Behind the Scenes at Global-Roam

Beginning in early March, I have been progressively posting about each of our core values.

A.  Why focus on Values?

To provide context – i.e. to provide the reason why we do what we do.

Increasingly in future, we will be referring back to these core values to provide us a grounding as our business grows – they will define the basis for our culture (the way we do things around here).

It is through reference to these values that we will be able to rapidly grow our number of clients with only a relatively small growth in the size of our team.

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The post below is an early draft (and is incomplete).

It has been superseded by a more recent update, which I posted here on the blog on Thursday 25th February 2010.  The post below remains here (for now) as a historical curiosity.

The role of the Product Manager follows a similar model as that we will apply to our Chief Software Engineer and, as such, the position might be equally termed:

Manager for Discerning, Developing and Delivering what the Customer Wants

Again, all three aspects of the role are important.

1)     Summary

As Product Manager, you will accept direct responsibility for one (or more) of our Mature Products.

With this responsibility, your focus will be on maximising the value we deliver to clients through this product – whilst at the same time maximising the value we generate for ourselves, over the longer-term.

You will also accept responsibility as a Project Manager in the software development process – utilising the Agile methods promoted by the Chief Software Engineer.

If necessary, you will also play a role in coding, though this will not be your primary focus.

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It is a loaded term – it means different things to different people (here’s the Wikipedia reference, for instance).

To me, it seems that there are two competing “innovation camps” which I sum up as follows: read more »

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Here’s an interesting video (runs for an hour) promoting a new book “Glimmer:  How Design Can Transform Your Life, and Maybe Even the World” by Warren Berger (and Bruce Mau).

Seems like an interesting book, so have thrown it in our shopping cart, and will review it sometime in 2010.

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I’ve recently posted about what some are calling the rise of the “Age of Analytics”, and also posted several times on innovation (such as this note about 5 “discovery skills”).

Not sure how I stumbled upon this article in Business Week – it’s titled “The Design of Business” and is written by Roger Martin (of Rotman School of Management) to coincide with the launch of his new book (which we have duly added to our Amazon cart and will review in due course). read more »

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Following my previous post (book review of “Tale of Two Systems” – but really a consideration of Agile & Lean Software Development) I have continued to read, and think (yeah, dangerous, I know).

The following two posts will be of interest:

1)  This post from the HBR Editor’s Blog titled “How do innovators think?” provides many good points (and some of the added comments at the bottom are great as well) but I want to cut to the chase and highlight the “5 Discovery Skills” included in the article:

Skill 1 = Associating – a cognitive skill that “allows creative people to make connections across seemingly unrelated questions, problems, or ideas”.  Like being able to find your way without needing a map.

Skill 2 = Questioning – like asking the “5 why’s”

Skill 3 = Observation, and (particularly) doing it really well – well enough to pick up nuances in behaviour, etc….

Skill 4 = Experimentation – try a lot of things and keep what works, as noted by Collins and Porras.

Skill 5 = Networking – the post notes that the key is that the networking is done with smart people who have little in common with them, but from whom they can learn.

2)  I read in the comments that someone has already made the link with Agile Software Development.  Here’s commentary by Bob MacNeal on his blog.

In particular with respect to Bob’s post, he has omitted the 3rd skill. I am not sure why he has done this, or if it is deliberate.

However one of the comments underneath sums it up when they note “To write great software you need to observe the detail that’s not included in the written version of the requirements.”  (my emphasis added, as I totally agree)

Given the challenges, opportunities and uncertainties our business faces, we need all 5 in spades!

For the second time this week (following from Scott Ginsberg’s session), Adam and I were entertained, and intellectually stimulated, by a seminar focused on helping business do better.

This event was titled “Leading and Enabling Innovation through ICT” and was  presented by Zernike Australia in conjunction with Australian Institute of Commercialisation (AIC), Brisbane Technology Park, and QUT.

The event was part of the “Innovation Series”.

1)  Some great content

After having the session kicked off by Rowan Gilmore (CEO of the AIC), we were then treated to some great ideas from three top speakers:

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This is to follow Adam’s post on the Scott Ginsberg seminar, and specifically to follow Adam’s post with some more specific thoughts about what it means to us.

The post was initially made restricted, but I have now shifted some of the more confidential comments to a “part2” restricted post here….

1)  Be Remarkable

(in the truest sense of the word) – as in, present yourself in such a way that other people want to talk about you.

One of Scott’s most telling points (and he had stolen this from others) is that:
1)  If we talk about ourselves, the listener (naturally) assumes it is marketing, and is inclined to switch off.
2)  However, if other people talk about us, then this provides our name/brand some instant credibility, in the listener’s mind.  The extension of this is that the amount of credibility we gain is proportional to the listener’s view of the person talking about us. read more »

Shane has been lightning-quick and beaten me to the punch (as it were) with his take on the seminar we both attended on Wednesday (29th) this week.

On the day I took 4 pages of notes (and not a doodle in sight) so I thought it might be of interest, to you, for me to waffle on a little, as well – even just to cure your insomnia.

Until they take it down, the IIB has a page on their website that explains a little about the seminar – which was focused around “Building a Resilient Company”.

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