Category Archives: Business

E-mail down over the weekend

I did not receive any e-mail from Friday afternoon through Sunday. I have contacted my host, and changed some things on the server-side to make everything work again. If you sent me an e-mail over the weekend I apologize, but it may be lost forever so please resend….

Outsourcing front line

On Monday I started my new job at NexTag, a comparison shopping site in San Mateo. NexTag has offices in the U.S. and India, with over 30 software developers in Gurgaon (near New Delhi) in India. In some cases NexTag will hire employees locally, train them, and relocate the employees to India to lead a team in Gurgaon. How does the existence of a software center halfway around the world change your daily work load? You definitely need to reevaluate your time and spend a lot more time on clear specifications instead of building the application yourself. Once you develop…

Chris Anderson on Long Tails

Chris Anderson wrote an awesome article for Wired about the power of the Long Tail. I had heard the basic ideas behind the article before, with the exception of his take on MP3.com. Andersen argued that you cannot have a successful business containing only Long Tail elements. The problem with MP3.com was that it was only Long Tail. It didn’t have license agreements with the labels to offer mainstream fare or much popular commercial music at all. Therefore, there was no familiar point of entry for consumers, no known quantity from which further exploring could begin. He believes that you…

New job at NexTag

On November 1 I will start my new job at NexTag, a shopping comparison search engine in San Mateo. I will be a product manager in charge of creating a developer and affiliate network to create a better community around the site and its offerings. I worked for one of NexTag’s competitors — PriceGrabber.com — in the early stages of product search so I know the industry well. My weblog did not help me win the job, but my experience in the online community and developer space will no doubt be utilized in my new position. I am excited to…

Seeking new employment

I am currently looking for a new full-time position in the tech industry. My current employer, Callan Associates, has threatened to fire me for having a weblog and making any reference to my work life. While I have yet to be fired my yearly review is now ten months overdue and I have been told not to expect any pay increase or job advancement. There are so many interesting services in the tech sector right now I would love to work on. I realize that I am not aware of all of the companies currently seeking new talent and I…

Weblog recruiting

Eilene Zimmerman of The New York Times writes about the use of weblogs to attract employees and employers. It provides a more human process and gives you a better idea of the people you will be working with. Weblog entries also provides future candidates a better idea of corporate lifestyle….

Marketing via weblogs

Thomas Mucha of Business 2.0 takes a look at weblogs as a marketing tool. Some good quotes from Jonathan Schwartz of Sun Microsystems and David Sifry of Technorati. Technorati reports there are about 5,000 serious corporate blogs. Some good quotes. “[T]he blog is about competitive advantage.” -Jonathan Schwartz “It’s the same risk as giving someone a telephone.” -Jonathan Schwartz on whether blogging poses a corporate risk “Bloggers were talking about Kryptonite’s lock problems a week before the story hit the mainstream media. If Kryptonite had been paying attention to the blogosphere, they could have reacted sooner and smarter.” -David Sifry…

McKinsey Quarterly on raising productivity

Stephen Dorgan and John Dowdy of McKinsey & Company researched factors influencing productivity growth focused on the period from 1994 to 2002. They looked at 100 manufacturing companies in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States and found that increases in IT spending has little impact on productivity unless it is accompanied by first-rate management practices. The 100 companies were evaluated on a scale of 0 to 5 for their use of three important productivity tools: “lean manufacturing, which cuts waste in the production process; performance management, which sets clear goals and rewards employees who reach them; and…

Knowing when to delegate

Lauren Keller Johnson wrote an interesting article for the Harvard Management Update about how effective leaders delegate. Do you manage or lead? Does delegating make you more expendable? All good questions raised. I especially like the coverage of how to handle a management position for the star promoted and why knowing the strengths of your subordinates and letting them shine is a good thing….