Behind the Scenes at Global-Roam

The June issue of Inc Magazine arrived recently.

Some issues don’t have much relevance to where we’re at, but this one had a few interesting articles.
1)  On this post, I’d like to comment on “Never read another Resume” by Jason Fried, co-founder of 37 Signals, specifically as it relates to us.
2) Perhaps I’ll also find time to post about the others at a later date …

Repeat visitors of this blog will understand how we’re investing quite a bit of time and effort, of late, in upgrading our capabilities – we’ve brought in a couple coaches (to bridge our skills gaps, short-term) and have started recruiting in a number of key people (starting with the software development team).

This article was relevant to these efforts.

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When you see a job advertised with a title like

General Manager for Discerning, Developing and Delivering
What the Customer Wants

it is hard not to be curious.  In particular, I’d never had a job title that needed an acronym before - “GM 3D WCW” has a sort of geeky attractiveness about it, so I had to come and have a look.

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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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Frequent readers to this blog will have noted an organogram included in a post made back in January that identified the organisation structure and responsibilities that existed at the start of the year.

Since that time, our business has been evolving fairly rapidly – with a fair number of changes already completed (and a number still to go) in order to ensure that we really can deliver on our primary core value of “Customers First!”.

When I have a bit more time, I will post in more detail about some of the other developments that have been completed, or are still in progress – in this post I just wanted to ensure you were aware that last Monday (22nd March) we were delighted to have someone start with us as our new General Manager for Discerning, Developing and Delivering the Software our Customers Want.

The title is a bit of a mouthful, so he will shorten it in most cases – but he will certainly be specifically focused on delighting our growing customer base with the software we develop.

I will let him introduce himself in his own time, so stay tuned for more …

As you may be aware, we’re in the process of recruiting a General Manager for Discerning, Developing and Delivering the Software our Customers Want (Need).

Up until this weekend, we have been receiving proposals from a small number of candidates shortlisted from the large number of applications we received in the first 2 weeks after the position was opened on 24th January.

Given the importance of this position (for us, and for the candidates) this has entailed investing many hours of time in getting to know each other, and to ensure the candidates could gain a clear view of our company (where it is now, and where it is headed).  We want them to come in with their eyes fully opened – both to the opportunities and the challenges!

This week I will be reviewing these proposals to determine which one is the best fit for where our bus is headed.

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(Excuse the sad pun)

This week we went out for lunch with one of the guys in the office who was celebrating his birthday.  One of the small things we do in the company to celebrate the uniqueness of every individual (that’s a tick – thanks for suggesting it those years ago, Ricky).

Anyhow, as we were waiting for our meals to arrive in the local steakhouse and conversation drifted to some of the more detailed technical nature of software development, my mind began to wander (yeah, that’s a cross) and I pulled out the latest copy of INC, which had just arrived in the mail and started to browse (yeah, another cross)!

An article in the magazine caught my attention, as it provided a few pointers about the workplace culture that we are working to cultivate internally.

Given that I have been asked a couple of times this week by candidates for our Chief Software Engineer position about our culture (how it is now, and how we want to evolve it, over time), I thought it would be useful posting this (though I know it does not absolve me of the crosses above). read more »

In long-hand, you will be known as our:

General Manager for Discerning, Developing and Delivering what the Customer Wants

That’s a bit of a mouthful, so we have shortened it to a variety of titles used on this blog and elsewhere:
1)  GM Software
2)  Chief Software Engineer
3)  Director of the Product Development “Factory”

I would stress that all three aspects of the role are important.

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Post updated on 1st February 2010 to clarify the primary KPI.

This post is designed to provide an overview of what is required.  Note that (if you are successful in your application) I would expect that you would be proactive in working with me to flesh out the details of this position, in terms of specific deliverables and dates!

I have spoken with a number of people (online and offline) over the course of the past few months, since I determined that we needed to hire you.

It seems that no job title that could encapsulate this role is universally understood.  For this reason, you will be known as our:

General Manager for Discerning, Developing and Delivering what the Customer Wants

Bit of a mouthful, I know, but all three aspects of the role are important.

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This post is an incomplete work-in-progress (current issue posted on 4th January).  Check back later for updates! read more »