TREND MAZE

2006-09-01T08:49:00.000-07:00

The personal statement a watch makes is just as relevant as ever
(Josh Rubin)

Just came across an interesting article on CNN.com:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/ptech/08/25/cell.phone.watches.reut/index.html

The proliferation of cell phones, with their list of extra features, has had the knock-on effect of eliminating the need to wear a wristwatch unless it is to make a fashion statement.

For the watch manufacturers this suggests they should focus more on forming emotional perception of their brand and their products. It is not about functionality anymore but about who you are. If there is no great story behind your brand, there is little emotional perception of it and it will keep losing its market share.

Dowd said watchmakers were starting to exploit the accessory angle by seeking the endorsements of popular figures such as rock stars or snowboarders.

Swatch Group, the world's biggest watchmaker that has Omega and Tissot among its brands, has shifted its product mix toward luxury watches.

2006-06-24T11:03:00.000-07:00

Blogs: an Internet revolution, silent and overlooked

Blogging/RSS technologies represent probably the most significant change in information exchange since email and HTTP protocol were introduced.

Blogging is a shift from PULL to controllable PUSH information dissemination.

PULL is the usual way of browsing web sites, checking the favorite ones on daily, weekly or monthly basis. As most of us are overloaded and have a very limited spare time and too many information sources struggling for our attention, we end up with just a couple of information sources we check regularly leaving aside all the others.

Email news subscriptions were of some help in the past sending us updates, announcements and news headlines. But these days… forget about it! Most of us are getting to much spam to rely on email. I would not want 5 more daily emails in my mailbox on top of my daily pile I have to go through.

Here is how blogs change this picture. It is all about RSS subscription when you use RSS-feeds subscription software to subscribe for the specific updates on specific topics from specific web site. As the result instead of keeping an eye on 10 or 20 different web sites with different update frequency, I check all the news and updates in one single place. And I am the one who fully controls the subscription and can remove any web sites or topics that are not interested for me any more.

Besides this, blogging is all about interactivity and two-way communication. I am not just reading but also participating in a discussion around a certain topic of interest, or otherwise “listen” to others discussing it…

No wonder that although initially used mostly for personal journals, blogs are becoming a tool used by many businesses to engage their customers into a two-way conversation as opposed to just announcing updates and news on another faceless corporate web site.

Daring to question it

2006-05-25T23:48:00.000-07:00

It is all about innovation, not optimization

One of the signs of the 20th century is the speed. I guess it differentiates the new economy from the old economy more then anything else. Arguably Internet and mobile communication can be blamed for that more then anything else. But how does it all affect our day-to-day job?

I have always been a proponent of structured project management approach and proven methodologies. I admired the stories from Ed Yourdon’s Death March or The Mythical Man-Month by Frederick Brooks: the whole scientific approach to software development described by them seemed to be a silver bullet. I got completely obsessed with TQM and Six Sigma methodologies after I first read about them. They were applying Six Sigma to everything in GE including their TV shows, where they were measuring quality counting how many people in the audience were laughing at their jokes

I wonder whether these proven methods and techniques are as applicable these days as they used to be in 80th… Do we have time to do everything the right way any more?

Wealth in the new regime flows directly from innovation, not optimization; that is, wealth is not gained by perfecting the known, but imperfectly seizing the unknown. (Kevin Kelly, p.29)

The only sustainable competitive advantage comes from out-innovating the competition. (James Morse, p.29)

Looking at Apple, Google or Microsoft I am getting an impression that doing by the book is not a luxury we can afford these days. We should be fast and should be innovative too. Only the fastest will survive.

Jack Welch would put it this way: If we do mistakes, let them be because we are too fast rather than too slow.

Exactly! To be fast we should be having a higher tolerance to mistakes. If we do not try we do not succeed in it. The big-bang product development approach is deader than ever… at least in technology realm…

Effective prototyping may be the most valuable ‘core competence’ an innovative organization can hope to have. (Michael Schrage, p.96)

So, in the world of quickly changing environment and never-ending experimentation, is there still a room for Six Sigma’s black belts and ISO 9000 certifications?