Messiness

I happen to be one of those people who are very organized. In fact, I don’t function very well when I’m not. My desk is neat, my files are organized, and when they are not, I am not as productive. I don’t consider my self compulsive, but I suppose some might.

I think this kind of mindset has made it very easy for me to adopt and appreciate a formal development process and good architectural standards. I’ve known a lot of people who have offices or workspaces in which every available surface is covered with piles of stuff. Similarly, I’ve know developers whose code is just as “messy” - inconsistent coding standards (even with themselves), poorly partitioned, intertwined spaghetti.

Do you think some people are just naturally predisposed to be “neat” in all areas of their life? Can developers that are not naturally predisposed to this find comfort and value in good development practices?

Can Customer Service be Dangerous?

What lengths have you gone to, to handle or avert a potential customer issue?

I had my doubts about whether or not to tell this story, but my partner convinced me Michael - you're paying my ticket, if I get one.

I was running some errands today at lunch, and while stuck at a light I checked my Blackberry. I suppose I could tell you that this was the only time I'd ever looked at my BBerry while driving, but would anyone really believe me?

Anyway, I had just gotten an email from a consultant that was not going to be able to make a 1:00 meeting with a client. This was about 12:30. I did not have the client's number on me, and I knew I would not be back in the office before 1, so I called my office (also illegal to do while driving in CT) and was able to get someone to call the client to let him know. Issue averted!

Believe me - I get how dangerous this is, but I'm sure glad I was able to let the client know in advance. Don't try this at home.

Don't Forget to Listen

Whether you’re in Consulting or in a Consultative Sales Role, it’s so important to REALLY, REALLY LISTEN! I know, this is Sales 101, but I’ve had so many experiences lately where people (consultants and sales people) were far more interested in pushing their own agenda – whether the customer wanted it or not. I know when it’s happened to me, it’s completely turned me off. Even if these people have wonderful services or products to offer, it’s not likely I’m going to be interested.

Peer Coaching - Improved

I recently read about an interesting company – The Alternative Board. They provide facilitated peer coaching for business owners and Presidents.

I think this is a great idea. I’ve have good experiences with peer coaching. A group of bright, experienced business people with diverse backgrounds can figure out anything. The only downside for me is that sometimes these groups can go off the tracks. The conversation gets high jacked by one person, or the topic of the day does not really get covered, or all the great contributions don’t get shared.

It seems to me that adding an experienced facilitator would not only maximize the contributions, it would also maximize the benefits to all the participants.

Full Process Review or Quick Fix?

Lately we seem to have so many consultants interviewing for so many opportunities it's hard to keep track of all the details. We do have some tools in place but they're not enough. When the "pain" gets to be too much we've been creating quick fixes to relive the particular difficulty we're having at the moment.

In a casual hallway conversation, we were just about to do this again, when it dawned on me that we had not really looked at our end-to-end process and inter-relationships between Sales and Consultant Services in a while. Certainly not since our business volume has picked up. My Software Development background kicked in and I suggested we take a step back and do just that.

I know that when we're moving so fast, it can be tempting to just address the immediate issue, but sometime a more holistic approach is the way to go. The trick is in knowing the difference. I think, just like in Software Development too many quick fixed can create a mess really quickly. In this case, we had been doing the quick fix thing for a while and it just seemed like time to look at the big picture.

The Value of Business Planning

Today begins our fiscal year. We're just finishing up our third business plan as a team. Not only does it get easier each year, the business plans just keep getting better and better - more realistic, more detailed, and more actionable.

When I was running development projects, I never proceeded without a plan (ok, well almost never). The value was apparent, we needed to know what to do, what we could do by when, and how we were going to do it.

Our business plans have been much more challenging. Certainly, the scope is much broader than even the largest development projects. The subject area is much more diverse, and the external factors (i.e. will anyone buy what we're selling) play a much more critical role.

But the value is indisputable. We execute better and better each quarter. Having those specific objectives and initiatives really focuses us, and the three of us have been great at keeping each other on track. It's so easy to get lost in the day-to-day and forget that we want to move our business forward. The business plan (1 year and 5 year) is the best way we've found to keep moving towards our long range goals. I'd advise any leadership team of any size to develop some sort of plan to help them balance the short term and the long term.

Can the iPhone/iTouch platform be a next generation enterprise communication platform?

Now that Apple has released the iPhone SDK will there be a rush to adoption by business? Apple is trying very hard not to repeat the past mistakes of creating a closed Mac platform. The addition of a $100M VC fund for application development will certainly help. But is it enough?

According to the announcement this week, Apple will still control the conduit. All applications must be downloaded via iTunes. No software will be permitted to allow the iPhone to work with phone carriers that are not approved by Apple. In the US, we have one phone carrier to choose from … AT&T.

It seems to me that Apple has taken a first step, but a baby step.  If Apple is serious about adoption of the iPhone as a ubiquitous handheld business communication device I believe much more needs to be done. Here are a few suggestions.

First and foremost Apple needs to open the connectivity choices to any wireless carrier. Address security issues such as data encryption and secure access. The iPhone software needs to allow managed updates via company IT department. And finally very tight, seamless integration with Enterprise systems such as Exchange is required.

Although this is not an exhaustive list, in my opinion it would propel the iPhone to becoming the device of choice for the Enterprise.