Posts Tagged ‘web’

How to NOT sell me your outsourced development services

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

you vouch for this guy?On an average day I probably get 5-10 unsolicited emails from someone trying to get me to outsource web, mobile, social application development to their company.

They all happen to have very American sounding names despite being offshore – ex-pats maybe? ;) – are all “the very best” at web, mobile and/or social, are all ISO / CMMi certified, and are all Microsoft or IBM or Oracle gold partners.

Here is the most recent e-mail that I received from one such company:


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Bob Smith to me

Hello ,

IntelliExtremeXienceE-CorpGroup® is the world’s leading Mobile Applications Design, Development and Delivery services company. We are interested in offering our mobile development services to your company and would like to explore possible opportunities regarding the same. The following is our brief overview:

Company : IntelliExtremeXienceE-CorpGroup® - People.Process.Power / Results Delivered since 1989™
Services : Mobile App Design, Development and Porting
Locations : US, UK, Sweden and India
Resources : 10,500,000+ developers

Engagement Models : Pro Mobility Program, Offshore Team, Dual-shore Team, Fixed scope-fixed cost

Accolades : ISO® 9001 certified, Microsoft® Gold Partner, Official Apple® Developer, NASSCOM® award winner (www.nasscom.in)

Supported Platforms : 7 including iPhone OS, Android OS, BlackBerry, Symbian, Windows Mobile, Palm WebOS and Nokia Maemo

App categories : Books, Business, Education, Entertainment, Finance, Health, Lifestyle, Medical, Music, Navigation, Music, Photography, Productivity, Reference, Social Networking, Sports, Travel, Utilities and Weather
App technologies : Accelerometer, SQLite, File System, Networking, GPS, Core Location, Camera, Open AL, Open GL ES

Please let us know if there exists such an opportunity with your company and we would be happy to get back to you accordingly.

Reference Links
1. IntelliExtremeXienceE-CorpGroup®
www.IntelliExtremeXienceE-CorpGroup.com

2. About IntelliExtremeXienceE-CorpGroup®
www.IntelliExtremeXienceE-CorpGroup®.com/About

Regards,
Bob Smith
Head Business Development,
IntelliExtremeXienceE-CorpGroup®,

Portfolio iPhone:-
1. http://itunes.apple.com/in/app/atomic-chalk-scribble-talk/id374247494?mt=8
2. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/footyroom/id364550897?mt=8
3. http://itunes.apple.com/in/app/iappmatch/id347194540?mt=8
4. http://itunes.apple.com/in/app/fuel-smart-us/id340435838?mt=8
5. http://itunes.apple.com/in/app/asafedrive/id327598691?mt=8
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Here is why these emails get deleted immediately if they happen to make it past my spam filter:

  1. I hate email. I barely read email from people that I want to talk to much less from the 10 Indian / Chinese / Bulgarians with American names that are the very best iso-9000 cmmi level 5 mobile app developers in the world that want to chit chat.
  2. What is the call to action? I assume it is to have a vague conversation about how you may be able to get my business? That doesn’t sound like a very productive use of my extremely limited time at all. I need a succinct and specific request for you that will help make my life easier and explain why you will make me look like a rock star to my boss if you want a chunk of my very valuable time.
  3. I have no idea who you are. I am suspect of the accolades you have received and I doubt the great work you have done because I have never heard of any of those apps or customers. I think a lot like the Bonnano Crime Family from the film Donnie Brasco – If you want me to trust you, you need to be introduced to me by someone I know and trust that can vouch for you.
  4. Who emails anymore? You have a much better shot at following me on twitter and replying @ me, or friend requesting me on Facebook and commenting on a few of my extremely clever and pithy (if I do say so myself) status updates telling me how super clever and hilarious they were before moving in for the kill.

 

Bottom line – if you want to stand out in the crowded outsourcing market you’re going to have to try harder. Be creative, be memorable, and most importantly, be interesting.

Here are some quick hints on how to effectively sell someone like me:

  • If I don’t know you or if I don’t get introduced to you by someone I know then I probably won’t talk to you.
  • If I don’t know you, and you don’t know someone that knows me, then you better grab my attention with the creative approach you take to meet me AND/OR you better have the most impressive client list known to man.
  • once you do get in the door make sure you fully understand the context of what I am trying to build and why. Build a prototype as part of the sales process to prove to me that you get it, can do the work, and that our business matters to your firm.

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Posted in Corporate America, offshoring, outsourcing, technology | 168 Comments »

How Starting a Company is like Fighting Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

Monday, June 14th, 2010

If you’ve ever been involved in a startup you know that it’s a different world. I have the advantage of having been on both sides of the corporate wall. I’ve been at the head of a successful startup, and I’ve been an executive at a 100-year old company. Startups are their own unique creatures.

Now, one of the sports I truly enjoy is Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). MMA is, in many ways, the perfect confluence of the fighting sports. Wrestling, Muay Thai, Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing and all of it meet in this environment.

The same is true with starting a company. It’s a wild ride, where every possible business variable comes into play. And starting a company is also a lot like MMA training in a number of ways:

Practice all you want, at some point you’ve got to perform.

At some point, you need to free your product from the confines of the startup environment. You’ve got to create a winning product. Your startup needs to put something out there that does its job, and does it well. Amazing and robust solutions that never leave the confines of the test environment are useless.

It’s all about survival of the fittest.

The startup world is one of heavy competition. Your opponents are out there, and they’re doing their damndest to get your customers. You need to not only perform, but to perform better than everyone else out there in the field. One weak link in your startup will cause the whole thing to fail. You need to be the best of the best.

No matter how strong your supporting cast, it falls on you alone to make things happen

Talented product development teams, spot-on marketers and a dynamic sales force are essential to the success of a startup. At the end of the day, however, it’s up to you to put those assets to work in a way that really impacts the market. The startup will rise and fall on your vision and leadership (or lack thereof).

Ideas don’t mean jack shit. Only execution matters.

You might think you’ve got the best moves, that your product is better than anyone else’s. You might even be right. But if you can’t successfully get that product to the market and then beat out the competition, having the better product doesn’t do much for you. If you don’t believe me, just remember the lesson of Betamax. An arguably superior technology was put to bed by VHS because the folks behind VHS were better at getting their product to the people.

Sometimes, the guy who can hold his breath the longest wins.

It isn’t always the company with the best idea that wins out. In many cases, startups aren’t going to beat their competition because they have a better product or even better tactics. Many battles are simply battles of attrition. The longer you can take a beating or hold your breath, the more likely you are to wind up in the victory circle.

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Posted in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Start-ups, technology | 112 Comments »

Why Speed Isn’t the Best Indicator of Safe Driving

Monday, May 10th, 2010

If you’ve never driven a supercharged Porsche, you really don’t know what you’re missing. A Porsche is the most beautiful piece of machinery ever to hit the road, and when you’re driving one you’re in a whole other world.

I can't drive 55!Needless to say, I drive a supercharged Porsche, and I drive it fast. I have the speeding tickets to show for it, too. And I don’t drive fast because I like the danger, or even because I’m necessarily in a hurry. I drive fast because my Porsche can handle it. When I’m doing 55 MPH, it handles like most cars do at 25 MPH.

So, it dawned on me one day, as the officer was getting back into her highway patrol car, how little sense the umbrella speed limit makes. Yes, driving 55 MPH is safer in many cars than driving 85 MPH. But every car handles differently. There are some cars that shouldn’t be driven at 45 MPH, much less 85 MPH.

What’s this all go to do with tech and tech business? I think it’s a good analogy for the mistake that many businesses make in developing their products and processes. They look for that one magic number, that single quantitative upper limit, and they won’t go any further. They impose speed limits that might make sense in some circumstances, but that are completely irrelevant in others.

To be successful as an individual or as a company, you have to put umbrella quantitative analysis on the back burner. Sure, there is sometimes a single quantitative silver bullet; cruising down the highway at 150 MPH isn’t safe, Porsche or no. But we need to start from a point that, for the most part, isn’t concerned about a single silver bullet but rather a good blend of quantitative and qualitative criteria for success.

So, how do we do that? Well, we need to start looking past just simple quantitative metrics and see them in context of qualitative metrics. For example, during the process of product development, I’ve used a variety of qualitative measurements, such as web traffic trends, successful new user registrations, click-through rates and referral rates. Alongside those numbers, I’ve also looked at the micro. I’ve watched new users using the app, and asked them questions. Do they like the app? What do they struggle with? Throw in some usability studies and user polls, and you begin to build a data pool that’s both qualitative and quantitative.

It is possible to go too far, of course. You can’t rely only on qualitative measurement. Qualitative measurement has its limitations. Often, it can’t be reproduced due to natural variations, whether that’s a variation in peoples’ buying practices or whether it’s a slight developmental variance, or even the proverbial fly in the ointment. That’s why the most effective methods of business decision making use a balanced blend of both quantitative and qualitative criteria.

There are, of course, risks. When you don’t put in hard and fast limits, sometimes you’re going to pay the price. You’re going to get speeding tickets. You’re going to step on someone’s toes. You’re going to face obstacles anytime you challenge the status quo. In the end, however, the payoff is so significant that you can’t just let it pass you by.

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Posted in Analytics | 4 Comments »

5 Reasons Open Sourcing of Projects Makes Sense

Monday, May 3rd, 2010

The open source model isn’t just hot because it’s trendy, it’s hot because it works. Whether you’re talking about the open sourcing of software or whether you’re talking about the open sourcing of app development for the iPhone, the model really is pervasive right now.
Open Source Image

Now, you’re probably asking yourself some of the same questions I’ve asked. Why is it that open sourcing is so popular? How is it that the benefits of open sourcing seem to outweigh the associated risks? Moreover, is open sourcing the right way to go for my own projects?

While open sourcing isn’t always the answer, I can suggest to you at least a few reasons why this phenomenon is catching on, and why it can often be the way to go:

Flexibility

Open sourcing projects gives you all sorts of options. It allows you to adopt the particular components and tools that most fit your business model. Further, because the components are standardized, they’re easy to merge into your solutions. You choose the exact solutions that fit your needs. You aren’t stuck with a large, unwieldy system that has plenty of bells and whistles that you really don’t need, which is what often happens with internal project development.

Price

Open sourcing not only opens up more options for your business, it helps you save money on your projects. You get immediate and real cost benefits with open sourcing. You can focus project funds on things like implementation, training or even marketing, rather on development. Open sourcing frees up some of your internal personnel to focus their energies on other business imperatives, as well.

Price, of course, isn’t your only consideration. Sadly, many businesses look only at the bottom line, and find themselves sorely disappointed.

Innovation

Open sourcing of your projects also means that improvements are always just around the corner. You don’t have to wait weeks or months for your internal department to get around to working on a bug fix. You simply put it out there to the open source community and someone will deal with it. Because it’s not only you that wants to improve the project, you’ll find that the project takes on a life of its own, becoming truly innovative and offering choices that, had the project stayed internal, would never have been offered.

The Strength of 1,000 Plus

When you open source a project, you have access to thousands upon thousands of sharp minds working to refactor, improve, debug and patch your project. Compare this with the average development team size of a dozen. The sheer number of developers is a huge asset across the board, and is the main reason why open sourcing works so well.

Risks are Few

Open sourcing allows you to bring in these outside assets while still holding that which is most important to you – your “secret sauce” or your hot intellectual property – close to your chest. Depending on how you approach the open sourcing of your project, you can reserve a portion of the IP to yourself, or you can keep those components completely separate and bring them in on an after-the-fact basis.

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Posted in technology | 3 Comments »

How to Spur Innovation at Your Organization

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

Some organizations thrive on innovation. Younger companies, and companies that deal with bleeding-edge technologies or trends tend to make innovation a core value.

Chances are pretty good that’s not your organization. Most organizations struggle with innovation. They want to move forward with new ideas, new technologies and new platforms, but an institutional history or structure holds them back. Other companies tend to squash innovation like it’s an annoying little bug.

I’ve experienced this first hand. I’m the Director of New Media for a big company with an established past. As in, 110 years of an established past. Lucky for me, the company does have a real desire to innovate in the area of technology. They’ve just had a hard time of it up to this point.

So, here’s what I did for my organization. I’m not saying this approach will work for yours. Heck, it might even get you fired. But if your organization is going to stay competitive it’s going to have to innovate, and this process may help.

  1. Identify the problem. This was as much for my benefit as for the organization’s. We were able to get buy-in for innovative ideas at the highest levels of the company. That means when we hit organizational roadblocks down the road, we were able to go back to those executive sponsors and garner support.
  2. Create a mechanism for change. Rather than proposing specific innovations, we developed a group that would solely be responsible for incubating new and innovative technologies, tools and ideas. This group’s purpose is to identify possible technological innovations and bring them back to the specific business units. The group operates outside of the existing corporate bureaucracy, giving it a greater degree of autonomy than any departmental group might have had.
  3. Implement a change process. We didn’t leave the innovative group alone to rule the world, however. We gave them a specific roadmap. We included methodologies, such as interacting with vendors, beta testing of new technologies and involvement with conferences and trade shows, that they would use to identify new technologies.
  4. Determine the vector of change. We also gave our innovation group a specific list of technology types from which they could work. We suggested things like “Web Technologies,” “Cloud Computing” and “Delivery Platforms.” This helps to insure that the group doesn’t go rogue into bleeding-edge technological innovations when we’re struggle to even keep current.
  5. Develop an intake process. Identifying technology innovations isn’t enough, of course. We needed a way for our innovation group to bring new tech to our business units. We developed specific processes for the group to use, including reaching out proactively to various business units, and being proactive rather than reactive.

The end result has been that we’ve seen some especially useful and innovative technology implementations across the company since we started this process. Not every innovation to come out of the group has been implemented or even fully considered, but our business units now have a pool of innovations to choose from going forward.

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Posted in Corporate America, innovation | 10 Comments »

How to Keep your Freedom in Corporate America

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

If there’s one thing that big corporations tend to have it common it’s that they’re stifling. And I don’t mean just a little bit stifling, I mean a LOT stifling. Between meaningless management-speak and org charts that look like a work of string art, you can go mad if you don’t keep your wits about you.

What makes it worse is that corporations – or at least, the middle managers in corporations that determine the day-to-day life of a company – believe that this kind of processing, this kind of bureaucracy, is the right way to get things done.

So, what happens when you take someone who’s used to working autonomously and try to plug them into the corporate assembly line? Well, you get a mess. I’m living proof of that.

I’ve been an entrepreneur in the tech field for a long time. I took my startup and built it into a successful company in under five years. After I sold off the company, I was up for a challenge. I turned, in my naiveté, to the corporate world.

I was looking for something I could sink my teeth into. I was looking for something exciting that would challenge me. Little did I know I’d be challenged, not just in my creativity, but also in winding my way through the corporate bureaucracy in order to truly innovate.

I went from running my own new/small company, to selling it to a medium-sized company, to working for a monster-sized organization that’s over a century old. That means a century of bureaucracy, a century of entrenched systems, and a century of politics. Talk about culture shock.

The problem isn’t unique to my company, of course. In fact, my company has, at its heart, a desire to innovate and encourage creativity. Any company that’s been around that long presents some serious challenges in the way of bureaucracy.

But, I’m still here. I’m doing the work, day in and day out. How do I handle being the Director of New Media in a company that has so much entrenched bureaucracy, and doesn’t intrinsically foster freedom and initiative? – That’s easy. I change the company. Along the way, I use three guiding principles to help me maintain my freedom (and sanity) working within the bureaucracy:

1. I build on institutional strengths. It’s easy to see the limitations and the useless structures at work in a 110 year-old company. In fact, some days you can get so caught up in the restraints that you miss something: there’s a reason that company has been in business for 110 years. There is something there that’s kept them successful and in the market. Figure out what that is, and put it at the core of everything you do, and you’ll find your efforts will be rewarded even if they’re unconventional.

2.  When you get scolded for thinking outside the box, redefine the box. This isn’t always easy to do, of course. But you need to be able to demonstrate how innovation and creativity have paid off in other endeavors, especially ones internal to the company. Don’t think outside the box, make a bigger one.

3.  Produce demonstrable results. You can’t argue with success. If you want to be encouraged to be creative and free, then demonstrate that you’re able to produce results because of your creativity and freedom. For any given endeavor you want to propose, include some form of metric measure its success.

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Posted in Corporate America | 7 Comments »