Why buy a Ferrari in the first place? Image aside, it’s been bread on the race track for one specific purpose, performance. Going really fast around very technical corners, that’s what it does exceptionally well. So why would you throw mud tires on it and run down the Baja 1000? It makes no sense.

Take Salesforce for example, it’s one of the fastest growing customer relationship management (CRM) solutions in the industry. Salesforce is an “easy-to-use Web-based CRM solution for sales, service, marketing, and call center operations¹….” This is what it has been built for, and does very well.

Businesses used to purchase, or build, specific software to accomplish one, maybe two, very specific tasks. Now enter into the “Web 2.0” world where we are pushed to customize everything. Pushed for that one master application that does it all and more. Beware the trap that is customization.

In Salesforce’s case, did you notice the AppExchange? You can customize with over 800 different applications. From project management and travel planning to Human Resources and Student Attendance. Just click the install app.

You just put mud tires on the Ferrari, didn’t you?

When implementing any solution, remember to ask yourself several key questions;

·         What are my goals?

·         What kind of reporting do I want to see?

·         How much customization is needed for it to fit my business?

·         How many resources does it require to maintain?

·         Is this really the right solution for my business?

You don’t have to pick the most expensive solution, just one that meets your goals and criteria. Sounds simple, but it’s all too easy to be lured into just “installing one more feature.” I’m not discouraging you from making minor customizations here and there so it fits your business. On the contrary, I encourage you to do so. Just make sure those customizations are fine tuning the application to accomplish your tasks, make the business run smoother and essentially your life that much easier.

In short; If you need a CRM, implement a CRM. Just because there’s an “install” button on the right side of the screen doesn’t mean you should click on it. Common sense.

I bid you farewell for now. I have to strip project management and HR out of Salesforce.

Here is some food for thought; Customizations must be removed with surgical precision. Keep in mind that for every hour you spend installing a new feature, it will likely take twice as long to remove it, if not more. All that data needs to go somewhere. Don’t scrap your Ferrari when removing the mud tires.

And you thought the Cayenne was bad.

¹Salesforce.com

According to the Richter scale, a magnitude 5.4 earthquake shook our main offices here in Irvine yesterday morning at approximately 11:42 am. For some of our team members, this was their first tremor experience… ever.  But for other southern California-raised residents, like me, we haven’t experienced seismic activity this significant since the 6.7 Northridge earthquake—you know, the one that sent us flying out of our beds in the wee hours of the morning back in ‘94. What many of you probably aren’t aware of is the fact that our office space is situated within a completely renovated, refurbished and expertly retrofitted 110+-year-old lima bean factory in Old Town Irvine.  Although it is up-to-spec in building codes, the thought of “The Big One” raced across our minds, as we swayed back and forth on our wobbly wooden legs.

Here at EMG, our security cameras captured real-life footage of our offices in a commotion as the ground shook and rattled hanging fixtures and appliances. Looking closely at the video recording, which can be viewed at http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-53184, we see two sets of reactions from our team members both upstairs and downstairs. Naturally, the video has already proven to be an excellent demonstration of the dos and the don’ts during an earthquake disaster and will most certainly be used in our updated disaster preparedness video training. 

As you can see, our offices were shaken – and stirred – but I can just imagine that internet viewers must have been crying tears of laughter as soon as our videos were posted on ireport.com—a subsidiary website of CNN, where users can instantly post and report the latest breaking news. Remarkably, EMG’s footage generated over 1,100 views within the first hour of being posted and was also picked up by CNN.com and was marked to be featured on the CNN’s broadcast television station. Within less than 24 hours, the video received more  4,600 impressions, and based on web analytics reports, the footage description which included a link to our facilities has attracted more than 100 visitors to the EMG website www.earthboundmediagroup.com.

Truth be told, our attempt to share our earthquake experience just shows how that agencies like ours – or anyone with a recording device – can take advantage of a newsworthy event and virally distribute it on a newsfeed to instantly drive highly unique user traffic to our site . . . for FREE.

I really enjoy attending User Experience events. This is one place where I can tell people that I am an Information Architect, without them looking at me and say: So I guess you design houses then?

Trust me, I get that quite a lot at other social gatherings, like birthday parties, weddings and high school reunions…

So, I was at this Los Angeles Designers Meet up recently and a young lady in her mid 20s asked me a question that I have not thought of in recent years.

Her: What would be THE one principle that you have stood by throughout the years in your line of work?”

(I deep thought about my past 10 years in the User Experience field and replied)

Me: Well, it has to be KISS Usability or Keep It Simple Stupid Usability.

(I went on and elaborate)

Me: In fact, it’s easy to make things difficult but it’s difficult to make things easy.

But the key when it comes to usability is to focus on just one thing.

I then shared an article that I’ve recently read, with her. It’s called “Choice Kills Usability” by John Rhodes and here are some key points from that article:

“One of the easiest ways to improve usability is by focusing on just one thing. When you present something to the user, be sure that it’s just one thing. All too often we try too hard to offer people several options.

The reason many people love Google.com is that it offers just one thing: Search. A single-minded focus has enormous implications. Users can clearly understand what Google is about and what it does. Even new users to Google are instantly put at ease because of the outlandish simplicity.

There are branding implications as well. When people think about search they think about Google and when they think about Google they think about search. This brand strength translates to billions of dollars of market capitalization…”

“…billion dollar companies down to gritty little sales pages can benefit from ultra focus. When you eliminate clutter and choices, usability invariably goes up. When there is a single purpose of a web page, product or service everyone wins.

Next time you’re thinking about giving your customers 100 choices, think about the effort that it takes to investigate each decision. Think about the cognitive effort required to sift through option after option. Look, if you “know” there is one best choice; eliminate the junk and focus, focus, focus.

Choice kills usability. Not always — But when you are in doubt about adding features, choices, and options, take the safe path.

Provide a clear vision. Be practical. Focus for usability. “

So, next time, when your customer wants the “About Us” link to be repeated on the header, footer and again on the infamous quick-links section, just because they said it is not prominent enough. Think again, try to recommend a solution that focus and make that “one link” more obvious and prominent.

The footer definitely has much greater use than just repeating what’s in the header and so is the quick-links section. I guess that may be a topic for my next chat up and a blog to follow.

Search engine marketing is an integral part of the online marketing mix. People perform billions of searches each day and they find your website, voilà! (It’s not quite as easy as ‘voilà’ but you get the idea)

Now forget search engines for a moment and think about some other online options available to search for information; YouTube, Facebook, forums, Digg, multimedia searches through Google & Yahoo, del.icio.us, and the list goes on. Your consumers are not limiting themselves to just search engines when they search on the web.

So how do you ensure you will be found through these alternative channels? Do you even want to be found through some of these channels? It depends. Take a step back and indentify your audience. Where do they hang out online? How does your audience find information online?

Developing a social media marketing strategy and understanding how to manage your online reputation is critical. Observe how you are being perceived online, learn what your audience is reacting to, and then participate in these communities. You could generate cool content that could hit the front page of Digg or maybe start a group on Facebook.

If for example I work in the marketing department at Audi I might want to check out Audi related viral videos on YouTube, various car enthusiast forums to see what people are saying about Audi, and generally understand how my product is perceived across various online channels. From there I can decide how I want to position and market to these consumers. In this case I might want to target people searching for ‘Audi R8 video’ on YouTube or someone looking for a user review on a popular car forum.

As the internet is becoming more and more dominated by user-generated content we need to adapt and learn how to penetrate new channels. If you aren’t adapting you might be limiting your marketing efforts and also missing out at a lot of fun!

I’d like to report on a weekend after-dinner conversation that reminded me how critical the structure of language actually is. Too often I write off those late school nights I spent with Foucault and Saussure as irrelevant to my day-to-day work as a marketing content developer - but no more!

This renewed passion for structuralism even promises to put myself in a more natural dialogue with my fellow computer scientists. Needless to say, I’m a sucker for intersections and interrelations, and I hope the paraphrased pseudo-transcript below serves to open up a new nexus or two for its readers! Note: names have been changed to protect those involved in the inevitable event that I’m misquoting them!

Christy: Did you hear that scientists proved the human brain is programmed to process language according to structural patterns (“cat” is either the sound made when someone says the word or when someone signs the word) and semantics (“cat” is a furry creature that says meow)?

Mike: They also located the specific areas of the brain where those functions occur, too. So fascinating! Before, it was believed that the capability to recognize structural patterns was developed over time but not innate to the human brain.

Mandy: So, you’re saying that structural patterns are necessary to a human’s experience of verbalized or sign language?

Christy & Mike: Yes!

Mandy: Wow. I wonder if I could use this to support an idea I had about punctuation and standardized usage rules affecting an individual’s experience of language – reading or hearing it.

Christy: I’ve always thought that punctuation and usage rules DETERMINE how one reads language – aloud or in one’s head from a page – so, I think that could work. What do you mean about “experience” though?

Mandy: Well, even though someone may not realize a comma is in the wrong place or that the word “your” is used incorrectly for the conjunction of “you” and “are” (which should be “you’re), I suspect – or would like to believe – that their brain recognizes the error to some degree and experiences the error on a level somewhere between subconscious and conscious. Like with html code, if the bracket is missing before “b>”, the output will not be the intended bolded text.

And, if this is true, then I also suspect that a company or product that defines itself with language rife with errors contributes to individuals’ experiences of that company or product – experiences that ultimately shape conscious belief or actions – being impacted by those errors or conflicted in some way at the very least.

Mike: I think it’s bigger than that, actually. I think usage and punctuation errors impact the explicit meaning, even if it’s not as blatant as the Oracle at Delphi’s story when the Oracle told its questioner, “You will go you will return not in the battle you will perish.” If you put the comma before “not,” the individual will live. If you put the comma after “not,” the individual will die in battle.

Mandy: Hmm. So even if the stakes aren’t as high as death, meaning is sacrificed when punctuation and standardized usage rules are ignored. Guess we’ve just provided job security for proofreaders everywhere.

Jake: Well, let’s just keep this between us until I sell all my Derrida books on eBay. Cool?

I don’t know about you, but I would LOVE a new 17″ Macbook Pro! So, how do you win a new Macbook Pro? Enter the Day JCR Cup 2008! Simply create a content-centric application and submit it no later than midnight September 30th, 2008. Detailed information (more so than what I’ll cover in this blog) can be found at:

http://dev.day.com/microsling/content/blogs/cup.c.html

JCR/JSR 170/Content Management:

You may be asking yourself, ‘what does JCR stand for?’ JCR stands for the Java Content Repository. Day Software (Day) has been an emerging leader in the field of Web Content Management (WCM) and Enterprise Content Management (ECM) for over a decade now. In an effort to not only promote themselves more amongst the Open Source Community, but also in promoting the concept of Content Management Systems (CMS) (I know, I know, let the acronyms fly!), they created the JSR (Java Specification Request) 170.

The Apache Software Foundation created an open source, fully compatible version of JSR 170 by creating the Jackrabbit project. Day’s commercial implementation of JSR 170 is the Content Repository Extreme (CRX). Day’s flagship WCM, Communique, is a set of API’s built on top of the CRX.

One of the neat things about this contest is that it gives developers a chance to obtain a free, trial version of the CRX. When you sign up for the contest, a trial key is emailed to you. The contest page has links to documentation, quickstart guides, FAQs, mailing lists, and all associated technologies needed to build out a complete CMS.

One final note before I end this blog… I’ve been developing with Day Communique for over 5 years now. I am VERY curious to see what the new version, CQ 5, will look like. I have a sneaky suspicion that all of the technologies involved with this content (JCR, SLING, etc.) are a good indication of what CQ 5 is going to look like…

Until next time…

Todd

While at a recent conference that EMG was speaking at I was approached by an individual who wanted to discuss a web redevelopment project. As we were discussing what he wanted I started to ask questions about why he wanted it. What was the goal associated with the project? After thinking about it for a while, he simply stated that he wanted an “updated web site.” Ok, but why? What is it that you’re looking to do? This individual did not come from an e-commerce background, nor was his web property as simple to define as simply “generating more sales.” The trick in this case was helping to define what the individual wanted the outcome to be of the web redevelopment. From there I was able to ask additional questions:

• Are you looking to generate leads?
• Are you looking to generate more site traffic in which you sell ads?
• Are you looking to increase sales?
• Are you looking for visitors to download information?
• Are you looking for visitors to find information to assist in an offline purchase?
• Are you looking for visitors to find support information?
• Are you looking at running an affiliate site?

In soccer the purpose of the sport is to advance the ball down the field, and kick the ball into the opposing teams goal. Web projects should have a similiar purpose and goal associated to them before beginning any project. After going through the above questions I was able to find out the why. Before you start or engage on a new project sit down and map out the strategy associated with what you’re looking to accomplish. Simply getting a new web redevelopment may look visually appealing but it may not align with the primary goal of your web property. Look to define the goal first, and then have the project align based upon that goal, rather than during or after the project.

So last week while at a partner conference for ECM leader Interwoven up in San Francisco, I was able to pop over to the Web 2.0 conference right across the street, where EMG happened to be exhibiting for the first time.   After spending just 20 minutes talking with my colleagues in the booth as well as a few attendees here and there, I began to notice something very peculiar.   Never in my life has there been a greater diversity of industry, age, culture, interest or human specimens under one roof then at this conference.   It was an anthropologists dream.   Now, regardless what you may feel about the term “2.o” in general, you have to admit that never has such a buzz phrase fostered such indulgence and interests since I can remember… OK, don’t judge on that one.    I guess the fascinating part for me was just how individuals, companies and the conference hosts themselves had spun the 2.0 genre to include so many things.   From major media providers to small technology start ups to interactive agencies to the biggest names on the Internet - everyone has found a way to exploit, nay I say, capitalize, on the phrase itself.   But has it worked.   Let’s ask the eighty-year old woman slowly shuffling down the walk way about just why she is here shall we - oh wait, where did she go.  Never-mind, I was bombarded, humbled and entertained by the gamut of other conversations I engaged in.   From the genius start-up entrepreneur looking to change the way the web fosters communication as we know it to the stoic academic that was just looking for some great debate to the individual from the SF Parks & Recreation department and his dramatic testimony on the future of the parks and social networking.   Everyone had an opinion.     Well good for them, because regardless of how you feel, there has been a noticeable shift in those that are standing behind the school of thought that demonstrates the web as a true business unit and aren’t going to settle for anything but more accountability, more engagement and more advancement around this extremely young medium.   So I say, hats off to all you(us) weirdos, evangelists and experimenters on the edge of digital sanity.  You are the beacon for my faith and the direction you will take us.

So I’m just finishing up one of the most fascinating books that was given to me by one of my colleagues, Amanda Vande Brake. The book is The Culture Code. Without going into hundreds of lil nuances and details, the basic summary is that the book takes a psychoanalysis rollercoaster and multi-layered adventure into how a consumer’s individual unique culture, personal experiences and life patterns define the way they respond to brands as well as to marketing in general.

I think the most fascinating portion of the book was in fact not the outcomes, but simply the process and journey that author, renowned cultural anthropologist Dr. Clotaire Rapaille, takes his test subjects through as he delves into how their own behaviors, thoughts and relationships with various test products (i.e. cars, ceral, wine, etc). Him and I share a common belief. Ignore what people “tell” you in a workshop, survey or focus group because more often then not they lie, are easily influenced or just don’t really remember or have an opinion on the information you are trying to get out of them. Instead, Dr. Rapaille says to focus instead on the common structure of stories that your test subjects reveal.

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C++ has come a long way since 1985. It was the first, practical implementation of Object Oriented Programming (OOP) and has consistently evolved to keep up with modern standards. C++ has journeyed through the fire and flames to hold its title as the best programming language to use if a program needs to be performance savvy. The programming world is changing once again and C++ is evolving with it. Multicore processors and advanced threading architecture is now built-in to a lot of computers allowing for programs to run faster and run programs concurrently. In my opinion this is great for a number of reasons. Sometimes a program is so large that it requires the use of multiple processors to keep performance up. For instance, perhaps Blizzard has a web server that requires multiple threads to be processed concurrently by the local machine to ensure performance for all of their end users! Normally, we would look to higher level languages like Python or Java for a task like this, but C++ is evolving. New frameworks are being built to incorporate better threading models and even allow compilers to make use of multiple core processors, or multiple processors!

More information on the topic can be found here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3528799355371049884

This video is about 90 minutes long and it goes over a lot of the cool new features that C++ is going to have for multiple core processor, or multiple processor, machines!

I grew up with languages like C++ and I am happy to see them evolve to keep up with modern standards. Hopefully, it will continue to do so.