One core aspect of the product and marketing role is to get insight on the competitive landscape. Apart from what you can find from their websites, you will want to dig deeper, and gain understanding of their business. Fortunately, there are several sources to go to. Some of these are free, and some are not, but if you can get access to these, I highly recommend taking full advantage. Dunn and...
It is not a well hidden fact that I have a degree in Physics. But during my studies at San Jose State University, I had a few amazing semesters, really knocked it out of the park. That earned me an invitation to join the honor society, Sigma-Pi-Sigma. At the time, 1988 or so, I thought nothing of it, and forgot about it. Then around 2009, they “found” me. Apparently, you never are...
With my new gig, I was issued a sparkly new Lenovo Thinkpad T450 (must have gotten the tail end of the run, as it was revved to T460 shortly after I started) with a reasonable sized SSD, 8G ram, a decent screen, and the expected accouterments. About the same time, my employer began rolling out Windows 10 on the desktop, so I am part of that world now. Prior to this, I had been using Windows 7...
One thing I get tired of reading is the abuse piled on the Obama Administration by the Republicans (really, more specifically the Tea Party wing) about how the DoE loan guarantee extended to alternative energy companies was wasteful, and little more than political fluffery to reward a loyal demographic. Alas, this story has been debunked over and over, yet the response “What about Solyndra...
As I research the Innovation process in preparation for a potential training program around Innovation Management, there are several thoughts that are swirling in my head. Being a long time technical marketer, I am familiar with many of the “Chasmista’s” methodologies (loosely the body of thought inspired by Geoffrey Moore and his seminal work “Crossing the Chasm”)...
As part of my assignment, I have been researching a couple of hot roles in the digitization or digital transformation sphere, that of Data Engineer and Data Scientist. This fascinating trek down the rabbit hole has been quite illuminating. One of the backbones of the digital transformation is the advent, and rise of this little thing called “Big Data”. With Software taking over the...
As I have been focused on the various roles of digital transformation, researching how it affects individuals across the organization, I stumbled on an interesting article in the NY Times that embodied the phenomenon in a way that hadn’t occurred to me. This article was around the ground game of the coming election (2016 US Presidential) in Las Vegas Nevada. Shadowing a doorbell ringer, a...
Customer success. When you hear it, what does it call to mind? Your customers winning in the market? The warm thought that you have helped them achieve their goals? That your technology is delivering quantifiable benefits to your customer’s bottom line? Yes. To all of this. However, there is a more formal definition that is gaining currency. But, before we get to that, let’s digress a...
The other day, as the train was lumbering towards my terminal station, a great Mr. Big song came on. From their Raw like Sushi Vol. 2 album, the song was Road to Ruin with the Paul Gilbert guitar solo appended at the end. I turned up the volume, and basked in the glory that is Paul Gilbert and reminisced about that elusive thing that all guitarists chase: “Tone”. It wasn’t a...
Again, I find myself at a crossroads. Being a Mac person, and relying heavily on Google’s email products (I have 5 different email identities, all hosted on Google’s Gmail or G-suite apps), I must have a mail client that works well with the Google way. Alas, the built in Apple mail client is okay, but on alternating releases they really foul up the way it works with the Google...