1.000.000 miles & counting…

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Which would you choose… the Kindle or the iPad? After using the iPad for almost two months, that’s a no brainer. But… there’s an underlying question that I wasn’t expecting and that’s surprisingly interesting (to me).

There’s a book I’d like. It’s available on both iBooks and Kindle. It’s the same price on each platform. Which do I buy? Read more…

The other day Ron Schmeltzer tweeted how broken the RFP process is for buying software and his opinion of the process (he dislikes it). [Correction: Ron was talking about consulting RFP's, so the post below doesn't really matter. But, it did get me off my bum to write the post below, something I've had in my head for quite some time.] I quickly responded, asking him how he’d do it differently if he were a buyer. I have some thoughts on this, but was curious what he thought. Brett Miller responded with a blog post he wrote back in July as to the pros and cons of the RFP process.

In general, my opinion about Brett’s points are that the cons outweigh the pros in most every case, and that there are alternative ways to achieve the pros without invoking the cons.

I feel quite strongly that the RFP process for software purchasing is totally broken, and have an idea to replace it based on the work that some early founders of WebLayers did when I was selling Actional to them at Credit Suisse.

First let me explain why I think it’s broken. Then I’ll share my recommended fix. Read more…

Early last November I sat with Chris Larsen over breakfast as he explained his perspective on Progress‘ market presence. Chris had been following Progress for years and had recently joined Progress as Executive VP of Sales. He summed up the challenges faced by the company with a story of a recent customer visit.

This big bank he visited had no idea who Progress was. They were a customer of OpenEdge, DataDirect and Sonic, and there was a big Apama deal on the table. We were late to the deal, and didn’t have the strategic relationship with the bank that we should have had as a long term technology provider. A relationship, I might add that was critical to beating some of the smaller startups competing against Apama for the business. Chris was frustrated that there were four sales teams in at the bank, none of which showed a whit of interest in working with the other.

Tons of reasons, obvious to anyone at Progress, as to why that was the case.

Just 8 months later, I’d like to share an experience. The experience was fittingly my final Progress performance. Read more…

…I would have resigned years ago.

After 26 countries, almost 8 years, and (depending on how you count) 5 significant corporate changes, I’m pleased to announce my resignation from Progress (Actional).

I made the very difficult decision to leave about 9 weeks ago. It’s been a whirlwind of self-reflection, networking, and interviewing. During this time I’ve learned a tremendous amount about myself, and about looking for a new role. I hope to share my insights now that my resignation is public.

I will be taking the next few weeks off to work on Where’s Your Heart? and my yoga practice, and visiting Oshita Sensei in Munich for a 3 day iaido seminar before starting my new role. Stay tuned.

PS  Please remember to connect with me if you’d like to stay in touch. Either Facebook or Linked In. And, if you’re so inclined I welcome Linked In recommendations.

This is actually the post I sat down to write yesterday.

Work with me here…

Pretend  you’re a merchant. Say… Farmers Insurance. And, let’s say you had a program to make your billing easier called “Auto Pay”. Auto Pay arguably offers more to you, as Farmers Insurance, than to your customers (oh yeah, it’s more convenient… right).

So, as Farmers Insurance you have my credit card… and every six months you submit a payment for my insurance premium (six weeks prior to it being due by the way).

Now, here’s the riddle: Read more…

I wish we’d just stop delivering the US Post… just make everything electronic. Again, yesterday, I get a letter from Verizon saying “Thank you for setting up your online account. Your temporary password is XXX, you’ll need this when you login. If you’ve already logged in, please ignore this.”

Considering that I logged in immediately after creating the account, I wonder why they printed/sent this letter at all.

Actually… here’s why, and here’s how people need to rethink BPM (Business Process Management). Read more…

So, for the first time in my life, I’ll be brief.

As many of you heard, I’m now the proud owner of an HTC Incredible phone on Verizon and an iPad. I’ve been so busy that I’ve hardly had time to do anything with either, but I will say this… Read more…

Got in very late last night after my drive home from Bedford. Not too bright this morning as a result. And, distracted. And, have start a 2 week business trip this weekend (so a little self-absorbed).

In any case, I followed an older man using a walker into the elevator. He was accompanied by his wife who still moved gracefully, if slowly.

As we hit the ground floor, he immediately shooed me through the door, as if to say “you’re faster than we are, go.” But there was more too. I could “see”.

I patiently waited for the lady to leave the elevator first, as is appropriate. Stubbornly ignoring his “shooing me” with my body language.

Once she was out, and without saying a word he shooed me again. I saw the same thing in his eyes as before. So, I deliberately turned and pushed the “hold door” button, and without a word told him “you’re not in the way because your old or slow”.

Got that awesome smile in return that you only get from babies and old people. You know which one I’m talking about? The one that is pure delight.

Now, I’m better equipped for today.

AT&T must surely be worried about something. They seem to be reassuring investors that hordes of iPhone users won’t leave AT&T as soon as there’s another option (here in the US). Today’s announcement that 40% of iPhone sales are to business users are probably meant to reinforce the comments last week about how difficult it would be for iPhone customers to leave AT&T (no matter how badly they’d want to) because most are on family or business plans that make it difficult to switch carriers.

I’m sure these announcements have nothing to do with the research note that suggests 6M iPhone users could defect to Verizon. Read more…

Let me first give credit for that phrase to Fred Wilson, a NYC venture capitalist who blogged about email overload earlier this week. I came across his post, and a post by Mark Suster in response (continuation) to Fred’s. These guys are speaking out about a real problem for people like us who want to be available and need to keep track of what’s going on.

The purpose of this post is mostly to say “me too”, and also to point out a couple of startups they link to that I’m excited to have found. I setup accounts for both, and am pleased they exist. Read more…