http://gracefultim.com Thoughts on emerging technology, product management and other random soapbox moments posterous.com Sat, 10 Dec 2011 07:35:00 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~3/ZRhFtrvT5RI/spare-me-from-blog-posts-by-product-guys http://gracefultim.com/spare-me-from-blog-posts-by-product-guys <p> <p class="p1"><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com">Techcrunch</a>, which is on a steep decline in the post-Arrington era, recently ran a guest post by <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/harris">Aaron Harris</a>, co-founder &amp; CEO of <a href="http://www.tutorspree.com/">Tutorspree</a> with the inflammatory title <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/03/spare-me-from-product-guys/">"Spare Me from "Product Guys."</a> &nbsp;The title itself is actually terribly misleading, as the article isn't the expected rant against product managers, but a "tutorial" for people who aspire to "lead product."</p> <p class="p1">Apologies for the liberal use of quotes in the previous sentence, but this post struck a nerve with me. &nbsp;So much so that I wrote a <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/03/spare-me-from-product-guys/?fb_comment_id=fbc_10150992049405556_28196474_10150993372595556#f290954ea8">hasty, and admittedly flame-ish, comment</a> dripping with sarcastic condemnation. &nbsp;I feel bad about that. &nbsp;Even though I find Harris' perspective sorely lacking and tone oddly condescending, it's not fair to throw out the drive-by hate without a proper explanation. &nbsp;So, here's my take on the topic of "product guys."</p> <p class="p1">Harris states in his post:</p> <p class="p1"><em><span style="color: #999999;">"When I decided I wanted to lead product, I went and talked to friends who were product managers. If you don&rsquo;t have friends that are PMs, try to stalk one on Quora&nbsp;until you can get a meeting. Make sure you have the questions you need to ask ahead of time. Pick their brains about what they read, how they think about feature design relative to user needs/wants/haven&rsquo;t even thought about."</span></em></p> <p class="p4">If you can look past the silly initial statement "when I decided I wanted to lead product" (this is the BS tone I referred to), this is some obvious and harmless advice. &nbsp;If you don't know anything about a topic, ask people who do. &nbsp;Sure.</p> <p class="p4">He goes on to say that once you've talked to people who know about the thing you want to do, you should read some books and blogs about the topic too. &nbsp;Good books and blogs, mind you, but unless you're Will Hunting, you probably won't get very good at something by reading about it. &nbsp;</p> <p class="p4">Harris then states that you should "build, screw up, build" and:</p> <p class="p5"><em><span style="color: #999999;"><span class="s1">"</span>You are not, fundamentally, a product person until you actually build products. In order to get to the point where you can build products, you need to do a hell of a lot of work, and you need to iterate on your own knowledge."</span></em></p> <p class="p5">Again, sure. &nbsp;If there really are people out there calling themselves "product guys/gals" without at least some involvement in building a product, then yeah, those people are deluded.</p> <p class="p1">Like Harris, I didn't start out my career working in product. &nbsp;I came to it mid-career after spending time as a researcher and marketer before landing my first first gig as a product manager. &nbsp;In that first gig, I actually started off managing other product managers and was expected by the team around me to provide leadership pretty quickly.</p> <p class="p1">I certainly read a lot, talked to a lot of people and, by the very nature of the job, I got products shipped. &nbsp;Did any of that make me a competent, let alone great, product manager? &nbsp;Nope.</p> <p class="p4">Great product managers ensure the <span class="s2">right</span>&nbsp;things get built, at the right time and in the right way. &nbsp;They also ensure those things make your company money by helping potential customers (or sales people) understand how those products solve their problems. &nbsp;Oh, and they also make sure the teams building, marketing and selling these products feel great about what they are doing and confident they are building/marketing/selling something that is solving HUGE problems for customers.</p> <p class="p4">Product managers are researchers, evangelists, project managers, marketers and sales people. &nbsp;And yes, they guide the creation of products and experiences. &nbsp;</p> <p class="p4">The core flaw in Harris' assertions is that "doing product" is <span class="s2">mostly</span>&nbsp;about working with engineers to build stuff. &nbsp;Really, his thesis boils down to this (my words):</p> <p class="p4"><em><span style="color: #999999;">"Hey, people who want engineers to work on your ideas. &nbsp;I'm talking to you. &nbsp;Make sure you read up and give coding a shot so that you know the right terminology so you don't use the wrong acronyms when talking to engineers. &nbsp;Oh, and don't treat engineers like they are your bitch. &nbsp;Then they will work on your ideas, and once they do, you will have built stuff and can more credibly call yourself a product guy/gal."</span></em></p> <p class="p4">Damn, there I go again with the sarcasm.</p> <p class="p4">In fairness to Harris, there are LOT of people who think like him, and most of them are non-technical founders of start-ups, just like him. &nbsp;These people are driven by their ideas and are largely looking for vessels to help them come to life. &nbsp;I certainly appreciate that Harris is trying his best to be as knowledgable and respectful as possible when he asks people to build his ideas, but fundamentally he is no different than the "product guys" he criticizes, who choose the bull in a china shop approach to getting the products they want built.</p> <p class="p4">Building great products isn't, and never will be, about the idea. &nbsp;It will never be about the "visionary." &nbsp;It will always be about building solutions for problems, validated through research, by teams who feel they deeply understand and want to solve those problems. &nbsp;It will always about understanding how to translate those solutions to customers via great interfaces, marketing and the well-trained salesperson. &nbsp;It will always be about happy customers.</p> <p class="p4">When I started my career in product, it was understanding these principles that helped me get great products built. &nbsp;I earned my team's respect by demonstrating this, despite my lack of formal product management experience. &nbsp;I earned engineers' respect by demonstrating this, despite my embarrassing lack of technical knowledge. &nbsp;I earned the respect of marketers and salespeople by demonstrating this &amp; giving them the tools to be successful. &nbsp;I earned the respect of the board room by making them money - they didn't care about my product management rants ;)</p> <p class="p4">If you want to be a great product guy or gal, read all the books Harris mentions, talk to lots of knowledgable people and treat engineers like humans. &nbsp;Then spend the other 95% of your time on the being a great researcher, evangelist, project manager, marketer and salesperson part.</p> </p> <p><a href="http://gracefultim.com/spare-me-from-blog-posts-by-product-guys">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://gracefultim.com/spare-me-from-blog-posts-by-product-guys#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~4/ZRhFtrvT5RI" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/346916/headshot_under_200K.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sDGwMUQdZGF Tim Grace timgrace Tim Grace http://gracefultim.com/spare-me-from-blog-posts-by-product-guys Fri, 07 Jan 2011 06:25:15 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~3/J3TX7Z8bSeM/the-signal-experience-3-month-mark http://gracefultim.com/the-signal-experience-3-month-mark <p> Achoo!<p /><div>Man, there is so much dust on this blog it&#39;s stirring up all kinds of allergic reactions.  The cobwebs are pretty nasty too...</div><p /><div>Anyway, figured it was high time to offer an update on my life here at Signal, three months post-CV.  There is no question - it&#39;s been quite the roller coaster ride.  Perhaps even more than anticipated, and I certainly expected to have my world rocked.  Here are some notable observations and experiences:</div> <p /><div><ul><li>I work with some amazing people.  I&#39;ll be honest - I&#39;m pretty used to being just about the smartest person in most every room I&#39;ve been in throughout my career.  Even when I wasn&#39;t even remotely the most experienced mind, I was probably the sharpest, and that has perhaps been my saving grace (no pun intended) in many, many situations.  At Signal, I rarely have this experience.  I&#39;m in school, and team Signal are my teachers.  While I certainly bring my expertise to the table and have found many ways to add value to the business in these short three months, I have learned more than I&#39;ve added.  I love that.</li> <li>Building a business is insanely hard.  There&#39;s really no roadmap.  Jeff &amp; Chris have done an amazing job taking this company to it&#39;s current state (strong YOY revenue growth, terrific product &amp; team), but they&#39;ve lost a few pounds of flesh in the process.  Now that the leadership has grown beyond the co-founders, we all take on the burden of ensuring our decisions regarding product focus, sales strategies, expenses and talent keep the momentum going.  And that takes it&#39;s toll.  I know we&#39;re right more often than we&#39;re wrong, but that&#39;s of little solace.  You question yourself at every turn.  The health of the business, and people&#39;s livelihoods, are on the line.  It&#39;s exhilarating and exhausting.  Sure, I made countless decisions in other gigs that certainly impacted those businesses bottom line, but the sense of urgency was never so acute.  Everyone should have this experience.  It will fundamentally change how you approach every job you&#39;ll ever have, whether it be starting your own company or working at Humungo-soft.</li> <li>Great leadership is the difference between success and failure - period.  And it&#39;s all too rare.  The lack of great leadership is masked in so many organizations that have 1) gotten lucky or 2) have engaged in herculean efforts to survive without it.  Even rarer than being a great leader - the ability to recognize that you aren&#39;t one.  Too little of one and too much of the other will kill your business.  This seems like common sense, and it is when you think about it in the abstract, but the real trick is understand where you stand in real time and take the action needed to ensure you don&#39;t have a leadership vacuum.</li> <li>Work takes on a new form when it is bullshit free.  Every job I&#39;ve ever had carried with it a healthy amount of bullshit related to areas such as HR, internal politics and dead weight (you know, <i>those</i> people).  This is the cost of doing business at Humungo-soft and NotSoHumungoButPrettyBig-soft.  I can honestly say those issues just don&#39;t exist at Signal.  We certainly have our own drama (see bullet #2), but none of it is a bullshit waste of time like these other issues that plague larger companies.  The real benefit here is that we all get to be ourselves, no &quot;work persona&quot; you put on every day when settle into your cubicle.  It&#39;s a breath of fresh air.</li> <li>I know myself much better now.  Stepping out of my comfort zone has revealed a lot about both my character and my professional goals.  I know what products I want to build and how I want them to impact the world.  I&#39;ve been humbled (in areas I really needed to be).  I have a better sense for the sorts of people I want to go to war with and that ones I want on the other side of my bayonet.  That&#39;s a pretty productive 3 months.</li> </ul><div>So, did I make the right call?  So far, my magic 8 ball is saying &quot;Outlook Is Good.&quot;  I still miss my CV friends and sometimes have the itch to finish what I started there, but I know that&#39;s only nostalgia taking over.  </div> <p /><div>My place is here, in the bullshit-free zone, with the collective geekery that is Team Signal.  Now excuse me while I breathe into this bag - the next panic attack re: the latest earth-moving decision we&#39;re making is coming on :)</div> </div><p /><div>TG</div> </p> <p><a href="http://gracefultim.com/the-signal-experience-3-month-mark">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://gracefultim.com/the-signal-experience-3-month-mark#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~4/J3TX7Z8bSeM" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/346916/headshot_under_200K.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sDGwMUQdZGF Tim Grace timgrace Tim Grace http://gracefultim.com/the-signal-experience-3-month-mark Mon, 27 Sep 2010 07:27:54 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~3/642IUPM9o_o/farewell-apartmentscomcv-hello-signal http://gracefultim.com/farewell-apartmentscomcv-hello-signal <p> Your heart rate quickens.  You notice your arm in your peripheral vision and very hair is standing on end.  Every sense is heightened.<p />What do these have in common?  All physiological responses to fear <b>and</b> excitement.  If you were to perform a physical exam on me at any random moment in the past few weeks (or the past year for that matter!), you&#39;d be likely to find that I&#39;m either terrified or exhilarated.  The reality is that I&#39;m both.<p /> Next week will be my last week at Apartments.com and Classified Ventures.  It&#39;s hard to express how conflicted I feel over this.  For nearly 5 years, CV has been home to some of my greatest achievements, produced amazing friends and, most importantly, led me to the love of my life who I married earlier this year.  As someone who defines themselves greatly through their work, every job I&#39;ve had has significantly shaped the fabric of who I am.  The past 4.5 years at CV have been the most rewarding in my professional life, and they have taught me that when surrounded by talented, driven and high character people, my growth (and that of the organization) is nearly limitless.<p /> So - why the change?  Simply put, the team and opportunity at Signal (<a href="http://www.signalhq.com">www.signalhq.com</a>) is impossible to turn down.  Uber-talented team filled with genuine and likable people - check.  I&#39;ve walked away from every discussion with this team insanely fired up to do great work.  The fact that Signal CEO Jeff Judge and I have known each for nearly 2 years played no small role in validating quality of the team.  That also helped coax me away from a terrific boss &amp; mentor (Chris Brown) - I knew Jeff could capably carry that torch.  Finally, as employee # 14 (and hiring for more! <a href="http://www.signalhq.com/about-us/careers/">http://www.signalhq.com/about-us/careers/</a>) at a relatively mature start-up, I know my impact will be felt in a way that I, frankly, could never make happen at CV given it&#39;s size and structure.  It was time to give start-up life a whirl and I couldn&#39;t have found a better place to do that.<p /> The above says nothing for the quality of the product, which is terrific and has truly special in it&#39;s sights.  Any marketer looking to engage with their customers across multiple platforms (mobile, email, social) and appreciate the ability to manage that engagement through one, intuitive solution would do well to check it out (<a href="http://www.signalhq.com/cross-channel-marketing/">http://www.signalhq.com/cross-channel-marketing/</a>).  As Product Director, I&#39;m confident my leadership will help drive the Signal platform even further to the top of the marketer&#39;s toolkit.<p /> As I say farewell to my CV family, whom I love, I&#39;m going to refrain from making special mention of every wonderful person I&#39;ve had the privilege of working with.  While there have been a few forgettable faces along the way, nearly every colleague has been a joy and has had a strong hand in my professional growth.  That said, there are 4 people I simply have to acknowledge, starting with my team:<p />  - Andrea, Ken and Catelyn (honorary mention - Mango): Everything I, and our team, has achieved in the past 3 years is due to your passion, talent and drive.  I merely steered the ship.  Thank you for giving me your all and, most importantly, for your friendship.<p />  - Chris Brown: You are the leader everyone hopes to have but rarely gets.  Thanks for living up to that standard every day for 3 years...and for being a great friend along the way.<p />Finally, to the amazing multifamily community I&#39;ve become a part of, thanks for allowing me to join in the conversation.  What I&#39;ve learned from all of you will continue to be pivotal in my work at Signal.  I hope the great relationships I&#39;ve established will continue to grow, regardless of my employer.  I&#39;m looking at you Mike, Mark, Eric, Lisa, Jonathan, Tami, Erica, Justin, Kim, Duncan, etc etc.<p /> Jeff, Chris, Gib, Julian, Mark, Dave, Doug, Ray, Amanda, Mahesh, Drew and John - can&#39;t wait to get started guys.  See you on Monday ;)<p />TG </p> <p><a href="http://gracefultim.com/farewell-apartmentscomcv-hello-signal">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://gracefultim.com/farewell-apartmentscomcv-hello-signal#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~4/642IUPM9o_o" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/346916/headshot_under_200K.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sDGwMUQdZGF Tim Grace timgrace Tim Grace http://gracefultim.com/farewell-apartmentscomcv-hello-signal Wed, 09 Jun 2010 20:19:17 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~3/cB669MpnFFU/chaos-in-chicago-go-hawks http://gracefultim.com/chaos-in-chicago-go-hawks <p> <div class='p_embed p_video_embed'> <a href="http://gracefultim.com/chaos-in-chicago-go-hawks"><img alt="" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/timgrace/qXTYvENn9xXQdjKJO8wdBcyPBvBuRiwEn49K6tPReY3JPccP4NQrJ9wxtW0X/IMG_0022.png" /></a> <div class='p_embed_description'> <strong>IMG_0022.MOV</strong> <a href="http://gracefultim.com/chaos-in-chicago-go-hawks">Watch on Posterous</a> </div> </div> </p> <p><a href="http://gracefultim.com/chaos-in-chicago-go-hawks">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://gracefultim.com/chaos-in-chicago-go-hawks#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~4/cB669MpnFFU" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/346916/headshot_under_200K.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sDGwMUQdZGF Tim Grace timgrace Tim Grace http://gracefultim.com/chaos-in-chicago-go-hawks Fri, 28 May 2010 07:51:53 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~3/6g_yqEDhrdY/when-web-design-goes-bad http://gracefultim.com/when-web-design-goes-bad <p> <p>Let the awesome terribleness of Ling Valentine&#8217;s creation soak in.&nbsp; Be sure to scroll ALL the way to the bottom to maximize the awesomeness.&nbsp; Would you give Ling your credit card number?</p> <p></p> <p><a href="http://www.lingcars.com">www.lingcars.com</a></p> <p></p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/timgrace/tgYlcXrecw5NW0OKFAMHgRoGFlTlkII7mIGPa3JkbI6sulrwkJ4Jk2xDUKjw/image001.png"><img alt="Image001" height="493" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/timgrace/9fwXKTQSpryJExWKLTIC3n7fy8PFqkEoWxLaSNZY2bTNmLlxg2fRpO1Nm1uz/image001.png.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> </p> <p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Felix Titling; color: #999999;"></span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Felix Titling; color: #999999;"></span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Felix Titling; color: #999999;"></span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0in;">&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </p> <p><a href="http://gracefultim.com/when-web-design-goes-bad">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://gracefultim.com/when-web-design-goes-bad#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~4/6g_yqEDhrdY" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/346916/headshot_under_200K.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sDGwMUQdZGF Tim Grace timgrace Tim Grace http://gracefultim.com/when-web-design-goes-bad Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:28:00 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~3/m4_T2Suhddc/what-works-in-community-video-aptchat-follow http://gracefultim.com/what-works-in-community-video-aptchat-follow <p> I was only able to briefly poke my head into today’s <a href="http://aptchat.org/">#AptChat</a>, but in that short time I fell into a good conversation re: optimal content for community videos.  As promised to <a href="http://www.twitter.com/30lines">Mike Whaling</a>, I wanted to share a few nuggets from research we conducted at <a href="http://www.apartments.com/">Apartments.com</a> that was key to the development of our own <a href="http://www.apartments.com/propertymall/video.htm">Walkthrough Video</a> product.  The following is based on a survey administered to several hundred of our site visitors and some qualitative research (much like focus groups, for those less familiar w/ research terminology) conducted here in Chicago. <p>Just to baseline overall demand for video (which I assume is obvious to most), consumers definitely favor video to virtual tours/360 views or still images.</p> <ul> </ul> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 2.0in; text-indent: .5in;"><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Image002" height="271" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/timgrace/bn1kgZocMHusQOkGYvYXTYeaztyIYNqwGQ3tOLVMrkA54uZSRlqSwAzfK0SP/image002.jpg" width="493" /> </div> </p> <p><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span style=""><span style="font: 7.0pt Times New Roman;"> </span></span></span>Folks definitely want some sort of voice-over, especially if accompanied by music</p> <ul> </ul> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 2.0in; text-indent: .5in;"><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Image005" height="199" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/timgrace/bU3lljAQ0oBccOu5UZ97fMuTzybbGAtULwhRqymfgyrfWXttiI0SoApL0p2Y/image005.jpg" width="456" /> </div> </p> <p><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span style=""><span style="font: 7.0pt Times New Roman;"> </span></span></span>The key insight for us, which is clear in the choices we’ve made with the Walkthrough Video product, is that people want to see the apartments – period.  Certain aspects of the community as a whole are also important, but these videos should serve as a “shop window” into a renter’s new home.  Consumers want as much of the unvarnished truth as possible (i.e. they prefer unfurnished units to furnished) – give them mostly steak and only a little sizzle.  In the words of one renter, I don’t want the unit to “look like an ad for furniture at Bed, Bath &amp; Beyond.”</p> <ul> </ul> <p class="MsoListParagraph"><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Image007" height="296" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/timgrace/CuBT1OGACNQn3xlBB4krFfVeln4DP4jfJRkQ0uSPmAQhPZw9weYrFHWEB7uC/image007.jpg" width="473" /> <img alt="Image012" height="297" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/timgrace/iAC38jKZq7iWsEYqVvxCEd7h1XEK2PmBceRTFvXNPMmiMFtQzav1qG0C7YyX/image012.jpg" width="496" /> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2010-04-17/ttbBandpFxcCIrpbyikmfiIwfpxjIAGsxBlFsEBbDEoEAkeIktdIIeIlssgB/Aptchatimage.png.scaled1000.png"><img alt="Aptchatimage" height="319" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2010-04-17/ttbBandpFxcCIrpbyikmfiIwfpxjIAGsxBlFsEBbDEoEAkeIktdIIeIlssgB/Aptchatimage.png.scaled500.png" width="500" /></a> <div class='p_see_full_gallery'><a href="http://gracefultim.com/what-works-in-community-video-aptchat-follow">See the full gallery on Posterous</a></div> </div> </p> <p>A couple of other notes that came through clearly in our qualitative work:</p> <ul> </ul> <ul> <li>Unless you’re targeting the college crowd or similar demo, make sure your videos have a professional polish.  The amateurish, UGC-style videos don’t have much appeal for those over 25. </li> </ul> <ul> <li> <span style="font-family: Courier New;"><span style=""><span style="font: 7.0pt Times New Roman;"> </span></span></span>On the flipside, the millennial folks reject anything that even smacks of a “salesy” or “cheesy” tone.  Pretty much everyone else does too.  Be authentic in what you show and how you present it.  For us, this is showing the apartments and some community environs without additional messaging.  For you, it may be something similar but with some commentary about the neighborhood surrounding your community, etc.  No matter the approach, avoid the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTSa4cbcDHY">used car dealer</a> vibe at all costs. </li> </ul> <ul> <li> Keep it short – no one we talked to or surveyed had much appetite for a 15 minute missive on your state of the art fitness center or how great the new movie theater down the street is.  As much as I embrace an emphasis on apartment walkthroughs, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">please</span> do not do <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/skiutahvacationhomes?feature=pyv&amp;ad=3656414791&amp;kw=accommodation#p/u/31/MY4QzgAf1ZE">this</a>.  Be focused and keep it under 5 mins. </li> </ul> <p>I hope this adds some additional depth to the #AptChat discussion.  As with any piece of research, the feedback summarized here is not law but does serve to set some guard rails for what is and isn’t considered compelling video content for potential residents.</p> <p>TG</p> </p> <p><a href="http://gracefultim.com/what-works-in-community-video-aptchat-follow">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://gracefultim.com/what-works-in-community-video-aptchat-follow#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~4/m4_T2Suhddc" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/346916/headshot_under_200K.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sDGwMUQdZGF Tim Grace timgrace Tim Grace http://gracefultim.com/what-works-in-community-video-aptchat-follow Sat, 06 Mar 2010 10:55:26 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~3/nU5r_R2Y5zE/google-state-of-mobile-search http://gracefultim.com/google-state-of-mobile-search <p> <div class='p_embed p_file_embed'> <a href="http://gracefultim.com/google-state-of-mobile-search"><img alt="" src="http://posterous.com/images/filetypes/pdf.png" /></a> <div class='p_embed_description'> <strong>Think with Google - Mobile-ize Your Business.pdf</strong> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/timgrace/BUArhElmF03gQLOa0ibFzpQgy4IbIuFrOQV7Bf99BtIstJR6rBA42yaxQP3s/Think_with_Google_-_Mobile-ize.pdf">Download this file</a> </div> </div> <p>This past Tuesday I attended a <a href="http://timgrace.posterous.com/talking-mobile-with-google-webinar">webinar</a> facilitated by some of Google&#39;s mobile AdWords team.  While a good chunk of the presentation and subsequent Q&amp;A focused on educating traditional AdWords customers on the available mobile campaign features, Google did crack the door to certain data about general user search behaviors re: mobile.  The full .pdf of the presentation is attached to this post, but some highlights were:<br /> </p><ul><li>According to Google, 1/3 of all mobile search queries have a &quot;local intent.&quot;  It&#39;s unclear if this is just Google searches, but that&#39;s the logical assumption.  Industry analyst Greg Sterling tweeted from the <a href="http://searchmarketingexpo.com/">Search Marketing Expo</a> conference, on the same day as this webinar, that <a href="http://twitter.com/gsterling/status/9888228908">Microsoft cited 62% of mobile searches contain local info</a>.  That&#39;s a big gap, I suppose, but the insight remains clear: lots of mobile searches are of a local nature.  No real surprise there.  Google also mentions that 15% of all iPhone apps are local.<br /> </li><li>Google cites 3000% growth in mobile &quot;shopping&quot; category queries in the past 3 years, with the majority of that growth happening in the past ~10 months following the launch of the iPhone 3GS (and Palm Pre, as if that is relevant given Palm&#39;s anemic sales).  It&#39;s unclear, however, what the exact nature of these queries are - people seeking product reviews and other details via mobile as they stand in-store contemplating a purchase vs. intending to purchase an intem via their mobile device, etc.</li> <li>Unsurprisingly, searches via mobile web are much more likely to be of a local nature than desktop queries.  That said, it also appears mobile web searchers also tend towards entertainment-based terms (both of the G and XXX varieties) at a higher rate than on desktop.  The assumption here is that folks are 1) searching for something to do on a Saturday night via mobile or 2) in need of some distraction from the boredom of travel, waiting in lines, etc.</li> <li>Despite these skews mobile vs. desktop web, iPhone users (unclear if just Safari searches or also including Google native app searches) search behavior mimics that on desktop much more closely.  Yes, the entertainment category skew is there (and a bit w/ sports as well), but ultimately the similarity between the two gives some indication of how much the iPhone is being used as a desktop/laptop replacement, at least in terms of searching the web.</li> <li>Mobile web searches on iPhone OS/Android/WebOS (Palm) devices in categories like video games, office supplies and restaurants are up ~150-200% in just 5 months.  My thought: why did Google choose these categories in particular?  Office supplies?  Was the OfficeMax AdWords team on the webinar?</li> <li>Google defined to the audience that it&#39;s definition of &quot;high end devices&quot; = those that have a native browser that can render full HTML.  This essential means iPhone OS/Android/WebOS.  While a logical definition, one has to wonder how much the data Google cited was skewed based on this categorization.  If searches from Blackberry OS/Windows Mobile/Symbain, etc. phones are excluded, would we observe any differences in the mobile vs. desktop web skews?  In addition, Google mentioned during Q&amp;A that they have yet to decide whether to designate the forthcoming iPad as a desktop or mobile device.  I suspect they&#39;ll go with mobile given that iPad runs iPhoneOS, but it&#39;s an interesting question that many will face when determining how to optimize experiences for iPad and related devices that will hit the market this year.</li> </ul>For those truly interested in greater detail on Google&#39;s recommendations re: use of AdWords for mobile, please see the attached doc.  It wasn&#39;t my intent to cover that here, as I have little desire to help Google pimp their products to the world (I still love ya Google!).<p /> TG  </p> <p><a href="http://gracefultim.com/google-state-of-mobile-search">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://gracefultim.com/google-state-of-mobile-search#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~4/nU5r_R2Y5zE" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/346916/headshot_under_200K.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sDGwMUQdZGF Tim Grace timgrace Tim Grace http://gracefultim.com/google-state-of-mobile-search Wed, 24 Feb 2010 07:18:56 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~3/soVmwUam7HU/talking-mobile-with-google-webinar http://gracefultim.com/talking-mobile-with-google-webinar <p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/timgrace/Fj2WL1XzGZ1GtVtiTF85fKCmIkrVvdOxi4Ct5DBFwxFhA4FPsweXmIssGGii/image001.png"><img alt="Image001" height="423" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/timgrace/smsSuT8dTctwUxrQwwixLecwVFGdD3iMDhwR7eXsb49mOIlR5CTZ9sGrBIiq/image001.png.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> </p> <p></p> <p>If you&#8217;re interested in learning more about how mobile, and specifically Google&#8217;s mobile services, can apply to your business, this is the webinar for you.&nbsp; I expect they&#8217;ll spend substantial time walking through their mobile apps, the fairly recent AdSense for Mobile Apps product launch, their use of QR codes for local businesses, etc.&nbsp; I&#8217;ll be listening in &#8211; feel free to join me!</p> <p></p> <p><b>Register here: <a href="http://bit.ly/cfX5B3">http://bit.ly/cfX5B3</a> </b></p> <p></p> <p>TG</p> </p> <p><a href="http://gracefultim.com/talking-mobile-with-google-webinar">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://gracefultim.com/talking-mobile-with-google-webinar#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~4/soVmwUam7HU" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/346916/headshot_under_200K.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sDGwMUQdZGF Tim Grace timgrace Tim Grace http://gracefultim.com/talking-mobile-with-google-webinar Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:51:11 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~3/8FnGQ08fM-M/introducing-tim-grace-the-iphone-app-episode http://gracefultim.com/introducing-tim-grace-the-iphone-app-episode <p> <p>If it wasn't obvious, I'm fascinated with mobile tech.&nbsp; I'm lucky enough to indulge that interest professionally by driving Apartments.com's mobile product initiatives, but sometimes that just isn't enough.&nbsp; Part experiment, part exercise in vanity, I've now blessed the world with my very own iPhone App (screenshots below).&nbsp; It's a simple enough experience - download the app (found <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tim-grace/id349590302?mt=8" target="_blank">here</a>) and get access to my blog posts, tweet stream and, of course, my beautiful mug staring back at you!</p> <p></p> <p style="text-indent: 1.5in;"><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Image002" height="385" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/timgrace/ywUMjGvnVi8SWiPG7gHkejaEF06UkaTahiomymu8NB9knqjn654VnVSaeUcw/image002.jpg" width="257" /> </div> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Image006" height="384" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/timgrace/Bbv7vbAuIP44WgIG5EvzK7tjnLf3yLyI3UuHavr8biGhbyQ4oaz2wlKxooJj/image006.jpg" width="256" /> </div> <p /> All kidding aside, my main motivation in creating the app was simply to demonstrate how simple this platform now is to develop for, how much variety (frivolous or otherwise) there is in content and how important it is to have a multiple-context mobile strategy.&nbsp; In my case, this experiment cost a whopping $25 (a steeply discounted rate on a $200 retail product - more on that later) and took no more than 30 minutes to create.&nbsp; Is this app ultimately the best way to consume my blog/tweet content?&nbsp; For anyone using RSS, clearly not.&nbsp; For those who get their daily blog fix by visiting each of their www sites discretely, perhaps.&nbsp; For me, that's not really the point.&nbsp; <p /> In my opinion, trying this approach with my personal content is more a case of eating my own dog food.&nbsp; I've consistently preached that a mobile strategy should be centered around the principle that your content should be optimized, and discoverable, for use in all relevant contexts appropriate for your target audience.&nbsp; For better or worse, the iTunes App Store has become its own vertical search engine for mobile content (and beyond, considering the upcoming iPad launch).&nbsp; If I aim to optimize my online content for greatest visibility with Google &amp; the major engines, why not take the same approach with the App Store (or Android Market)?&nbsp; If someone wants to find apps that feature the topics I tend to write about, shouldn't my content be there in that context as well?&nbsp; <p /> Do a search in iTunes right now for terms like &quot;product management,&quot; &quot;mobile products,&quot; &quot;apartments,&quot; &quot;multifamily&quot; and sure enough, my app is right there among the results, with varying degrees of prominence.&nbsp; These are concepts core to what I write, and care, about and I now have the opportunity to offer my insights (such as they are!) to different segment of possible readers.&nbsp; Certainly, the &quot;cost&quot; to access the content is higher (must be willing to download), so the number of &quot;subscribers&quot; is sure to be lower than the more casual readership that may result from someone finding the blog via a Google search, but perhaps they become a more loyal/engaged audience.</p> <p style="text-indent: 1.5in;"></p> <p style="text-indent: 2.5in;"><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Image007" height="270" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/timgrace/k3Zzk5kjFpsQ6bjWLRvgSnuUmQFdBbDA95VaVXXpWmC5yE7KcLrxfd3vD35Z/image007.jpg" width="485" /> </div> <p /> During my time working in the mobile product/marketing space, the debate over mobile web vs. native app has been among the most contentious and persistent discussions.&nbsp; I regard this as one of the least productive topics to discuss.&nbsp; Frankly, the answer today is clearly both, for all the reasons that led to my own personal app creation.&nbsp; Should the priority, if resources/dollars are constrained, be on mobile web for most brands (non-gaming)?&nbsp; Absolutely.&nbsp; But, in my experience, stopping there simply limits exposure, plain and simple.&nbsp; Native app discovery is its own, distinct process that has few connections to its web search cousins.&nbsp; <p /> For example, despite strong mobile web traffic to our Apartments.com mobile site (over half from iPhone/iPod Touch) and a strong call to action to download our iPhone app on that site, it's clear nearly all of our iPhone app downloads come from searches or browsing within the App Store.&nbsp; So, I conclude that the preponderance of folks who found our mobile site via a Google search, promotion on our desktop site, previous experience with our brand, etc. are comfortable staying in a mobile web context, whether they have an iPhone or not.&nbsp; Our iPhone App users simply have different motivations, preferences and employ distinct search methods to find this content (largely via the App Store).&nbsp; Given that, I'm fairly confident that the 100K+ users of our iPhone app are consumers we likely never would have reached elsewhere.&nbsp; That alone has justified our development efforts and offered significant ROI.<p /> Now that you know why the Tim Grace iPhone app exists, I want to go into more detail in Episode 2 on how it was born and how you too can wow friends, family, and that cute girl sitting at the end of the bar with your very own foray into mobile geekdom.<p /> TG</p> <p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Felix Titling; color: #999999;"></span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Felix Titling; color: #999999;"></span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Felix Titling; color: #999999;"></span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0in;">&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </p> <p><a href="http://gracefultim.com/introducing-tim-grace-the-iphone-app-episode">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://gracefultim.com/introducing-tim-grace-the-iphone-app-episode#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~4/8FnGQ08fM-M" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/346916/headshot_under_200K.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sDGwMUQdZGF Tim Grace timgrace Tim Grace http://gracefultim.com/introducing-tim-grace-the-iphone-app-episode Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:21:45 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~3/Fq_MXlS75dE/the-rare-branded-facebook-widget-that-works http://gracefultim.com/the-rare-branded-facebook-widget-that-works <p> <div class="posterous_bookmarklet_entry"> <div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Media_httpwwwinsidefa_ttvaa" height="500" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/timgrace/FvpJrBfdzEpEEpzChdhpGDCzizxFEunmvchwzAcCACDHhpkfiymEmBowiEFl/media_httpwwwinsidefa_ttvaA.jpg.scaled500.jpg" width="453" /> </div> <div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://www.insidefacebook.com/2010/01/18/browse-american-eagle-aerie-merchandise-directly-from-your-news-feed-with-new-widget/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+InsideFacebook+%28Inside+Facebook%29">insidefacebook.com</a></div> <p>American Eagle, a brand pretty much non-existent in my daily consciousness, just launched a terrific new widget that allows Facebook fans to browse items directly from their fan page or the user's news feed itself. While not perfect (the product shots are less than compelling and some brief description would be nice), this demonstrates one of the rare times a brand has created something of real utility for a user via Facebook that stays true to their core business. </p><p>All too often, the contests and other gimmicks brands use to "engage" users, buyers and "fans" end up being mediocre attempts at achieving virality without really trying to connect that promotion or experience to their core brand message or, more importantly, a call to action to do something that will move the business forward. </p><p>Kudos to AE for the effort. It's fairly obvious how such an approach could be valuable to anyone who is interested in showcasing, oh, say apartment listings to bring fans directly into the conversion funnel. </p><p>Oh, and I'm openly pleading to Banana Republic (a brand squarely in my daily consciousness!) to follow AE's lead so that I can personally benefit from this. Sorry AE, not enough to get me to buy!</p></div> </p> <p><a href="http://gracefultim.com/the-rare-branded-facebook-widget-that-works">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://gracefultim.com/the-rare-branded-facebook-widget-that-works#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~4/Fq_MXlS75dE" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/346916/headshot_under_200K.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sDGwMUQdZGF Tim Grace timgrace Tim Grace http://gracefultim.com/the-rare-branded-facebook-widget-that-works Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:49:00 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~3/FG5SXyhaLAM/its-the-experience-stupid-0 http://gracefultim.com/its-the-experience-stupid-0 <p> <p>Rarely do I read something that literally prompts me to blurt "YES!" out loud (promptly causing my nearby colleagues to momentarily question my sanity), but after reading Dave McClure's latest <a href="http://500hats.typepad.com/500blogs/2010/01/startups-vcs-eat-your-own-damn-dogfood.html">rant</a>, I just couldn't hold back that excited utterance.&nbsp; While the main thrust of Dave's post is directed at startups and the VCs that fund them, there is a universal truth in his words that apply to any consumer internet biz.&nbsp; To paraphrase Dave - creating brilliant user experiences and efficiently acquiring users to enjoy them is the straw that that stirs the drink, not the elegant code that lives behind the page.&nbsp; And, by extension, the people who design those experiences, determine how to guide them down the monetization funnel and drive consumer to your site are the critical assets to these businesses.&nbsp; To quote Dave's piece:<p /> <em>"Because while it's actually pretty easy to write a web 2.0 friendly front-end app or website these days, it's still MOTHERF**KING difficult to create visually-appealing interfaces, and beyond that to design them in ways that are compelling, engaging, drive calls-to-action, and are MEASURABLY beneficial to getting more customers using your products. figuring out game mechanics and activation, designing reinforcement schedules, visual imagery, copy writing, and landing page tests -- all of this is not trivial, and only recently are there starting to be good resources for learning how to do it well."</em><p />Dave goes on to say: <p /><em>"And to be honest, design and marketing aren't just EQUALLY important as engineering... designers, product managers &amp; [technical, analytical] marketers are usually WAY MORE IMPORTANT than coders."</em><p />Now, selfishly, since I fall in the category of people tasked with creating winning interfaces that optimize conversions and with driving consumers to them, I like the hearty pat on the back Dave offers here.&nbsp; And I should point out that I have <strong>tremendous</strong> respect for the amazingly talented developers and engineers I've worked with.&nbsp; That said, Dave simply couldn't be more right.&nbsp; <p /> While intricately woven code is key for data-rich web apps (definitely the case for us at Apts.com), solving for those issues is a relatively small part of the puzzle.&nbsp; Terrifically complex algorithms that tightly match user criteria with a meaty data set isn't going to be, nor has it been to date, the winning formula for our business.&nbsp; It's just not a differentiator.&nbsp; The creation and continued refinement of an intuitive and smartly designed interface is, or can be.<p /> I also agree with Dave that traditional marketers have been put on notice - adapt or wither.&nbsp; The same goes for much of the established ad agency world.&nbsp; If you intend to build an audience for online businesses, understand that technical competency outweighs your rolodex of press contacts and that copywriting, while key, is about clear value propositions and calls to actions, not slogans and taglines.&nbsp; As someone who has had to evolve their thinking in exactly the same way, I can say first hand that I had to unlearn some traditional marketing training to be relevant and effective in a consumer internet biz context.<p /> Thanks again, Dave, for today's "YES!" moment.<p />TG</p> </p> <p><a href="http://gracefultim.com/its-the-experience-stupid-0">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://gracefultim.com/its-the-experience-stupid-0#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~4/FG5SXyhaLAM" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/346916/headshot_under_200K.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sDGwMUQdZGF Tim Grace timgrace Tim Grace http://gracefultim.com/its-the-experience-stupid-0 Mon, 11 Jan 2010 12:10:57 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~3/OhxJVM_gSUE/a-peek-into-netflix-queues-9 http://gracefultim.com/a-peek-into-netflix-queues-9 <p> <div class="posterous_bookmarklet_entry"> <embed name="movie_swf" src="http://www.nytimes.com/packages/flash/multimedia/swfs/AS3Multiloader.swf" allowfullscreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" wmode="window" height="335" flashvars="contentPath=http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/flash/newsgraphics/2010/0108-netflix/NetflixGraphic2.swf&amp;allowCaching=true" quality="high" style="" base="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/flash/newsgraphics/2010/0108-netflix/" width="500" /> <div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/01/10/nyregion/20100110-netflix-map.html">nytimes.com</a></div> <p>What did people rent most in your zip code last year? Are you in a Paul Blart Mall Cop or Benjamin Button sort of neighborhood? Interesting insight from Netflix & NYT...</p></div> </p> <p><a href="http://gracefultim.com/a-peek-into-netflix-queues-9">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://gracefultim.com/a-peek-into-netflix-queues-9#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~4/OhxJVM_gSUE" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/346916/headshot_under_200K.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sDGwMUQdZGF Tim Grace timgrace Tim Grace http://gracefultim.com/a-peek-into-netflix-queues-9 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 21:54:13 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~3/IRFghmSDAq8/when-product-suckage-is-ok http://gracefultim.com/when-product-suckage-is-ok <p> Ryan Singer at <a href="http://www.37signals.com">37 Signals</a> (the terrific Chicago-based start-up behind Basecamp, etc.) penned a terrific post <a href="http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2076-whats-the-suckage-to-usage-ratio">&quot;What&#39;s the suckage to usage ratio?&quot;</a> which makes a case for purposeful product design imperfection.  In a nutshell, Ryan argues that imperfection is ok, even wise, in cases where you know a particular feature or experience is destined to be a fringe use case.  If you focus your energies on the elements of the product that will define that experience for your users, they will forgive the flaws around the edges that they rarely need to encounter.  In fact, they can still be passionate advocates.<p /> I couldn&#39;t agree more with this philosophy.  As a perfectionist myself, I found these hard words to live by, but ultimately they ring true.  I wish my iPhone could run apps in the background so I could listen to Pandora while banging out a text and before that I wished I could copy/paste, but neither beef stops me from loving the device and influencing others to buy it too.  Apple understood which things to get right and which things they could leave for future releases because they truly understand their customer needs and the market.<p /> To that point, in order to find your optimal suckage to usage ratio, make sure you have an intimate understanding of your customer and their usage of your product/service.  Had Apple packed every possible feature on the market in the iPhone and failed to create an intuitive, elegant and innovative interface (or done it all and charged 2-3x more), the product would have surely failed.<p /> For those outside of the tech product space, like my multifamily friends, this is analogous to what I&#39;d call the &quot;glamour amenities&quot; at an apartment community.  Oftentimes, the investment you make in a renovated clubhouse or Fios infrastructure, etc. could be part of a well-constructed strategy and market positioning, and in those cases such features are likely used frequently and core to your brand essence.  But there are clearly times when these endeavors produce nice to haves and are created at the expense of core experiences, like maintenance.  Before getting into a feature race with the community down the road, take stock in your renter needs and be sure the everyday experience is great before dabbling around the edges of customer use.  It&#39;s ok if some things aren&#39;t up to your standards (or your renters), just make sure they are the right things and have a sensible plan for when you will eventually address them.<p /> TG </p> <p><a href="http://gracefultim.com/when-product-suckage-is-ok">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://gracefultim.com/when-product-suckage-is-ok#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~4/IRFghmSDAq8" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/346916/headshot_under_200K.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sDGwMUQdZGF Tim Grace timgrace Tim Grace http://gracefultim.com/when-product-suckage-is-ok Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:07:02 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~3/mZKz6InGylw/is-seo-ruining-the-internet http://gracefultim.com/is-seo-ruining-the-internet <p> <p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Dvorak">John Dvorak</a> at <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/">PC Magazine</a> just <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2357605,00.asp">blogged</a> about one of the often overlooked consequences of &#8220;good&#8221; SEO &#8211; erosion of the user experience.&nbsp; He describes his pain in attempting to use the major engines to search for quality &amp; trusted content on purchasing decisions like which cell phone to buy.&nbsp; Ecommerce sites of every flavor dominate his SERPs, successfully optimizing their key transactional landing pages to rank for terms like&nbsp; &#8220;best cell phone&#8221; that he believes users type in expecting reviews and other commentary to aid in the purchase decision.</p> <p></p> <p>Despite the fact that John has some bias here (he laments the fact that these reams of ecommerce pages overshadow good PC Mag content), he makes a valid and underappreciated point.&nbsp; As marketers/publishers/content owners, we want the greatest possible visibility for our product, article, blog or lolcat photo.&nbsp; We&#8217;re trained to identify the key terms users search for in our categories and take pains to cater our site architecture, content and distribution/link strategies to those terms.&nbsp; While it&#8217;s hard to argue with the results of a well-executed traffic acquisition plan like this, I rarely hear people talk in terms of user intent or goals in relation to their search queries.</p> <p></p> <p>In the case of &#8220;best cell phone,&#8221; the well-constructed ecommerce page that ranks on page one can probably cite a hefty number of sales/conversions, which one could interpret as an indication the user found what he/she was looking for.&nbsp; On the other hand, could it not be that the user never found exactly what they needed, assumed the quality reviews they seek were not to be found and settled on just buying a phone that seemed good enough from a site they found on Google page one?&nbsp; Credit the ecommerce site for being opportunistic in this case, but I would not call that sale a success story for that user.</p> <p></p> <p>A secondary point John makes is that users really looking for that quality content may be better served just going straight to a reliable source, avoiding search engines altogether.&nbsp; I have to agree that in many cases, this is going to be the most successful user strategy (it often is for me).&nbsp; That said, this requires those reliable sources to have a strong &amp; recognizable brand and, quite frankly, far less mindshare and effort is devoted there than to SEO strategies.&nbsp; Based on my experience, direct traffic conversion is going to beat other sources in most cases, which even makes a stronger case for brand investment at a similar or greater level than for SEO.</p> <p></p> <p>Ultimately, the best online properties will do both well, but in my current world (the rentals/real estate category) the focus remains disproportionate in favor of very tactical SEO approaches, and that&#8217;s a shame.</p> <p></p> <p>Curious to hear others&#8217; take&#8230;</p> <p></p> <p>TG</p> <p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Felix Titling; color: #999999;"></span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Felix Titling; color: #999999;"></span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Felix Titling; color: #999999;"></span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0in;">&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </p> <p><a href="http://gracefultim.com/is-seo-ruining-the-internet">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://gracefultim.com/is-seo-ruining-the-internet#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~4/mZKz6InGylw" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/346916/headshot_under_200K.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sDGwMUQdZGF Tim Grace timgrace Tim Grace http://gracefultim.com/is-seo-ruining-the-internet Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:12:00 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~3/4DAh4WnxEXA/dolly-parton-and-web-slices http://gracefultim.com/dolly-parton-and-web-slices <p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <div> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Image001" height="293" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/timgrace/aH4azKQfxjORNbc8Hmix1v4Wt9T79UfuHG2HR1jAseCY1Tk84zPXY8tpZMZ9/image001.png" width="220" /> </div> </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_Parton">Dolly Parton</a>, the 64 year old iconic entertainer seems to be an artist on the bleeding edge of emerging web tech.&nbsp; She&rsquo;s no stranger to the social web, with pretty strong presence in less publicized venues like <a href="http://www.bebo.com/dollyparton">Bebo</a> and <a href="http://www.ilike.com/artist/Dolly+Parton/">iLike</a>.&nbsp; Recently, she partnered with Microsoft to promote their <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/features/easier.aspx">Web Slice</a> product, part of the last year&rsquo;s IE 8 launch.&nbsp; It&rsquo;s certainly an interesting pairing (she does seem more PC than Mac), but I want to spend a little time talking Web Slice.</p> <p>Web Slices are a bit of a bookmark and RSS feed mash-up.&nbsp; If you land on a site that offers Web Slices (which have to be developed by the site owner &ndash; there are a small number of these today), an icon on your browser indicates a Web Slice is available.&nbsp; Once clicked, you&rsquo;ll see that site&rsquo;s Web Slice in your IE toolbar, much like a standard bookmark.&nbsp;</p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/timgrace/v1ZueAAVIYgllfeGnOChXuEnmLpJEX0hVNNnHo7I7jPJFaBjajUNE8v4AYuJ/image003.jpg"><img alt="Image003" height="290" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/timgrace/kFyu9pavXvi3wdCyyALuEJkfA4gBPBSqlBqjkXLh2BsyVqVfuz8780xzTwgW/image003.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> </p> <p>The Web Slice itself pulls in &ldquo;micro-content&rdquo; in small window that displays within your browser.&nbsp; In my ESPN.com example, the content is simply their latest headlines, which is much like what you&rsquo;d get in ESPN&rsquo;s Headlines RSS feed.&nbsp; Dolly is also using her Web Slice to provide recent news on all things Dolly, but has also integrated her video diary and a Dolly products ecommerce widget (for the record, yes, this is most I&rsquo;ve ever thought of and/or talked about Dolly!).</p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Image005" height="279" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/timgrace/FSUw48wSTC1mmMep5ICD8JwVzGzZ62RByAFOBdRE8bWoKvsCkYTtUSPqT9BL/image005.png" width="330" /> </div> &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Image007" height="279" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/timgrace/tIHVnR0X1HOVC1SwJspSLbitwqbVPFViVI3cCFiy3fluqV1ClDxn864pUTzL/image007.png" width="330" /> </div> </p> <p>As an alternative to my Google Reader for blog/news content, I&rsquo;m not sure I&rsquo;d turn to Web Slices, but I think it has its place even if it&rsquo;s not for me.&nbsp; Despite the vast majority of the technorati turning to Firefox, Chrome, etc., the fact remains that IE&rsquo;s market share remains dominant.&nbsp; The overwhelming majority of visitors to <a href="http://www.apartments.com/">our site</a> still use IE and most have no idea what RSS is.&nbsp; I don&rsquo;t think our users are terribly unique in this regard.</p> <p>Given that, I expect a simple content shortcut like Web Slices could be a nice enhancement to bookmarks (which many &ldquo;average&rdquo; users do understand).&nbsp; It&rsquo;s a fairly seamless in-browser experience that can deliver the core experience/functionality as a quick hit, which I think is consistent with how many folks browse the web (a series of quick hits &ndash; check Facebook status updates, see news headlines, read new email, etc.).</p> <p>Moving forward, I&rsquo;ll be able to test my theory a bit, as we&rsquo;ve launched our own Web Slice at <a href="http://ieaddons.com/en/details/searchhelpers/Apartmentscom/">Apartments.com</a>.&nbsp; For us, that &ldquo;quick hit&rdquo; functionality is a simple search entry widget for our database of apartment listing.&nbsp; Given the nascent state of Web Slices, I don&rsquo;t expect a flood of new users or a major shift in where users initiate searches, but I think this is a worthy experiment.&nbsp; While I can&rsquo;t predict whether this will become a key IE feature or be relegated to an unsupported afterthought, I do think it&rsquo;s the type of product that fits with our audience.&nbsp; I&rsquo;ll certainly share any major insights down the road.</p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Image008" height="246" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/timgrace/N4Qwap3eZoCy74SYk2RNRdRgOJY5ceUR0XMATuYB9WjUU8pxNxGKSaEIASKQ/image008.jpg" width="467" /> </div> </p> <p>What are your thoughts on Web Slices?&nbsp; Do Microsoft and Dolly Parton have it all wrong?</p> <p>TG</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> </p> <p><a href="http://gracefultim.com/dolly-parton-and-web-slices">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://gracefultim.com/dolly-parton-and-web-slices#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~4/4DAh4WnxEXA" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/346916/headshot_under_200K.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sDGwMUQdZGF Tim Grace timgrace Tim Grace http://gracefultim.com/dolly-parton-and-web-slices Wed, 30 Dec 2009 23:54:00 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~3/ef1KlWgYBso/the-customer-is-not-always-right-2 http://gracefultim.com/the-customer-is-not-always-right-2 <p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/timgrace/39BawhQfHoWyDRdPUjGNQKIQshsUMh8EEs5Rs6VLWzUF2rf3wEu0ERTL9iHO/Research_Post_Image_1.jpg"><img alt="Research_post_image_1" height="151" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/timgrace/DyHYJ6sDGPkSblsKmshXlNimvpTyMWJlIPCLnc2o0eSIhM4NoFVEpXdGjBBD/Research_Post_Image_1.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> </p> <p>For those who may not know, I started my career as a researcher and in that field, I got pretty good at designing studies using a variety of well established methods to extract insights from people on their emotional reactions to Hallmark ads, brand preferences for pickup trucks and optimal feature sets for their next PC.&nbsp; I like to think my clients benefited greatly from our consultancy and that they became more customer attuned marketers or crafted more useful products as a result.&nbsp; In fact, there are some cases where I'm certain it did.<p /> That said, as I've come to deeply know what it's like to create great products/experiences and attempt to demonstrate to people the value these products provide, my understanding of the role of research in achieving this has shifted.&nbsp; <em>When it comes to innovation and "blank slate" thinking, people simply cannot tell you what they want or what they want you to create for them with any reliability.</em>&nbsp; <p /> In a <a href="http://incontextdesign.com/articles/dont-ask-your-customer-comic/">recent post</a>, <a href="http://incontextdesign.com/people/karen-holtzblatt/">Karen Holtzblatt at InContext </a>(supported by illustrations from <a href="http://incontextdesign.com/people/david-rondeau/">David Rondeau</a>, a couple of which I've included here) summarized my experiences and feelings on the topic much more eloquently than I could.&nbsp; To summarize, she asserts that certain techniques (surveys, "typical" qualitative techniques such as focus groups, use of customer advisory boards, etc.) simply fail to uncover the universal truths about one's experiences that is necessary for innovation.&nbsp; <p /> While I strongly feel that research methods like surveys, traditional qual, etc. continue to offer us great value in areas such as satisfaction, feature/price trade-offs, message testing, etc. etc., I have to agree with Karen that they are insufficient in uncovering our deepest needs.&nbsp; I can point to products, launched under my watch, that were developed using a large dose of direct customer feedback in their definition that simply did not deliver the way we'd hoped.&nbsp; In these cases, I can identify specific features and key marketing messages that were core to these products that directly addressed needs expressed to me by customers...and failed to compel once the product debuted.&nbsp; Of course, I'd be foolish to ignore the possibility that we simply failed to read those tea leaves properly, but even if some signals were crossed there's no question in my mind that these users/customers simply weren't able to state their needs clearly when asked pointedly.</p> <p><br /><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/timgrace/Wz8fnhVbHwesB26wzYX5DCyHPll71zT02bE8VVLpQDPXr3rNjQKS7nrOXFmM/Research_Post_Image_2.jpg"><img alt="Research_post_image_2" height="385" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/timgrace/7VBAwKF1sikF4L1PtxpkX3eCcy9jxHkbQJqDg5JnoCkfu7ZPcQO11gPYXPi7/Research_Post_Image_2.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> </p> <p><br />Karen further posits that observational research methods, like ethnography, can achieve what these other techniques can't.&nbsp; I agree with this, to a point.&nbsp; I'm a big fan of observational research and have had past success in using those methods to uncover insights that must be seen, not spoken.&nbsp; That said, I feel that this approach is easy to misuse.&nbsp; When relying on your observations of others, it's fairly easy to fall into subjective judgments that serve specific agendas and preferences even for the purest of heart.&nbsp; Understand these biases in your analysis or better yet, hire someone with training to do so without the baggage of your pet feature (or your boss's).<p /> For my apartment industry friends reading this, think about this when determining the next amenity you plan to invest in or when your strategizing for what your unique brand position should be.&nbsp; There is lots of data out there from industry surveys to search behavior on ILS's (even from us at <a href="http://apartments.com/">Apartments.com</a>) that are only going to tell you part of the story.&nbsp; Surveys will tell you want people <em>say</em> they want when asked and search data from <a href="http://apartments.com/">Apartments.com</a> will tell you what people tend to search for from the list we provide.&nbsp; Valuable, to be sure, but I believe the winning companies will seek to understand the unmet needs of renters in the communities they serve in a way yet untapped.&nbsp; <p /> TG</p> </p> <p><a href="http://gracefultim.com/the-customer-is-not-always-right-2">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://gracefultim.com/the-customer-is-not-always-right-2#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~4/ef1KlWgYBso" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/346916/headshot_under_200K.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sDGwMUQdZGF Tim Grace timgrace Tim Grace http://gracefultim.com/the-customer-is-not-always-right-2 Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:31:00 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~3/_HFxl6VU66E/tags-intro http://gracefultim.com/tags-intro <p> <p>Thank God for Posterous.&nbsp; For someone who teeters between love for both 140 character and wonderfully long-winded prose, I'm immediately drawn to the promise of this format bridging the gap between quick hitter tweets and blog posts.&nbsp; Frankly, my hesitancy to initiate my own blogging pursuits is that I hold blogging to a fairly high standard - I expect blog posts to be cogent, well-structured and to assert a thoughtful position.&nbsp; If I grant that I'm capable of delivering that sort of quality content, I <strong>know </strong>that I'm not going to be able meet that standard with the frequency I'd like.&nbsp; My mind feeds me bite-sized insights and musings most of the time and these are not well suited to the blog platform as I see it.<p /> So, that leads me to Posterous.&nbsp; I'm diving into the platform now because it seems perfectly aligned with how I think and how I want to share these thoughts with whatever microscopic audience is interested in such drivel ;)&nbsp; If I want to deep-dive a topic, I can, but I could also throw up a two minute video post (hat tip to <a href="http://www.theapartmentnerd.com">Mark Juleen, the Apartment Nerd</a>, for embracing that technique) or a quick response to another content piece without violating the expectations of my readers.<p /> As my readers, please feel free to let me know how successful this approach is.&nbsp; The value I offer you will be the only ROI I look at in the content shared here.<p />Cheers,<p />TG</p> </p> <p><a href="http://gracefultim.com/tags-intro">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://gracefultim.com/tags-intro#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TimGracesMusings/~4/_HFxl6VU66E" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/346916/headshot_under_200K.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sDGwMUQdZGF Tim Grace timgrace Tim Grace http://gracefultim.com/tags-intro