal ideas shamelessly. Don't copy! I mean take a look at your favorite websites and determine WHY they're your favorites (easy navigation, graphics design, simplicity, complexity, whatever...). Then morph those ideas into your own unique site. Our 5Rules site was inspired by 3 or 4 other sites in completely different businesses.

2. Buy/rent/Open Source vs. Build. For the sake of speed and cash, if your site requires things like a blog or a discussion forum, there are plenty of open source options for you out there. For 5Rules, we used Wordpress for our blog and are using Vanilla for our Product Forum. Our web development team (okay, it is one very talented guy) modified some designs we liked, to better brand our sites.

3. Give credit where it's due. If you're going to use someone's design and modify it, make sure you acknowledge the original designer. It's only right. Our modified blog design was based on Talian designed by VA4Business. And we say so in the blog footer.

4. With respect to Seth's idea #10 - Never Settle... Understand that websites grow, morph. You're never done. Make certain that the critical aspects work well, but perfect is not the launch criteria. Otherwise you'll stay in development forever.

Beware Renovators Remorse

After almost a lifetime in the Information Technology world, I've learned a few things. One of them is; Beware of Renovator's Remorse.

Renovator's Remorse is a condition that intrepid homeowners occasionally succumb to. A condition that has them saying "While we're at it, we might as well..... (insert unplanned improvement here)".

The temptation is almost unavoidable. Once you're tearing out a wall, you "might as well", upgrade the electrical or redo the plumbing... and in an instant your project goes from a room remodel to a major renovation. Your budget and timeline go out the window.

It's the same way with I.T. projects.

You begin with the mission to add some new functionality to a program. Once you're looking at the code, there's an almost irrestible temptation to fix it all. Rewrite code to make it more efficient. Clean up ugly or incoherant sections. Build better subroutines, take advantage of new technology, re-engineer the application...

And you do so at the peril of your project.

And your reputation.

It may make perfect sense to do all these things as long as you build them into your project estimates. After all, in the case of I.T. it's not YOUR money you're spending. And while you may be the beneficiary of more sustainable/supportable programs, the business may not be willing to pay the price or wait that long.

So be honest with your customer. If you sense a huge advantage in rewriting code instead of just adding it, explain it up front and get agreement before you dive in.

And next time, build in some time and expense into your job estimates to cover the "while we're at it" moments.

The "Truth" Is Out There

I hope that every business knows that the bar has been raised.

It used to be that if you had a dissatisfied customer they would tell ten people. With Web 2.0 tools, they can now tell ten thousand. Google shows 13,700 hits for the phrase "Best Buy sucks".

In my previous post, I complained about Best Buy's warranty return process. Just for fun, this morning I tried a search on Technorati. Here's what I found.

Companies had best be warned to pay attention to their process and performance more than ever. Because it's no longer possible to "control the message" or "contain the crisis", once it's out in the web world.

If you haven't yet aligned yourself around customer focus or choose to proactively address service or product issues, it'll be done for you.

And not in a way you'll like.

Your strategy will have to be better than buying up all the "yourcompaysucks.com" domains. You may actually have to search out these people, examine your processes, critique your staff.

Sometimes you'll have to "fire a customer".

Regardless, now would be a very good time to sit down and decide whether you need someone trolling the web, searching for naysayers - to ferret out the unsatisfied and proactively address their concerns.

Because you don't want your reputation to be placed in the hands of others.

Slow Learners

For the SECOND TIME in a year, our family is shipping another Xbox 360 back to the people who manage Best Buy's warranty program.

My first experience wasn't particularly enjoyable.

It was partially my fault. I was stupid enough to return the product to the store where I bought it. The salesperson thanked me for visiting, but told me that I had to return it to the 3rd party warranty claims provider - as stated in my extended warranty.

Okay - that's on me.

But then I went to their website to enter a claim. Pretty easy, except that as I was completing the claim, I was given the option of having a postage paid mailing label mailed to me or I could choose to get one via email. Since I was already online, which do you think I chose?

That's right -except the email never came that day. Or the day after. Or the day after that.

In all, it took 4 calls to finally receive a mailing label - by snail mail! Once I got over the hurdle of getting to the starting line....the rest of the process went pretty smoothly. About 2 weeks later, I received a Best Buy card, with the amount of my purchase loaded on it.

Needless to say, this time I was hoping for a better experience - after all I had spoken with BB's people four times on the last return - surely they have made some improvements in the process!

As it turns out, they have. And they haven't.

Once again, I submitted my warranty claim online. Good news! They knew who I was and what I had purchased. This time I was offered 3 options for receiving a mailing label.

I could print one out immediately or I could have one emailed to me (which I would have to print out later) or I could receive a mailing label by snail mail.

I chose to print a return mailing label immediately. Lo and behold, everything worked!

Sort of.

On my previous return, I had instructions to photocopy my receipt and my warranty registration brochure and to include them in the box with the defective goods. No such instructions this time. Just a mailing label. No instructions in the brochure. No instructions on the website.

Given my last experience, I thought I had better call - just to be sure.

I got through pretty quickly and was informed that there must have been some sort of "glitch" and that YES, they still required all the photocopied documentation to be returned with the damaged goods...

Does Best Buy ever test their processes? (or third party processes?) Since they seem to be such slow learners, here's a couple of suggestions.

1. If I'm submitting a claim online, give me two options - save the mailing label to my PC or print the mailing label. If I'm online, I'm not a candidate for snail mail.

2. Get rid of the requirement to photocopy or mail in copies of receipts. You already know how much I paid for the damn item and you've already accepted my warranty as being valid. Stop with the additional paperwork.

3. Give me two refund options - either send me a Best Buy card via snail mail or better yet, once you've received the damaged goods, setup a Best Buy certificate to be picked up at the local store (about 1 week faster than snail mail). Then you have me IN THE STORE with money in hand.

Oh, and tell Microsoft that they make crappy Xboxes...

Beating Expectations

My beloved Brewers closed out their season this past weekend, with a come from behind win against the Padres.

As a fan, it was an entertaining year. The Brewers had a winning season for the first time (in what seems like) forever. They set a new team record for home runs - 228. Fans showed up in droves, setting a new attendance record (2.876 million).

Our team featured the NL home run champ (Prince Fielder) who just might be the National League MVP and we witnessed the exceptional play of (hopefully) the Rookie of the Year, Ryan Braun.

The Milwaukee Brewers held onto first place for something like 131 days during the season.

Although we missed the playoffs (due to the dreaded Cubs), the Brewers put on a pretty entertaining show. This year, fans turned out in droves and stayed until the last pitch, because you never knew when the Brewers would pull one out.

Next year will be an entirely different story. They will face their toughest challenge yet.

Our expectations.

You see this year, no one could have predicted the success the Brewers would have. Sure, we knew Prince Fielder was going to be a star and that the team featured a very young and talented group.

But after 15 non-winning seasons, expectations at the start of the season were pretty low - perhaps non-existent. The Brewers are a young team - talented, but not seasoned. And so, all the Brewer's accomplishments came as a VERY pleasant surprise.

It's what made this year's second place finish almost bearable.

But in the wake of such tremendous success, they've created expectations - for their fans and for themselves.

For the first time in a quarter century, next year the fans will fill the seats - not with the hope that the Brewers will win, but with the expectation that they will win. Next year it won't be about setting personal records, success will be measured by team performance in October.

Next year won't just be about beating the Cubs. It'll be about beating everyone's expectations. Next year could be their toughest challenge yet.

The Corn Broom Story

I was watching one of those home improvement shows on cable yesterday. During a shopping expedition to furnish a log cabin, the TV Host came across a vendor who crafted corn brooms from scratch.

"How long does it take you to create a corn broom?" was the first question.

"Five months and 45 minutes." came the reply. "Five months to grow the corn and 45 minutes to attach the handle."

A small country vendor thought of his broom making processes in the same way that some of the most sophisticated manufacturers think about theirs - from the generation of raw materials through finished goods.

Many of us might have just answered "45 minutes".

But thinking in terms of the overall process is what will help us generate "green goods" - with environmentally low (or no) impact. It will force realistic accounting of all the energy and environmental impact of the end to end process. It also helps identify process "waste".

For many of us, it's a whole new way of thinking.

Dissed by YouTube

I recently uploaded my first video to YouTube.

I'm working with some partners on a new software company and we thought we needed an instructional video. Somehow I was volunteered.

At any rate, I recorded and narrated a Powerpoint presentation and uploaded it to YouTube. My relationship with the popular video site was going well, until I took a look at my account and came across this message.

Now that's a bit judgemental.

Would it have killed YouTube to say something a little more positive? Like "Tell your friends!" or "Invite your friends!"?

I'm just saying......

Lessons of our Forefathers

I hope we all learned a lesson yesterday.

Despite 24 hrs of almost universal condemnation of Columbia University for inviting the President of Iran to speak to a group of 750 students, the event went off as planned.

Outside the venue, were thousands of protesters; some protesting Iran's poor record of human rights, some protesting Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust, some decrying Iran's support of terrorism.

The University's president opened the speech, highly critical of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The university staff and students were able to ask pointed questions of the leader and to listen to his vague, evasive, rambling responses.

They allowed him the opportunity to expose himself for the fraud he is. And this event made a much more convincing argument against his beliefs and actions than would have been made had he been prevented from speaking at all.

America was extremely lucky to have founding fathers that understood this lesson and had the foresight to embed Freedom of Speech into the Bill of Rights. It's no accident that this freedom is contained in the First Amendment.

Perhaps it's time we revisited the beliefs of our forefathers. They were pretty smart.

Rinse and Repeat

Need to sell more shampoo? Add the instructions "Shampoo, Rinse and Repeat" to the label. In spite of the fact that these actions to not make your hair any cleaner, a certain portion of consumers read and follow directions.

And the result is, you sell more shampoo.

In Government, if you want to make a case for a position or promote passage of a new law, the strategy is eerily similar. Make up a number and repeat as required.

Don't believe me?

How many illegal aliens are in the country? If you answered 12 million, you're right.

And you're wrong.

You're able to quote the number that the media and Government keeps repeating. In fact, no one actually knows how many illegal aliens are in the country. Not the governement. Not the media. Not me. Not you.

They're illegal, remember? It means that they've crossed the border without documentation. Unnoticed, uncounted.

Yet somehow, we know how many there are. Because the number is quoted and repeated, over and over, by politicians, by media "talking heads" - without any scrutiny of the number's origin. Repeating it makes it "fact". Once it becomes a "fact", then you can justify building a huge 2000 mile (or 720 mile, or 15 mile - how long is it supposed to be?) fence across the border with Mexico. Or you can use the fact to villify all hispanics, both legal and illegal.

Rising crime. Blame it on the "illegals". There are 12 million of them, don't you know. Long wait in the Emergency room? You're waiting behind 12,000,000 "illegals".

Making up numbers isn't the sole pervue of the United States.

In Canada, the RCMP, in an effort to draw attention to software piracy estimated the cost to the country at $30 Billion dollars. They now admit the number was made up.

I finally understand why my 7th grade English teacher was so insistent about essay footnotes.

It's time we learned that before we can begin to solve a problem we need to understand the problem. We need actual facts. And we need to hold those "number quoters" accountable for their accuracy.

Thank God for O.J.

In case you've just awakened from a coma, O.J. Simpson is back in the news. Apparently, in an effort to recover sports memorabilia, he invaded a hotel room, complete with armed thugs. To his surprise, the police were called, and he, along with several accomplices, were arrested.

In an ironic twist of fate, he faces more years in prison than he did during his last brush with the law, when "someone" murdered his wife and her companion.

The media circus is back in town (well, Las Vegas). Even Marcia Clark (remember her?) has been seen lurking around the proceedings. Local news has aerial footage of Simpson and lawyer driving to the airport, where he departed for a little R&R in Florida.

And so the mindless 24 hr "news" coverage begins. I fully expect a new evening cable show to be spawned as a result. Conan, Letterman, Kimmell, Leno, Stewart are wringing their hands with glee. More comedy material!

And I say "Thank GOD for O.J."!

Finally we get a break from that boring war in Iraq, with all those people dying. No more stories about "out of control" Blackwater security consultants (aka mercenaries) killing those pesky Iraqi civilians.

No more stories about GM on the verge of a major strike (and on the verge of bankruptcy) as a result of soaring health care costs.

No more stories about our government treating our troops like crap - with their extended tours, short leave time, lack of up-armored vehicles and poor health services upon their return.

No more stories about that boring Presidential campaign, with all the talking heads berating each other instead of solving our country's problems.

We have illegal immigrants pouring over the southern border. We have a financial crisis in the mortgage markets. We have China poisoning our pets and our children. We have Iran making a nuclear bomb. We have a 50% dropout rate in our high schools. We have a vanishing middle class. We have tens of millions of people without healthcare. We still have a dysfunctional New Orleans not yet recovered from Katrina. We still have a big hole in the ground where the World Trade Center used to stand. We have massive debt. We have a government and a President with the lowest public opinion ratings in history. We have weekly examples of government leaders' scandals. We don't even have an Attorney General!

Thankfully we don't have to worry about all that.

Because now, we have O.J.!

Lessons Not Learned

By 7:00 am yesterday, the news was spreading like wildfire. Both my kids were awakened by their cellphones - a highly unusual event, since their crowd spends most Sunday mornings sleeping. So we knew the news wasn't going to be good.

And we were right.

For the second time in nine months, a classmate was killed in a single car drunk driving accident.

Seb was one of those kids who was liked by everyone. But he had a problem that no one addressed. He was a big partier.

He had just turned 17.

The circumstances of his accident were almost a cliche. Drunk. Speeding. At night. Not wearing a seatbelt. Lost control. Crashed into a tree. Ejected from the vehicle.

It's a story that is repeated over and over in the United States every night. It barely gets a mention on the news. Ironically, it happens too often to be newsworthy.

And so, all yesterday, Seb's classmates gathered to console one another and to share stories about what a great kid he was. An impromptu memorial was conducted at church. Last night, about 60 kids held a candlelit vigil at the place where he died.

As parents, we resisted revisiting the standard lecture about drinking and driving - opting instead to wait until the immediate sorrow cleared... Until the message could be absorbed.

I think every one of us went through the same list of questions in our minds... Where were the parents? How did he get the alcohol? Why didn't a friend stop him from driving?

It's easy to be critical of the circumstances when the tragedy happens to someone else. Until you've raised teenager's, you can't appreciate the challenge. You hope that your lectures are heeded. You hope that the kids can't get their hands on booze. You hope their friends would take away his keys. You hope that everyone would learn from the tragedy.

But it seems not to be the case.

I mentioned that this is was the second time this happened in the last nine months.

The very same story played out last January. And that time, the victim was Seb's best friend.

The Experiment

Just over a year ago, I started writing this blog. I started it as an experiment. I've always been interested in technology and especially interested in knowledge management, sharing and innovation. I wanted to find out more about what Web 2.0 was all about.

And so I signed up for a free Blogger account and started writing.

I've learned a few things about the experience.

First, my writing sucks. But I think it's getting better. I'm trying to use 5 words where I used to use 10. I check my spelling. And I've learned that errors jump off the page only after I hit the "Publish" button.

Writing a blog (on an almost daily basis) is a selfish thing to do. It's my alone time. This is my time to reflect on the day's events, what's going on in my life and what's going on all around me. It's time set aside for me to reflect - to assess what I've learned or observed that day. Frankly, it's a habit I've only recently developed. It's for me.

As I write this, I'm the only one awake at our house.

As a product of the TV generation, I've invested a large portion of my life in front of a television. While much of that time was enjoyable, it was time spent emotionally reacting to content, laughing, crying, getting angry - not much time spent thinking or analyzing. Blogging has helped me appreciate the power of reflection and introspection. (I call it Webtrospection.)

Maybe I'm just getting old.

At the same time, blogging is a selfless act. I'm sharing these thoughts with subscribers and anyone else who happens to trip over my blog. I don't have any expectations. I don't expect anything in return.

If someone finds a thought or observation useful, fantastic. If this entry encourages someone to start blogging themselves, that's terrific.

Our grandparents used to relax on the front porch, observe their world and converse with neighbors as they walked by. To some extent, blogging is today's equivalent of sitting on the front porch. You meet some new people, enjoy some old friends, share some stories.

I've also learned that the blogosphere (I hate that word) contains some fascinating characters with radically different lives and disparate points of view - an infinite number of "channels", waiting to be discovered. My number of RSS feeds grows with each passing week.

There are a lot of interesting people out there.

And so the experiment I started a year ago, to better understand blogging and the Web 2.0 experience will continue.

It's been an interesting experience with many unexpected benefits.

Video Doesn't Forget

I watched in stunned silence.

Last night, the President announced he was going to begin to withdraw troops from Iraq to pre-surge levels. The "talking heads" on one of the cable news networks summed up the move by saying that George Bush was "kicking the problem down the road" - to the next President, in an effort to shape his legacy.

Are you kidding me?

Perhaps this might have worked 35 years ago. Not in the digital age.

The problem with trying to shape one's legacy in the digital age.... Video doesn't forget. Digital content doesn't "forget". The internet has seen to that.

Bush 43 has been the most digitally documented President in history. The blogosphere exploded on his watch. The government is run on email. More citizens are weighing in (pro and con) on the internet than ever before.

Individual blog content links to online news articles, which links to MSM (main stream media) digital news content which links to online video sources. All the news shows are being archived in digital form.

Now leaders' legacies will be shaped by email, blogs, DailyKos, VoteVets.org, YouTube, all the major networks, the cable networks MSNBC, CNN, FOX, The Tonight Show, The Daily Show and on and on..... all just a click away...

For this President, these impressions and images can't be muddied with time.

The Iraq War may be a "comma" in America's history. But it will be a well documented one.

Bush's strategy to leave office with head held high, ensconced in the belief that the war is just and "winnable" and that history "will treat him kindly", is completely out of his hands.

Certainly there have already been a large number of books written on his Presidency (pro and con) and there will be more to come, but the digital archives will remain universally available. His legacy, perhaps for the first time, will be left to future observers of massive digital archives, rather than be shaped by kind autobiographers, failing recollections and time.

Like never before, all of our descendants, will have first hand access to mountains of digital forensics with which to interpret a President's legacy.

And all future Presidents would be well served understanding that.

Breaking News: Assholes Bad for Business

Okay, this may be one of the seven signs of the Apocalypse....

A Harvard Business Review article states that Assholes are bad for business. As reported by 1-800-CEOREAD, The book based upon the article has just received a Quills Award (Business category).

Who knew?

Google and Amazon to the Rescue?

This report by the BBC describes how Google and Amazon are participating in the search for adventurer Steve Fossett.

As you may recall, Fossett's single engine airplane has gone missing since Sept 3rd. So far, land and air searches have come up empty.

And so Google recently updated the Google Earth satellite photos of Nevada. And with Amazon's Mechanical Turk project, are enlisting volunteers to scan the photography searching for plane wreckage, which should appear as a 21x30 pixel size on your computer screen.

People can simply do a better job of recognizing potential clues better than computers, at least for now.

Suspicious images can be reported to Mechanical Turk for followup analysis and investigation.

Kudos to Google and Amazon for coming up with the idea.

Christmas Morning with HP

I bit the bullet the other day and bought replacement ink cartridges for my HP Officejet printer. I've tried those ink refilling places but (maybe it's me) the ink never seems to last that long - and the cartridge electronics don't work when they're re-filled, so when you're out of ink, you're OUT of ink.

After taking out a small loan, I made my purchase of both a black cartridge and a combo color cartridge.

If you haven't purchased printer ink recently, be warned: Each cartridge costs about the same as a tank of gas.

Built into the price of the replacement cartridges is HP's cartridge recycling program. I was pleased to find within the cartridge packaging, a self addressed, postage paid envelope, with which you could return the used cartridge to HP. I don't know what HP does with them when they get them, but at least they leave their customers with the impression, they don't end up in a landfill somewhere.

The "green" message is somewhat muted however, by all the excessive packaging that surrounds the cartridges. First, the external packaging is at least twice as large as it has to be - suggesting to the consumer that the package may contain two cartridges (and at that price, who wouldn't expect two?)

Nope. It's just air.

Perhaps the Marketing department wanted better shelf visibility. Perhaps the size of the packaging is designed to intentionally mislead. Either way, using extra cardboard is hardly eco-friendly.

Also contained within the packaging is a separate piece of paper with instructions on how to replace the cartridge (at least I thought that's what it was - I just tossed it.) Why not print the instructions on the inside of the package itself?

Finally, the cartridge came sealed in an airtight aluminum foil wrapper - to preserve the freshness of the ink.

By the time I had my hands on the cartridge, the table was filled with garbage. It looked like Christmas morning at our house. Wrapping everywhere.

I commend HP for their recycling efforts, but if HP is really serious about being a good environmental citizen, I'd suggest they revisit their packaging.

Coaching All Aspects of the Game

Ryan Braun, the Milwaukee Brewers talented rookie 3rd baseman, hit a home run last night, in the 12-2 Brewers drubbing of the Houston Astros.

And the Brewer's Manager, Ned Yost wasn't too happy about it.

Certainly he was pleased with the 3 run homerun, but what didn't impress him was Braun's "swagger" just after he hit it.

Normally, after a hit, Braun takes off for first base, head down - all business. But last night something else happened. In a very uncharacteristic move, Braun walked towards first base, showing very little respect for the opposing team and calling more attention to himself than was necessary.

And Ned Yost let him know it as soon as he returned to the dugout.

Ryan Braun is a very talented player, but he's a rookie. Ned Yost wants to groom a great player and wants to build a winning team, which means that egos aren't allowed. He appreciates that Milwaukee is a midwestern city, where people work hard and appreciate the work ethic of others - a place where we're all a little uncomfortable with big egos.

And so Ned did the right thing and brought him down a peg or two.

Let's hope that twenty years from now, as they're putting Braun's name and number up on the wall at Miller Park, he remembers the lesson of Sept 5th, 2007 that taught him the difference between being a good player and a great one.

And that he credits Ned Yost for teaching him all aspects of the game.

The Cost of Indifference

When I call my local Pizza place, they know a lot about me. They know the last pizza I ordered. They know my favorite pizza toppings and they know where I live. The pizza's good. The delivery is fast. They treat me pretty well.

Over the last 10 years our family has probably spent $5000 on Pizza.

Contrast this with my car dealer. Whenever I walk into the dealership, they have no idea who I am or what car I drive. They don't know how many times I've been in for service. The routine is always the same.

"May I help you?" the salesperson asks.

"I've purchased cars from here before. I thought I'd check out the new models."

"Do you know who your salesperson is?"

"I have no idea. They seem to change every time I come in".

"I'll go and look it up. [returns after a minute] Your salesperson is no longer with us. You've been assigned to Mr. Jones, but he's not here right now. Can I help you?" (oblivious to the irony of me being passed around yet again.)

Apparently, "being assigned" to someone at this dealership, means that they get to write up the order, should you happen to walk in and want to buy a car. They don't call to introduce themselves. They don't advise you when the new models are in. They don't remind you to come in to get your oil changed or to schedule maintenance inspections. In fact, they do absolutely nothing. Except wait.

Over the past ten years, I have either purchased or leased six vehicles from this dealership. My guesstimate is that the value of these purchases was around $180,000.

And they still have no idea who I am.

Which is why they are now my former car dealership.

Don't misunderstand me. I don't have a big ego. If the dealership had just managed to call me by name ONCE, after ten years and $180,000, that would have been nice.

I didn't fire them overnight. In fact, it happened gradually over the past 4 years. Four years ago I strayed into a Lexus dealership and they convinced me to purchase one of their vehicles. Their sales and services teams are spectacular. When I show up at the dealership they recognize me and call me by name!

I've never really looked back.

Both my kids now drive cars from sister dealerships (to the Lexus dealer), where the sales and service are also excellent.

So, now my former car dealer has lost not only my business, but have also lost two new consumers who have begun their car ownership experiences, with the competition.

And it all started with indifference.

My Umbrella Story

What kind of idiot goes shopping for patio furniture in late August?

This kind.

Last Wednesday, someone, (okay, it was me) left our patio umbrella up. A brief, but strong storm rolled through our neighborhood later that day. Our glass topped table, powered by strong winds (and that damn umbrella) was tossed into a very hard stone retaining wall in our backyard - with predictable results.

The umbrella was unsalvagable (good riddance) and the table was a write-off.

Our patio set had given us a solid decade of service and so off we went to find a replacement.

We tried all the usual haunts - big box stores, brand name outdoor stores, but found very little selection and outrageous prices (especially for this time of year). Out of ideas, we tried the Internet. There were surprising few patio furniture stores in the area (we live just north of Milwaukee).

One search result was a store called On The Deck, located in Oconomowoc, a 40 minute drive away. Frankly I wasn't very impressed with their website and I had low expectations, but it was a great day for a drive to lake country. And so, off we went.

We found the store, located in a very old building, on the main street, perhaps 50 yards away from the lake. We almost missed it because the space they occupied looked like it was originally designed to hold three (relatively small) adjacent stores. I guess I was expecting a more modern single story commercial building.

As we entered the dimly lit store, the old wood floors creaked. We were greeted by a treasure trove of patio furniture and accessories. We wound our way through the rabbit's warren of rooms, created by the unmodified floor plan of the three original stores. Each room revealed more selection, more surprises.

And then we discovered the best thing of all.

The two ladies who ran the store.

Pleasant, engaging, knowledgeable and patient - they walked us through the choices and spent way too much time with us, scouting the entire store for just the right umbrella to match the set we were interested in. About an hour later, we finally completed our purchase.

The whole experience was a flashback to a time when all the stores in your hometown were run by their owners (who were also your neighbors). Back to a day when product quality, good value for money and personal service were business cornerstones.

Even if you aren't searching for patio furniture, I'd recommend paying them a visit. You'll certainly enjoy the ride to Oconomowoc and the trip down memory lane.

Now, if I can just remember to close that umbrella every night!

A September Like All The Rest?

I fear that this September will be a repeat of every other September I've spent in Milwaukee, watching the Brewers fade from memory (and even further from contention) just as the Packers season begins.

Last night my beloved Brewers lost yet again (for the 7th time in their last ten games) to the dreaded Cubs, landing them below .500 for the season and ensconcing them in third place in the Central Division.

You can feel Brewer confidence slipping away. Players and fans, resigned to yet another disappointing season.

Yet this season wasn't like every other. The fans showed up in droves to see a young exciting team jump out to a great start - all smiles and swagger. We're hitting home runs like never before. We have lots of speedy base runners and huge amounts of raw talent. It would be nice to have a starting pitching rotation (are you listening Ben Sheets?) for the entire year, but injuries are part of the game.

We're a good young team. We could be a great young team.

Over the past 5 years, our management style has been one designed to develop young talent - to nurture players along to their potential. The Brewers have long suffered a shortage in that department, and I applaud the team's management for investing in their farm system and growing the next crop of future Brewer talent. It's exciting to see Cory Hart, Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder and J.J. Hardy take the field.

But it may be time for a change. Don't get me wrong, the Brewers' strategy of investing in talent development should continue but at the Major League level, it think it's time we managed to win.

Too often I see Ned Yost leave in pitchers too long - hoping that they'll pitch out of trouble - hoping for a confidence building turnaround. I understand that thinking. At the Major League level, though, I think we need to shift the balance somewhat towards being less patient.

When you teach your kids to ride a bike, at some point you have to let go of the handlebars.

Now is that time, Ned. Go Brewers!

A Gift for Boomers

As an aging boomer, I can appreciate the innovative spirit of those companies trying to bring us products to make our lives better.....

Brought to you by First Street, this device moderates sound on your TV, quieting those loud obnoxious commercials and increasing the volume when people are whispering.

I thought it was just me. I'd pay $10 more if it completely muted the damn commercials.

Why is Saying NO so difficult?

One of the toughest challenges of any I.T. department isn't installing that complicated system, or upgrading the network or integrating that new acquisition or even Sarbanes-Oxley compliance efforts.

It's saying No (or not yet) to enhancement requests. Setting an honest expectation.

Yet without clear, concise, easily understood expectations, our business community's default expectations are "Yes". They're waiting to hear the answer to "when?"

And so it goes. Development requests come into I.T. The B/A says we'll take a look at it. And it never goes any further or the project gets estimated and added to the never ending "list". Or worse yet, the B/A makes some sort of commitment (trying to be helpful) that has little chance of being met.

The requester is disappointed (or irate) and I.T.'s reputation takes yet another hit.

Who's at fault here?

Not the business person, who is trying to improve a business function or reduce costs or service customers better. To them, why wouldn't I.T. want to get their project done? Who can argue with serving customers better or improving costs?

Not necessarily the I.T. business analyst who's listening to the request and estimating the project. After all he/she rarely has any say in how projects get prioritized. They usually aren't in the position to give a Yes or No, yet that's what is expected of them.

The process is the problem.

Imagine for a moment that your company had no I.T. function. Let's say it's 100% outsourced. (Some of you may not have to use much imagination... but I digress). If you need a system enhancement, you'd have to detail the expected benefits of the enhancement, then get the projected estimated by your outsourcer, before you'd have a complete picture of the project complexity and estimated payback. If the investment was large enough, you'd likely have to go through a capital expense procedure, where you'd take the business case to your company controller or CFO and (s)he'd make the decision whether to proceed or not.

The clear advantage to putting the decision in the hands of the Finance leaders is that;

1. They can hold the business accountable for the business case benefits. This has several advantages. Armed with the expectation that the business will be held accountable for the benefits, helps eliminate spurious "nice to have" requests. This reduces requests and related business expenses estimating projects that will never be approved by the business.

2. CFO's can make system project decisions armed with the overall business priorities perspective. Something that I.T. could seldom do.

This process turns I.T. Projects into Business projects.

Which is what they should be.

Development Tips from the Dictionary

The New American Webster Handy College Dictionary contains a clue for anyone installing Enterprise Applications.

On page 173 (of the New Third Edition), you'll find the word customer. The very next word listed is customize.

As any veteran project manager will tell you, try with all your might to install enterprise systems (SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards etc..) without customizing. The benefits of using standard are tremendous - lower maintenance costs, fewer bugs, ongoing vendor support, easier and faster system upgrades, overall improved reliability and lower I.T. costs....

But if you must customize, make sure the functionality is where it matters most. Next to the customer.

Your customer doesn't care what General Ledger you use. Your customer doesn't care what HR system you use. They don't care what Warehousing, Inventory, Shipping or CRM system you use.

They care that you use it well.

Customization that directly helps your customers find what they're looking for, purchase and pay for it quickly, or return a defective product easily, will most likely be worth the application effort and cost.

Otherwise, take an Application tip from Webster's. Don't "customize" unless it's next to "customer".

Competing with Customer Service

The New York Times reports that Netflix is starting to compete against Blockbuster using live customer service! Imagine that!

They're replacing an email model with live customer service reps, located in Portland, OR.

In fact, they've eliminated the customer service email service from their website and given their Customer Service phone number prominence, so if you have a problem, you're encouraged to call.

What a concept.

In an age where many companies would send service overseas, Netflix is betting that prompt, courteous service in "domestic English", will win over their customers. I hope they're right.

In an age where many companies operate giving their bottom line more attention than the needs of their customers, this is a bold move.

I've long thought that putting customers first, drives bottom line success. It seems to work in other industries (Nordstroms, Southwest Airlines, Lexus for example). I hope it works for Netflix.

If it does, it'll be a win/win for both Netflix customers and Netflixs' bottom line.

Viacom vs. Google

I am watching, with interest, the current spat between Viacom and YouTube (now owned by Google). Viacom is suing Google over alleged copyright infringements by YouTube users who post snippets of Viacom video.

As reported in Huffington Post, Google wants to depose Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert as part of their defense.

Can Viacom be making a bigger mistake? Both Stewart's show and Colbert's show are really current event's shows. They themselves use video clips of news events in their satirical efforts. But this content has a very short shelf life. When is the last time you saw an "old" Colbert Report or Daily Show?

The satire fades pretty quickly. I can't believe there's ANY money to be had in syndication of these shows.

On the other hand, the YouTube video posts serve as FREE commercials for Viacom shows. They provide an Internet community with selected samples (usually really good samples) of the type of comedy these shows feature on a daily basis.

Viacom, why cut off your nose to spite your face?

I'm just asking.

Mind Mapping

Thought I'd link you to a great article on MindMapping on the LifeHacker blog.

Breaking News

Fox News to start delivering News!

Today I came across this article which describes how Shepard Smith will be revamping his nightly show on FOX.

Fewer (or no) teases about upcoming News. No more Hollywood fluff pieces. Could it be that Shepard Smith wants to bring some credibility to FOX News?

To be honest, I've never been a big fan, but if anyone is willing to try to cram News into a News program, I'm willing to try it out. I find it unfathomable that with the mega problems facing us these days, that the networks still find the time to show skateboarding dogs and waterskiing squirrels...

Maybe, just maybe, they're beginning to learn that just because you have video of something, doesn't make it newsworthy.

That's what YouTube is for.

So, bravo Shep. I hope you succeed.

Point Made

Last week I posted about how the recent bridge collapse in Minneapolis reminded me of the Y2K crisis.

I ended by stating that once the initial shock was over, the infrastructure crisis would dissolve into the background of our sub-conscious until the potholes in our local roads got so bad, that we'd start complaining again.

Well, this morning, CNNHN conducted a text message poll asking whether people would be willing to pay a 5 cent surcharge on their gasoline to be used towards infrastructure repair and upgrades.

Over 70% of the respondents said NO!

Point made.

Why Is Email like the Weather?

Because people always complain about it but no one ever does anything about it!

I am one of those people. Just like 90% of software users (my estimate), I only use a fraction of the available features - just enough to get what I need done.

Email is no exception. I've been using email for about two decades now. My inbox regularly fills up with spam, unsolicited advertising, emails designed to phish information, dreaded joke emails, mixed in with emails I'm interested in seeing (with varying degrees of importance). Like everyone, I bitched and complained, but never did anything about it.

After a particularly bad week of receiving more crap than meaningful communications, I finally got off my butt and did something about it.

I learned a new (for me) feature.

I use Outlook Express as my mail client. It has this feature which allows me to create a "rule" - describing how the software should handle a specific email. After opening each email, I click on Tools/Rule Wizard, and lo and behold, I'm guided through a myriad of options as to how to handle similar emails. I can have the system delete them before I even see them. I can move them automatically to a folder (existing or new). I can forward them automatically.

A whole host of options!

And this week, I've spent almost no time scanning my inbox for the stuff I need to read.

This feature has solved another issue for me. I've never been very good at organizing my emails into folders. I just leave everything in my inbox. It is not unusual for me to have more than 20,000 messages in my inbox. However, the Rules Wizard has also solved that problem as well. By creating folders and having the application file them for me, I'm much better organized than before.

The feature takes about 5 minutes to learn and will payback many times over.

Now, time to do something about the weather........

Y2K All Over Again.

I remember the months leading up to Dec 31,1999. In the world of I.T., everyone does. We were all scrambling to remedy Y2K - caused by the condition whereby in databases throughout the U.S. (and the world), the year was formatted using two decimals.

I was a CIO at the time and remember the incredulity on my peers' faces when I described the condition and the possible outcomes. After some debate, I was able to marshal some incremental funding and directed all our efforts to review tens of thousands of lines of code, to remedy the situation. Not only was this an issue for custom development, operating systems needed to be patched, old legacy applications needed investigating and desktop applications needed to be at a sufficient rev level to address the "invisible" problem.

My business counterparts weren't happy. Their new system had to wait while we remedied Y2K.

My whole team worked extremely hard and we made it though, without a hiccup - as did most of the I.T. world. There were precious few examples of systems breaking down. In fact, after all was said and done, I think that I.T. professionals suffered for all their hard work.

There were so few examples of system failure, that many business leaders thought the entire situation was entirely overblown. In many executives' minds, the problem wasn't invisible - there was never any problem to begin with.

I tell this story, because this week in Minneapolis a major bridge collapsed. This has received around the clock news coverage. This bridge collapse, say some, should be an early warning - a call to address a crumbling national infrastructure. A situation which could take $1.6 Trillion dollars to fix.

Some estimate that we are only spending 20% of the funds necessary to keep our roads, bridges, tunnels, levies and dams and electrical grids in good repair. Even for new projects, TIME magazine will be reporting that we aren't building new/replacement infrastructure even close to the durability standards that some countries do. In fact, the newly rebuilt levies in New Orleans are NO MORE DURABLE (built for the same 100 year lifespan) than the ones which were washed away by a Level 2 hurricane two years ago.

The problem is real, but the perception is that all is well. Unless bridges begin collapsing on a weekly basis, the news crews will return back to Washington and New York and move on to the next story. The events in Minnesota will be perceived as just a statistical abnormality - a freak of nature. We'll all start thinking that it can't happen here, in my backyard. We'll resume thinking about infrastructure health by how many potholes need fixing in our local roads or whether the state gets federal funding for that new highway.

It's Y2K all over again. Except this time, no one's listening.