Microsoft Admits Windows 8 Failure

In the Financial Times today, there is an interesting article called Microsoft Prepares U-Turn On Windows 8.  It’s not surprising to me. I wrote in this blog last fall a posting called Who Cares That Windows 8 Is Here? where I questioned the viability of the new operating system.

The Financial Times reports:

Microsoft is preparing to reverse course over key elements of its Windows 8 operating system, marking one of the most prominent admissions of failure for a new mass-market consumer product since Coca-Cola’s New Coke fiasco nearly 30 years ago.

“Key aspects” of how the software is used will be changed when Microsoft releases an updated version of the operating system this year, Tami Reller, head of marketing and finance for the Windows business, said in an interview with the Financial Times. Referring to difficulties many users have had with mastering the software, she added: “The learning curve is definitely real.”

It saddens me that Microsoft–one of the world’s great companies–could not have predicted what I did.

Innovation is never easy. Innovations need to connect with customer need. Windows 8 didn’t. There was great misalignment, misalignment that has impacted an entire industry.

Within days of the Windows 8 launch, the gentleman who led the effort resigned from Microsoft. While that would normally seem strange, in this particular instance my gut said he wanted to disassociate himself from the new offering–he knew it would be deemed a dud. It appears he, too, was right.

Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

British Airways Shows How Airlines Can Be So Exasperating

Last year, I was to travel from San Francisco to India for a conference. While 2 of us from California allowed ample time to get our visas from the Indian Consulate in San Francisco, in the end we did not have our visas issued in time:

• After dilly-dallying for a couple of weeks, the requirement that we needed “conference” visas was changed within 2 days of our flight time to needing “business visas.”  I didn’t care that it cost a bit more money–I needed the visa so I could fly to New Dehli.
• With no time to spare, it turned out the printer that prints the visas in a passport was broken and therefore no visa could be issued. Hard to believe that there’s no alternate printer or work-around for this.

Two of us missed getting to the conference due to Travisa and the San Francisco Indian Consulate’s inefficiencies and having a single-point-of-failure in a critical process: printing the visa in my passport.

My air travel was on British Airways. I paid additional money out of my pocket to ensure I wasn’t stuck in a middle seat of a 747 for two flight segments of about 11 hours each.

I missed my outbound flight–I alerted the travel agent and airline well in advance of the scheduled departure. The travel agent notified BA that I was awaiting my visa and might be able to leave a day late and get to the conference. I was told “you have 52 weeks to use this ticket.” I thought that was great.

Today, I called BA to see about using that ticket to attend this year’s conference in Istanbul, Turkey. It’s about 2 weeks earlier this year so it should have been easy to leverage the ticket with BA.  Wrong!

BA tells me that the ticket needed to be re-booked at the same time I missed my outbound flight or the entire ticket value would be lost.

How on God’s green earth can I be told 2 entirely different rules about the same ticket?  Does anybody see the conflict?

And, what does BA say, “We’re sorry. There’s nothing we can do. You need to call your travel agent.” [Read my Fast Company blog post “I’m Sorry Doesn’t Cut It Anymore.”

So, Dell (who is paying my travel to these 2 conferences) is out the money. This makes me as angry as if was my own money.  And, as for reclaiming the $170 I paid out of my pocket to not sit in middle seats, that reimbursement claim was rejected by BA as well last year shortly after I was unable to travel.  I seem to recall BA was “sorry” about that as well.

Airline passengers are sick and tired of being gamed by the airlines, their silly rules, and their complete lack of accountability. It’s just disgusting.

Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting, http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

Boeing 787 Business Execution Failure

Note: This posting is based on my weekly “Thank God It’s Monday” that helps you and your company thrive!

This week’s focus: business execution

The grounding of the Boeing 787s due to the fire danger associated with the lithium-ion batteries continues to be a costly, brand-damaging problem. The U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, announced at the time of the grounding that these aircraft would not fly again until they are “1,000 percent safe.” [A bit of hyperbole in that statement, Mr. Secretary?]

Boeing wants to get the fleet back in the air as quickly as possible and keep production and deliveries moving. The solution they have offered the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA): a better fire containment box and improved venting for the lithium-ion batteries so if and when a fire occurs, it can be contained to the battery unit itself.

Is Boeing nuts? The answer is better fire suppression? Wrong answer, Boeing!

The right answer is a design that eliminates the risk of fire that has been thoroughly tested, qualified and implemented in each 787 before each plane is allowed to return to the skies. You know it, the FAA knows it, the airlines with 787s know it, and so does the flying public.

At an Association for Corporate Growth Silicon Valley chapter dinner meeting this past week, I moderated a panel called “Transportation of the Future.” I was honored to have Dr. Sujeet Kumar, CTO and co-founder of Envia Systems on the panel to discuss lithium-ion battery technology. He told the audience that the 787 lithium-ion battery is built using the wrong chemistry and is an inappropriate design prone to the very problems Boeing and its customers have experienced. The good news: Technology is available today to eliminate the risk. The bad news: It’s not apparent Boeing is looking for solutions outside its current design.

Boeing: Fix the problem the right way and restore our confidence in your brand and your wonderful 787 aircraft that the airline industry needs.

Thought for the week:

“To me, business isn’t about wearing suits or pleasing stockholders. It’s about being true to yourself, your ideas and focusing on the essentials.” – Sir Richard Branson

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What do you think? I welcome your blog comments!

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Fast Company Blog Posts That May Interest You

• How Dell Helps Entrepreneurs Get Hardware Solutions To Market
• Why Dell Decided To Go Private
• What Decisions Your Business Really Needs To Make About the Cloud

 

Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting

http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

© 2013 Gardner & Associates Consulting  All Rights Reserved

Note:  To receive an email version of “Thank God It’s Monday” to start your week, please subscribe here.  I would very much appreciate your suggesting to others that they subscribe.

Privacy Statement:  Our subscriber lists are never rented, sold, or loaned to any other parties for any reason.

A Road Warrior Without A Smart Phone Is A Weakened Warrior

As I caught the Amtrak train in Santa Clara on New Year’s Day evening to head to Eugene, Oregon, I made a major blunder. Here’s what happened.

The train ended up arriving not 10 minutes late as the station signage indicated but only 2 minutes late. As I sat in the car casually talking to my wife, I saw the light of the oncoming train flash suddenly flash into my rear view mirror.

I flew out of my seat to retrieve my stuff from the back of our car and hurried onto the platform to catch the train. There were only 3 of us boarding the train that night in Santa Clara so I knew the stop would be very brief.

As soon as I entered the train, my smart phone Bluetooth earpiece beeped in my ear informing me—to my complete and immediate horror—that I had left my phone in the front of our car. The train doors closed as I returned to my point of entry. I momentarily thought about hitting the emergency stop alarm on the train but thought better of it for a number of reasons.

• I suspected I might be committing a crime for hitting an emergency stop button for what I’m sure Amtrak wouldn’t consider a true emergency, and,
• I suspected that my wife had already driven off with my phone so there was no point in trying to exit the train.

So, what to do? I’ve embarked on an 8-day trip and have no cash or coins to summon my car rental company to pick me up at my train station, my wife may not realize I left the phone in the car and, when she’s unable to reach me, will suspect something has gone wrong. My immediate thought was how to contact her to let her know of my dilemma.

I immediately booted my laptop and WiFi device and sent my wife an email to her smart phone. Fortunately, she quickly acknowledged she had my phone. We agreed she would drive to Oakland and reunite me with my phone within the hour. Thanks, Nancy! Whew!!

I am dependent on my smart phone for staying in touch with my world. The feeling of “Oh my God—I don’t have my phone,” revealed just how reliant I am on this device.

I offered to have my wife ship me my phone but that would have meant being without my phone for 2 business days—a suboptimal situation. Could I have made it 2 days? Sure. But, I really didn’t want to find out what that would be like.

A road warrior without a smart phone is a weakened warrior.

Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

© 2013 Dave Gardner

Customer experience drives franchise out of business

Note: This posting is based on my weekly “Thank God It’s Monday” that helps you and your company thrive!

This week’s focus: customer experience

The Friday before Thanksgiving, the Carl’s Jr. fast food burger emporium across the street from my office closed for business. There is nothing sadder than a business closing and the jobs lost, particularly at this time of year. Why did this happen?

• The staff could barely speak English. Sure, they could take an order, but, most could not greet you properly, handle a conversation about special food preparation requirements, etc.
• A cook soon became a front counter order taker whether they were prepared for or well-suited for this position or not.
• A customer was treated with indifference.
• You could see the fear in their eyes of many of the staff dealing with a non-Spanish speaking customer.
• The manager hired people just like him–there was no diversity in one of the most diverse employment areas you can imagine.
• The food was haphazardly and inconsistently prepared, e.g., the french fries were often lukewarm, a burger often had a huge clump of lettuce crammed between the meat and the top bun, etc.

Across the parking lot, the McDonald’s thrives. Carl’s Jr. has the potential for much better food than McDonald’s yet this location struggled for years. It’s no wonder they closed given the customer experience they delivered. Corporate seemingly didn’t understand what they needed to do to make this location succeed.

Is your company delivering the customer experience that ensures it and you will thrive?

Thought for the week:

“A successful man is one who can lay a foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.” – David Brinkley

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What do you think? I welcome your blog comments!

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Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting

http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

© 2012 Gardner & Associates Consulting  All Rights Reserved

Note:  To receive an email version of “Thank God It’s Monday” to start your week, please subscribe here.  I would very much appreciate your suggesting to others that they subscribe.

Privacy Statement:  Our subscriber lists are never rented, sold, or loaned to any other parties for any reason.

American Airlines–What Is To Trust?

For many years, my preferred airline has been American Airlines.  I have privileges with them for life after having accumulated in excess of 1 million miles. I’ve always had great service and can recall only one flight cancellation with them after hundreds of flights.

This past weekend, I needed to book a trip to Austin, Texas, in December. I was asked what airline I prefer. I could not say American Airlines–not now, not in light of all the flight cancellations that make business travel with American Airlines a real crap shoot.  I’ll be flying on Southwest Airlines, an airline I have a lot of respect for in terms of “doing what they say they are going to do” and being business-friendly.

I can’t afford to take a bet on whether I’ll make it to Austin or not.  It’s a big enough crap shoot to travel by air anyway with all the packed flights and few alternatives if you miss a flight or a connection. American Airlines has, as of late, made business travel an even riskier bet.

American Airline is in bankruptcy. For most airlines that have gone through bankruptcy, this has been little more than a minor blip on the radar in terms of passenger impact. American has set a new standard–not one they should have aspired to.

I understand there are issues with the unions. But, do the unions and management not see that the American Airlines brand is being trashed because of all the nonsense?  Do they not see that people who can’t have a reasonable expectation of getting  from Point A to Point B won’t book travel with them?

I’m going to need to hear that these problems are a thing of the past before I’ll want to book any flight with American Airlines.  And, perhaps you should to before booking a flight with American Airlines.

Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

Assigning blame is the wrong approach

I just stumbled across this question on a website:

The San Diego Chargers blew a 24-0 halftime lead over the Denver Broncos on Monday night, getting outscored 35-0 after the break. Who is most to blame in San Diego today: Quarterback Philip Rivers, head coach Norv Turner or general manager A.J. Smith?

This question of “who is most to blame” is asked all too often. Who can we blame a result on? Who is ultimately responsible for what didn’t happen? Where does the buck stop?

I can think of better questions than “who is most to blame?”  How about:

• What can we learn from what happened?
• Where were the causes of the business execution failures?
• How do we correct the causes of the business execution failures and ensure they don’t reoccur?

Pointing the finger to assign blame accomplishes nothing.

As the Dalai Lama teaches, “When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.”

Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

HP Reeling from Oct12 Shareholder/Analyst Call

Wall Street and analysts are reeling from HP’s Shareholder/Analyst call yesterday. The stock hit a 9-year low yesterday. Meg Whitman and HP are signaling it’s going to be another couple of years before the company is back on track. That’s astounding.

I have to ask at what point in the last decade was HP truly “on track?” What does “on track” look like?  I don’t think HP really knows.  HP simply knows it’s off track.

One quote stood out yesterday:

 When Todd Bradley took over the Printing and Personal Systems business, he was surprised to find that we made more than 2,100 laser printers. In every business, we’re going to benefit from focusing on a smaller number of offerings that we can invest in and really make matter. By the way, we have plans to cut those laser printer SKUs by about — by nearly 50% in 2013.

Cut it in half in 2013?  I can’t imagine the lack of economies and negative supply chain implication of having 2100 laser printer SKUs. This is an incredible number.  To think that they will have to continue with that number for the better part of another year is puzzling. And, to think they hope to only cut it in half in 2013 means they’ll still have over 1,000.

How about cutting it by 75-80% from the current 2100.  How about looking at a strategy to reduce the number of SKUs by modularizing the products?  This would mitigate supply chain and channel distribution issues.

There’s more that’s troubling.

• For one, a “year” doesn’t need to be the smallest time unit for change to occur. In many businesses, a month or a quarter is sufficient to get a lot accomplished if people are motivated. HP needs to tighten up its timelines dramatically.
• The longer it takes to make critical changes in a business, the less likely the things essential to moving the needle on the business  will occur. Where is the sense of urgency?
•  HP leadership doesn’t have 2-3 years to ease into the changes. Investors won’t tolerate slow, steady progress. We’ll get another regime change and be right back talking about what needs to happen.
• There is really no proof that HP knows what the right things to do are and has a plan to execute.
• Cutting and downsizing–while necessary–won’t improve morale or the culture at HP. What is the plan to energize the team, customer, channel partners and the marketplace?

For too long, HP has just been going through the motions. What I heard yesterday is that will continue albeit with slightly more urgency.

Something’s got to give. I don’t think HP knows what that is yet. Where will HP be in a year?  Still stuck?

Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

NFL Brand Harmed by Replacement Refs

I missed seeing last night’s Monday Night Football featuring the Green Bay Packers against the Seattle Seahawks.  I fired up Twitter to see how the game ended.  My, oh, my–what a mess occurred.

The Twitterverse was effusive in its disgust about how the Packers had been denied a victory due to a missed call by the replacement referees on the last play of the game. Even the Seattle Seahawk fans knew the call was wrong.  As Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke wrote:

“Three weeks of gross incompetence by unqualified replacement officials crystallized in two moments Monday night that pushed the league’s integrity to the brink.”

It’s tragic that a team suffer a loss for a bad call.  But, what’s even more tragic is when bad calls are so endemic that it is now tarnishing the NFL brand. This wasn’t an isolated incident. It happened all across the league again this past weekend.

Many are saying it doesn’t matter what the official referees are demanding–just pay it.  It’s hard to argue that quibbling over a few dollars is worth damaging your brand.

This officiating debacle is a clear business execution failure.  Pete Goddell, the NFL Commissioner, has it within his power to make this horrific business execution problem go away.  Make it so.

Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

Closing A Rural California Courthouse Imposes A Tax

About 60 days ago, I received my first speeding ticket. I’ve been driving a very long time and was pretty happy about my spotless driving record. I deserved this ticket and the California Highway Patrol did their duty near Coalinga. I’m sure you’ve not heard of Coalinga…it’s a rural farming community in central California.

I was told that I would receive a ticket in the mail within 30 days. After 60 days, I was concerned there was a breakdown somewhere in the process and it is probably not prudent to just ignore this.

I dug out the ticket I signed to try to figure out what to do. The only phone number was for the Superior Court in Coalinga. I called to inquire about the status of my ticket. Here’s what I was told:

• The CHP should have known better than to tell me to expect a notification within 30 days. There is a huge backlog of tickets to be “entered into the system” and my ticket has yet to be entered. As far as the court is concerned, my ticket doesn’t exist—at least not yet.
• After July 27th, I’m going to have to contact a court in Fresno as the Coalinga Superior Courthouse will be permanently closed that day and all employees terminated on the 27th. When I contact the Fresno courthouse, I will be granted an extension of the due date for my ticket. [Is there a chance my ticket will become permanently lost in the shuffle? Fingers crossed—but I still have to follow up.]

Citizens who would have been serviced by the Coalinga Superior Court will have to travel 70 miles each way to Fresno for matters pending before the court. I call this a tax.

A 140-mile round trip plus the time involved is a tax. It is a tax on the people who live in that community that they will have to pay because budget pressures require that those court services be eliminated. And, we all know that if you need to go the courthouse, there is a reasonable likelihood that a matter won’t be resolved in one trip. It is a tax the people in this rural farming community can ill afford to pay. This tax required no legislative approval yet citizens will pay this tax for years to come.

And, of course, what about the court employees who are now out of work? Will they find comparable employment nearby? Perhaps not.

I owe the money to the court. Yet, based on how things are proceeding, it looks like the court is going to have to wait 90 days or more to collect from me. That is one calendar quarter (or more) of delay collecting my fine.

How much would you guess one-fourth of the traffic fines amount to in aggregate? I’m thinking it’s a lot of money to float merely due to inefficiencies in a process. This process is broken and has no velocity.  It’s a plow horse process when a race horse process is needed.  I don’t run my business this way and neither should the court.

Given the value of collecting the fine (several hundred dollars) versus the cost of entering the ticket in the system (a few dollars), the priorities seem a bit askew. I’m sorry the folks in Coalinga will lose their jobs this week. I wish them well.

Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

© 2012 Dave Gardner

SAGE ACT! 2012 Data Corruption Has Me On Edge

Update 14JUN12: Sage ACT! found that one errant ical calender entry for a recurring meeting corrupted the database and rendered the synchronization functions and more unusable in ACT!  I told them to take their time studying this problem and a possible fix to make ACT! (and me!) less exposed to this problem.  They agreed. It didn’t take long to identify the problem which is really good. Sage ACT! takes this seriously–I’m happy for that.  Too many companies are firewalling themselves off from customers in this day and age.  Sage ACT! is not one of them!

Update 12JUN12:  As a result of the blog post below, I’ve now been contacted by several people from SAGE ACT! and an independent consultant who works with SAGE ACT!  SAGE ACT! has requested and will receive my full database offering them the possibility to understand what occurred to corrupt my database. I’m happy for this collaboration with them.  SAGE ACT! is responding the way great companies should respond in this situation.  I’m happy for them reaching out to me.  I will update this post as the situation unfolds.

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At some point during the past couple of months, my SAGE ACT! 2012 database became corrupted. As I have been in the process of moving from one laptop to a new laptop, I had stopped using ACT during this migration period.

What’s the impact? This corruption no longer allows for the proper synching of my ACT Database with Google Gmail, Calendar and Contacts.

ACT Support informed me that some (recurring?) corrupt calendar entry from Google Calendar corrupted my entire database. The impact is not that that record didn’t make it over to ACT–I can no longer schedule anything in ACT based on a specific time and can’t synch my ACT database with Google.

This functionality worked well for about 6 months. Now, poof—it’s gone!

I’ve been using ACT since the late 1990′s—I’ve been very dedicated to this solution. Until now.

I spent considerable effort this week rebuilding an updated ACT database that I can synch with Google again. But, should I?

The data integrity between ACT and Google isn’t bullet proof. As my good friend Dave Wilkinson of DataComCorp and I discussed, it isn’t a matter of “if” this will happen again, but, “when.”

And, to determine that it has happened means I will have to meticulously back up by date and time, set up tests to determine if everything continues to synch properly, etc. In other words, I have a lot of work to do to validate that the solution I paid for is working properly. That is too much effort in my book.

What’s wrong here?

• ACT should have better error detection and not accept records into it that can corrupt an entire database.
• ACT alleges that this problem originates within Google and I have to accept their representation that this is true—it’s too easy to blame a third party for problems in your product., particularly when that third party isn’t involved in trouble-shooting and problem resolution.
• ACT informs me that this issue is very rare. Can I bet my business that this “rare occurrence” that has already happened to me in the first 6 months of use won’t happen again? Simple answer: No.

I was told I could send my database into ACT to see, if, on a time and materials basis, they could determine where the problem occurred. No guarantees of success. No time or cost estimate.

Personally, I’d be happy to send my entire database to the ACT development team so they can look at it and determine what they need to do make their product more robust. No one asked for that. Blame has been assigned to Google. The matter is closed as far as ACT is concerned.

How many other customers have this vulnerability and don’t know this? How many other customers may be unaware that this has already occurred to them? After all, there is no error message being passed when this occurs. The functionality just stops working.

I really like ACT. I’m deeply disappointed that I can no longer use this product as it was intended. I upgraded my ACT version specifically for this integration with Google. My confidence is shot.

Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting

 http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

© 2012 Dave Gardner All Rights Reserved

Money Can’t Buy Everything

On the 10th anniversary of 9/11, I volunteered to play Taps at a charity event for Wounded Warriors at a polo field in Atherton,CA, one of the most exclusive zip codes inCalifornia. This is where a lot of millionaires and probably even a few billionaires live.

I had never been to a polo match.  Anthony Robbins once described polo as being like “falling down a flight of stairs and lighting your wallet on fire once you hit the bottom.” This is a rich person’s sport. The woman and men at this charity event were extremely well-dressed.

I looked for an area to warm up away from the crowd using a practice mute that absorbs probably 90% of the audible sound from my horn.  I found an out-of-the-way refuge near some parked cars and a few port-a-potties.  As I was quietly warming up, a woman enters one of the port-a-potties. Here’s my recap:

Dress:  $5000

High heels: $1200

Hand bag: $1000

Look on her face when a man trying to use the same port-a-potty discovers she had not locked the door: priceless.

Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting

http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

HP WebOS Business Execution Failure

I must confess at being surprised that HP announced today that it is departing tablet market it recently entered as well as the smartphone business. Additionally, HP is stopping all hardware development around its proprietary WebOS operating system acquired with the PALM acquisition nearly 18 months ago for $1.2 billion.

While you have to applaud HP for quickly recognizing that it couldn’t compete against the Apple iPad and other Android tablet products, how is it a company like HP can realize within weeks of entering the market that there was no market need or demand for its creation? How is it they allowed major retailers like Best Buy to purchase a significant amount of inventory that no one will want?

In desperation, HP dropped the tablet price $100 within a couple of weeks after launch killing its margins in the hope that customers might take a closer look. This is like seeing “price reduced” on a home for sale sign. You know it was either overpriced or there’s something just not quite right about it. For HP, it didn’t work. It’s stunning really. This is a colossal failure of execution.

The Apple iPad has been the dominant market leader since its entrance in the market back in April 2010. [Note: It seems like the Apple iPad has been in the marketplace much longer doesn’t it?] No new market entrant has captured the excitement or even come close to capturing the market share enjoyed by the Apple iPad. And now, we see what a steep mountain Apple has created for its competitors.

I only recall a couple of news highlights around the announcement of the HP tablet:

• It was no where near what an Apple iPad is
• Performance issues undermined the user experience

These bullet points wouldn’t make me take even a first look if I was in the market for a tablet device. If the marketplace instantly recognized these gaps, why didn’t HP? What should have happened to prevent this embarrassing debacle?

HP has to have had a stage gate product development process in place to validate the market need and govern the development of products. As the product continues through the development process, there are gate reviews to see if it still makes sense to move forward with the next phase of the project. If not, you stop and figure out whether you can correct the deficiencies and continue on or stop the project all together. HP had multiple opportunities to do this. Yet, there is evidence that this did not occur.

There had to have been huge red flags that were known or ignored at different phases during the process. For example, one of the huge user benefits of the Apple iPad is the seamless iTunes eco-system that enables applications and music to be downloaded. HP provided no equivalent functionality for its device.

For this product to have made it the marketplace suggests a lack of discipline in following its stage gate product development process. A group of people were apparently in denial, thought the gaps wouldn’t matter and they should continue on. What poppy cock.

As of this writing, HP is telling its employees and analysts that it still plans further work around WebOS and hopes to license it to other companies. If you were a hardware manufacturer looking for a software platform, would you choose WebOS? Not unless you were on a suicide mission. What would your investors say? If a company with deep pockets like HP can’t make WebOS viable in its products, who else would give it even a passing thought?

Say goodnight to the HP tablet. Say good-bye to WebOS. Say hello to an execution failure that will be fodder for business schools for years to come.

Dave Gardner Gardner & Associates Consulting

http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

© 2011 Dave Gardner

Drug efficacy questioned yet again

Business execution is about “getting things done.”  I find it very irritating when a drug is prescribed for people that doesn’t “get it done.”

A story titled “Popular drug for mild Alzheimer’s largely a flop” with the sub-title “Memantine helped control symptoms no better than placebo, study says” appeared in MSNBC.com the 11th of April.   Here are some excerpts:

Though there is no proof that the drug thwarts disease progress, some physicians may prescribe it, and some patients may take it, ”under the hopes that it’s better to treat with this drug now rather than it is to wait until somebody becomes severe and then treat them,” said study researcher Dr. Lon Schneider, of the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles.

Doctors should take into account these new findings when they consider treating mild and moderate Alzheimer’s patients with memantine, Schneider said. Additional studies should be conducted looking at the effects of memantine on patients with mild disease, Schneider said.

Hope is not a strategy.  Why are Alzheimer’s patient’s families allowing a drug to be prescribed when there is no known benefit?  All drugs have side effects so anytime a pharmaceutical is taken, there are implications.

If this were an aberration, I wouldn’t mind.  But, this happens all too often.

Not only is this drug being prescribed when there is no established patient benefit, I’d be willing to make a small wager that the cost of this drug is being borne by Medicare to the benefit of the pharmaceutical company and not the patient.  And, what’s worse: the drug isn’t approved to help “thwart the progress of Alzheimer’s.”

What do you think?

Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

© 2011 Gardner & Asssociates Consulting

Taxis, The Austin Capital MetroRail and Freezing Cold

I had to make a trip to Austin, Texas, for 3 days of meetings at Dell headquarters.  Much to my chagrin, there were no rental cars available anywhere in the greater Austin area on Wednesday, December 8^th.  Amy at the Driskill Hotel tried valiantly to find me a car rental but to no avail.

A round-trip limo or executive car would have been about $200 round-trip, not very appealing at that price point. Amy told me about a fairly new train service—the Capital MetroRail—from downtown Austin that would get me near the Dell campus where I could grab a cab and be on my way.  The last train north was to leave at 7:17 a.m. and get me to the Howard stop by 8 a.m.  What did I have to lose?

It was cold on that Wednesday morning—about 38 degrees with a brisk wind downtown. Rather than walk from the hotel to the train station, I decided to grab a taxi at 6:45 am.  I showed the taxi driver the map of where I needed to go carefully drawn by Amy.

My Haitian cab driver—someone who had lived in Austin for 18 years—couldn’t find the train departure point.  He stopped and asked other cabbies what they knew and they were unable to offer any assistance.  One guy sent us on a wild goose chase.  Long story short, my “4-block cab ride” cost me $20, got me to the train with one minute to spare.  Not fun!

I tried to purchase a round-trip ticket but the ticket dispenser didn’t seem to work.  I told the train driver I’d buy a round-trip ticket later and he said,  “Jump on.”  I had nearly missed the last train from Austin heading towards Round Rock.

Another woman who just happened to work for Dell Financial Services got on the train with me.  It was her first experience on the Capital MetroRail as well.  The train was terrific:  clean, efficient and on-time.

Much to my chagrin, there were no cabs waiting at the train station.  The wind was blowing about 20 miles per hour and we were freezing to death in the cold.  There was really no wind or weather shelters at the Howard station.  We tried not so successfully to hide behind the ticket dispensing machine but it offered little relief from the swirling winds. My light sports coat and slacks offered no relief from the cold.

The Dell employee tried to get us cabs via Austin Cab.  The dispatcher had no idea where to pick us up.  She said we had to provide a street address—there was no street address for us to find at the Howard train station. We searched our smart phones looking for an address and finally gave that to her.  We needed 2 cabs.  She could offer no insight about when the cabs might arrive.  It was cold—really cold!

After about 45 minutes, the first taxi arrived.  A city bus appeared and, because I still had no commitment about when a cab would arrive, I decided to jump on the bus to anywhere just to get out of the cold.  The driver told me he would take me to a major shopping center where I could find a place to get a cab.  I had to walk probably one-half mile in the cold.

The first place I came to was a Chili’s restaurant.  I knew it was too early to be open, but, I thought I might be able to persuade someone to let me in, get a street address and some shelter from the cold.  I was wrong. The lone worker must have thought this nattily attired guy was a robber.  I’m stuck in the cold with the swirling wind.

I called the dispatcher at Austin Cab, told her I’m standing outside a Chili’s restaurant at a major mall called the “Shops at Tech Ridge.”  The dispatcher has no idea where I am.  She asks for a street address.  I see a street number on the building but have no idea of the actual address.  I’m stymied again.  Did I tell you it was cold—really cold?  She finally finds a cabbie who knows where I am and, 45 minutes after leaving the bus, I’m in a cab and on my way to Dell.

I left the hotel at 6:45 am and arrived at 9:35 am at Dell for my 10 a.m. meeting. $40 in cab fares plus a $6 round-trip train fare.

So, what are the lessons learned about this business execution failure?

o         The Austin Capital MetroRail needs to make sure it has visible street addresses at all of its stops.  This is critical for cab companies, emergency dispatchers, etc.

o         The Austin Capital MetroRail needs to provide shelter from the weather for its customers. I really suffered in the cold that morning.

o         The Austin Capital MetroRail needs to reach out to any support systems, e.g., cab companies, etc., to make sure those support systems know where the stops are.  It would be great if contact information was available at each stop for any support systems that might be useful.

o         Cab dispatchers need to know the area they support.  The traveling public doesn’t know the area well.

Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

BP Gulf Oil Disaster Note to White House

I, like many, am horrified at what is happening as a result of the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Last evening, I sent the following note to the White House:

(1) Why is there so little information about what is going to be done to remove the oil plumes from the Gulf of Mexico? What effort is underway?  Is this need getting the same level of attention as other remediation efforts?

(2) Why is crude oil being allowed to reach the shore in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida?  It is as though we just sit and watch the inevitable happen. This is not acceptable.

(3) It is critical that the oil not reach and be allowed to spread via the Loop Current.  Why does it appear that we are flat-footed and merely waiting for the inevitable to occur?  This is not acceptable.

From my limited vantage point, most effort is being put towards stopping the oil plume but not in keeping the crude from fouling our beaches and wetlands. We don’t need to look like “deer in headlights.”  This is foreseeable at this point; urgent action is needed.

What do you think?

Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting, http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

Motivational speaker won’t give up

Some humor on a Friday afternoon:

Perhaps a few Tylenol are in order…

Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

AT&T network is the worst

If I owned a smartphone, it would be an iPhone.  However, I can’t tolerate the network problems that I see with AT&T.  Now, there’s some empirical data to support my position:

This data comes from the this article.  The article is an interesting read!.

Here’s what I know about the AT&T network simply working with colleagues who are on that network:

• When I try to call a colleague on the AT&T network I am almost assured of not getting through to them when I call–80-90% of calls go to voicemail.
• Several months ago, I called my best friend and got the following message from AT&T:  “I’m sorry but we don’t have enough information to process your call–please enter the phone number you wish to reach.”  Well, I’m sorry, I speed dialed the number from my Verizon cell phone to my contact list as I was driving, would have to hang up my phone to look up the number…you get the idea.  I hung up.

I stopped in Radio Shack a.k.a. “The Shack” to pick something up the other day.  The salesman asked about my phone and wanted to know if I wanted to move from Verizon to AT&T.  When I told him “no,”  that I was a devout Verizon customer he said, “Look, they all have coverage pockets.”

The San Francisco Bay Area is an AT&T coverage pocket.  I’m not going to bet my business on AT&T’s cellular network.

Verizon: bring on the iPhone!

Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

How to improve the Department of Homeland Security

The Department of Homeland Security is not securing our safety from terror as we should expect. How should they approach this challenge to improve speed, accelerate collaboration and improve efficacy?

The unsuccessful Christmas Day terror attack (a.k.a. the underpants bomber) involving Northwest flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit has highlighted inefficiencies and process breakdowns that a reasonable person would have thought would have been eliminated years ago.

In spite of receiving what should have been considered actionable intelligence from the terrorist’s father, critical information was not acted on appropriately or in a timely fashion by governmental agencies. This breakdown could have caused the death of 288 people on the aircraft and perhaps more on the ground.

The American people deserve better. This predictable event was an entirely avoidable business execution failure on the part of those charged with protecting us.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security[i] (DHS) was established on March 1, 2003. Its stated goal is to prepare for, prevent, and respond to domestic emergencies, particularly terrorism. This cabinet-level department’s mission is to protect the U.S. from terror attacks and to respond to natural disasters. This cabinet-level department was created after the September 11, 2001, terror attack by the Bush Administration. The Department of Homeland Security works in conjunction with other federal departments.[ii] Homeland security policy is coordinated at the White House by the Homeland Security Counsel.[iii]

A Simple Solution

I am for simplicity in business process and system design. I prefer speed and agility over elegance. From a simplistic viewpoint, here’s what should have happened after any human being in any government agency receives a report about a real, possible or potential threat.

• DHS is immediately notified by any government employee about any potential threat,
• The individual(s) is/are added to the terrorist watch list and no-fly list,
• A report dispatched to all federal agencies and international partners who need to be aware of this intelligence,
• Any outstanding U.S. visas are immediately revoked,
• Appropriate post-report actions are taken

If it turns out the report is a mistake or a hoax, apologize and move on.

Political correctness, not having sufficient details of a threat, etc., is no reason to not immediately escalate our response to a potential threat.

How Anti-Terror Processes Should Be Designed

The business processes should consist of a series of business process modules with each module reflecting a likely scenario that may be encountered.

Example: Human #1 advises Human #2 within a government agency that Human #3 represents a specific threat. The response to the specific scenario should consist of very simple business process steps that can be executed with a minimum of delay and minimal need for training. The process described under “A Simple Solution” above could be adopted very quickly.

Information technology availability always lags the needs of the organization. Therefore, information technology may not take a lead role in a solution. As information technology becomes available to tie together the modules together, this can be implemented. It is not, however, acceptable to wait to eliminate gaps and breakdowns in current business processes until information technology is available. There can be incremental improvements over time.

Impediments to Change in the Federal Government

Forming the Department of Homeland Security has not immediately resulted in business process improvements or improvements in business execution. Lesson learned: we cannot legislate improved business execution.

The biggest impediments to improving business execution are leadership and culture.

All governmental departments are led by political appointees. The career employees in each department know that they need only stall for 4 years, 8 years or sometimes even less, and this new political appointee will be gone, they won’t have to radically change what they do or how they do it, and they can pretty much be impervious to all but the most minor amounts of change.

Whenever people want to push back on major change, one of the first things the change agent will hear is, “Well, you just don’t understand.” And, by the time the person does understand, the gig is up, a new department head comes in and the process starts all over. Net impact: almost none. The “line in the sand” barely moves.

Why is Change So Difficult?

Most people start with the details rather than the view from 20,000 feet, get clear on the required objectives or outcomes, and adjust the processes to fit the objectives or outcomes. It is so easy to get mired in details that one loses sight of the desired outcomes.

Making required changes to existing processes requires intense, laser-like focus on specific objectives and outcomes that have to be achieved within a rapid time frame. It is important to remember that, all the while, the culture is pushing against change.

The leader must keep pushing back to make sure that changes are not being undermined for the sake of delaying or denying change. The leader must also overcome the inertia and resistance to sharing information outside of agency silos.

Roles and responsibilities need to clearly defined for employees in each scenario. Employees need to be held accountable for executing the process in accordance with expectations and need to understand that there are immediate and dramatic consequences for non-compliance.

There is never a viable excuse for not being fast. Just as readers here are looking to become fast companies, government processes must become fast as well.  And, please, if you think I don’t understand, help me understand how you would make change to improve the efficacy of this critical need, not why change is not possible.

___

David Gardner is a management consultant, speaker, author, blogger who specializes in eliminating business execution problems that threaten profitability and growth. He can be reached through his web site at www.gardnerandassoc.com.

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[i] The Department of Homeland Security has over 200,000 employees in federal organizations that include:

• United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
• U.S. Customs and Border Protection
• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
• U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
• Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
• U.S. Coast Guard
• National Protection and Programs Directorate
• U.S. Secret Service

[ii] Several key federal departments that are also charged with protecting the U.S. include:

• The Department of Health and Human Services
• The Department of Justice
• The Department of Energy
• Central Intelligence Agency
• Department of State

[iii] The Homeland Security Council is chaired by the President of the United States. The statutory members include the Vice President of the United States and the department heads from treasury, justice, defense, homeland security, health and human services, federal emergency management agency, FBI, and the homeland security advisor. Other cabinet-level secretaries may be called upon to participate as well as the chiefs of staff for the President and Vice President, and other key members of the executive branch.

Homeland Security Fails with Airplane Bomber

I think it’s high time we get mad as hell and let the Department of Homeland Security know we are not going to take it anymore.

As everyone now knows, on Christmas Day, another extremist (by his own admission) attempted to blow up an international flight between Amsterdam and Detroit.  This event will spark outrage by Congress and result in all the inevitable hearings.  We are so great at being reactive but can’t seem to be proactive in heading off threats until after they have occurred.

One thing is painfully clear to me:

The homeland security system is not working and it was only because of an unlikely failure in a bomb ignition device that hundreds of innocent people were not killed.

This incident was so avoidable. The father of the young man went to the U.S. embassy in Nigeria to report that his son is a threat. His son’s name doesn’t find its way on to the “no-fly” list allegedly because the threat was not specific enough.  Are you kidding me.? This is a problem.

The Associated Press reports this morning that Janet Napolitano says “the system worked.”  Excuse me?  How does she arrive at that conclusion?  Here’s the official position of the White House as reported in the Associated Press:

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says investigators are looking at the system for placing potential terrorists on travel security lists to see if procedures were properly followed and what can be done to make them more effective.

What is it about politicians who just avoided a horrific calamity that makes them make statements like this?

Just say it:  The system failed and failed big time.  People failed to execute their jobs properly.  Those who are responsible for designing and implementing this business process will be immediately terminated from their jobs.

And, get ready:  You’re going to hear the U.S. Embassies are run by the State Department whereas the Department of Homeland Security is a separate department and that fact alone  means that the system can’t be lean and agile.  Really?  Do we have to accept this?  Or, does our command and control mechanism build firewalls around these 2 functions that preclude timely and effective collaboration between these groups?  If you’ve got a “.gov” email address, there should be no barrier to collaboration.

I’m also not in favor of political correctness.

Those of us who travel extensively know that even when you see something suspicious, those who are responsible for protecting us are hesitant to investigate suspicious behavior to avoid charges of  “profiling.”  This is obscene.  It’s not 80-year old white women and 5-year old kids who have a history of blowing up planes.  More profiling and less political correctness could go a long way in protecting us.

Back when the shoe bomber tried to bring down a plane, I joked that it was a good thing that he used his shoes and hadn’t stuffed something in his underware.  Otherwise, we would have to remove more than just our shoes as we went through airport security.  Well, guess what–this latest guy just stuffed his underwear.  I hate to think of what the implications will be for us.

It perturbs me to no end that the failure of those charged with protecting us will now cause great inconvenience to the millions of travelers who aren’t breaking the law and trying to bring down aircraft.  All this because the current system that could have prevented this failed.   Will it make us safer?  No.  But, it will certainly create the illusion that we are safer.

The Department of Homeland Security needs to come to grips with the notion that things are not going well for them.  This department owns the Secret Service–the agency that allowed 2 reality TV wannabees to have full access to the President of the United States, the Vice President, the Speaker of the House, etc., at the recent state dinner.  If this latest execution failure is not further indication of the need for a wake-up call, then I don’t what is.

What do you think?

Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting

http://www.gardnerandassoc.com