One hard earned skill that I’ve developed from years of deploying bleeding edge technologies is the art of how to deliver bad news. I call it an art because this is often really difficult for a lot of people. People naturally want to be known for their successes, not the pot holes and speed bumps in the road. It takes a certain amount of confidence to admit that there is a problem and we have to address it.
TPMA November Event – CEO of Your Product
Last night I went to my first Toronto Product Marketing Association meeting (TPMA) . The topic was CEO of Your Product, Prove it with Revenue. I found the presentations and discussions to be relevant and thought-provoking. I became a fan of the group and will be attending more of their events in the future.
Building Customer’s Trust
I believe that strong customer engagement requires the ability to build trust based relationships with customers through delivering on managed expectations. This is basically a lot of words for saying that I believe you need to “walk the talk”. For me the building of the relationship must have its foundation in the trust that I will let the customer know what I intend to do for them and then doing it.
Adieu to Windows Live Messenger
It was with a tang of bittersweet nostalgia that I read the announcement last week that Microsoft will retire its Windows Live Messenger (MSN Messenger) product.
When to deliver that one-off large customer feature request
We’ve all been there. The customer from #$@! That demanding squeaky wheel customer who wants what you don’t have in the product today and they want it yesterday. The customer who pushes your limits on scarce resources – people, time and costs. Then sitting on your side of the table, there are equal pressures. The account team that commits you to the inhumanly possible to satisfy their biggest customer. The development team behind the front lines who wants to pull on the breaks because of the competing requests on their time. And yet somehow, between managing everyone’s expectations and a stellar team, you deliver.
Alchemy – The Perfect Storm
The premier entry in my blog came about as a perfect storm of ideas inspired by listening to 3 of the speakers at Tedx Toronto. Jon Dwyer (CEO Flax Energy), Susur Lee’s (Owner / Chef LEE & Bent) and Barbara Arrowsmith Young (Director Arrowsmith Program).
I don’t think the intention of these speakers was to present that Alchemy often comes from necessity – or a storm raging at the door. Maybe it’s just what my own current perspective wanted to hear. Though its food for thought that our own perfect storms tend to propel us towards innovation. And wouldn’t it wonderful if we could find a way to harness this ability to create before the storm occurs.
