Disqus - Latest Comments for Beau

Re: Brake for Geeks

Beau — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 13:50:44 -0000

I have been the customer, the support, and the management. Each has a responsibility.

The customer should not need to understand the technology or read the manual to use the product.

The support should be expensive/slow enough to encourage the user to check the manual first if a problem occurs.

The management should be responsive enough to be aware of the problem and have it fixed in a future update.

Apple is 8 weeks into providing iPhones. It's a product made by, supported by, and used by humans. The question is not "are there flaws?", but rather "are we ready to respond when problems occur?"

Re: New SaaS Features? Easter Egg or Spam Blast?

Beau — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 20:55:28 -0000

Want to build buzz for a new feature?

A. Release it
B. Document it
C. Label it as "New!"
D. Announce it: blogs, forums, press, etc
E. Communicate directly with users who have requested it
F. Add a note in a user's log when they adopt it
G. Publicize users who use it well
H. Publicize users who find new uses

Re: McAfee’s Own 9x Problem

Beau — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:50:08 -0000

Paul, The existence of the 10x rule aside, I'm going to disagree with Dr. McAfee. (Is his 9x PPT online?) Rather than explaining the 9x difference as a function of user estimation error, I'm inclined to chalk it up to hidden costs and barriers. Re-framed as such, this is a perfect candidate for Porter's Five Forces. Just do the analysis as if the user is deciding whether to enter the market. Doing the analysis for Tivo and tell me if you still think it is a good fit for Early Adopters, let alone the rest.

Re: Dave Winer says I sound like a monkey

Beau — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 15:09:27 -0000

While I can't say how the proper noun "Social Graph" will come to be defined, with even a liberal reading of the dictionaries it is hard to side with your definition of social graph. Fundamentally, the network is the sum of our living, changing relationships. The graph is a representation of the relationships. Network is to person as graph is to snapshot. But, of course, languages are living entities too, and this may be a time for a change.

Re: The best Fortune Brainstorm Tech Talk: Neil Young challenges tech industry

Beau — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:09:21 -0000

If we could move this discussion from "Quality" to "Completeness" it would be much more constructive. MP3s are to symphonic performances as CliffsNotes are to major works of literature. Any one of them may be best suited to the purpose at hand, and each presents a different experience.

Could Neil Young really be saying that he's frustrated that so many people choose to listen at a superficial level? Could consumers really be saying that on average they aren't looking for a deep musical experience with the artist?

Come to think of it, if the MP3 gives us a deep "emotional" experience with the music, isn't that enough?