The Kmiec Ramblings

Tag Archive: Fast Company

Playing The Game

Written on January 23, 2011 by Adam Kmiec in Marketing & Advertising

If you must play, decide on three things at the start: the rules of the game, the stakes, and the quitting time.

I was reading this article on Fast Company the other day about when you should leave a job or a project. Since I originally read it, I’ve revisited it a few times. Beyond the business advice, which I think is solid, you can apply the thinking to the dynamics of personal relationships.

Make no mistake, we all play a game every day. We play it with the friends we keep, the family we’re stuck with and the job we’ve chosen. Many of us, including me, play this game pretty poorly. There’s no shame in that fact. Often we’re all playing a different game, at a different pace and of couse a different skill level. The chinese proverb that opened this post really nails why we all play so poorly:

If you must play, decide on three things at the start: the rules of the game, the stakes, and the quitting time.

Let’s break the 3 elements down:

The Rules Of The Game: This is the foundation and it’s often very overlooked. From the rules of engagement, to how you communicate, to what’s in-bounds, to even how you WIN, we forget the rules. But, the rules are critical. Without them we’re all playing a different game. If this was pickup basketball, do 3 pointers count as 3 points or 2? Are 2 pointers worth 2 points or 1? Do you call your own fouls? Are you playing till 21, 15 or 11? In a relationship are you supposed to call before you go to bed? Do the cooking? Clean? Say I love you after 7 dates ? If you don’t have the rules established, you’ll never be playing a game you can win.
The Stakes: What are you playing for? Bragging rights? A promotion? A raise? Pride? Determining the stakes helps you figure out how much to invest until you get to quitting time. But, just like you need to make sure everyone knows the rules, you have to make sure everyone knows the stakes. Because, if you’re playing for a raise, and your other half/team/boss/client is playing for bragging rights you’re going to have a problem. If one of you is playing for marriage and the other for a casual long term relationship, that’s going to be a big challenge.
The Quitting Time: This is all about the line in the sand and/or the deal-breakers. What’s the point where you say, you know what, this isn’t worth it. What’s the one thing that’s your breaking point? Do you have a certain title you want? Do you have an arbitrary amount of time in mind before you move in, get engaged, etc? Well, you better hope that you and the other “party” are on the same page. You just need to know what those deal breakers are and you need to stick to them. If you don’t, you’ll be miserabel.

What do you think? What would you add to the proverb or change? How would you apply it to personal relationships…which let’s be honest are things we deal with every day, even at the office?

Tags: Best Of, Fast Company, rules, Tim Ferris, Work

The Real iPad Review

Written on April 3, 2010 by Adam Kmiec in Misc.

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I bought my nearly 3 year old daughter an iPad this morning. Yeap, I walked right up to the Apple Store at the Mall of America and waited behind 6 other people to purchase the iPad. She loves it. She absolutely loves the iPad. Since the moment I placed it in her hands she hasn’t put it down.

Is the iPad a killer device? Is it a game changing device? Will you love it? The simple answer is YES…so long as you have the mindset of a 3 year old. Harsh? Yes. But, it’s the truth. Let me break it down.

The iPad is literally a larger version of the iPhone. When I say literally, I literally mean literally. Everything the iPhone can do, the iPad can do. Or rather everything the iPhone can’t do, the iPad can’t do…and it can do even less than the iPhone 3Gs.

Do you like a linear approach for doing things? If so, the iPad is perfect for you. Everything about the iPad interface is linear. Every desired final action is accomplished through a series of taps. Want to read a book? Cool. Tap the home button. Tap the iBook app. Tap the library view. Tap the book you want to read. Hopefully, you’re getting the point. Some will call this brilliant. I call it rudimentary and lacking, especially when you consider that you’ll be doing a lot of tapping since there is STILL no multi-tasking functionality. Yes, just like the iPhone, you can’t switch between apps. If you’re watching a movie and want to tweet a comment about it, you’ll need to exit the movie app, switch to the twitter app, tweet away, close the twitter app, re-launch the movie app, tap to resume the movie…etc. We’re on the 3rd evolution of the iPhone and the 1st evolution of the iPad…and we still have NO multi-tasking capabilities.

The iPad, by design (weight, size, etc.) competes directly against netbooks. You’ll find that that iPad costs significantly more than most netbooks, but lacks basic computing features that have been around for more than 20 years. For example, you will not be able to create folders, move files between folders, rename files, edit files, upload a file, download a file, etc. Sad. Remember when I said it lacks features that even the iPhone 3Gs has? Well, the big one is and integrated camera. The iPad was tailor made for video conferencing, video streaming, video chatting, etc. But, Apple opted to eliminate this feature. Ugh.

The screen is beautiful, bright, vibrant, full of rich colors and a joy to look at it. Unless of course you’ve used it for more than a minute. Just like an iPhone you’ll find yourself wanting/needing to clean the screen every 10 minutes. Except, unlike the iPhone, you won’t be using your shirt or pants to do so Oh, and unlike the iPhone, Apple opted NOT to include a screen cleaner. Just lame.

Sounds coming from the built-in speakers are acceptable. They’re no substitute for your computer speakers, headphones, or home theater. But, they do the job when it’s quiet. However, when my nearly one year old was in the room creating more ambient noise, it was difficult to clearly hear the dialog in the movie Coraline. Keep in mind, this was when the speakers were turned all the way up.

Apple talks about the size of the iPad as a positive feature. I agree and disagree. Is the the iPad sleek? Yes! Is it thin? You bet! Is it contoured nicely? Yeaper! But, it’s still large and not portable by any stretch of the imagination. You won’t be grabbing for your iPad every time you’re headed out. That’s an unrealistic expectation anyway. But, even if you’re a traveler, like me, you’ll think twice. Why? Because you’re already traveling with your iPhone (or in my case a Nexus One) and your laptop. Do you really need both of those and a iPad on the plane? Can you imagine having yet another item to get through the airport security line? Oyve!

As a substitute for a book, I find it lacking. Here’s why. One, you’d never read with it by the pool because the outside light is too blinding and you can’t get the iPad wet. Two, you’d never read with it in the tub because just as with a pool, you don’t want to get it wet. Three, would you really take it into the bathroom to read like the 71% of people who indicated they read in the bathroom? I didn’t think so. All that aside, the most maddening thing is their are simply way too many options for books on the iPad. This is a true example of the Paradox of Choice. Seriously. You have your Kindle books. You have your iBooks. You have 3rd party books like the Cat in The Hat that sit on the screen like apps. You also have content category aggregator apps like the Marvel Comic Book app. Each of these apps requires you to have a unique login and each manages the content purchased in that app separately from the rest of the apps. What does that mean? That means there is no ONE app to see ALL your books. You need to manage book libraries across multiple apps. Add in magazine and newspaper apps and you have chaos.

One of the coolest features of the iPad unfortunately requires a $29.99 adaptor. You can setup the iPad to be a digital picture frame. I love this idea especially when you consider the cost of many high quality digital picture frames. But, requiring an incremental $29.99 investment is just adding insult to injury.

No USB, no camera, no replaceable battery, no ability to create content and heck no cleaning cloth. I could deal with all of these shortcomings and flaws if the price was something like $349.99 (in line with iPod Touch), but not at $499.99 (minimum). At $349.99 it would be a nice affordable stretch and step up from an iPod and complimentary to a laptop. But, at $499.99 I just don’t see how a current iPhone or MabBook user will find value in a device that does less than both of those devices.

This of course begs the question, why did I buy one? Two reasons. One, my job and why I’m good at it, is to be on and ahead of trend. I need to understand what technology can do, can’t do, will do and might do for our clients. Having an iPad in the house will help me do that. Two, I genuinely believe as FastCompany does, that kids today will benefit from tools like the iPad.

Let’s just be honest for a second. What need does the iPad deliver on? What consumer problem does it solve? The answer to both is nothing. It’s essentially a bright shiny Apple object and that’s exactly why you’ll buy it. However, what I think you’ll find is that just like so many other bright shiny objects, you’ll be bored with it fairly quickly. Unless of course you’re a 3 year old; then you’ll love it and never want to put it down.

UPDATED: April 5, 2010
Is my review harsh? Possibly. Is it fair? Absolutely. I thought you might want to check out what some other industry leaders, who aren’t blinded by the bright shiny Apply object syndrome, had to say about the iPad.

Dave Winer
“Today it’s something to play with, not something to use. That’s the kind way to say it. The direct way: It’s a toy.”

Jeff Jarvis
“I tweeted earlier that after having slept with her (Ms. iPad), I woke up with morning-after regrets. She’s sweet and pretty but shallow and vapid.” and “The iPad is retrograde. It tries to turn us back into an audience again. That is why media companies and advertisers are embracing it so fervently, because they think it returns us all to their good old days when we just consumed, we didn’t create, when they controlled our media experience and business models and we came to them.”

BusinessWeek
“People who predicted that the iPad would kill the market for dedicated E-Ink readers are dead wrong. If anything, the iPad is the amazing, magical device that proves the value of E-Ink.

Don’t believe me? Take an iPad to the beach someday and try to spend the afternoon reading. You’ll be lucky if you can see around your own reflection long enough to finish a paragraph of text.”

David Pogue
“There’s no multitasking, either. It’s one app at a time, just like on the iPhone. Plus no U.S.B. jacks and no camera. Bye-bye, Skype video chats. You know Apple is just leaving stuff out for next year’s model.

The bottom line is that you can get a laptop for much less money — with a full keyboard, DVD drive, U.S.B. jacks, camera-card slot, camera, the works. Besides: If you’ve already got a laptop and a smartphone, who’s going to carry around a third machine?”

Tags: Apple, Cora, D700, Fast Company, Hype, iPad, Nikon, Review, Technology

Prepare For Every Possible Outcome If You Want To Win

Written on September 25, 2009 by Adam Kmiec in Marketing & Advertising, Misc.

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If there’s one thing we’ve learned from Nostradamus it’s that no one can predict the future. No one. We look at all the trend data, listen to all the analysts, and road map till our fingers hurt, but our beliefs about the future are educated guesses at best.

I’ve never focused on guessing the future. However, what I have always focused on are outcomes. I really only have two talents:

I can consume more information, in real time, and be able to start applying the information I’ve absorbed faster that most people. There’s a lot of people that can consume a great deal of information, but they often lack the ability to start applying it in real time.
I can map out all the possible scenarios of a situation very quickly. I’m always contemplating the “what if” scenarios and how I’d handle those situations. I want to be prepared so that I don’t have to take a breath when presented with a curve ball. In effect, the curve ball becomes no different than the fast ball – because I’m ready for it.

Let’s focus on #2 for a second. A colleague of mine shared this great article from Fast Company titled “Futures Thinking: The Basics.” It’s a great article that’s “the first in an occasional series about the tools and methods for thinking about the future in a structured, useful way.” The whole article is a great read, but what struck me the most was this passage at the end:

Trying to figure out “the” future is always a mistake; it’s much more productive to think about an array of possible outcomes. Remember that the futures you come up with will almost certainly be wrong–the goal is to be wrong in a way that offers insights into present choices.

One technique that’s good to start with is to use what some professionals call “futures archetypes”–generic headlines that offer platforms upon which to build more specific stories. Four that can be very easy to use are expectations:

The future is what I expect.

The future is better than I expect.

The future is worse than I expect.

The future is weirder than I expect.

The first three are fairly self-explanatory, but the last may be a surprise. The goal with the fourth archetype is to explore possibilities that completely shake things up (a big earthquake, perhaps, or a war, or a revolution in computing power). This doesn’t mean fantasy–alien invasions and robot uprisings are probably best left to the movies–but it does mean something outside of your expectations. The phrase I love to use for this is “plausibly surreal.”

It was pretty cool to see someone else with a similar mindset as me. The author, Jamais Cascio, does a much better job than I could of applying the concept to the real business world. But, the key takeaway is be prepared for what could happen so that if and when it does happen, you know exactly what to do.

With a major focus on short term goals. You know, things like quarterly sales figures or the end of the month speeding ticket quota. We keep such a fine tuned focus on the here, now, and immediate needs that we lose site of the larger picture. By, taking our eye off the bigger picture we make decisions that are overly reactionary and designed to address a short term challenge. When we make that decision, at the time it looks like the right one, but often fixing the short term situation takes us completely off course and away from the big picture…the big goal.

We’ve seen this happen quite often haven’t we? We saw it happen with Facebook when they decided to try and mimic a lot of the functionality twitter was offering. That’s just one example, but we see it happen in other industries like the auto, telecom, and personal electronics. Companies like Palm, Microsoft, Sony, and General Motors often make very short term reactionary decisions based on the competition. We’ve seen this implode and set a company back years. Why did they make these decisions? Simple, it’s clear they hadn’t thought out the multitude of potential decisions they’d have to grapple with. In short, they weren’t prepared.

Perhaps General George S. Patton, said it best…well said it best twice, when he stated:

“Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable.”

and

“I always believe in being prepared, even when I’m dressed in white tie and tails.”

You can’t predict the future and you can’t create the future. But, you can be prepared to handle what the future may bring. That’s the stuff of leaders and that’s the stuff of great companies.

Tags: Business Advice, Facebook, Fast Company, Strategy, Twitter

The Hypocrisy Of Crispin Porter + Bogusky

Written on September 1, 2009 by Adam Kmiec in Misc.

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Look agencies are always the worlds biggest hypocrites. It’s true. But, you have to applaud, laugh, and shake your head when you see Crispin Porter + Bogusky bemoaning the flack they’re receiving for crowd sourcing a logo design for their client Brammo Motorcycles. Alex Bogusky, creative god to some and immature frat boy leader to others, got a nice little feel good pat on the back from Edward Boches. Why do I say “feel good pat on the back?” Well, Alex’s tweet earlier today certainly conveys that he believes Edward (who sides with CP+B) was spot on. For what it’s worth, I think it was a dumb gimmicky idea.

On with the show…so why do I think Crispin and Alex are hypocrites? Well, CP+B has had a loooooooong standing policy/philosophy that negated ever doing spec-work. As indicated by Ad Week in the 2008 Agency Report Card article, Nike was the only time they reneged on this philosophy.

This proved to be an overconfident move when the MDC shop cut 7% of staff, about 60 people, in early ’09. Agency backtracked on its no-spec pitch policy as relationship with Nike quickly soured over creative differences, learning that sometimes the process provides valuable foresight into the future success of the client/agency pairing.

Make no mistake, crowd sourcing a logo design where the winner get $1,000 is spec-creative. The $1,000 prize doesn’t even come close to compensating for the time and effort that will go into a logo design. Look, you can’t have an agency principle that says no spec creative, but then advise your clients to exactly the opposite. Where’s the integrity? If you waffle on something as simple as whether you’re for or against spec-work, what else will you waffle on? Oh, the hypocrisy.

Tags: Ad Week, CP+B, Crispin, Crowd Sourcing, Fast Company, Nike+

The Conservative Middle

Written on May 4, 2008 by Adam Kmiec in Marketing & Advertising

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C-level excecutives demand results and innovation. They ask and want to see new investments into the interactive medium. Many will tell you that they don’t understand 3/4 of the stuff taking place on the web. Then again, they don’t need to. They need smart people in place to help them understand why Facebook is a poor investment, but a Twitter feed is perfect for brand X.

The young people coming in to the company right from school (undergrad or grad) really understand the tactics in the space, but maybe not the applicability of those tactics. They want to put in place “cool,” new, fresh, and innovative ideas. It just so happens that many of those ideas need interactive to take shape. Only one problem here, they don’t have any power in the organization.

That brings us to the CONSERVATIVE MIDDLE. You know who they are…they read something in Fast Company about Social Networking and then ask, how come we don’t have a social network. They challenge us to come up with ideas that are “out of the box” and at the same time want to re-use their 30 second spots online, sans editing. They are in control of the money and they are the gate keepers to the C-level execs. They aren’t dumb; these people are very smart. They are also conservative, afraid, and not patient.

The adoption of interactive marketing by your organization depends on getting the conservative middle on board. They need to become advocates, not skeptics. They need to be educated, but don’t know how to ask for help. Sometimes we even need to temper their enthusiasm for a certain tactic, by explaining why it is’t the right tactic. I’ve seen the conservative middle a lot in my nearly 12 years in interactive marketing. The ones who don’t eventually hop on the innovation bus usually end up:

1. Getting promoted
2. Switching jobs

We’re seeing more and more of #2 happen. Your mission, is to figure out how to help them make the switch from conservative to excited. Data, education, and applicability are your friends. Use them well…and please, do not start a conversation with them by saying, “There’s this really cool thing on web….”

Tags: Best Of, Conservative Middle, Fast Company

Tipping Point Challenged

Written on January 30, 2008 by Adam Kmiec in Marketing & Advertising, Misc., News

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Love this artcle from Fast Company about how the Tipping Point is bogus. I thought Blink was an amazing book; but the Tipping Point was crap. The concept that a few very influential people dictate and determine how the rest of society acts is just silly. I could see that concept working with very impressionable (aka not smart) people. But for the rest of society I’m not buying into it.

Tags: Blink, Fast Company, Gladwell, Tipping Point