Decompression Days-Need ‘em, Gotta Have ‘em!
August 8, 2008
I’M BACK!
I just returned from the first real vacation I’ve had in seven years. We went to “hot as hell” Florida and played on the beach almost every day. One day we even got to see baby sea turtles hatching from their nest in the sand. We were just there, minding our own business and there they were…scuttling down the sand towards the water. I sent a Tweet by the way if you were following. See, for all you non-tweeters, Twitter can be useful! (I just wish I had a camera phone)
So why was this vacation so special? Because for once, that big white elephant in the room called WORK wasn’t there. No checking email every day, no phone calls to make, no fires to put out…no arguing with the husband about why I’m staying behind to finish up just one more thing. I did check email periodically, only because old habits die hard and I try to be on top of things. But for the most part, it was the most relaxing vacation I’ve ever had.
Friends have asked, “So, did you have fun?”. And believe it or not, I didn’t have a quick answer. Fun wasn’t the word I would use to describe the vacation… more like relaxing. We stayed at a relatives house while they were on their own vacation and the house was right on the water (St. Lucie River), had a pool in the backyard and was seriously 6 minutes from the beach. After driving 2.5 miles we were sitting on the beach every morning by 10am soaking up the cancerous sun. Ahhh! It was heaven! We ate lunch on the beach most days and I looked at my husband one day and said to him, “This is the life. I can’t imagine living down here and being able to go to the beach every weekend!“ For the first few days it would start raining around 4pm or 5pm and that gave us good reason to be back at the house, decompress some more and take a nap. Again…relaxation!
We had no agenda but ours, didn’t have to get dressed and eat at a restaurant every morning, noon, and night. Stress free dining. Keith and I went into West Palm one night by ourselves and had dinner with friends. In the old days, I would’ve gone to West Palm to party hard but now, dinner with good friends, good food was just the ticket. We had the best time at Spoto’s Oyster Bar in downtown West Palm Beach. Great service by the bartender who was also playing waitress that night. Oysters were fresh and we even toasted to our vacation with OYSTER SHOTS!
At the end of the week I thanked my lucky stars that I work for a company that values an employees vacation time and realizes how important that time is, both for the employee and the company. I’m back… refreshed, re-energized and ready to do whatever it takes to help make LUCRUM successful.
Selecting A Skills Evaluation Tool
August 8, 2008
We have a lot of hiring planned between now and the end of the year. In order to add some consistency and a bit more predictability to the process we’ve decided to use a skills assessment tool. Brainbench is the obvious and probably most well known solution. So we’re evaluating that. Wanting to spice up the mix a bit we’ve also decided to evaluate the IKM TeckChek product. I expect to select a product by the end of the month.
So why am I telling you this? Because one of these two companies blew my expectations out of the water.
I talked to a Brainbench rep and setup our account to do some evaluations. We were given one exam at no-charge to evaluate the product. I fully expected, and did, pay for the other seven or so tests that we evaluated. Reporting for the Brainbench product is really very nice. You get comparisons against others in your company as well as the entire set of Brainbench test takers that have taken the same test. The product has a very nice administrative interface. All signs pointed to this being our selected product.
I left a few messages for IKM. We tried contacting them through the “contact us” link on their site. Silence. For about 4 days we heard nothing. Now, to their credit, IKM did follow up with me in June when I started this process, and I never got back to them. So I searched my email, found some contact information, and left another message. A day passed with no return call. I’m ready to give up at this point. I give it one more try and leave one final message.
Later that morning I get a return call with apologies because the rep had been travelling and could only now return my call. Expected, and nothing special. So I talk to him about our strategy and let him know we’re evaluating the TeckChek product against Brainbench. He took all this in stride. I told him I needed an account next week so we could evaluate some tests and that I expected to pay for them. Then the good part.
Right then, TeckChek sent me an agreement giving me site-wide access for two weeks allowing us to complete any exam we wished at no cost to us. Our agreement was in place within minutes. Then he had a training person reach out to us to train us on how to use their product. And none of this took any special efforts on their part. This is the way they do business. I did not have to bend around their processes.
They are holding our hands and making sure our business processes move forward as expected. Their processes are setup to provide this level of customer service, even to smaller accounts. The attention and the speed at which they responded once I contacted the right person made me think twice about our final selection.
I don’t know where things will fall out. We haven’t taken any of the TeckChek assessments yet. But if their tests are anything like their customer service, Brainbench has some pretty hefty competition. I’ll let you know how this all plays out.
- Andy
LUCRUM Radio: Episode 6 – Rob Franks
August 7, 2008
Rob Franks is the Corporate Director of Strategic Pricing for the Cintas Corporation, located in Mason, Ohio. Cintas is one of Cincinnati’s largest employers, and one of the nation’s leaders in providing business services such as Uniform Rental, Floor Mats, Shop Towels, First Aid & Safety Service, Document Storage and Destruction, and on and on.
I have a special love for Cintas, as the company provided me with my first “Real Job.” As a young management trainee, I spent time driving the uniform trucks, replacing the floor mats, wandering the halls of the corporate offices, flying around the country training service reps to use handheld computers, and selling first aid products and services. Needless to say, I learned a lot about business at Cintas.
The company runs a tight ship, and is known for delivering high quality service at a premium price. It was a great place to learn the art of selling because we were never the cheapest game in town. Sure it might be easier to sell if you are really cheap, but that is not really sales. That is peddling a commodity. Thus I learned early on that it is foolish to try to compete on price alone. Long term growth relies on understanding the customer and delivering value. In short, making the customer realize that you get what you pay for, and if you paid for Cintas you truly got more for your money. This has served me well in the years since.
So when Rob agreed to talk to me about marketing, pricing, technology and business strategy, I was exhuberant. This interview took me down memory lane, and then off into the future. Rob is a pioneer in marketing, especially when it pertains to price. Rob has a firm grip on the relationship between pricing and value – and why they a vital part of the marketing mix of a firm.
Now in an era of uber connected consumers, the need for a company to have a clearly articulated pricing strategy that is in line with it’s value proposition is greater than ever. The transparency created by the internet makes it easier for consumers to compare products and services and assess relative value. Therefore companies have to be very careful when it comes to price.
Listen along as Rob describes his ideas about pricing and learn why little differences in price make a big impact on profit.
Thanks Rob for agreeing to do this podcast and for enlightening me with your words.
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LUCRUM Radio: Episode 6 – Rob Franks
Collaborating In 24 Hours
August 6, 2008
“What a great idea! Now we just need to get one of the finance guys involved, and maybe Terri from marketing. Finance just moved to Fargo, right? And Terri’s good on the phone. I think this is going to work well! Let’s start projecting some revenue numbers.”
Now all you need are some collaboration tools. You have an opportunity to impact the bottom line. Big time. Maybe $10M in revenue this fiscal year, especially if you can beat the competition to market. You start with email, which soon becomes unwieldy with your fifth spreadsheet revision that needs to be in 10 people’s hands. You know your organization supports a portal – or something like that – that you’ve heard makes this kind of thing easy. So you talk about going that route and start asking questions.
“Yep, we have an enterprise architecture team that is in the planning process for rolling out our enterprise portal implementation”
Uh-oh.
“We’ll get you lined up to get on board. We’ve ordered the hardware and should have the infrastructure setup in no time. Once we have the governance model sorted out we’ll get you guys started.”
Blank stare. What? Did he just say I could collaborate on my project with some others? Or not? After a moment of awkward silence – for you, not him as he didn’t understand that anything was wrong – you tentatively agree, not so sure what you agreed to, and walk back to your cube wondering if this was all a dream.
What you were just told is that you’re going to need a block of hardwood, say oak, and then some steel. If you have the budget perhaps you need fibreglass instead of wood. Then you need to get the cold forging equipment working in order to harden the steel and align the molecules, a lathe or molds to shape the wood and fibreglass, and then some epoxy to fix the steel in place. In, say, six to nine months you’ll have your hammer. Oh, and even though you just want one hammer, someone has to pay for the equipment and the bodies to keep the process running, 24×7, for everyone. So your hammer will cost you $2,384.88. This quarter.
Sheesh. Is it worth it? Collaboration? Yes. Procuring, building, and supporting the infrastructure with all the hardware and bodies necessary knowing that you’re somewhere in line to get attention behind the other ideas six to nine months from now? Uh…no.
So don’t wait. You have ideas that need to be addressed and supported now. We’ve developed a solution that allows us to get the collaboration tools you need into your hands in short order. Imagine having an idea and actually getting to work on it later that day. A process that used to take weeks to support your idea has been reduced to two or three days, and we’re quickly making progress to make this a matter of hours. We deal with all the hassles, and the environment exists today. Just bring your ideas.
So if you’re a marketing department, or if you’re in finance, or legal, or heck, even in IT, and you need to support your next great idea in order to get everyone one the same page – and keep them there – immediately, you can have your collaboration tools now. Just ask.
You won’t need to know how to build the hammer. You’ll just need to use it.
- Andy
The Mouse and the Hippo, a parable about two vendors on the opposite ends of the spectrum.
August 6, 2008
Once upon a time, not so long ago, in a land of IT outsourcing and relationship management, there were two vendors. One vendor was named Mouse and the other named Hippo – I have changed the names to protect the innocent (hopefully you got that already). My client (who will remain nameless), contracted with each to provide two major applications for an important global business program designed to bring all parts of the business together so that they were able to engage global clients as a true global company.
Now the mouse was very fast and nimble. When obstacles arouse, Mouse was able to change directions quickly. Even when there was no clear direction, Mouse ran and ran he did, as fast as he could. Everyone liked Mouse’s ability to run. Seeing Mouse run, people felt that things were moving, that things were good. It didn’t take a lot of cash to get Mouse running, he ran and ran and ran. When we told him to run to the tree, he would run to the tree – then once he got there, he would add a dance, a spin and run to other trees close by. The problem was that we didn’t want the dance or the spin. Soon we found that even Mouse running to the nearby trees wasn’t needed. Mouse spent a lot of his energy spinning, dancing and visiting nearby trees. In fact so much energy was spent doing these things that Mouse eventually ran out of energy before he got to the tree. Mouse then decided to only ran half way to the tree, do his spins and dances and wander around the nearby trees. Mouse’s best attributes were also his undoing! You see, in the end, Mouse was not properly managing his energy – he would use up his resources. Even though we said to simply run to the tree, he would let us know that he was also going to do his spins, dances and visit nearby trees. This seemed very good to us because we were getting more than we asked for and this seemed like a good value. But, when his energy levels were running low, Mouse was left with no other option than to economize his actions, which resulted in poor results. In the end, no one felt confident that Mouse could deliver. His heart was in the right place – he wanted to give us value and do whatever we needed, but his head was not so much engaged.
Now Hippo, on the other hand, could also run and run very fast, but he had a hard time getting going. Hippo required a lot of push. To get Hippo running, we would have to determine where he was running and what indicated that he was running. Also, we had to have checkpoints along the way to show that he was in fact running. Everyone liked this attribute of Hippo – sure, a lot of work up front, but once he was in motion, we all felt confident that Hippo would get there. Soon we found that even though the tree that he was to run to was fully defined and checkpoints along the way to indicate that he was making forward progress were set, when things came up and we needed to change directions it was a big problem. You see, Hippo could not simply change directions. He would come to a complete stop first – and even this took some time. Then we would need to go through all those steps again; defining the tree, setting the interim progress indicators and getting everyone to push him so that he would get going. To make matters even worse, even the very small changes required these efforts and Hippo spent his resources quickly so that even the most simplest of changes cost a lot. In the end, no one had energy (budget) left to keep Hippo moving in the right direction accounting for small changes along the way.
The bottom line
The Mouse will over promise, seem to over deliver, but will soon run out of money. This business model can’t support anything longer than a fantastic looking sprint – then they implode and the relationship (or their business itself) is ended. A long term partnership requires a two way commitment. Sure you can take advantage of short-term gains but the ramp up of new partnerships is expensive. Plus the gained knowledge was not able to be leveraged and is lost.
The Hippo will always look to protect their top and bottom lines. This makes it hard for a partnership centered around value for the client. Since most of their effort is around ensuring their survival, adapting to business change and delivering quick value becomes very expensive or worse, they get bogged down in such a level of detail that they can’t deliver at all.
The good vendor is a hybrid; half mouse and half hippo. Structure is necessary but it can kill. Likewise, no structure gives agility but without discipline (structure) it leads to failure.
Manage your vendors; exploit their strengths, determine their weaknesses and lead them in the journey of ‘partnership’. (Keep in mind that ‘partnership’ is not so much of a destination, rather it’s in fact a journey – a common path that two parties walk, both correcting each other and reaping the benefits of success together.)
Epilogue
Mouse is still here because they have us (their client) at the center of their focus. But they are in trouble, both internally (keeping top and bottom lines in check) and externally (poor reputation). They are used for very short sprints. We realize their weaknesses and provide safety nets (extra budgets). Scope is well managed and talked about often to keep them on track. They are learning. Pain is a hard teacher but without pain, how does one know the problem areas.
Hippo is no longer around. You see, they had themselves at the center of their focus. The protection that they employed revealed itself as unbending agreements, over complicated change management processes, and expensive addendums. This quickly led to an adversarial relationship and who wants a vendor who won’t commit to an equal partnership.
Once you find the perfect Mouse-Hippo Hybrid, clone them!
~Scott Felten
From the New Guy a.k.a Stephen Harvey
August 4, 2008
So, after a recent graduation from college, a great new job here at LUCRUM, and a bunch of people calling me the “new guy,” I am enjoying my first month at LUCRUM. Yet, somehow shortly after my third week here, I was abruptly sent to Santa Clara, California for some Clearspace training! I know; I’ll be the first to tell you how rough it was.
Now, before I get into what Clearspace is and what it does I’ll tell you that Santa Clara is amazing if you’ve never been there. It’s like a small version of Silicon Valley. They have every major IT related (and non IT related) corporation out there somewhere. My hotel was surrounded by a mixture of Yahoo!, McAfee, Cisco, Intel and HP buildings. However, if you’re looking for restaurants close by, good luck! I had to eat at Bennigans three nights for dinner since it was one of the few non-fast food places within a 10 or so mile radius. The weather was great and it’s a beautiful area as well. It was a good time and a great learning experience nonetheless and I might not complain if LUCRUM sends me there again.
Onto Clearspace…Clearspace is a superb new collaboration tool made by Jive Software. It allows users and corporations to participate in and manage message board discussions as you have before. In addition, you can create, edit, rate and comment on wiki documents, and you can read, contribute, comment and create your own blogs.
Collaborative content placed into any system (blog, wiki, documentation, etc) can later be retrieved through use of a common search as well. Other features include RSS capability, email integration, a reputation and reward system for participation, and personal user profiles.
Clearspace is a pure-Java server-side web application and will run on any platform where Java is installed.
LUCRUM’s plan to use Clearspace is to host multiple instances for our customers and clients where they can collaborate and do all of the neat stuff listed above! I’m looking forward to it myself!
LUCRUM Radio: Episode 5, Craig Jolley Part 2
August 1, 2008
Listen as Craig Jolley, Web Marketing Manager with National City Mortgage, and I continue our discussion of emerging technology and how it will impact the future of business.
Craig has some great takes on how the “journey is as important as the destination” in terms of making technology that has an impact. He shares his thoughts on where technology has come from and where it is headed.
Thanks for Craig for taking time to speak with me, and for sharing his insights.
Enjoy!
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