The Waiting Room Vibe

Ever visited a company and spent time in the waiting room or in a chair in the lobby?

Of course you have.

One can tell a lot about a company by sitting and observing. I once arrived 15 minutes early for a meeting and spent time in the building's reception area. I had one of the first appointments of the day. The receptionist was on duty early and had duties which caused her to disappear from time to time.

As the employees filed in through the front doors to begin their work day, instead of the usual "eyes-front, do not engage" attitude that many of us display during our daily commute to our desks, I was unexpectedly asked by three different people, if I was being looked after.

Several others walked by, smiled and said "Good Morning."

Before my appointment began, I had the impression that this company was probably a good place to work or do business with. The attention I received seemed genuine and heartfelt.

Every acted like customer service was part of their job description.

Because it was.

This simple story serves as a reminder that your company is evaluated by customers, vendors and yes, even strangers by the interaction of each of your employees, whether they work in the Customer Service department or not.

Think for a second about the number of ways each of your employees interact with the outside world. Receptionists, Assistants, Delivery people, Service people, Sales people, Customer service. Every day, everyone is contributing to the public's perception of your brand.

If you were to undertake a customer contact audit and build a matrix of each of the positions in your company along one axis, and the situational opportunities to interact with the outside world on the other axis, the grid would be stunningly complex.

And yet some companies seem to pull it off. They understand that lifelong customers are made and retained by the last person the customer interacted with. A single great interaction with anyone, could cement that customer relationship.

The moral of the story?

Make customer service everyone's job and occasionally monitor that Waiting Room Vibe.

What Are YOUR CEO's Favorite Phrases?

I recently watched a YouTube video of Steve Jobs' favorite phrases. Here it is:




The stories about working for Steve Jobs are legendary, but you can't deny his passion for innovation and his desire to hit product home runs.

One gets the feeling that unless you're prepared to WOW, (sorry Microsoft) don't bother talking to him. Here's a link to Wired Magazine's Best Steve Job's quotes, ever.

What are YOUR CEO's favorite phrases? Do they set a tone? an expectation? Do they speak to YOU, your customers, your company's products and services?

Or do they only speak to analysts and shareholders?

Fleeting Business Models

I was interested to read a recent post at O'Reilly Radar about a new auto insurance concept called Milemeter.

Milemeter is an insurance company that allows you to purchase car insurance by the mile (actually increments of one thousand miles), with the premiums dependent upon requested coverages and geography (where you typically drive your car). Milemeter's premiums do NOT include gender as part of their underwriting criteria.

It's an interesting concept and a potential game changer. As an alum of Allstate Insurance (I worked there for a decade), I'm sure the concept is causing more than a few ripples within the industry.

I don't know whether their model will include all vehicle types (motorcycles for instance), but this model could tread upon some very profitable segments of the industry.

Progressive Insurance has made a very profitable existence in the motorcycle segment - a somewhat counter-intuitive strategy, considering how dangerous motorcycle accidents are to their drivers. But they found out that many of their customers were middle aged white guys, whose motorcycles spent more time idle, in their garages, than being ridden. Identifying and selling to this customer segment was genius.

But if Milemeter covers motorcycles, all that could change.

If you're in the auto insurance business, your world could potentially be flipped upside down.

Your homework assignment: Identify a game changing technology or approach in your current industry and figure out how to get there before someone else does. Unless you aggressively try to obsolete your current business model, someone else may do it for you.

Want to position your business for longevity?

Work everyday with the understanding that your current business model is temporary.

The Economics of "Free"

Thanks to Guy Kawasaki's blog, here's a thought provoking video of Chris Anderson (Editor in Chief, Wired magazine and author of "The Long Tail") speaking at Nokia World 2007 about the "economics of free".

Well worth the 45 minutes or so.

A Great Web Resource

I've just discovered slideshare.net, a site which allows uploads of PowerPoint presentations on virtually any topic.

Whether you need inspiration on a topic, some examples of terrific (or poor) presentation styles, this is the place to visit.

I'm considering writing a Squidoo lens on Change Management, drawing from my experiences with two global ERP implementations. Had slideshare.net been in existence ten years ago, I might have avoided a few scrapes along the way.

Here's an example of a slideshow on Change - one of the biggest challenges facing every business today.

SlideShare src="http://static.slideshare.net/swf/logo_embd.png"> View Upload your own

I urge you to check out the site for yourself for education or inspiration.

Tips for Project Managers

Here's an interesting presentation that all Project Managers should watch....



Do you have any tips to add?

Blogs 101 by Common Craft

Once again, the folks at Common Craft created an excellent video explaining "Blogs" in plain English. Their non-technical, easy to absorb style breaks down the typical communication barriers between "geeks" and "users".

In the end, we all benefit.

Check it out.

My New Favorite Phrase

Brandon Schauer, an experience design director at Adaptive Path, writes about "The Long Wow".

Forget about traditional customer loyalty programs and concentrate on developing a series of Wow moments, driven by deep customer insight and empathetic product or service design.

"The Long Wow" is my favorite new phrase.

Leading from Behind

McKinsey Quarterly just published a terrific interview with Diane L. Schueneman, head of Merrill Lynch's Global Infrastructure Services. (Requires a free, quick registration at McKinsey to read.)

In my opinion she describes helpful strategies for delivering exceptional results in delivery of new and ongoing IT services in support of Merrill's customer service objectives. Pay close attention to the employee empowerment and development she advocates.

I suspect she's mastered the knack of Leading from Behind.

A great read.

The Survey You'll Never See

It amazes me that companies don't understand that their HR departments are part of the company service experience. I don't know of any HR departments that survey "customers" (candidates) about their interview and hiring (or not) experience.

Imagine, a company who focused on hiring "excellence". What would they be like?

Well, I think it would focus on treating all candidates with dignity and respect. And that would translate into specific measurable tasks.

Imagine the positive impression that a post interview survey might make. Imagine getting an email with a link to an electronic survey that might ask questions similar to the following:

Thank you for your interest in ABC Company. We strive to continually improve our recruiting and hiring processes and to provide a dignified and respectful candidate experience. Your honest responses to the following survey will help us continually improve our hiring practices and to continue to promote and practice our guiding values.

1. Did your interview start on time?
2. Did we explain our recruiting process?
3. Did we commit to keeping you informed of the progress for the position hire?
4. Did the recruiter's description/understanding of the position you applied for, match with the job advertisement you applied to?
5. Did your interview offer you adequate opportunity to disclose your qualifications and interest in the position?
6. Did your interviewer seem interested and engaged in your personal qualifications?
7. Did your interviewer offer you the opportunity to ask further questions after the interview?
8. If you took advantage of the opportunity to ask further questions after your interview, were your questions answered to your satisfaction? Were they answered promptly?
9. If we found a more suitable candidate, for the position you applied for, were you informed in a timely and respectful way?
10. If we determined that another candidate was a better fit for the position you applied for, was your experience one that would still make you willing to apply for a future position with our company?

What a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate your commitment to corporate values and to provide your company with a competitive advantage in the hiring process.

It's one that most companies don't take advantage of.

Hiring is a Two Way Street.

I wonder how many companies understand that their recruiting processes are a two way street. While hiring companies are evaluating candidates, candidates are auditioning YOU.

As an example, many candidates I've spoken with have a pretty comprehensive intelligence gathering regimen, that includes some obvious tasks and some not so obvious ones.

1. Your Target Company website is usually a first stop to gather information about the company's industry, products, services, management, financials and values. It's a Cliff notes source of information about you. Poorly constructed websites or those with poor or boilerplate narratives say a lot about you. This one is a pretty obvious step - a great place to go for "the basics".

2. Google Alerts. Some candidates setup a Google alert (or some other Newsbot) on the company. They want to know whenever Company A's name is used on the web, whether in the mainstream news, or a mention in a blog. What other people say about your potential future employer can provide valuable insights. It's also a great way to stay absolutely current on company events, for a potential interview.

Google Alerts can provide links to individuals with investing advice on the company (i.e. the company may be purchased within the next year - or expect soft financial performance over the next 24 months. It can also provide you with links to fan websites (or dissatisfied customers, distributors or partners. They can also alert you to philanthropic and community initiatives.

3. Professional contacts network. Vendors are a great source of information about a company. If you have a solid professional network (consultants, service providers etc), they are usually willing to provide some additional insights into how easy the company is to deal with, strengths and weaknesses of their staff etc. Obviously the depth of the insights will depend upon confidentiality agreements and the strength of your relationship with your professional network (can you be trusted with the information?).

In one case, I was able to get insights into a department that I would be managing from a vendor who had just completed a big project for the company.

4. Personal contacts network (either your Rolodex or perhaps a networking service like LinkedIn or Plaxo Pulse. Candidates can use these to check out senior management at your target company or even anyone who happens to work at the company. You'd be surprised how much information your employees are willing to share with someone they've never met!

And depending upon your age and the kind of job you're seeking, social networking sites like Twitter, MySpace, Facebook might provide some additional insights.

5. Checking the industry competition (websites, financials) helps to provide some industry context to your target company. Is your prospective employer the lead dog or a bit player?

6. Personal experience with the target company HR recruiter. Are you treated with respect? Does the company answer questions or respond to follow-up communications promptly? If your first impression of the company is less than satisfactory, one wonders what the employee experience would be like. The Waiter Rule is always in effect.

So, if your company is having difficulty finding great candidates, it might be a good idea to perform a Corporate Self-Exam. Research your company in the same way your candidates do and fix what needs fixing.

Gary Hamel Speaks. You Should Listen.

Is your company less than the sum of it's parts? Gary Hamel says that it could very well be the way its being managed, in his new book "The Future of Management".

Here's a short video promoting the premise of the book, from the author himself.



Perhaps you should consider adding this to your Christmas list. Understanding how to get more out of your people and processes would be the ideal Christmas gift for any business person.

Seven Words that Change the Game

This past weekend, I saw a documentary on Warren Buffett, one of the world's richest men. Warren's "secret" to investing is simple...and extremely difficult. Simply locate undervalued companies, whose businesses you understand and buy them.

The documentary focused on Berkshire Hathaway's most recent acquisition, a company based in Israel, that makes cutting tools, used in a wide variety of manufacturing companies.

This is significant because it's the first time he has purchased a non-American company.

But this isn't what caught my attention.

Rather, it was an offhanded comment he made discussing where to search for the next great value. The reporter didn't catch it and never followed up with a question.

The comment was: "Your competitors know everything that you do."

As soon as those words were spoken, a lightbulb went on in my head. I have spent years in various businesses talking strategy, identifying core competencies, trying to identify and leverage competitive advantage.

These exercises were both energizing and comforting. We, after all, had a competitive advantage - core competencies that we could rely on to drive us "to the next level". We could take solice in the fact that we possessed the magic, secret sauce (whatever that was) that allowed us to continue to make money and keep the shareholders happy.

I wonder how the tenor of the sessions might have changed, had Warren Buffett been in the room and had made the statement.

Would we have had a heightened sense of urgency? Would we have become more action oriented? Would we have stressed results accountability more? Would we have generated "bigger ideas"?

"Your competitors know everything that you do". Seven words that change the game.

Try opening your next strategy session with Warren Buffett's statement and see if it changes the entire nature of the debate.

Making the Heath Brothers Proud

This video, from O'Reilly Radar demonstrates the impact of how a typical home's energy consumption impacts greenhouse gas emissions. It is a great example of "sticky" communications.

The Heath Brothers (Dan and Chip) would be proud.

Dan and Chip Heath wrote the bestseller Made to Stick, which is a guide to understanding the essential elements of how to effectively communicate an idea. The video demonstrates all six principles of "sticky" communications.

(Sorry, if you want to know what the principles are, you should really buy the book!)

It's the Content, Stupid.

Norman Lear (writer/creator of most of the prime time situation comedies of the seventies and eighties, like All in the Family, Maude, Golden Girls among MANY) said something interesting on Morning Joe this morning.

When asked what he watches on TV these days he mentioned the shows South Park and Curb Your Enthusiasm, to which Joe Scarboro noted "those aren't network shows".

"I don't know. I don't have time to watch TV. My Tivo goes out and finds the content." (not an exact quote, but close enough).

I imagine that the network brand managers at NBC, ABC and CBS are now on suicide watch.

And it got me thinking. I know the names of the three major networks (four if you include FOX) and have watched them for years, but for the life of me I could not describe their "brand".

To add to the woes of the network brand managers, in my house the networks are known as channels 4, 5, 6 and 12.

Yet in some sort of attempt to "network brand" each show, they superimpose that translucent logo in the lower right hand corner of the screen. In an age of 200 channels, DVRs and Tivo, what exactly is this supposed to accomplish?

Are there really people out there who channel surf, looking for the CBS "eye" or the NBC "peacock"?

I don't think so.

And add to the mix, all the specialty channels for DIY shows, Outdoor, Explorer, Discovery, National Geographic, Sports, Business, Shopping, News and the traditional broadcast network brands mean even less.

Sorry folks. Take the network logo off my screen and focus on improving the content and I'll watch. For me, it doesn't work the other way around.

Insourcing Strategies

Is outsourcing a potential threat to your I.T. staff? In June of 2006, InformationWeek conducted a study of the business drivers for outsourcing Information Technology.

Seems to me that if your department is nervous, this list provides a blueprint for anyone serious about maintaining or positioning I.T. as an internal core competency.

Not surprisingly, the major driver for outsourcing consideration is anticipated cost savings.

Outsourced contracts are generally based upon measurable SLAs (service level agreements). You pay for a certain level of service.

Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do we currently have published SLAs for our most routine tasks?

2. Do we monitor our performance against these SLAs and publish them within the company?

3. What are the consequences of missing an SLA? Do we simply "write them off as bad experiences" or do we figure out how to better address the situation the next time. How do your processes get refined, improved? Do you communicate proposed improvements to the affected customer?

4. Are our processes cost effective? Do we have the opportunity to centralize tasks (i.e. network management and monitoring, security, backup and recovery strategies, data center management)?

5. Can we consolidate overlapping or duplicate technologies or applications?

6. Do we survey our internal customer satisfaction? If so, how do we respond to concerns and criticisms?

Strategy #1: In short - start acting like an outsourcing company, paying attention to costs and documented service levels. Be able to conduct a fact based discussion about your internal service levels and their associated costs. It might be beneficial to speak to several outsourcing companies to help benchmark how competitive you really are.

Next, figure out what you're really good at and where you aren't. Have an honest discussion with your team about your overall skill levels. Identify any critical tasks for which you simply aren't well suited. For example, network security is something that while many I.T. departments CAN do, it's something many times left for the experts. Do you really want to be looking through hundreds of pages of packet logs and alerts each day? Is this a competency you will need longer term or is it best left to outsiders?

Strategy #2: Divide and Conquer. Give up the stuff you're bad at, unqualified to perform or simply don't want to do and get really great at the tasks that are important to your company.

Strategy #3: Grow your expertise "two deep". If you're serious about delivering top quality service levels, invest in training for both a primary and a backup person for each critical function. Transition your team from generalists to specialists and increase their scope of responsibility. A bright network engineer at site A should also be able to manage the networks at Sites B and C. This will improve system reliability (fewer cooks in the kitchen), #4 on our list and also improve operational expertise (#6 on our list).

Strategy #4: Prioritize. Make one of those 2x2 Consulting matrices. On one axis the categories are URGENT and NOT URGENT. On the other axis is IMPORTANT and NOT IMPORTANT. Focus on the URGENT and IMPORTANT tasks first. Then forget the rest.

Strategy #5: Network with other (non competing) I.T. departments and resources and share ideas. Too often we all get hung up in trying to reinvent the wheel. What a colossal waste of time! See what works. Adapt practices that are better than yours and make them your own.

Clearly these strategies cannot guarantee anyone a job. But they will go a long way toward improving your internal performance and suppressing that knee jerk reaction to outsource I.T. whenever the CFO's laptop locks up.

Smart Companies are Listening

On my other blog (Dave's Blog) I recently wrote about our family trip to Canada, where we rediscovered Poutine, a delicious concoction of french fries, beef gravy and cheese curds. I speculated out loud that it would be a great new side dish for Culvers to add to its menu.

Less than 3 hours later, I had a response to my idea from Jim Doak, Culver's Director of R&D and Executive Chef!

Now that's impressive.

And it begs the question. How responsive is your company?

Are you monitoring Internet news sources, blogs and social networking sites for the mention of your company name, or products? Do you have a process in place to disseminate ideas, complaints, suggestions for internal action?

In the past, the traditional methods for gleaning this information would have been through focus groups, customer surveys or news clipping services. Or perhaps your company would be lucky enough to receive a letter, directed to the correct person, with a suggestion.

Expensive, clunky and time consuming.

Today you can easily setup a Google gadget to scour the web (sites, newsreaders, blogs) for specific mentions of company name, products or services and have the results sent to your desktop automatically. Free and immediate.

Really smart companies realize that ideas can come from anywhere.

And they're "listening".

And they're acting.

Are you?

Technogripe

Erin Bell of PCWORLD.ca nails the Ten Worst Consumer Tech Trends in her recent article.

For those of you too lazy to read the entire article....

10. Closed source technology.
9. Over promising and under delivering.
8. Fanboys (and Fangirls).
7. Region Encoding.
6. Licensing Fees.
5. Format Wars.
4. Proprietary file formats.
3. Web ads.
2. Expensive wireless data plans.
1. DRM

Are there any she missed?

Paging Dr. Godin.........

I know Seth Godin writes books about permission marketing and leveraging the voices of passionate customers to spread the word about your remarkable product, your remarkable service or your remarkable brand.

He speaks to prestigious companies like Yahoo and Google. He's also an web entrepreneur with involvement in the likes of squidoo.com and ever.com.

The question is: Has he ever conducted a "intervention"?

Clearly one is called for. Recently it's been reported that Prince has his legal eagles threatening to sue fan websites. This may be a brilliant new marketing strategy (after all, Brittney Spears is currently at the top of the charts after all her public (and pubic) misadventures.)

Prince's spokespeople claim that its a dispute between his record label and three "unauthorized" fanclub websites who use his pictures, likeness and music lyrics without express permission. Hmmm.

I think the website fanclubs should solicit donations from their membership and buy Seth Godin a ticket to Minneapolis. If they get enough money, perhaps they could send along Guy Kawasaki and Tim O'Reilly as well.

Either we're at the dawn of a brilliant new web marketing strategy or the dusk of a music career.

Either way, I trust Seth Godin to figure it out and give us the answer.

Be Like the Internet

[via O'Reilly Radar]

Thanks to Dave Orbin's Blog, which contains liveblogging from BerlinBlase, a Web2.0 conference being held as I write.

First up is a presentation by Scott Hirsch of the Management Information Group.

View Upload your own

Fascinating stuff. If any of this information is startling to you, take your web team to lunch and have them explain - or better yet, send someone to the conference next year.

A Generation of Cyber-MacGyvers

I don't know how many of you remember the TV show MacGyver.

(From Wikipedia)

"The series revolved around Angus MacGyver (known to his friends as MacGyver or "Mac") who favoured brain over brawn in order to solve desperate problems.

Angus MacGyver's main asset is his practical application of scientific knowledge and inventive use of common items—along with his ever-present Swiss Army knife and duct tape and the usual coincidence of being locked up in a room full of useful materials. The clever solutions MacGyver implemented to seemingly intractable problems—often in life-or-death situations requiring him to improvise complex devices in a matter of minutes..."

Well, hold on ladies and gentlemen, because the next generation of kids to enter the workforce are cyber-MacGyvers.

To find an example, I needed to look no further than the room upstairs that my son occupies.

A friend of mine wanted to upgrade a very old (circa 2001) iMac and dropped it off to have my son look into it. It had 256k memory, a decent (600mhz) processor and a slot load CD drive, but it was running an old OS and had an outdated browser.

Since newer software comes delivered on DVDs, (and no CD versions of the OS could be located) we decided to order a DVD slot drive for the iMac.

Within just a few minutes my son had located the appropriate memory on the web and had sourced a slot loading DVD drive for the iMac.

My friend purchased the parts and had them shipped to my house.

Once the memory arrived, it took just a few seconds to learn how to crack the case and install the memory (done in 60 seconds). We couldn't install a newer OS because the DVD reader hadn't yet arrived.

Then somewhere in the back of his mind, my son remembered (he still doesn't know where he learned it) that you could boot an iMac as a "target" of another Mac. A quick trip to Google validated his recollection and provided the "how to" instructions. We connected the two systems via Firewire. Then using his Mac Mini DVD reader, he began loading my friend's OS X (Tiger) onto the iMac.

About 90 minutes later, the whole process was completed.

Lesson learned? Its not what you know. Its how quickly you can source the answer. Growing up in an internet world is equipping our sons and daughters to compete on speed - leveraging the knowledge of others.

This changes the rules.

No longer will knowing the answer count. Sourcing the information and leveraging it will matter most. And beng confident in your abilities doesn't hurt either.

We're raising a nation of cyber-MacGyvers. And that's a good thing.

Are You Shooting for Sheboygan?

Now that Standard time is upon us, I started thinking about time and how we use it (and abuse it).

I've always had an internal clock that ran fast. I always wanted to get tasks accomplished so I could get onto the next one. I guess you could call it a heightened sense of urgency. I can't explain it. Its just there. My business associates would say that I don't let the execution details get in the way!

Don't get me wrong. For some jobs, I can procrastinate with the best of them. But generally, when a task needs doing. It needs to be done.

I can relate to the story of Lee Iacocca (former President and CEO of Chrysler) , who had asked his engineers to come up with a convertible version of a popular model (back in the days when there were popular Chrysler cars). Faced with an estimated timeline of many months of engineering and modelling, in frustration, he allegedly shouted "Just cut the damn top off!"

As any student can relate, the time when term papers are usually started is the night before they're due. Tasks always seem to take the allotted (or expected) time. Give them a month. It'll take a month. Give them a week. You'll have the papers in a week.

In many cases, more time does not guarantee more effort or necessarily better results.

It's important that from time to time, you test this theory. If you have a project that should take an average person three weeks to accomplish, assign it to someone with a deadline of two weeks. The artificial constraints sometimes yield surprising results. Assumptions are challenged. Priorities are acted upon.

No one could break the four minute mile, until Roger Bannister did it. Benchmarking accomplishments helps drive improved performance.

And once someone has "broken the four minute mile", expectations are raised. And once expectations are raised, accomplishments can follow. Current mile record? 3:43.3 (by Hicham El Guerrouj) - more than 16 seconds faster than Roger Bannister!

I've worked for a big company who took ten days to close the books each quarter. Why? Because they'd always taken ten days. No one within the accounting department had looked outside our industry to see what other (larger) companies were doing. Some large companies could close their books in two days. We took five times longer than best practices for a routine task. No one challenged the timeframe. No one challenged the process. So we wasted eight days each quarter.

Our I.T. department took ten days to deliver a new laptop. Why? Because we purchased laptops one at a time, whenever a new employee started. We waited for about ten days to receive the laptop from our supplier, loaded the company's software image, then physically shipped it to the employee. No one had ever challenged the process.

The big constraint in this process was the wait time until we received the laptop. The obvious solution? Keep a small inventory on hand. But no one within I.T. could envision the answer because "we didn't have the budget for it." A small inventory would have allowed us to deliver new laptops (locally) the same day they were requested and the inventory carrying cost would have been more than offset by our (tenfold) reduced purchasing costs.

My neighbor's Dad was a very successful entrepreneur, located in a small lakeside Wisconsin town northeast of us, called Port Washington. At night, looking northward you can easily see the lights of Sheboygan, WI.

His favorite saying was; "You can't hit the Moon, shooting for Sheboygan!"

His sights were always set higher.

Are yours?

Filleting Cabella's

Want to better understand the competitive landscape of the 21st Century? You need look no further than my friend's father in law, Captain Jim.

Captain Jim runs a charter fishing business out of Milwaukee. He's renowned for taking people out on Lake Michigan and actually catching fish!

He's also proven to have some pretty amazing skills when it comes to landing web visitors, search engine rankings, YouTube views and clickthrus on his websites. Who knew that a guy who spends much of his time navigating Lake Michigan would be so adept at navigating the World Wide Web?

Need proof? Try Googling "Milwaukee fishing". Yup - that's him (Bluemax Charters) ranked at #2.

Want to witness the Charter fishing experience first hand? Here he is on YouTube, complete with video customer endosrement!





Here's one of his videos.. His videos are attracting about 15 views per DAY. (Prediction: Captain Jim is gonna need a bigger boat.)




Need fishing spoons? There he is (badgertackle.com) at #3.



Cabella's (who just opened a mega store last year, just north of the city), is ranked #9 on the same page. They're also found as a Sponsored link (along with some other national outdoor sports companies). While the big boys are paying for clicks, Captain Jim is ranking higher for a number of reasons.

1. He's passionate about fishing... and it shows.
2. He builds a connection with his customers....and it shows.
3. He's an authority on Lake Michigan fishing and has endoresments and how to videos to prove it.

Now put yourself in the place of the marketing team at Cabella's. You sell thousands of products..... and you're in competition with thousands of Captain Jims. The competition is so small, so fragmented, that it's not even on your radar screen. Until it's too late.

And that's how you fillet Cabella's. One product at a time.

Is Your Website Green?

On Digg today was a link to an interesting blog widget. When installed on your blog, the widget calculates the "carbon footprint" of the electricity used by your blog's visitors' computers - calculated based upon the length of visit on your site.

They also offer the ability to purchase carbon offsets, to help make your web presence completely "carbon neutral". Carbon offsets are a "tax" meant to subsidize the development of "clean" energy development and deployment, like solar, wind powered generators etc...

Interesting concept.

About 15 years ago, I was Director of Marketing for a business to business catalog company. We were environmentally aware (I couldn't call us sensitive, since we mailed hundreds of thousands of catalogs) and so we did a couple of things to reduce our environmental impact. First we printed all catalogs on recycled paper stock, using water soluble inks.

Secondly, we reduced the amount of catalogs we mailed, by actually asking mailroom clerks to help us "clean" (update) our mailing lists (which in the business world, get out of date pretty quickly).

We also used account scoring techniques (to help us better predict who would buy) to reduce our mailings into each company.

I think if I were in the same position today, I'd consider applying this widget to my online shopping website and convince my boss to devote a portion of our sales to the purchase of carbon offsets.

If your corporate mission statement contains phrases like "environmental responsibility" or if you're selling "natural" or recycled products, this widget might just help reinforce your environmental responsibility message.

Is this something your company might do?

Am I alone in this?

On Being Remarkable

Seth Godin always talks about how companies need to be "remarkable". Here's an example of what he means...

Who would have thought that a flight attendent would receive applause after the manditory announcements! As of this writing over 78,000 people have "tuned in" to Southwest's announcments.

Now that's remarkable.

Letter to Santa

I heard this morning that people have already begun their Christmas shopping - no doubt inspired by the Christmas tree displays already popping up in the stores.

And so it is with this premature Christmas spirit that I'm composing a letter to Santa.

Dear Santa,

All I want for Christmas is a user friendly, well designed, simple to use, web hosted ERP system.

Thank you.

Dave

It won't happen, of course. Not that I've been bad this year - but even Santa has his limitations.

The problem with ERP systems is that they're designed to be everything to a very few (huge) companies, rather than trying to appeal to a much larger audience of small to mid-sized businesses. They're "sold" at the Board level but have to be used by everyone else. So little consideration is given to the thousands of end users - they're just something that the implementation team has to "deal with" as the system goes live. A necessary evil of big system projects.

You see, the marketing of these systems has changed, but the product hasn't. It's too difficult for the application architects at Oracle, SAP, PeopleSoft to reduce "functionality" (aka features) because they've spent a lifetime building them in.

Simplifying your application is very hard work. Making complicated systems easy to use is almost impossible - especially when you've never done it before.

It's the reason that in ten years, much of the country will be using someone else's product.

Fast forward to Christmas Day, 2017... You open up your gift from Santa.

Inside, just underneath all the wrapping is a shiny new hyper-link to your new ERP application, complete with userid and password. After you login, you're greeted with:

A friendly video guide then walks you through your "role" in the new system. (S)he explains how the Purchasing process works, and how you as a Purchasing Agent, will do your job. After a video tour of the application, you're presented with an invitation to test out some of the functionality.

The text is inviting, not intimidating. The designers want to ease you into testing out the system for yourself. Because the application is so well written, intuitive, with "chunked" input screens so you never feel overwhelmed by data fields. It features icons that guide you though the application without having to ask for help.

Sprinkled throughout the application are links to more video help and company forums

It's written with the application user in mind.

And it explains why the guys at 37signals (from whom I swiped the images and examples) write applications that are so popular.

And it's the reason I believe that something better is coming to replace those bulky, over-engineered ERP applications.

Now get writing guys.....

Why Enterprise Software Sucks....

Here's a great post on Signal vs. Noise about Why Enterprise Software Sucks. If you've ever been involved in a big ERP, CRM or HR systems implementation, you know what these guys are talking about.

Storytelling as a Change Management Agent

I just stumbled upon Steve Denning's presentation at a BIF (Business Innovation Factory) Conference.

Steve was the driving force behind a corporatewide knowledge sharing initiative at the World Bank. He relates how storytelling was an effective means of getting the notion "heard" in the midst of huge resistance to the idea.

Here's the video.

How Sticky are You?

Welcome to Guy Kawasaki's Stickiness Apptitude test. It was inspired by the Heath Brothers' book "Made to Stick" - one of my new favorite books.

This simple and fun test helps measure how "sticky" your ideas, innovations and communications are.

It takes just a few minutes to complete.

Enjoy.

Dumbing Down S.M.A.R.T. Goals

If your company isn't getting the desired employee performance results from the use of S.M.A.R.T. goals, the guys at 5Rules tell you why.

Hooked on Video

I have railed for some time now, that marketing and training MUST make the transition to video. No one I know takes the time to read brochures, marketing materials, policies or procedures. We barely have time to read our emails.

But we always find time to watch a video. We're a nation of watchers.

Latest example.... Steve Jobs (okay it was some server) sent me an email today announcing Mac's new OS X (Leopard).

I don't own a Mac. I don't intend on buying a Mac in the near future. But I watched anyway. I had to. I admit that I'm hooked on Mac marketing.

But then I got thinking. Even though I don't own a Mac, why doesn't my PC do these things?

Even though Apple wasn't selling me anything (today) they started planting seeds of doubt about the product I'm currently using. They got their message across.

And after all, wasn't that the point?

Seven Leadership Secrets

Great advice from Carmine Gallo in the article Seven Secrets of Inspiring Leaders.

The Power of Transparency

Need to build up department credibility within your organization? Start thinking about transparency.

One sure way to improve your standing, is to begin measuring what's important to your customers (whether they're internal or external) and publicly reporting your results.

This technique bares your performance to the world. While it may be a tough pill to swallow, when you first do it, it does accomplish a few things.

1. First it shows that performance improvement is important to you, your team and your customers.

2. It demonstrates (or sets the expectation) that you're doing something to improve.

3. It frames the challenge objectively rather than subjectively. You can begin to have fact based discussions.

4. It tracks improvement progress.

5. It begins to focus your team on corrective action rather than on explaining away the problems.

6. It helps identify whether you're measuring the right things. (i.e. if your metrics improve but your customer's aren't happy, it's time to re-examine what you're measuring!).

Some basics about transparency....

1. Setup customer feedback mechanisms for all your critical processes or services. These can be suggestion boxes, electronic surveys, blog comments...whatever works.

2. Allow comments to be anonymous. Yes, there will always be a few idiots who take advantage of this, but in the end, I think it allows for more honest feedback.

3. Communicate what you're doing to improve and why it matters. (For technical departments, R&D, or I.T.) think in terms of a WIIFM (what's in it for me?) statement, rather than relying on technical jargon. Respond to suggestions (either individually, if possible) or in summary form, on an internal website or a group email.

4. Start somewhere. Becoming transparent can be a daunting task. Pick one process, measure and post the results. Communicate your improvement efforts. Survey occasionally.

Transparency is part of an ongoing process. It's a management philosophy. It's an ongoing dialog. If you're not doing it now, it's worth trying.

The Special Sauce

What do Disney, Southwest Airlines, Google and Apple have in common?

A lineup of job applicants at their doors.

People like to play on winning teams. They see Disney as a leader in entertainment. Southwest is a value leader in the airline industry. For tekkies, there are no (perceived) greater places to work than within the highly innovative walls of Google and Apple.

And so, these companies don't have retention problesms. They don't have trouble attracting talent. They have their "pick of the litter".

My bet is - your company doesn't.

What is it that makes these companies so attractive?

Do these companies pay more than anyone else? Nope.

Better benefits? (In some cases, yes).

Work/Life balance flexibility (definately, but in many cases their employees work longer hours).
Opportunities to work with leading edge ideas, technologies and brilliant people? Definately. In fact Google sets aside a portion of every work week for their employees to experiment, learn, try new things.

All of these companies offer employees the chance to contribute and to make a difference. To build their own personal legacy. To learn. To grow.

Companies like these understand that their ongoing success is based upon keeping that creative and innovative spark alive.

They treat their employees like a big deal.

Because they are.

SWAT Development

Alex Iskold worte a great piece in Read/WriteWeb on The Future of Software Development.

You should read this and take your Application Development Manager to lunch to discuss it.

Many of the predictions at the end of the article are coming true. What we're finding at 5Rules is that it doesn't take an army to write a great application. It takes a small group of talented people, supported by great tools (PHP, Ruby) and a desire to create a better mousetrap, that can get things done far faster than a large contingent of developers.

There was a time when we all envied large development shops for their vast resources and endless capabilities. Nowadays, I just pity them. They're encumbered by their own weight and mired in endless (pointless?) design and development processes - a victim of their own size.

I think that Alex Iskold has it about right. The future will be comprised of small, highly productive teams, rapidly developing, deploying, modifying and redeploying applications to meet business demands. No longer will there be a tremendous advantage to more cheaper resources. The pendulum has swung. Smaller teams of local talent will be able to better define the application, and armed with libraries of PHP and Ruby code, will be able to rapidly prototype and deploy.

It will be the Age of SWAT application development.

Problems with Knowledge Management

The biggest problem with Knowledge Management?

Its name.

I recall using the phrase to a very senior executive at a former company. Suddenly a wry smile appeared on his face. Translation: The I.T. guy has gone insane....

If the conversation makes it a couple of minutes longer and we begin to talk about

• digitizing information
• making information easy to store, find, update and access
• linking resources (people, tools, tasks, experiences and learning)
• learning lessons once and sharing the learning (aka; not failing the same way twice)
• allowing everyone to contribute
• working smarter, by leveraging expertise and experiences
• encouraging company wide dialog and interaction

then the wry smile disappears and attention gets focused.

The big problem is that I.T. guys have marketed the concept all wrong. The name "Knowledge Management" makes us think of Big Brother. It harkens thoughts of restricted access, of "eyes only" information. The Crown Jewels. The "Castle Keep."

When in fact, it should be just the opposite.

The second big problem with Knowledge Management is that we don't compensate employees to record information and to use information provided by others.

Information is power.

And power is to be closely guarded. It's a very tough sell in some organizations to understand that the power of documenting, indexing and sharing information far exceeds the potential contribution and knowledge of a few Superstars.

Being selfless isn't easy. There's nothing in it for you.

Until you try it.

Don't Click It

Want to get a sense of how difficult it is to break a habit? Ever wonder why Change Management is the toughest part of any I.T. project? You need look no further than Don't Click It.

This experiment in interactive design sets to eliminate the need to mouse click while navigating a website.

See it for yourself. You can also discover how others have reacted to the interface.

Is this a good idea? Would it work on your website?

My two cents... Interesting experiment, but I can't figure out what problem they're trying to solve. I don't have a mouse-clicking "problem" at the moment. It really doesn't tire me out. I'll suffer from eyestrain long before my fingers will ache!

But it does demonstrate how "ingrained" the clicking habit has become.

My First Squidoo

I wrote my first Squidoo lens today. It contains the same information as in my e-book and is based upon Lessons Learned through two Global ERP implementations.

I wanted to explore the whole Squidoo lens writing process. Let's see if it gets noticed!

Disagreeing with a Hero

I recently read a column in Expert Voices at http://www.cioinsight.com/ called CIO as Chief Process Officer, not Strategic Leader.

It's a summary of a conversation with Dr. Michael Hammer - a hero of mine, who invented the word re-engineering and along with James Campy, wrote a terrific book called Reengineering the Corporation. I've seen Dr. Hammer on several occasions, listening to his advice on How to Succeed with SAP. Believe me, he knows what he's talking about.

The latest article is a continuation of his thinking about Process reengineering, and he espouses a new theory that CIO's should become CPOs - Chief Process Officers.

While I agree with much of what he says, I have a hard time completely swallowing the concept. Yes, CIO's are generally very familiar with company processes. Their departments support the technology that support the processes and they have an extremely good "under the hood" view of how things work together - or not. And it's for this reason, that Dr. Hammer believes they should become process champions within their organization.

Good reasons all, but it rings a little hollow with me. Here's why.

Once you anoint a Process Guru, almost instantly, you excuse others from the responsibility. "I don't have to worry about process - that's Dave's job" - is a sure path to failure. We tried the same model with the CIO role...before the advent of I.T. Steering teams. Steering teams brought in other executives into the technology decision making process.

And overall, companies use of technologies, investment, project selection/prioritization and execution benefited as a result.

Dr. Hammer points out that successful processes require strong leadership, the right metrics and commitment. But he's a little vague on how to get there.

It's a little like the old joke: "How do you make a million dollars in Real Estate?"
Answer: First, start with two million dollars.

I think that answer may lie in Process Steering Teams. Senior executives need to agree which processes need improvement, determine the success metrics, provide the necessary process training/education and dedicate the bset resources to help redesign the processes (usually achieved through value stream mapping exercises). They determine where the pilot should begin and who should be involved in the process. Compensation plans need to be aligned with process improvement goals.

To me it's exactly the same challenge as Change Management. Successful efforts are driven by all top leadership. It's a priority for the company - not just a project of the week. The ultimate goal of the Process Steering Team shouldn't be to refine derelict processes. It should be to turn mid and lower level managers (in fact, all employees) into process champions.

The ultimate goal should be to have everyone at your company focused on process inefficiencies - not just a CPO.

Toyota is generally regarded as the platinum standard for manufacturing efficiency. Their processes are no secret. The huge challenge in imitating Toyota's success is that lean processes are part of Toyota's culture - ingrained through decades of process focus. The other huge benefit that Toyota garners is standardized processes. Everyone uses the same processes. To accomplish this, everyone must understand the process, why it works and what the success metrics are.

Process innovation can't be sustained by one person.

It's everyone's job.

And until we recognize that making and executing lean processes is everyone's goal, new CPO's may suffer the same fate as many early CIOs - very short tenure.

And Another Thing.....

One more thought about taking time to "celebrate wins" during tough projects....

Don't forget to include the SMEs (subject matter experts) from the business. They're tasked with helping your team define new processes, test the system and sometimes even deliver the training - while at the same time doing their FULL TIME jobs!

As a project manager, make sure you take the initiative in recognizing their contributions as well and recognize the additional workload and strain that they're under.

The occasional joint celebration (IT team and SMEs) helps recognize everyone's contributions and helps with team building as well.

Project Pressure Cooker

I was teaching a friend's MBA class last week. We were talking about How I.T. Adds Business Value and discussed some lessons learned during big system implementations. One of the students asked a question relating to "celebrating wins".

It was a great question.

Big system implementations can be extremely stressful - especially on those within the core team. Deadlines loom, thousands of decisions must be made, unexpected problems always crop up. The pace of work quickens and the pace can last for months. Big projects (to use a football analogy) can feel like a year long "2 minute drill".

Regardless, the team needs to soldier on.

To maintain sanity, it's critical to "chunk the project". Divide it into milestones. Celebrate the accomplishments. Reduce stress. Recognize achievements.

The celebrations don't have to be huge events or expensive outings.

Take the team bowling one afternoon. Let them all go early on a Friday to spend some time with their families. Celebrate $1 hotdog night at the local ballpark. Have a potluck lunch. Hand out tickets for a local play. Take them to the county fair. Find ways they can spend time away from the project and better yet, more time with their families.

Occasionally, stress relief doesn't come from celebrations, it comes from flexibility. Sometimes you just need time away from the office. We allowed people who needed to concentrate on executing a task to work from home - away from the constant din of a common project workspace. We utilized IM (instant messaging) to keep remote workers accessible.

There are literally thousands of ways to help keep the team functioning at a high level.

You need to treat your project team differently because they're in a different situation. Resist the temptation to listen to the critics (those outside the project) who lament the "perks" that the project team receive. Those critics usually fail to notice the 12 hour days and the weekend work that is necessary to keep big projects on track. Very few would volunteer for the "perks" if they truly understood the project workload.

And above all, "install pressure values". Make it everyone's responsibility to be vigilant - to look for signs of stress and address them before they begin to affect the health of the individual or the team.

Win or lose, you're all in this together.

The Great One

I've resisted any hockey analogies in this blog......until now.

I was thinking about how we recognize achievements in business - record sales, record profits, sometimes team recognition for a job well done. I may be stating the obvious, but in business, seldom are great accomplishments achieved alone.

I came across Wayne Gretzky's scoring records recently. For those of you who don't know hockey, Gretzky was the best ever to play the game. He retired many years ago and still holds 61 different scoring titles. His nickname was "The Great One". How cool is that?

Of interest to me, were the number of records he held for assists. He wasn't simply great because he scored goals (and he scored LOTS of goals). He was great because he made the rest of his team great as well. He made plays to allow his teammates to score. And needless to say, he played on a lot of winning teams.

We keep assist stats in hockey, baseball and basketball. On every hockey goal, credit is goven to the scorer and the one or two players that helped make it happen. In baseball, every out is recorded by position and the scoring identifies everyone who touched the ball in the process.

In business we tend not to keep track of "assists" - but who wouldn't want to work in a place where everyone was looking out for each other's success? - a place where co-workers were recognized for helping others? Shouldn't we find a way to recognize business "assists"?

"The Great One" scored 894 goals in his career. He also had 1962 assists. For every goal he scored, he helped two teammates score as well.

So the question is: "How could you recognize "assists" at your company?

The WIIFM Lesson

I was at lunch yesterday with a couple of former vendors of mine. Both are software and services providers.

The conversation turned to CRM (Customer Relationship Management). Among the three of us, no one could identify a successful CRM installation. And these guys have been around a long time.

You see, most CRM implementations have a fatal flaw. The entire system depends upon the salesperson entering the related account information, the forecast, the opportunities, the call reports.

And none of this activity actually helps THEM, sell anything. And that's a problem, because that's what you pay them to do.

All of this activity is generally done to provide management with "visibility" to what's going on. The marketing department uses the information to tweak marketing programs and measure the performance of lead generating programs. They get all excited about increasing share of wallet or penetration into an account. The cross-selling opportunities make them salivate.

But salespeople are not compensated to enter data. It's not what they do. They are relationship builders, investigators, probers, problem solvers. They aren't reporters.

They enjoy closing deals. It's what you pay them for.

The lesson here is, before implementing ANY new system, make sure you appreciate and understand the WIIFM (What's In It For Me?) factor. If you can't quickly articulate how an individual (or department) will benefit from the new system or process in a meaningful way, don't bother starting the project.

And for heaven's sake, make sure that your compensation plans support the project goals and aren't aligned against them.

Because it's the employee buy-in and process execution that will drive any benefits. Not the software.

So take a critical look at your CRM processes and find a way of getting the information into the system, without taking your salespeople off their customer's premises.

One idea a former CEO had was that salespeople should simply verbally report opportunities, progress on deals and trip reports etc to an assistant, via phone, as they were travelling to the next customer.

The assistant would then enter all the information into the CRM system.

One assistant could handle several salespeople, would become familiar with the software and could act like a "quarterback" in terms of the data management process. "Hey - last trip you identified an opportunity to sell Product A to Customer B" where does that opportunity stand? Do you still think that pending sale will close before the quarter? Is opportunity XYZ still at a 75% probability? Do you need me to schedule a visit for Jim to do a technical presentation?

Salespeople would then do what they're good at - talking. And sales assistants would do the data entry, thus eliminating the problems of CRM data capture - and keeping the salespeople in front of customers.

Seems to me, that these simple changes would make the entire process more effective. What do you think?

Money For Nothing (and your chicks for free)

This week we received a couple of charges from our Canadian Bank. We have been with the Bank for about 3 decades now. In fact, long ago, I used to work for them. While we live here in the U.S., we still maintain the Canadian account to pay for gifts for relatives, and to pay Canadian tuition for my son.

This month we were greeted with a $2.50 "maintenance charge" and a $1 "statement charge" - for an idle account.

They aren't keeping up with customer expectations in the world of Web 2.0.

I can blog at a dozen sites for free. I can have personal websites hosted for free. I can use any of a dozen free email services. I can publish e-books for free. I can store photos, download and view videos, join social networks - for free.

There was a time when having idle accounts actually did cost the Bank money - back in a time when we had to balance the accounts to ledgers BY HAND!

I think the Bank's customers are saavy enough to figure out that these charges are remnants of past business practices and don't have a place in the 21st Century.

It's nothing but gouging.

If they don't understand it now, they'll get the message when I ask them to close my account.

Encouraging Dissent

Garry Emmons writes in a recent issue of Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge, about Encouraging Dissent in Decision Making.

He argues that candor and honesty, in opposition to general consensus, add value to the conversation - help lead a group to a more thoughtful conclusion.

I suspect he's right. And he sights several examples of what happens when dissenting voices stay silent.

I was a little disappointed by his recommendation that companies find a way to compensate dissent and honesty in the expression of a contrary opinion.. A noble cause to be sure, but an impractical one. It simply goes against human nature.

If the crowd wants to drive toward a specific conclusion, there's very little personal benefit in raising one's voice in opposition. In fact, in many cases, there's only downside.

I think the discussion process needs to be fixed. If you want to enable opposing opinion, enable it. Once your group has reached consensus, split the group up into two smaller teams. Smaller team sizes allow individual voices to be heard better. Each team's goal is to list several reasons why the previous conclusion is a bad one - or is based on flawed reasoning or how it could be adversely affected by market shifts.

Make it EVERYONE's job to dissent. Build it into the process.

That way, individuals who strongly feel that the original outcome is incorrect, could argue their case with impunity - after all, this has become part of the decision making process. No one is at "fault" for participating in the critique. No one is seen as being an obstructionist.

I believe the outcome would be better decisions without the personal career risk.

Ed Sullivan Teaches Multitasking

Why is it that some people just get MORE work done than others?

I don't think it has anything to do with intelligence. I think it has something to do with Ed Sullivan.

Yes, I said Ed Sullivan.

Many of us will describe a typical work day as keeping several balls in the air - reminescent of the juggling acts we used to see on the Ed Sullivan show (back when the world was broadcast was black and white).

Personally, I think high achievers are more like those plate spinning guys - the act where the performer balances multitudes of spinning plates on long poles, keeping an eye on the plates that need additional inertia to keep from falling.

Those high performers have several things in common.

1. They understand that keeping ONE plate spinning isn't much of an act.

2. They understand that the performance is really about adding additional plates and keeping them all spinning. They have an understanding of how many plates they can keep going at once.

3. They have focus. Distractions aren't allowed.

4. They provide just enough attention to each plate (task) to keep it moving.

5. They resist the temptation to keep all plates spinning at the same velocity - instead, they pay attention to the plates that slow down, providing just enough effort to prevent them from falling.

High performers have mastered their "balancing act". It makes one wonder....

How many of your employees might get booed off the stage?

P.S. I originally omitted recognition for the photo at the top of the blog. Thanks to John Park @ http://www.platespinning.com/ for the photo!

What 7 Months of Liquid Canuck Looks Like!

Here's what seven months of blogging looks like........


Remember BHAGs?
The Irrelevant Giant
Ask the Right Question!
Grow and Die
The Circular Firing Squad
Realizing the Obvious
You Can't Handle the Success!
Stop Writing Manuals and Start Creating Videos!
The Apathy War
Really Clever
Brand Betrayal
There's Nothing Like an Open Mind
Thinking Outside the Stall
School's Never Out
School of "Hard Knocks"
Business Led or You're Dead
More Business Organics
Introducing 5Rules
Maybe the Apple was Just Bruised
Rotten Apple?
The Power of Surveys
Why Should Anyone Be Led by You?
Have You Mashed Yet?
REALLY Scooped by Guy Kawasaki
Windshield Wipers and Data Integrity
The Importance of Mindset
Hiring Athletes
Great Grandma's Roast
WTV - Video Sampler
A Business Gem
David vs. Goliath I.T. Tactics
WTV... The New RTFM
Who's Your Bubba?
Swiss Army Applications
Business Organics
Simple is Hard
Lean Application Development starts with Great Bus...
Soak Time
Bubble 2.0? I Don't See It.
What's the Blogging Equivalent of "Phoning It In?"...
Tell a Thousand People
I.T. Lesson for General Management
Can You Make Sense of This?
Good to Great I.T.
Talent Borrows. Genius Steals.
New Poll
Making Wiki's Work (or Not)
How NOT to Sell to a C.I.O..
What is our Mission?
Process Barnacles
Too Many Times, it's True....
On Rediscovering Words....
Business is Personal
uʍop ǝpısdn
Never Mind
My Movie Rant
Tomorrow's Lesson Today
New Poll
The Bizdev Rule that Every CIO Must Know
Pulling Together
Web 2.o is a Harsh Mistress - Part 2
Technology is Changing Everything about Campaignin...
Is Aggregation a Good Web Business Model?
What Signs Say and What They Mean.
Big Brother Watching Safari?
Email Activism
Lights, Camera, Action!
Putting It On The Line
Hmmmmmm
On Safari
Offshoring Success Stories - An Oxymoron?
How to Discover Leaders in Your Company
Lulu Buttons Now Working
Wiki 101
How NOT to use Technology!
Lean I.T. is Waaaay Overdue
Attensa to the Rescue?
Where Have All the Leaders Gone?
Dell Ubuntu prices now released
SOA Irony
Which Wiki is right for you?
18 Reasons People Think Your I.T. Dept Sucks
Do you suffer from PM Bloat?
Turning Customers into Fans.
A Blast from the Past?
Mac Ads: Made to Stick
"Reply to All" Electroshock
Time for some Serious Magic!
A Little Self Promotion....
My First E-Book!
Ubuntu, IdeaStorm and my friend Dave....
The Doctor is In - Part 2
The Doctor is In
My Favorite I.T. Ads Ever
Linux is Centerpiece for Negropontes $100 Laptop
Fountain of Youth for your old PC?
RSS Explained
A New #1
Why is BOLD a bad word?
IdeaStorm Strikes Again!
Eating My Own Dog Food
3 Experiments to Try Right Now!
From Email to (M)email
Web 2.0 - Now on Sale for $1.99
Web 2.0 - The Dark Side
Hello World!

Remember BHAGs?

This weekend, I was posting on our new company blog at 5Rules about How Everything Old is New Again.

And it got me thinking. I wonder how many "old" lessons are out there that need to be re-learned?

And THAT led me to thinking about BHAGs.

Some of you may be too young to remember "Big Hairy Audacious Goals". BHAGs were introduced to us by James Collins and Jerry Porras more than ten years ago, in their article entitled "Building Your Company's Vision".

At the time, BHAGs were all the rage. They were in use at some of the country's biggest companies. IBM, Motorola, Philip Morris and Walt Disney Co. all embraced them.

In 2007, no one talks about BHAGs anymore.

Somehow the whole notion died off. Perhaps some of us tried BHAGs and were disappointed. Perhaps none of our senior management read the article. Perhaps none of us had the attention span it took (about 10 years) to keep the BHAG alive. Perhaps BHAGs were undone by the need to make the quarterly numbers for Wall St.

Maybe we should have tried LHAGs instead. (Little Hairy Audacious Goals).

I've had good experience with LHAGs.

Most recently my team need to perform a version upgrade to a major ERP system (PeopleSoft). Anyone who has done this can tell you that it is generally a 6+ month project. It involves identifying all customizations you've done to the system and "retrofitting" the changes into the newer version. Then you need to individually test each function, followed by an entire integrated system test - not to mention rewriting all the training.

It's a mini-ERP implementation. And sometimes you need to being in additional staff to complete the project.

We decided to create a LHAG. To successfully complete the upgrade in 8 weeks, without any additional outside help.

I won't bore you with all the details except to say that while we missed our 8 week target (we did it in 12 weeks), we still accomplished it in half the time it would have normally taken. We didn't use any additional resources. Occasionally, self-imposed constraints are a good thing.

It forced us to rethink the entire process. To prioritize. To sweat the big stuff. We were able to reuse original test scripts (saving us time) and to amend training documentation in a way that forced successful module tests. We focused on testing new functionality and verifying that the old processes still worked.

We might not have known it was possible, if it weren't for the decade old insights of Jim Collins and Jerry Porras - and the introduction of BHAGs.

So dust off those old business books and turn something old into something new again.