Author: gander

  • Tech – Laptops with eSATA ports

    Tech – Laptops with eSATA ports

    A general whine here today, but a while back, probably 2009 or so, the rage was laptops with eSATA ports, for faster external storage. USB3 was a glimmer, and FW800 seemed to be relegated to the Mac world. My new (at the time) Dell Latitude had this eSATA port, and I was running a lot…

  • Competitive Analysis

    Competitive Analysis

    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,…

  • Adopt-A-Physicist

    Adopt-A-Physicist

    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…

  • Life with a Thinkpad and Win 10

    Life with a Thinkpad and Win 10

    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…

  • Right Wing Talking Point: Solyndra

    Right Wing Talking Point: Solyndra

    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…

  • Innovation Management

    Innovation Management

    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…

  • Data Scientist /  Data Engineer

    Data Scientist / Data Engineer

    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…

  • Digital Transformation and the GOtV efforts

    Digital Transformation and the GOtV efforts

    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…

  • Customer Success

    Customer Success

    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…