As the year closes out and families come together, no matter what your persuasion, background, colour or creed(quite frankly all of that is totally irrelevant) - everybody, no matter where we are, we all are owe a huge debt of gratitude to those that have put themselves in danger on our behalf.
Massive-scale online collaboration
One of the biggest challenges that still needs to be cracked is the translation of the WWW into every major language. Best case for free, as fast as possible.
This lighthearted look at collaboration on a huge scale is well worth the time.
This lighthearted look at collaboration on a huge scale is well worth the time.
Pleasantries: Why? Be Direct, It is Safer.
There is one thing that fascinates me about many people - their innate preference for avoiding the truth. Is it because they just cannot express themselves, or are they just socially inept as managers (or maybe just introverts in disguise)? Most of the time they seem simply not to want to either listen, or deliver the basic message - without all the disguises that are typically used and then described as just being polite. They then are baffled why messages get misinterpreted and things go off the rails.
Engaging with social networks = United Breaks Guitars
Anybody that follows trends on social networks has probably heard of Dave Carroll and his YouTube video about United Airlines and their treatment of his guitar. Yes, it is an interesting story that demonstrates the power of social networks (and the fact that YouTube viewers appreciate a really good video), but there are some real lessons to be learned as well.
If you have not seen it - then have a look below. Within a week of it being uploaded it had more than three million hits and the mainstream media had picked it up - CNN, The Wall Street Journal, BBC, CBS, and many other print and electronic outlets.
If you have not seen it - then have a look below. Within a week of it being uploaded it had more than three million hits and the mainstream media had picked it up - CNN, The Wall Street Journal, BBC, CBS, and many other print and electronic outlets.
Focus on what you really should do ..
Quite often in the midst of a what seems to be a vast amount of reading that it standard for any student, the odd article resonates and sticks in your head.
I came across one of these today ... " Just because you can doesn't mean that you should" on HBR. It has a really simple but profound message that is captured in the title.
Add this pearl of wisdom to your management mantra and you have a really useful governor to keep you on the straight and narrow. No matter how senior you are in the organisation - this article is relevant to every single decision that needs to be made.
Worth a read.
I came across one of these today ... " Just because you can doesn't mean that you should" on HBR. It has a really simple but profound message that is captured in the title.
Add this pearl of wisdom to your management mantra and you have a really useful governor to keep you on the straight and narrow. No matter how senior you are in the organisation - this article is relevant to every single decision that needs to be made.
Worth a read.
3V's are key for a Successful Customer Focused Strategy
Strategists will be aware of all the usual models: Porters 5 Forces, Ansoff’s Matrix; BCG’s Growth-Share Matrix; 7S McKinsey Model, PEST(LE) model; SWOT analysis; IDIC (Peppers & Rogers) etc. Maz Iqbal in a blog post puts forward the notion that the 3 V's of Vision, Value and Value Proposition are potentially another framework that is relevant and could be used.
He argues that having a vision is key: "The power of a Vision Statement lies in its ability to enroll a diversity of actors (Tops, Middles, Bottoms, Customers, Suppliers...) in an inspiring point of view on the future such that they co-operate in moving towards and creating that future." The point that he makes about taking the different stakeholders along with you is an important one.
He goes on to argue that values are "real - authentic" and "act both as guides and as constraints on what you will and will not do and how you will conduct yourself". They have "another advantage, they allow you to find / attract value chain partners", again having partners that share the same values is pretty fundamental.
Finally he concludes that "If you get the Value Proposition right then you will attract hordes of customers. If you actually deliver on the Value Proposition – the customer experience delivers the value proposition – then you will keep customers and they will get more customers for you through word of mouth."
It makes sense, anything to add?
(you can read the blog post here.)
He argues that having a vision is key: "The power of a Vision Statement lies in its ability to enroll a diversity of actors (Tops, Middles, Bottoms, Customers, Suppliers...) in an inspiring point of view on the future such that they co-operate in moving towards and creating that future." The point that he makes about taking the different stakeholders along with you is an important one.
He goes on to argue that values are "real - authentic" and "act both as guides and as constraints on what you will and will not do and how you will conduct yourself". They have "another advantage, they allow you to find / attract value chain partners", again having partners that share the same values is pretty fundamental.
Finally he concludes that "If you get the Value Proposition right then you will attract hordes of customers. If you actually deliver on the Value Proposition – the customer experience delivers the value proposition – then you will keep customers and they will get more customers for you through word of mouth."
It makes sense, anything to add?
(you can read the blog post here.)
Idiot! You can't disconnect your Value Proposition, Corporate Vision and Personal Freedom!
There is a powerful talk by Simon Sinek on TED that outlines his reasoning why there is a case for communicating your value proposition from the inside out: talk about what your company vision is, before you discuss the specifics of the product value proposition, and what you do.
As I have outlined before, the reason for bringing a specific product to market and understanding exactly what the problem is that you are trying to solve is fundamental. If you cannot answer the simple question of what the problem is that you are solving, then "Houston, we have a problem".
Doodling is an incredibly powerful thinking tool
It is probably fair to say that most of us consider doodling an activity that we do when we our minds wander. But in reality, it seems to be a preemptive measure to stop us from losing focus - this is the argument that is put forward by Sunni Brown in a short TED presentation.
If you have 5 minutes and just need focus on something else, then it's certainly worth a watch.
If you have 5 minutes and just need focus on something else, then it's certainly worth a watch.
MBA Learning Teams and Playing in Position
It has been interesting contrasting a day to day work environment with my MBA learning team as we work through a new venture group project.....
One thing has become very obvious. Anybody that believes that there is automatically a common agenda because people work together, in a working environment, is potentially making a serious error of judgement. Working inside my learning team has taught me a couple of things.
One thing has become very obvious. Anybody that believes that there is automatically a common agenda because people work together, in a working environment, is potentially making a serious error of judgement. Working inside my learning team has taught me a couple of things.
5 Lessons for Product Practitioners from Steve Jobs
As the world reflects on the passing of Steve Jobs, it inevitably triggers some thinking about lessons learned and the legacy of learning's that he leaves behind. Here is my list of Jobs'isms, which I am sure is just one of many.- Keep it simple
- Believe in what you are doing
- Love your product
- Failure is simply another step towards success
- Release your product when it is ready - not before.
I am currently working through the implementation of a new strategy, a portfolio repositioning and a new product development kickoff (all @ the same time), these 5 key principles coupled with understanding WHY (see previous post), has been absolutely key to keeping focused on the key objectives at hand.
Think Different
There are not many occasions when somebody passes that you have never met,
has had a huge influence on what you use,
has inspired you to strive for more,
has taught that failure is simply another lesson on the path to success,
and has brought a smile each time you consider his achievements.
RIP Steve Jobs, you touched so many ....
You only have a Scale of 1: Why org's should consider cloud solutions
Recently there have been a number of occasions when I have been asked to explain what the potential benefits are for an enterprise organisation of a "cloud" deployment over a typical enterprise CPE (customer premises equipment) deployment. There is so much hype, and marketing generated positioning that tries to pretend that it is a complex value proposition, where in reality the answer is fairly simple ... simple common sense I think.
Firstly, the value proposition for "cloud" and its potential benefits are not complex (that does not necessarily mean that the techniology underneath is not); and secondly the difference between an in-house controlled CPE deployment and a cloud based deployment can simply be articulated as one of scale. If one is deploying an in-house CPE solution, no matter how small or large the organisation, the only economy of scale benefit that can be gained is directly related to the size of your organisation .. the level of aggregation is always 1.
Firstly, the value proposition for "cloud" and its potential benefits are not complex (that does not necessarily mean that the techniology underneath is not); and secondly the difference between an in-house controlled CPE deployment and a cloud based deployment can simply be articulated as one of scale. If one is deploying an in-house CPE solution, no matter how small or large the organisation, the only economy of scale benefit that can be gained is directly related to the size of your organisation .. the level of aggregation is always 1.
Gartner Magic Quadrant's: Any use to anybody on their own?
The post summer phase of the year often brings new challenges, and this year is certainly no different as we gear up to start really building new capabilities in the business. Part of that process has meant that I have had the opportunity to attend many a vendor briefing, and what has struck me is how the "Gartner Magic Quadrant's" get interpreted and used in presentations.
In 9 out of 10 times, a single view of the latest Magic Quadrant is trotted out to justify a marketing statement. If I had a penny for each time that a vendor claimed that they were now the market leader and used a MQ graphic to justify the claim ...... I should long ago be sitting very comfortably on a beach in the Bahamas with a tall cool drink in hand.
Practitioner's that are tracking the market generally will examine fairly large volumes of data in order to be able to spot a trend and draw any sort of meaningful conclusion. MQ's are not comprehensive data sets, and are simply one set of data points, they simply do not tell the whole story.
In 9 out of 10 times, a single view of the latest Magic Quadrant is trotted out to justify a marketing statement. If I had a penny for each time that a vendor claimed that they were now the market leader and used a MQ graphic to justify the claim ...... I should long ago be sitting very comfortably on a beach in the Bahamas with a tall cool drink in hand.
Practitioner's that are tracking the market generally will examine fairly large volumes of data in order to be able to spot a trend and draw any sort of meaningful conclusion. MQ's are not comprehensive data sets, and are simply one set of data points, they simply do not tell the whole story.
The proliferation of mobile platforms
If you are interested in the proliferation of different mobile platforms and their respective lifespans, then a new post by Horace Dediu will certainly be worth a minute or two of your time. He lists the mobile platforms already announced for 2012 and plots them against all previous and current mobile platforms. See below:
Certainly an interesting view of the mobile world! Go here to read the complete post.
Certainly an interesting view of the mobile world! Go here to read the complete post.
Scenario Planning and the process of innovation
Sometimes there comes that nagging feeling that one just has to churn out some content, but I have been resisting the temptation. In the mean time I have been trying to work out what exactly I wanted to say.
The questions that I have been working out how to phrase are these:
The questions that I have been working out how to phrase are these:
- How can one take the various processes that are used to drive innovation as a practice and apply the same principles to scenario planning and analysis?
- Which processes are best and which elements make sense to look at?
- Models and methodologies abound, as do different schools of thought. The real question is where is a good place to start?
Product Strategy and Portfolio Development need Scenario Planning
I have been thinking about innovation, and how to identify, and then prioritise potential product portfolio development options. Quite often, the choice of what needs to be done in order to rejuvenate a product portfolio or evolve it into the next generation of offerings is driven by individual personalities, or a limited leadership group, or just simply "group think" that is driven by financial decision making metrics, or the latest "pet" idea. How then can the business ensure that all angles have been covered before a decision is made?
What is doing your Exec MBA really like?
This was a question that somebody posed as we stood next to a BBQ on a very pleasant summers evening.
As somebody working my way along the Exec MBA journey, my experience has been that one of the things that you have to realise is that your social life is going to take a battering, so a BBQ occasion was one of those to treasure.
You need to ensure that your family is on board. It does undoubtedly stress everything that previously was relaxed, structured and/or planned out. But you will meet great people, and learn to work together in a team, in a way that I certainly had never experienced before.
I did find this article on WSJ.com which does give a view of what it is like.
As somebody working my way along the Exec MBA journey, my experience has been that one of the things that you have to realise is that your social life is going to take a battering, so a BBQ occasion was one of those to treasure.
You need to ensure that your family is on board. It does undoubtedly stress everything that previously was relaxed, structured and/or planned out. But you will meet great people, and learn to work together in a team, in a way that I certainly had never experienced before.
I did find this article on WSJ.com which does give a view of what it is like.
Stakeholder Interests Have to be Balanced
One of the things that I have been trying to do is understand exactly what is required when doing due diligence on a company, whether it is well established or a startup.
Part of that evaluation is undoubtadly understanding why the organisation exists, what the problem is that it solves, and whether its value proposition resonates, but there is another dimension which is equally important - how it approaches the management of its various stakeholders.
While I was researching the topic I came across this article by Charles J. Fombrun on Forbes.com about How To Restore Your Company's Reputation which describes why some organisations have suffered because they have paid more attention to short term financial results than longer term value. The article identifies 7 key indicators that need to be addressed:
Part of that evaluation is undoubtadly understanding why the organisation exists, what the problem is that it solves, and whether its value proposition resonates, but there is another dimension which is equally important - how it approaches the management of its various stakeholders.
While I was researching the topic I came across this article by Charles J. Fombrun on Forbes.com about How To Restore Your Company's Reputation which describes why some organisations have suffered because they have paid more attention to short term financial results than longer term value. The article identifies 7 key indicators that need to be addressed:
Value Propositions for Services are Different
Most, if not all product marketing and product managers have been faced with the challenge of building a value proposition that needs to resonate with not only customers, but the sales team as well. There are 4 basic principles to consider when building a value proposition that are pretty much fundamental. These become even more important when crafting a value proposition that positions a new service as opposed to a product. (and will increasingly become even more so with the move to "cloud" solutions)
- need to be targeted at the audience - you had better understand who the audience is.
- one size does not fit all - which is it? Company size or vertical market?
- what is the best way to craft them? Different approaches are needed for services vs products.
- what are the potential knock on effects if the customer actually thinks about buying your value proposition? Shock, horror! :-)
TED: The Hidden Effect of Social Networks
Innovation as a process
There is not always going to be something really sexy or enlightening that is suddenly going to appear here as a new post. There is another reason why this blog has come into existence ... as part of my EMBA studies we are encouraged to "reflect" and capture reflections as part of the learning process. In my head, part of the reflection process is to capture some of those ideas, concepts, articles and any random thinking and put them somewhere ... and this blog serves as a great vehicle for that purpose.
We have just completed another set of workshop sessions on Strategic Marketing, which I will cover in another post at some point in the future. Part of the time was dedicated to an introduction to Strategic Innovation. But even when one is just skimming the surface (and we were skimming the surface), there were a couple of key points that I took away which are worth noting:
We have just completed another set of workshop sessions on Strategic Marketing, which I will cover in another post at some point in the future. Part of the time was dedicated to an introduction to Strategic Innovation. But even when one is just skimming the surface (and we were skimming the surface), there were a couple of key points that I took away which are worth noting:
Value Propositions - Scope to Differentiate
If you have some spare time on your hands, @chuckfrey has posted an interesting review of a book that outlines 11 potential models for creating new value propositions that create value for customers. These models can form a base from which to look at things from the customers viewpoint. He outlines the 11 areas to consider:
The Changing Customer Journey
Today, most (if not all) vendors in the software, hardware and telecoms world are still working through the impact on their products and revenues that the shift to "cloud" is going to have in the short, medium and longer term. This is certainly the case with the big vendors that are used to shifting "tin" and software licenses.
This shift has to change the way that everybody that involved in product development looks at how they build their product offering. The big difference is that the customer journey now becomes really important, simply because the customer service experience will be potentially that single element that enables you to differentiate your offer from the competitions.
This shift has to change the way that everybody that involved in product development looks at how they build their product offering. The big difference is that the customer journey now becomes really important, simply because the customer service experience will be potentially that single element that enables you to differentiate your offer from the competitions.
WHY is THE most important Question
Starting to build a product is daunting, but in reality, the immediate temptation is always to delve straight into the detail, without really understanding why you are building a product in the first place.
It does not matter whether one works in a startup, large corporate, or even a medium sized organisation that is somewhere between startup and exit strategy. What differentiates the good ones from the bad, is that they understand why they are doing something.
It does not matter whether one works in a startup, large corporate, or even a medium sized organisation that is somewhere between startup and exit strategy. What differentiates the good ones from the bad, is that they understand why they are doing something.
Principles for Decision Making
Product managers often work in an environments where clear management demarcation lines seemingly do not exist, or are at best, blurred. Matrix management, cross functional teams and dotted reporting lines are just a day to day reality. Add to this the current economic climate, restricted headcounts and tight budgets, getting decisions made and making them is often very challenging.
I was browsing the HBR blogs a couple of days ago and came across a posting by @tonyschwartz in which he outlines 10 principles by which you can benchmark your decision making process. These are:
I was browsing the HBR blogs a couple of days ago and came across a posting by @tonyschwartz in which he outlines 10 principles by which you can benchmark your decision making process. These are:
Focus on the Customer
Quite often product management is focused on the product/solution that is taken to market. I would argue that it is not the product that is important. It is the customer. Unless you have a very clear understanding of the customer context in the market that you are trying to address, you have a solution looking for a problem, which inevitably leads to failure in the worst case, unnecessary resource (cash) consumption and delayed success in the likely case.
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