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Looking for a new and interesting challenge? This may be just the thing!

Russell Davies, a fellow who describes himself thus: “I’m an account planner and I spend my days thinking about brands and marketing and communications and stuff” has initiated a “school of the web” to help folks who want to learn the basics of account planning. What is account planning, you ask? A fair question! Would you like the short answer or the long answer?

Long answer: Someone who looks at the many accounts needed or are available and enables the ability to plan for the reasonable use of resources that enhances the aforementioned accounts.

Short answer: I have no idea. (I made the long answer up.)

I suppose I could take the time to find out what an account planner does all day, but what the heck, maybe it’ll be more fun to just sort of “discover” it as I go…

Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, Russell has decided to teach account planning by providing a series of lessons via his blog that will enable participants to learn by actually doing something. The first lesson (at least I think it’s the first) is on what he calls propositions, and I’m 99.9% sure it’s not lessons on how to pick up girls (I allow 0.1% uncertainty, because after all, you never know).

So here’s the exercise:

“It seems simple, but it’s tough. You can’t hide behind pictures or design, you’ve just got to have 10 original, useful, non-obvious ideas about how to sell, re-position or re-excite people about apples.”

So if I understand this correctly, I need to come up with 10 statements/ideas/propositions, each no longer than 20 words, with no pictures, no fancy stuff, and no references of any kind. I suppose not being situated in the UK might cause something of a handicap, but then again, it might not. After all, that’s what imaginations are for.

If you’re interested and want to contribute, Russell asks that you email the finished assignment to him by November 1.

I’m goin’ for it! Care to join me?

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

A Few Words From The DOD

Via a post from Bob Sutton comes a New Zealand consulting company with the clever name The Department of Doing (motto: “Consider it Done”) dedicated to the wildly and radically innovative idea that there’s enough talk in this world – sometimes ya gotta just kick the ol’ butt and DO something. (At least, that’s how we would say it here in Texas.)

Although the web site is a bit sparse on information, there is a manifesto of sorts called The Directives of Doing which outlines their “self-imposed code of conduct”. An interesting marketing approach, to say the least.

A quick read through the Directives reveals a pragmatic, tell-it-like-it is, both-feet-on-the-ground approach to consulting that I find missing from most consultants’ websites. And, to their credit, at least they have a sense of humor – most consulting firms seem afraid to show that they have one, as if they think business should be all work and no fun. I particularly like Directive 5:

As Abigail Adams, wife of President John Adams, once said, “We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them.”

It’s Like Buttah

Now for an example of someone simply doing something rather than just talking it to death, I ran across this story from Influx Insights (as summarized by Dan Pink).

“The tale in brief is this: Seven years ago, Diane St. Clair didn’t know boo about making butter. But she wanted to learn so she taught herself the trade via the Internet and some books. Soon she cadged a “small-scale pasteurizer and got a license to go into production.” And with one Jersey cow, she went into business. She called her operation, based in rural Orwell, Vermont – wait for it – Animal Farm. One day she sent her butter to John Keller, an all-star chef.Today, St. Clair’s one-woman operation has six cows and continues to produce butter for the best restaurants in the country. Now she’s contemplating starting a butter-of-the-month club that will offer subscribers a pound of butter a month for ten months for a subscription price of $750. That’s $75 a pound!”

(Interpretation may be required here. In case you don’t know, “boo” means “doodley squat”, and “cadged” means “scrounged”.)

As Ed Brenegar points out, all it takes is initiative; something that delivers the ol’ kick in the butt. Inspiration is not enough, we need initiative as well, plus commitment to stop talking and finally do something.

[Updated 2-17-07 with corrected link to Ed Brenegar @ Leading Questions]

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

Last time, I introduced the subject of UC (ubiquitous computing) and listed 5 principles of UC. Perhaps to help you understand what it could mean, it would be worth your time to consider a future vision with fully-enabled UC.

Before I start, though, my first question is this: what are “regular” people saying about UC? I mean, other than the ones directly in the path of the research, what is being said about it? Are people even talking about it?

Interestingly enough, there are about 2.4 million hits on Google, but Technorati listed only 19 blogs that even mentioned the term (the most recent was 57 days ago – unless you count my humble post from yesterday, of course).

Alas, of the blogs listed, I found very little substance. I suppose I could quote one blog from 157 days ago (nasefei’s Blog):

文档状态：本报告系列是我所“曙光高性能计算机”和“织女星网格”两个品牌的相关研究开发动态与趋势的整合与分析，也包括与“龙芯”品牌、存储服务器相关的内容。另外,本报告系列关注计算机领域的突破性创新，对全所的工作都有参考作用。本报告主要关注国际研究开发趋势，但也包括市场应用趋势、对我所的影响

– but it’s not very helpful since I don’t read Chinese. Considering the tremendous implications of the technology, though, I find it strange that more people aren’t already talking about it.

The concept of UC reminds me of a series of sci-fi books written by Peter F. Hamilton called, collectively, the Night’s Dawn Trilogy. (Actually, although sci-fi is easier to say, I still prefer the term speculative fiction – it’s more in keeping with the spirit of the genre.) If you like sci-fi, I highly recommend these books. (Bloat alert – the paperback version has three two-part volumes. That’s 6 books and about 3,000 pages!) What I found most interesting about this particular fictional universe (called the Confederation universe) was the pervasion of UC in the societies of the day.

For example, the main character, Joshua Calvert (a young, dashing starship captain) has within his body nanonic-sized devices that can, among other things: a) serve as supplemental memory cells, b) allow him to interface seamlessly and fully with his spaceship, c) communicate with anyone either directly (a sort of artificial telepathic ability) or via communication interfaces, d) manipulate his own body in various ways, such as stiffening his body’s internal membranes to avoid damage at high-G accelerations, e) full control of his body’s various volitional and autonomous functions, such as pain blockage, sleep, and (like any good male hero figure) his ability to make love to a woman for longer than 6 minutes.

Another character, Reese Macklin, is a top-of-the-line mercenary soldier. With a body that is almost entirely artificial, he also has, besides similar capabilities mentioned for Captain Calvert, the ability to: a) interface directly with a wide range of weapons, b) control virtually every aspect of his body including oxygen and adrenaline levels, c) set autonomous subroutines to manage his walking, running, etc. while he focuses his main attention on targeting the bad guys.

Of course, these characters represent the pinnacle of UC in their society and not the average Jane Doe or Joe Blow. Not everyone has the ability, or even the need, for connections at the same level. On the other hand, in this universe virtually everyone has some form of “neural nanonics” that enables them to interface with the world around them at the level they need.

So just for fun, let’s put you into this picture.

You’re in Philadelphia and need to meet a client for lunch in New York? No problem. Just connect wirelessly to the nearest information terminal and download the latest plane, train and spaceship schedules, select your options, and book a ticket. Contact your house and have it stop defrosting the roast you planned for supper, hold the mail delivery for a day, and feed the dog. Call a cab and reserve a table at 21. Of course you have full access to anything from your office system at any time, so no need for a briefcase full of papers.

Sounds kinda fun, doesn’t it?

One of the things I like about this particular future is we will no longer need to use separate devices to accomplish all this – it’s all done with machines built into our bodies. No more lugging around notebook computers, PDAs, phones, projectors, etc. (In fact, it will change the face of business as well - but that’s another post.)

Yesterday I listed the 5 principles of UC as presented by Adam Greenfield, and just for the heck of it, here they are again:

• Default to Harmlessness – in a world where it is possible for a device to broadcast your most intimate details, user’s safety (physical, psychic and financial) must be ensured.
• Be Self-Disclosing – ubiquitous systems should be technically and graphically self-disclosing, so that users encountering them are empowered to make informed decisions.
• Be Conservative of Face – ubiquitous systems must not necessarily embarrass, humiliate, or shame their users.
• Be Conservative of Time – ubiquitous systems must not introduce undue complications into ordinary operations and should be respectful of our time.
• Be Deniable – ubiquitous systems must offer the users the ability to opt out, always and at any point.

In the Confederation universe, which naturally portrays a fully mature vision of UC, these and other concerns are addressed within the context of the story, and in some cases become integral parts of various plot lines. But what really shines out is the value UC brought to virtually every aspect of the lives of the people in the story. This is what I like to imagine life in the future could be like.

The bottom line can be summed up in one word: capabilities. What are you and I capable of? If the intent of UC is to enhance our capabilities, then judging by what is at least imaginable, it promises to be an amazing world of tomorrow.

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

Ubiquitous Computing

That phrase kinda rolls trippingly off the tongue, doesn’t it? I don’t know about you, but stuff like this always set off my jargon alert apparatus (sirens, klaxons, red lights flashing, and for some strange reason, confetti). I can just hear you saying to yourself, “What the heck is ubiquitous computing, and why should I care?” Well, Bubba, it may be a description of the future of computing, so you just might want to know about it.

To understand ubiqui- (let’s call it UC, shall we?) UC, I offer this description, from Mark Weiser, considered to be the father of UC.

We already have significant computing power built into the most common items: all types of phones, PDAs, notebooks and desktops, watches, appliances (both large and small), cars – and that’s only the most obvious ones. How about out there in the real world? Every traffic intersection, repair shop, hospital – gee, maybe it’s easier to think about where computing power is not (or at least, not yet).

The really big issue, as I see it, is risk. What is the risk of implementing such a future? Believe me, you don’t want to walk into this blind! Adam Greenfield, author of Everyware: The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing, a talk (talk? when is a talk not a speech?) at Ci’Num where he presented his 5 principles of UC:

• Default to Harmlessness – in a world where it is possible for a device to broadcast your most intimate details, user’s safety (physical, psychic and financial) must be ensured.
• Be Self-Disclosing – ubiquitous systems should be technically and graphically self-disclosing, so that users encountering them are empowered to make informed decisions.
• Be Conservative of Face – ubiquitous systems must not necessarily embarrass, humiliate, or shame their users.
• Be Conservative of Time – ubiquitous systems must not introduce undue complications into ordinary operations and should be respectful of our time.
• Be Deniable – ubiquitous systems must offer the users the ability to opt out, always and at any point.

I’ll come back to this in future posts, but for now, I ask you to ponder the following questions for a bit:

• Do you think these principles are enough?
• Are they practical in the Real World?
• Should such limitations be “hard-wired” into the UC systems themselves?
• And what about Mary Lou?

OK, I made up that last one.

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

Wouldn’t ya know it.

Lost all my line breaks, so I manually changed EVERY SINGLE post and added them in. Just as I was finishing the last one (and not a second sooner!) is when I remembered there is a setting for that in the blog management section. Sure enough, it had been somehow reset.

So I set it back to the proper setting, and of course I now have to go back and REMOVE all those line breaks I manually added.

Ah well, as Mrs. MZM always says (and this is where the blog name comes from), “That’s life in the Middle Zone!”

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

Back in the ‘80s I used to work at a Christian “coffeehouse” (for those unfamiliar with the term, that’s a kind of nightclub without the cigarettes or booze, and the entertainment usually featured contemporary Christian singers). One weekend I had to pick up Wayne Watson at the airport, so I headed on out, only to realize I really didn’t really know what he looked like! I mean, I’d seen his albums, but like many musicians, on every one of them he had a different “look”.

So I had an idea and zipped over to the bookstore in the airport, and lo and behold, there was one of his albums (an older one), complete with a picture. When he finally came out of the plane, sure enough, his hair was different and he had a beard. In fact, he really didn’t look much like his picture…

A post by John Koestier at bizhack yesterday causes me to wonder if a familiar bugaboo is going to raise its ugly head (if you think about it, ALL bugaboos have ugly heads). Although I think John handles it well, it’s something I’ve wondered about for some time, but it reminded me of the story above. Are you like your picture?

In Blogrolls and sex: what does gender have to do with it, he brings up the fact that a particular female Blogger whose blogroll consists of exclusively women bloggers, and asks some very good questions.

It’s one of those “elephant in the room” issues: everyone knows it’s there; it’s just not talked about that much. (Old joke – Q: How do you know an elephant has been in your refrigerator? A: You can see his footprints in the butter dish.)

Now before we go on, let me just say up front that if you check MY blogroll, you’ll not find any women Bloggers’ links there (with the exception of links to “groups” of bloggers, like MP Daily Fix). It’s not that I don’t want to; in fact, it’s not that I care one way or the other. It’s just that I simply haven’t found any I want to read regularly (yet). That’s it in a nutshell. No prejudice, no chauvinism, just – well, let’s call it chance. I’ve actually read many women’s blogs – I simply haven’t found one I like enough.

Could it be the subject matter? If you check my blogroll, you’ll find most are focused on Business, Leadership, and Innovation, plus a few odds and ends. Am I saying there are no good women’s blogs in these subjects? No, of course not! But here’s my question in response: Does my blogroll say I’m sexist? And a related question: Would any reader have even thought about it except for me bringing it up?

The thing is, I think blogrolls serve a valuable purpose on a blog. First, they help provide your readers with an insight into who you are. The fact is every single item on a blog page tells a little story. Every post, every link and every button tells your readers about your likes, dislikes, and personality. In addition, the blogroll serves as a source of more good blogs your readers might want to keep track of. It’s like a personal recommendation: “I’ve read this blog and you might like it too.”

One thing about blogging that some may forget (although I don’t see how it’s possible to forget this) – everything a Blogger writes contributes to the public story of who they are. So if readers are getting a picture, is it the one you want them to have?

Are you like your picture?

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

Odd goings on with Blogger these days. I’m thinking of moving MZM to another medium. But that’s another story. ..

Not much free time today, so here’s a few more quotes for inspiration, for thought, and for laughs.

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!