Behind the Scenes at Global-Roam

As noted previously, we have recently appointed our General Manager for Discerning, Developing and Delivering what the Customer Wants.

As part of the process of getting our new GM up to speed in understanding who our customers are (and what keeps them awake at night), we are investing significantly in touring around Australia to meet with a diverse sample of our clients.  Others will be talked to via phone, Skype or WebEx – whilst we hope to visit clients in other countries later in the year.

On the plane out of Brisbane yesterday afternoon, I had the chance to read this article “Specialise yourself right out of a job” from the AFR.

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This is the 2nd post on the topic.

The first post was made almost 2 months ago, and remained incomplete whilst I focused on higher priority issues (such as the recruitment of our GM DDD WCW).  In the meantime, we have had several conversations internally with respect to the implicit responsibilities of the position.

This post is intended to be a starting point, from which further refinement can be made once our GM DDD WCW has started with the company.

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The Book	What we thought
“Living the 80/20 Way” by Richard Koch

In 1906 the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto observed that 80% of Italy’s wealth came from only 20% of the population. This principle has since become known as the 80/20 rule. In Living the 80/20 Way, the author Richard Koch explains how this rule can be applied to many different areas of our life.
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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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In 2010, as a result of our Autopsy 2 process, we have identified that we need to make two key appointments in 2010:

GM of Design, Development & Delivery.

GM of Marketing & Sales

We need to do this for a number of reasons – not least of which is to ensure that the company can become sustainable over the longer term, and to allow me to spend more time focused on other aspects of continuing to grow the business.

These appointments will be key positions for us, moving forwards. Hence this book was very timely….

1)  Binary Review

… not to mention a great read!

The Book	What we thought
“Great People Decisions” by Claudio Fernandez Araoz	Very thought-provoking

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Had to chuckle one night last week when I saw (in one of the many books I am reading at present) the following passage:

When I was studying [about software] at [uni], it was common to talk to professors and students about new products.  We’d focus on what components these new software products used and how they compared against what could have been.  Value was … how much of the latest technologies they used.

Generally, we thought everything sucked.  Very few products survived our critiques.  We wondered why the marketplace was packed with mediocrity and disappointment.

We’d even invented geek conspiracy theories to explain the evil decisions, which we thought were made against engineering purity and thus made little or no sense to us.

Often, we’d focus blame on the marketing departments of these companies (not that many of us understood what marketers did).

Even in my first few years in the industry, the same kinds of conversations took place again and again.

Actually, it was more of a liberal dose of belly-laughter than just a chuckle, which brought a look of consternation from my wife.

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I posted recently about how I have fallen down, sometimes, in the establishing a shared understanding about the ways in which our business needs to operate.

See aside below**

Recently I ran into another of these internal points of confusion …

What should I be working on?

This is a key question I have been asked numerous times in the past 10 years.

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Stephen Hurn read this book last week and suggested all of us should read it.

It really is a 1-hour read, and I have made this post in an effort to ensure we all gain some value from the wisdom contained in the book.

1)  Binary Review

The Book	What we thought
“Communicating Clearly” by Harvard Business Press	Uncommon “common sense”

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