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Blog Post: Welcome Serendipity

That was the big takeaway from this fine post from Gary Vaynerchuk when discussing why he takes random meetings. There is simply so much good that can come from having an early morning meeting on a Wednesday that it is worth the time. Sure, not every gathering is pure gold, but you will never know until you try.

Where I think many will lose the entrepreneur is they don’t work for themselves. If they do, it may not be in an industry or market that lends itself to “welcoming serendipity”. Dont worry, you still can.

When I started at my current company a few months ago, I volunteered for everything I could. I spent the first few weeks solid in meetings and conference calls. I walked the halls shaking my hands asking if I could help. People thought, and still do think, I am nuts. They told me I would get run over, and extend my team to far.

While that may happen someday, I think what it did was show I was ready to help. Change things for the better. Find real solutions.

Another thing I volunteered was to get on the phone with customers. I wanted to hear from them: what they wanted and why they wanted it. I gave them an actual voice with someone who could do something about it. I then went about finding a way to make it happen.

If you already do either of those things, find something else off the wall to try. Find a meet up and network. Start posting in LinkedIn groups. Write emails to companies you admire. Ask for help in accomplishing your goals (or fining out what your goals are).

We don’t actually grow when we are comfortable. So stop reclining and welcome a little serendipity into your life.

Blog Post: Welcome Serendipity

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Blog Post: @Twitter Looks To Be Second Screen Of #Advertising

The validity of this product concept needs a little time and public endorsement to succeed, but I really admire Twitter for really putting themselves out there.

Concept is simple: advertisers buy ad space on TV. You tweet about a show. Ad people see the tweet and have the chance to see if you liked their commercial on the social network. Simple right?

Twitter hopes so.

The chance for user engagement is huge. The platform proved as much with TV watching in general, why wouldn’t it work for product integration and commercials?

Maybe so. The possibility exists, though, that the audience that uses Twitter might also fast forward through commercials on DVR. They could also watch online, maybe even torrent.

Time will tell. I think this is a great idea, one that can result in additional revenue for my social network of choice.

Blog Post: @Twitter Looks To Be Second Screen Of #Advertising

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How To Develop Taste

I love this article, because instead of accusing some of not having any it inspires us all to develop some. Points 3 & 6 are my favorite in the bunch.

How To Develop Taste

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Blog Post: The Internet of Things In Action

This is a fantastic read from The Next Web about just how many devices are connected to the Internet and how that can affect our lives in a variety of ways. Maybe we aren’t thinking big enough when we say the words “mobile device”.

Think about it. Can an alarm clock be considered one? What about your thermostat? Or your shoes?

The possibilities are endless. If something is connected, transmits and receives data, and is aware of your surroundings…you get my drift. Before we know it, we will lament the days where we once thought just our phones and tablets were mobile devices.

Blog Post: The Internet of Things In Action

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Blog Post: Will M-Commerce Replace The Cash Register?

I have been reading many of these kinds of articles lately, and each one seems less effective than the previous. For every article where a writer posits the end of cash and the retail machine that stores it, another is written about the challenges mobile payments have. Regardless, the idea of cash registers being replaced for good certainly makes for a good headline.

Unfortunately, I don’t think the idea can be a reality for some time.

It’s not paper money itself that is the biggest roadblock to m-commerce right now, it’s plastic. Consumers are showing a reluctance to ditching their credit cards in favor of mobile devices currently, and with current security flaws in phones it is no surprise. 

Just don’t pay much attention to the idea of cash machines dying off right now. While there are huge advantages to Square and Google Wallet, I think mass adoption is further off than most people think.

Blog Post: Will M-Commerce Replace The Cash Register?

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Blog Post: Engineering Around A Barrier

I am encouraged by blog posts like this by Thomas Husson. Instead of seeing a technology like QR Codes as “dead”, companies like mobiLead solutions are engineering around the problem.

While I don’t think this is the only barrier, QR Codes are kind of an eye sore and difficult to weave into attractive marketing materials. What if, instead of sticking one in the bottom of a print ad, the logo had the target integrated?

That, and mobile devices having scanners fully integrated into the operating software, could give the technology a bump in the right direction.

It’s solutions like this that could benefit fringe breakthrough ideas like QR Codes, NFC chips and RFID tags. Identify the barrier and engineer around it.

Blog Post: Engineering Around A Barrier

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Blog Post: User Stories are Overrated?!?

Today’s link really got my blood boiling this morning, mainly because I have had Scrum training from Mike Cohn. I also hate it when people feel the need to go after the top people or businesses in an industry as a means of getting some notoriety. That may or may not be the case, nevertheless I watched the video from Tom Gilb seething.

After some Googling, I found out Gilb is a engineer and has made quite a career out of the inspection and metrics behind great software. I didn’t need to search to find this out, though, because that world view is clear from his approach to user stories.

That’s when it dawned on me that this video is a great teaching tool for product personnel. As I always say to my colleagues: user stories are the beginning of the conversation with development, not the end. The mistake I think Gilb makes is seeing stories by themselves as the sole piece of information an engineer needs to do complex work.

Having used this method of communicating requirements at several different companies, trying to lump all user stories in the same boat is hard. We all write them differently, and compile acceptance criteria differently. Within the same release, I am capable of providing a great amount of information that gives developers everything they need as well as the opposite. That’s where the conversation takes place.

Every engineer and architect I have spoken to have had their fair share of poorly written requirements. My favorite joke is to tell my team, “show me on the doll where the product owner touched you.” The challenge to my job is finding a way to meet them in the middle of the conversation and craft stories towards a method of delivering the best features possible.

So, instead of bashing Mr. Gilb for not reading and understanding Cohn’s methods, I would like to thank him for reminding me the purpose of my job. It’s not to stand in the way of great software, but making it easier and well thought out.

We involve stakeholders, help with design, converse with our teams, and document everything along the way. We are product managers, Tom, and our user stories can be your friends.

Blog Post: User Stories are Overrated?!?

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Blog Post: Will iOS Truly Be Flatter?

This article from GigaOm certainly poses interesting ideas for the future of the iOS platform, but I am still skeptical. If Johnny Ive is truly delivering this new design at WWDC next month, I have a few friends that are going to be very busy real fast.

How I see this shaking out is more than just the native application space. If the flat, Windows Phone-like design is the future of mobile, it will affect all web design as well.

As responsive design takes over, it certainly stands to reason that a tiled, flat design is the way to go. There are a few devs at my office that aren’t convinced of it’s superiority yet. They think that we are changing our platform to accomodate something deemed a “fad”.

I can’t say I’m convinced either, but until a product design choice is universally adopted the same could be said for many ideas. if we want to be leaders, we have to step out there and try something bold.

Have fun designers.

Blog Post: Will iOS Truly Be Flatter?

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Blog Post: Responsively Retrofitting An Existing Site

For some, this Smashing Magazine article is sacrilege. How could you possibly take a complex existing website and retrofit it to a responsive design? For others, it can seem darn near impossible. What if you have too many features and customization build in to your platform?

Many companies (including my own) are asking themselves similar questions in weighing how to move their products ahead of the curve and onto a single platform. Part of that push and pull will be taking a hard look at their Google data to see what scared cow of a feature isn’t really that necessary.

Several of the new, responsive designs I have been testing lately are taking a minimal approach. It’s easier to have objects wrap to the size of the screen if there are less of them. We all know that many industries don’t have that option.

In most situations, it is possible to make this transition without rebuilding the framework and platform from scratch. As my boss told me, it’s not about showing off the entire package at once. Making the responsive transition is more about a plan that delivers incremental progress. 

Blog Post: Responsively Retrofitting An Existing Site

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