Archive for category General
simple science
image by Alvin K, flickr artist
here’s a simple science experiment:
count how many emails you get today from advertisements. also count the number of spam messages that get filtered into your junk email folder. in addition, count the number of emails you get that have attachments to them, especially large ones. then finally count how many emails you currently have across your folders that are unread.
now, you tell me if email is really a good tool to use or not.
JUST GO
i’ve come to observe that good ideas have a very short lifespan to work out.
you might have someone stay behind to ask questions after you give a presentation, have someone approach you after reading a whitepaper, have someone respond to an online posting, etc.. in all cases, though, it seems as though there’s a very short amount of time to actually do something with that attention.
if you wait too long, don’t follow up, or spend your time asking for permission you’re going to lose that person and your idea isn’t going to spread. don’t ask permission: JUST GO (and apologize later)
it’s time to declare your independence
image by Robert S. Donovan, flickr artist
“wishing someone would sneak up behind me with a chloroform soaked cloth while I sit here in my pathetic cubicle doing work that means absolutely NOTHING to me.”
wow.
a few days ago, i saw this in my facebook feed. it was a post from a friend of mine with no fewer than 6 ‘likes’. it’s a pretty powerful statement and a sentiment that apparently resonates with more than a few people.
we need to find a way out. and soon.
on this 4th of july, it’s time to declare your independence. independence from the norm. independence from society’s expectations of cradle to classroom to cubicle. independence from NOTHING.
read, books, the internet — read anything that deals with what you want to be doing. watch documentaries about that field. LEARN about what those people do, and what they have done, in order to live the life you want to be living. pay close attention because chances are you’ll have to do some of those same things to achieve your own goals.
it’s time to declare your independence from yourself.
people have made changes before; they have given up on the 9-5 workday and they’ve gone out and made their lives work for them. in all of these cases, one thing remains true: it started with a conscious decision to give up on what they knew in order to start something else. that kind of commitment takes courage. it requires fortitude. if you’re going to have any chance of living the life you want to live, you’re going to have to decide if it’s worth the risk or not. is it worth giving up the comfort of a consistent paycheck? is it worth moving to a new city? is it worth moving away from your closest friends? your family? your mettle is going to be tested for sure; before you go running off to start your own company or head back to college, ensure that it’s really what your heart desires.
it’s time to declare your independence from doom and gloom.
you might strive to reach your goal, to find that new job in that new place making more money than you hoped for, and never see those dreams become reality. yet there is no failure for anyone who strives to make themselves better, for even if you never reach your goals you are still better off than you were on the day you started. you will have experienced new things, seen new places, and learned what it means to be on the path of continuous improvement. and should your new endeavor not work out, you can always return to the corporate world of “business casual” dress and cubicle farms. there is no shame in that; there is no shame in trying.
it’s time to declare your independence.
what better day to start than today?
‘free’ marketing!
the best energy is free energy
i was walking around town center during ‘why not wednesday?’ when i passed a monster energy drink branded pickup truck giving out free samples (and by sample, i mean an entire 550ml can of monster import). i’ve been known to dabble in energy drinks, so i was pleased as punch to be getting myself a free can.
but to monster, it’s not just a sample; it’s more than that. it’s ‘free’ marketing.
it’s people like me who called up their friends who also live in the area to let them know there was free monster to be had. it’s people like me who posted an update about it on facebook. and now it’s even people like me who wrote a blog post talking about it. that’s monster’s name getting out there.. a lot.
smart brands don’t just see free samples as a way to convert people and sway their interest, but they see free samples as a way of getting free marketing as well. 10 years ago this wasn’t the case, but the social internet is changing things.
perhaps giving away something for nothing isn’t that bad of a business practice.
i hear what you’re saying, but what are you saying?
i recently finished up a very busy three week stretch of travel which included two industry conferences i was invited to present my wares at. both of those conferences followed a working group format with a lot of quick presentations about a lot of different topics in a very short amount of time. from working group to working group, albuquerque to monterey, one thing stayed constant: i had no idea what people were talking about.
what was worse than being stranded in denver’s airport after a redeye flight cancellation fiasco was being stranded in presentation after presentation filled with slides of information and no real message. for some reason, it seemed to me that people forgot a very key aspect of any presentation: a clear, understandable purpose.
there’s no doubt in my mind that those people who presented their work at these conferences are smart, talented, ambitious people. i was honestly surrounded by some brilliant people — leaders in their field with more certifications and degrees of higher learning than they have the wall space for. but knowing what you’re talking about and being able to pass that information on to others is an entirely separate matter.
it’s imperative that you reach your audience. why are they there? what’s in it for them? you have to convey what you’re talking about, where is it going, and why they should spend the next 30 minutes listening to you speak. you have to connect.
each of my presentations started off with a reason for listening ['this is going to solve these specific problems that our clients are having'], and each ended with a call to action ['this is just one example, and it's only the start. let's build on this together']. i was shocked to see just how few followed the same approach and just how many presentations i felt lost in.
we’re better than this, and there’s no shortage of resources available to help us improve.
- resonate and slide:ology by nancy duarte are must reads
- nancy also has a collection of tools on her organization’s website you can view for free
- the naked presenter and presentation zen by garr reynolds are also canonical texts
even if you don’t give presentations in your day-to-day work, read these books or any of the hundreds of articles online devoted to making presentations better. at some point in time, the lessons you learn are going to be valuable; i promise you that.
why ‘five guys’ tastes so damn delicious
image by jkbrooks85, flickr artist
making burgers is actually pretty easy. you get some ground beef (or create a 50/50 burger that’s half-bacon), you maybe add some seasoning to it (or more bacon), and you grill it up (with bacon on top). people have been doing it for years in back yards, town parks, and hole-in-the-wall eateries all across america. but when it comes to getting a really good burger, five guys is pretty damn delicious. but how?
it starts when you walk in the door. you’re welcomed by a lady or gentleman behind the counter with a big “hello” or “how’s it going?”; at my local five guys, my greeter is working the fry station. but it’s not a welcome like you get at moe’s southwest grill which always seems a bit fabricated since everyone in the store yells at you. five guys does it with a little more of a personal touch, and that makes all the difference.
then free toppings come in to play. Read the rest of this entry »
great (cost) expectations: why ebooks make people angry
image by theunquietlibrary, flickr artist
when people are in the market to buy things, there’s an expectation about how much that product or service should cost. this expectation comes from a variety of sources including marketing, historical purchases, environmental factors, supply and demand, and more. perceived value plays a large part as well. have you ever walked down the aisle of the grocery store and picked up a larger jar or can because the cost of 5 ounces more of apple juice or crushed tomatoes was worth the 10 extra cents? you will especially see this most prominently with sodas (or pop, if you’re from one of those crazy areas of the country). a 2-liter will run you a cool 99¢ while a 16oz bottle will cost you nearly a full dollar more. many will opt to by the 2-liter because it’s a better value. however, there are still people who will pay more for the ability to tote around a more mobile package. this is important!
unlike the crushed tomatoes which is perceived as just ‘more’ in the same kind of package, when you buy the 16oz pepsi, you’re also buying utility. it’s easy to carry around. you can take it with you in the car, or while you’re walking around campus, or keep it on your desk as you’re trudging through your 9-to-5. there’s certainly value in that utility; value worth paying for. this is the argument that dan ariely tries to make regarding ebooks. i, however, think differently (and apparently so do others).
soda and ebooks are vastly different, so the concept of utility can’t honestly be applied to each of them in the same way. the reason for this being that with soda, the smaller packages which offer the consumer more utility still cost the bottlers and distributors as much, if not more, than the 2-liter versions. the plastic bottles, the machinery that cranks out the carbonated diabetes sauce, the massive trucks to distribute their contents across the land, and the shelf space at your local grocery store — these are all costs that the coca-colas and pepsis of the world have to pay for. this is why people don’t get angry with the cost of soda. when you enter the digital arena, though, the game changes.
ebooks don’t cost any more money to ‘print’ one billion copies as there is for one copy. and there’s no greater cost to distribute one billion copies than it does to distribute one copy. and there are no more warehousing or shelving costs for one billion copies than there is for one copy. scale doesn’t matter in the world of digital publishing so there’s an expectation from consumers that the cost of digital books would be lower than the cost of an actual printed copy of the text because those cost savings — one would imagine — would be passed along to the end consumer.
but you know what happens when you assume…
just look through the amazon kindle store or the apple ibook store and run a comparison of digital copies to their printed brethren. in many cases, the digital version costs nearly the same and — egregiously — in some cases they actually cost more. there is a significant cost savings being realized for these publishers that is not being passed on to the readers. and that’s why ebooks make people angry.
get ready for a lot more one-star reviews.
don’t give them an excuse
bill mccreary image from nhl.com
some nights in hockey — especially if your team has a reputation — referees will blow the whistle a little more than usual. it just happens that other games are merely called tight with little room to interpret the rules. whatever the cause, you never want to have your players cutting ruts to the penalty box.
on the bench during those kinds of games, there’s a common saying that gets passed around among coaches and players: “don’t give them an excuse to put you in the box.” it’s a simple message. even if what would normally not be called an infraction earns you a 2 minute trip to the sin bin, as a player you have to be smarter than that and adapt. you can’t give the referees any excuse to call you for it. keep the sticks down, keep both hands on your stick, and watch the play along the boards.
business can be much the same with clients instead of referees. some might love everything you develop for them or the kinds of services you provide, but others may be insatiable still and find flaws with anything you bring to bear. if you know you’re dealing with the latter, follow the same simple rule: don’t give them an excuse.
don’t give your clients a reason to question the validity of your statements; be sure to practice each and every one of your presentations and always perform the proper amount of due diligence in defining answers to their questions.
don’t give your clients a reason to believe that your products are broken; test, retest, and test some more until you’re absolutely certain that your products or services are programmed properly, or mathematically sound, or have multiple research studies to support them.
don’t give your clients a reason to feel like they can go elsewhere and get the same service; go out of your way to prove your organization’s commitment to them by answering their phone calls promptly, replying to their emails the same day, and generally making them feel like you give a damn about them as customers.
if you’re dealing with a difficult client, don’t complain if they’re bitchy or a hard-ass or they’re calling bad penalties. just don’t give them an excuse to call one in the first place.
the difference between apple and everyone is…
one need only watch television for an hour or so to see commercials for other smart phones, tablets, and computers to tell the difference betwen apple and everyone else.
a 30 second commercial of people running on rooftops, connecting cables together, and there’s a full 3 second that you actually see the product. yeah, i’m talkin about you, thunderbolt. compare that with apple’s iphone 4 commercial where 26 seconds is used to show the product and what it does.
or another 30 second spot showing a guy, taking some kind of device, sitting in an imaginary pod, and playing a game. because i’m sure that’s exactly what will happen when you get a motorola xoom. compare that with apple’s original ipad commercial which again highlights all of the various functions of the device and how it can be used for fun, or learning, and everything in between.
so what is the difference? for apple — even in their marketing — it’s all about the user. what is the user experience like? what is it like to own an iphone? what is it like to have an ipad? look at everything you can do. look at how differently you can see the world.
say what you want about apple’s business practices, but one thing is certain: apple focuses on user experience perhaps more than anyone else. it defines their company.
what if everyone focused more on user experience and less on ‘special effects’?
life without email
this post is being mirrored at my other blog: thisisjohnny’s posterous
monday morning was a morning like all the rest, for a little while at least. i woke up at my normal time — 6:40a — ate reese’s puffs for breakfast, and headed out the door to the office. (fear not; i did get showered, clothed, and brushed my teeth in between.) when i arrived at my desk and opened the screen on my laptop, that familiar “boop” from the internal speaker of my firm-issued lenovo thinkpad rang true just as it has every morning since 2009, and i quickly pulled up microsoft outlook to check my email.
as i scanned my inbox for unread items, i had an alarming feeling overwhelm me: “there’s not a single thing in here that i want to read.” that’s not to say that i don’t like my job — in fact, my current tasking is probably as rewarding as my current role has ever been and i’ve learned a great deal from it — but the emails clogging up my 675 megabytes of exchange server space really didn’t need to be there. i pondered for a moment: “how much of this is my own fault? how many of my emails are other people looking at right now thinking the same thing: ‘this is worthless’?” so right then and there i decided my goal for the week:
don’t send a single email.
one of my friends, astonished, asked, “…are you off all week?” nope. i just wanted to live more intelligently, so boom — i cured it with my brain. shortly after, my brother sends me an email about going to a phillies game in april and i promptly reply on my iphone. doh! i convince myself that was unfair, i mean… i just started this thing, so i pull a kramer, “alright. starting.. now!” and the rest of monday goes off without a hitch. one day in, this isn’t bad! i was able to coordinate what i had to do in work with some simple, more engaging, phone calls and face-to-face micro-meetings. any and all other communication happens via text message, yammer, twitter, facebook, and online forums.
tuesday comes along with its own challenges (namely the fact that it isn’t friday yet). now people are asking me for tangible things! ‘that file’ and ‘that sql statement’. woof! even still, with people asking for powerpoint presentations and txt files, i’m able to use our corporate enterprise 2.0 system — based on microsoft sharepoint — to upload and store files on our team site and verbally tell folks, or drop an instant message, about where to go in order to get to it. four phone calls, two uploads, a handful of face-to-face conversations, and a circumvention of the rule by asking a coworker to email one particular file for me instead (hey, i still didn’t send it.. delegation of duties ftw!) and i’m through my second day of the week. confidence grows. i can do this.
on wednesday, this article about reply-all storms from the wall street journal crosses my yammer feed (thanks, nathan!). i’m convinced now more than ever that what i’m doing isn’t just good for me, but good for the whole company. i also convince myself that being able to fly is probably the one superpower i’d really like to have if i could only have just the one. i spend the vast majority of my time at client site for the rest of the week where email isn’t really available to me in any normal capacity. the vast majority of my work continues to use shared network services, face-to-face, and telephone calls. my personal communications are strictly through facebook, micro-blogging, lunch with a friend and colleague at taco bell, text messaging, and xbox live.
and here, as i type this on sunday evening, i have yet to send a single email since the one i sent to my brother on monday morning. so to the question, “what’s it like to live life without email?” let me just answer with one word:
awesome.
in sum…
pros: it’s far more engaging to work with actual people and not an inbox; not having to worry about “how is this going to come across?” or “does this make sense?”; it actually takes less time to call someone than to email them; using shared resources and e2.0 platforms (a) keeps version control, (b) lets everyone connect, not just those folks on the to: line, (c) keeps everything organized.
cons: some information doesn’t need to be persistent but for a while. using a wiki or other 2.0 tool is overkill, and a phone call or face-to-face meetup doesn’t provide the kind of fall-back reference needed; i miss signing my emails “- dino”.
overall: i’m not saying that email is completely worthless, but it’s mostly worthless. 
there’s not much value you get from email that you can’t get from any other means. i won’t say that i’ll never send another email again, but i’m certainly going to keep moving forward with this new perspective on the ageless tool of the digital age: less is more. why don’t you join me? do what i did.. just try it out for a week.
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