Open Or Complete?

I read a lot of commenting from open source enthusiasts about the disadvantages of what is not “open,” which frequently gets into philosophical concepts.

I don’t derive much value from philosophical working. I work for successful completion. And I use open tools and other tools, often measuring one against the other.

There is a difference in completion between between “open” products and that other stuff, which I would like to define in this post.

For starters, I say the opposite of “open” is “complete.”

The old joke is, “A man is incomplete before marriage. Then he is finished.” Be careful what you wish for.

When I sit down to write, I start from a variety of templates, which I have developed to speed the writing process. Whether it is code, a web page, report, spreadsheet, brochure, presentation, or post, I have specific templates. And when I start something new, the first thing I do is reason out my template. I write against time, so working freehand is not an option.

Following the smartphone “open vs Apple” discussion, the beauty of the Apple product is that it executes almost everything it is designed to do with wonderful ease. If you want it to do something it is not designed to do, well, you’re out of luck. Ask the guys who would like to Skype on their iPhones. So as long as you stay within the parameters handed to you by the designers, that is the phone for you.

If, you have some strong feelings about what you want your phone to do for you, with different software or connected to different hardware, then open software is easier to bend to your will. Apps are increasingly easier to write, and I know people who are running custom apps they built for themselves, to shave some time off here, alerting them to something there, watching their television using their phone as their remote.

The question is, “How involved do you want to get?”

The first question when writing your first app is, “What do I want it to do?” That gets easier by the fifth app.

Over time, leading thinkers get more involved in improving their experience with their tools, shaving off some time here, automating a process there.

To me, that is the purpose of “open.” Getting leverage performance with minimum understanding is the purpose of “complete.”

You pays your money and you takes your choice.

SalesLab’s next Rainmaker, (Number 8!) is Google + Your Personal Website, Fast, Free, and Findable! the first 300 seconds of the Capital Technology Management Hub, at 6 pm, Tuesday, October 11^th. The headliner is Overcoming Mobile Challenges in the Federal Government - Sponsored by TeqCorner, featuring Ferhan Hamid, CEO and Vikrant Binjrajka, CTO of INADEV.

Are Businesses Run By Idealists or Crooks?

Neither, with a few exceptions.

Businesses are run to meet buyers' needs and to make a profit. How they behave is subject to the urgency of the buyer's need and the value the buyer places on satisfying that need.

To illustrate, let's look at two ice water stands set up by some neighborhood kids.

Scene1: The local marathon finish line is in the neighborhood and the two ice water stands are set up by the finish line. Stand One is at the finish line – ice water is 25¢ per glass, and Stand Two is 20 yards past the line – ice water is15¢ per glass.

Which stand gets the runners business? Stand One get the business because the buyers urgency is to satisfy the thirst not shop for a 40% discount.

Scene 2: The popular local park attracts a lot of visitors and the main park trail ends in the neighborhood. Stand One is at Trail's End – still charging 25¢, and Stand Two is 20 yards further – charging 15¢.

Which stand gets the park visitors business? The urgency of satisfying the thirst is significantly less for the visitors than the marathoners, consequently, the value of a glass of ice water is lower and a majority of visitors will seek out the lower priced water of Stand Two.

Scene 3: The local road cuts through the neighborhood with few cars per hour. Stand One is located at the speed bump and Stand Two is 20 years further up the street – no change in the pricing by either stand.

Which stand gets the drivers business? Probably neither since there is no urgency of need and many other alternatives the driver can seek beyond the two local stands.

Is Ice Water Stand One being mercenary for charging a high premium because of its prime location in Scene 1?

Is Ice Water Stand Two being predatory for discounting prices significantly in Scene 2?

Probably not – the stands are responding with their approach to meeting the buyers' need-value proposition and to market competition.

While Stand Two may have set prices based on a “fair profit” as an idealist, the more likely reason is the discount is an attempt to influence the buyers' need-value mix to attract sales. Similarly, the premium charged by Stand One is recognition of the urgency of the buyer to satisfy the need while recognizing the buyer has a competitive choice is value takes precedent over urgency.

Do these principals scale to other businesses? Yes, and they become more complicated as new variables are added which affect cost, output, and regulatory or social restrictions.

Buyers won't buy unless they believe the need will be addressed by the seller's solution and the price is compatible with the perceived value.

Is this why organizations with money in the coffers but few customer sales are not interested in buying services to improve operations or upgrade technology – and won't invest in improving the sales process?

What are you seeing?

 SalesLab’s next Rainmaker, (Number 8!) is Google + Your Personal Website, Fast, Free, and Findable! the first 300 seconds of the Capital Technology Management Hub, at 6 pm, Tuesday, October 11^th. The headliner is Overcoming Mobile Challenges in the Federal Government - Sponsored by TeqCorner, featuring Ferhan Hamid, CEO and Vikrant Binjrajka, CTO of INADEV.

Your Electronic Personality

I was leading a workshop on blogging and had the opportunity to listen to some fans. They had some strong ideas about me that didn’t have much to do with the guy who uses my desk.

Then I thought about my teachers, John and Suw and Eric and Marc and Will and realized I have a strong idea of who they are, based on what they write, not on any face to face observation.

Well, maybe video, but look at what you see on TV!

Think about it. Your electronic personality is a do-over! You don’t get many of those.

To close the opening thought, I was cheered to learn my electronic personality apparently is a lot nicer than the guy who uses my desk!

Thoughts?

Google Event

We have been using Google sites and other features to great success. We would like to share with you an event for business taking place on Tuesday September 20^th. Using Google Sites and other Google tools participants will leave the session with a website and their business address registered with Google Places, which is searchable on Google Maps. Check it out if you are in Northern Virginia, DC, and Maryland – it's located in Manassas, VA, and it is $0 cost.

The event:

Google and friends are coming to town to get your business online!

Virginia Get Your Business Online events are completely free. Space is limited, so we highly recommend that you pre-register online to reserve your spot.
If you don’t have a website or Google Places listing, you’ll find everything you need to get started – web professionals at your side every step of the way. We’ll also provide the computers or a plug-in for your own laptop.
If your business is already online, you’ll find tools and resources to help your business succeed online.
At these events you can:

• Get a free website and Google Places listing
• Get 1:1 advice and tips
• Learn more about online marketing
• Network with your fellow small business owners
  

Manassas - Tuesday, September 20th

Register for 9/20

Hylton Performing Arts Center
10960 George Mason Circle
Manassas, VA 20110
Doors open 7:30 am - 7:00 pm

For more information and to register for this free event go to: http://www.virginiagetonline.com/index?utm_source=g-feet-invite-tracking

Google + Your Personal Website

Google+ offers users an opportunity to create a personal website that is fast, free, and available to anyone on the internet.

Fast – Your third attempt and after takes less than ten minutes to make major revisions or start a new site. First and second attempts are about learning the tool.

Free - Google+ works off your Gmail account, Google’s free email service with superior spam protection.

Already have another email address?

I have six email addresses plugged into my Gmail browser. Postini spam protection brought my spam-zombie AOL account back to life.

Available – LinkedIn, Facebook and other social networks require the viewer be a member of that network. Google+ is visible to anyone with an internet browser. Better still, if they don’t have your internet address, Google Search does!

Google+ Parts

Let’s look at a Google+ site.

I use a custom URL shortener, bit.ly/DicksProfile so viewers can get there without using search. Eric Schmidt, Chairman of Google says they want products that have at least a billion users, so their URLs are built for quantity. You can do cute on your own. Googling “Dick Davies” will also get you there.

The Edit Profile button opens you to editing your profile. Before Google+ I had built the forerunner, a Google Profile. When I showed it to Jack, he said it was the most efficient use of web real estate, better than our four websites, LinkedIn, Facebook, three other social networks, and three blogs.

Let Google do the organizing. If it wasn’t about you, you would be impressed.

Owner Picture – People want to see a picture to make sure they know you. Last week I put in a new seersucker picture, which took less than a minute.

My name and tag line are fully configurable.

Photos – Mine are from Yahoo’s Flickr, since I was using that before Google’s Picasa, and these are images from my blog posts.

Links

To the right, the Links Section is one of the strongest features. This allows you to showcase your best work on the web.

As you can see, I have organized my links to interest potential clients.

Google Guys put up their technical presentations, bit.ly/BruceWon has his blog posts.

If you want to post a page, put it in Google docs (part of your Gmail) and connect that link to the name you choose for it in the Links Section.

Capability Paragraph (center)–I pasted mine from my LinkedIn page.

Employment – Please be interesting! Note that they want your current interest. No details about past employers, so much better than a resume!

Map – Was you dere?

Telephone numbers, email, birthday, gender I hide. You can do what you want.

Other Pages

My Buzz was strong before Google+. Viewers see a strong list of my publications. I see publications from my five favorite writers.

Posts is where I can put out things I like, whether I write them or not. I have 56 people who I know who have Google+ pages and see whatever I post there.

Some n00bs come on and post 50 times a day. Or they used to. I don’t see them anymore.

A lot of my favorite bloggers are posting other things on their Google+ pages. I got back to following Eric Raymond, the guy who invented open source, though Google+.  

What can you add? 

Update - Infographic: Killer Facts About Google Plus



 SalesLab’s next Rainmaker, (Number 8!) is Google + Your Personal Website, Fast, Free, and Findable! the first 300 seconds of the Capital Technology Management Hub, at 6 pm, Tuesday, October 11^th. The headliner is Overcoming Mobile Challenges in the Federal Government - Sponsored by TeqCorner, featuring Ferhan Hamid, CEO and Vikrant Binjrajka, CTO of INADEV.

Thank you!