If the cricket finishes early tomorrow, I’ll be doing the Nightlife radio spot a week early. The topic is using social media to find a job.
It’s an excellent idea. If nothing else a LinkedIn profile makes an excellent CV and can demonstrate how wide your networks are while giving some fast testimonials and references.
It’s not. Rushing an incomplete or defective product to market simply meet some artificial management or stockmarket imposed deadline is the old thinking.
The IT industry got away with this while the market was immature and the credit boom meant embarrassing mistakes could be hidden under the rising tide.
In mobile phones the market is far too competitive. The poorly executed Storm sold 500,000 units is because Blackberry was using the better Verizon network rather than the patchy AT&T service the iPhone is tied to.
In Australia, the Storm sells at a substantial discount to the Bold or iPhone on the same networks simply because the market knows the Storm a substandard product.
This “nearly good enough” thinking from the tech sector is one of the reasons the world economy is in trouble now. It is really just contempt for the customer that has been common across many industries where fat, ever growning margins were assumed to go on forever.
If anything positive comes out of the Global Financial Crisis it will be the culture of mediocrity dies as big business becomes subject to the same pressures the rest of the economy has always lived with.
For the rest of us our products have to be 100%. We cannot afford to do anything less than delight our customers.
In a competitive market, if you are disappointing your customers with substandard products then your business won’t survive.
As usual, Sydney welcomed in the new year with a bang and we were lucky enough to be at Dawes Point to get a front row seat on the spectacle. A few of the better photos are on Flickr.
It’s a long night when you have three young kids and the seven year old was well and truly over it when we got home at 2am.
There’s some good advice there which applies to all service businesses, not just the tech sector.
Probably the most important advice is the final point: Make your own opportunities.
Those who run with the pack and just try to compete on price or simply cut costs are going to be in great trouble.
The businesses that have a point of difference are going to be the ones who thrive over the next few years.
We need to be thinking about our products, our image, our pricing and the way we tell people our story and why they should use us and not the guy down the street.
What an absolutely interesting evening! There really are a lot of great ideas out there and plenty of talented people making them a reality (many of them 20 years younger than me).
More on this when I’ve had some sleep (in three days times).
I’ve long recommended AVG for home users. But since the release of version 7.5 there’s been a slow decline in the quality of both the support and the product itself.
The lesson when a result like this comes from the blue is to treat it with suspicion. If one virus checker flags a problem like this, hit it with a couple of others to confirm the problem.
I think I’ll have to change the free anti virus recommendation on the PC Rescue and IT Queries websites. It looks like Avast! is the best choice and I’ll keep AVG and Anti Vir as the alternatives.
I’ve always believed you shouldn’t say anything on the net that you wouldn’t like to be seen next to your photo on the six o’clock news.
Well you also shouldn’t put anything on your Facebook profile your boss might read. This is a message between a manager and an ISP tech staffer in Sydney last week.
From: The Boss
Sent: Wednesday, 27 August 2008 9:35 a.m.
To: Kyle XXXXX
Subject: Absence on Thursday 21st 2008
Hi Kyle,
Please provide a medical certificate stating a valid reason for your sick leave on Thursday 21st 2008.
Thank You
The Boss
===========
From: Kyle XXXXXX
Sent: Wednesday, 27 August 2008 9:38 a.m.
To: The Boss
Subject: RE: Absence on Thursday 21st 2008
Boss,
1 day leave absences do not require a medical certificate as stated in my contract, provided I have stated that I am on leave for medical reasons.
Thanks
Kyle XXXXX
=========
From: The Boss Sent: Wednesday, 27 August 2008 9:39 a.m.
To: Kyle XXXXXXX
Subject: RE: Absence on Thursday 21st 2008
Hi Kyle,
Usually that is the case, as per your contract. However please note that leave during these occasions is only granted for genuine medical reasons. You line manager has determined that your leave was not due to medical reasons and as such we cannot grant leave on this occasion.
The Boss
=========
_____________________________________________
From: Kyle XXXX
Sent: Wednesday, 27 August 2008 9:43 a.m.
To: The Boss
Subject: RE: Absence on Thursday 21st 2008
Hi Boss,
My leave was due to medical reasons, so you cannot deny leave based on a line manager’s discretion, with no proof, please process leave as requested.
Thanks
Kyle
=======================
From: The Boss Sent: Wednesday, 27 August 2008 9:50 a.m.
To: Kyle XXXXXXX
Subject: RE: Absence on Thursday 21st 2008
As usual, Sydney welcomed in the new year with a bang and we were lucky enough to be at Dawes Point to get a front row seat on the spectacle. A few of the better photos are on Flickr. 
Gartner Research has an article on selling IT services in an economic downturn.
I went along to the Sydney launch for Global Entrepreneurship Week tonight.