Hat tip: BusinessPundit. A interesting (but lengthy) post on technology product management by Raj Karamchedu which takes a stance that "Differentiation [is] A Phenonmena, Not a Concept". I think I directionally agree with Raj’s idea, and at a later date I’ll write down some additional thoughts later about applying Raj’s abstract concept to field-level tech situations.
Sharing My Presentation On Introducing Blogging To Social Entrepreneurs and Non-Profits
Thought I’d point people to a presentation I gave tonight entitled, "An Introduction to Organizational Blogging and Blogging Communities for Social Entrepreneurs and Non-Profits". The Powerpoint version is not quite ready (which contains hyperlinks to the sources of info, etc.). I will update this post once I post the Powerpoint file.
Update (6/30/05): The Powerpoint is uploaded.
Online Networking, Virtual Handshakes, & Real Deals
As some of you may know, for me blogging started out primarily as an electronic newsletter. It sidewinded into a book deal opportunity, online writing opportunities, marketing consulting engagements, start-up job offers, angel investor inquiries, and my recent position at 21Publish as COO. Three of these opportunities (which I closed) are international relationships. There are a number of other opportunities baking as well, some related to blogging, others not.
If you are interested in another source of information on doing business online, the concept of a "virtual handshake" and a book by the same name, is being promoted by Harvard Business School alum and CEO of Nitron Advisors, David Teten, at a blog here.
An excerpt of the book is here. Here’s a snip of that excerpt that provides some great context about why you should consider learning more:
Most professionals meet new people and maintain relationships the same
way they did 50 years ago—with phone calls, letters, and face-to-face
meetings. However, today you can use social software to build and
leverage a much larger and more effective network. Even if you do not
use these technologies yourself, your competitors are—to gain an
advantage over you, or at a minimum to learn more about you. Whether
you choose to participate or not, social software will impact you. 84
percent of American Internet users have used the Internet to contact or
get information from an online group–more than have used the Internet
to read news, search for health information, or to buy something.
More On Product Management and Product Marketing (and Requirements Design Skills)
Will Hsu (no relation to Steve Shu methinks … although the story is that customs reversed the "H" and "S" in my family’s last name) has a good post and emerging blog on product management and product marketing musings. Will is part of the product marketing department at eBay. I’m all for those that blog about product management and marketing disciplines.
Will’s post has some interesting perspectives on using more formalisms as part of requirements definition within the product management discipline. Having spent a good portion of my career in the telcom and software space (and writing requirements using all sorts of formal and informal methods), I think that it’s great when formalisms can be used (where the mix of technology, culture, and customer permit).
In the tech sector, good requirements skills also carry over to management consulting and sales discipline. Consider the following cartoon (source: unknown, click to enlarge):
A Smart Guy With A Foot In The Door In Venture Capital
Vincent Tang in NYC reported to me a couple pieces of news in his life that just made my week. Good news for a Friday post. First, he’s landed an analyst position with Lux Research, the research arm of Lux Capital (a venture capital firm focused on making early-stage investments in nanotechnology). Second, he’s started a blog here. Notably, he gives me credit in his post for providing him with support during his search, but I did nothing more than try to reciprocate for connections and support he extended to me.
In any case, this should be an awesome opportunity for Vincent. His opportunity reminds me of one of the well-respected niche firms in my old hometown of Chicago, First Analysis. Lux has a bit of a different wrinkle though. Should be both challenging and a lot of fun from what I can tell. Vincent is very entrepreneurial in his approach and attitude. He will go far no doubt. Congrats, Vincent!
More On Virtual Teams And Collaboration
Ken Thompson has added some additional thoughts to the virtual teaming topic (which is a highly-related topic and undercurrent to the work I am doing at 21Publish with respect to blogging communities). His point about exploring opportunites for sponsors and donors in the non-profit sector is at the back of my mind at all times, especially when I learn of non-profit endeavors such as this one (I’ve mentioned SAHRI before in the evidence-based medicine space).
On Small Companies And Solo Practioners Collaborating Cross-Borders
Carlos Valez poses some interesting questions about doing business cross-borders as a small company or solo practitioner. Most people only hear about the mega-offshoring deals. When I step back to think about the companies I have worked for and consulted to, it seems like I have worked with a more diverse set of people overseas when with a smaller company as compared to when with a larger company. Whereas I primarily did international business in Canada and Indonesia while working for larger companies, I have worked with folks from the UK, Germany, France, India, Australia, Japan, and Latin America when working with smaller companies or as a freelance consultant. Although there are likely several factors in play, I suspect a lot of the explanatory power has to do with the increase in virtual collaboration and networking technologies.
Retraction – Vonage Service Stinks (Double Retraction: Got Better)
I hate to retract my prior glowing review of turning on Vonage service, but the service stinks from a quality of service perspective. I hinted at QoS issues from other perspectives in another post.
A few key notes (perhaps I didn’t make before):
- My primary reason for selecting Vonage was to provide me with telcom flexibility (so that I could add 2 to 3 more lines, e.g., for contractors). Bandwidth tests using the Vonage do-hicky indicate there is sufficient bandwidth (I now speculate that it is calculated using average bandwidth during Internet idle). My upload speed is 250kbps and Vonage recommends 90kbps or greater. My download speed is 598kbps. (Thus, my expectations have not been managed here properly).
- I have DSL (many others are using cable).
Some problems I’ve run into:
- The ringing one hears in the earpiece when dialing a call – well the Linksys box doesn’t reliably create this tone for me. Sometimes calls go through without me knowing ’cause there’s total silence. Not sure if this a Linksys box problem or an interworking issue with the Vonage service.
- Outgoing calls don’t dial reliably (perhaps 1 in 8 calls successfully dial out).
- People report not being able to ring me (inbound call problem).
- If I try to use the Internet while also being on the Vonage call, I’ve had calls dropped mid-call (e.g., using web conference software like GoToMeeting, sales CRM software, financial software, or web mail). Alternatively, sometimes access to web services gets blocked when I’m on the phone.
- Hang-up time is slow. Bad if trying to make quick phone calls.
I’m very sorry if I led people to select this service, but one’s mileage will vary with Vonage (and likely other VoIP players).
Update (8/5/05): Service is just getting worse as I find more bugs. I find that (frequently) when I ring people, sometimes they answer and hear silence, but I still hear ringing, and the call is never answered. Yet, I never go to voice mail. Somehow the Vonage system isn’t detecting the called party picking up the phone.
Update (11/9/05): My Vonage service improved quite a bit after having some SBC folks come out to check out my DSL connection. While the average data rate for my line seemed to be OK according to the Vonage software checker, the peak capacity for my DSL was suboptimal due to the way SBC installed things. SBC personnel forgot to take off some do-hicky adapter outside by the wire box. The adapter was an old adapter that was used to facilitate plug in of diagnostic gear for pre-DSL lines. The net effect of the adapter was to create an additional filter on the DSL line, thus slowing down the peak rates. So the essence of the problem seems to be two-fold: SBC needs to work on its outside of the plant operating procedure (whether that is a quality control issue), and Vonage probably needs to modify its capacity-checking software or provide caveats to customers.