Twitterpated!

An overused title, perhaps, but one that is apropos for my perspective on Twitter.

Having gone from barely noticing it to casual user to "Twooshing!" all over the place these last 5 months, I think I'm hooked.

And - I'm eager to explore new ways to leverage the platform - look for more updates in future columns. In the meantime, enjoy this one...

"...it came out freaking sweet!"

I think most of what is done in the automotive industry is boring & tired. Sure, I like gawking at the new body styles from certain manufacturers each year, but honestly most of what is coming out of that industry seems pretty staid to me.

Except for Scion and what they're doing with Scion Speak.

I like what they did when they introduced the car. I like how they have marketed the car. I like how they sell the car (using separate areas in Toyota show rooms). And I like how they are building customer loyalty around the car. I think they've done a good job of knowing what market they are going after and they hit it.

(TANGENT: this is available here through the NY Times, which should have a free sign up form if you can't already view the article; otherwise it's $1,000 USD to republish on the internet for 1 Year (maximum) - that's nuts! I feel another blog coming on...)

I think this is a great example of leveraging the Voice of their brand, and strengthening (and building more of?) their raving fan customers. This car is all-about self expression. It's a mass produced, customized ride.

But don't confusing "Marketing" (which is what we're talking about here) with "Sales" (which is a different part of the company and frankly, not doing all that well).

Scion has carved out a niche for itself that it should focus on. I see Scion Speak as one step on that path, and would like to see what they do with it next.

Would I buy one? Probably not. Would I try to emulate their marketing & sales techniques. I think you would be "Scichotic" not to...

Help Me! Help Me! (best said in a very tiny, sqeaky voice, laying on a spider web, at the end of a 1950's movie)

This is the coolest thing I've seen on the web in a LOOOOONG time. Why?

- it looks cool!
- imagine (and appreciate) the engineering the mechanical / electrical / computer engineering that went into making this. Now, contrast that with an average human's biological & computational engineering - realizing that many of us might not do so well.

Can't wait to see the next version!

The Good Folks Over At Common Craft

I really like what these guys do - very quick, easy & simple.

This is something my Grandmother would be able to understand!

PS - GDC review coming soon...!

Open the pod bay doors, HAL!

I'm writing this blog entry using Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 9. Because I can.

I first purchased the NaturallySpeaking software about any 10 years ago and didn't like it. After putting together the content for an upcoming webinar, and having it take six hours of typing, I decided to try something different. Now that webinar would only take me about an hour or two.

I is still working out the nuances of the software (pun intended).for example, I am still learning all of the formatting commands, and I am finding that because my computer is slow. There is a very slight delay in the response of the software. However, I am noticing that the program is "learning" as I go. If you do a lot of typing out, you should definitely check it out.

This Is A Great Book – Read It!

I bought The Elephant and The Dragon: The Rise of India and China and What It Means for All of Us watching Author Robyn Meredith on a Charlie Rose interview last summer. It was a great interview and the next day I went to the bookstore 2 days later to buy it – and all the copies in the local surrounding bookstore were literally sold out (I asked the store manager check around for me).

Well researched, organized and written, Ms. Meredith has taken a complex topic and added just a little-more-than-sufficient detail into the historical context, that provides a great foundation for understanding contemporary realities. Her review of China strongly correlated with what I knew, and her review of India was enlightening.

I think it's a great introductory / intermediate text on the subject of outsourcing in general, and with respect to these two nations in particular. For more on Outsourcing and the role that India has created for itself in this industry, I still strongly recommend Bangalore Tiger by Steve Hamm. These are good companion texts - enjoy!

"I think that whole 'Internet-thing' is going to be big..."

Etta James.

She is timeless. Every time I hear her sing, I'm there in a jazz club in San Francisco, (1950-ish) and I can see the piano behind her a little bit, off to the right...the bassist on a small riser behind her on the right, low lights with cigarette smoke slowly wafting through the room...

That's Web 2.0, for you. One of my friends on Facebook (someone I literally haven't spoken to in 8 months, and at least a year before then) put together a song list that loaded up when I added Pandora to my Facebook page. Pandora's a music-suggestion generator from the Music Genome Project, where it will suggest music based on a variety of inputs (i.e. - tunes my friends suggest, tunes I've previously played, etc.). The bad news for me is that I already have over 98GB of music that I have purchased over the years (mostly CDs that I've converted to .MP3s) - not including all of my vinyl that I'm starting to convert. I can see that I'll be discovering and buying more music, in the coming months...

What does this mean (other than an increase in spending for me?!?! :P )?

Organization - the usual organizing principles we've used will increasingly matter less, and instead how we think about our organizing principles will matter more. "Technology" is an enabling catalyst. It's not just something with an On/Off switch and lots of blinking lights. The how we think of things...the organizing principles...the constructs and frameworks...the models - many of the current ones will become irrelevant with each new version of software, hardware, refined service offering, or social network. I think these will increasingly based on a combination of individual and group tastes...

Process - what won't become obsolete so easily is the process one uses to create these frameworks and constructs. I only see these becoming more refined with each new interaction. This iterative refinement will eventually yield entirely new processes to create new organizing principles. Due to human Nature, Behavior and Comprehension of these changes, assimilating new process(es) will take longer than assimilating technological advances and new organization structures. An effective juxtaposition of Creativity and Discipline (at both the individual and group level) will likewise be increasingly valued as a means for creating economic value.

Relationships - just like my friend can create a themed music list to share (either passively as it's stumbled upon, or actively by sending it to others or others to it), so to can anyone share more of themselves and their identity with "anyone else" - thus creating the potential for a new relationship. I think we will need a new way to manage these relationships (see "Organization" above). "Tags" if you will, for the various people and organizations that each individual knows. But even these are uni-dimensional and fail to adequately show the interactions and inter-relationships (their "inherent value", if you will) that contribute to an accurate measure of Value.

Capital - As momentum in these areas builds, I think this naturally gives rise to a redefinition of Capital. No longer is Capital in and of itself the only means to an economic end. Access to Capital - whether directly by the people and firms you know, or indirectly by the people or firms your contacts know - will become a more valued resource and leverage point. I think that's part of the reason why China (still a Communist nation) gave The Blackstone Group (a Private Equity firm - one of the large, bastions of Capitalism) $3 Billion USD this past May.

How does this tie in w/the Pandora application? It was through that application that I discovered a new dimension to two existing relationships, as well as expanded the possibility that I could create new ones along that same or similar dimension (musical interests).

Being able to understand and capitalize on this individual and community behavior will be directly tied to ones level of security, happiness and overall well-being as we move forward. This is how new markets, competitors, etc. will be discovered.

Cmuoniactoin

This is cool. check this out...this works ok w/human-to-human communication; I don't think it would work so well (yet) in creating computer programs (unless you had some good AI involved)...

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too
Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.
i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it

(...and yet, while I can comprehend this, I'd still feel bad if I sent somethign out that was missspelled...)

:P

Easy, Entertaining, Informative Read - Check It Out!

One of my favorite books of the last 12 months is Bangalore Tiger by Steve Hamm. I bought it when it first came out and couldn't put it down. Well written, it describes Indian Outsourcing firm Wipro (specifically) and gives a detailed review of what's behind Outsourcing / Globalization (in general). I definitely recommend reading it. I'd consider it required reading for anyone providing Outsourcing services to customers, and am disappointed when I see that it's lessons aren't applied.

One of the best takeaways I enjoyed is how Wipro pragmatically applied disciplined approaches to production and quality, and saw great results. Were there failures & setbacks in their approach? I'm sure - but they learned from them and re-adjusted their approach. The examples they highlighted really aligned with what I have seen first-hand from Wipro consultants CMM, Six Sigma and Lean Sigma provide a good framework and set of tools (much like ITIL does), but it takes some skill to understand when and how to apply what tools for what effect.

There are other great points conveyed throughout various chapters in the book - "Growth: Keep a Thousand Fires Burning", "Adopt Ultrastrict Ethics to Build a Sterling Brand", "Reward Employees with Recognition and Respect", "Measure Everything Constantly", "Plan Three Years Ahead to Prepare for Rapid Growth", "Adopt the Best Ideas, Then Make Them Your Own Way", "Be Obsessive About Customers"...and there are others...

It's not so much that there were a lot of new or novel insights in the book - and that's the point! Much of what I read I have read before elsewhere - and so has Wipro. Wipro has tried, applied and "refried" these ideas to affect a positive force for consistent growth at their company, growing from $500 Million USD in 2000, to realizing a market capitalization of more than $20 Billion USD 6 years later - surpassing EDS' market capitalization of $13 Billion at that time (now at $10.91 Billion USD, as of this writing).

"We have a feeling that the platform we're on, offshoring, with price arbitrage, is a burning platform. It's only good for a few more years," says Chief Strategy Officer Sudip Nandy. "We need to do things differently to compete against international competition." (p. 69)

Well said, and a point that is easily lost on American Nationalists worried about "offshoring of work" - which (I believe) is itself a myopic, misanthropic term that prejudices the speaker into an inaccurate way of thinking about how the nature of work is changing.