Dave McNamee's Blogoshere Re-entry

Data Syndication

2006-08-01T09:25:00.000-06:00

We are in the process of migrating our existing clients onto our new version of CXP, the Customer Experience Platform. One of our clients has discussed with us the possibility of integrating their inventory data into the platform so they can build rules based on inventory levels. The term "integrate" in the past has meant that a lot of time and energy was going to be expended creating a tightly-coupled back-end data integration link. In recent years we might have said, "oh, sure, we can do that, just expose a web service and give us a WSDL file and we will begin testing the integration." Of course, a web services deployment is more complicated than just publishing a WSDL. It takes a lot of resources, both developer and infrastructure.

What to do about this? How do we achieve the long-promised benefits of internet-enabled applications without all the bloat? One of the possibilities that we are exploring is integrating data via data syndication. Similar to RSS, this method involves the owner of one system publishing selections of their data in an XML file. The second system then consumes that data and uses it in its functions. The beautiful thing about this model is that the data gets consumed on a web client or a browser versus integrating the data into the back end of a system. It keeps it lightweight for both systems. It makes the system truly loosely coupled. Of course, this method of integration is more appropriate for systems that do not have high dependencies on each other, and it is a one-way thing, but there are many many business applications for this type of integration, so why not run with it?

We have not yet built this type of integration yet, but I imagine we will in the next few months. I will blog it when we do.

The Online Shopping Experience

2006-07-28T11:10:00.000-06:00

Question: Is the ideal online shopping experience more like looking through a printed catalog or going into a store with a very helpful salesperson? Or is it something new and different?

My perspective on this is not typical because I work in this world every day and think differently about web applications than the majority of people. That said, I do believe there is an evolution underway in ecommerce, and I believe CXP, the product we just released, is going to help drive that evolution.

The answer to my first question, I believe, is that the ideal online shopping experience should be more like going into a store with expert merchandising and helpful salespeople. An ecommerce site should be smart but not overwhelm customers with options or information. It should use all the information available to it, both internally and externally, to tailor the experience to the customer. I am excited about CXP because it can help do this without having to hire PhDs and go through painful development projects.

I think there is a fundamental difference between "experience" and "offers." Don't get me wrong, a well-crafted offer is a critical component in the world of ecommerce as it is anywhere, but there is much more to life than that. There are a lot of other factors that are important to consider in the overall shopping experience.

CXP is Open for Business

2006-07-26T14:41:00.000-06:00

For the past year I have been involved in developing a product called CXP at Sento Corporation, my employer. Today was a soft release of the product, although we have been operating it in production for two pilot clients for a few months. I am very happy about this release, I am proud of the product.

This product grew out of internal discussions about where to go next with Sento's Right Channeling offerings. Sento has traditionally provided a suite of tools and services in support of Right Channeling which have been the main differentiating feature between us and our competitors. CXP grew out of a desire to keep that goodness going.

The term CXP is a psuedo-acronym for Customer Experience Platform. It's an SAAS (Software As A Service) tool that enables complex rules-based behaviors on existing sites. It's having a pronounced positive impact on the sites we have deployed it on so far.

The development of CXP began in the application development group that I have managed for the past two years. At first it was just one of many projects that I was directing, but over time it has grown legs and has required my full-time attention, so I have moved into the VP of Product Development role.

MacBook Pro Not Too Shabby

2006-03-23T17:22:00.000-07:00

I know everyone out there is wonering how well I like my new laptop. I must say that it is fantastic so far. Being a recent convert to OS X and Mac machines, I don't have a lot to compare it to, but it seems blazingly fast to me. All of my essential apps work well. Due to Exchange being the calendaring standard at my work I am forced to use Office for Mac, that's one drawback. But it is sure much easier to use than a windows machine. It feels like my iPod.

2006-03-14T19:36:00.000-07:00

This blog post is coming from a blogger widget on my new macbook pro. For non-mac users, a widget is a little app that runs in your dashboard. This one connects to your blogger account so you can throw out posts without opening a browser. I just got this macbook today, I will post more about it later. So far I like it.

Walk First

2005-03-14T10:13:00.000-07:00

I am coming up on the end of my first year as the Director of Development for Sento Corporation. This has been a very busy, fun year for me. I manage a group of very talented people who do great work. The products and services that we develop and support are significant and allow us to compete in the contact center outsourcing space.

This past year has taught me some very valuable lessons. I have written about some of the lessons in previous posts. One very important lesson I have learned is that you have to match your engineering efforts to the capacity of your engineering group. I'm not saying that you shouldn't stretch people, I am just saying that you need to honestly evaluate whether or not you can afford to take on a project.

Another important lesson is that you need to plan your projects so that they fit in to the current environment so they can be metabolized. Your chances of being successful in a major enterprise infrastructure project is limited if it is a major departure from your current capabilities and infrastructure unless huge investments in capital and people are made. This is not new info, and has been written about a lot by people smarter than me. The difference is that I have personally experienced successes and failures because of this principle.

Success will be more likely if you fit enterprise IT projects and product development projects in with your existing capabilities and infrastructure. It's like an evolutionary process. You can't skip from crawling to running, you have to walk first. The thing that you need to push is the speed at which evolution takes place.

Personal Stock Price

2005-03-09T06:15:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about the ups and downs that can happen at any job and evaluating my own situation. Thinking about it deeply you might draw the same conclusion that I and others have drawn: that is that you need to honestly assess whether your professional value is on the rise or on the decline, like a stock price. This goes along with #8 below.

You need to evaluate the "value market" at your organization. Is it fickle? Is it tolerant of highs and lows in your stock price? Figure out what price levels you think your boss can't stand. He might just have a limit order to get rid of you at certain price. If you are lucky, he might take the opportunity to invest more heavily in you through training and mentoring if your price is low, if he is confident that you are a good buy.

Like real markets, your actual price is always fluctuating, and that's a good thing. Every event, project, success, failure, or communication can have an effect on your stock price. I would also submit that there are dishonest things that people do all the time to inflate their price, like taking undue credit or diminishing another's value. This is not a good long term strategy. It will catch up to you and then you will get de-listed. Try to build honest value.

Principles for Professional Excellence

2005-03-06T14:48:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking and reading about execution and professional excellence. I have compiled a list of principles that I believe are the keys to professional excellence. They are:

Create a portfolio of personal successes
Get important things done
Always seek out and expose truth and reality
Take on only that which you can successfully complete
Understand how your company makes money
Understand how you contribute to your company’s success
Do things to increase your capacity to contribute to your company’s success
Maintain a positive balance in your value account with the organization
Always do what you say you will do
Build strong working relationships with people

This list may seem obvious, but I submit that there are few people who are good at all of these items, myself included.

I'm Back

2005-02-08T06:35:00.000-07:00

So here's the story of picking up my car in Houston and bringing it back. After landing at the George Bush International Airport I was picked up by a guy named Salim. Salim is from Madagascar. He and his friend Tony had bought the car I was buying at auction. When we arrived at the lot, I was not very impressed with the place. As far as used car lots go, I would give this place 1 star out of 4.

I spotted the car. It was dark, so I didn't immediately see its imperfections. As I approached they became apparent. Some trim was damaged, there were little rust spots on the fenders and the trunk, it was generally dirty, the electric antenna was broken, and the windshield had a large crack. When I got in it I wasn't sure if the smell was telling me that the car had been smoked in, or that it had lived in Houston its whole life (Houston has a particular smell). I took it for a test drive. It fired right up and seemd to drive nice. It pulls a little bit to the left. As I was driving I tried all the controls. Radio-check. All the lights-check. Brakes-firm and smooth-check. Heater-failed (more on this later). A/C-check. Sunroof-failed. Windows all around-check.

When I got back to the lot I brought up the heater. We futzed with it for about 20 minutes but could not get it to work. They brought up the fact that the car was sold as is, but knocked off $50 anyway. I was glad to leave the lot and a little nervous about the journey that lay before me. Would this old car make it?

I spent the night in a Motel 6 in houston. The place smelled like Houston and fresh paint which woke me up a couple of times. I got up around 7 and had me some IHOP before going to a Krogers and getting supplies. I then headed further away from my final destination. Why would I do that, you ask? Because my wonderful wife, who I love dearly, wanted me to stop by the Houston Ikea and pick up some stuff for her. She had made a very specific list. I hoped I would be able to run in and run out and hit the road, but that was not meant to be. If you have ever been to Ikea you know the place is ginormous, so it took a good hour and a half and a dozen phone calls home before I had everything. I got the car loaded up and hit the road.

I didn't know how well the car would do, so I had budgeted 3 days to get home. My plan was to try to make it to Salina, Kansas by the end of the first day. Salina is at the intersection of I-35 and I-70. By the end of the second day I wanted to be to either Laramie, Wyoming, or Grand Junction, Colorado, depending on the weather. And then home on the third day. As I drove through Texas I was pleased with the car's performance. The cruise control worked (thank goodness) so I set it for 75 and watched the guages closely and listened for anything wierd. The car was very happy at 75 and we made good time. The only strange thing was that the engine temperature never made it above the bottom tick mark, except when idling. Curious.

I did not do a lot of thinking while I was driving. Mostly I let my mind rest, which I think was good for me. Texas is a big place. Unfortunately I hit some traffic in Dallas, but by late afternoon I was driving through Oklahoma. As I scanned the radio dial I found basketball games and even college wrestling on FM. Wierd. I got to Oklahoma City around dusk. I was pleased with the milage the car was getting. Oklahoma had the cheapest fuel on my trip at $1.63 for a gallon of diesel. I pushed on through Oklahoma and into Kansas. It was dark when I reached Wichita, so I was unable to spot any of the airplane factories that I know are there. I finally reached Salina at around 10 PM just as a cold rain began to fall.

The car hadn't broken yet, and I was pleased. I slept better in Salina, even though the motel was right by I-70. I checked the weather channel when I got up and was somewhat concerned. Snow was expected in Kansas and Utah. Colorado and Wyoming were clear. I hit the road after stopping for fuel and a McGriddle sandwich. The rain had continued all night and was moderate when I got on the freeway. After a few minutes I noticed a leak on the upper right corner of the windshield. I set up a system where the leak would end up being caught by paper towels, and I found myself wishing for snow. My foolish wish came true about halfway through Kansas.

Snow in Kansas is wet and heavy. It sticks to the road. In a short amount of time I was no longer worried about the windshield but worried about staying on the road. My new old car is rear wheel drive and does not have snow tires on it. We went very very slowly for a long time. At one point I found myself alone on the road which was fortunate because I felt the back end drift to the left. I corrected, but too far, so I ended up sliding to the right. Correcting again, I found myself unable to attenuate the oscillations. Finally after 2 or 3 more corrections the back end swung out to the right and I was sliding sideways, but still on the road. There were embankments on either side that I was afraid I would explore. At the last second I gently pressed the brakes and the tires grabbed and I came to a stop in a spray of snow and ice. I was still on the road, perpendicular to the direction of travel. I got out to see if there was any damage and to find out where the edge of the road was. No damage, and my back tires stopped less than 3 inches from the edge. I got back in and headed out, grateful that I didn't need a tow truck.

At this point the non-functioning heater was the bain of my existence. I was freezing. I stopped at a Walmart to see if I could get some kind of heater. They didn't have anything that plugged into a lighter outlet, so I bought a bunch of hand and foot warmers and a blanket. These worked reasonably well. By early afternoon I was in Colorado. The road from the boarder to Denver was uneventful, but I had a choice to make: continue on I-70 or go up to Wyoming and hit I-80. I was more worried about the windy steep roads on I-70 to the Eisenhower Tunnel than I was about the high badlands of Wyoming. Plus Wyoming was supposed to be clear, so my decision was made. I stopped outside of Denver for diesel. There I paid an outrageous $2.15 per gallon, the most expensive place on my trip.

I headed north out of Denver on I-25. Another decision loomed in front of me: should I stop somewhere in Wyoming, or just push through. By the time I got to Laramie I was freezing, but I had decided to push through. Wyoming was completely uneventful. The car continued to work great. I decided to make my next stop at the Grand America complex. I was so cold when I got there I could not speak clearly, but I pressed on. It was dark at this point, 8:30 or so. The road was clear until Evanston and then the snow started to fall. I had to follow a semi to keep track of the road. I couldn't follow too close or I would be blinded by the flying snow, and I could stay too far back or I couldn't see the road. It was an interesting study in the air currents behind a semi. Somehow I stayed on the road and found my way to I-84. Soon I was coming out of Weber Canyon and getting on highway 89 towards home.

Highway 89 was in the same condition as I-70 was in Kansas, and the same thing happened to me again. This time I stepped on the breaks early and got it over with. Luckily no one was around. Finally I pulled into my driveway. I had made the trip in two days. 700 miles the first day and over 900 the second. I was pleased with the car's performance. Now I just have to get that darn heater working. More on that later.

Texas Adventure

2005-02-02T21:46:00.000-07:00

So I bought a car on ebay. Utter madness, I know. The carfax report was clean, the guy's feedback was almost completely positive, and it had no reserve. Still, it's somewhat crazy. The craziness is related to the fact that the car is in Houston some 1500 miles away. It will take at least two, maybe three days to drive it back to Utah where I live. Add to that the fact that it is a 22 year old car, and I am in for an interesting adventure. I bought a 1983 Mercedes 300D Turbo Diesel.

If you know anything about these cars you will know that this particular model of car has been known to last 1 million miles. Now, who really knows what shape my car is in, but I am about to find out. I fly out to Houston to pick it up on Friday. I plan on writing about my journey. I won't be blogging it live due to the fact that I have decided to leave my laptop at home. But I will be writing about it. Unfortunately no one could go with me, so I ought to have a lot of time to think. Let's hope she runs as good as advertised.

Ben Franklin, Blogger

2005-01-16T16:29:00.000-07:00

I am almost done with the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Aside from his pursuit of virtue, the thing that stands out the most is his constant use of writing as a means to spur public action or sway public sentiment on different topics.

His skills with written argument were honed in a small group. From his youth he belonged to a club for mutual improvement called the Junto which consisted of twelve other select individuals. They met regularly and discussed and debated various topics. They also wrote and read papers on different questions and topics. Franklin published some of his papers written for the Junto in his newspaper.

Throughout his adult life Franklin used the power of the written word. He published pamphlets and articles in his paper in support of many public projects such as public libraries, hospitals, the University of Philadelphia and others. His writing skills actually helped him secure positions in the colonial assembly and on many boards of directors.

The point is that the arguments that he crafted in his written works helped him accomplish great things throughout his life. I think Blogging can do the same thing for a person if they put some thought into it.

More Books

2005-01-13T22:30:00.000-07:00

I'm working my way through a pile of books that I got for Christmas. I already wrote about First, Break All the Rules, which is now one of my favorites. I have finished two other books and am working on another.

One of the two books I recently finished is What the CEO Wants You to Know: How Your Company Really Works by Ram Charan. It's an excellent primer on business taken from the mean streets of India and the board room of GE. I think this book ought to be required reading for non-business majors because it lays out the basics that every business must master to be successful. It has served as interesting discussion material for the group of developers that I manage.

The other book I just completed is Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles. I didn't like the fact that there are no chapters or other organizational helps in the book. It just runs on and on from the beginning to the end without any change in formatting. It's also pretty fluffy, but what do you expect from a mainstream book on customer service? In between all the fluff are three main points/steps to customer service: First, decide what you want; second, ask the customers what they want; and third, deliver plus one percent. These ring true to me. They are amazingly simple, but rarely followed. Too bad for us consumers.

Finally I have broken from my pattern of reading business books to read the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. What an interesting guy.

Another McNamee?

2005-01-05T08:16:00.000-07:00

It is very rare that I bump into someone else with my last name that is not a member of my immediate family. Windley has blogged a posting with a Roger McNamee in it, which was fun for me. I feel sorry for people name Smith or Jones because they do not get to experience the feeling of uniqueness that comes from having a rare last name unless the move to Uganda or somewhere else like that.

I think there are a lot of underlying human nature issues and technology issues here. We all want to have our own unique identity. I guess my subconscious (until today) satisfaction in having a strange last name is confirmation of that fact. It is also fun to find someone who shares some unique attribute with you, to find someone who is wierd in the same way that you are wierd, like speaking the same obscure eastern european language or sharing a birthday.

This need to have a unique identity is part of the reason I am considering purchasing an i-name and causes me to regret very deeply letting www.davemcnamee.com lapse into the hands of some unknown dominican entity. I am who I am in real life, but this blog and i-names and domains and eBay ratings are becoming more and more important. They become a very real part of who I am. They are our present day Avatars. I am not breaking any trails by saying that these things will become more and more important as time passes.

Remarkable People

2004-12-30T07:22:00.000-07:00

The following quote came to me in one of the email newsletters that I subscribe to from Kirk Weisler.

“Breakthrough performance is rooted in remarkable people. To attract, retain and leverage remarkable people YOU must weave the connection between their passions, their work, and one another.”

Dick Eaton
Founder and Chief Energizing Officer
Leapfrog Innovations

I think the essence of this statement is that you have to connect the people with the right talents with the right roles. If they have the right talents or passions then they will thrive in the corresponding role. I think oftentimes we are obliged to accept people with acquired skills rather than holding out for true talent.

One thing I believe is that every person has valuable talents and sometimes they don't realize what they are. Sometimes a manager needs to help his or her people identify what those talents are and steer them in a direction that will allow them to apply those talents on a daily basis.

Talent vs Skills vs Knowledge

2004-12-29T21:39:00.000-07:00

In one of my new favorite movies, "Napoleon Dynamite," Napoleon laments the fact that he doesn't have any good skills and that girls only like guys with skills. While girls may look for guys with skills, I am learning that talent is the most important attribute in the workplace.

I am in the middle of a book called First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman of the Gallup Organization. In it they describe the difference between talent, skills and knowledge. Talent is hardwired in the person over time. Skills are abilities that can be learned. Knowledge is the accumulation of information or experiences that enhance your ability to process your surroundings or activities. Talent is the most important of the three in the workplace because you need people with the natural ability to excell in the role that they are placed.

They describe talents as the result of the natural filters that we use to perceive our environments and stimuli. If I have a filter which allows me to stay calm under fire, then they say that is a talent. I agree with this to a certain extent. I also believe as I wrote earlier that some people have a talent for changing their filters and are therefore very adaptable, but this isn't the main point.

The main point is that you need to look for the right set of talents for each particular role. If you are lucky enough to find people with the right combination of talents, your projects will have a better chance of succeeding. While this may seem obvious, it is not something that is put into practice very easily. We seem to have the notion that we can mold people into what we want them to be, that they can change and improve. While it is true that people can change, it is also true that people rarely ever change that much. You can coach someone to be more assertive if a role calls for it, but if they don't have a talent for being assertive it will always be a challenge for them.

The authors really emphasize the need to focus on talent. If you think about it, this means that they are advocating that you hire someone with the right set of talents over someone with significantly more knowledge or skills applicable to a particular role. I am not sure yet how to identify whether someone has the right set of talents through a resume and one or more interviews. Maybe that's later in the book.

Project Moxie

2004-12-20T21:37:00.000-07:00

I am finding that the success of any project can be traced to one or two people with the drive to solve problems and make things happen. That person can be any member of the project team. If somebody on the team has the desire to get things done and the time to focus on it, chances are good they will push through.

I think this is true even when a project is structured in a formal or semi-formal project lifecycle with PMI-certified project managers. Project management adds a level of predictability and visibility to the project that is difficult to achieve otherwise. But a successful project can always be traced to a few people with moxie. Oftentimes it is a project manager who provides the moxie.

After a while you can tell those who have it from those who don't. It is important to note here that it is not realistic to expect everyone to have the same amount of moxie. We all have different talents, and there is a need for hardworking people with lower moxie levels. The tough thing to do as a hiring manager is to find talented people with moxie. It happens less than 10% of the time.

Enterprise Architecture

2004-12-18T18:19:00.000-07:00

As I wrote previously, I am working on an enterprise architecture for my employer. It's an exciting thing to work on. Never has the development of an enterprise architecture been more important to companies. IT and business strategies are becoming more and more interdependent, and vendors are responding by creating on-demand services and by providing granular applications.

Thoughts on Blogging

2004-12-16T22:19:00.000-07:00

I started my first weblog while I was working for the state of Utah. Phil Windley, then the CIO of the state, encouraged state workers to start weblogs. I was one of a small handful that followed his suggestion. It was a very educational experience in two ways: first, I learned about the power of blogging, and second, I learned that state employment and the open communication encouraged by blogging do not mix well.

Phil has suggested recently that I start blogging again. I had been thinking about it and his suggestion pushed me over the edge. In order to blog you really have to get over yourself, especially if it is a collection of your thoughts and ruminations. It's going to be out there for everybody to read. That's just the nature of this medium. You have to be OK with that.

Recently I was at an event in the town I grew up in. A person I knew from my childhood came up to me and mentioned that he had read about me on the internet-and in my own words. He had found my blog somehow. At first I was a little caught off guard. What did he read? What had I written about? I finally had to tell myself to let it go, to get over it, and that it was ok.

Now, I am not saying that I am going to write about just anything. If you look at some of the more successful bloggers, like Windley, you will see a very narrow range of subjects on their blogs. Sure, you will see the occasional posting on something off the wall, but mostly they stay on topic. I guess that's a safe way to go, especially if you want your blog to be your own little PR tool. That's not a bad purpose for a blog. It only works if you can write something interesting.

People Patches

2004-12-16T21:56:00.000-07:00

I have a social theory that goes something like this:

People need patches just like operating systems. Sometimes a person or a situation will come along that you are not currently equipped to handle. Maybe they have a strange personality or have difficulty communicating, or maybe it is a situation that you have never encountered before. These situations require that you install a patch to handle this new situation or deal with the person. The trick is figuring out what that patch is.

Before you install the patch you have to evaluate the situation and ask yourself, "What do I need in order to deal with this?" If you can answer that question and act accordingly, then you have successfully installed the patch and you can move on.

I am also convinced that some people are not capable of patching themselves. Generally speaking, no one else can apply the patch for them. For example, we all know someone who, no matter how hard they try, they can't get along with a particular personality type. Or another example would be people who just want to stay in their own comfortable job and not expand into new situations or opportunities.

Really what I am talking about here is the ability to learn and adapt to new people and new situations. If you can do this you can deal with almost anyone effectively. It takes a certain level of mental and emotional flexibility and a high degree of maturity. Something to work on.

Book Review: Hackers and Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age

2004-12-16T21:40:00.000-07:00

The best part about Hackers and Painters by Paul Graham is the explanation at the beginning of the book about why nerds are unpopular in high school. It went downhill from there. In the end it turned into what I felt was a self-congratulatory diatribe about the Lisp programming language. It was interesting enough to keep me reading to the end. No, actually I kept reading because of my compulsion to finish whatever book I begin reading.

Actually, someone I know had personal dealings with the author, Paul Graham during the heyday of the dot coms. Their opinion of him matched the tone of my review.

Napkin Analysis

2004-12-11T02:59:00.000-07:00

One of the interesting challenges of my current job is dealing with enterprise architecture. I know, I know, enterprise architecture spans not only IT systems, but also business processes and ultimately the strategy of the org. There are all sorts of books and theories and processes and models that are available out there, but nothing beats just getting things mapped out on a legal pad or a napkin.

It is very interesting how many little systems we have supporting discrete insular business processes. The relationships between these systems and processes start to become visible with the smallest amount of analysis. I am starting to formulate in my own mind a picture of what the enterprise should look like.

Late Nite Deploy

2004-12-11T02:39:00.000-07:00

I am the director of development for Sento Corporation and I am currently observing a major deployment for a major customer. It is going relatively well, given the complexity of the system. These middle-of-the-night pushes are significant events in the culture of any group that produces web applications.

You May Already Know Me

2004-12-10T06:29:00.000-07:00

I have decided to start blogging again. Some of you may already know me as http://radio.weblogs.com/0110870/. I have used Radio off and on for a few years now, but I just couldn't bring myself to pay another $39.95 when I could blog for free here.