As I continue my next book research I find myself reading recent books written by two veterans albeit from extremes in the technology industry.
Blind Spot is about “a framework developed and enriched by Charlie Feld over the last 30 years in a variety of organizations, including Frito-Lay, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Delta Air Lines, Home Depot, and Southwest Airlines.”
Enchantment is Guy Kawasaki’s (ex Apple) perspective on the “art of changing hearts, minds, and actions.”
First, why are they important for my research? My next book is about how industry after industry is designing next-gen, "smart" products and services for their sectors. It is exciting time as these traditional tech buyers learn to become "vendors". But many are finding their IT and their IT vendors were raised in the world of ERP implementations, risk avoidance and offshore optimization – tactical, cost, compliance focus not as much product or revenue impact.
Charlie’s book is a throwback – to when companies dreamed big of strategic advantage through technology. Guy’s book is about what today’s companies should be thinking about if they want to engage with/enchant their users with their new tech-rich products.
In a sense both books left me wanting more. Charlie has a nice framework but is light on implementation details at the companies he profiles (other than at Frito-Lay which he goes into decent detail) , the technologies they ended on deploying etc. Guy, I had hoped would have gone more into his alma mater’s industrial design excellence and the driving philosophy behind its amazingly successful retail stores and the ecosystem in App Store – all part of Apple’s user enchantment story.
But in other ways both books are inspiring. Charlie shows the art of the possible in IT by showcasing examples from a wide range of industries. Guy is full of personal philosophies and inspiring stories from a variety of contributors.
And they are easy reads – Charlie’s book is just 169 pages and Guy’s book comes in at 11.2 ounces. In contrast my last book was 384 pages and weighs over 21 ounces.
That’s another learning for my next book. Slim it down – for strategic advantage and for reader enchantment!
Technology in Paradise
With our son’s Easter break next week, my wife has been looking for local, interesting things. It’s been on our agenda for a while – shame on us because it is only 15 miles from our house. It’s been called the best beach in the country – Caladesi Island.
So off we went this evening to scope it out. The Garmin GPS took us to the ferry pier on Honeymoon Island, the launching place for Caladesi. The radio in the car still caught the baseball game. Wife’s Blackberry took photos. My EVO allowed me to browse for details on the island. We had missed the last ferry for the evening but found a place where you can rent kayaks and sail across.
It should be a nice week for Tommy. Even nicer that most of our technology worked just fine. Match that, Bora Bora :)
Picture Credit
April 22, 2011 in Industry Commentary | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)