Behind the Scenes at Global-Roam

This post is the 2nd draft, and is still a work-in-progress.  Check back later for updates!

As part of the Autopsy 2 process, I have been working one-on-one with the firm Shirlaws.

One facet of their engagement has been to work with me on improving my leadership.

Their approach (which I accept) is that the disappointments that have come our way have been ultimately my responsibility (whether it’s been because of the “wrong people on the bus”, or the wrong culture, or insufficient direction, or whatever).

The corollary of this is that it’s also my responsibility to fix whatever’s broken.  This I am in the process of doing (following on from the Autopsy 2 process).

Part of what they are helping me to understand is that the CEO should have 3 core enduring roles, which should continue to be my focus well into the future.

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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It has been superseded by a more recent update, which I posted here on the blog on Thursday 25th February 2010.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.

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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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I posted, early in January, about where our bus is headed (you might refer to this as our Vision).  I have progressively refined this, since then, to improve the clarity of this core message.

For those who are interested, I have also started posting more details about some aspects of this Vision – as falling under any of these core headings.  This post provides more details under the first heading.

As part of the navel-gazing we have been doing recently (to coincide with our 10th birthday, which is rapidly approaching) we have been contemplating this question.  For us, there are plenty of opportunities (some mutually exclusive – at least for a company our size).

Being New Year’s Day, I thought it would be of interest to you to post a few comments about where our bus is headed into the future. Call this our very own New Year’s resolution.

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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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This e-book was referenced as a teaser for the “Business of Software 2009” conference.

We had been thinking about attending this year, enroute to Toronto (to pay our clients there an overdue visit).  However, we did not go in the end (still not sufficient capability for delivery – one of the triggers of us starting Autopsy 2).

Hopefully next year!

1)  Binary Review

The Book	What we thought
“Don’t just roll the dice” by Neil Davidson	Wish I had been able to read this 10 years ago, when starting down this path…

Full Disclosure – oh, it’s an e-book, so this one is free, free, free!  Worth far more than the price tag, though. If you really do want to buy a hard-copy, get it here from Amazon (yes, this one is a tracked link through which we hope to add to the total amount Amazon pays us – at $2 and counting, we might be able to buy a book with the proceeds, one day!)

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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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For those who have been regular readers of the blog, you will realise, by now, that I am a keen advocate of life-long-learning, and improvement (both for individuals within our company, and for the company as a whole).

Given we are fast approaching our 10th birthday, and that we have disappointed ourselves in terms of a number of key initiatives, it has been timely to spend some focused time on introspection.

1)  What was Autopsy 1?

Back on Tuesday 28th July 2009 we held Autopsy 1, which was a one-day planning session in our offices in Milton.

During the day we dissected the company (as best we were able in the single day) and drew out of this a number of changes that were required.

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Here’s another back-dated post, with a date chosen shortly after Joel’s post to which it refers.  I’ve done this to ensure that these comments are read in context.

My apologies to those for whom this practice offends – as noted before, I believe ICT is an enabler, not an ends in itself (or, to put it another way, I am not interested in form without substance).

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1)     Introduction to Joel’s Post

Back on November 1st, Joel Spolsky made a post for Inc magazine entitled “Does Slow Growth Equal Slow Death?”.

One of the guys in the office found this, and it stimulated a bit of discussion internally about where our bus is headed (on a restricted post).  This was good, as we had commenced our Autopsy 2 process. read more »