ack/nak

recipe: duck confit

2011-09-05T21:55:00.004-05:00

I am a devoted reader of The William Brown Project, as I aspire to the lifestyle of the country squire.

"I can see meself now, strollin' across the fields, me dog at me side, bringing a brace of coneys home for the wife to make some rillettes.."

"That's not quite what I was thinking about."

"Fair enough."

As I was saying. One of the joys of M. Brown's website is the opportunity to discuss recipes with men. Not "here's a bowl, here's some chips, open, pour, serve" recipes, ladies. I speak of the actual process of preparing food for actual enjoyment through a process that involves heat, sharp implements and fine ingredients.

"I enjoy chips in a bowl."

"Shh, you."

A recent discussion Chez Brown concerned that most perfect of foods, duck confit. It is my belief that you, dear ack/nak reader, might be interested in such a recipe.

"Do you serve it in a bowl?"

"Don't make me come over there."

There are many ways to prepare moderately good duck confit, but most wonderful ways involve letting the duck sit overnight in an herb-infused salt rub and then a full work day in the oven, bubbling away gently in its own fat.

Our preferred recipe is a variant of Emeril's with Thomas Keller's salt rub formula (as described in his book Bouchon). It is possible to pull of a decent confit faster - Our Friend Mr. Brown managed it - but a longer cook time produces a more tender result.

Duck Confit a la Bob

Procure 2 fresh ducks and process into:
4 duck leg portions with thighs attached, (about 2 pounds) excess fat trimmed and reserved
2 duck breasts, split down the keel bone, excess fat trimmed and reserved

1 tablespoon plus 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
10 garlic cloves
4 bay leaves
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon table salt
4 cups olive oil

Lay the leg portions on a platter, skin side down. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of the kosher salt and the black pepper. Place the garlic cloves, bay leaves, and sprigs of thyme on each of 2 leg portions. Lay the remaining 2 leg portions, flesh to flesh, on top. Put the reserved fat from the ducks in the bottom of a glass or plastic container. Top with the sandwiched leg portions. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt. Cover and refrigerate for 12 hours.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.

Remove the duck from the refrigerator. Remove the garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and duck fat and reserve. Rinse the duck with cool water, rubbing off some of the salt and pepper. Pat dry with paper towels.

Put the reserved garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and duck fat in the bottom of an enameled cast iron pot. Sprinkle evenly with the peppercorns and table salt. Lay the duck on top, skin side down. Add the olive oil. Cover and bake for 8 to 12 hours, or until the meat pulls away from the bone. You'll know when it's done. Whatever you do, don't let it go too long, as it will become something you'll rather not eat, but you'll feel you have to, and it will have the deep, lingering taste of Regret.

Remove the duck from the fat. Strain the fat and reserve. To store the duck confit, place the duck leg portions in a container, cover with the reserved cooking fat, and store in the refrigerator. Alternately, pick the meat from the bones and place it in a stoneware container. Cover the meat with a thin layer of some of the strained fat. The duck confit can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

Now go make some.

finally: launch day arrives

2011-09-05T21:53:00.000-05:00

In January of last year I began work as the product manager for something called the Encyclopedia of Life. A version of the product was already online at www.eol.org.

Today, the new version went live at that same URL.

And I'm having all of the standard product management emotions.

Emotion #1 - Loss. The work we were doing was secret, and now it is not. The team was galvanized by a common objective, and that objective has been reached. There are a number of other dimensions of this most unwelcome of emotions that I won't bother you with. But they're all a flavor of "it's over", even though in reality "it's just beginning". Don't expect it to make sense, it's a feeling. A Bad Feeling. The Worst Feeling. Like someone died.

Emotion #2 - Fear. What if no one likes it? What if it breaks? What if the press doesn't think it's super-fine? What if we misinterpreted some of those requirements? What if the beta testers were all "just being nice"? What if someone else does it better and launches next week? The never-ending cascade of "what ifs" feels like someone throwing rocks at you from waaay up on a building. The hits just keep coming. You want to cover your head with a metal garbage can lid and move quickly through your day, because you don't know when the next rock is going. . to . . land.

Emotion #3 - Defensiveness. I'm sorry, such-and-such a feature wasn't in the release plan. I'm sorry, we weren't able to ship with that capability. I'm sorry, that's on the known issues list. I'm sorry, we'll be sure to get that into the next release. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. There's never enough time to do it all, and inevitably there are people who are sad. And I'm sorry about that.

Emotion #4 - Detachment. OK, what's on the list for the next release? Yes, I know, the new version still has that clean baby / new car / spring morning smell, but, you see, product managers are Tomorrow People and I've been working on the next release for, gosh, a month now, and let's start talking timetables. Thank you, we're all very proud. It's wonderful. Now, about that Next Version.

We're wired differently. We don't take victory laps. We don't linger on current successes any more than we pore over current failures. We move on. If we're lucky, and we've got a) the support of people who love us, and b) a team we respect, admire and enjoy, we can c) move on without feeling like the one guy at a party who doesn't seem to get the fact that HE'S AT A PARTY and the point of the party is to BE HAPPY.

So with all that said, I am actually happy. At least when I'm not parsing emotions one through four.

(PS - Gosh, the new Blogger editor sure is swell.)

(PSS - Travis Jensen (@softwaremaven) believes I am suffering from "Post-shipping stress syndrome" or PSSS. I prefer to think of it as "Corrigan's Disorder". But it might explain why people think I am PSSSed lately.)

wondering: when to let go of your "product focus"

2011-04-11T17:13:00.001-05:00

I thought I had lost it forever, but there it was, in the bottom of a plastic bag full of crib mattress pads I discovered while cleaning out my basement.

My Newton MessagePad 120, nestled in its leather case with business cards from the (long defunct) Newton Source store in NYC tucked inside it. Four AA batteries and one backup battery later, it booted up fine, looking as tidy as it did in 1995 when it went missing.

Alas, its handwriting recognition is still awful. And it won't let me set its date to April 2011.

It's still as beautiful a piece of hardware as it was when it was new. It's still delightful, even all these years later, for what it is. But I've moved on.

I wonder if the #prodmgmt responsible for this device still think about it, or if they've moved on too. They're all (obviously) doing something else today with their professional lives. I doubt any of them still use a Newton.

But they still have users. Some of them are very, very devoted. And I bet there are many more who would be ready to have their devotion restored, under the right circumstances. Still, most have moved on. It's the way of things.

I don't think about my old products very often, but I think about my old users, customers I used to care about deeply back when I was very, very devoted to delighting them. I wonder if any of them are still delighted, or if, like me, they've moved on to other products, other problems.

It's why, as Boss Strouse once said, you don't meet many product managers over 50 - because by the time you hit that age, you've figured out that it is organizations that last, not products. If you care deeply about people and you're trained as a product manager, eventually you need to let go of your product-focus and become organization-focused and brand-centric if you want to keep on delighting people over time.

Because those are the only two things that can last - products never do. They're not supposed to.

So when is it time to let go of your product focus?

You'll know. It's one of those forest and trees problems.

"That is. . .so frustrating. I made it all the way to the end of the piece and you spring some zen mumbo-jumbo on me? Damn. This is why Cauvin and the other PM bloggers kick your butt these days. They answer questions. Forest and trees. . .you're losing it."

"What can I say. There are some things you can't teach, you have to find them out for yourself. All I can do is let people know that the question is looming out there so they're not surprised when it hits them."

"You used to be a lot more fun."

"Ha."

wondering: is everybody in product management?

2011-01-04T13:51:00.002-06:00

There was an old joke that used to circulate every time the nice people in marketing would circulate a brochure or a press release or a sell sheet or an ad or whatever that "everyone is in marketing" because every one who touched the piece - regardless of whether or not they were qualified to do so - felt it was their job to monkey around with it.

"Change the font."

"Can you move these paragraphs around?"

"This message isn't strong enough."

"We need a quote from such-and-such."

"More cowbell."

And so on.

This used to frustrate the nice people in marketing who actually knew how to do their jobs, but who were tradition-bound to invite other people outside of marketing to get involved in the business of marketing. Too often the head of marketing wouldn't stand up for his or her people, and so the adventure continued, to the detriment of the marketing department which was increasingly seen as "indecisive". Really. I can't make this stuff up.

Theseadays, as I read various and sundry product management blogs and twitterings and rumblings from the underground I'm starting to see the same awful malignant practice that used to plague marketing departments start to afflict the product management craft. The challenge here is that the meddling is constant instead of seasonal, and it's coming from higher up in the org. We've created this problem by writing about product management, and now non-PM people are using what little they know about it to show how smart they are.

"Our customers want such-and-such. Go do it."

"That's too late to deliver that product. Make it sooner."

"These guys over here are the new shiznit. Partner with them."

"I'm the chief such-and-such officer and I know this market and here's what you need to do."

"I want these guys in the beta."

"You don't have enough market research to make that call."

"More cowbell."

And so on.

Here's how I avoid these problems, because I do. I'll even boil it down to two sentences you can say with your mouth full of food.

"Everybody has a stake in the success of this venture, and everybody has a special unique contribution they can make to that success that no one else can. If we all play together and work hard to delight our users, we can be successful together."

Smile when you say it.

Getting the people who think they are product managers out of product management is a matter of attitude - it is possible to be collegial in the effort to create the best possible outcome without creating an environment in which decision-making becomes diffused, or worse, capricious and inconsistent.

You, dear product manager, must create a process environment that involves the team appropriately and you must ride that process like a world-class cowboy as the surest way to get stuff done. Because if people don't understand your process and the role they play in it, they are free to play any role they want at any time and expect that their inputs will be acted on (if they are senior enough to get away with it).

So good luck with that. We've got no one else to blame for it but ourselves.

best: product management manual

2010-05-26T10:08:00.005-05:00

What is the best instruction manual for product managers?

Yee, Wong Herbert. Hamburger Heaven. New York: Scholastic, 2001.

(Amazon link)

In a review of this fine book, C. Posey wrote:

My son was delighted while we read this book. Tickled by fantastic illustrations and disgusting delicacies, he enjoyed the book from front to back. I used it as an opportunity to teach him about entrepreneurship, a not-so-obvious theme underlying the story.

While others' reviews have pointed out that the moral is about helping others, I believe it goes deeper than that. It is about Pinky Pig taking charge, and doing what is required to not only save her job, but to help grow the business she works for.

She performs market research (asking others what they'd like), planning and advertising (distributing the new menus in places her customers were most likely to frequent), and even delivering the desired product to the masses, which nets the business (and her personally) financial success, and loyal customers galore.

A great book with a moral? Yes. And a fantastic one about self-reliance at that.

This book is full of PM goodness that will stick in your head forever. Which is why it is the best product management manual ever. Recommended for readers of all ages.

PS: When I read this to my kids years ago they both said "that's what you do Daddy!" My son then asked when I was going to start a hamburger stand. He was not satisfied with my answer.

PPS: My reason for writing about this today was I found myself saying "it's the product our users want that is important, not the one that you or I want", and I was reminded of the line "Aardvark's burger has termites inside" from this book. Everything is Connected.

embracing: crossroads

2010-04-09T12:19:00.002-05:00

IF you've been brought into an organization as its first product manager, most likely you've spent your first 100 days figuring out the lay of the land.

AND you've probably figured out that there are changes that need to be made in order for the product and perhaps the organization to succeed. Otherwise they wouldn't have hired you.

THEN you realize you're at a crossroads. You can either continue along the previous path, or introduce the disruptions required to get the product to the destination the organization has set for itself.

This is a very lonely moment in time. It's also the most important moment you'll face in your time with that organization.

How you lead your team through this crossroads will challenge you in every way. It's a make-or-break time for you, Mr. Product Manager. Embrace it.

choices: an exercise

2010-03-12T22:03:00.005-06:00

Consider the following.

You live in a neighborhood in a city. Your neighborhood may have three (3) restaurants. No more, no less.

When you are tired / hung-over / lazy / inspired / hungry you may visit one (1) of these three (3) restaurants.

This is not to say that there aren't other restaurants you *could* go to. But they're *far away* and it's too early / too late / you're busy. You want to go someplace familiar / close by / convenient.

And so. You must choose.

For your neighborhood, you must choose three (3) restaurants that are within stumbling distance from your abode.

They may serve any of the three traditional daily meals.

They can belong to any ethnic group.

They may be as cheap or expensive as you wish. Money is no object in this gedanken experiment.

And they can have any menu which would be typical of the sort of restaurant you select. Please note that a "serve everything" restaurant is patently not fair.

The most significant requirement is that they must suit *you* - day in, day out - on those occasions when you decide to eat out.

For purposes of illustration, here are my three choices:

1. A traditional American breakfast joint. Eggs, toast, corned beef hash, and gallons of excellent coffee served in chipped porcelain mugs. And orange juice of impeccable provenance. Oh, and more coffee: black, like my heart. Waitresses who have seen too much and yet still find time to smile and remember your name. You must over-tip them religiously.

2. A French bistro. Steak frites, onion soup, blanquette de veau, choucroute garnie, cheese, cheap wine that is still pretty good. Baguette sandwiches with good butter and ham. Diffident waiters. Black and white tile floors. The occasional confit du canard and cassoulet. Zinc bar. A blue haze of Gitanes smoke. Mismatched cutlery and checkerboard-style tablecloths.

3. A ramen-ya. Tall stools wrapped around a workman-like counter behind a flappy set of frayed black half-curtains. Enough said. Here's a wonderful post about the sort of experience I'm describing.

Why is this an exercise? Because it forces you to think about what it will take to delight you *consistently*. It connects you to a part of your psyche that you don't connect with often - the part that appreciates unsophisticated, everyday pleasure. Because you don't go out to eat unless you need to - and if you need to, you want to eat something you can't make yourself. You want to be wrapped in an experience that speaks to you intimately.

Now consider that you have the opportunity to create this sort of experience for your customers.

It's a heady responsibility.

BONUS EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY: Share your three restaurants in the comments or send them to me on twitter @bobcorrigan

change: a (new) man bag for (old) man stuff

2010-02-08T20:10:00.010-06:00

It's a shame.

"What's a shame?"

I've come to sense the limitations of my Belstaff Colonial Canvas shoulder bag.

"Buh-wha...?"

I've been on the road an awful lot lately, and it's just not cutting it.

"I thought that bag did everything but wash your dishes and stop bullets."

Don't get me wrong, it's a great bag. It's just not convenient for the serious traveler.

"What happened?"

First of all, it's just not big enough. I'm schlepping around a laptop, files, notebooks, my pencil case. . .

"You carry around a pencil case?"

Dude. You need a pencil case. I keep my spare pens, refills, my automatic pencil, a glue stick, all kinds of useful stuff in it.

"You're scaring me."

OK, where was I. Besides the pencil case, I carry an iPod Touch, the wires and charger for it, a phone, and that doesn't start to cover the other bits of crap I carry around, like hand sanitizer, whiteboard pens, a harmonica, a small stack of origami paper. . .

"Origami paper."

You need that for making presents for flight attendants.

"I'm not going to ask."

I've got my worry stone, a pewter acorn from the Morton Arboretum...

"OK, I have to ask. Why an acorn?"

You carry an acorn to bring luck and ensure a long life.

"Really."

I'm not taking any chances. Oh, and then there's my Midori Traveler's Notebook for tickets, receipts, itineraries, business cards and whatnot. And that doesn't include any books I'm reading.

"That's a lot of crap, Bob."

Seriously! If you're not getting on and off planes for a living, the Belstaff bag is swell. But I need something bigger.

"So just get a backpack or carry one of those big laptop bags."

Perhaps you haven't been paying attention. I need a bag for my stuff, not a ballistic-fabric monster.

"Except now you've got more stuff."

What can I say.

"So what man purse. . .I'm sorry, man bag are you looking at these days?"

Funny you should ask. Check out the Barbour Retriever Bag.

"Oh my."

It's waxed cotton so it's light, water-resistant and durable. It's got that nice Barbour tartan fabric liner. It's one big pouch with two small external pockets. And check out the dimensions: 16.5 x 16 x 6.5 inches. That's a good three to four inches longer, wider and deeper than my Belstaff bag. And it's not man-baggy-looking, if you know what I mean.

"Have you read any reviews?"

Come on.

"How much?"

Around $120, maybe less if I get lucky on eBay.

"That's a lot less expensive than the Belstaff."

And get this - there's a Barbour repair center out east in case something unfortunate happens to it. I don't have to screw around negotiating with someone in the showroom to get it fixed.

"Very nice."

I agree.

"Got another picture?"

Sure:

news: my new adventure

2010-02-08T19:51:00.002-06:00

I'm not quite sure how to tell this story, so I'll be brief, start at the end, and leave the beginning for another day.

I'm working at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History as the product manager for the Encyclopedia of Life.

A few years ago Edward O. Wilson asked attendees at TED to "imagine an electronic page for each species of organism on Earth." Some brave people took up that challenge and a year later EoL was launched. If you want to learn more you can visit www.eol.org and poke around.

It's audacious, it's meaningful, it's a long way from finished - actually, it will never be finished, and that's part of what makes it so special. If we do our jobs correctly it will change the world. I'm honored, delighted and extremely humbled to be a part of it.

oh: and by the way

2010-01-24T08:44:00.004-06:00

A few unrelated topics:

1. After three days in Leiden I'm convinced we'd all be better off if we all rode bikes. I think the Dutch ride bikes in part because being a pedestrian there is a full-contact sport. Curiously enough I didn't see a single person wearing a bike helmet, and yet I didn't read any stories of devastating head injuries. Could it be they've made cities "bike safe"? Or are their heads simply that much harder? By the way a wonderful review of a typical Dutch bike can be found here, with bonus points going to the author for being a Chicago resident.

2. Somewhere over the Labrador coast yesterday I finished Gail Carriger's Victorian-era vampire/werewolf comedy Soulless. It's a fast, fun read that will appeal to fans of the Dresden books (comme moi). It's a little long on the smoochy bits for my taste. The second book in the series is due out later this year.

3. While I invite and value your comments, I am going to delete any comments that include long strings of embedded URLs. I hope my Chinese readers will not be offended by this and will continue to read ack/nak.

definition: what is a product?

2010-01-24T08:36:00.003-06:00

I had the opportunity to "define" what a product is to my steering committee last week. I thought I'd share my definition with you.

"Brands make promises to people - products keep those promises by delivering value in consistent, meaningful and delightful ways over time."

You'll note there are a few keywords missing there, such as profitable. It's missing because it's built in to the concept of delivering value over time - products that can't be sustained (by whatever means matters to you) can't be delivered, QED.

This definition works for me, because it aligns the mind around the customer, and it puts products into the higher-order perspective of the brand.

It also works for me because I can say it with my mouth full of food.

I hope all of you are well. I'm a week or so (I think) from being able to talk about my new adventure in greater detail.

warning: worst beverage ever

2009-12-06T20:22:00.004-06:00

I'm reluctant to name names, but if you should ever find yourself debating the relative merits of, say, a delicious carbonated fountain beverage and a "plain cappuccino" while waiting on line at a branch of our nation's (perhaps our world's) largest chain restaurant, PLEASE G_D select the delicious carbonated beverage. Because if you choose the other beverage, you will get a beverage that will give you diabetes on the spot in addition to burning whole swaths of taste buds as efficiently as if you had licked a simmering cauldron of napalm.

When asked "can you make it less sweet" we were informed "that's the way it comes out of the machine".

And we didn't even get it with the traditional garnishes of whipped cream and brownish sugar ooze (a.k.a. chocolate syrup).

It went unfinished into the garbage can around the corner.

You've Been Warned.

song: ashokan farewell

2009-12-03T21:08:00.000-06:00

discovered: saddleback leather company

2009-11-28T18:51:00.003-06:00

Readers know I'm devoted to my Belstaff Colonial Canvas shoulder bag.

But it's. . .made of canvas.

Which means it's not as durable as I'd like it to be. It suffers from wearing at friction points. It isn't what I'd characterize as waterproof. It is no friend of pointy things.

So I'm always on the prowl for well-made bags that can stand up to the sort of abuse I'm prone to subject my bags to.

Steve Derricott at Gfeller Casemakers makes lovely bags. But his range is limited to pieces that work for geologists and the like.

The nice people at Ghurka make lovely bags. But that's their problem - they're too lovely.

When Patrick Ng started publishing pictures of a bag he got from Saddleback Leather Company, I had one of those "ah ha" moments.

Go have a look and let me know what you think.

thanks: giving

2009-11-25T12:24:00.003-06:00

I have an awful lot to be thankful for.

It has been an "interesting" year. I have had other "interesting" years before, as all of you have. This particular "interesting" year is ending on an up note, with plenty of good things to look forward to.

So it's at times like this that I come to appreciate that Thanksgiving shouldn't be all about "muttering a few words of relief that my life isn't as screwed up as INSERT INDIVIDUAL OR INDIVIDUALS' NAMES HERE." And it shouldn't be all about an organized eating festival.

Thanksgiving is a day, like Christmas and Easter are days, to be reminded of a simple truth.

It is a day that teaches us to say thank you.

We are all beneficiaries of kindness - I know I am. One of those kindnesses is your attention - for which I'd like to say thank you.

I hope you enjoy tomorrow in the company of family and friends. If you can't, I hope you will seek out the company of like-minded individuals. Because it's kindness that makes life worthwhile, and giving thanks for that kindness that makes us human.

considering: what's first UPDATED

2009-11-18T21:48:00.004-06:00

I'm waiting.

"What are you waiting for? Godot? Mr. Goodbar?"

I'm waiting for my new job to begin. And by the way, you look for Mr. Goodbar, you don't wait for him.

"Woo hoo! Terrific! What are you going to be doing?"

"Product management."

"Where?"

Can't say. Yet.

"Why?"

Can't say that either. But I can say that I'm looking forward to starting, and I'm considering what to do first.

"What you do first is easy. You sign a lot of papers, you get your picture taken, you shake a lot of hands."

That stuff doesn't count. I'm talking about what's first.

"You've already written about that. You take a document inventory."

Well, yes. . . but. . .

"Come on, don't tell us that you're not going to take your own advice?"

The real world is complicated. Blog postings about product management make everything seem so cut-and-dry and black-and-white. Life is much more dynamic than that.

"OK, so what's first?"

I think job number one is to keep my mouth shut and listen.

"Really."

Really. When I was just starting out as a product manager I remember spending time selling the concept of product management to the new people I was working with, which was more of a telling thing than a listening thing.

"And you don't have to do that?"

I don't need to convince anyone that I know my craft. What I have to do is just do it. And that's going to take a lot of listening. And an absolute mountain of reading.

"But you like to read."

That's true.

UPDATE: Reader Matt, regretting the lack of a decent search facility on ack/nak, asked in a comment for me to cite the article in which I discuss taking a document inventory. That article can be found here.

thinking: about the blessing of mileage

2009-11-12T21:22:00.008-06:00

A friend of mine has just started a new business - a genuine wine and cigar "bar" in Brighton, Michigan. It's already getting some great press. You should go there. But that's not why I'm writing this.

I know the guy who owns it. He is, as one of my Irish ancestors would say, a mensch. Such a man as operates this genuine wine and cigar "bar" you will rarely find, even if you lift up rocks in the search for said brand of fellow.

I know him from Way Back When, and I know a little about the trip he's taken to get to where he is today.

I don't envy him that trip.

Looking at the Facebook page dedicated to his new venture there is a picture of this man, smoking a cigar, looking quite content. When I see that look of contentment on his face, I know it's something he's paid for, and paid dearly.

Whatever joys and sorrows have come his way have created a man of substance who occupies a still point in a moving world, as Eliot would describe it.

It's not the years, it's the mileage. Sorry, Indiana, I'm going to borrow that line.

He's earned that cigar. Now you need to go buy one from him so you can reflect on the benefits of the miles you've racked up.

link: the software maven

2009-10-29T08:51:00.003-05:00

If you're a developer or a product manager who has come up through the software development ranks, you probably already know about Travis Jensen's blog The Software Maven.

What I really enjoy and value about Travis' writing is his focus on how the product development and product management roles relate (or don't relate, as the case may be) to each other over time, which is to say at different points of the software development life cycle. Each season of the product development process brings different challenges; Travis' insights into these different seasons makes for terrific reading.

So how about you take a break from the same old product management bloggy bits and explore something new. For your Added Convenience he provides a regular run down of what's interesting out on the intrawebs too, which is very helpful for people like me who tend to read all the same bloggy bits most days.

PS: I'll be coming up for air soon with news of my Exciting New Adventure, so stay tuned.

hello: visitors from pragmatic marketing

2009-10-14T14:54:00.002-05:00

If you've just finished reading my article in October's Pragmatic Marketing newsletter and have decided to pay a visit, welcome. You may skip the next line.

If you have not read that article, please refer to the link above, then come back.

For your amusement and edification I have made it easy for you to find what you want here at ack/nak. Simply use the tags found on the upper right hand side of the page, relax with a delicious beverage and your choice of snacks, and enjoy.

idea: the LRD (life requirements document)

2009-10-06T11:53:00.004-05:00

In one of my first posts here I wrote about the importance of writing the MRD first. It's amazing to think that was almost four years ago. Gosh I'm long-winded.

Recently I've come to appreciate that there's a document that must be written prior to the MRD.

It has nothing to do with your market, your products, or your company. It has everything to do with you.

I can't take credit for this - my wife made it clear to me that I needed to write down "what I wanted" if I was going to conduct a successful search, whether it was for consulting clients or a full-time gig.

"If you're such a hot-shot product manager, Bob, where are your requirements? Have you written down what you want, what's important to you, and what you will and won't accept? I think I recall someone saying 'if it's not written down it's not real' so get busy."

And so was born the LRD, or "life requirements document".

My headings are values, work (vocation), work (avocation), family, location, priorities, outcomes and challenges. Your headings will be your headings. Like the MRD, it is a living document.

I'm sure there are folks out there who are very adept at the "writing down of goals" part of this thing. But what I think is illuminating was the idea of treating it like a PM document, and as a private precursor to the MRD.

So where the MRD helps you understand:

Who are we selling this product to?
How are we going to sell this product?
What is the competitive landscape we're selling into?
What are the sizes of our buyer segments?

The LRD helps you understand:

What sorts of problems are you interested in solving?
What sort of customers are you interested in helping?
What markets are interesting to you?
What sort of people do you want to work with?
What motivates you?
What will make you feel like you've "won"?
What constraints do you need to work around?
What other activities do you need to pursue to make you feel "complete"?
What gaps exist in your capabilities that you must address or can safely ignore?

I could go on like this for a while, but you get the idea.

I've written a lot of MRDs for products and customers that frankly I wasn't all that interested in. Maybe it's a function of age, experience and scar tissue, but I am very focused today on making meaning, not just money.

If you're staring down the barrel of another development adventure and wondering what your life has come to, perhaps a little time spent writing your own requirements would help you understand whether or not you're doing work that is going to meet those requirements.

nice: persona-driven demo

2009-09-23T10:35:00.003-05:00

If you're one of those folks on the prowl for news about the alleged Apple tablet, you probably saw reports of an equally alleged Microsoft device surface in recent days.

Well kids, MSFT beat APPL to the punch today by leaking (releasing?) a concept video that shows the Microsoft "Courier" device in action. OK, it's not the real thing - it's all animation and shadow-hands and a soothing hipster voice over.

But it does do something very, very well - it demonstrates a typical use case, and shows how the product supports that use case. It doesn't focus first on features - it focuses on value.

I was impressed.

Since I can't embed the Gizmodo video of the demo here, you will just have to go there to see it.

Sometimes product managers leave the "marketing stuff" up to the "marketing people". When it comes to how your products are demonstrated, don't let this happen. Make sure you connect capabilities to value by grounding them in problems people have, and how you help them solve those problems.

review: gfeller field notes cover

2009-09-21T15:40:00.001-05:00

Readers of ack/nak know of my great regard for Steve Derricott's wonderful Moleskine covers. Since their debut back in 2007, they've become the must-have cover for serious note-takers who want to protect their moleskine notebooks (both large and small) in the field.

A few months ago Steve sent me a prototype of a new notebook cover he's been fooling around with, with the request to try it out and let him know what I thought of it.

The Gfeller Casemakers Field Notes cover is fashioned of the same natural kip leather Steve uses to make so many of his professional products.

It is a "soft cover" designed to hold two of the Field Notes notebooks, the first of which is secured by sliding its front cover into the cover's inner front flap, the second being secured by sliding its back cover into the cover's inner rear flap. It's simple, and it works.

Those of you who are familiar with the Gfeller Casemaker moleskine covers know that these covers start out light tan - and over time weather naturally to a rich dark brown. That's your reward for using them for a long time.

As Steve says, "details make the difference": I can tell that the sewn edges have been trimmed and the sharp edges hand-softened with an edging tool. I hope the photos can give you a sense of just how well-made these are.

It's important to mention that the Field Notes notebooks are not very thick, and they aren't particularly stiff. They benefit greatly from being wrapped in something more substantial and this case does the trick. Once loaded up with two notebooks, the ensemble has much more heft to it than if you stacked two notebooks up.

And you get the little plus of two secure little pockets you can sneak bits of paper into.

For my notebooks, I use a quad-lined notebook on the left for taking notes, and a plain notebook on the right for "bookmarks".

What can I say - Steve's got another hit on his hands. You could argue that putting cheap notebooks into a hand-made leather cover is overkill. I'll argue that if you're serious about keeping your notebooks in good condition until you can get them back to "home base", then you need some sort of cover, and there's nothing more effective and durable over the long term than one made with Old World attention to detail and quality.

Gfeller Casemakers

301 E. Bower St., Meridian, Idaho 83642

http://www.gfellercasemakers.com/

in the beginning: take inventory

2009-09-18T09:00:00.007-05:00

I tweeted about this yesterday and immediately got a bunch of mail asking what I meant by "what's unwritten is dangerous".

In any software development or marketing organization, there is certain information that gets written down. We write down requirements, we write down schedules. We have written evidence of market research (if you've accepted that your opinion, while interesting, is irrelevant) and written examples of personas. We have piles of collateral, press releases, sales prompters and call notes. Lots of words.

The first part of my tweet related to the importance of making "taking inventory" the first "real" thing you do on the job. What you're looking to do is document what has been written down in the organization with regards to the product management process. These "artifacts" point to evidence of processes you haven't experienced and whose existence you can't prove.

From an attitude perspective, it is essential you do this without judgment. Just ask where things are, find them, and move on. No "ohmygawdIcan'tbelieveyouguysdon'thavearoadmap" comments. Really. In the words of the immortal Patrick Swayze in Roadhouse, "I want you to be nice until it's time to not be nice".

In this day and age it seems counter-intuitive to print out copies of the stuff you find that is relevant to product management, but I recommend you do. Put it in a binder with appropriate labels. This becomes your definitive record of "knowns". For knowns that are huge, print out the summary page. For knowns that have lots of history, just document the depth of that history.

Note that I'm not asking you to identify "how things are done" - just "what is written down". This is an important distinction I'll explain in a bit. And don't worry about consistency among the documents - all you care about is whether they exist or not and where they exist.

An easy way to ask for the stuff you need is to run down a list of items. By means of an analogy, you've been in a shop that's taking inventory. Workers go shelf to shelf and count things, then write down those counts on slips of paper attached to the shelf. Your job is to go shelf by shelf - business process by business process - and make sure that you can see what's on that shelf.

Once you've got that binder put together, take a look and see where the holes are. For example, and in no specific order:

Is there documented evidence of the vision, mission and values of the organization?
Is there a strategy document for each product?
Are there documented goals for the year? Previous years?
Is there evidence of whether those goals were met?
Is there a roadmap for every product?
Do you see market sizing data?
Do you have evidence of why a product was built?
Do you see market share data? Sales history?
Is there a record of development and launch history? (I'll eat my hat if you don't find this. It's the single-most common artifact in the software development world.)
Can you find support metrics? Defect tracking?
Can you find sales data: volumes, dollars and related funnel metrics with associated math?
Is there documented competitive intelligence, including how they package and price?
Are there documented requirements, whether that's in a RDD or as an agile backlog, with associated sources?
Are there user and buyer persona definitions?

Give this process a week at most. You can do it while you're meeting people, learning about products and completing your healthcare enrollment forms. Keep track of who you talk to.

When you are complete, you've accomplished three things:

1. You have demonstrated respect for and an interest in the history of the product and the company

You are the new guy or gal on the block. Prior to your arrival, the organization built, released, marketed and sold products. There are most likely customers. The exercise of looking back demonstrates that you want to understand the world you are now living in through the lens of past. . .as documented by evidence. Plus you've got fresh eyes, and that's the ideal time to "look back"; allow too much time to elapse and you'll have consumed the KoolAid and believe whatever version of history is official (e.g., Oceania Has Always Been at War With Eurasia).

2. You have established a reputation for being thoughtful about process

The reason you are there as a product manager is build products people will want to buy, and to do so in a way that is consistent, efficient, and effective. By taking an inventory of specific product artifacts, you demonstrate your expertise in your craft because you know the importance of taking a whole-picture view of what it takes to build, release, market and sell software.

3. You have not explicitly threatened anyone

Your job is not to walk around and ask "why don't you have such and such", your job is simply to walk around and find out if they exist or not, and to take a look at them to confirm they do.

In the process you will get lots of stories about why such-and-such a document doesn't exist, or why it used to but doesn't anymore - please resist the urge to do anything other than nod and move on to the next item. By taking an evidence-based approach to this inventory, you will figure out which departments and people are playing things fast and loose when it comes to process, but that's not important now.

So you've got your inventory of process artifacts. What's next? And what does this have to do with what's not written down being dangerous?

What's not written down exerts pressure on what is written down and diminishes its value. Here's an example:

A competitor releases a new version of their website that highlights a range of functional capabilities that the company's product doesn't have and which the company didn't see coming. The klaxons go off up in the executive suite, the previous product manager falls through the trapdoor in the floor down the chute to the pit of alligators, development scrambles to build the three or four features sales says are "critical", and a new version goes to market.

Then you get hired.

If your inventory revealed a gap in requirements and persona definition documentation, you could conclude the incumbent PM was the weak link, but. . .

If your inventory revealed a gap in roadmap documentation, you could conclude that the product manager's manager was the weak link, but. . .

If your inventory revealed a gap in strategy documentation, accompanied by a lack of sales process metrics, then you could conclude that senior management was the weak link, but. . .

If your inventory revealed a gap in market intelligence (e.g., analyst data, research, customer surveys, sales loss reports, etc) then no matter how well the other pieces worked or didn't work, the organization was flying blind and building things they wanted to build, unless. . .

If your inventory revealed a gap in concept testing (perhaps due to the presence of an internal thought-leader/savant from whom brilliance and insight flowed like water and whose ideas directed development), then you could conclude that development management was the weak link. . .and so forth and so on.

None of this is to say that the organization didn't think they had requirements, roadmaps, market intelligence, validated concepts or a coherent strategy. Every company will claim to have these.

And now we get to the danger. Whatever is not written down can change without warning, can't survive a change in personnel, can't stand up to objective analysis, and can't be shared or integrated into other processes in a repeatable way.

If you find substantial holes in documentation, you may find that the trail leads back to an individual who just "knows" what the customer wants, or who the customer is, or how many customers there are, or who the competition is, or how best to communicate with the marketplace, or the right price point.

How that individual comes to know isn't documented - all you can tell is that one of the elements of the product management process is based on a subjective, unwritten "known". Efforts to obtain evidence that contributes to the known can be met with "why are you looking at that, we already know it to be true". You may find that you can't challenge this individual to document the knowns they own; there are many reasons for this, some good (they're a savant who makes product magic) and some bad (they are a C-player who feels threatened by you, or someone who believes control of information equals power).

When taking an inventory of the evidence an organization uses to manage processes and make decisions, the danger of undocumented elements is that they introduce wild-cards that introduce delays, at best, or can steer you in the wrong direction, at worst.

So by making one of your first tasks on the job a comprehensive inventory of process artifacts, you're gaining immediate insight into how the organization functions. . .and does not function. Armed with that, you can lay out a plan for how you will get things done in the context of what the organization is immediately capable of doing - and set your sights on which of the processes you will work on next.

It also makes for a killer presentation.

self-editing: tyranny and transition

2009-09-18T08:58:00.000-05:00

If you're a blogger you're familiar with the problem of self-editing. It's the blogger's auto-immune disease - with the realization that more and more people are reading what you write, you find yourself less willing to say what you're Actually Thinking.

Is what you write "serious enough"? Is what you write "interesting enough"? The "dark, inaccessible part of our personality" that Freud describes throws rocks at you and makes every word you write suspect. What you did for fulfillment and pleasure becomes strewn with land-mines. It's all very interesting at a certain level.

Once the blogger starts this cycle, breaking out of it takes something dramatic. Becoming willing to hit the "publish post button" again (and again) requires a change of mind and a change of heart, and often a change of direction.

I am, of course, referring to someone else, not me. Ahem.

bug: edirol FA-101 crashes handbrake on 10.5.8

2009-08-28T11:35:00.003-05:00

Problem: With an Edirol FA-101 firewire interface turned on, attempts to convert a M4V movie (a software demo, if you must ask) to the AVI format using Handbrake 0.9.3 on an iMac running Mac OS X 10.5.8 results in a crash.

Solution: Turn off the FA-101 and retry.

Reason: Who the heck knows.

thoughts: duplicating the "Apple Effect"

2009-08-27T20:36:00.006-05:00

You've read about the "Apple Effect" before. It's the ability to turn your customers into a frothy horde of fans who obsess over "what's next", who consider your competition to be morally and intellectually laughable, and who will whip their wallets out to prove it.

You've wondered "How can I do that?"

You've read blogs and magazines that purport to answer that very question. Most of them are variations of the old joke "How do you become a millionaire? First, get a million dollars."

You've read Insanely Great. Twice.

You've thought about wearing a black mock turtleneck and becoming an obsessive ego pirate.

Then you've sighed and gone back to scrubbing that product backlog. Because you've come to realize, as all product managers ultimately do, that you do not have the organizational power to transform your company to that extent. The best you're likely to achieve is to transform your product, which is actually a bad thing - your company's image will become fractured as some customers get a dramatically different product experience than others.

At worst, you'll be laughed at as a half-baked doppelgänger of Someone We All Recognize.

Want to duplicate the Apple Effect?

Here's your cookbook:

1. Make sure you have power. Lots of it. Power to make people do exactly what you want, if necessary, but most importantly enough power to make people do things the way you want.

And here's that way. Simplified for Short Attention Spans, of course.

2. Find a "Path to Value" (P2V) in your target marketplace. With all the power you've got, you could get your Evil Minions(TM) to build practically anything. But you'd be best to focus on something the buyer will both love and value over time. So find that, whatever it is. Don't settle for "wow that'd be nice to have". You're not interested in building shiny pennies that people will love one day and drop the next. And you're not entirely interested in solving problems. You're interested in capturing their love, their passion, their imagination, their ambitions.

3. Find a "Path to Revenue" (P2R) for each potential P2V. It doesn't matter if the customer loves it if you can't make money giving it to them. Think about how the P2R will change over time. You're not interested in short-term cash that ends. You want a long-term relationship that works for the customer - and you.

4. Start down the "Path to Execution" (P2E) and be prepared to walk away - but refuse to give up. You may not be able to deliver on a given P2V today with the tools or technologies or people you have. But if that P2V is associated with a highly desirable P2R, damn it, you can't not deliver on it if that buyer is in your target market. So re-tool, re-think, re-engage.

5. Never Be Satisfied With The Status Quo. As the leader your primary job is to make sure each part this three-part engine stays in constant motion. Never assume you know what your customers will love - or that you are satisfied with just the the customers you always have. Never assume that you fully understand how you'll make money by making them love you. And never assume that what you create will satisfy them.

6. It's been said the first rule of Italian driving is what is behind you doesn't matter. In the pursuit of becoming a company worthy of desire, you must believe that everyone is behind you because you must know that you are more attentive to the market than anyone else. This knowing must be grounded in evidence of the process of knowing. Anything else is just empty ego making you feel good.

So go find out. Go figure out. Go build it. Be hungry. And always, always be at the front.

recommended: washimatta

2009-08-07T19:04:00.003-05:00

Washimatta is Karen Satto's blog.

She lives in Japan.

Her writing style, her photography, and her love of Japanese culture are simply delightful.

And she happens to be the best resource on Etsy for MT Masking Tape.

Which is made of washi.

If you wanted more washi, you might say, "Washi mata!"

Which happens to be something like the name of a blog I like called Washimatta.

Washimatta is Karen Sato's blog.

billy mays: lessons for product managers

2009-08-06T13:15:00.002-05:00

Have you heard people don't read anymore?

"Ain't that the truth."

Which makes it all the more remarkable that you're reading this.

"I'm not reading - we're having a conversation. It's different."

So, Person Who Doesn't Read, have you read the article from Copyblogger on The Billy Mays 5-Step Guide to Easy Selling?

"No. I don't read blogs. They're shabby shadows of what I remember newspapers being, you know, back in the day."

If I promised you it was short and easy on the brain would you go read it?

"Does it have pictures?"

It has one picture.

"Is it of a girl?"

It's of Billy Mays.

"Hmm. I suppose you'll want me to read the comments too."

No, just the article.

"Why are you asking me to read an article about a recently-deceased pitchman's approach to selling that doesn't even have any nice pictures?"

Because it's a very crisp distillation of what product managers should build if they want their software to sell like hotcakes.

"I'm a software product manager. I'm not going to build a C++ version of the ShamWow."

But that's the rub - you could. And you don't have to be Vince Schlomi either.

"Who is he?"

The ShamWow guy.

"How do you know these things?"

Don't distract me. You need to read the article because product managers get too hung up on big brand ideas, about building segments and impressing analysts and whatnot and often forget that building products that people want to buy means you have to really think about the buyer, and what it's going to take to energize him or her to take action, and feel good about it.

"And. . .Billy Mays can tell me how to do that."

Yes.

"For a software product."

Yes.

"Do I need to double my customer's orders if they call in the next ten minutes?"

No.

response: der produktmanager

2009-07-29T09:09:00.005-05:00

Der Producktmanager has an interesting article today on one of my favorite topics: the agile product manager.

PM's challenges with Agile go beyond how to interact with development in "real time" - they now have to translate what comes out of development to the rest of the organization. Odds are the rest of the organization isn't operating at the same speed that development is.

What does this mean?

Exampli gratia: development has decided it wants to use an Agile methodology and throws all its old waterfall chops out the window. The PM translates market requirements so development can make use of them, writes stories, owns the backlog, sets the priorities, these are pretty well known PM activities.

But now you've got "stuff" flowing out of development much faster than in the past. Marketing and sales need to be able to make use of this "stuff" - marketing needs to understand it so it can position it, sales needs to understand it so it can sell it.

Odds are strong that no one told sales and marketing that they need to be agile. They're in their own balkanized silos, they dance to their own tunes, they have their own bosses. They probably look at development with the sort of fixed smiles you save for "special people". They're not built to do sales training every few weeks to spin sales up on new capabilities. Marketing is not built to refresh the website, collateral, partners, press, analysts every few weeks.

And don't forget all the "stuff" zooming out of development needs to be rationalized to a pre-determined strategy, fit in to a pre-determined roadmap, and be able to demonstrate value through whatever success metrics have been (wait for it. . .) pre-determined to be important.

That's a lot of documentation to update. But you need to update it all because documents matter - if you're not writing all of this down, it's not real.

Agile puts the PM into the role of a "transformer", stepping down 220 volt output from the development plug to the 110 volt sales and marketing engine. Without a transformer, whatever you've plugged in will burn hot and bright for a while. . .then burn out.

In summary: just because development can create it, test it and ship it fast doesn't mean the people who need to consume it are ready for it. Ever have a waiter bring your main dish before you're done with your appetizer? Remember that feeling.

Unless your organization is totally harmonized around the idea of fast product turns, the product manager needs to "act agile" with development but "act waterfall" with sales and marketing. PMs who create "product harmony" in this way allow each silo to operate the way it wants/needs to operate to produce optimal results. That's a formula for success.

I'm curious what your real-world experiences are in this area.

call for input: the cost of knowing

2009-07-28T20:34:00.002-05:00

Hey team - I'm writing an article on a topic of Great Importance to the #prodmgmt community.

No, it's not "Bars with Free Food during Happy Hour" or "Sure-Fire Pick Up Lines for the SDCC Cosplay Show".

I'm writing about the cost of knowing.

"What the &$^$ does that mean? It sounds vaguely 'biblical' and that's unlike you to be so crass."

That's nice of you, thanks. Let me explain.

Product managers rely on all kinds of information to do their jobs. Some of that information comes easily - unit volume, sales reports, support call volume, number of downloads. All of you SaaS cats have it especially easy. You know who you are.

Some is a bit less easy to get your hands on - sales funnel metrics, operating margins, cost of goods.

And some doesn't come easily at all - focus groups, market segment research, competitive sales data.

What I'm exploring are the challenges associated with trying to justify laying your hands on hard-to-get data, and what the follow-on challenges are once you get it.

Because if you have to justify a spend to get data, you're going to have to show that you managed to get value from it.

One of my arguments is that #prodmgmt lives without data it really shouldn't do without. It justifies "not having" this data because it's "too expensive" or "we wouldn't know how to use it".

"That's swell, Bob. Sounds like an interesting article. I've got some toast I'm working on, so unless you've got something you need. . ."

Here's my ask - if you could reduce the cost of acquiring it, what sorts of data would you, my dear reader, wish you could get your trembly mitts on?

Dream big. I want to know what you don't have that you wish you did have. It's that simple.

Thanks for the input.

still: alive

2009-07-20T20:05:00.003-05:00

Hey folks - just a quick note to let ya'll know I'm a) still alive but b) traveling like crazy and c) still alive.

To stay abreast of my current whereabouts and state of mind, please refer to my Twitter feed.

I anticipate returning to a more-or-less normal cycle of posting come August. Thanks for your patience.

bob

palm pre: use-case analysis vs iphone

2009-06-08T09:08:00.003-05:00

Like many of you I've been tracking the development and release of the Palm Pre as an example of how to go after a market leader.

And like many of you I've been wondering how the Palm Pre stacks up against the iPhone where it truly counts - the day-to-day user experience. Because the Pre certainly looks nice and seems to stack up well on paper, with a few key advantages that you'd think would really resonate with the buying public.

So when I find detailed user experience comparisons between the two devices, I pay close attention.

Here's one I discovered this morning on a comment chain in response to an article describing a Palm Pre tear-down over at AppleInsider.

Reader MacShack (not his real name, in case you were wondering) offered the following:

You want to go to a website on the Pre? You go to the browser. Shift open de (sic) keyboard. Type in the web address. Slide it in again to read the website. Now imagine that you are reading a web page sideways (which I do a lot). You then want to go to a different web site. You first have to turn the phone, shift open the keyboard, type in the address, shift the keyboard back in and turn the phone sideways again. What an obvious design error. At least they should have, just like the G1, have the keyboard come out from the side. This way they would have had more space for the keys, which I read are very hard to type with, and wouldn't have to turn the phone back and forth to type things on a webpage or other stuff.

I'd like to hear from someone at Palm why the aforementioned design for this use-case was chosen and implemented, and I'd like to know if they measured how often users manually navigate to webpages from other webpages while using the phone in landscape mode as part of the decision process. Because it seems broken.

How often do the minute details of a product's design spell the difference between success and failure? Obsessing over these sorts of details may not show up in marketing materials or websites, but it is critical to the success of products you expect to be used by "real people" who get frustrated by inconsistencies in the user experience. It's the equivalent of sand in your shoe - you can live with it for a while, but sooner or later it drives you mad.

user testing: success

2009-06-07T15:09:00.001-05:00

I wonder what the disclaimer for this looked like. . . to say nothing of the requirements.

electric stimulus to face from toniwenwen on Vimeo.

surprise: gordon ramsay's scrambled eggs

2009-05-31T12:48:00.003-05:00

And surprise surprise, not a single F-bomb.

deck: why most presentations suck

2009-05-29T14:49:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Jon Gatrell at Spatially Relevant for turning me on to this.

And may I suggest that step one to making your presentations suck less (if not lose their suckiness entirely) is to start thinking of yourself as a storyteller who needs to entertain first and inform a close second. It unleashes a flood of karmic goodness when you put the well-being of your audience first.

Why most presentations suck

View more Microsoft Word documents from Slideware Manager.

transitions: onward and upward

2009-05-29T08:49:00.005-05:00

Thoughtful readers of ack/nak will have noticed I've been rather quiet this month.

Like many Americans I got caught up in the economic downturn, and found myself on May 1st to be, as the euphemism goes, "exploring new opportunities".

What I made were a lot of discoveries.

One of the biggest was in stress management, as I took to going to the gym on a near-daily basis, figuring if I exhausted myself I could purge some of the stress-toxins. It worked quite well. I'm sorry I didn't discover this a long time ago.

I discovered there were a lot of people who appreciate what I "do". Thank you to all of you who reached out to me with ideas and opportunities for collaboration. Thank you.

I discovered there is a world of difference between "manning the oars" and "holding the rudder" when it comes to approaching problems - it's hard to see where you're going when you have your back to the bow of the boat.

I discovered an ability to visualize that I hadn't fully exploited. As they say in "The Secret", thoughts become things - the Law of Attraction is a powerful force available to everyone to turn your dreams into reality. And as I started to dream, I felt the fear melt away.

And I discovered - again - how wonderful my wife and kids truly are.

The journey of the product manager is never easy, it is never straight, and it is never predictable. It is also never, ever boring. As I begin a new product management adventure, I'm proud to be part of a community of professionals who never lose sight of their humanity.

I'll keep you posted. Keep those cards and letters coming.

musashi-sensei: rules for product management

2009-05-16T10:30:00.004-05:00

Shinmen Musashi No Kami Fujiwara No Genshin, or as he is commonly known Miyamoto Musashi, was born in the village called Miyamoto in the province Mimasaka in 1584.

He was the author of A Book of Five Rings (Go Rin No Sho), a philosophical treatise on the way of the sword. To the Japanese he is Kensei (literally "sword saint"), and his teachings are an essential part of the Kendo bibliography.

In his 1974 translation of the book, Victor Harris remarked that "the book is not a thesis on strategy, it is in Musashi's word 'a guide for men who want to learn strategy' and, as a guide always leads, so the contents are always beyond the student's understanding. The more one reads the book the more one finds in its pages. It is Musashi's last will, the key to the path he trod."

Go Rin No Sho is definitely worthy of that warning. I've been reading it for 25 years and it reveals something new each time I visit it.

Musashi-sensei generously provided a list of nine guidelines for students who would follow his Way:

Do not think dishonestly.
The Way is in training.
Become acquainted with every art.
Know the Ways of all professions.
Distinguish between gain and loss in worldly matters.
Develop intuitive judgement and understanding for everything.
Perceive those things which cannot be seen.
Pay attention even to trifles.
Do nothing which is of no use.

For individuals interested in strategy these are powerful and quite intimate personal lessons. Victor Harris describes the book as ". . . unique among books of martial art in that it deals with both the strategy of warfare and the methods of single combat in exactly the same way." Put another way, Musashi-sensei teaches that you cannot master the grand strategy of armies without also mastering the self.

For product managers, this is the most powerful lesson of Go Rin No Sho. We operate in a world in which we are called on to assimilate information, formulate plans, execute on campaigns and adapt to changing conditions - all without direct control of or authority over the resources who will perform the work required to achieve the goal.

I believe the superior product manager is able to accomplish this work of grand strategy if he or she demonstrates a strong competency in personal strategy - in the individual disciplines that give evidence of an ability to direct and accomplish the larger works.

Musashi-sensei wrote "all of the five books (that make up Go Rin No Sho) are chiefly concerned with timing. You must train sufficiently to appreciate all this." When to strike, and how, and why, are at the core of his teaching. Is there anything more fundamental to our craft than timing? This is worthy of some discussion, I think.

I carry these nine guidelines with me wherever I go. Next time we meet, ask for a copy and I'll give you one. You'll probably be better at many of them than I am, and I'll look forward to learning from you.

____

A Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi, translated by Victor Harris (The Overlook Press, 1982)

transparency: your calendar

2009-05-05T06:20:00.002-05:00

If I were to magically gain access to your work calendar would it tell me anything about your priorities? Or would I just see "meetings"?

Product managers and product marketers live in an intensely networked world - our jobs require us to spend a disproportionate amount of time in meetings with others in order to accomplish our goals. Take a look at any of our calendars and you'll see a patchwork of weekly/monthly/quarterly/yearly recurring meetings. During release seasons, you may see that we're completely booked.

It will be immediately clear what's "urgent". But will it be equally clear what's "important"?

I ask because one of the quality-of-life problems for practitioners of our craft is - wait for it - not having enough time to dedicate to the long-cycle problems. And one reason we don't have enough time is that we're too free with it.

Have you ever heard the following statement: "I looked at your calendar and saw you were free, so I scheduled a meeting with you"?

Conversely, have you ever heard the following statement: "I looked at your calendar and decided what I needed you to do was more urgent than what you had scheduled at the time, so I scheduled a meeting with you"?

My bet is you've heard both - the former from peers and subordinates, and the latter from the folks you work for.

In both situations you ask yourself- do you want to be the one who DECLINES the meeting and upsets the cart? Or do you just accept, secretly resentful that you've been pulled away from a task that you need to accomplish? Are the first words out of your mouth at the meeting "where is the agenda" and "I have a hard stop at. . ."?

Or: do you schedule time to advance your non-urgent (or "long-cycle") agendas, and if you do, do you label them in a manner that would make sense to a third party? Beyond the title, do you include any details in the meeting notes that could help the viewer understand what you were doing and why?

I ask for two reasons - one external to you and one internal - with a bonus outcome you may not have anticipated.

Externally, booking your own time for activities that make sense to an external viewer raises the bar for someone looking to take that time away from you. It also forces you to "reschedule" those activities to remove the conflict from your calendar (if you accept the meeting), which means they'll still get done. Marking a time for "projects" is OK, but it's not going to stand up to much external scrutiny.

The bonus outcome is you become more transparent. Your process for advancing your personal agendas is visible to everyone, especially those whose contributions are required for you to accomplish them. For the members of your team, imagine seeing an item on your calendar that reads "update team MBO progress" every month.

And this helps to make time for the activities that can get "lost" - how many of you PMs wish you had more time to spend with telesales? Get it on your calendar. Tell them that you've got time dedicated to them each month, and that they can book you for time to sit at their desks with a pair of headphones on, listening to actual prospects.

It also serves as a helpful tool for justifying an investment in additional staff - when you run out of time to advance the agendas you've been assigned you have three choices: find more time, eliminate some existing agendas from your list, get more resources. Option number one is only an option if you're not managing your time well, and option number two is only an option if you're not managing your priorities well. Once those are both as tight as you can get them, you can make a good argument to add staff.

I'm sure there are other benefits that you, my dear reader, will remind me of. But I've run out of time today to write you and must move on to my next activity.

"7:00am: make coffee for Julie"

No way am I rescheduling that.

quiz: do marketers and programmers talk?

2009-04-22T22:32:00.002-05:00

Please respond in the comments.

Yes - our marketing guys and our developers talk all the time, and have a deep appreciation for each other's perspectives on creating and selling products. That's not to say that they're best friends, but they have an active dialog going on.

Maybe - I think they know that the other guys exist, and I think they've been known to say hello and share brownie recipes. Occasionally.

No - our marketing folks and our developers get along like turkeys and wood chippers. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen them talk to each other. I'm not sure they even speak the same language.

the tyranny: of twitter

2009-04-21T22:29:00.010-05:00

SET RANT_ALERT=ON

True story: Since I started "tweeting", my blog output has sunk to an all-time low. All Time Low, I tell you!

Yet during the same period my tweet-rate has increased. Increased!

Am I proud of this? Buh no.

Do I think that tweeting has the same nutritive value as blogging? Buh no.

And yet. It offers a poke to the pleasure center of the brain that blogging does not - specifically, it focuses the mind to be expressive in 140 characters. It's fast. Oh, so very fast. Hit the update button and shaZAMM, you've blurted 140 characters of erudition at all of your followers.

Instant gratification ho!

Why wait for your loyal readers to wander by your blog and tediously shamble their way through your latest article when you can submit them to an episode of id gavage.

When I'm writing here, 140 characters doesn't buy you much. I can't get out of bed in 140 characters.

And yet, I have been tweeting. Quite a lot, at least by my standards.

And in the course of doing so I've learned two simple lessons: you can't create and sustain a narrative thread in 140 characters. And it's really hard to establish a relationship with readers 140 characters at a time.

So here's the challenge. In a world in which the tyranny of Twitter is compressing attention spans in inverse proportion to the volume of messages assaulting those newly-compressed attention spans, what can one do to adapt?

Well, we can settle for reducing complex concepts and thoughts into fortune cookie-length declarative statements, like "product managers must lead" and "it's important to be nice".

Or, we can agree that Twitter has its uses. And like all good tools, it should be used for what it is good at. Not more.

The bottom line: I apologize for my drop in ack/nak posts. I've learned there are a lot of things I can't express 140 characters at a time. So I won't try.

I look forward to sharing them with you here, even if I end up reducing complex concepts and thoughts into fortune cookie-length declarative sentences. The difference is that over here, they're short by choice, not by design.

And I promise to use whatever "influence" I gain for good, not evil. You're not so much followers as fellow travelers, and I value being on the road with you.

best: excuse for not podcasting

2009-04-14T09:27:00.001-05:00

It's unfair how clever certain people are (exempli gratia).

heraclitus: quotes for good friday

2009-04-10T14:30:00.000-05:00

History is a child building a sand-castle by the sea, and that child is the whole majesty of man’s power in the world. [52]

An unapparent harmony is stronger than an apparent one. [54]

He who hears not me but the logos will say: All is one. [1]

---Heraclitus of Ephesus (535-475 BC) (link)

motivation: the hidden lever

2009-04-10T11:03:00.005-05:00

We spend an awful lot of time in ack/nak land talking about personas and value propositions and handling sales and where you can go to find poutine in Chicago. You know, important stuff. Such is the rich tapestry of life we weave together.

What we've never spoken about is motivation.

Those of you who stayed awake through your psychology classes will recall that motivation is an internal process that makes a person move toward a goal. The Wikipedia have a nice article on it you can read if you want more than my ham-fisted definition.

The enlightened product manager is very interested in motivation.

Practitioners of the product management craft are used to saying things like "we want to build products that people want to buy" and "we want to meet needs that are pervasive, urgent and which people are willing to spend money to fix". These are all true and good.

The keywords in the aforementioned statements are "want" and "urgent". Without getting in to too much trouble, I'd like to suggest that forming a deep understanding of how these two concepts relate to each other in the mind of the buyer (and by association the target market as a whole) formulate a good-enough model for motivation.

The only way to find out about these is to actually talk to people. You, on your own, inside your head or in the company of your coworkers, will not be able to accurately model what motivates your buyer. You have to talk to people. Not email them or survey them.

Talk. To lots of them. Yourself.

"But why? Can't we just take it as read that the buyer has the best interests of the organization at heart, and will take action to advance those interests?"

Ha.

People buy for people-reasons, not organization-reasons.

When you find an area that someone truly wants to explore - that's important to them - and which aligns with the immediate goals of the business, you've identified an important lever for movement.

But be careful. Want is not the same thing as need. An individual may not be motivated to take action on something they need to the same degree as they are on something they want.

Here's an example from a previous life of mine.

Q1: "Do you need to know how your data warehouse is performing so you can anticipate changes you should make down the road?"

A1: "Yes."

Q2: "Is it important to your organization to maintain the availability of the data warehouse as new applications come on-line this year?"

A2: "Yes."

Q3: "Would you use a tool that would predict how your data warehouse will perform under different future load scenarios?"

A3: "No."

What this individual wanted to do was maintain the data warehouse, to tinker with the schema and the hardware and the applications themselves because that was more interesting. This individual didn't want to be the person who got blamed for the company buying hardware it didn't need. And this individual absolutely did not want to interview business groups on how they "thought" they might use the warehouse next year, because he was not a terrific "people person".

When pressed by the bosses, this individual would actively come out against a predictive tool because. . .and this was rich. . . "we do that already". He would argue that real problems could not be predicted, and that he and the team dealt with emerging problems pretty well, and that it was easy enough to expand capacity on-demand by adding memory and faster disks and whatnot, and after all didn't the database people sell monitoring tools? "Besides, wouldn't you rather spend that money on some more BI tool licenses?"

And the sale would not happen.

Now the technology behind the particular tool I reference was absolutely space-age stuff, backed up by years of work and some of the brightest people I've ever met. It really worked. But the company that sells it is still just puttering along, round after funding round, because they are selling something that companies are just not motivated to buy.

There is a lot more to say on this topic, but I am more motivated to go to the gym. Sorry.

wwjd: what would jesus drink?

2009-03-16T16:56:00.008-05:00

In support of the upcoming (and long awaited) next episode of The Bob Swami Show (topic=cocktails) I would like to solicit your responses to the following question:

What Would Jesus Drink?

Please leave your recommendations in the comments. And Happy St. Patrick's Day. (Image courtesy of the KC Beer Blog)

invitation: evaluate kindling with me UPDATED

2009-03-09T11:10:00.008-05:00

I received a very nice email from an ack/nak reader last Friday:

I wanted to write because we've been following a number of sites related to product management here at Arc90 and I've enjoyed reading your thoughts on ack/nak along the way. Arc90 is a consulting and product firm based in New York City and we recently released our first product, an idea management web application called Kindling.

Since you often write about all things product-oriented, I wonder if you'd be interested in reviewing Kindling. We could set you up with a free account for 30 days so that you could take a look and give us your feedback.

We also recently started a blog that speaks to our experience with launching Kindling as a product called The Kindling Blog; it serves as a place where we link to and discuss thoughts on innovation. We're always looking for new topics for the blog, so feel free to drop me a line if you hear of anything particularly relevant.

Let me know if you'd like to guest post or review Kindling and I'll get things up and rolling.

How could I resist? So I didn't.

This morning the folks at Kindling set up my account, and now. . . we get to test it together.

"Why are you roping us into this mess? We've got enough to do."

Kindling is an "idea management application". It's not something you can test without help. Let me explain.

For product managers, market sensing is one of those things we know we have to do often and well, but it's often hard to operationalize.

Kindling offers the product manager a platform for soliciting and capturing feedback on just about any topic. If you can imagine it and express it in words, you can let Kindling manage the process of accepting, tracking and reporting feedback to whatever "it" is.

"OK, I'm sold. How do I get involved?"

UPDATE: It's too late. The trial period for my Kindling evaluation has expired, and I'm collecting the feedback. Thanks to all of you who participated!

watchmen: quote of the day

2009-03-05T09:57:00.003-06:00

"Why would I spend money for tickets to a squidless Watchmen movie? It's like paying a hooker for housecleaning." (source)

news: product management pulse interview

2009-02-27T15:04:00.003-06:00

The nice people over at the Product Management Pulse interviewed me a week or so ago - you can enjoy the interview here. And welcome to everyone discovering ack/nak for the first time care of the Product Management Pulse.

The podcast references a lot of the topics we've been discussing here over the years - if there are specific ideas you'd like to explore in more detail, let me know in the comments.

confidential: product management job openings

2009-02-27T11:59:00.004-06:00

Big thanks to Tyler Colby Hill for sending me the information on these three opportunities in the greater New York City area, specifically Westport CT:

Program Manager: Financial Applications
Large hedge fund has grown to the point where they are essentially adding a layer of management. They are looking for a program manager to corral the various portfolio management and algo trading apps and align them with the directors' (sometimes high-level) wishes. About 8 BA and PM reports.

Program Manager: Core Technology (non-financial applications)
Same as above but financial experience not required and four direct reports.

Product Manager: Core Technology
A software product manager who can take ownership of the full product life cycle.

The emphasis is for people who can create a program management and product management functions out of a currently ad-hoc arrangement.

If you're interested in more detail on any of the above positions, please contact Tyler at:

tyler@tylerchill.com

kudos: superb communication from msft

2009-02-27T11:32:00.005-06:00

I'm sorry to say I have very low expectations when it comes to the Windows operating system specifically, and MSFT in general.

Some of it has to do with being a converted Mac guy, some of it is simply an appreciation for how durned hard it can be to keep a Windows box alive over time, what with all the crufty registry and DLL and odd background process weirdness you have to deal with. And the malware, enough with the malware, and the bloated apps, and the strange incantations required to make applications work, and so on and so on.

One sure way to overcome low expectations is to communicate better. I won't bore you with the same old tired mantras of "listen to the market" and "build things people want to buy" - that's what the rest of this blog is for. That and funny articles about New York Times staffers playing D&D.

What I will ask you to consider is the very nice job the kids at MSFT are doing with their Engineering Windows 7 blog, especially their most recent posting regarding changes made to Windows 7 between the beta and the release candidate (RC).

These guys are doing everything right in my book - all the more amazing when you consider this blog relates to the development of an operating system that a majority of consumers may end up using in the next few years. It gives me the vibe of a well-run startup, not a tottering megalith. It's tone is geniunely market-focused; it lacks the highly-parsed, "we know what's good for you so that's what we're building" gestalt I expected from MSFT. They're not just thinking different, they're doing different, to borrow a marketing phrase from Saint Steve. And I like it.

If this is the approach MSFT is going to take with the rest of their W7 work, it bodes very well for the company and customers alike. Not because they'll get everything right on Day 1, but because they've got their heads screwed on correctly when it comes to how to engage their customers as clients - not just consumers.

sigh: yahoo decides to build products customers want

2009-02-26T15:40:00.002-06:00

New Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz has reorganized Yahoo! to make it easier for Yahoo! to deliver products that Yahoo! users will react to with the word "wow".

Wow.

In a blog post titled Getting our House in Order, Ms. Bartz lays out her management manifesto using folksy language like "People here have impressed the hell out of me" and "Look for this company's brand to kick ass again."

I! think! that! is! great!

But I was a bit disappointed by the following paragraph:

We're also leaning on this team to make sure we're all hearing the voice of our customers (consumers and advertisers). I'm singularly focused on providing you with awesome products. Period. The kind that get you so excited, you have to tell someone about them. Whether on your desktop, your mobile device, or even your TV.

Umm. What were they doing before?

Then I read this. . .

And that takes a real understanding of what you want/need/love/hate, how you’re using our products, and what you find simple, intuitive, easy and fun. Who wants innovation for innovation’s sake if it doesn’t make your life easier, more efficient, more productive? So expect us to hear you better and take better care of you.

And was even more disappointed. Because really, what were they doing before?

I know they have product managers because good (and even some great) product managers I've worked with before are at Yahoo! and they understand how to build good (and even some great) products.

Is it just that they weren't able to blaze past the crusty institutional barriers that had accreted over the years? Or that their superiors "knew what the market wanted" and suppressed market-focused innovation?

I'm guessing some of both.

question: who taught you to be a PM?

2009-02-25T20:01:00.003-06:00

Back in the summer of 2006 I wrote that internships were not the same thing as apprenticeships. It was one of my better efforts, certainly more substantive than some other bits I've scattered about here over the years.

What I want to know is how product managers learn their craft - and who teaches them. Is it other product managers? Is it development leads? Marketing people? Do they get it all from classes? From books?

The Thoughtful Reader will conclude "it's some combination of all of those, of course."

But is that the best way to learn?

If you could go back and do it all over again, how would you have chosen to learn your craft? What difference would it have made in your career?

I wonder.

goal: plain language

2009-02-25T11:03:00.003-06:00

Have you ever spent a meaningful amount of time listening to a doctor talk in "doctor-ese"? Ever walked out of an appointment wondering "what did the doctor say?"

Health literacy is defined in Health People 2010 as: "The degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions" (source).

Health literacy is a two-way street - it holds providers responsible for using plain language that can be understood, and it holds patients responsible for asking questions - for "speaking up" - when they don't understand.

We can all relate to this. Now let's see if we can find a corollary that will apply to our craft.

Have you ever read a proposal, a marketing piece, a meeting agenda, that just baffled you? That failed to get to the point? That used an unreasonable amount of jargon, or assumed a high level of previous understanding of the topic being discussed?

Have you ever sat through a meeting and walked out wondering "what did that person say?"

I have. It stinks. And it's always been partially my fault every time it happened - because when I have a low "domain literacy" related to whatever was being discussed, I need to speak up and seek clarity if the speaker isn't offering it up.

I've learned through painful experience that there is no shame in not understanding, in asking for clarification, in seeking to state problems as plainly as possible.

Even the most intractably difficult issue benefits from plain language, from small words, from simple sentences. All of which should be delivered calmly, and unselfconsciously.

A smart sales guy I know makes a point of saying "I'm not smart enough to hide things, so I lay out my position up-front with my prospects so they know what I'm all about."

There is a lot about transparency these days - one sure way to become more transparent is to try to be less clever. One step we can take in this direction is to use plain language.

Now don't get me wrong - I'm still a huge a fan of the well-turned phrase and the perfect word. But when dealing with people with a lower domain literacy, less is more. You will be perceived as a smarter, more in-tune person by "dumbing-down" until you have either reached their level of domain liteacy or they learn enough to raise their own.

news: new bc voice-over

2009-02-10T20:01:00.002-06:00

A nice flash demonstration for the new Emmi+Healthwise solution is up on the web, with voice-over work from yours truly. Let me know what you think.

rewind: microwaving a frozen white castle burger

2009-02-10T15:00:00.003-06:00

Motivated by the Robert Altman "homage" classic Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, my wife and I decided that we would bring a sack of sliders to my daughter's T-ball game last Friday night for an impromptu picnic. Since you always end up buying more of the damned things than you could ever possibly eat in one session, the left-overs went into the freezer, still encased in their cardboard sleeves and cozied up into slider-pairs.

Fast-forward to last night when an affliction of the "urge" struck me full-force - and I remembered that I had sliders in the freezer. Lacking any special hidden knowledge of how to release them from their vitrified state, I threw two into the microwave, hit the magic "1" button (for a 1-minute nuke) and crossed my fingers.

Sixty seconds on high (ha ha) later, I had two perfectly hot sliders with warm (but not hot) buns. YMMV, but I could see going anywhere from 45 to 60 seconds with similar success.

Advice: Anything more than 60 seconds and you'd break down the steamed patty and dissolve the onions, leaving you with hot magma and regret. Anything less than 45 seconds and you've probably have a cold wafer of suspiciousness encased between two tepid onion-scented bread handles.

(Originally posted in June of 2006 - I was much funnier then. Parenthood is reducing my mind to something very close to an over-nuked slider.)

video: how to take your community to the next level

2009-02-10T13:41:00.004-06:00

Former colleague, I Can Has Cheezburger? boss and overall good guy Ben Huh gave a presentation at last year's FOWA conference on the topic of "How to Take Your Community to the Next Level" that you will enjoy. Grab a delicious beverage and make yourself comfortable, it isn't quick, but it is good.

linky: product management meets pop culture

2009-02-10T13:10:00.003-06:00

If you are:

1. A current or aspiring product manager
2. Someone who appreciates thoughtful, concise and witty writing
3. Prone to do what I ask you to do

Then go visit Christopher Cumming's blog Product Management Meets Pop Culture.

While I think many if not all of the topics we product managers can write about have already been written about (over and over and over again), I still enjoy the fresh take Chris (or is it Christopher) has on some of the classics.

And I do very much love all the vintage comic book covers and art sprinkled through his site. It's a very readable blog, and I appreciate that more than I can say.

Go forth and read it. Then follow him on Twitter and join the conversation.

for sale: belstaff colonial canvas shoulder bag

2009-02-10T12:29:00.010-06:00

Loyal ack/nak reader Brad has a Mountain Brown Belstaff Colonial Canvas Shoulder Bag (catalog number 756115) that is "surplus to his requirements".

You have money.

If you would like to exchange your money for his bag, you should email Brad at:

brad.rickelman@gmail.com

and let him know you're interested.

Note 1 - I'm sharing news of Brad's bag as a service to the ack/nak community - I invite both parties to any transaction to perform the appropriate due diligence.

Note 2 - If you happen to have a Mountain Brown Belstaff Colonial Canvas Medium or Large Man Bag that you'd like to trade for a Tan Shoulder Bag, let me know.

Here is Brad's story:

Bob

Enjoy the site and particularly your posts not only on product management but also on notebooks/paper/pens, etc.

After reading your posts regarding the Belstaff shoulder bag, it sounded like something I would like. My sister happens to live in London, and last Fall found a Belstaff Colonial Canvas Shoulder bag, model 756115 - Shoulder Bag in Mountain brown (I think it was at their Manchester store). Image is attached (not because you don't know what it is, but their colors and model line names are baffling to me).

Anyway – I got the bag, and have tried using it for a while – and it is not me. Nothing wrong with your reviews or expectations, it just is not me.

So here I have a rather expensive bag I am not using, and there are plenty of people who probably would like one, but can't get one.

So there you go. We're officially in the matchmaking business here now. As Belstaff continues to pare back their investment in the Colonial Canvas line, I expect I'll be doing more of this.

lexisnexis: product management job opening

2009-02-05T16:25:00.002-06:00

LexisNexis Product Management Job Description

Basic Job Function:

This position is responsible for owning a product or substantial modular portion of a CRM enterprise software product, and driving the definition and execution of product plans from vision, requirements, and initial design through market launch and rollout. The position cultivates new product ideas through market research and analysis, and evaluates the market potential of these ideas. The position defines and prioritizes product requirements, works with the development team on product creation, and continuously confirms that the planned end result will meet specified requirements. As a product owner, the position must also be a representative expert for the rest of the organization on the product, and must ensure that all departments are prepared for successful product delivery and go-to-market readiness.

Accountabilities:

1. Create and implement product vision, direction, and business plans, including product plans, product migration and evolution, and product life cycle and retirement.

2. Develop conceptual and evolutionary product plans that meet business objectives through a comprehensive long-term vision for the product and its ongoing fit within target markets. This includes performing business analysis and evaluating revenue potential, and identifying and assessing business opportunities and determining strategic fit conditioned by technical feasibility.

3. Gather, validate, and evaluate product/market requirements through market and customer research, trend analysis, sales win/loss analysis, competitive and product research. Develop requirements specifications for assigned product features to include modular scalable architecture, effective product and user interface design, conceptual design, product validation testing, and usability testing, while ensuring that the product strategy is adhered to throughout the product life cycle.

4. Develop and deliver materials to the appropriate marketing and sales organizations which convey the purpose and details of the product, definition of its user, benefits to the customer, customization capabilities, and competitive comparison.

5. Manage the ongoing life cycle responsibilities for businesses products.

6. Collaborate on appearance and function of new products.

7. Evaluate new functionality that should be applied to existing products.

8. Monitor the release process and placement of new products or enhancements in a release.

For more information, dear reader, please contact John Cray, Director, Product Management at LexisNexis InterAction, using any of the following "communication modalities":

john.cray@lexisnexis.com

2000 Clearwater Drive, Suite 100
Oak Brook, Illinois 60523

630.572.1400 main
630.371.4538 direct
630.572.1818 fax

good news: inheritance notice

2009-01-30T09:52:00.001-06:00

Today is truly my lucky day.

Hello Friend,

This is to notify you again for the last time that you have been listed as an Heir to the total sum of 'Ten Million Six Hundred Thousand Great British Pounds' in the codicil and last testament of the deceased (Name now withheld since this is our second letter to you). Our contact to you is based on the legal fact that you bear the same last name identity with the deceased therefore we can present you as the heir to the inheritance.

All legal papers will be processed on your acceptance of this deal. We request that you kindly forward to us your letter of acceptance; your current telephone and fax numbers and a forwarding address to enable us file necessary documents at our high court probate division for the release of this sum of money.

Please indicate your interest immediately via my private email for us to proceed. I shall feed you with full details of this transaction upon receipt of your reply towards this proposal.

Best Regards,
Dr. Garrett Kenneth

I've already bought my top hat.

picture: the frozen chicago river

2009-01-16T10:53:00.004-06:00

The last time I saw the Chicago River freeze was February 8, 2007. And whaddya know, I took a picture of it then too. For the record, it was much colder today than it was then. Much.

UPDATE: Adam, this picture was taken facing north from the eastern end of the Madison Street Bridge, just west of Wacker Drive. In the distance you can see the Boeing HQ, and on the right the massive box that is the Lyric Opera Building. The bridge you can see is the Washington Street Bridge.

hmm: what can product managers learn from CEOs

2009-01-09T11:04:00.000-06:00

Ack/nak reader and Productologist author Ivan Chalif wrote a year ago - passionately and at length - on why the product manager is not the CEO of his product.

Go give it a read, I'll wait.

As evidence he offered three qualities not possessed by product managers which the reader can conclude are possessed by CEOs:

Control over staffing
Control over strategy
"Invincibility" as defined by the likelihood of PM getting shot sooner than the CEO

I won't comment on his thesis that the product manager is more like the COO of the product than the CEO, but I will suggest that where it matters most the successful product manager can learn an awful lot more from the CEO than from the COO. Because while the CEO has powers the PM does not, successful CEOs and PMs share (or should share, IMO) one core talent.

I'm speaking specifically about the art of leadership.

In an old but still relevant survey, 1300 sentient creatures opined that 53% of what makes a great CEO is leadership.

I agreed with these creatures then, I agree with them now.

What does the business expect of its leaders?

Let me put my tautology hat on. . . we expect our leaders to lead.

I think it expects its leaders to understand the past, be engaged in the present, and plan for the future; to have an ability to gather, synthesize and use information; and to communicate transparently and effectively. It expects people who can inspire followership.

When you break it down this way it's easy to see that these are all qualities the business expects of its product managers too - within the more limited context of product.

Sure, you need technical and business chops, but as the person at the "center" of the product, you need to be a leader first. And if you accept that leadership is what is valued most in CEOs, then there you go - the transitive property FTW.

I don't think we need product managers who are tyrants any more than we need CEOs who are - we need product management leaders who are fair and "teachable" - who expect excellence because they strive for it themselves - and who want to bring everyone along with them into the future.

Sidebar: Back in July of 2007 I wrote about what I see as the defining qualities of operators. The COO is the Spock to the CEO's Kirk. Both need to lead. But the COO is valued most for the ability to optimize the organization, its talent and its processes, whereas the CEO is valued most for. . . leadership!

If you've got ideas of what the product manager can learn from the CEO, let me know. Other than "where is the executive washroom".

review: belstaff colonial canvas fall08/winter09 collection

2009-01-03T23:13:00.005-06:00

This will be a very short review to correspond with Belstaff's painfully, sadly, unwisely abridged Colonial Canvas line.

There are now only three (3) bags left in the collection - and they aren't even the three best examples of the line from previous collections. Here's what's they're selling:

756148 - Man Bag 550

756195 - Medium Man Bag

756176 - Travel Bag

These three bags are available in Black, Mountain Brown, Kaki and Panama.

Gone are the Large Man Bag and the Shoulder Bag (the two best bags in the line), as well as the Large Shoulder Bag. Long gone are the Marsupium and the oddly-named but still-cool Body Bag.

I've gone over each of the three remaining bags in an earlier review - you can read it and see some pictures here.

But in case you're too lazy to click on that link:

The Man Bag 550 lacks the heft of its larger cousins, and frankly is just too d____d small for much of anything other than a camera and a pack of gum. The Medium Man Bag, while an improvement, teases you with greater carrying power but is still too small for magazines, maybe a couple of paperbacks would fit. And the Travel Bag? It's a mess, a shaggy, buckle-and-strap nightmare that looks like a rolled-up canvas straight jacket.

It's enough to make you want to switch to Inujirushi bags.

I can't explain what's up with Belstaff. Every time I've gotten in touch with their showroom store in New York City they've been either out of stock or nearly out of stock. Their London store had few of the Colonial Canvas bags in stock when I was last there, and good luck finding any of the bags at independent retailers. These bags are popular - so why aren't they meeting demand with more variety, not less?

It's a shame. The Shoulder Bag is the finest casual bag I've ever owned. It's sturdy and spacious while still looking great. And the Mountain Brown color is fabulously understated. I had hoped to pick up a Large Man Bag. . . but I fear it is not to be.

Numerous emails to Belstaff requesting more information have gone unanswered.

Stay tuned.

messaging: aligning the top-down with the bottom-up

2009-01-02T14:42:00.005-06:00

April over at Rocket Watcher wins points for Messaging Botox - A Quick Fix for Saggy Messaging in the "Best Choice of Stock Photography".

But I'm going to have to disagree with her claim that there is a quick fix for stale messaging. Unless. . . your messaging is very "product-centric", in which case it's OK. Unless. . . a change to your "product-centric" messaging breaks your "market-centric" messaging, then for G-d's sake, do the whole thing at once.

"What?"

Here's how I see it. "Market-centric messaging" starts with your audience, their problems, and explicit statements about what customers can expect to gain if they let you help them address those problems. It validates the urgency of those problems by putting them into context with the other things the audience might be thinking about. It does not talk features & benefits, it does not talk pricing. At the highest of levels it doesn't even get into alternatives. It presumes the existence of products & services that can deliver the promised returns.

Another way to think of this is "top-down" messaging - you begin with people, explore their problems, choose one, and assert expertise in solving it. Your top-down messaging is designed to lay claim to a specific place in the mind of the buyer that will be validated by your product-centric messaging.

"Product-centric messaging" starts with capabilities, and connects them to problems and from there to an audience and the market(s) those audiences inhabit. It is heavy on the benefits that individual features or feature sets bring. It draws stark distinctions between products and alternatives.

This is "bottom-up" messaging - you assemble capabilities and benefits that match the needs of a specific audience.

Done correctly, these two messaging sets will align, harmonize and support each other.

Here's the trap - "product-centric messaging" gets stale, generally because the product has evolved and there are new features and benefits to talk about. By all means, update this messaging as your products mature.

But if the audience(s) those products are designed for has also evolved, or if their needs are substantially different than they were when the products you sell them were first envisioned, then perhaps you will do more damage by updating bottom-up messaging independently of your top-down messaging.

When your product messaging is disconnected from your market messaging, you lose credibility.

When your value proposition and your product claims don't line up, bad things happen.

And the worst part of all of this is that the people who update product messaging tend to be much more prolific than the people who update the market messaging.

So April, great post, great idea, but please be careful. Messaging is equal parts art and science, and requires constant vigilance on the part of the CMO and all of his or her evil minions.

2009: what's ahead

2009-01-01T10:49:00.002-06:00

Every new year is an opportunity to. . . to. . .

To. . .

"What?"

I can't say it.

"You can't say what?"

I want to say "start anew" or "make a fresh commitment" to something or other or "rethink how you want to live".

"What's so bad about that?"

Because it seems sad that we've grown accustomed to making so-called "resolutions" at the turning of the year.

"Again, what's so bad about that?"

Why just once a year? Why not renew those commitments every day? Why do we set ourselves up for big achievements in full knowledge that we're likely to fail?

"I don't see it that way. I think it's OK to have a specific day of the year that we set aside for being reflective. For example, I know you want to go to the gym more often in 2009."

True.

"And I know that I want to be less critical of your writing."

Aww, that's awfully nice of you.

"I didn't say I'd stop being critical. Just less so."

Still, that's a step in the right direction. I'd also like to get back to writing on ack/nak more often.

"That'd be nice."

And I'd really like to get The Bob Swami Show on a regular production schedule.

"I'm glad to hear that. The best way to build an audience is consistency."

I think it could be really big once I have a few more episodes in the can. And. . . and I think I'd like to do more voice-over work in 2009.

"You still do voice-overs?"

Since my agent and I "parted ways", it's been harder, but yes, I still do. Mostly industrial stuff like demos and training videos, and some narration.

"What else would you like to accomplish in 2009?"

Well, from a product management perspective, I want to focus more on the go-to-market part of the business, now that I feel like I've got the back-office part under control.

"Anything else?"

Other than "be nice", no, I think that about does it.

"Good luck to you then."

Thanks.

(And to you, Dear Reader, I hope your hangover isn't too terrible, and I wish you everything good in life in 2009.)

challenge: burn through a grand

2008-12-29T23:49:00.002-06:00

Here is the challenge: you have been handed $1,000 in cash that you must spend in the next 24 hours. You must spend this money on frivolous crap - no "I'll put it in the bank" or "I think I'll pay down debt" or "maybe I'll just give it to the wife".

No, my friend, this grand is for you.

It is a more difficult challenge than you would imagine.

Faced with a moment of bald-faced consumerism, it's easy to spend $100. And it's curiously easy to spend $10,000. But it's hard to spend just a grand.

What's on your list?

hack: dora's bad hair day

2008-12-20T19:20:00.003-06:00

Story: After a vigorous evening of caroling we repaired to the neighbor's house for pizza, beer and assorted cookies. While the "adults" were upstairs talking, the "kids" were downstairs doing whatever it is that kids do when they are downstairs. One of their activities turned out to be giving the Dress Up Dora toy a "makeover" using a pair of scissors, something sticky and a brush. I still haven't figured out what that "something sticky" happened to be, since we fled the premises not too long after this photo was taken.

process: the cobralingus engine

2008-12-20T17:25:00.008-06:00

(Hello to visitors from Stephen-Hall.org!)

The Cobralingus Engine was invented by Jeff Noon as a way to transform text through the metamorphiction process.

Unfortunately the website established to demonstrate the Engine has been taken down, leaving few resources for the aspiring operator to explore. Complicating the situation is the difficulty of finding a copy of the book - it had a very small print run, and now commands prices approaching $200.

An article on everything.com had this to say about the Cobralingus Engine:

One might argue "Why not just write what you want to write without bothering with this "engine" business?" Well, that might be a good answer for someone who is creative all the time, and always knows exactly what their creation should and will be. For the other 97% of us, though, constraints make creativity come easier, and make getting past a block in creative flow faster. Also, use of the engine lets the reader see all of the steps between inspiration and final work, which themselves can be beautiful and enlightening. In Noon's own words, "... it is hoped that each interim text will be of individual interest; however, the real pleasure of Cobralingus comes from enjoying the pieces as a whole. From inlet to outlet, the journey is the goal."

Loyal ack/nak readers will know I am a fan of creative tools, such as the venerable Oblique Strategies deck. I've used the Engine in the past to help me unlock my right brain through the application of left-brain tools - you take a bit of text or story and subject it to a variety of "filter gates" that modify the text in different ways.

The idea is to apply the filter gates and "see what happens".

If you'd like to randomize the process of applying the Engine to your text, try this - roll a 20-sided die (you have at least one in the house, admit it) to determine how many filters you will apply between START/INLET and SAVE, then roll the d20 again to select each filter gate. Repeat until you reach the filter maximum or roll a "natural 20" that pipes the text to OUTPUT, which triggers a SAVE.

Cobralingus Engine Filter Gates

A. START
Denotes that the Cobralingus device has been activated.

B. INLET
The start-up text. The initial signal on which the device will act.

1. CONTROL
Brings the text down to earth. Forces language to behave itself.

2. DECAY
Gently breaks down the text. Dissipates. Introduces corruption to the signal.

3. DRUG
Injects artificial stimulant into the language. Type of drug will always be specified.

4. ENHANCE
Creates elements of beauty.

5. EXPLODE
Breaks up signal into highly disordered fragments. To be used with caution.

6. FIND STORY
Forces text into the nearest possible narrative, however nonsensical.

7. GHOST EDIT
Kills the text. Calls up a ghost to haunt the language.

8. HOLD
Temporarily halts the Cobralingus process. [NOTE - This gives the author an opportunity to make modifications to the text independently of filter gate instructions.]

9. INCREASE SENSE
Significantly enhances text. Increases readability.

10. MIX
Combines all elements into a single entity.

11. OVERLOAD
Drastically increases image density of text. To be used with caution.

12. PLAY GAME
Mischief maker. Encourages craziness. Results may surprise the user.

13. PURIFY
Loses deadwood. Selects images or phrases from the text.

14. RANDOMISE
Disorders text. Parts of text may be lost or changed.

15. RELEASE VIRUS
Attacks text, changing words of choice into others of a similar sound. Recommended for advanced users.

16. SAMPLE
Introduces new element to signal. Source of sample to be specified.

17. SEARCH & REPLACE
Uses machine function to introduce new elements to text. Elements always specified. For example, ‘Search and Replace: day with night.’

18. BABEL [LANGUAGE] New!
Runs the text through the Babelfish translation engine into the specified language then back again. Clearing out left-over foreign words is optional. See below for example.

19. CLUTTER New!
Elaborate and extend text.

20. OUTLET
The final result of the filtering process. [NOTE - Triggers an early SAVE]

C. SAVE
Denotes that the Cobralingus device has been deactivated.

Source: Cobralingus by Jeff Noon (Codex Books, 2001) with two additions to assist d20 randomization

Examples of DRUG filter gate from Cobralingus

ANAGRAMETHANE

FECUNDAMOL

METAPHORAZINE

SIMILEUM

ETYMOL

New Examples of DRUG filter gate

AMPLIFON
Increases the urgency and energy of the text.

SOMNAMBULOL

Decreases the urgency and energy of the text.

DECHRONIZOL
Processes the text into the style and vocabulary in use 50 years ago. Multiple applications possible. Thanks Sam Magruder!

DECIMATRAZIL
Remove every tenth word.

HOMONYMETHANOL

Replace all words with valid homonyms.

ALLITERATIL

Sentences trend towards use of words with same starting letter.

Example

START

INLET

One might argue "Why not just write what you want to write without bothering with this "engine" business?" Well, that might be a good answer for someone who is creative all the time, and always knows exactly what their creation should and will be. For the other 97% of us, though, constraints make creativity come easier, and make getting past a block in creative flow faster. Also, use of the engine lets the reader see all of the steps between inspiration and final work, which themselves can be beautiful and enlightening. In Noon's own words, "... it is hoped that each interim text will be of individual interest; however, the real pleasure of Cobralingus comes from enjoying the pieces as a whole. From inlet to outlet, the journey is the goal."

BABEL FRENCH

One has could discuss the "Why not simply write what you want to write without worrying with this "engine" businesses?" Well, it could be an good answer for quelqu'un which is creator a l'heure, and knows always exactly what them creation would owe and will be. For l'autre 97% of us, although, the constraints make the creativity come easier, and made obtaining after a block in faster creative flow. Moreover, use of the engine lets the reader see all the stages between inspiration and final work, themselves can be beautiful and lighting. In Noon have words, " ... one hopes that each temporary text will be individual interest; however, the true pleasure of Cobralingus comes to appreciate the pieces in general. Of admission at the exit, the voyage is the goal."

BABEL DUTCH

DRUG: DECIMATRAZIL

INCREASE SENSE

CONTROL

Why not write? You want to write, but it is a worry-making engine. You want to be able to have a good answer, one that produces by the hour, as the establishment wills. For 97% of our obligations come easily, a block-system of creative runaways. The reader sees inspiration and the definite work, a beautiful reduction, the words. One hopes each text will be important. However, truth is the pieces have assessed pleasure, admission is the output, the goal.

Any of you care to apply a filter gate to increment the Engine one more step?

test: can you watch this without laughing

2008-12-19T14:17:00.000-06:00

list: 10 swell gift ideas

2008-12-15T20:15:00.003-06:00

Proot Records. Free record label from France. Download their most recent efforts, then download the rest. I can't get enough of their stuff.

Fuji Instax 7s. A worthy successor to the Polaroid Instamatic. Take instant pictures on business card-sized film and hand them to surprised onlookers. You could shell out $130 for the camera at Urban Outfitters, or roll the dice on eBay for much less. Don't forget to buy the film.

Midori Traveler's Notebook. This is the notebook you'd expect to see Indiana Jones writing in at a sidewalk cafe in Tangiers. Sure, it lacks the cool polish of the Filofax or the easy portability of a Moleskine wrapped in a custom Gfeller leather cover, but it's big enough to hold your airline tickets, takes all manner of custom inserts, and is unlike anything you've ever used.

Flemish Primitive Wild Ale. This is remarkable stuff. "For centuries, wild Brettanomyces yeast floating on the open air in Flanders has fermented the local brew, producing a fruity and complex farmhouse character that aficionados recognize as distinctly Belgian. Here, several strains of Brettanomyces have been matched with rich, golden malt and a generous helping of local hops to yield a hearty, earthy, yet very refreshing brew." Be warned, this is not Miller or Bud. Think "sour" and "refreshing" and "funky".

Korg DS-10 Synthesizer. It's a Korg synth! It's a Nintendo DS game! It works!

Scalextric PEUGEOT 908 HDI FAP Test car. If you can buy one and only one slot car in 2009, give this one a long, hard stare. But not too long, because that's, you know, weird.

Steim Cracklebox. It's cheap - $64 plus shipping - and it makes the music of the universe. Sweet, sweet static.

Subatomic Particle Plush Toys. For the little Higgs Boson hunter in your life.

Shruti Box. If you're a singer - and gosh knows you are - then you need a nice steady drone to accompany your a cappella excesses. Employing the same pneumatic principle as an accordion, the shruti box creates a hypnotic drone that can be customized by fiddling with one or more of the little flippy bits that make up the chromatic scale on the side of the box.

Live Crawfish. You want to boil them with the spices. You want to drain them and dump them out on the newspapers you've laid out on the picnic table out back. You want to pinch the tails and suck the heads. You know you do. But you need live ones first. These guys sell them. Voila, mon cher, vas-y.

winner: best blue cheese ever

2008-12-15T19:48:00.006-06:00

Crema de Blue from Valley Shepherd Creamery in Long Valley, NJ.

Described as "addictive and dangerous" by its makers, it is a cave aged Blue made from raw mixed milk and is my candidate for best blue cheese. Ever.

It lacks the up-front acidity of many blues but still has that palpable blue tang you're looking for. It has a more sophisticated flavor than you'd expect from something just one step short of a triple-creme (a la Explorateur).

But So Sorry, you have to go to the creamery to buy it, since they won't ship it to you. Hmm. Your other choice is to stumble across them at a local farmers market and trust they still have some left. Best you just go there.

For your convenience, here is a map.

My stars, it is crazy good. Better than a true-blood Roquefort, better than Maytag, better than Cabrales (new or aged).

In fact, I'll go so far as to say it is superior to all of the blue cheeses featured on the cover of culture magazine this month - Roquefort, Mountain Gorgonzola, Monte Enebro, Oregonzola, Point Reyes Blue, Valdeon and Roaring Forties.

It Is That Good. And yes, there is now a magazine dedicated to cheese. You can buy it at Borders.

And when you do get some, make sure to share it.

Photo courtesy of Valley Shepherd Creamery.

NOTE - I have had about three of the blue cheeses on this list - see how many you've tasted.

test: character is what you are in the dark

2008-12-15T17:10:00.002-06:00

This is a post I've written, re-written, left as a draft and abandoned for weeks at a time.

(My last attempt? August 17, 2008!)

This is a post I keep returning to over and over because I think this is something important, something essential, to the well-being and success of product managers that merits discussion.

The challenge is that it always comes out sounding like common sense.

So I'll just come out and say it. Well, I'll just let Dwight Moody say it.

Character is what you are in the dark.

It's something I look for in people on my team, and that I try to find in myself, for better or for worse. And I'm not just talking about "character" in the classic sense, but in a more comprehensive way.

Are you someone who wants to please? Who needs to be right? Who loves crowds? Who hates them?

Someone who prefers silence, or noise? Who is comfortable with uncertainty?

What are the lenses through which you see opportunity, risk, loss and reward?

What can I anticipate you to presume about a given situation? What is your "tare weight"?

I think we're all interesting for our faults, not just for our virtues. So let's talk about them openly, not just as part of some performance improvement plan, but to see how we all fit together.

There, done. This post will never be what I want it to be, but I guess that's how it's going to be.

thought: making decisions (happen)

2008-12-05T09:31:00.003-06:00

As part of my "creative project" I've been talking to a lot of people lately, including a bunch of young product managers. When asked "why did you want to become a product manager" I've been learning that in addition to "meeting girls" it was because "they wanted to be the decision maker when it came to product features and direction".

Uh oh.

Discovering that the product manager isn't the source of product features or direction is one of those life lessons they just have to learn for themselves.

(It's not a great way to meet women either, but that's beside the point.)

In fact, distinguishing between "making decisions" and "making decisions happen" is the difference between good product managers and great ones.

"Holy crap, Bob, you take months off from posting to ack/nak to do your Bob Swami thing then you come back with a monster of a generalization like this? Have you lost your mind?"

Nope.

We've all heard - or at least those of use who have studied at the feet of such luminaries as Jim Foxworthy and Steve Johnson - that our opinions, while interesting, are irrelevant.

We've all learned that our job is to help our firms solve problems that are pervasive, urgent and which people are willing to spend money to fix.

And we've all learned that our job is to be the "messenger of the marketplace" to the company.

These are all True and Good.

But let's consider the following scenario - having gathered information, having assessed priorities and defined capabilities required to meet market needs - the product manager has one of two choices:

1. Present the information as "here is what we need to do".
2. Present the information as "here are our choices".

See the difference?

"No."

You're not looking closely enough.

"Here is what we need to do" says that the product manager has evaluated all of the inputs and is presenting a course of action.

"Here are our choices" says that the product manager has obtained all of the information and is presenting options for action with projected outcomes for each.

It's an attitudinal thing, but the latter is more transparent and collaborative. When people are brought into a decision process, they are typically more compliant with the outcome of that process. You get fewer "I wasn't involved in that decision" complaints and all the associated blocking behaviors when decision-makers are treated like decision-makers - especially executives who have a vested interest in one aspect of product, such as CTOs, CMOs and VPs of Sales, not to mention the technical CEO who still thinks of himself as a developer.

This is not to say that the product manager doesn't come with an opinion. That's expected and necessary.

But the product manager who makes decisions happen is seen as a facilitator and leader, where a product manager who makes decisions is seen as a black box, and black boxes aren't transparent. Nothing creates more confidence than transparency - even when the news is bad, at least everything is on the table.

This whole issue goes to the heart of the product management challenge - to lead you must follow.

As always, let me know what you think. I've been away for a while on other projects, but I've been gratified by the continued traffic to ack/nak and some very gracious links to the site, so I feel responsible to you, dear reader, to keep our conversation going.

announcement: the bob swami show

2008-11-21T12:37:00.002-06:00

It's live today for you to enjoy, share with your friends, lather, rinse, repeat.

The Bob Swami Show

onward: my last election post

2008-11-03T19:27:00.004-06:00

Enter the KING

WESTMORELAND. O that we now had here
But one ten thousand of those men in England
That do no work to-day!

KING. What's he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin;
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.

God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.

But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!

Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.

This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'

Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.

This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

-- William Shakespeare, Henry the Fifth, c. 1599

awareness: your "will not do" list

2008-10-27T10:53:00.004-05:00

When planning season comes, do you linger over what you explicitly decide not to accomplish - and why - as much as you focus on what you plan to accomplish? In the course of planning do you capture and maintain a "will not do" list?

I've found my "not doing" list is a bittersweet asset; it helps me explain past decisions and puts current activities into an historical and hopefully strategic context, but it also reminds me of my personal limitations.

For individuals understanding what I "can not do" is more instructive than what I "will not do", but organizations with money to invest often feel that they "can do" anything. What they choose to do, and whether they should do those things, is the rock that product managers get to move up hills. It's the "not doing" list that prevents that rock from rolling back on top of you.

How like a winter hath my absence been
From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year!
What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen!
What old December's bareness every where!
And yet this time removed was summer's time,
The teeming autumn, big with rich increase,
Bearing the wanton burden of the prime,
Like widow'd wombs after their lords' decease:
Yet this abundant issue seem'd to me
But hope of orphans and unfather'd fruit;
For summer and his pleasures wait on thee,
And, thou away, the very birds are mute;
Or, if they sing, 'tis with so dull a cheer
That leaves look pale, dreading the winter's near.

William Shakespeare, Sonnet Ninety Seven

news: ack/nak added to alltop + reader feedback

2008-10-27T10:32:00.006-05:00

I got a nice note from Guy Kawasaki this morning with the news that ack/nak has been added to the Alltop product management page.

"What's Alltop? And why are you telling us this?"

You can learn what Alltop is all about here.

"You still haven't explained why you're telling us this."

That's easy. I'm delighted to have ack/nak considered in the same company as those other Much More Serious Product Management blogs. It's a nice little ego boost for a Monday morning.

"Your blog got added to an aggregation page. Don't get all frothy. Besides, who knows what it will look like when they get enough traffic to get sponsors, it'll be a nightmare of dancing shadows and free iPod offers."

Don't get frothy? That's tough talk coming from a phantom voice.

"Ummmm. . . ."

And that's also no way to talk about a start-up. It has an old-school Yahoo feel to it, as opposed to all those other "pile links on a page based on what a spider tells you". It looks like it's created by people who pick a topic and then select what blogs get associated with it. From a product management perspective, it's a perfectly good product idea that addresses an unmet need with a nice, clean interface and a sound idea of how to communicate with contributors.

"I guess you're right."

Of course I'm right. Now what do you say to Mr. Kawasaki?

". . . ."

I didn't hear you.

"Sorry Mr. Kawasaki."

That's better. You don't want him showing up at your house with a hockey stick.

"Heavens no."

status: still alive + something you can do to help

2008-10-21T10:58:00.004-05:00

Hey all - happy October. The frost is on the pumpkins and the hay is in the barn.

Here in ack/nak land, all is going swimmingly:

1. Work = good = busy as all get-out, but in a positive way.

2. Home = good = kids still pissed off at having to go back to school, but that's life.

3. Projects = good

Here's some more on #3. I'm creating a radio show (at first in a podcast format) and the "topic" of my first show is France. Future shows will be on fun topics like particle physics and cocktails, or whatever else catches my fancy (or yours - recommendations are welcomed).

At the end of each show is a "call-in" section in which I field questions from my audience. I've set up a voicemail box that you can call to leave your questions about France.

Here are the instructions:

1. The questions don't have to be serious (but they can be). Extra points for playing along with the "radio show call-in question" theme. "Love the show", "first-time caller", etc.

2. You need to call a phone number and record your question. The phone number is a local one if you live in the Chicago area - 773-362-4618 - and goes directly to a voicemail box. Pay Close Attention To The Greeting - it might influence how you leave your message. I won't spoil the surprise.

If you elect to leave a message, you need to know that I may use the recording of your question in the podcast. And if you have friends who may have questions about France, feel free to refer them to this post.

On another topic entirely, I'm also in the process of writing my product management book, since everyone who is anyone these days has to write a book. Product Management the Ack/Nak Way will be as irreverent and practical as this blog has been on the topic of product management, with occasional bouts of philosophy, poetry and story-telling.

Reviews of my preview chapters have been positive, which is good. Now it's up to me to just grind the rest of it out, which is also good, but is real work. I have suddenly gained a lot of respect for professional writers. It is not easy.

Correction: it is easy to write poorly and in great volume. It is hard to write well in an economical way.

So if you're interested in learning more about either the radio show or the book, let me know.

More posts coming, thanks for hanging in there with me.

meditation: on mastery

2008-09-22T19:52:00.005-05:00

Hey all. Long time no see.

Looking back over the last few weeks - few months, actually - it's plain to me that ack/nak has been teetering precipitously on the edge of becoming uninteresting. Granted, I thought the mash-up of the Declaration of Independence with More Cowbell was a bit of meme-bending fun. And gosh, all those posts on the current election certainly felt good when I wrote them.

Oh well. We all go through seasons.

As the days grow shorter, I wanted to return to a topic that I've been thinking about more and more lately. No, not moose. But first, a few background bits for context:

From the Middle Ages or earlier, many trades in France and other European countries organized themselves into communities which came to be known as corporations or guilds. The guild system was characterized by the creation among craftsmen of a hierarchy comprising apprentices, journeymen and masters. (source)

Software development is creative. Like a wood carver who creates a sculpture, we must create the application out of raw material. In our case that material is in an electronic form, but it is still a material. On new projects we start with nothing and we begin to chip away at the material until we have a rough shape. We don't do this willy-nilly. Now you can claim that what I just said points to a mechanical and orderly process and this is true, but only to a certain extent. Like a craftsman, we will encounter situations that we have to react to. What if, after a few days of carving, the block of wood begins to show a knot? What if, after a couple of weeks, the system no longer responds to the infrastructure? This is when software development becomes a craft. We (software development practitioners) must now use our instinct, intuition, experience and skill to determine what the best course of action is. Maybe we will design an innovative solution, but we also may determine that the issue that has arisen is a fundamental flaw. In addition to being able to solving problems with skill and experience, software development includes a component of passion. If you've ever talked to a glassblower or an artistic blacksmith about their vocation, you will be met with an endless and inspiring conversation. Although it is not as common in software development, there are practitioners that exude this same excitement and energy. (source)

I really liked the second excerpt above, but I needed to add the first one to put it into context.

You guessed it, I've been thinking about how product managers "become" product managers. More to the point, I've been thinking about how they become good at it, then how they become really good, then what happens when they master it.

After some reflection, I think that product management follows the same apprentice-journeyman-master training vector as medieval craftsmen, but without the benefit of any explicit structure, standard training, or agreed-upon criteria for evaluating mastery.

At the beginning of our careers, if we're lucky, we find a "master" who is generous and patient - even if the products we do our learning on are neither. Everything is a live-fire exercise in product management. All the more reason why having someone to show you the ropes is so essential. Book-learnin' just won't do.

Ultimately the apprentice moves on and gets a product of his own, becoming a journeyman. And here's a bit of irony in the comparison - a journeyman product manager's meisterwerk, if successful, will always be attributed to the work of others. So how can you evaluate whether or not the journeyman is prepared to be a master, to take on apprentices, and teach? In a craft where you can't take credit for the output, what do you have to show for yourself?

But this is as it should be. The product manager is the catalyst for excellence, not the source. The craftsmanship we bring to the job, and the passion that animates that craftsmanship, is wholly focused on giving energy and focus to the people who build. . . whatever it is that you build.

Here's something for you to think about - if you've been doing any job long enough, the surest measure of success is not having to do it anymore. The same way that Tony Bourdain the chef can't work a line anymore, I bet the masters of the product management craft can't write requirements to save their lives. Both have mastered the gestalt of their craft, and have moved on. Did medieval masters cash it in and go on book tours? I don't think so. But I bet they wished they could have.

declaration of independence: with extra cowbell

2008-09-10T12:17:00.006-05:00

I think there can be no better soundtrack for this election season than the mash-up of one of our nation's most sacred documents, and cowbell.


	Make your own at MoreCowbell.dj

stand by: home computer down

2008-09-09T13:49:00.001-05:00

Modern computers have two parts that remain in constant motion while powered on - the fan, and the hard drive.

Guess which one failed on me late last week.

Thank goodness we had the "Apple Care" plan or I'd be shelling out cash for a replacement drive on top of the labor costs of removing the old one and installing the new.

As I am uncomfortable writing from work (where I am supposed to be, you know, working) I will beg your forgiveness as you endure this extended period of radio silence.

I wonder what a great big solid state drive would cost. . . hmm.

michael brown: "we need more manhattan projects"

2008-09-01T09:27:00.007-05:00

I knew what he was trying to say on this morning's Today Show. He wanted to make the point that we need more private sector "big projects" in this country that benefit from streamlined bureaucratic processes in the interest of achieving big goals, such as re-building New Orleans.

But when Michael Brown, former FEMA Director, tried to make this point to Hoda Kotb by saying. . .

We need more Manhattan Projects.

. . .I don't think that was the sort of example he should have used.

Or was it? As Oscar Wilde said, "The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about." And whaddya know, here I am talking about him. Mission Accomplished.

It wasn't even a private-sector project. It was a. . . well, we all know what it was.

You can visit Michael "Heck of a job Brownie" Brown on the web at The Michael Brown Blog where "you have the right to speak your mind." So show Mr. Brown some love and leave him some comments. It is, after all, your right.

considered: impulsivity

2008-08-31T09:50:00.005-05:00

CBS News contributor Steve Benen raises an important question late in this article that got me to thinking.

We've all known people who demonstrate - for better or for worse - a "ready fire aim" approach to life. Impulsivity, in its many manifestations, can be charming and even occasionally effective, especially when this impulsiveness is balanced by the qualities of others.

I'm often reminded that diverse teams can be very strong teams. I've known people whose ability to pull insights out of the blue - and express them readily - has been a real asset over time.

I've also known people whose inability to control their impulses has been very disruptive, especially when the expression of their impulsiveness has been explosive.

I just have to ask this question: if impulsivity a disqualifying quality in a leader? Where does this rank among other disqualifying qualities?

living: the literary life

2008-08-30T11:23:00.006-05:00

It's a beautiful Saturday here in the midwest, a lovely, hurricane- and locust-free day. The tomatoes are exploding out in the garden, the kids are done with their morning soccer, and the lunch dishes are in the washing machine. Dogs are a-barking, cicadas are a-thrilling. All suggesting that it is the perfect time for some semi-coherent musings on a topic near and dear to my heart. Hey, it's my dime, I can muse semi-coherently if I want.

The question is: what does it mean to "live a literary life"?

For some it's writing 1,000 words and one "charming note" a day, five days a week, for the rest of your life. That's a pretty good start; I'm a big fan of the sprit behind the charming note, a concept introduced by Carolyn See.

For others it's being part of a community of creative people, some of whom are striving to make a living being literary. This goes nicely with the above.

For some of us it's a hobby, for others it's a matter of life and/or death. My mental image of Hemmingway huddled up in a shabby Paris cafe while his young wife waited with their baby in a nearby garret (as described in A Moveable Feast) is not a charming thought, it's a haunting one. But gosh, he was a writer. Even if I despise him as an adulterer.

I've commented in the past about "rules for writing", first of which was "if you're going to be a writer, write", which was about as useful a statement as "if you're going to go, then go" or "if you're going to eat that, then eat that".

A better source for such "rules for writing" for me has been. . . actual writers. I've been impressed by those "real" writers I've met at book signings, at conventions and through friends, as much for their balls (a gender-neutral expression of praise) as for their tenacity. I was especially intrigued by something Jim Butcher (author of the Dresden Files and the Codex Alera) said in response to the question "do you have a muse":

"No, I have a mortgage."

Is his "art" diminished in any way by the fact that it's his job? I don't think so. He's still a writer. He just understands why he's doing it. He's under no illusions that his job is anything other than to write books that will sell. It's obvious he's having a good time doing it. He's living the literary life.

It's how he lives his literary life that I find compelling. I think there's something very clarifying and motivating about putting yourself on the clock, about setting yourself to a discrete goal that must be achieved if you want to, say, keep the lights on. It certainly shines a new light on the rejection letter - it's the equivalent of an "at bat", where you the batter fail to reach base. You will walk away from the plate with your bat in your hand far more often than you'll toss it idly aside as you begin your home run trot. Rejection isn't an indictment of the essential you or your worth as a writer. It's part of the process, and you can either embrace it or let it crush you. He's a creative person who knows how to get s__t done.

I just finished Carolyn See's book Making a Literary Life for the first time after reading it in bursts a number of years ago. She makes this point very clearly and with great elan - and even recommends a bit of aikido when she suggests sending "thank you" notes to the folks who reject your stories, who write bad reviews, or who otherwise crap on your dream. I like her ideas for how to transform your life into a literary one, if you are so inclined and if you are prepared for it. She's another creative person who knows how to get s__t done.

Living the literary life is more than having a big stack of books on your nightstand. It's a commitment to putting your thoughts down on paper with the ultimate goal of getting paid for them, knowing full well that the journey is not easy and will as likely as not be littered with repeated episodes of rejection and confusion. If you're not committed to getting paid, that's not a literary life - it's a literary hobby.

Which shines a bit of an odd light on this whole blogging thing, doesn't it. We may think we're living the literary life, but are we? You can hang some AdSense ads on your blog, scramble for some sponsors, but is that the same thing as living a literary life? Or is it just being the bright light that lures insects to the zapper?

Is this the new "literary life" in an age where the traditional mechanisms of publishing are being demolished in the same way that the music industry has been?

If so, it seems somewhat less. . . literary.

read: developer job opening

2008-08-26T12:45:00.003-05:00

Hows this for an interesting job description? I'm surprised the hiring manager didn't offer candy and wax lips. . .oh, hold it, they do mention sweet snacks. Drat.

Anyhoo, if you are a developer interested in working in SanFran, can code in Rails and are Scrum-friendly, drop me a note and I'll tell you more. Wait a sec, I'll do better than that, I'll give you the contact information so you can apply for this fine job before some other snack- and cash-loving smarty gets to it first.

Because if they hire you I get a ham. It's the standard deal for ack/nak referrals.

Enjoy.

Want to code in Rails, have a blast,....and become wealthy in the process?

[---] is a well-funded start-up located in South Park, San Francisco. We’re building a great consumer service that people will love. We’ve got a great team, and a collaborative environment filled with smart, passionate people.

We are looking for a highly motivated, self-directed full-stack web developer to join our tightly knit team. Experience with Ruby, Rails and Javascript is desirable, but if you have other OO and web programming experience and learn quickly we can get you up to speed. We believe strongly in TDD/BDD and are committed to RSpec and RSpec stories, but as humans we know that 100% code coverage is an ideal, not dogma. On the front end we use Prototype, Scriptaculous, and Low Pro (yes, we know jQuery is the one our mother wishes we had married). On the back end we use MySQL, AWS and SQS. In the middle, of course, is Rails (currently 2.1.0, we're up to date, but not so edgy as to use Edge).

We manage our process using Scrum. We do our best to limit overhead, protect developers from distractions, and keep the focus on making a great product from top to bottom. You'll have the opportunity to work on a wide variety of projects. The engineering team does a comprehensive code review at the end of each sprint, so you will benefit from our experience and we from yours.

Developers have pride of place in our Victorian office near South Park with a sunny "Dev Parlor" in front and a couch-filled "Conference Parlor" in the back. Our office manager keeps our larder stocked with fruit, sweet & salty snacks, and sodas. We have mastered the subtleties of brewing Blue Bottle coffee, which we keep in plentiful supply. We also mix it up by spending some days teleworking at home or in cafes, as suits the needs of our individual team members.

stop motion: kermesse fantastique

2008-08-19T06:36:00.006-05:00

Kermesse Fantastique, produced for Phillips, was used as a Trade Test Colour Film on BBC-2.

"Before Wallace and Gromit, before Gumby and Pokey, Hungarian-born animator and director George Pal (1908-1980) created the stop-motion shorts he dubbed "Puppetoons". . .with as many as 5,000 individually carved puppets per short." -- Amazon

Speaking of Amazon, you can buy George Pal's "The Puppetoon Movie" for $10.

Alas, Kermesse Fantastique is not on it. Amazon reviewer Michael Osborn from Seattle, WA details the contents of the DVD as follows:

What you are getting on this DVD is actually TWO MOVIES FOR THE PRICE OF ONE!
First, you get `The Puppetoon Movie' which was a theatrical release in 1987. It was a labor of love written and directed by Arnold Leibovit and was born out of the highest regard for George Pal's marvelous Puppetoons from the 30's and 40's. It opens however with a somewhat inept Gumby skit wherein Pokey and Arnie the T-Rex proceed to initiate Gumby into the world of George Pal by sitting him down and showing him some Puppetoons. I advise you to skip this chapter and launch right into the second through the tenth chapters which are nine Puppetoons conveniently divided by chapters:

*1. The Little Broadcast (1943) and The Big Broadcast of '38 (1937)
*2. Hoola Boola (1938?) and South Sea Sweethearts (1938) for Horlick's
3. Sleeping Beauty (1935) for Phillips
4. Tulips Shall Grow (1942)
5. Together In The Weather (1946)
6. John Henry and the Inky Poo (1946)
7. Phillips Cavalcade (1934-9?) for Phillips Radio
8. Jasper in a Jam (194?)
9. Tubby the Tuba (1947) The last Puppetoon short made.

*Puppetoons 1 and 2 (unfortunately) each consist of two Puppetoons edited and spliced together! -why? The other ones have their logos and credits removed in an attempt to create a cavalcadesque Puppetoons show, somewhat disappointingly shorn in effect.
All of the Puppetoons were made before television was invented, when the movie theater was the true pinnacle of the dream vision manifest experience, although there were radios in practically every home. George Pal financed several of his Puppetoons by funding from clients who were basically paying to have their products' recognition foisted on an unsuspecting movie-going public. These advertisements were shown before feature films, and they were nonetheless successful because they used a soft sell approach with the product not appearing until late in the film, and even then it was almost a parody of itself.
Phillips Radio Manufactures was one of the first companies to utilize Pal's films for advertising. Radio was the "TV" of the time. Different kinds of music from around the world provided a perfect backdrop for Pal's animation, which works wonderfully when set to music. Horlick's Malted Milk was another one of Pal's many advertising clients. The product was a "tonic" which would make the drinker "energetic" almost like Popeye and his spinach.
'The Bonus Puppetoons' is the second movie and alone is worth the price of the disk! It is probably more of what you may actually be looking for. It is twelve uncut Puppetoons complete with titles and logos. Three of these Puppetoons (4, 6, and 11) are complete versions of ones cropped in 'The Puppetoon Movie' and all twelve are crisper and clearer too. Definitely satisfying.

1. What Ho, She Bumps (1937) for Horlick's
2. Bravo, Mr. Strauss (1943)
3. Olio for Jasper (1946)
4. Phillips Cavalcade (1934-9?) for Phillips Radio
5. Jasper's Derby (1946)
6. Hoola Boola (1938?)
7. Ether Symphony (1936)
8. Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp (1936)
9. The Magic Atlas (1935) for Phillips
10. Jasper and the Haunted House (1942)
11. The Big Broadcast of '38 (1937) for Phillips
12. Ether Ship (1934) for Phillips, (made with beautiful glass models!)

Plus: A very interesting and long interview with Puppetoon Studios animator, Bob Baker!

If you find you have to learn more about George Pal and get a copy of The Puppetoon Movie, Amazon has combined the Arnold Leibovit documentary, "The Puppetoon Movie" and Pal's first film "The Great Rupert" in a 3-disc set for $27.

(Discovered at the Secret Fun Blog)

photoessay: scenes from a trip to the city

2008-08-18T15:12:00.004-05:00

(All photos taken with a Blackberry Pearl)

winner: the official cocktail of summer (2008)

2008-08-17T21:07:00.009-05:00

Devoted readers of ack/nak will remember with great fondness the two previous winners of the ack/nak "official cocktail of summer" award. Those of you who are not quite as devoted will require links to help you remember how to mix the perfect Manhattan and a never-perfect Chupacablahblah. Please review them for context.

For 2008, the competition was fierce. Many new cocktails were attempted, not quite as many were perfected, but all were consumed and evaluated. My apologies to guests who participated in the evaluation process, a process which was not always as enjoyable as I had hoped it would be. I am especially sorry for those of you who participated in the extensive evaluation of the Paloma, and I hope your recovery is coming along nicely.

But in the end there can be only one.

In 2008, the official cocktail of summer is. . .

The Caipirinha.

Sweet Jesu in a Birch-Bark Canoe, this is a drink that demands respect. Forged from an unholy alliance of limes, sugar and poorly-refined automobile propellant, this Brazilian classic will deprive you of a variety of senses and a measurable quantity of your cognitive capacity. Good news, you will be unlikely to come down with a case of scurvy after one of these, so you've got that going for you.

The main culprit in this cocktail is cachaca, a traditional Brazilian beverage that like most clear distilled liquors comes in a variety of strengths, from "smooth" to "sort of smooth" to "don't get it on that paint" to "industrial solvent".

If the Manhattan gives you a sense of what severe tire damage feels like, the Caipirinha introduces you to Mr. Great Big Sumo Guy. As he's falling from a third story window. On you.

An Asian Lime, halved, cored and sliced into four segments. These aren't the round ball limes you see at the check-out line at Binny's. These look more like lemons. Make sure to cut off the ends.
1 teaspoon of demerara sugar
3 nuggets of crystalized ginger
2+ ounces of cachaca
Ice

Place the lime slices in a thick-bottomed glass. Sprinkle the sugar on it, and drop in the crystallized ginger. Muddle the piss out of it. Really, just wail away at this until you've got a barely-recognizable organic paste. Aim for "can't quite tell if there's sugar in there".

Fill the glass with ice, right up to the top. Fill the ice-filled glass with cachaca.

Pour into a cocktail shaker and shake, shake, shake, senora, shake it all the time.

Decant back into the glass, make sure you don't have to drive anywhere, say goodbye to your loved ones, and enjoy.

The people at Leblon have prepared a nice tutorial on how to make one of these devils, but it won't taste as good as the one I've described for you here. The crystallized ginger delivers an additional flavor note that I really enjoyed, in addition to an end-of-drink challenge to see if I could find the wee little ginger bit buried at the bottom of the glass.

I've tried this with a variety of cachachas, and I'm enjoying Leblon right now. I think.

review: heirloom by tim stark UPDATED

2008-08-17T11:58:00.009-05:00

If you have ever grown tomatoes in your garden, you know the heartbreaks of blossom-end rot, of wilt, of bugs, of too much and too little rain, of weeds and critters. You've endured and persevered because you know that there is no taste in the world like a fresh-picked tomato, and you'll put up with no end of misery for that brief moment of bliss you experience when you bite into a real one.

And if you've ever grown tomatoes you've probably considered growing them from seed. And if you've considered growing them from seed, you've contemplated trying your hand with an heirloom variety or two because honestly, there has to be something more tasty than those cookie-cutter hybrids.

Tim Stark's Heirloom is not a how-to book. It doesn't deliver tips and tricks. What Tim has written is a Kitchen Confidential for the supply-side of the modern foodie revolution. It is a book you need to buy and read and not lend out.

It is an important book because it describes the slow but inevitable process of becoming so many of us encounter in our lives. Living as a freelance writer in Brooklyn, the story begins with Mr. Stark deciding to start 3,000 heirloom tomato seedlings in his apartment and then transplanting them into the shaley ground of his run-down family farm in eastern Pennsylvania.

Reading Heirloom you can experience that same relentless arc that Tony Bourdain described in his first (and best) book - it's no surprise that Tim became a farmer the same way it was no surprise that Tony became a cook. He exposes his rookie mistakes, the odd personalities of his pickers, the petty cruelties of his fellow farmers, the manic drives across I-78 to the City, and above all, his love for what he does.

The scene of Tim at the farm auction is especially poignant, as is his description of the caretaker who kept his family property from sliding into weedy ruin during his childhood. You experience the life of someone who shows up at the back door of the restaurant with baskets of impossibly fresh produce, the same raw materials that make celebrity chefs possible in the first place.

You get the real sense that this is not a guy with a fat bank account and a rock-solid roadmap; he made it up as he went along, learning and persevering and ultimately succeeding.

And all for tomatoes.

UPDATES:

A terrific interview with Tim Stark can be found here. Thanks Kevin!

Last night (8/17/08) at 7:16pm eastern time I got a visit from a viewer from Saylorsburg, PA through a "heirloom, tim stark reviews" Google search. This morning around 8:30 I had a nearly 30 minute visit from someone at Random House who went directly to this page. Connected? I hope so! Who knows, ack/nak readers, this could be my big chance at stardom. Or more likely, I brought a smile to the author and his publisher. I'd be very happy with the latter, they deserve it.

And if you want to see what his Eckerton Hill Farm does in addition to tomatoes, check out this video:

scripting: bottling spontaneity

2008-08-17T11:30:00.005-05:00

I'm having a very challenging time with a project I've been working on, and I'd like to ask for your advice.

Here's the challenge: when I need to speak in public I have no problem being spontaneous, I can work from some sketchy note cards or outline and produce something that I and my audience find satisfying.

But when I need to sit down and write it all down first, it doesn't fall out of my head at either the same rate or quality that I enjoy when I just stand up and do it.

Have any of you ever "recorded" yourself then transcribed it as the foundation for a speech or other creative project? Did it work?

Thanks.

baracky: 5:49 of funny

2008-08-15T19:59:00.003-05:00

Happy Friday. I'm back from NYC, and have all manner of pictures and other stuff to share with you, but tonight, I'm decompressing and enjoying a delightful beverage (or two).

While you wait with breath (baited), you can enjoy this video. Or not.

piling on: rielle hunter on 23/6 video

2008-08-12T11:25:00.005-05:00

As I am one of those quaint old-fashioned fellows who thinks that adultery is the ultimate betrayal and that adulterers deserve every bit of misery that life can throw their way, here's a funny bit of "piling on" the 23/6 people prepared for your enjoyment.

Oh, and now it seems that Mr. Edwards - while professing never-ending love and devotion for his wife ("who was in remission at the time") - brought his gal-pal on his 2006 presidential announcement tour (props to Scoble for scoring the photos and then for going back over them with his jeweler's loup). I'm stunned to think that this guy knew all of this - and still convinced people to contribute their time and money to his campaign. And in case you think that "his private life is private" and trot out rationalizations like "JFK diddled around" and "FDR had gal-pals" and "Taft had a pet duck he seemed to spend too much time with", let me offer the following:

Character colors everything. Give me a man or woman of character and I will forgive them a lack of experience, a lack of intelligence, even a lack of understanding. Because a man or woman of good character will be acknowledge their lacks, seek to remedy them, and make good use of what they learn.

I don't expect people to be perfect, especially politicians who live in a world of unrelenting equivocation and compromise. But I expect them - I demand them - to be people of good character.

And when they're not. . . this is what they having coming.

day by day: define "union" (NSFW)

2008-08-09T21:13:00.005-05:00

It didn't take long for a reader to bring this to my attention after the comment I made at the bottom of my last post. You are an attentive bunch.

definitions: radio sound jargon

2008-08-09T19:25:00.003-05:00

SWEEPER - A 3-10 second "between the songs" attitude, positioning statement or station recall piece of audio that connects two songs. Sweepers are the MAJORITY of a station's imaging library. In commercial radio, there's a sweeper between every single song...to aid listener recall of what they're listening to...with the ultimate goal being to remind them that they're on [INSERT RADIO STATION NAME] or whatever station it might be. It images the station brand in the midst of music flow.

STINGER - Not an element of imaging like a sweeper, but rather more of a raw audio "workpart". They are the building block audio IN a sweeper that is behind the voiceover. Stingers are quick and fast sound effects, in essence....for example, a basic stinger would be a "swoosh" sound. Intel's logo sound at the end of every commercial (the three little notes you associate with Intel) would be called a Stinger. It denotes a change in motion...and matches the brand.

BUMPER - Also called a "ramp" in some circles, Bumpers are the musical beds or sound effects that lead INTO something. Morning shows will usually come out of a commercial break with some type of music before they begin talking...a small intro bed...these are BUMPERS...they are the buffer between two contrasting types of content...and psychologically "bridge the gap" in a listener's mind. Without bumpers, radio shows would give a choppy vibe...Bumpers provide flow without losing forward motion.

TEASER - Fully produced elements that "tease" or give a "taste" of what's to come in a certain amount of time in the future. Some stations might put a TEASER before their first commercial in a break to the effect of..."Next, It's The Hollywood Minute!" followed by quick content teases. Then the last commercial in the break would be followed by the full content item. The teaser matches the full content item in production, image and purpose...and in radio, is a method by which we hope to give the listener a reason to stick through the commercials...almost like a treat on the other side. Holding listeners for as many continuous minutes as possible is the key to higher ratings...because it builds "TSL", or TIME SPENT LISTENING. TSL is one of the most determining factors in radio ratings formulas. High TSL=High ratings..so stations use various methods to keep listeners through the programming areas (commercial breaks) that tend to cause listeners to leave the frequency.

PROMO - The high energy/completely branded and fully produced segment, almost like a commercial, but not to sell a product, but to sell the station. Promos can be based on a station giveaway occuring that day/week, they can be "montages" of the big hits on the station, etc. Promos are the BIG FAT GRANDADDY in radio imaging. Your station promos, literally, DEFINE the vibe of the station and are the most important and tightly constructed piece of the radio station, outside of the music. You can play great music, but unless your promos drive home the mindset of your station's goals/audience/target, it's proven listeners don't stay. Promos sell the brand. Radio isn't tangible..yet we still have to make people buy into it...but how do you make people buy into an IDEA rather than something they can TOUCH? That's the great imaging and radio formula in the sky that stations are focusing on every minute of the day.

ID's - There are legal ID's that are usually 3-5 seconds long and required by the FCC once an hour on commercial stations...this is probably the only time you hear the station's call letters...and it's usually buried within a commercial break at precise times. Of course, if the station's call letters ARE the station's name, the legal ID requirement is loosened. Some people in the old school of thought in radio still refer to SWEEPERS and ID's as one in the same. They both DO identify the station, but a SWEEPER is more branding-oriented, whereas a pure ID is merely there to identify rather than brand an image.

(source: Tyler, Imaging Director for B97 and BAYOU 105.3 (Entercom) in New Orleans)
(why feature this on ack/nak: because I'm hunting down great sources of production music like this for a podcast I'm working on)

oh my: oh my

2008-08-09T14:24:00.002-05:00

Video care of Talking Points Memo

Oh, and some more:

review: beijing 2008 olympic games opening ceremonies

2008-08-08T23:02:00.001-05:00

Wow.

reader questions: belstaff colonial canvas bags

2008-08-08T22:10:00.006-05:00

James from California writes:

Dropping you a line about my experience with the ever popular Colonial line. I have a couple large shoulder bags, and a couple of the smaller ones. Really looking hard for a "body bag" but dont have my hopes up as they dont make them anymore. According to the website it looks like our color choices this year are Mountain Brown and "Kaki" as they spell it, thats all I have seen. You can see examples on the website now. Although after placing a call to the store in London, I know black is available too. Not sure why im writing you, except that I am interested to hear how your bag repair went, and to say I share your affinity for this particular mens accessory!

While you may not be sure why you wrote, I'm glad you did! Finding a bag that's "just right" is frankly damned hard, and the Belstaff Colonial Canvas bags are just perfect for hard daily use. I put a lot of stock in being able to carry around the stuff that you need to be productive wherever you go. As Buckaroo Banzai said, no matter where you go, there you are.

Actually, Thomas a Kempis wrote that back in the 15th century in Imitation of Christ, ca. A.D. 1440. You may have heard this quote some other places as well.

As you've indicated, Belstaff has pared down the Colonial Canvas line over the last year by reducing both the number of styles and colors available to us. Two casualties were, I believe, the Body Bag and the Marsupium. Thankfully the colors they've kept are the two best, and the remaining bags are all good with the exception of the travel bag, which looks like utter rubbish. I've not heard of black being available, and frankly, unless I was pottering around in biker leathers - which I do not - I wouldn't really care fot it.

The repairs were successful, thank you for asking. My kaki shoulder bag has been joined by a mountain brown shoulder bag I purchased, which I actually prefer over the kaki. It seems to be made of a much tougher, yet softer sort of canvas. And the mountain brown will be better at hiding, shall we say, the indignities of daily usage.

My general guidance is that any competent luggage shop could do the sort of repairs that are required for the shoulder bag - mostly reinforcing seams, sewing in patches and some spot cleaning.

The bag I'm hoping to acquire some day is the large man bag, as it has the same rough dimensions of the shoulder bag, except in portrait format as opposed to the landscape format of the shoulder bag. Plus I find the side pockets Not All That Useful. Perhaps next year.

Youngsang writes:

My search for a good bag led me to your blog. Your excellent post about Belstaff Shoulder Bag makes me confident on the end of my search. However, I live in Bloomington, IN. The places where I can have an experience with the bag are far from here. Alas...

I'm carrying my laptop, Apple's MBP (14.1 x 9.6 x 1) time to time. So, my bag should be able to hold the laptop in it. However, I do not look for a laptop bag. The bag doesn't have to provide a spacious room even when it holds the laptop. I think that it's OK if it can have the laptop in it and provide some space for a few documents or a fairly thin book, and laptop's power adaptor. Some small devices such as iPod, Cell Phone, and others can be put into outside pockets.

Do you think that Belstaff Shoulder Bag provides enough room for those? I guess that it would do if its width and height allow the room because its depth is 4 inch. (the depth would be enough.) If you're negative on this, I got to consider Belstaff Large Shoulder Bag. However, it seems to be a bit big as an every day bag. I'm not sure, though.

If you have a time to share your opinion with me, I would appreciate it although I've already been pleased to read your post in your blog. Anyway, I've contacted to L'Uomo in NYC in order to inquire the availability of the bag. They said that after the end of August, the stock would be available. I asked them the same question. However, they just said that the laptop would fit to the bag, but I would be limited. They couldn't provide more useful info. or experience.

The Shoulder Bag will accommodate the laptop you have and some other stuff. My concern is that the Large Shoulder Bag will be too big for your laptop, whereas it is snug but not tight in the Shoulder Bag. The power brick, cord, and other bric-a-brac of your computing life should fit nicely in the front and side pockets.

For computer schlepping purposes, the Shoulder Bag is a better choice than the Large Man Bag. You will actually need those side pockets.

If you're interested in buying the bag you should also add the Belstaff Showroom in NYC to your list of possible sources. I think they may actually be able to source more stuff for you than L'Uomo. I had a really great experience dealing with them.

edwards: you can leave your hat on + it's money I love

2008-08-08T18:58:00.003-05:00

Because adultery is a sin unlike any other, I offer the following to Mr. John Edwards:

Baby, take off your coat...(real slow)
Baby, take off your shoes...(here, Ill take your shoes)
Baby, take off your dress
Yes, yes, yes
You can leave your hat on
You can leave your hat on
You can leave your hat on

Go on over there and turn on the light...no, all the lights
Now come back here and stand on this chair...thats right
Raise your arms up in to the air...shake em
You give me a reason to live
You give me a reason to live
You give me a reason to live

Suspicious minds are talking
Trying to tear us apart
They say that my love is wrong
They dont know what love is

+

I don't love the mountains
And I don't love the sea
And I don't love Jesus
He never done a thing for me
I ain't pretty like my sister
Or smart like my dad
Or good like my mama

It's Money That I Love
It's Money That I Love

They say that's money
Can't buy love in this world
But it'll get you a half-pound of cocaine
And a sixteen-year old girl
And a great big long limousine
On a hot September night
Now that may not be love
But it is all right

One, two
It's Money That I Love
Wanna kiss you
Three, four
It's Money That I Love

Used to worry about the poor
But I don't worry anymore
Used to worry about the black man
Now I don't worry about the black man
Used to worry about the starving children of India
You know what I say about the starving children of India ?

I say, "Oh mama"

It's Money That I Love
It's Money That I Love
It's Money That I Love
They dont know what love is
They dont know what love is
They dont know what love is
I know what love is

(lyrics by Randy Newman)

spotted: sasquatch cheeto

2008-08-05T10:27:00.003-05:00

list: 10 creative in-flight revenue opportunities

2008-08-04T12:41:00.006-05:00

With JetBlue's announcement today that they would sell a pillow and blanket set for $7 on flights of two hours or more, the airlines have completely exhausted the most likely set of in-flight revenue opportunities.

What follows is a list of 10 more "creative" opportunities for airlines to monetize their customers. Exact pricing is left to the discretion of the airlines. I can make recommendations if desired.

10. Snake-free Seating - for an extra $x the airline will seat passengers in a "snake-free section" of the plane that is guaranteed to be free from snakes.

9. Biohazard-free Seatback Pockets - for an extra $x the airline will fumigate and clean the seatback pocket in front of you, removing any accreted landfill built up by previous inhabitants of your seat.

8. Emergency Air Mask Policy - for an extra $x the airline will provide passengers with a guarantee that in case of depressurization the airmask that descends will actually work.

7. Service Cart Derby - for an extra $x a member of the in-flight staff will push a service cart into a passenger you designate. For an extra $x the airline will not reveal who paid the in-flight staff to do this.

6. Turn off the Baby - for an extra $x the airline will guarantee that the music you're listening to will not be randomly replaced by the sound of a screaming baby.

5. Turn off Coldplay - see #6.

4. The "No Sudden Dive" Collection Plate - for an extra $x per passenger, up to a pre-set dollar threshhold for the flight, the pilot of your plane agrees not to put the plane into an unannounced dive and subsequent climb at any point during the flight. Encourages team building among passengers.

3. Toilet Paper Vending Machines - for $x the airline will sell you an individualized package of toilet tissue. For an extra $x the airline will sell you an individualized package of toilet tissue that does not dissolve on contact with human flesh. Flight attendants can make change. . . for a minimal exchange fee.

2. Turn off the Magnets - for $x the airline will turn off the magnets in your seat-back tray. Great for laptop users.

1. The Pre-Flight Bake - for $x the airline will turn on the air conditioning at your seat, replacing the stream of stinky warm air that normally issues from the nozzle above you.

If you have any other great ideas for airlines, let me know.

roll to hit: mccain vs the new york times UPDATED

2008-08-02T20:06:00.021-05:00

"If the shareholders of The New York Times ever wonder why the paper's ad revenue is plummeting and its share price tanking, they need look no further than the hysterical reaction of the paper's editors to any slight, real or imagined, against their preferred candidate," said McCain campaign spokesman Michael Goldfarb.

Goldfarb compared the editors to a blogger "sitting at home in his mother's basement and ranting into the ether between games of Dungeons & Dragons."

START TRANSCRIPT

Dramatis Personae (see UPDATE below for comments on race and class names):

DM=Dungeon Master
P1=Player 1 [Hobbit Thief]
P2=Player 2 [Half-elf Fighter/Magic-User]
P3=Player 3 [Human Barbarian]

DM: "OK, you're standing outside the door."

P1: "I check for traps."

(sound of rolling dice)

DM: "The hobbit thief detects a trap."

P1: "Schwing!"

P2: "While Short Round is clipping the red wire, I'll scan for secret doors."

P1: "Don't 'Short Round' me, you butt-f____r."

P3: "Speaking of butt-f_____g, can I get rid of this 10-foot pole?"

P2: "Stop whining."

DM: "It's going to take a few rounds for Short. . .the thief to defeat the trap, and about the same amount of time for the window-dresser to poke at the walls. What is the barbarian going to do?"

P3: "Oh, I don't know, maybe quote Derrida or Rimbaud."

P1: "I didn't know you had that skill."

P3: "It was a bonus feat I picked up the last time I levelled-up."

P2: "Cool. What does it let you do?"

P3: "I can shout imprecations and general bulls__t in a grandiose and generally ineffectual way."

P1: "That sucks balls, man. You chose that over Great Fortitude or Great Cleave?"

P3: "Actually, the feat is called Bullheaded. It means I am exceptionally headstrong and difficult to sway, and I get a +1 on all Will saves and +2 bonus on Intimidate checks."

P2: "That could actually come in handy, you don't get squat for Will saves and since you looove to use Intimidate that should help."

P1: "I'm not sure I'm looking for mental acuity in a barbarian, to be fair."

DM: "Trap defeated. You managed to salvage some vials of poison gas, you want to keep them?"

P1: "No way, last time I did that I sat on them in a bar and nearly killed everyone."

DM: "Yes, I remember. That was pretty f____g funny."

P1: "So. . . nice try. I leave them where they are."

P2: "Any secret doors?"

DM: "How far down the corridor were you planning on going?"

P2: "Oh, I don't know, maybe 20 feet?"

DM: "Three more rounds"

P3: "While we're waiting for The Great Wall Fondler to find his door to nowhere, what are you guys planning on writing about this Rick Davis 'race card' thing?"

P1: "I got a draft in to Andy (Rosenthal) this morning that makes a connection between McCain, Howard Ford and O.J. I found a Robert Shapiro quote that makes it sound like McCain's crew are reading from their playbook."

P3: "Money!"

DM: "Thanks for getting that to me, by the way. I'm going to run it as-is."

P1: "Thanks."

P2: "You looped in O.J.? Dude, that's not right."

P1: "Not right? It's 346 words of absolutely f_____g right. What the f__k do Britney and Paris have to do with this election? For that matter, what does Moses have to do with it? These guys are going bat-s__t crazy and it's time we called their tactics for what they are."

P3: "What it is is retail politics 101, make the election a referendum on the other guy."

DM: "Full marks to Conan here."

P3: "John's got no other choice. It's going to be guerilla war from now until November, anything Barry says is going to get the full metal jacket treatment. It's a good strategy. When and if we call him on it, he'll savage us as a bunch of hysterical lefties sitting at home in my mother's basement, ranting into the ether between games of Dungeons & Dragons."

P2: "Any secret doors?"

DM: "No secret doors."

P1: "Sucker."

END TRANSCRIPT

Next time on "The New York Times Editorial Board Plays D&D in One of their Mom's Basement":

DM: "There are four kobolds in the room playing canasta."

P3: "I charge in and kill them all."

P2: "I check for secret doors."

P1: "I hide in shadows and backstab."

DM: "How are you going to backstab kobolds if they're facing each other?"

P1: "Quickly."

(Photo of Andrew Rosenthal, New York Times Editorial Page Editor and World-Class DM by Fred R. Conrad for the New York Times [source])

UPDATE: I am aware that some readers who are especially familiar with the rules to the various editions of Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons have objected to the melange of rules reflected in the transcribed dialog above, as evidenced by their comments.

First of all, thank you for your comments, and welcome to all Boing Boing readers.

To readers who object to the non-canonical use of titles and rules, all I can say is that while I know that AD&D 4th edition has: Halflings, not Hobbits; Rogues, not Thieves; Wizards, not Magic-Users; and Fighters, not Barbarians (at least as of the publication of the first AD&D 4th ed Players Handbook), I am also sure the gentlemen whose game session was partially transcribed here probably knew this as well. They are, after all, in the business of reading.

But being gentlemen of a "certain age", they probably began playing the game back in the era of Chainmail and the three soft-cover D&D books that came in the white box. These gentlemen probably stayed vaguely current with the game over the years, selecting those elements of the rules that they liked and rejecting those they did not, always with an eye to enjoying a good game without particular interest in rules orthodoxy.

These gentlemen probably always called Halflings Hobbits, always thought of the spell-slinger as a Magic-User (since Wizard was the title of a level 11 Magic-User, not the name of the class), and preferred the drama of a Barbarian over the generic title of a Fighter.

Certainly no offense was intended, and I hope no offense taken, by users who prefer a more rigid view of the rules and adopt them in toto as opposed to on an ad hoc basis. After all, it is a transcription. I suggest sending a note to the Editorial Page.