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Undercover Boss: Understanding the Mood

Upon watching the teaser, I was apprehensive about watching Friday’s episode of Undercover Boss, as it hit a bit too close to home.

So I watched the beginning, found Mr. Abony to be interesting, humble, and clearly one of the good guys, then turned the dial to something else for a while.

(If you look in next year’s dictionary, I fully expect to see a picture of Lorne climbing a ladder next to the definitions of humble, brave, and a few other words associated with great leaders. It takes guts to expose your deepest, but silly-to-the-outside-world fears on national television.)

In the end, however, I tuned back into the program to catch the ending, where Lorne reunites with his father, whom he had not seen in something over fifteen years.

From the age of five, I too grew up without a father. I last saw him more than 30 years ago, and for many years held deep-seated anger at his behavior and abandonment, even as I remember hating the court-ordered visitations, and even being just a few minutes away from grabbing my sister and running away on BART back home. (As a ~10 year-old, I had just a vague sense that while it was the right thing to do, the courts would likely cause the family more grief than completing the visit.)

As the years passed, the anger subsided into indifference, but one still tinged with never wanting to see him again. But over the past couple of years, as I have discovered the circumstances I was raised in, and thus what most likely drove his behavior and him away, I have come to a very interesting place in my life. A place where I might even want to reunite, and forgive him.

Life is funny, sometimes. The trigger of realizing why he disappeared is deeply personal, and not something to share here, but suffice it to say I have happened to have experienced similar circumstances. However, it has made me a stronger, more insightful, and more empathic man as a result. I long ago vowed to be a better man than Dad, and now that I know why and how, I could not fathom ever running away from the same issue. Having gone through such abandonment, I would not inflict that pain on others.

It’s simply not who I am. And as anyone who has worked with me before knows, I never take the simple approach to solving problems.

There are, of course, people who should not reunite with their fathers. However, for Lorne and I, it just might be the right path forward.

Postscript

I could not have shared this story a year ago; perhaps not even three months ago. But this is a very important thing to share about nurturing leadership. We are the product of how we were raised, and as established or aspiring leaders, we have a duty to share reality with those we are leading. We must show that we are human, and can rise above adversity. Sharing our foibles and failures is one of the best ways to motivate others to overcome theirs.

Posted in Leadership, Personal.

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By Peter Sheerin – 2013-01-06

Be Lighter Than Air

I strive to be fair and kind in my coverage of technology, and so worry this post will come across as a bit of a rant, but my entire point is that the focus on the end-result of software must be an amazing experience for the user.

Tools and frameworks that save time for developers and allow to build more powerful programs are a wonderful way to achieve that.

Alas, Adobe Air is not one of those tools. It is a clever way to build cross-platform software quickly, but the results suffer on a number of fronts:

  • They never look or behave the same as a native application.
  • They are never as fast as a native application
  • The rest are important but more subtle; the above two are the ones that matter most.

Air has its place. The more I use applications built with it, I’m convinced that place is exactly what Alan Cooper has for Visual Basic: Prototyping.

If you’ve built something in Air that works reasonably well and that people like, there is only one appropriate course of action.

Call it an Alpha test/experiment, throw the source code away, and rebuild it with C/C++/Objective C and a good framework for each platform that uses native UI features, and then start your beta test.

What started this not-quite-rant?

I’ve become enamored with a great productivity tool that runs on the Web, my work MacBook Pro, my personal ThinkPad, and my iPhone. It has no toolbar in Windows, is frighteningly slow and cantankerous to update, and it behaves differently enough on each platform to make switching seamlessly difficult. I hope the developer will work in earnest on native apps, but will wait to name them here until I’ve had a chance to share my complaints privately.

Posted in Design, Usability.

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By Peter Sheerin – 2012-12-22

Be Better Than Free

An interesting experience with technology over the past two days gave me some insight that will help guide you in building amazing products.

The Experience

My ThinkPad was running low on disk space, and I wanted a belt-and-suspender backup approach. As I’m not willing to go through the pain of reinstalling everything from scratch, finding a fast, easy, and reliable way to clone a drive seemed like the best way to tackle both problems.

So I bought two new identical drives about double the size of what I currently have, and a Unitek UM-3022 dual-drive USB 3.0 dock, with a nifty “Clone” button. I figured I could clone my old laptop drive to one of the two new ones, repurpose the old one, then use the other new drive to make a rolling clone every week or two, ensuring I could quickly recover from a hard-drive crash.

Continued…

Posted in Design, Innovation.

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By Peter Sheerin – 2012-11-22

Undercover Boss—Rick Silva of Checkers

It’s been a full month since I saw this episode of Undercover Boss, yet Mr. Silva’s actions are still fresh in my memory. (Season 3, episode 4 on iTunes.)

Though I have yet to watch all the episodes, Silva’s episode has struck me as the most impressive yet, earning him huge kudos from me.

At the very first store he discovered an operation that had clearly gone haywire. A new manager had been installed before finishing his training, and was treating his employees barely better than Roman slaves—with predictable results in the food quality and customer service.

While talking with his “mentor” during a lunch break, he realized just how badly this young fellow as  being treated, and barely hesitated in confronting the manager. About half-way into the conversation, he decided he had no choice but to break the cardinal rule and reveal his identity. So he could immediately shut the restaurant down and begin rectifying the problem.

What happened next showed how much class Silva has, and makes me want to find the closest Checkers.

His first action was to call HQ and arrange for other local managers to fill-in and reopen the store to corporate standards. Informing all the workers of the shutdown, he reassured them that nobody was losing their job, and that everyone would get the training needed to meet the corporate service expectations (including the newbie manager, who lesser leaders would have canned on the spot).

Silva’s generosity to the employees that “mentored” him at each store were no less impressive.

If you haven’t seen this episode, spend the $2.99 and watch how a great leader supports and inspires those in his care. These are the skills we need in our future Presidents.

Posted in Leadership.

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By Peter Sheerin – 2012-10-20

Innovation Inspiration #025—Prioritize the Inflexible

Yesterday I missed the event of a lifetime—watching the Endeavor  fly across the Golden Gate Bridge, because I scheduled my day in the wrong order, and didn’t flip it around when circumstances changed.

I was in the City coincidentally, taking care of two important tasks; one at the edge and one in the middle of the city. When I realized the shuttle was coming, I believed I would finish with the second one in time to get back to a good viewing spot.

Then a signal breakdown on Caltrain delayed my whole schedule by 45+ minutes, and I continued on with my plan, frantically rushing back to the Ferry Building just in time to see a spec of the shuttle flash by through the window of a MUNI bus. Continued…

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By Peter Sheerin – 2012-09-22

Polish, Perfectionism, and Presentations

Earlier in my career, I obsessed over small, seemingly insignificant details, because I thought they were important.

Some were frustrated by this, and I know at times I took the process to extremes. But now that I know where this trait comes from (it’s related to one of the fundamental things that drove Steve Jobs  to create such amazing things), I have learned how and when to harness the obsession to turn otherwise mediocre content into things that get extraordinary reactions from people.

I was thinking about this today, as I spent the entire morning editing, polishing, and tweaking the content and appearance of my newest personal web page. All four pages of it.

This project was for me, so I didn’t have to worry about someone else’s clock, and since the site’s whole purpose is self-promotion, being persnickety about the presentation was entirely appropriate.

But I still felt a little guilty over the pace. Until I opened The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs and got to the bottom of page 3.

That’s where the author shares how much time design experts (including those at Apple) recommend spending on the creation of a 60-minute presentation.

Ninety hours. For thirty slides.

And suddenly I felt at home again. (This prep time is specifically attributed to Nancy Duarte, who coached Al Gore.)

To get the right value from spending three hours per slide, you have to do a lot more than polish—you have to strive for perfection.

You will never get there, of course, but the key talent is knowing when you have reached the “good enough” point, so that you don’t waste time on elements that hardly anyone will notice.

I don’t have a clue how to teach that last point—I think you simply have to be blessed with a gut feel for what it is, and adjust it based on your hunch of what others with a slightly less-critical eye than yours will notice.

Posted in Design.

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By Peter Sheerin – 2012-09-16

Design Rule #005—Follow the Specifications

Years ago, when I was the Technical editor of CADENCE magazine, reviewing the latest hardware and software products every month, I came to the conclusion that engineers don’t read specs.

The conclusion was not based on talking with any engineers or product managers about the subject, just on my own observations of comparing product features—especially those relevant to interoperability—against the actual specifications (or excerpts) I could get my hands on.

I have held this conviction ever since, and although I don’t get to test it frequently, I see ample evidence of it, and whenever I do get the chance to talk to engineers about specs, they always uphold my maxim.

The widely practiced alternative is to copy how another few products have implemented the specification. But since none are complete, only parts of the specification get implemented, and not always completely or correctly.

The natural result is that the products are less capable and far less interoperable than the specification authors intended.

This hurts the consumers of the product, and it hurts the company who made it, because they have failed to deliver a complete product that operates well—inevitably leading to disappointment and frustration, and fewer sales.

I was reminded of this yesterday when I had a new batch of personal business cards printed, with a rectangular Data Matrix barcode, holding the URL to my vCard.

But when I fired up my half-dozen iPhone 2D barcode scanners, none of them succeeded.

Perplexed, I tried them on an older card, with a much larger Data Matrix that held the whole vCard. Success! Even though it was blurry and I had forgotten the white space between fields, at least it decoded.

After much experimentation and tweaking the zoom setting of several apps that used the same engine, I failed completely. Trusty-old RedLaser, which I swear had worked on this very code before, failed, too. Worse, when I read their post on supported code types, it was clear they had deliverately disabled all Data Matrix decoding (not just rectangular ones) because they “aren’t associated with store products.” Funny, though, I have a tube of Crest with a Data Matrix, so this isn’t really accurate.

I searched online for references to one that might succeed, and was reminded of NeoReader, which I had once used, then discarded for some reason.

Of the seven 2D barcode scanners now on my iPhone, NeoReader is the only one that can scan my business card. Alas, neither it nor the iPhone can extract the contents of that URL and feed them to the Contacts app, as would seem natural.

A good amount of frustration was caused for me simply because the developers of these apps either didn’t read or read and chose not to fully implement well-known specifications:

  • The international ISO standard for Data Matrix
  • The RFC for vCard
  • The international GSN standards which call for support of Data Matrix on store products

I’m convinced the only way this sorry state of affairs will improve is when universities start teaching engineering students how to find and read specifications.

A whole class on this subject for mechanical, electrical, and software engineers, architects, and other designers would be a great idea (although it alone would not be enough). The first step is for the engineering libraries to keep the more important standards on the shelves. (Many, though not all, are too expensive for students to afford on their own.)

Posted in Design.

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By Peter Sheerin – 2012-09-09

Innovation Inspiration #024—Read 10-Year-Old Books

I had planned on not writing this post until I had finished reading Seth Godin’s Purple Cow, but the remarkableness of it dictated not waiting.

The concept is simple—the most successful products have stood out from the competition as clearly as a purple cow would among a bunch of black and white spots.

(And, I already have the title of a future post: Otaku Your Purple Cow.)

Great, innovative, unusual ideas can take a while to catch on, but the very best of them can spread like a virus. This is a very rough paraphrasing of the book. I’ve seen this happen time and time again, and why this happens is key to understanding how to design and market an amazing product.

I have come across several other books over the past two years that have immensely changed my view of marketing and product design. Each one seems to build upon the previous set, adding another clue to how they all fit together.

Drive, Where Good Ideas Come From, and How to Win Friends and Influence People have been the most powerful. Purple Cow ranks as their peer, and I’m still only at page 79.

The book carries a powerful message—that standing out from the crowd is key to success. But a secondary message is given and demonstrated repeatedly–that avoiding risk is generally deadly to long-term success. Staying safe keeps companies from creating Purple Cows. And new, smaller companies (or long-time second-fiddle rivals) will inevitability notice the gap and figure out how to exploit it.

So put aside your fear, and take a chance.

I promise a longer, more insightful post once I have digested the Purple Cow.

Posted in Design, Innovation.

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By Peter Sheerin – 2012-09-01

Innovation Inspiration #024—Soak Until You Wrinkle

I can’t emphasize the benefits of a nice soak in the tub enough. As I described in I² #023, it has become one of my key tools for creativity.

(On a side note, I have The Seven Day Weekend in my reading stack. I dare say it will have some insight that will further demonstrate the benefits of techniques like this that i’ve been sharing with you.)

A few minutes in an inch or two of water during the weekday can help, but once a week i try to make room for greater relaxation.

There are a number of things I’m working on that could benefit from such soaking in silence, but I didn’t set out to focus on any one of these topics. That would take too much effort and detract from the relaxation.

But after 40 minutes in hot water up to my nostrils, it came to me. A sticky wicket response to an initial trademark refusal. I’m a writer, technologist, and marketeer, not an IP lawyer, so this was unchartered territory for me.

The power of the tub is best touted by the elegance of the solution it helped me find—the addition of a single word.

(Simplicity, elegance, and obviousness is likely to be my next topic here.0

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By Peter Sheerin – 2012-08-25

Design Rule #004—Obsess Over Tiny Corners

After a number of half-hearted attempts over the years, I’ve started running, hoping I get to the point of at least jogging through the Bay to Breakers.

Of course, this means I need to find the right iPhone running app.

My quest for the right one has been frustrating—none have all the features I want, and the one that comes closest is still a bit too funky and wants a larger sum than seems right for the critical element (interval training).

My needs are reasonable, if not simple:

  • Accuracy for the GPS tracking
  • Pleasant voice prompts, with good user-experience properties
  • Automatic control over music playlists
  • Automatic swapping between high-BPM and low-BPM music, tracking the intervals
  • Support for Bluetooth Smart heart rate monitors
  • Facebook and Twitter integration

None of the running apps do all of this. I’ve tried a half-dozen, and investigated that many more, and I doubt I’m finished looking yet.

For now, I have settled on RunKeeper, although it has several funky problems. A fellow runner switched from it to Map My Run because RunKeeper was giving him grossly inaccurate distances–claiming he ran 30 miles instead of 15, for instance. Its voice prompts are worded in an order that I find difficult to parse while running. And it has no means of selecting music based on BPM.

This led to a key insight about product design and market fragmentation.

I postulate that whenever a market is this fragmented (I suspect there are many dozens in the iPhone app store alone), it is a sure sign that there is room for an Apple-like player to create a product far better and friendlier than the competition and take over the market.

Even if this company is a new entrant into a years- or decades-old market.

It’s not easy, and it doesn’t happen often, because it’s hard. You have to be as obsessive about quality and minor details as Apple is.

I do not use the word obsessed lightly, or in a clinical sense. It must be strong, and derived from a genuine passion to create great things.

Take, for example, this recent article on EE Times about Apple’s industrial design process:

While the “kitchen table” meeting area of the group sounds cozy, it is not always a comfortable place to be.

“It’s a brutally honest debate [there], that’s where all the ideas happen,” Stronger said. “We sketch and trade ideas and go back and forth–that’s where the brutal criticism comes in,” he said.

Once the group settles on sketches it likes, it takes them to a separate team of CAD specialists that creates computer and 3-D models of them as subjects for further brainstorming and debate. Sometimes the models “might be just a little corner of a product,” he said.

“We will even sketch on models or use a sketch from a different design session, [the process] weaves and knits [ideas] until we think we have something really special,” Stringer said. “We’re a pretty maniacal group of people, we obsess on details, every single detail is very carefully crafted,” he said.

Notice how important little details are to this team. They will spend hours designing, debating, and obsessing over “just a little corner of a product”.

This can only happen if the company culture allows and encourages this attention to detail. The culture must be one where “good enough” isn’t really good enough.

As to why a company like this hasn’t emerged in the iPhone running app market? That’s one riddle I haven’t deciphered yet.

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By Peter Sheerin – 2012-08-12