May 5, 2023
Grilling: Low to High End
July 25, 2022
November 26, 2020
The Cost Is The Cost
The less you pay for something, the more it costs.
You might think you're getting a bargain by paying less, but in the end, paying less ends up costing you more in troubles and headaches.
The cost is really the cost.
When you cut a penny in half, it still costs you the whole penny!
You can't nickel and dime it to death. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
The Cost Is The Cost
August 26, 2020
Porsche Lovers
For Porsche lovers, I think it's mighty hard to resist it.
Now that's a brand that inspires with its meticulous eye toward design and quality.
The result is even a huggable Porsche is sweet! ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Porsche Lovers
April 6, 2020
Buy Right From The Start
Our tasting panel samples each item before we buy it.
And the picture is of the guy ready to dig into the food.
There was another saying that I heard that I liked:
If you buy on price, you buy twice.
In other words, never just buy the lowest price item if you don't really like it, because in the end, you'll end up having to buy a replacement for the cheapo, crappo thing you really didn't like to begin with.
Better to save up and get what you really want to begin with.
A savvy shopper, indeed. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Buy Right From The Start
May 7, 2019
Really Highest Quality
Vendor is selling jewelry on the corner (outside the Metro).
They're advertising:
Products Of The Highest Quality
But would you even expect to get the highest quality jewelry off the street.
As nice as these products may be (and he may be), I don't think anyone would really believe this.
So while the ad grabs your attention and makes you look, it doesn't make you believe.
Advertising and branding has to be credible to reach their intended audience or else it'll just come off as fool's gold. ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Really Highest Quality
May 4, 2019
Getting The Biggest Bang For The Buck
One tool that I really liked from the class was the Impact-Effort Matrix.
To determine project worth doing, the matrix has the:
Impacts (Vertical) - Improved customer satisfaction, quality, delivery time, etc.
Effort (Horizontal) - Money, Time, etc.
The best bang for the buck are the projects in upper left ("Quick Wins") that have a high impact or return for not a lot of effort.
In contract, the projects that are the least desirable are in the lower right ("Thankless Tasks") that have a low impact or return but come at a high cost or lot of effort.
This is simple to do and understand and yet really helps to prioritize projects and find the best choices among them. ;-)
(Source Graphic: Andy Blumenthal)
Getting The Biggest Bang For The Buck
April 15, 2017
Indian Wedding Rocks
Loved seeing this amazing Indian wedding.
The rocking music, the beautiful colorful outfits, the pageantry, and the adorned white horse.
While this looked like a relatively small and intimate wedding--perhaps quality balances out quantity.
Although one of my good friends from India told me that he had 4,000!!! people at his wedding that was held in a stadium--I can barely even imagine how awesome that was.
So happy...all life should be great times like this. ;-)
(Source Video: Andy Blumenthal)
Indian Wedding Rocks
January 1, 2017
2017 Year Of The Customer
How about this year be the year of the customer!
- Where we care more about doing a good job for someone than we do about what time we get off from work.
- Where we talk to and treat customers with respect, dignity, and ultimately to solve their needs, rather than it escalating to a yelling match and oh, did I accidentally hang up the phone on you?
- Where we make the customer feel good about dealing with us and our organization, rather than wanting to beg for a supervisor or cyanide please!
- Where the customer isn't lied to, manipulated, and taken advantage of just so someone can make another quick buck!
- Where the quality and value is #1 and it's not just a shinny veneer on a car that accelerates on it's own and with fake emissions test results or smartphone batteries that light up on fire and explode.
- Where we don't cross-sell and up-sell customers, like phony bank accounts or other things they don't want, need, and never asked for just to make our sales quotas, and accrue the fine bonuses and stock options that go with them.
- Where we don't oversell the capability of a product, like fraudulent blood testing devices and medical results, and instead deliver what's really doable and as promised.
- Where there's no error in the charge to the customer or it's in the customer's favor, rather than always an overcharge in the seller's favor, and the price from the beginning is fair and reasonable and not hiked up 400% like on critical medicine that people's lives depend on.
- Where items arrive on time and work the first time, rather than having delays, making excuses, and causing endless customer returns of defective items or those that didn't fit, look, or work as advertised.
- Where the customer is happy to come back to and where they feel trust in the people, products, and services offered--not another Home Shopping Network or QVC shoddy experience of "It slices, it dices...the only tears you'll shed are tears of joy!"
- Where we solve genuine customer needs or problems and not just "build it and they will come."
- Where rather than a pure what's in it for me (WIIFM) mentality, we suspend our self-interest and greed for the moment and we do for others, because it's not just a job and we actually have a work ethic and care about what we do.
- Where we delight! and wow!, rather than disengage and disappoint, and we put the customer first, and like first responders, we run to help and not run away.
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
2017 Year Of The Customer
March 27, 2016
Making The Deadline
Making The Deadline
February 17, 2016
Spending It All Down
The more time you have on your hands, the longer it takes you to do something.
I find this to be so true...like on a day off, I don't find myself typically getting any more done than on a regular work day.
But what is true for time, also seems to apply to money.
The more money you make, the more you need.
And while you may get more or better quality for your extra bucks, you still don't have a lot in net savings.
Thus in line with Conspicuous Consumption, we spend more on luxury goods when we have more money and we spend more of our leisure time on doing the same basic set of activities when we have more time to spend.
Either way, more time and money often means more wasting of each, with people finding it extraordinarily difficult to save when they have (too) much of either.
Perhaps, that why the big time hip hop artist, Kanye West recently tweeted about being $53 million in debt.
Or why Benjamin Franklin said, "If you want something done, ask a busy person."
Your personal decision is what you end up spending your extra time and money on.
The only real difference with time and money is that money you can put in the bank, but time passes whether you are busy or not.
Perhaps the best investment for both is to spend on education, experiences, on loved ones, and on helping others.
(Source Photo: here with attribution to Parg)
Spending It All Down
March 30, 2015
That's Getting A LIttle Personal
It says: "Get in our pants"--well, excuse you!
Using sexual come-ons to sell, sell, sell...is not a new marketing strategy.
As they say in the biz world, "Sex sells!"
Perhaps a more targeted ad about quality, fit, and pricing would be more to the product point.
But why sell with facts, when you can sell with fantasy. ;-)
(Source Photo: Dannielle Blumenthal)
That's Getting A LIttle Personal
January 20, 2015
Buyer Beware, Else Buyer Remorse
He used to say (or so my dad used to tell me), "You open your eyes or you open your wallet!"
Put another way is that "A fool and his money are soon parted."
But I like the way my grandfather put it even better--easier to remember and no name calling involved! ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Buyer Beware, Else Buyer Remorse
October 14, 2014
Not Exactly A Genie
A colleague told me that if he had a genie in a bottle, his first wish would be to have infinite wishes; his second wish would be for all his wishes to come true; and his third wish would be that all the wishes would be free of ambiguity such that the intent would be fully clear--nice!
But this here is no genie...this is an umbrella in a bottle.
Twist the top (handle) and pull it from the bottle (case) and whoola, an umbrella.
Cute design, but when I tried to open the umbrella, it felt functionally, like a piece of garbage (IMHO).
Oh genie, how about an umbrella that actually works and who cares if it's in a bottle or not. ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Not Exactly A Genie
December 16, 2012
Amazon Will Bury Walmart
So I cannot tell you my utter disappointment the first time I went to Walmart--shabby storefronts, elderly door greeters handing out store circulars and stickers, messy aisles and shelves, with low price tags on a swirling everything, and sort of the image of crummy leftover merchanidse throughout, and top that off with pushing crowds trying to save a couple of bucks on the junk.
Let's just say, I'm not running back to Walmart, especially when we have online shopping experiences like Amazon--now that is much closer to nirvana.
No drive, no crowds, no wait, no up and down the aisles looking for what you want, no shlepping, and no in your face "everyday low prices" image and we won't let you forget it--instead easy to find, interesting, varied, and quality merchandise of all types, at reasonable prices, with an easy checkout process, home delivery, free shipping, and easy returns.
And as opposed to Walmart which is stuck in costly and inconvenient large brick and mortar stores, Amazon is investing in infrastructure of the future with convenient warehouse and delivery centers throughout the country, and more recently with their purchase of Kiva Systems in March 2012 for implementing robotics in their fulfillment centers.
On top of it, Walmart (with nearly 2.2 million employees worldwide) in its endeavor to keep prices low, have spun up their workforce with jobs--that are often part time and unpredictable, low wage, lacking proper benefits, unsafe working conditions, and with questionable advancement opportunties (especially for women). Throw on top of that bribery allegations for which they've hired a new complaince officer. Yet, Walmart has also somehow managed to keep their workforce from unionizing to improve things.
So how should we say this: how about straight out--Amazon gets it and Walmart does not!
And while Walmart has their own .com site--which coincidentally looks very much like Amazon's--Amazon is eating Walmart's lunch online, with according to NBC News a 41% revenue increase for Amazon's online sales versus just 3.4% for Walmart's. Moreover, Bloomberg BusinessWeek (29 March 2012) reports that Walmart's 2011 online sales amounted to less than 2% of their U.S. sales--they just can't seem to make the digital transformation!
So While overall Amazon sales at $48 billion are still only about 1/9 of Walmart colossal $419 billion, Amazon with it's high-tech approach (including their successful Kindle eReaders, cloud computing, and more) is anticipated to reach $100 billion in online sales by 2015.
Like the other big box retailers of yore, Kmart, Sears, JC Penny, Circuit City, Best Buy, and more, Walmart will decline--it will just take a little longer and with a little more thrashing, because of the size of their checkbooks.
Perhaps, as the New York Times implied years ago (17 July 2005) only stores like Costco (and throw in Nordstroms as well) with their tall aisles stocked neatly with quality goods, at low prices, and with better human capital ethos, will survive the big box retailer Armageddon.
My prediction is that within a generation Amazon will bury Walmart, if not literally so they are out of business, then figuratively with the best and most lucrative online shopping experience around--and as for the matchup betweent them, it won't even be close. ;-)
(Source Photo: here with attribution to Fuschia Foot)
Amazon Will Bury Walmart
October 1, 2012
Prefabricated Skyscrapers
Yes, there were political disputes on what type of building and memorial would be erected, what security features would be included, what the insurance would pay, and so on.
But then there is also just the shear length of time it still takes us to build a building—a skyscraper, but also other smaller and simpler structures too.
Wired Magazine (October 2012) is reporting on a new method for building construction coming out of China.
Unfortunately, China has been known for some time for unsafe building practices—perhaps doing things on the cheap and then paying for it in terms of consequences later.
Yet, this new technique promises to increase safety, as well as speed, while lowering costs.
If you are willing to give up some building pizzazz, then Broad Sustainable Building is perfecting the prefabricated skyscraper—and these have tested “earthquake-proof” for a 9.0 quake, cost only $1,000 per square foot (versus $1,400 normally)—a 40% savings, and a 30 story building can be built in just 15 days!
Now, Broad says that they even want to erect a 220 story mega skyscraper in 6 months—by March 2013.
Here’s how they do it:
- Identical modules—each section is prebuilt in identical modules in the factor.
- Preinstalled fixtures—Pipes and ducts are threaded through each module in the factory for AC, hot and cold water, and waste.
- Standardized truckloads —with two stacked pallets, each pallet has everything needed to erect a section including wall panels, columns, ducts, bolts, and tools.
- Lego-style assembly—sections are lifted by crane and installed quickly in snap-like fashion, including pipes and wires.
- Slotted exterior—heavily insulated walls and windows are hoisted by crane and slotted into the exterior of the building.
As with the rest of the industrial age, this is just the first step in mass producing—in this case buildings—and like the Ford Model T, which came in only one color black and evolved to meet consumer tastes and needs, these building will soon come in all sorts of shapes and sizes but at a fraction of the cost and the time to build.
This is enterprise architecture applied to building architecture making use of modular design and construction, standardization, and consolidated engineering, manufacturing, and assembly to develop next generation products.
(Source Photo: Minna Blumenthal)
Prefabricated Skyscrapers
July 6, 2012
TED For Everyone
TED stands for Technology/Entertainment/Design and is a conference venue for some of the most magnificent speakers.
Just looking at some of TED's "most popular this month"--turn to TED if you want to hear about:
- Information being collected about you on the web
- How through vulnerability, we can empathize, belong, and love
- Whether through evolution our kids will be different than us
- Ways to prepare for Alzheimer disease
- New ideas for cleaning up oil spills
- How schools kill creativity
- The talents and abilities of introverts
- How to inspire and be a great leader
TED is literally a world of information and it is presented in a high quality way.
Almost anyone would be floored by the honor to present at TED.
Talking at TED means not only that you have something important to say, but that you can pull-off saying it the right way.
What makes TED lectures great though (and viewed 800 million times so far) maybe also makes them more than a little sterile.
Firstly, the 4-day TED conference itself is only for special people--admission starts at $7,500 and no that does not include lodging and travel, and you have to have an "invitation"--posh posh--to attend.
Then, the actual presentations are "closely governed"--speakers are carefully sought out and vetted, material that is counterintuitive is of interest, and "TED's eye for theatre...[with] vigilance about immersion and control" are a strong part of the showmanship.
However, while on one hand, these things perhaps are a hugh part of the TED success--wash, rinse, repeat--on the other hand, it also makes for a feel that is very scripted, uniform, almost molded.
The New Yorker article even describes how the speakers practice again and again--repeating their monologues hundreds of times and to whoever will listen. There is essentially nothing impromptu, ad-libbed, or in a sense real about the entertainment-aspect of what you are watching and listening to.
While the information seems to always be great--the presentation with the speaker, sound, lights, slide show, audience shots, etc.--comes across like a row of identically-built houses in a development.
Each "house" (or presentation in this case) may be filled with interesting people, things, and love, but on the outside, as one of my friends says--they are identical, so that coming home after a long day at work, you almost don't know at times which row house is yours anymore.
If TED ever did a lecture on how they could improve TED. these would be some of my suggestions (and there is no gloss here):
- Open it to everyone--Restricting TED to invitation-only is elitist and maybe worse. Opening TED to more people to attend, learn, and enjoy--let's everyone have an opportunity to benefit--regardless of who you are or where you come from.
- Diversify the speakers--It is nice to have scientists and entrepreneurs and stars present at TED, but it would be even nicer to have regular, common people too. Everyone has a story to tell--whether or not you have a Ph.D. or run your own company. While it is great to learn from the "experts," it would be fascinating to hear from everyday people on their challenges and how they deal with them and overcome them or not. Just as an example, regularly, I see an incredible homeless lady on the street in DC--yes, well-dressed, talkative, polite--and I would want to hear how she ended up where she is and how she copes and survives her experiences on the street everyday. The point it that every person is a world onto themselves and worth hearing about--the key is how to get the experiences, the feelings, and the lessons learned.
- Genuine, less scripted speeches--Part of good entertainment is making it real, but when it is just another (over-)rehearsed performance, the speakers seem almost robotic. Wouldn't it be wonderful to hear human beings talk in a more relaxed and yes, genuine-way about very important human topics of significance to us all? Right now, people crave information --heck, it's the information age and nice informative lectures are racking up the views, but at some point soon, people are going to want and expect more.
- Shake it up with the venue--TED is conservative extraordinaire. The one (or occasionally two or three) speakers on the stage, the dark background and spotlighted speaker, the PowerPoint or Prezi presentation, the dangling microphone, the opening applause, the slow and methodical speech--yes TED is "ideas that inspire," but it is also a venue that bores. Perhaps, if you are an avid conference attendee and like the routine, copy-cat set-ups, you feel at home in TED. But why not let people talk here, there, and everywhere--let someone speak on the street, in a park, on a ship, or even parachuting off a plane. How about someone on the International Space Station? Or on the front lines in a major military engagement. People have a lot to say and where they say it--says a lot about them and adds to their message. A stage is a stage. Even a snake-oil salesman has a soapbox.
Not to be confused with TED, there are TEDx events--"TED-like" that are organized by volunteers on a community-level, a "do-it-yourself TED" that is occurring at a "global rate of about five per day"--and these come closer to the open ideal, but still more can be done to make TED itself an organization where truly ideas come from all people, for all people.
While TED's brand is exclusive and valuable--perhaps more important is education that is valuable for the masses.
(Source Photo: here with attribution to Juhan Sonin)
TED For Everyone
January 29, 2012
Platforms - Open or Closed
Many have touted the benefits of open architecture--where system specifications are open to the public to view and to update.
Open sourced systems provide for the power of crowdsourcing to innovate, add-on, and make the systems better as well as provides less vendor lock-in and lower costs.
Open Source -----> Innovation, Choice, and Cost-Savings
While Microsoft--with it's Windows and Office products--was long the poster child for closed or proprietary systems and has a history of success with these, they have also come to be viewed, as TechRepublic (July 2011) points out as having an "evil, monopolistic nature."
However, with Apple's rise to the position of the World's most valuable company, closed solutions have made a strong philosophical comeback.
Apple has a closed architecture, where they develop and strictly control the entire ecosystem of their products.
Closed systems provides for a planned, predictable, and quality-controlled architecture, where the the whole ecosystem--hardware, software and customer experience can be taken into account and controlled in a structured way.
Closed Systems -----> Planning, Integration, and Quality Control
However, even though has a closed solutions architecture for it's products, Apple does open up development of the Apps to other developers (for use on the iPhone and iPad). This enables Apple to partner with others and win mind share, but still they can retain control of what ends-up getting approved for sale at the App Store.
I think what Apple has done particularly well then is to balance the use of open and closed systems--by controlling their products and making them great, but also opening up to others to build Apps--now numbering over 500,000--that can leverage their high-performance products.
Additionally, the variety and number of free and 99 cent apps for example, show that even closed systems, by opening up parts of their vertical model to partners, can achieve cost-savings to their customers.
In short, Apple has found that "sweet spot"--of a hybrid closed-open architecture--where they can design and build quality and highly desirable products, but at the same time, be partners with the larger development community.
Apple builds a solid and magnificent foundation with their "iProducts," but then they let customers customize them with everything from the "skins" or cases on the outside to the Apps that run on them on the inside.
Closed-Open Systems -----> Planned, Integrated, and Quality PLUS Innovation, Choice, and Cost-Savings
Closed-Open Systems represent a powerful third model for companies to choose from in developing products, and which benefits include those from both open and closed systems.
Platforms - Open or Closed
January 22, 2012
Work Off Of Standards, But Stay Flexible to Change
Standards are a fundamental principle of enterprise architecture, and they can mean many things to different people--they can imply what is normal or expected and even what is considered ethical.
Reading and thinking about this book review helped me to summarize in my own mind, the numerous benefits of standards:
- Predictability--You get whatever the standard says you get.
- Quality--By removing the deviation and defects, you produce a consistently higher quality.
- Speed--Taking the decision-making out of the routine production of standardized parts (i.e. we don't have to "reinvent the wheel each time"), helps us to move the production process along that much faster.
- Economy--Standardizing facilitates mass production and economies of scale lowering the cost of goods produced and sold.
- Interoperability--Creating standards enables parts from different suppliers to inter-operate and work seamlessly and this has allowed for greater trade and globalization.
- Differentiation--Through the standardization of the routine elements, we are able to focus on differentiating other value-add areas for the consumer to appeal to various tastes, styles, and genuine improvements.
While the benefits of standards are many, there are some concerns or risks:
- Boring--This is the fear of the Ford Model-T that came in only one color, black--if we standardize too much, then we understate the importance of differentiation and as they say "variety is the spice of life."
- Stagnation--If we over-standardize, then we run the risk of stifling innovation and creativity, because everything has to be just "one way."
- Rigidity--By standardizing and requiring things like 3rd-party certification, we risk becoming so rigid in what we do and produce that we may become inflexible in addressing specific needs or meeting new requirements.
The key then when applying standards is to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks.
This requires maintaining a state of vigilance as to what consumers are looking for and the corollary of what is not important to them or what they are not keen on changing. Moreover, it necessitates using consumer feedback to continuously research and develop improvements to products and services. Finally, it is important to always be open to introducing changes when you are reasonably confident that the benefits will outweigh the costs of moving away from the accepted standard(s).
While it's important to work off of a standard, it is critical not to become inflexible to change.
(Source Photo: here )
Work Off Of Standards, But Stay Flexible to Change
July 22, 2011
When The Cheapest Task Is Too Expensive
- You, the "Sender", go online and name and describe the task, including when and where you want it done as well as the maximum you are willing to pay.
- "Runners" are alerted and bid the minimum that they are willing to accept to do the job.
- You review the bids and select one.
- The runner performs the work.
- You review, rate, and reimburse for the work.
When The Cheapest Task Is Too Expensive