To ensure that conversations and requests for help were productive, Anthony Scampavia kept a question at the top of his whiteboard in his various offices at Cisco for more than a dozen years: What is the problem you are trying to solve? Here are three problems we have identified and capabilities we plan to develop […]
New Capabilities We Plan To Develop in 2011 Read More »
“Little by little, one travels far” J.R.R. Tolkien Theresa Shafer, one of my partners in SKMurphy, advised me recently that “most powerful insights are simple.” It was by way of encouragement to simplify and focus my blog posts. She continued her critique: “If you can’t get your point across in a hundred or two hundred
Most Powerful Insights are Simple Read More »
“We didn’t know what “the new” was. It’s kind of a hard concept because when most people talk about “the new,” they’re actually talking about it after the fact. They look back and say how brilliant you were at seeing all this, and so forth. Well, it’s all nonsense. When it is new, you don’t
Early Adopters Have Already Let Go of the Past Read More »
“Always trust your client—and cut the cards.” Weinberg’s Sixth Rule of Trust Always be collecting data. Always be collecting multiple perspectives. “Always Be Collecting Data” The rule of ABCD “In God We Trust, All Others Bring Data” attributed to W. Edwards Deming Possibly a riff on “In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash” In
Writing a blog takes time and can be difficult as you get busy. We often invite guest writers to contribute content. Besides giving us a break from having to write everything ourselves, they also: Bring fresh content Bring fresh perspective Infuse their passion Build trust Bring new audiences So thank you to our guest writers.
5 Reasons We Welcome Guest Authors Our Blogs Read More »
What’s your story? Entrepreneurs get asked variations of this question a lot: the most important answer is the one they tell themselves.
So…What’s Your Story? Read More »
It’s useful to think very deeply about a situation but beyond a certain level of effort or length of time you need to do some drifting and recharge. I think you need a mental circuit breaker for detecting an impasse and triggering activities that can lead to a change in perspective.
It’s rare for a new initiative to work the first time, at least when I try. I have to “walk around the problem” to look at it from different perspectives.
Take Time to Walk Around The Problem Read More »
For my first post of 2011 I commit to traveling hopefully. I was inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s observation “to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive, and the true success is to labor.”
Traveling Hopefully Read More »
You can follow @skmurphy to get these quotes for entrepreneurs hot off the mojo wire or wait until the end of the month when they are collected on the blog. Enter your E-mail if you would like new blog posts to your inbox.
Quotes For Entrepreneurs–December 2010 Read More »
I think “virtual team” is rapidly becoming redundant: just as “horseless carriage” became car I think “virtual team” will become just team. Most project teams will have a virtual component (e.g. on-line workspace, chat histories) and geographically remote members, if only to involve suppliers, partners, and customers more seamlessly. More broadly I think that virtual
Virtual and On-Line Are As Superfluous As Horseless and Electric Read More »
One of the things it took me a long time for me to get used to living in Silicon Valley was the lack of snow. Not snow that you could visit in places like Tahoe but snow that visited you. A few years have seen snow in the foothills but nothing like winter mornings in
The Snow Lay Round About, Deep and Crisp and Even Read More »
I have been thinking about different kinds of teams and team work. For example a choir has sheet music (“Let Men Their Songs Employ”) that predefines the content and timing of each person’s contribution. In a different way the script for a play outlines the content and sequence of each actor’s part.
Let Men Their Songs Employ Read More »
Here is another excerpt from my September interview with Gabriel Weinberg. This one focuses on why payment and testimonials are so important to differentiate users from actual customers.
If Money Doesn’t Change Hands, You Can’t Call a User a Customer Read More »
Customer Development Requires a Willingness to Be Surprised And by “surprised” I mean: able to admit that your assumptions are wrong open to new insights from prospects willing to change your plans for your product or your startup willing begin again with a better frame of reference Inspired by Bob Lewis’ “Holiday Card to the
Customer Development Requires a Willingness to Be Surprised Read More »
A couple of quotes for entrepreneurs on the limitations of cleverness. Don’t just be clever, be kind and make things of beauty with care.
Quotes On The Limitations of Cleverness Read More »
There seems to be such a thing as beauty, a grace wholly gratuitous. About five years ago I saw a mockingbird make a straight vertical descent from a roof gutter of a four-story building. It was an act as careless and spontaneous as the curl of a stem or the kindling of a star. The
Annie Dillard on the Appreciation of Grace and Beauty Read More »
“Some buildings need air conditioning because they have air conditioning. Because they were designed to be air conditioned, they have no natural ventilation and would be miserable to inhabit without air conditioning.” John Cook in “Maybe You Only Need It Because You Have It“ I wonder if the same thing happens to some fraction of
The Venture Lifestyle Business Read More »
Keeping the ball rolling with prospects requires a mix of empathy for their situation and a project management mindset.
Keeping the Ball Rolling With Prospects Read More »
