Breaking and Entering

I like routines and that is especially true when it comes to my Web/Internet activities.

I go to the same 10-15 sites/services a day. I have habits around my laptop usage (Gmail, Twitter, Facebook, CNN, etc), my home computer usage (add Weather and learning sites), my iPhone usage (NYT, Facebook, Twitter, Text, etc), my iPad usage, etc. So I almost engage mindlessly at times, without thinking. Sometimes I'll just pull up CNN for no particular reason and then wonder, why did I do that?

I think I'm pretty typical of heavy tech users. Our fingers do the walking to our usual stops. So the challenge is how to break and enter that routine. This applies to Software as a Service businesses, online communities, wiki/info sites, and has relevancy for any Website. One visit is nice but routine, daily use is the real deal.

I think about this in terms of our Content Management System. How do I get my clients to make that a regular stop? How do breaking into their routine?

Increasingly I think the most effective way is to enter via a side door, an existing routine. I'm writing this blog via my Gmail account. I send it as an email to Posterous, then it is automatically posted to my www.jebbanner.com blog. They have found an effective way to enter my routine. Otherwise I doubt I would post half as often as I do. It may only be a couple clicks to get to their system but that seems huge in my mind.

In my comfortable email environment I can type away without worrying whether the post will be accepted when I hit submit or what the formatting rules are. I am more likely to engage when I am comfortable. Consider how to apply that to anything you build. Where are your target users living? How far can you go to break and enter their routine without them leaving their comfort zone? Focus on those solutions over fancy bells and whistles within the app or site itself.

The Death of Email?

Facebook's COO Sheryl Sandberg recently proclaimed that email was dying since only 11% of teens use it on a regular basis.

So is email on the way out? Will texting take over?

I know experts like to look at teen/20s behavior as a harbinger of things to come. It makes sense since these kids are often tech pioneers.

But I think in the case of email Sheryl's got it wrong. Teens aren't using email since they aren't communicating anything long form. Texts are essentially short form emails.

Also, keep in mind that the current crop of teens are getting their first taste of technology via cell phones. As tech creeps younger I think we will see more kids getting online via the family/school computer before getting a phone. This means more may have email accounts before phones. I'm seeing this with my 10 year old and her friends who for the most part do not yet have phones but do use email and IM.

When it comes to long form communication, which is very needed in business and life in general, I don't see anything replacing email. Perhaps more communication may be occurring via Social Media platforms like Facebook but to me it's still just email.

Success Markers

In the past I measured success by how hard I worked, how many hours, how many weekends, consecutive days, how stressed out I was, etc

I felt guilty if I suddenly found myself with time on my hands. What had I done wrong to not be busy!

That instinct still sticks with me but I'm learning to resist it. Now I see that not-busy-guilt as a welcome signal that I'm probably doing something right.

Being busy is addictive. That alone should be reason enough to question busy-ness.

On top of fighting the Busy addiction, evolution taught us to find the safe path and stick to it. We are born with a herd mentality that was once useful fending off lions and rival tribes. Unfortunately evolution is a lagging indicator. It's a very slow learner.

In my attempt to expedite evolution I have begun actively resisting these instincts. I now measure success around quality of engagements not quantity of activities. Committing fully to whatever I'm doing at that time. Moving freely between reflection and conversation, work and play. Sectioning off all the other stuff until its time comes back around.

I'm certainly not batting 1000. I'm still scattered and distracted more than I would like. I was pulled away from this post 3 times before finishing. But I do have an understanding of how to measure success.

I look for success markers around little things: not checking email at night, taking walks during the day, not multi-tasking, delegating, leaving work early, reading, having a focused conversation, finding time to play with my kids, writing blogs like this...

What about money? I also see money as a marker but like evolution it's often a lagging indicator of success. I believe that to some degree money will take care of itself if I can hit my day to day markers.

Not everyone measures success the same, I'm not implying that my definition should be yours. We all have our own markers. The better I get to know my markers the better I can make that measurement. What are your markers?

Your Customer Is My Client

I've come to see this as the great divide. If a potential client thinks we are working for them then they just don't get it.

Marketing is essentially proactive customer service. Giving potential customers a preview of what their experience will be once they come on board.

As Zappos and other companies have shown- customer service is marketing. It's your customer doing the marketing for you based on their experiences. Nothing is more powerful.

Increasingly I find battles over design, messaging and overall direction to be a huge waste of time when it comes to Web marketing. It rarely adds to the end product and almost always delays it.

I'm not advocating for careless marketing but we need to stop treating the Web like traditional media. It's fundamentally different, so your approach should be as well.

The Web is not a physical structure. Try something, see if it works, change it if it doesn't. Build for agility not permanence.

Let your customer tell you what works. Their actions will and must speak louder than your words.

Stop the endless guessing and internal turf wars, it's not necessary. Agree quickly, test quickly and change quickly.

Client or Team?

Sometimes, not often, I have to decide between the client and my team. It's a difficult situation but not really a hard choice. The team always wins. This may sound a little tough on our clients but it actually serves them better in the long run.

If we become subservient to client whims, unreasonable timelines and hidden expectations then our morale and culture takes a hit. The team gets exhausted and work suffers.

Our culture is really what people are hiring us for anyway, the way our team works and gets things done. Without good morale and a healthy culture we cannot be that for other clients.