Today I came across this article – http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/dec/22/diy-adjustable-glasses-josh-silver where an inventor is able to come up with an invention that can potentially provide better vision to millions of people and perhaps a billion people. The simplicity of approach and the possibility of scaling the solution to reach out to millions of people who suffer from weakening eye sight is worthy of sharing and appreciation. I think there should be an organization/effot similar to One Laptop Per Child which will promote distribution of this type of eye-wear. In addition to basic necessities like drinkable water, I think provide clear eye sight is a noble and worthy cause.

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I find it fascinating that US, which has about 4.54% of world population (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population),  appears prominently and dominates every category listed.  What happens to all the stuff that people spend their money on? Except for recreation and alcohol, I wonder what percent of other categories end up in landfills or clutter in homes.

Take a look and see how your part of the world is spending its money.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/09/04/business/20080907-metrics-graphic.html

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 Given below are the main points of the article. I think the main points can apply to any organization and even helps in improving personal life.  Some ofthese points also tie in to another post I wrote about “Myths of Innovation”.

1.  Create a new blend of old ideas – You don’t have to reinvent the wheel but apply proven techniques from other disciplines/organization in your own discipline/organization.


2.  Set goals that count – Set concrete numbers, dates. Goals should grab attention, make people believe it is a worthy cause and move them to action.


3.  Name the problem – Naming the problem makes it seem more tangible, focuses energy, attention and generates pressure to deal with it.


4.  Get the “hard count” – metrics are needed to ensure people focus on every little thing that moves them towards the goal.


5.  Ask people to take small but effective steps – Focus on small things that have big impact. People tend to respond better to a series of smaller steps that are concrete and manageable.


6.  Use affordances – People need concrete, easily learned and implemented tools such as checklists.  Use of such affordances will make it easy for novices to learn.  Veteran employees won’t find it difficult to learn. Affordances should start with obvious problems and mundane solutions. Affordance (definition) – “a quality of an object, or an environment” that allows an individual to perform action” – Wikipedia


7.  Engage the network – Leverage external networks to scale rather than building out. Think of using web based or other networks to find support.

 Link to original article:

 http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/PDFDownload.aspx?L2=21&L3=35&ar=2197

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Well…recently I bought some bananas and was about to eat one until I noticed the sticker on one of the bananas. It was not a product SKU. It was an advertisement for the movie “Space Chimps”. I was amused that now Dole is using the fruit for advertising! I haven’t gone to examine other fruits and vegetables but I wouldn’t be surprised if advertisers aren’t doing more of this.

I can see this concept can stretch too far and now any product that offers a surface for advertising becomes a platform for reach you. As it is we have too much information coming to us, do we really need our food products to be advertising billboards. Of course, cereal boxes, chips bags are already full of advertisements but I think this is a new trend.

I wonder how does a marketer keep track of such advertising campaigns! How do they track return on investment? That is some food for thought

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Disclaimer: I am not a member of Leadereview group and don’t know the experience of participating in the discussions. I do think it is a neat idea to make some money while having fun.

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While this may be a legitimate problem for utility companies, what is the cost for the taxpayers to pass a bill through legislation vs. the benefit it provides? Sometimes the work pipeline gets filled with similar tasks. We need to pay attention to the cost/benefit analysis so that we work on those things with highest impact.

If you want to read the news article, visit Wall Street Journal

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I don’t really know how people inside the company feel but if they were to read the articles they may get the impression that the company is going down fast. This will likely make people jump ship to ensure that they have a secure job.

It may be healthy for Yahoo to go through such a cleanup process so that all the people who are not interested in the company can leave. Of course there will also be some collatral damage with loss of good passionate people who think they can’t fulfill their dreams at Yahoo. Others may leave just to avoid all the distractions at work of the uncertain future of the corporation and lack of direction in the day to day initiatives as senior management focuses on possible outcomes. The folks that remain have a change to re-focus and try to keep the company going. It is going to be an interesting year to see what happens at Yahoo.

Sometimes public perception can decide the fate of the company without any basis on factual data. It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy of doom. Let’s see what happens.

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At first it was charge for second checked baggage. Now you have to pay for even the first checked bag. Since the price is for 50 lbs, you need to be extra careful as it is really dependent on the mood of the person who weighs your bags. If you are a couple of pounds over, you could be asked to fork over more money.

I also heard from friend that another airline charges you $4 for a blanket. Though some people are joking that tickets will be priced per pound of weight (not the bags but the passengers)!

Why don’t they just raise the ticket prices and have the customer pay just a single amount. This will really allow customers to see the costs upfront and they will decide whether to go on that trip or not. I guess that will be bad for airlines as most people will get a sticker shock and decide to choose alternate modes of travel unless it is a must.

I guess airlines really need to reexamine the workings of their business and figure out how to be in business. After 2001, the 911 excuses could be used for ever. Now we have the rising fuel costs, I wonder what excuse will be use to account for the bleeding bottom line.

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In many cultures, taking naps in the afternoon is customary and considered healthy. Virtually all businesses shut down during the rest period. Unfortunately the modern day working mentality says we should go go go and those who feel dull are wimps.

Many years ago I read an article documenting NASA sponsored research on pilots who take a nap on long flights. They found that those pilots who took a nap had better reflexes during landings. Similarly another article found that many senior executives now have couches in their offices for napping. Those who nap are much more effective and productive for the rest of the day. They are able to make much better decisions as a result.

I have always lived close to work and for the past few years, I worked from home. Having the freedom to take a nap or just lying down to rest and closing my eyes helped to get things done in the afternoon. Some of the tech companies allow their employees to take naps. Companies should consider providing some space for you to rejuvenate and they will get better results and more alert workers.

You may be one of those who likes to take a nap but don’t do it because you feel groggy after the nap. This could be due to napping too long. Ideally the nap should be between 20 to 45 minutes. You can read more about the nap cycle in this Boston Globe article: How To Nap

Enjoy your nap and become more productive. Time for my nap…..zzzz…..

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The company makes money by providing a job board and fees to getting introduced to unknown people. I don’t know how much revenue they have but according to an article on TechCrunch, the current round of funding values the company at a cool $1B. Now I don’t know if it is really worth that much. I think a lot of people signed up for curiosity thinking it will help in the future. Now whether they are actively using the network on a regular basis is unknown. In my personal case, I use it occasionally just to keep up with what my contacts are doing. I used the network very sparingly to reach someone. We will just have to wait and see if the company continues to thrive or the usage patterns tail off once the novelty wears off. Is this part of a new bubble? I don’t know.

PS I wanted to check something out on LinkedIn.com while composing this post but the site is presenting a blank page! Perhaps the support folks are busy counting money

Update 8.28 am: It’s back to serving regular content:

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Having a limit on bandwidth usage will restrict or even change the usage patterns for internet users. Guess what consumes least bandwidth, pure text based traffic. Will websites be rewritten to optimize bandwidth usage? I don’t think so.

You would think that due to competitive markets, large companies would do everything in their means to woo customers. Instead they follow suit and thus impose similar metered policies on their customers, if one player begins metering. Wouldn’t it make sense that they observed over a period of time if the users are really abusing the service and then work out an altenate arrangement with specific users. I guess that would be too much work to deal with customers on a case by case basis. My local internet service provider is now offering fiber to the home with unlimited usage and their policy is to enable people to develop businesses and when the bandwidth usage is way out of line, then ask them to pay business rates. If you are in the service area for one of these large companies, please make sure you voice your opinion otherwise you might get stuck with a service plan that will make you think twice about which sites and content to view.

Here is an article from NY Times on this topic: http://tinyurl.com/4de2ro

Update 6/17:

Most home users may not be using much bandwidth but home office workers may not want to think about bandwidth for the convenience of working from home.  In other countries internet usage is already metered so it is a matter of getting used to tiered pricing but I doubt the base rate for minimum usage will be  very low.

One side effect of metered downloads might be that people may start using internet at work to download large files such as Linux distribution images or other software.

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I came across a company called ShopFlick which provides a platform for creating and selling using videos. It is meant for the small business owner who might have unique products to sell and want to sell using videos. Unlike Flash based ads, these are ads that allow you to buy the product right after viewing.

I think this type of service can help a number of businesses located in rural US which make and sell unique products. If the owners themselves get involved in the video, then it might establish a better relationship between a customer and the business owner.

Here is a sample for selling skateboards:

Shopflick: Get this! |
Get your own Store!

We will just have to see if the YouTube type phenomenon catches up with selling products online using videos. What do you think?

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It is going to take a toll on the lives of private citizens as well as businesses affected by these flooded city blocks.

Interestingly enough, recently there was a photo blog on Boston Globe site about “Water Everywhere”: http://tinyurl.com/5s5qlv

Update 7/3/2008

Boston Globe has another blog entry on the floods. The pictures are really high quality and worth a look: Mississippi Flood waters in Iowa

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While this information is amusing in the beginning, it is only useful when you are ready to make a change or want to make your life miserable by comparing yourself to others. It goes without saying that job satisfaction is more than just salary. Also, compensation packages will include other things such as flexibility of work hours, vacation days, other perks. It will be interesting to see if companies like this can survive in the long run. I have found that surveys in magazines vary and quality of information depends on people reporting their salary information honestly. In the meantime, if you are not getting the salary you deserve or want to amuse yourself or you need a reason to give yourself a raise by jumping ship, visit Glassdoor.com.

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Unfortunately the way news gets reported, such important details are buried in the long body. See http://tinyurl.com/5jh4w7 The fact that web services and international sites were not affected is noted towards the end of the article.

Personally I would like to see a summary format where important details are communicated within the first few seconds. Here is an example:

BREAKING NEWS SUMMARY

AFFECTED SERVICES

CONTACT DETAILS FOR MORE INFORMATION

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One of the articles that is hidden in the archives is a presentation titled “Life After 40s in IT”. Though the presentation is not transcribed, the slides are sufficient to give an idea of the talk. During a recent conversation with a friend, we discussed this topic and some of the points raised reminded me again of this presentation. As a follow up to the conversation, I decided to write this blurb and include a link to the presentation.

Sanjay – here is the link to the presentation – http://www.mindtree.com/downloads/life-after-40.pdf. Let me know if you agree with the points in the slides.

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Companies like Google and Salesforce.com are able to fine tune their offerings by constantly refining features based on actual usage. This allows a company to be more dynamic and responsive to user needs. Constant updates to browser and other applications will also be welcome by users if the features are incremental and upgrades are not disruptive. There are several applications that already do this but each has its own mechanism for achieving the end goal. It will be helpful to see some standardization so that the overhead of running many “updater” programs is reduced on the client machine. Right now I have a Google Updater, Java Updater, Adobe Updater, Microsoft Updater and the list will continue to grow depending on the number of applications from different vendors. People will get sick of all these updaters and will likely stick with one vendor who can provide all the relevant updates. I guess Microsoft is in the strongest position there. What do you think?

Given below are the relevant screenshots to access the new features on Gmail.

(Click on the images for a larger image)

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It got me thinking about digital encrypted files and backup strategies. I wrote an article about data formats – Data Formats – Do you care?. When it comes to storing vital records whether online or offline (i.e. digital or physical form), you want to ensure that your loved ones be able to get access to the data incase you are not around.

There have been reports of computers/files that have been protected and then the original person passes away. The data is lost or not accessible easily thus causing turmoil for family members. When you are thinking about storing documents or other information in encrpted files or file systems, you should also consider how to communicate the access details so that your family can access the records in a timely fashion. Of course, this assumes you do want them to access the data in case you are not around. If you don’t care, then it is a non-issue.

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