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Re: 25 Tips for a Better Wiki Deployment + 1 Tip on How to NOT Use Presentations

skmurphy — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 17:44:53 -0000

I would characterize you as "way too deeply" interested in wikis. But you criticized the form and not the substance of the presentation, perhaps because, like me, you couldn't find any real substance. It seems to me in their several suggestions for rewards and merit badges the authors were confused about the fact that wikis dissolve voice and authorship. Many of these suggestions are more appropriate for encouraging an internal blogging ecosystem. Wiki's require team incentives and rewards to be effective, rewarding individuals is more appropriate for blog or forum posts where the authorship is clear. They also seem to miss the point completely that the place to start is with frequently updated information that is also frequently accessed. Meeting agendas and minutes (avoiding the bottleneck of the designated note taker and/or overlapping amendments in different e-mails that then have to be reconciled), early and still evolving specifications, and project status in a dynamic environment are much better places to start. At some point in the enterprise world many wikis must be congealed into a document or document set and either archived, frozen as a static HTML tree, or transferred to a content management system where more formal revision and change control methods are more appropriate. Projects end, products are shipped and end of life, problems get solved: unlike Internet wikis, older wikis in the Enterprise are often better preserved as read only archives. I think Wikipedia anchors a lot of expectations in a use case that is rarely appropriate to a team that is not building an encyclopedia.

Re: 25 Tips for a Better Wiki Deployment + 1 Tip on How to NOT Use Presentations

skmurphy — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 17:44:53 -0000

Re: Silicon Valley Arrogance

skmurphy — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 12:35:36 -0000

I would think in your business it would be useful to be clear eyed and avoid the Valley centric astigmatism for technology analysis. I really don't understand your complaint. If you wanted to be a well respected pundit I can appreciate how this lack of respect would be grating, but if it's about spotting opportunities for investment that other firms are overlooking, this bias would seem to accrue a number of advantages to your firm.

Re: Why I Can’t Read Novels Anymore

skmurphy — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 06:21:16 -0000

There is a category of information that hasn't been written down (yet). You might try more reflection and focus on serious conversation to regain your balance. Ultimately gathering all of this information has to be used for a purpose beyond maintaining situational awareness. What kind of know-how do you want to develop? What is the problem you are trying to solve. Neither Google, nor the Blogosphere/, nor the World Wide Web are the world. As Korzybski observed: "The map is not the territory, the word is not the thing it describes. Whenever the map is confused with the territory, a 'semantic disturbance' is set up in the organism. The disturbance continues until the limitation of the map is recognized."

Re: Why I Can’t Read Novels Anymore

skmurphy — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 23:03:02 -0000

I am not a venture capitalist but have some experience working with them and I would think much of the key or differentiating information in they rely on is not on the web. It seems to me it's more about being able to judge people rather than encyclopedic knowledge of technology and financial trends. As an analogy: it's the difference between knowing the probability distributions of poker hands--necessary but not sufficient--and knowing how to assess people. The deep trends are visible in the "long nose of innovation." What society will do with them is harder to predict.

The latest data on developing expertise is that it takes approximately 10,000 hours (or 10-12 years) of practice, and actually requires "deliberate practice" so that you don't experience the same year over and over. See for example http://www.psy.fsu.edu/facu...

I don't fault your goals, but I do question your methods.

Re: How to Grow Your Ideas With a Project Incubator

skmurphy — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 22:46:58 -0000

I would think a wiki (say EditMe, PBWiki, CentralDesktop) would give you more flexibility to link between ideas and would be more easier to refactor. You could still have one idea on a page but it would be more straightforward to cross-link and re-factor. The basic suggestion is certainly excellent, at the moment I keep mine in a single large "ideas" file. This post has prompted me to reconsider.

Re: Why Not To Do A Startup

skmurphy — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:28:58 -0000

We see a lot of bootstrappers who run "small successful" software firms who are about as happy as they would have been in "a real job." Some break out and some fail, but many fall into a fairly large middle ground: they achieve modest success but stay below the radar screen of most observers. It's one of the reasons we facilitate the Bootstrapper Breakfasts http://www.bootstrapperbrea... as a service to the startup community.

Re: Founder's Blog - ClutterMe.com

skmurphy — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:41:45 -0000

One point I would add is that a recession can create "involuntary entrepreneurs" who have to do a startup (at least on a consulting model that may or may not lead to a product) because they can't keep telling folks "looking for work" when asked what they are doing. They may also get offered part-time consulting and realize that there is a product or productized service opportunity.

Re: Why VCs Aren’t More Brave

skmurphy — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:16:51 -0000

I agree with our assessment on Google, there just aren't that many companies that get that big that fast, Cisco was probably the last one to do so in Silicon Valley, and their market cap is less than half of what is was a few years ago.

I have a different assessment of Angels, I don't know that they are braver than VC's, but they don't have to invest and they can have a longer time horizon than VC's. Also, in my experience, Angels would prefer to put the last money in, or at least participate in what is the last round (e.g. via a bridge loan). They don't typically have the wherewithal for follow on rounds. I don't know the breakdown on YC returns is but with a number of early acquisitions they may have backed into this with several of their investments. Also, Angels can have a longer time horizon than the average VC because they don't have to get to a liquidity event within five to seven years from investment (most VC firms raise ten year fund and don't want to return stock in a private firm to their limited partners since it's normally hard to liquidate).

Re: Central Desktop Takes $7 Million

skmurphy — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:26:07 -0000

We have been using CentralDesktop for the last 18 months to collaborate with clients and have been delighted with their service and impressed by how they organize the "honeycomb model" of their workspaces. It works particularly well when you are running several projects in parallel and want to have "firewalls" between them for access: client A cannot see client B's work, and vice versa. They also do a better job of "contention management" than most which is especially important as you are collaborating closely against a deadline. Nothing can shatter team dynamics faster than the ability to inadvertently over-write someone else's work.

@anonyjoe I think we are still close to the 1% point on what small team collaboration environments look like. The "small team moving fast" looks very different outside the enterprise rather than inside the enterprise and is much more empowered by a cloud computing model that allows for easy inclusion of suppliers, customers, and partners. In particular CentralDesktop's pricing model (based on workspace count not user count) allows us to run more than 100 workspaces at a very effective price point. As a happy side effect from their perspective, it makes it viral because we are then willing to use them with everyone we collaborate with, some of whom decide to get their own (or transfer ownership at the end of a project).

Re: What They Don’t Tell You About Starting a Startup

skmurphy — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 21:45:34 -0000

Probably the best book on entrepreneurial roller coaster is Barry Moltz's "You Have to Be a Little Crazy" which includes an excellent introduction by Howard Tullman that is directly on point to the real issues of entrepreneurship: Identity, Family, and Failure. Tullman notes "Identity is important because entrepreneurs constantly confuse what they do with who they are. We’re all certainly responsible for what we do but failing doesn’t make us bad people and succeeding doesn’t make us omniscient."

Keeping in mind that no one wished they had spent more time at the office on their deathbed, Tullman notes "Family is important because it’s a much more important extension of ourselves than any work we’ll ever do. There’s always more work but you’ve only got one family." which is certainly counter to Currier's approach of subordinating family to startup.

More on the book
http://www.amazon.com/You-N...

More on Barry Moltz
http://www.barrymoltz.com/

Two blog entries I wrote relative to Moltz's book
http://www.skmurphy.com/blo...
http://www.skmurphy.com/blo...

Moltz himself observes "Entrepreneurs start businesses because..they have no choice. Passion and energy drive them on good days and sustain them on bad days." I agree with his assessment: sometimes we pursue our dreams and sometimes they pursue us, but in neither case do most entrepreneurs have a real choice.

Re: Ultra-immersive, long-form video games from the past or future

skmurphy — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 01:11:40 -0000

"We are not human beings have a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience." Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Re: Ten Interesting Memes Plucked From The Blogosphere

skmurphy — Mon, 12 May 2008 01:22:53 -0000

Concept of Singularity was well established prior to Peter Thiel's donation: it was coined by Vernor Vinge in 1993 see http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/f...

Re: Facebook viral marketing: When and why do apps “jump the shark?”

skmurphy — Mon, 19 May 2008 01:24:22 -0000

Great post, one thing that struck me is that it doesn't capture the "competitive equilibria" issues that may also occur. Your social network isn't the only one recruiting, so that there is competition for the total carrying capacity. I think there may also be a bandwagon effect, where users depart smaller groups (in the context of a particular demographic/market/segment that you measure with your carrying capacity) for larger ones because they offer more benefits. But I agree with your basic modeling approach.

Re: Who are you? What do you do?

skmurphy — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:58:09 -0000

Since you are a startup you should focus on what makes you trustworthy and dependable. The biggest question in a prospect's mind is how will you perform when things go wrong. I think too many startup teams stress how smart they are or how many merit badges they have accumulated (degrees, certificates) or almost accumulated (e.g. coursework towards doctorate but no doctorate) instead of projects that they have delivered and value they have created for former partners, customers, etc..

It's a mistake to recycle anything from your investor presentation (fund-raising pitch) into your presentation for prospects. It's two fundamentally different audiences with very different needs and distinct questions about your team and your offering. Steve Blank's "Four Steps to the Epiphany" is a good guide for strategies in the early market.

If you are thinking about including your corporate backgrounder in your demo or presentation...don't, or at least put it at the end after you have demonstrated something directly relevant to the prospect's situation. They may be interested in learning more about you at that point, or they may want to discuss how to get started. See Peter Cohan's "Great Demo!" book for a good methodology.

Re: Creating Passionate People

skmurphy — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:08:30 -0000

Shouldn't this be discovering and engaging people's passions? I try and keep track of what other folks are looking for or potential solutions to problems that they are wrestling with. But I haven't formalized the process to the extent that you have.

Re: Financial crises and forest fires

skmurphy — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 03:33:59 -0000

Robert Cringely sees the same analogy in "The Cringely Plan: See the Light" http://www.pbs.org/cringely...

"An unmanaged forest, one without the sort of fire control we attempted to provide, would naturally burn every few years. The undergrowth would build up, reach a critical mass, some source of ignition would come along -- usually lightning -- and all that undergrowth would burn. The redwoods themselves would be scarred but not really threatened, as we could see from the charring that marked them from countless such fires over centuries. Of course burning undergrowth threatened homes and property, too, so there was a natural desire on the part of that community to want the next burn to not come this year, please not this year. So there came a policy of aggressively fighting fires with the result that we eventually faced 60 (now 90!) years of flammable material growth rather than six or eight years. And the probable fire fueled by 60 years of undergrowth would have been so bad that our job changed to one of trying to prevent fires from happening, well, ever. This was an impossible task, of course. Eventually the stars would align the wrong way and the whole place would burn down, we all knew it. Just let it not happen on our watch.

Does this sound familiar?"

Re: Enterprise Software: Focus on User Adoption, Not Features

skmurphy — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 01:42:27 -0000

Given that Neochange's tag line is "Driving Effective IT Adoption" it's not surprising that they reach this conclusion. It's also a tautology: if enterprise employees are not using the software then it's unlikely you will get additional orders/subscriptions/upgrades. Although the fact that term "shelfware" exists indicates some companies are able to make money selling software that's bought but not adopted.

As to tips and techniques for fostering adoption Peter Cohan's model for collecting user stories by listening to users in a structured and sustained way is an excellent place to start. See http://www.secondderivative.com/Four_Opportunities_to_Harvest_The_Value_of_Informal_Success_Stories.html

Re: Don’t Mistake Ambition for Entitlement

skmurphy — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:30:45 -0000

I guess the difference between my 20's and my 40's is that in my 20's I was held back by outside events and the people around me and in my 40's I am held back by my own shortcomings and decisions.

Upon reflection, it was that way in my 20's as well.

It's a crap article full of crap generalizations that are true for every generation: you can find people who feel entitled and people who don't in every generation. I would encourage you to aim your considerable talents at more worthy targets.

By the way, the amount of technology change that your great grandparents saw--telephone, telegraph, automobile, antibiotics, television--in terms of its pervasive impact on life and business, is certainly on a par with the last 20 years.

Two quotes from folks born more than 100 years ago to point out that everything old is new again now.

"You get what you settle for." Emyln Williams

"It is a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it. " Somerset Maugham

Re: Don’t Mistake Ambition for Entitlement

skmurphy — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:58:11 -0000

I did say great grandparents to set it one generation back, let's say from 1900 to 1950. The telephone, telegraph, and automobile all transformed the workplace. It takes about 30 years from the time a technology is introduced for it to have a full impact on society (including the workplace).

Paul David's "The Dynamo and the Computer" is good background on how existing capital and infrastructure has to age out before the full impact of a new technology can be assessed. A more recent work is "Technological revolutions and financial capital" by Carlota Perez which details the multi-decade timeline of new technology adoption and impact on a country.

It seems to me that the opportunity is to design new firms and new business models that exploit existing inventions whose full impact has yet to be realized. Perhaps that's what you are already doing.

I would like to hear more about how you would design new business structures (or adopt proven ones) that avoid some of the challenges you outline with inequitable distribution of effort/contribution and reward. What should real knowledge worker organizations look like, how can they be structured in way that's robust and long term stable in offering employees a career and be competitive in serving their customers.

Re: The Survival Matrix

skmurphy — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:52:11 -0000

Burn rate is your net cash withdrawal from working capital. If you have revenue in excess of spending then your burn rate is zero because you are not making withdrawals. Seth is suggesting that these startups focus on more revenue now instead of planning to raise another round to stay alive.

Re: Announcing VentureBeat’s roundtable on “how to manage the downturn”

skmurphy — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:05:01 -0000

It's interesting that the VC's now want to charge $189 for an audience. Perhaps it's the choice of venue or someone else is brokering the relationship and collecting the cash. At a Bootstrapper Breakfast ( http://www.bootstrapperbrea... ) you can meet other entrepreneurs who understand how to manage to their cashflow for just the price of your own breakfast and nothing else.

Re: The Author’s Dilemma – Why Most Business Books Suck

skmurphy — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:28:55 -0000

I found "Four Steps to the Epiphany" full of practical advice for starting a software company. I do agree that many business books are a good magazine article that's been expanded unnecessarily, this is not one of them. What's strange is that I would be willing to pay the same amount for a much shorter write-up boiled to essentials with a few examples than a 180-250 page book. Perhaps 10-25 pages would do for most.

Re: The Twice Shy Entrepreneur

skmurphy — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 15:37:37 -0000

What a difference a year makes. Now the "newcomer entrepreneurs" have had the chance to lay employees off and are encouraged by the VC's on their boards to focus on profit and survival instead of bold growth.

Re: Default To Public

skmurphy — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:02:26 -0000

Wikis dissolve individual authorship into a team or group. For class assignments that are group projects you might find your students already using wikis: they are a great way for a small team to reach a working consensus on a document against a deadline.