Monthly Archives: April 2016

April 12, 2016 · 11:22 am

Get Dirty

It’s amazing how much every business depends on technology.  Whether it’s as basic as email or as complex as cross-platform measurement and analysis, it’s hard to find a job that hasn’t been changed over the last two decades by the advent of various technologies.  That’s obvious for those of us who work with technology and technology-related businesses every day.  It’s less obvious for people in non-tech businesses or areas of responsibility such as accounting.

English: This diagram details the layout and w...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One thing I see happening is that we tend to isolate ourselves into our primary areas of responsibility.  We learn, for example, what good marketing entails but we draw the line at understanding the technology that drives much marketing activity.  We might write great content but we have little notion about what’s involved in making that content visible both to humans and to search engines.  It gets worse as you go higher up the food chain.  I’ve known plenty of managers or directors or higher-ups who not only don’t get their hands dirty but don’t wish to understand much of anything involved in the workflow.  They love to see the finished sausage but they refuse to see how it’s made.

We can’t allow specialization to keep us from knowing a little bit about a lot. I’ll give you an example.  I got a frantic call from a client years ago.  Their new website wasn’t showing up in Google and they couldn’t figure out why.  They had used an outside developer who was unreachable (I think avoiding them since they were kind of high maintenance) and wanted to fix the issue.  One look at the homepage code showed that the developer had used a “Noindex” command which tells the search engines to ignore the page.  It’s a common thing done in development and easy to spot if you know about it. I’m certainly no coder but by knowing a little bit about it, I could help.  Problem solved.

We need to know more than just our jobs.  We need to know a little bit of everything.  You have to get your hands dirty in many processes and speak the languages spoken elsewhere in your company – tech, finance, marketing, whatever. Does that make sense?

Leave a comment

Filed under Consulting, Thinking Aloud

Tagged as , , , , , ,

April 11, 2016 · 10:58 am

Are You A Mechanic?

Unless you are a very knowledgeable gearhead, you’ve probably had the experience of something going wrong with your vehicle and heading to a mechanic.  Hopefully, I’m not the only one who is immediately paranoid about the diagnosis offered.  I’m always concerned that what I’m being told is causing a rattle is a broken motor mount that requires expensive repairs when it’s just a loose hose that could be fixed with a zip tie.  By the way, if you think I’m exaggerating, read this article. 

The mechanic situation is an example of someone with more knowledge and, therefore, more power taking advantage of you.  You might be reading this while shaking your head and saying I would never behave that way.  I’m sure on the surface that’s true.  Let’s think, however, about another situation in which you might just be behaving just as badly and taking advantage of someone.

An employee leaves and you ask someone else to cover that work as well as their own.  Given that most jobs take at least a month (and generally more) to fill, what are you doing to compensate that person for assuming the extra workload?  Is it possible either to have several people cover or maybe some things just go undone while you go through the hiring process?

Another example.  No one ever really leaves the office anymore.  Email is never off and most people carry email access on their persons at all times.  That said, we’ve all heard of situations where someone sends an email at night and when it isn’t answered in a few minutes, follow up with either a second note or a phone call.  Unless it’s a major crisis, why can’t that wait until work hours resume?  It’s one thing to make these demands of salaried management; it’s quite another to ask hourly employees to keep working outside of work since they’re not getting paid for the time.

Finally, when was the last time you said “thank you” to every member of your team?  Sure, a paycheck is a nice “thanks” but you’ll be surprised how far a few kind words can go.  It makes the folks with whom you work confident that you’re not the evil mechanic who is taking advantage of their situation.  Willing to try?

Leave a comment

Filed under Reality checks, Thinking Aloud

Tagged as , , , ,

April 8, 2016 · 9:42 am

Waste Not

Foodie Friday, and the topic this week is a better bottom line. I went out for breakfast this morning. As I ordered, the server asked me if cinnamon toast was OK. I replied that I didn’t care for any toast at all, thanks. When my breakfast showed up a few minutes later, the toast was parked right on the plate along with some apple butter. I’m sure it would have been delicious but it went uneaten.

Toast, toasted

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The obvious business point is that food – and therefore margin – was wasted. No business can afford to throw resources away. There are some less obvious points as well. I looked at the check – there was no notation on it to hold the toast, so clearly the blame lies with the server and not with the kitchen. Was the server paying attention? What if the customer had expressed a concern about a food allergy and that concern wasn’t passed along to the kitchen?  While my server was quite attentive, refilling the coffee as it disappeared and providing milk as requested instead of the prepackaged cream, she didn’t handle the single most important part of her job – getting the order right.

I don’t mean to blow what is a relatively minor error into an indictment of this server.  I do want to use it as an example of how minor errors can have an impact on the bottom line if they persist.  Wasted resources, inattentive sales reps, and unhappy customers are the kiss of death in any business.  Who knows how many other orders of toast or grits or potatoes went out of the kitchen, only to come back untouched and tossed.  How often does something similar happen in your business?

Leave a comment

Filed under food, Helpful Hints, Huh?

Tagged as , , , , ,