Posts Tagged ‘technology’

Is using Social Media an impediment to your Organization?

by Himanshu Jhamb, Feb 8, 2010

Social media is still not widely utilized in the business world. Organizations are resistant to deploying them because they either don’t see a value for it or they feel their employees will be distracted by them. The reality, their opinions don’t matter. Social media is here to stay. The earlier they realize that it is simply a channel for having online conversation, the better it is for them. more…

Change Management #3 – Technology: Too Good To Be True… Two Deadly Misconceptions and Their Remedies

by Gary Monti, Feb 9, 2010

One of the biggest misconceptions of all time is that technology solves problems. Nothing can be further away from the truth. On the contrary, people solve problems and technology aids in building the solution – it is just a means to an end. The second and less visible but equally important misconception is that technology will somehow change people’s fundamental behavior like sense of responsibility, cooperation, etc. When implementing change we need to be cognizant of the networks and political structures in the organization. With change, the concern for self increases and even small changes can cause disproportional increase in stress and will cause unpredictable behavior. Technology is an amplifier. Applied properly, it can make a good situation better. Misapplied, it can make a bad situation worse. more…

Breakdowns in Social Media Conversations

by Guy Ralfe, Feb 10, 2010

The world is shrinking fast and the pace of communication is increasing proportionally. Even in the online world, it is easy to misunderstand or misconstrue what the other person means. You may be thinking about the same thing and expressing them differently or vice versa. Guy has brilliantly illustrated this through a few examples. This pitfall gets amplified in the online world. So, be extra cautious and make sure you don’t miss opportunities because of it. more…

Intimacy scores with Social Media

by Deepika Bajaj, Feb 11, 2010

Intimacy and Social Media? Hmm… What’s the connection? We don’t typically these words used in one sentence. But, think about it. This is what social media is. It brings us closer together with our friends and acquaintances. We are able to check on them every day, learn what’s happening in their world and provide support, guidance or empathy. Your online presence is an online YOU. It is just like seeing yourself in the mirror. This let’s you be more intimate with yourself! Online media is an amplifier of the social nature of human beings. more…

Author’s Journey #8 – How much of your book have you already written?

by Roger Parker, Feb 12, 2010

If you have been in your profession for a while, you will be surprised to know how much content you already have. Just dig into your hard drive and check your emails, memos, reports, blog posts, etc. After you have located existing content, consolidate them so that you can identify their usability and where they belong in your book. This will help you realize that book writing does not have to be an all consuming endeavor. more…

Magesh is an accomplished software professional focused on building enterprise value through creative use of technology. Magesh enjoys working with people and is passionate about bringing out the best in everybody to achieve results that are larger than the sum of individual accomplishments.

Tagged as: active garage, Business Management, Business Strategy, deepika bajaj, gary monti, Guy Ralfe, himanshu jhamb, invincibelle, roger parker, Social Media, Strategy, technology, www.activegarage.com

In general the growth of the internet in people’s lives has been closely segregated by demographics, primarily age and location. The old didn’t think they would ever learn how to use these new tools yet alone see the benefit in them and those living in the poorer nations just took longer to get access to the internet. But today you have to go quite far out the way to get away from a connection to the internet which in itself has become a much simpler task, coupled with the user interface becoming so intuitive that more and more of the older generations are now using the internet and its wonders too.

In a recent special article in the Economist, it quotes that if Facebook was a country it would be the third largest by population and this is just one of the social media networks out there. What this brought forth for me is that even though we are can now easily connected to many more people in our networks, our networks are generally age and geography independent as a result.

I have had two interesting situations in the last week that opened my eyes to potential breakdowns in the fast paced and fleeting electronic interactions of social media communications. I am a South African living in Boston, USA. I illustrate in real life what a long distance social media network relationship is like if we were to live them, as I come from a far away land where I call things by different names and I speak with a funny accent to the local American community.

The other day I was at the Home Depot store, where I made an inquiry to a store attendant about the ‘fall’ required in a particular DIY plumbing application. The store attendant looked at me blankly and did not understand me. He actually gave up on me until I picked up some parts and showed him what I was asking – “oh you mean the ‘pitch’ he replied”, YES!

The very next day we were interviewing and we asked the applicant if they had any experience performing data queries? The applicant looked at us blankly, and responded NO! Then my colleague gave some examples just to dig a little further, to which the applicant responded like running a catalog inquiry? YES.

If you have traveled internationally lately you will have noticed HSBC Bank’s advertising campaign “The World’s Local Bank” that seem to cover most airports today. This campaign illustrating these differences brilliantly as in the sample below.

In our online social conversations we need to be mindful of peoples backgrounds, particularly as the amount of time spent in these conversations today are briefer and shorter, many opportunities may be missed.

This article was contributed by Guy Ralfe, co-founder of Active Garage and co-author of the upcoming book "ProjectManagementTweets". You can follow Guy on Twitter at gralfe.

Tagged as: active garage, backgrounds, business, Communication, conversation, demographics, Guy Ralfe, Social Media, technology, www.activegarage.com

Executives leading change are in a situation much like Moses’ when leading the Israelites through the desert to the Promised Land. There is the desire for relief from the constant complaining. The loss of resolve or simply being tired can create a yearning for a quick fix or a simple solution. One of the most common forms of giving in to this temptation is clinging to misconceptions regarding technology and its benefits.

Two of the deadliest misconceptions are the belief technology by itself solves problems and the belief human nature changes with new technology. Sales agents can play upon this by proposing something that has the phrase, “All you have to do is…”

So, before you part with your hard-earned money for the latest-and-greatest system let’s look closer at these sweet, deadly poisons and their remedies.

Misconception: Technology Solves Problems

The assumption with this misconception is the problem and the solution are external to the people and organization. Somehow the problem and solution are separate from individual ownership of risks and responsibilities associated with change. Problems will go away by signing a purchase order or contract. A false sense of confidence develops proportional to the blindness present. The situation is similar to the person speeding down the freeway without a map. They don’t know where they are going but they sure are making great time! Typically, in the end everyone is miserable and unhappy. The client scapegoats the vendor and the vendor says the client provided no direction and needs change orders.

Remedy: Solve the Problem First

Technology doesn’t solve problems, people solve problems. For a successful implementation of technology in a changing environment first focus on the principles discussed in the previous two blogs:

1. Change Management #1: Leadership: Navigating with an executive map and compass
2. Change Management #2: Morphing Organizations: The executive samurai and complexity theory

Work with your teams to know where you want to go, build a map of the business terrain, build a plan, and organize your people to move towards the goals.

This begs the question, “If it’s not the solution just what is technology?” The answer is in the word itself. The root for “technology” is the Greek word “techne,” which means, “to craft, to build, to put form to, to bring into existence.” In other words it’s a means to an end not an end in itself. It is a tool for building the solution.

Briefly, what you want to do is solve the problem first (functional specification) then pick the vehicle for expressing it (technical design specification).

Misconception: Technology Changes Human Nature

This misconception assumes providing an external something will improve people’s attitudes, sense of responsibility, and performance.  Cooperation will spontaneously increase with new technology.

Remedying: Resolve Political Problems First

The reality is most people resist change and want to hold on to their personal agendas. I discovered this in the first few years of operating my business. Networks were at its heart. Some clients were a dream and others were nightmares. These differences influenced my answer to an apparently simple question, “What is a network?” The best answer, the one that made the most sense and was immediately understood was, “A network is a hard-wired political system.” Laughter ensued.

With change the concern for self increases and people become stressed. Stress can lead to unpredictable behavior. Even small, unpredictable behaviors can be quite serious in complex, changing situations. Why? Small behaviors can have a disproportionately large impact on a complex system by pushing it past a tipping point. For example, in November, 2001, at the largest airport in the world, Atlanta Hartsfield, a Georgia college student passed through security then ran back through it and down an escalator to get a camera bag left in a coffee shop. September 11, 2001, was two, short months ago. Security reacted quickly, shutting down the terminal. The domino effect shut down almost all flying in the United States for the rest of the day.

This brings up a second answer to the question, “What is technology?” The answer is, “Technology is an amplifier. Applied properly it can make a good situation better. Misapplied, it can make a bad situation worse.” In the end, the more time spent getting everyone on board with the change management process and associated technology the better.

In the next blog we will look at team building and dealing with the challenges of human nature.

If you benefited from reading this, have any comments, would like more information or are simply as interested in change management as I am send an e-mail at gwmonti@mac.com or visit www.ctrchg.com.

With over 30 years experience, Gary Monti consults/teaches/mentors/speaks in change management and project management with a focus on compassion and respect in the workplace. The work is grounded in project management, chaos and complexity theories combined with Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Tagged as: active garage, Branding, business, Business Management, business planning, Business Strategy, leaders, management, possibilities, Rajesh Setty, Strategy, technology, www.activegarage.com

Every day our lives get more and more connected online which has made our lives easier, but at the same time, has put us more at risk as more of our sensitive information is stored online.  With IPv6 right around the corner, which will be able to support an almost infinite number of IP addresses, we will only be more connected, and therefore, more at risk.

On a personal basis, I’m the first to admit that online services such as banking, travel and email, to name a few, have made our lives easier.  On a professional basis, as businesses push more services online to expand their marketplace, conversely, they are also making themselves more susceptible to data breaches from hackers.  Hosting providers are pushing the envelope by trying to get their customers to accept cloud services: email, applications and storage to name a few.  Some of these providers such as Google and Amazon have been successful in selling their cloud based services to small business and have now started making headway in to the enterprise segment of the marketplace.  Their services also allow you to access your information anywhere you have web access.  Their services are great for non-core, non-critical applications that won’t impact your business in the event their service goes down and you are unable to access your applications or data. 

While every company is talking about cloud services, not many are acting on it.  According to a white paper published by Gartner called Hype Cycles of Emerging Technologies, 2009, the most hyped technology was cloud computing. 

Why is this technology “hyped” and not being accepted with open arms?  The hack against Googles intellectual property last month should give you a pretty good idea as to why cloud services are still vulnerable. 

If you decide to move in to cloud services, don’t push all of your applications online.  Start slow.  Test a non-critical application first, or store non-critical data in the cloud that will help off-load space on your storage platform.  If you lose the application or the data, you’ll probably be upset over this mishap, but your life and the business will move on.  From there, look at moving parts of your development environment online and start testing other applications to see how they perform online and how well you can secure the data.  When testing these applications in the cloud, always be skeptical of who will access your data and how.  Don’t move at the pace your providers want you to move at.  Move at the pace that you’re comfortable with and that will protect your intellectual property and your company’s (and customers) sensitive information.

In a Newsweek article recently published by Daniel Lyons called “Where Secrets Aren’t Safe”, he mentions, “Information is not at all like electricity.  Electricity is a cheap, dumb commodity.  Nobody wants to steal your electricity, and even if someone did, who cares?  Information, on the other hand, may be the most precious thing your company has.”

This article was contributed by Robert Driscoll, co-founder of Active Garage. You can follow Robert on Twitter at rsdriscoll.

Tagged as: active garage, business, Business Management, business planning, Business Strategy, http://activegarage.com, information, Intellectual Property, Robert Driscoll, Strategy, technology, www.activegarage.com

Have you noticed in business how you react when people tell you something CAN’T be done? For me it lights my fuse and I then become driven to find the solution, almost to prove them wrong. I question the persons qualifications, their intent and any optimism that my problems are going to be solved by this individual/team/organization vaporizes.

A few years back I was the person delivering this news, time and again the customer was asking for help and because we didn’t have the skills we continually told the customer it can’t be done. Looking back it was a difficult time as this approach only added fuel to the fire and caused unnecessary conflict on projects at the time.

Customers employ staff and engage companies services primarily because they lack the skills and competence themselves. Clients are there to make requests, otherwise we would not be there servicing them, so always provide an option to move the client forward – let the client be the one to decide to quit a particular request not you telling them.

To do this I see two possible routes;

1. Let the customer know why you believe this to be risky/difficult but that you could perform a little exploratory work and then they (the customer) can make a decision.
2. Demonstrate to the customer why it is not feasible/possible etc

In both instances you have to show that you can lead the client through the process. This builds the trust in your capabilities and, generally, they will work with you to find a mutual outcome.

Another situation that I caution is “sandbagging” your risk by making something seem overly complicated. Take two situations:

1. Consultant advises client he is unsure if it is possible, will do some investigation / proof of concept then provide an estimate to complete.
2. Consultant advises client this is a major technical challenge and that it will take 40-80 hrs to attempt a resolution.

When consultant A comes back after 4 hours and advises he has a potential solution and it will take a further 4 hrs to develop, the client will work with the consultant. If consultant B comes back after 6 hrs and reports the task completed and that it is available to test – the client is left overjoyed by the result but regarding your competency and skill, it will be judged as low, and you may not get the next business request.

Clients pay to receive services, that requires knowledge, expertise and a leadership offering to facilitate realizing their requests. Can’t is not a powerful option so look to see how you can make positive possibilities for your customers, even if one possibility makes them realize this is not an option – you just should not be the one saying can’t in response to a request.

A couple of years on and I have a team that has great skills, are open and engaging with our clients and our business is thriving as a result. Best, our customers keep coming back for more.

Hindsight is a beautiful thing.

This article was contributed by Guy Ralfe, co-founder of Active Garage and co-author of the upcoming book "ProjectManagementTweets". You can follow Guy on Twitter at gralfe.

Tagged as: business, Business Management, consulting, Customer Service, developing opportunities, execution, gralfe, Guy Ralfe, Leadership, technology, www.activegarage.com

In a recent post discussing how to build your company into an attractive strategic candidate with a process known as ExiTrak^®, we advised the following.

1. Have a trusted advisor interview key acquisition executives in 15-25 prospective buyer companies.
2. From these responses, put together the profile of the attractive strategic acquisition candidate from the perspective of the buying marketplace.
3. Conduct a “gap analysis” comparing the marketplace profile with the strategic profile of your company.
4. Based on this analysis, make decisions regarding which strategic assets to acquire and/or enhance in order to bring your company’s strategic profile as close as possible to that of the marketplace.
5. Create a strategic plan to implement these decisions in the context of improving operational performance.

This blog will review in detail the strategic planning process.

Overview

A solid strategic planning process will take the participants from the “10,000-foot level” to the place where “the rubber meets the road.”  {No more metaphors, I promise.}  The most critical element for a successful strategic plan is the extent to which everyone in the company can see a direct link between high performance in what they do every day and the long-term prosperity of the company.  Achieve this and “the world is your oyster.”  {Man, that promise had a shorter shelf life than the average New Year’s Resolution.}

Who Should Participate?

This is both a “who” and a “how many” question.  One of the best ways to overcome resistance to change is to have those who will be implementing the changes participate in determining what those changes will be.  Therefore, if possible, everyone who can have a significant impact on the achievement of the company’s Vision, Mission and Long-Term Goals should be part of the strategic planning process.

It is, nevertheless, well established that any working group begins to lose efficiency and effectiveness when it gets bigger than 17 participants.  Depending on the size and complexity of your company, an ideal strategic planning group size is 5-15.

How Long Should This Process Take?

Some professional facilitators recommend telescoping the entire process into a single weekend.  I think this is a mistake.  My recommendation is to conduct a series of three one-day meetings, spaced about one month apart.  After a couple of weeks, the facilitator should issue a preliminary report summarizing the results to date.  At that point, each individual will be able to review this report as a “reader” rather than as a “writer” – a key factor in objectivity – and be prepared to suggest changes, if appropriate, at the next meeting.

Selection of a Facilitator

Every strategic planning process needs a facilitator.  A highly effective facilitator must possess all of the following skill sets and personal qualities.

• Highly knowledgeable about your business and industry
• High self-esteem
• Not easily intimidated by higher-ups in the organization or their opinions
• Well organized
• Excellent listener with first-class summary skills
• Excellent at drawing out all participants, including the wallflowers
• Articulate
• Clear writer
• Not the CEO

If you are the CEO, try to avoid revealing your position on various issues for as long as possible.  You will always have the power to pursue a particular course of action.  But, when you do, you want to be certain that you have had the benefit of the broadest set of opinions and options.

Key Elements of the Strategic Plan

The strategic planning process involves the following key elements:

• Vision
• Mission
• Long-range Goals
• Short-term Objectives
• Task Assignments
• Action Items
• Follow-up to compare actual performance with plan

Vision

At least 3 Years in the Future

Often at End of Accounting Year (Calendar or Fiscal)

Any worthwhile strategic planning process must begin with the Vision for the company at some specific date in the future.  What will be the company’s identity?  When customers, suppliers or professionals hear the company’s name, what image do you want them to conjure up?  What overriding quality do you want front of mind?  In other words: Who is this company?  Here are a few examples of Vision statements that speak to this identity question.

1. We make the defense of the U.S. homeland stronger and more flexible.
2. We help our clients’ teams to function more cohesively and effectively.
3. We improve the quality of health care in America.
4. We make transit passengers safer.

When your employees fully understand (intellectually and viscerally) your company’s Vision, they will be able to see how the optimum performance of their individual jobs will contribute to the fulfillment of that Vision.  This connection is critical for long-term job satisfaction, high achievement and career track progress.

Mission (Same Date)

The Mission statement describes your company’s function in concrete terms.  Using the same examples, here is a group of Mission statements that address the question “What does this company do, and for whom?

1. We train dogs to assist Customs inspectors to locate drugs and explosives.
2. We deliver workshops to privately held companies on verbal and written communication, listening skills and teamwork.
3. We make timely delivery of top-quality components to medical instrumentation OEMs.
4. We manufacture shatter-proof glass for public transit vehicles.

Marrying the Vision and Mission statements is essential, because it helps to get across to your employees how truly important each of their jobs is in the grand scheme of things.  For example, these dog trainers are obviously in support of the drug and explosive interdiction business.  But, interdiction is a means, not an end.  The end is that we are all safer in this country.  In this example, you want your employee to make the connection that “If I do my job really well, I will be saving lives.

Long-Range Goals (Same Date)

The Long-Range Goals (LRGs) cover as wide a range as you and your group deem appropriate, including such categories as:

• Sales
• Gross Margins
• Overhead structure
• Pretax profit
• Market share
• Market niche(s)
• Key new customers
• Improved product quality
• Improved delivery times
• Customer satisfaction
• Geographical outreach, including additional facilities
• Breadth and depth of management company-wide
• Technology
• Technology management and infrastructure
• Reducing employee turnover

These goals should be quite specific and measurable. For example, improved customer satisfaction could be measured by two distinctly different kinds of yardsticks.

1. Reduction of customer turnover by 30% over three years.
2. Improvement in customer survey numerical responses by 30% over the same period.

Both provide numerical measures, but surveys rely on subjective personal judgments.  Improved delivery times are much easier to measure than, say, product quality.  However, the latter can be measured by customer returns, customer complaints or other means.  This, of course, requires that you have a system to capture these data 100% of the time.  Whatever your system, ensure that your Long-Range Goals are inextricably linked to day-to-day performance.

Short-Term Objectives

To be Achieved Within 12 Months

The successful completion of your short-term objectives should provide some tangible improvement in company operations.  However, the primary strategic payoff will be a head start on achieving the Long-Range Goals.

If you are going to make a mistake, err on the low side of commitment, not the high side.  You can always add something later, but lack of achievement in one part of the strategic plan can cause problems elsewhere and, at the same time, create morale problems for the team.

Carrying on with the example of Improved Customer Satisfaction (and assuming that progress in each of the measured categories is linear) the Short-Term Objective for customer turnover and survey results could be 10% per year.  However, inertia may preclude linear progress.  As a result, 5%, 10% and 15% in years 1, 2 and 3 respectively may be more realistic. Try to ensure that your Short-Term Objectives are achievable, and give yourself and your team enough time to get the job done.

Task Assignments (Quarterly)

The achievement of quarterly task assignments will, by definition, achieve the Short-Term Objectives.  Each task assignment is the responsibility of one or two individuals, with a deadline and standard of performance.  For example, someone will have to design the system to collect data on customer turnover, including precisely what constitutes turnover.

Similarly, someone will have to design and implement the customer survey or find and supervise a source outside the company to perform one or both of these services.  Someone will also have to analyze the data and present it to management.  The best way to avoid front-loading this part of the process is to assign tasks only one quarter at a time.

Action Items

What Do We Do Tuesday?

Action Items fall out week by week or month by month from the Task Assignments.  Unlike Long-Term Goals and Short-Term Objectives, it is best to front-load the Action Items, because that is the best way to get the job done on time.

Monthly Follow-Up

Plan the work and work the plan.  Whether it’s an individual salesperson’s call plan for the next week or the company’s strategic plan for years to come, the principle is the same.  It doesn’t matter how great the plan is if implementation is poor, excessively late or both.  In this regard, follow-up to compare actual results with plan is invaluable.

There should be a two-hour morning follow-up session, no less often than monthly, that includes all members of the original planning team.  The purpose of each meeting is two-fold.

1. Determine the status of all active projects in the strategic plan.
2. If any project is in trouble, determine what can be done to right that particular ship.

The most critical factor is that the strategic planning group functions as a team, providing support for one another and directing help where and when necessary.  Good luck.

—
This article has been contributed by Steven D. Popell. Steve has been a general management consultant since 1970. Steve is a Certified Management Consultant, business valuation expert, and inventor of ExiTrak®- a process designed to assist the privately-held company owner/manager to build an attractive strategic acquisition candidate

Tagged as: active garage, assignments, customer satisfaction, exitrak, long term, market niche, market share, monthly follow up, objectives, profit, short term, steve popell, strategic planning, Tasks, technology, turnover

I have found myself in situations where I have had to make the choice of whether or not to trust a clients word as authorization and support for a decision.

The dilemma -

Do I get the paper work all cleared up first or do you trust, execute and settle afterward?

Thankfully in the times that I have had to make these decisions trust has come through for me nearly always. From an orthodox project management perspective there is no such thing as trust, but in reality, especially towards the end of a project when all the pressure is piqued and your slack used up, you sometimes have to make some judgment calls based on trust or risk blowing the project delivery.

Obviously value plays a big part in these decisions and the resultant impact. For a project manager you are often doomed if you do or doomed if you don’t. If you don’t take the risk and give the project a chance of being completed then it can reflect poorly on you (right or wrong, it just does). However if you do take the risk and the risk goes wrong, as in still causing the project delay except now with increased cost and risk, you as the project manager are very exposed. The client will be disappointed and unsatisfied with the result that he can now claim no part of.

These examples are very black and white situations and reality is often not like that in that there are often many supporting circumstances that allow you to make the decision between acting methodically or with trust. Some of these are:

• Previous Behavior – Most notably what has the clients past behavior been like. Are they willing to work with you or are they picking at every item on the invoice.
• Mutual Respect – Does the client demonstrate support for your team and organization. Remember what is spoken is often what is thought…look out for sly remarks
• Future Value – Do you see the client as a partner into the future. Is there opportunity for both parties to cooperate for each other’s benefit into the future.

Having thought through the above there is another BIG influence when making these decisions – that is our intuition or gut feeling.

In an interview of Jonah Lehrer, the author of How We Decide, he speaks about when to trust your intuition. It turns out that we should trust our guts for the more complex decisions because our emotions emerge from our unconscious mind and tend to reflect more information than our rational minds can handle. Decisions made on intuition, especially in domains in which we have a level of expertise, have shown to be very effective. A good example is of a radar operator in the Gulf war who trusted his gut and called an incoming blip on his screen as a missile, when its signal looked exactly the same as an American fighter jet and saved a battleship in the process.

Our rational mind on the other hand appears like a very orderly way of making decisions, however our brains have serious computational limitations when making rational decisions and once those limits are reached they quickly become overwhelmed. We also need to be aware that when we assess situations it is very easy to justify our decisions – our brains are very good at coming up with reasons. For this reason we need to always be very clear about what the decision is about and not overload with superfluous input.

So for those decisive decisions, remember that your clients are having to trust you too, always make assessments about the concerns that really matter for the situation and listen out to your gut in your areas of expertise.

This article was contributed by Guy Ralfe, co-founder of Active Garage and co-author of the upcoming book "ProjectManagementTweets". You can follow Guy on Twitter at gralfe.

Tagged as: active garage, business, Business Strategy, execution, Identity, management, Project Management, technology

My father has just been in to have surgery to remove cataracts from his eye. Into hospital, operated on and out in a few hours, with virtually no pain to report and on the road to recovery at home the same day. In discussing the procedure, my mother rewinds a couple of years and explains to me that it wasn’t like that when she was a nurse in the late 60’s.

Back then people came into the hospital for cataract surgery which involved hours of surgery and over a week to recover. There was a lot of discomfort and the patients had to remain still afterward for a number of days with their eyes covered up. She explained it as a risky procedure and requiring a “good” surgeon. I think for any surgery I would want the best surgeon, but with my sight I would probably want the best I could afford or get access to.

She also described today’s procedure and how quick it was, 30 minutes of theater time compared to hours, how non-invasive the procedure was via three micro incisions and how an artificial lens is placed into the eye where thick glasses were depended upon before.

Fundamentally the same health condition exists today as it did 40 years ago, what has changed is the way the condition is dealt with. In my view the surgeons back in time, when my mother practiced as a nurse, were scarce and a major differentiator between successful and failed operations. But with the advances in medicine and technology this procedure that used to endure a patient to a week of suffering, today has evolved into a standard procedure lasting under an hour.

Initially the costs and value of cataract surgery lay in the surgeon and hospital facilities for recovery and would likely have been rather exorbitant and not accessible to many (substantiated in the paper Measuring the Value of Cataract Surgery). Today this surgery is available to many more people because of the improvements in technology and the refinement of the procedure to almost a routine repeatable process. What this has done is drive down the value of the cataract surgery per patient, so now the surgeon and hospital have to handle many more patients in the same period to maintain their value. In addition to the increased patients, technology suppliers have taken a share of the treatment through their offerings of artificial lenses as a valuable part of these procedures, which now are likely the main differentiators in the procedures offered today.

Looking into the future this procedure may one day no longer require a hospital visit or the skills of a surgeon and will become a commodity product much like LASIK eye treatment has become today.

This is a classic example of how the marketplace continuously drives down the value of scarce commodities and how competitors will always fight to gain a share of any successful market. All businesses are subject to these same threats on a continuous basis. The pace of erosion on ‘value’ will only increase into the future, this is why businesses must innovate and adapt to the changes or be consumed by the marketplace. It is easy to look back over 40 years of change and see the evolution but it is an essential survival skill in business to notice and move to counter the subtle changes staking place in your marketplace – Time will not be on your side if you ignore the signs.

This article was contributed by Guy Ralfe, co-founder of Active Garage and co-author of the upcoming book "ProjectManagementTweets". You can follow Guy on Twitter at gralfe.

Tagged as: active garage, business, Business Strategy, execution, Innovation, management, Strategy, technology, www.activegarage.com

In my previous article I wrote that you need to actively manage your IP Strategy. This article is about how to build that practice.

OK, let’s say that you have created an IP Strategy document and you know what direction your company is going with the development of the company intellectual property. You have a clear concise roadmap that defines the directions and more importantly what areas you are going to stay away from.

Feels pretty good doesn’t it?

And then….the world changes.

Some markets become obsolete, a new product comes out that makes the original problem evaporate, a new service is available that prevents the cause for your product from existing, your market is gone. There is an old term for this: “Sitting On Your Laurels” and it doesn’t work anymore, there is ample evidence that it never worked. The world always changes, as small business owners we all know that and experience it every day. Our marketplace may be less conscious of the facticity of change (note to the unions, and people that want things to return to the same way they were).

How do you manage your IP in the light of these changes?

1. You must be paying attention to you market as if you were your own customer. What would make my need for this product go away? What would make this product better? What do I find annoying about this product or service? Is it hard to use? All of these are reason’s to abandon your product.

2. Are you in a market that is known for a lot of change? (Real Estate, Technology, Investments, etc.) If your business in in a volatile market with lots of change you have additional work to maintain your position in the market place, and even more work to get ahead in that market place. The good news? These markets have a great deal of energy and can support many new products, services and changes that other more established and stolid markets cannot.

3. Is your market saturated with competition? Additionally what is the complexion of that competition, are they bigger, smaller, better funded? Bigger doesn’t always mean better, large companies have more resources, but they are, in general, slower to recognize new opportunities and slower to exploit or even protect those opportunities. Smaller companies are, in general, much more nimble and innovative, however they can get starved for resources and need to scale back their innovation (remember protecting you IP is costly)

All of the above points need to be taken into account when working on your strategy. As a rule of thumb: when you first start working with your IP Strategy you need to take a look once a week, to make sure you are on course.

As you gain familiarity with your market, your customers, their customers and your products and services you will be able to stretch this time out. In the current climate of chaos and rapid change, you need to re-visit your strategy at least once a month. And remember: this is your document, you can change it at will. Indeed, if something is not working, rather than being constrained by it, use it as a tool to make purposeful changes to get back on track.

In my last article I said to create consequences and rewards for working on the IP Strategy. The consequences will manifest themselves for you if you don’t create them, so you must know what they are. The very survival of your company is in the balance.

The great benefit of creating your strategy is that you will have a clear path, that goes where YOU want it to go, and you can change it, powerfully, purposefully and with predictable results.

Get Started!!

Tagged as: Business Management, business planning, Business Strategy, Copyrights, Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, technology

In the last article we discussed the need to create a cohesive IP strategy, in this article I’ll discuss the first step in creating your strategy.
Like every article I’ve written on this topic, I’ll remind you that you need help, and you need the best help you can get.

Strategy Creation:
A few guidelines to help things along:
1. Be clear on why you are creating an IP strategy. All reasons are valid, some will work better than others. For example: if your goal in creating an IP strategy is to to tell all of your friends how many patents you have; you may want to think a bit more deeply about what you will do with those assets (make no mistake they are assets if treated right) and how much you are planning on spending to create them. On the other hand if you plan to exploit what you have invented, create a new business, and bring new products to the marketplace, then you are thinking in the right direction for strategy development.
2. Determine the direction you want your IP portfolio to grow into, find your market landscape. For instance; if you are making wire coat hangers and you suddenly come up with a new idea to make them cheaper, faster or in some other way better for the same cost, that’s a great invention in your current market landscape. If, on the other hand you make coat hangers and you come up with a great new telescope design, you may want to think about the new invention within the direction of your market landscape and the way you prosecute that innovation in the marketplace. Is it a different marketplace? The direction component of your strategy helps to keep costs under control. Costs can include nearly everything you can think of, from time spent thinking about the innovation, to the actual patent write up and filing fees, and everything in between.
3. Determine what areas you are NOT going to explore, such as a wire coat hanger manufacturer working on auto parts cleaning machines. It doesn’t matter what limits you put in place but you must at least think about them, and draw limits that suit your situation and remember they are your limits, you can change them any time you wish.
4. Determine when you will start, never when you will stop, and start. Create consequences for not starting, and rewards for getting going. Innovation should never stop, it must be continuous if you are to be successful in the long term.
This all sounds like a lot of work and, that said, it’s not a trivial task. However, as humans, we are what we practice, and our practices define us. Therefore you need to develop a practice of creativity, and a practice of managing your strategy.

So, having read all the above; It’s time to get moving!

This article was contributed by Thomas Frasher, co-founder of Active Garage. You can follow Thomas on Twitter at tfrasher.

Tagged as: Business Management, business planning, Business Strategy, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Intellectual Property, purpose, Return on Investment, Strategy, technology, www.activegarage.com