Choose your poison
Taken at Lexmark Plaza 3
Taken at Lexmark Plaza 3
Innovation, while great, needs strategy
I wanted to create a couple of illustrations to depict strategy + innovation. I'm not good at doodling so please bear with me.
Look at the illustration above. Even if you only have one idea, one innovation, one silver bullet - as long as it fits the company's vision and the customers get it, it can go straight to the heart of your market. Niche companies understand this. Even though they only offer a product or two to a small group of people, to that group of people they are the BOMB. Apple and its slim line of Macs, Blogger (before the Google acquisition), Siomai sa Tisa or your other favorite siomai stalls that only offer siomai and puso (hanging rice).
Other companies tend to be everything to everyone. While there are certainly examples of success from companies who try to be all-in-ones, the reason for that is because they are still well within the bounds of their vision. Facebook, for one. Social networking, messaging, photo-sharing, groups, social gaming, pages and a plethora of other products and features. Why are they successful then? Most, if not all, of what they are offering are still within the breadth of their mantra: "Giving the people the power to share and make the world more open and connected." These guys are wicked smart.
Innovation without a strategy is dangerous. More so if the company comes up with dozens of them and does not necessarily address YOUR customer needs. Sure, it may fancy the eyes of other users. But not the ones you are targeting. I know the drawing is bad but it is a good illustration - Because there's no strategy, there's no one to say no, you bloat yourself with too much innovation and the needle that's supposed to hit your market becomes this dull felt tip.
Innovation, while great, needs strategy in order for its value to be appreciated.
One might say that innovation is overrated and that people should stop dreaming big. Let me go on to say that there are a lot of successful companies who actually do not innovate. They're successful because they imitate, at least on the onset.
BUT. Where's the fun in that? Are you just going to be the show band who'll just keep on playing covers and not start writing your own songs?
Jose Vargas' "My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant". But what about those here in the PH?
I’m done running. I’m exhausted. I don’t want that life anymore.
So I’ve decided to come forward, own up to what I’ve done, and tell my story to the best of my recollection. I’ve reached out to former bosses and employers and apologized for misleading them — a mix of humiliation and liberation coming with each disclosure. All the people mentioned in this article gave me permission to use their names. I’ve also talked to family and friends about my situation and am working with legal counsel to review my options. I don’t know what the consequences will be of telling my story.
via nytimes.com
Reading this article rubs me the wrong way. Here's why.
Last week, I went to the US Embassy for a visa interview in order for me to travel to the US. My work requires me to visit my company's US headquarters for a series of business meetings. Also last week, Manila was battered silly by a typhoon. So, while waiting for the gates to open and for the guards to let us in, all of us hopefuls were waiting in line beneath the rain and the strong gusts of wind. There was a separate line for ladies who are supposed to be fiancees of Americans. There was another line, shorter, for those students (I think) who wish to study in the US. And then my line - tourists and non-immigrants who will want to go to the US for business. You gotta love the sailors. They have their own line and it was as long as all the other lines combined. Maybe longer. It was a Friday and at that morning, there were probably around 200 people waiting to get inside the embassy. For the entire day, it can easily reach as much as 400 to 500 people. Multiply that by 4.5 (since on Wednesdays, they only operate half day, I was told) and you get the picture. Day-in day-out you can imagine how many Filipinos try their luck in getting a US visa. By following the rules.
And here comes Mr Vargas and his very public confession.
Mr Vargas' is a sad case albeit inspiring. He grew up in the US so when he says that in his heart he is an American, I believe it. But the law is the law. If you break it, you suffer the consequences. In this case, he will very likely be deported. Smart man that he is, I'm pretty sure he knows the odds.
I think his public confession is a leap of faith. Maybe it will help drive some votes on the Dream Act that's pending in the US Congress. The act, if it becomes law, will legalize undocumented immigrants like Mr Vargas.
However, back here in the PH, those people that braved the typhoons in order to get a shot of the "American Dream". Those that paid exorbitant fees to travel agents/fixers in order to make the process faster. Those that made the effort of getting the necessary papers, made deposits as show-money, grandsons and granddaughters who took time off to accompany their grandmas and grandpas who wish to see their children in the US. How are these people going to feel about the fact that Mr Vargas' mom and grandparents took the "baluktot na daan" to get to the US?
Why I hate meetings (and what you can do to hate them less) - A Tuesday Note
This is not to say that I do not see the value of meetings. They do have a purpose and there are objectives that you can achieve only when you do meetings. The truth of the matter is that meetings are a necessary evil in any organization.
Here are the main reasons why I despise them and some tips on how to despise them less.
They are usually unnecessarily long - The default setting of the duration when you are setting up meetings in most email and calendar software is one hour. Most people setting up meetings think that one hour is just enough or sometimes it's not even enough. Look, you can thoroughly bathe two children in one hour. You can watch three nerd-gasmic TEDTalks in one hour. You can change all four tires of a car in one hour.
Tip: Do yourself and your participants a favor by setting your default meeting duration to fifteen minutes. The key to punching all agenda items in a short span of time is to prepare a meeting overview and send it to everyone early on. However, it is not an assurance that the participants will actually read it and prepare prior to the meeting. If this is the case, you have a bigger problem.
Time spent on meetings is not spent on doing work - There is practically no work done in meetings. You talk, you discuss, you argue, you agree (or pretend to agree) but no actual product is made. Sure, they are still important because you may not be able to create a product without, say, setting a direction and to do that, you need to have a meeting.
Tip: The point is that less meetings mean more work done. If you need to set a team's direction, call for a Planning & Forecasting meeting and try your best to make it your last. If you need to meet so you can thresh out lessons learned an a just-concluded project, go ahead. After that, move on and don't look back.
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Ppip Cimafranca
I look forward to the day when all I need to make things happen is a mobile device, the cloud, some rock music and a foul mouth.
