"I'm sure Eric is a fantastic guy and clearly he has some awesome experience / ideas, so I don't want to sound like a complete ass by asking this question and it was touched on in the post at the end. But I'm confused about how much value anyone (not just Eric, but anybody) can really provide to an organization by only working there 2 days a month?
Maybe he's just giving them advice on deals? Looking at possible investments and vetting the credibility of their ideas or products or something? 24 days a year seems nary enough time to help get US operations underway." - Adam Bullied
I'm with ya. However, I have found the threading does make it slightly easier to reply / discuss than Twitter. - Adam Bullied via twhirl
@adambullied - maybe, but I'm not seeing an easy way to ONLY see those replies on a mobile platform (like Twitterberry)? - jeremy wright
No FriendFeed isn't, but it gets better. However... despite Scoble saying it's a wonderful mobile platform, it's only wonderful if you have an iPhone. I expect we'll see better mobile clients though as the API is nice. - Aaron Brazell
@technosailor - yeah, maybe. I just want simple really. I'll give FF a week, like anything else, and see what happens. - jeremy wright via Alert Thingy
Aaron - agreed. Twhirl does OK with FF, but no mobile (iPhone maybe, but no Blackberry). - Adam Bullied via twhirl
It was a comment that Dan Edelman made recently when he was asked for career advice. He said "Work hard." - Steve Rubel
my boss has a quote from mike tyson - "everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the face." it has inspired me to always have a plan b, and sometimes c. - Apollo Gonzales
Apologies are empty - own up to your decisions and don't repeat the mistakes. Also, never use the words: can't or impossible. Finally, the is never such a thing as perfect... Always improve things and always move forward. Seriously, I picked up thousands of pieces of good advice from outstanding leaders when I was in the military. - Vince DeGeorge
The opportunities to improve are endless ! - Murali
If you want to hear God laugh tell him your plans. - Michael Tefft
Sadly, I have heard nothing even remotely inspirational at my current job. I'll be glad to bail out of here as soon as possible. I do this job well because it's mine. - Harvey Simmons
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. Eleanor Roosevelt - mark ivey
"Follow your bliss" and "First class is only 80% more." - Dave Martin
those determined to find an excuse will always be passed up by those determined to find a way - Marco
"Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that every has." - Margaret Mead - This quote is one of the reasons why I'm working on my current project, BizUnite. I have to believe that 'the people united, will never be defeated'. - Sonciary Honnoll
"And here's the breakroom where we have different types of Starbucks coffee brewed daily"....OK, just kidding, but truthfully, the answer is that it's not something I heard, it's something I figured out for myself, and that is that *I'm choosing to be here. If I don't like it, I can quit.* Sometimes you get caught up in the negativity and realizing that you're in control and this is your choice helps. - Sarah Perez
@sarahintampa Good point, Sarah. I'll keep that tidbit in my back pocket. - Sonciary Honnoll
"Ummmmmmm yeaaaaaaah. Did you get the memo?" In all seriousness, it's probably a quote from our SVP Systems Engineering, who recently told me that: "The global SE team would be in bad shape without your expertise & desire to win" - Brian Daniel Eisenberg
"As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Anyone want to see second prize? Second prize's a set of steak knives. Third prize is you're fired. You get the picture?" - Andrew Smith
Don't work at the level for the job you have, work at the level for the job you want. - Kevin C. Tofel
Learn from failure and don't be afraid of failure. True successes is alway built on failure. - Peter Dawson
"Work hard so you can end up doing something that you enjoy, helps others, and gives you satisfaction." - Conrad Quilty-Harper
"Peter, thank you for saving my home from foreclosure" - Petes2Cents.com
My father always told me "trust no one" when referring to working for others. Every mistake I've ever made in my working life was based on ignoring that advice. - Duncan Riley
the real job of a consultant is to get paid with pleasure... - Luigi Centenaro
Only recently I heard some apparently famous Wayne Gretzky quotes (paraphrased) : "I miss 100% of the shots I don't take, and I skate where the puck will be." Nice. - Paul Grant
requirements are over-valued. go straight to prototype and small-group testing. - bob corrigan
How I'd love to. But I need them for my own sanity at the very least so I actually know how something is supposed to work :-) - Adam Bullied via twhirl
even the Agile people write requirements... maybe on paper but something is written down - Stewart Rogers
That is very cool. Could this mean Twitter on S3, AWS, EC2, etc? This could really help prove that AWS, EC2, etc. can scale and handle the volume and give Twitter what it needs to scale to meet the demands of the masses. A true test of cloud-based techniques. - Brian Daniel Eisenberg
twitter already uses some Amazon services - you can see as twitter is loading - Samuel Bostock
Clearly they have a rev model, but are doing the smart thing by making the product really, really solid before they put it in to play. - Adam Bullied via twhirl
@Brian, it can be a true test if you know the app. architecture. Brute force alone (good storage and good computing resources) is not enough - Naor
They don't need amazon $ to sign up for S3/EC2, they just need a database that can scale/shard to handle the load. - Nicholas Molnar
@Brian If Twitter fails, nothing for Bezos, but if Twitter makes money, I'm sure it will help Amazon's cloud services reputation regardless of whether it has anything to do w/ fixing the scalability problem. - Wade Dorrell
re. my earlier comment: they are specifically using s3.amazonaws.com - Samuel Bostock
For all those who go back to the days ( I'm an ancient geek), when Amazon started, it took several years before they made a profit. Granted they did have a recognizable plan for profit. It seems to me that we''ve entered a time, with instant gratification and rewards the goal, where some people have expected Twitter to 'succeed' out of the gate. Good to see they are getting support from people who have been there and done it. - Henry Burger
drink lots of water. oh, and if you can, lock the door and take a nap. - bob corrigan
the water thing -- great point. I've been drinking Nestea. Big mistake there. I'd love to nap, but open-concept offices frown on it :) - Adam Bullied via twhirl
"Bob - I totally agree with you! I think I got a little eager to write about a post about Iron Man and include a picture from the flick that I overlooked those obvious, and all too true, points.
When I talk about obsessing, what I'm really trying to say is sticking to a single point or focus and not deviating, but executing to the best of the organizations ability. Obsessions can get dangerous, I agree - nor are they healthy." - Adam Bullied
Next up - how is Hulk like my QA manager. Discuss. - bob corrigan
HAHA - exactly. How Galactus is my CEO. Oh, this could go on for hours. - Adam Bullied via twhirl
Casting Marvel characters in corporate roles would be a fun joint post, and would definitely cement our geek cred for better or for worse. Howard the Duck for VP of Sales - bob corrigan
Howard the Duck? Or Thor? Who would say "no" to Mjolnir? - Adam Bullied via twhirl
The downside is a few extensions don't work with 3 yet :/ - Cains
You can use the override compatibility extension. Not like a native upgrade, but still gets the job done for the interim. - Adam Bullied via twhirl
Nothing like a global DDOS to spoil a party - glad to see they got things sorted out after the first 12 hours. And yes, I downloaded my FF3 in the record window. - bob corrigan
Puppets? If you're a startup with a crazy killer great team and a great product do you really need much PR help? - Robert Scoble
@Scoble: PR help is very useful for startups. Some very good builders lack the people skills and perspective to market their product. Good PR can make a decent product great ;) - Cains
When Michael says he "has someone"... does that mean captive? And Rebecca, Gilbert and Shay... I'd suggest, depending on your market, Robert and I could get you kick-started. For free. - Louis Gray
That is interesting. I have found out about a lot of things via others in the community (Robert, Louis, Corvida, etc.). If none of them are PR people....why does a startup need PR help, again? - Rahsheen Porter
@Louis, one day I will take you up on that offer. - Rob Diana
well from where I see it PR is evolving rather than disapering... it's not longer the typical BS it now has become more reality and technical... people don't want smoking mirrors.. they want value - Gilbert Corrales via twhirl
and great product teams and great product are just half of the equation... unless u have scoble blog it and then u just try to keep up with it... but again not all of us build stuff for scoble - Gilbert Corrales via twhirl
Heh, yeah, Louis writes up new companies and I "Like" his posts. :-) - Robert Scoble
Gilbert you do realize that I'm joking a bit, right? I wouldn't launch a company without PR help. Especially if you don't have a rolodex of thousands of journalists/bloggers/FriendFeeders that you understand at some level. - Robert Scoble
If I _am_ a young startup? I can consider myself a startup, but I don't own or control one. - possible248
off course man I do understand... just wanted to point out the portion on PR not longer been what it was... new times calls for new methods. I think the times we're living now calls for creative methods to make things work. You, Luis and others have showeveryone diff from classic techniq's... it's all for us newcomers to learn and apply... and what better way if we can get some menthoring while at it ;) - Gilbert Corrales via twhirl
@Robert, that's quite the routine we have going, isn't it? :-) - Louis Gray
I could use some good PR help. Thanks Michael. - Josh via twhirl
PR is pretty critical for the reason @scoble states - the rolodex / meetings. - Adam Bullied via twhirl
well I am up for it... Louis, Robert et all. I am up for help :) the product I am working on is called Aggiorno [aggiorno.com] our mission is to help developers to clean up the web with the use of encapsulated knowledge (standars compliance, seo,,accessibility). I'd love to show u guys our plans... check out some videos @ aggiorno.blip.tv - Gilbert Corrales via twhirl
Next tip: get 20 bloggers from http://blogs.msdn.com to see your product and talk about it. They should get excited because you are helping their tools out. I watch those blogs and they will start a conversation in the communities you care about. Then figure out how you can get someone to write an article that'll get on Reddit, Slashdot, and Ycombinator's sites. Those are where the devs are hanging out. After that, build out a map of where else your potential customers hang out. Where can you reach them? - Robert Scoble
Nick: keep pissing off Duncan. It makes me check out your services to see if he's right. :-) - Robert Scoble
I'm surprised how many times companies who want to invest in PR aren't prepared with the info that PR needs to be successful - they haven't written down their value proposition in real (non-jargon) language, their distinctive competence (what do they do better than anyone else), a simple statement of customer value, corporate strategy, comparable companies, competitors. . . and in many cases they aren't ready to respond to a successful PR outcome (new customers, analyst inquiries, increased call center vol) - bob corrigan
I'm just curious 'who' this mystery person is that startups want to meet - Mike's not telling, I guess. - shay
Robert, i'll do my best :) I really think he missed the point and it was a cheap shot to accuse us of splogging. - Nick Halstead
Scoble: thanks (sorry about the url)... I am in seattle this week pitching this to people in the redmond and bloggers. I already got 4 of them to blog this week, a podcast and videos. We got commitment from a team to help us out on a specific initiative and 4 more meetings with PMs from different teams to get the ball going... a couple of peers are focusing on creating content like the videos on http://aggiorno.blip.tv for show and tell and drive our potential customers to see value straight away! - Gilbert Corrales
Bob: Good PR firms often need to help startups through that process. Often the team's perspective is blurred and they just can't admit certain facts (how many times do we hear "We really don't have any competitors"). Good PR firms won't be afraid to admit the product has weaknesses and have the skills to compensate. - Cains
these comments are awesome!! PING PONG>.. Scoble and Louis are playing PING PONG PR woo hoo! - Susan Beebe
@cains: I don't disagree. It's entirely a function of whether or not the company wants to pay the PR people to do that work for them. I'm a firm believer that "knowing who you are and where you're going" needs to be something that executive management can articulate on their own with their eyes closed. - bob corrigan
@Louis Gray @Scobleizer. Thanks what a kind offer. I'll take it. I have a new blog and I was planning on asking friends that are bloggers to give me some feedback, but if the offer of a write up is out there, I'll take it.Thanks! :) Of course I don't expect for you to write up my blog, but I am trying to make a point. To suggest that startups don't need PR advice if they have a good product is a bit outlandish. As others have written, often founders don't have any experience with PR. They don't know how to tell their story, to whom or when -- not to mention how to map out an ongoing campaign, when to add gas and when they might be getting too much coverage. They also don't have the time. This is not a knock at founders. PR requires a different skillset than founders generally have. That said, new startups should not be pouring tons of money into PR either. It is a delicate dance, but can be done well and inexpensively. - Christian Anderson via fftogo
"LOL!
That's so true. But, I'd hire him just due to the cyclical nature of comic book stories. Since Stark started out as a hero, eventually the drinking and the lame behavior will cease and he will in fact be a hero.
Just like how Marvel realized de-masking Spider-man was a ginormous mistake and had Mephisto come in and right the whole thing. Pepper Potts will probably show-up, pat Tony on the back, tell him everything is OK and ask if she can pick-up his dry cleaning and get him an espresso.
Then all will be well again." - Adam Bullied
"I even updated the post -- and yes, I love being a fanboy. But that still doesn't mean I like Tony Stark / Iron Man in the current Marvel timelines. They really turned him in to an ass during and after Civil War." - Adam Bullied
"Bob, you are totally correct. Very tough thing to do and get buy-in from everybody. One important element that also has to be called out is trust - do all those within the organization that are going through the change with you, trust you?
If not, it's going to make for a very trying time.
But, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. And generally, shipping products is a ton of fun and makes for some great experiences for all those involved." - Adam Bullied
Just updated and not sure I like how much extra room the ff window takes up. I don't get to see a lot of posts at the best of times. - Steve Mactaggart via twhirl
Let's see if I get used to it, but seeing less comments at a time is bothering me right now - Garrido via twhirl
A nice update, but need the ability to expand and shrink the comment sections for each item. - Jordan via twhirl
It does that with the little '+' symbol and the nice scroll bar...i'm a fan - Marc Vermut via twhirl
The best FF rooms support in a third-party app is probably our FF XMPP bot - Wil via MojiPage Bot
when everything falls into place (ie seesmic XMPP, etc) twhirl will be hard to be. hell I might actually use seesmic then. and hey plurk has an API now *hint* - BCK via twhirl
Twhirl needs to put all these services in one window where I switch between them with tabs. - Alex P. via twhirl
I totally agree w/ the tab comment - having the 2 windows open gets cluttered. - Adam Bullied via twhirl
yeah single window with tabs would be nice ... well one can dream right? - JohnBfromMemphis via twhirl
cmon y'all let's give them some breathing room for making such terrific improvements already...not like i'm gonna code an update - Marc Vermut via twhirl
"Exactly, Scott. There is no sense in having any one of the functional teams
enforce their own personal bias on the product overall. They are all going
to want something different based on their own unique interests, and it's
product management's job to transcend those opinions / take the in to
account and deliver something that's best for the market." - Adam Bullied
"Thanks for the comment, sridharo. Maybe eventually we'll see this
happen, but unfortunately, I don't think it will be something that
goes in to these types of programs for the foreseeable future." - Adam Bullied
"Thanks so much for the comment, Scott!
Having never worked inside a large company, I can only imagine certain scenarios in those organizations and how they may play out. But as we have discussed before, politics are politics. And trust me, I've seen some pretty interesting things play out in very, very small organizations that would rival some of the "most interesting" in bigger organizations, to be sure.
But, playing the big corporate game is something that's never been my bag. I just love being able to turn to developers and say, "you know, it should probably work like this" an hour or two before pushing out to production :-)" - Adam Bullied
"Scott, you are correct. It truly depends on the environment. If a PM is given the reigns to truly run product, as they should, and they have a seat at the executive table (as they should) and report directly to the CEO, just being a spoke in the wheel shouldn't happen.
The PM would be responsible for causing and working through the conflict in order to build those working relationships to ensure that tech leads, sales leads, etc..., while they may dislike the PM, they are in charge.
Again, it's the true difference between recognizing where and how product fits in to an organization in and of itself, and having the necessary organizational support (i.e., the CEO backing you) to run with that.
I wish it was a luxury and responsibly that more PMs had, to be honest. But, it's just not the reality in the space right now." - Adam Bullied
