With the announcement of Apple’s iPad tablet, you may have observed jabs between Apple and Adobe regarding the support of Flash Video on Apple’s iPod/iPhone/iPad platform. Though this article is not about this specific dispute, it has been inspired by the conflict.

Here is a quick backgrounder on the issue. Adobe’s Flash Video (originally developed by Macromedia) is a container format that is used for delivering video over the Internet. Many popular sites use this format to embed video and other content on the Web, such as YouTube, Hulu, Facebook, and Flash-based online games. Through Adobe Flash Player and browser plug-ins, Flash-Video is made available to users. Putting it mildly, Apple has no plans to support Flash on its iPod/iPhone family of products, while Adobe continues to push for its adoption. Instead, Apple has been pushing the HTML5 standard with H.264. For those that are interested, check out the Daring Fireball’s summary on the topic: Apple, Adobe, and Flash.

There are numerous examples of competing technologies: VHS vs. Betamax, Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD, GSM vs. CDMA, .Net vs. J2EE, various flavors of Unix and wireless standards, open vs. DRM, MP3 vs. AAC, AC vs. DC (no, not the music group but Tesla vs. Edison)… In many cases, competing technologies encourage innovation, arguably, sometimes at the cost of building a rich ecosystem. At the same time it is not uncommon for users to experience confusion over compatibility and interoperability, such as in the case with having too many multi-media formats and having to choose a player to match the video format. However, as a technology becomes more attractive, it will see a higher adoption rate, and increasing compatibility and interoperability with others as its ecosystem becomes richer.

This is all good, but as a technology company where do you put your money? As our computing infrastructure becomes more complex and interconnected, your customers are now looking for a total system experience: high-level of system performance and interoperability with others. With this, you need to not only control your technology but also influence and direct related technology decisions with your partners and competitors. To do this, you need to evaluate your technology strategy and decisions within the context of the purpose of your business, technology attractiveness and your ecosystem.  (more…)

A brilliant spectrum of reds, yellows and greens… That is what I see out of my office window, and I realize that it has been a while since I posted. This is party due to my summer vacation, but mostly due to my sabbatical from writing about innovation. With over 26M hits on a Google blog search with the topic of “innovation”, it is making me rethink my approach and my value-add to the blogosphere.

I have been spending my free time by going back to my roots: engineering and software development. My time is spent acquainting myself with the Django platform, reading about product design, and coaching a FIRST LEGO® League (FLL) team with my husband for a robotics competition coming up in December. With that, in recent weeks, I have been playing with LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT, including turning my dining room into a robotics lab! I have to admit, I am new to this, since LEGO® was not part of my life when I was growing up. And although my son has been involved with LEGO for most of his life, I have only been an occasional sidekick, helping out when he needed it. I must say, I missed out, but now I’m working hard to make it up.

Though we are coaching 10-13 year-old boys, I noticed an amazing amount of similarity between playing with LEGOs and managing engineering projects. I hope you enjoy my observations, and please let me know if I left out anything.

Note that I find job titles personally challenging… Though I specifically mention engineering managers, for me this covers anyone that has the duties of managing a technology and product combination, along with the responsibilities of people management.

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A recent MIT Sloan Management Review has published a research article on How to Manage Virtual Teams (registration is required). The research highlights the fact that virtual teams, despite their challenges, can deliver significant performance and outperform their colocated counterparts. The article also points out that any distance can be a challenge when it comes to collaboration.

Don’t underestimate the significance of small distances. Our research shows that performance is noticeably lower for teams with people located in the same building but on different floors when compared with teams where all members are on the same floor.

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Note: This article is written from the perspective of technology development and leading R&D teams.

Developing technology is a relatively simple task when compared to the challenge of getting it diffused and adopted throughout the intended ecosystem. Although there are others, understanding customer needs, wants and overall psychology is one of the big hurdles that has to be overcome for success. This journey starts at home with your Customer Support team. Yet, there tends to be a gap between R&D and Customer Support teams during the innovation process. Here are my experiences on where the gaps can occur and strategies that worked for me for closing (or, when needed, widening) them.

Prioritize Customer Support correctly

On the road to your product release, you may be tempted to prioritize Customer Support behind everything else. After all, what could be more important than schedule, cost, functionality, … Believe me, it will happen, I have been there. And everyone in the program team will agree to that prioritization…. However, for new products and innovations, it is the wrong decision. Innovation is about change. Your Customer Support team is there to help your customers manage that change effectively. By prioritizing Customer Support low, you are under valuing the role that they play in supporting and hand holding the users of your products.

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Change is a journey. It is multi-dimensional. Following the uncertainty principle, it seeds its own story of successes and failures. Many have written on the topic of change and change management. Perhaps, Franklin Covey summarizes the best.

Knowledge is the theoretical paradigm, the what to do and why. Skill is the how to do. And desire is the motivation, the want to do. In order to make something a habit in our lives, we have to have all three.

– Stephen Covey; The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

At the end of the day, our energy flows to where our attention goes. If you are a manager tasked with improving teamwork between silos, ensuring the decision-making process incorporated all the right individuals from different groups maybe more important than the decision itself. If you are implementing new processes, providing training and tools are great, but not enough without the proper incentives to ensure people are utilizing it. 

Change Cycle

The change cycle starts with awareness. Whether you are using the ready-aim-fire or ready-fire-aim method, change is a process of trial & error coupled with reflection, which drives needed course corrections. Just like a treasure map, the change process guides its followers through a complex network of interactions, activities and deliverables. Given that, it is crucial to define and communicate your change process, whether the desired change is cultural, procedural, organizational or any other type. This not only provides a structured methodology to what may seem like a chaotic process, but it also builds-in accountability and engagement for all. (more…)

This is a personal story and a reflection on the separation that exists between a company’s online and physical retail stores. Given current economic conditions, companies have to be more customer focused and look to continuously integrate many facets of their businesses, including creating a linkage between their customers and suppliers. Through this, they can create a continuous cycle that delivers exceptional customer experience which will become a key competitive advantage as the world continues to become flatter and cheaper. Now to the story and reflections…
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“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower

I don’t know about you, but I constantly feel as if I am running out of time, or maybe that time is running away from me. Either way, 2008 went by really fast, and we are already half way through the first month of 2009…

The whole world seems to be on speed. There seems to be an exponential loss of time, resulting in the constant need to go faster, to reduce costs and all the while delivering great products and services. With all the pressures, one might be tempted to cut corners to gain advantage. However, here are the 5 areas where you should take your time in order to streamline and increase your speed.

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For more advice on focusing your innovations during hard times, check out Innovation Weblog’s special report Innovation Strategies for the Global Recession. Chuck Frey and Renee Hopkins Callahan have compiled an extensive list of strategies on how to maintain innovation during challenging times from a diverse collection of innovation experts and practitioners. Enjoy.

Technorati Tags: innovation strategy, Innovation Weblog, economic downturn

Innovation and risk go hand in hand. They are the yin and the yang. Highly innovative projects have the highest projected return and also carry the highest risk of failure. By using risk management, organizations take a structured approach to dealing with uncertainty, finding ways to manage and mitigate risk.

Traditional risk management processes rely on the evaluation of the impact vs. the likelihood of occurrence. As every innovator will tell you, Murphy has a permanent spot in their team. Given that, accurate assessment of the uncertainties the innovation process brings would be like walking on water. More importantly, attempts at managing those risks can stifle the innovation process. Using a mindful approach to risk management, organizations can improve the effectiveness of their development activities while fostering their innovations simultaneously. To start, evaluate your existing project risk management processes and update it using the following ideas.
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WSJ.com discusses and shares stories about micromanagers in an article by Cari Tuna “Micromanagers Miss Bull’s-Eye“. Article also highlights the following tips for current micromanagers to loosen control:

• Clearly articulate expectations
• Focus on hiring and placement of subordinates
• Give employees decision-making power
• Encourage questions and suggestions
• Offer constructive feedback
• Don’t grab the reins at the first sign of trouble

Here are two additional articles on this topic from the kitetail blog.

• Learn from your past managers
• One proven way to increase the performance of your teams

Technorati Tags: micromanagers, leadership