My Notepad

For such a high-tech guy and self-professed nerd, I've had no bigger revelation in recent years than I take notes best with a notepad.  You know, that bundle of papers, bound in a cover, with a small writing instrument called a pencil.  Quite deflating for my image, I suppose.

Hey, I've tried every electronic solution.  I've taken notes on a laptop, for years, in the meeting reminders on Outlook.  That actually worked okay, but then in Office 2011, Microsoft changed things that killed my ability to do this.  Plus, I couldn't doodle.  Yes, I've tried Evernote.  Even subscribed to their über-package, and it, like many other new fads, over the years, eventually ended up on the shelf, collecting dust.  I've even tried Evernote and Instapaper, which I like, to get around printing out all the online articles that interest me but don't currently have the time to read.  No dice.  They didn't stick.

Having admitted these shameful truths, I realize that I was programmed at a young age.  I remember taking notes in second grade.  Like, I wrote everything the teacher said, regardless of importance.  I'm not sure how much I actually go back to review the notes, but I'm sure that the act of writing the notes onto a page helps engrain the thoughts into my brain, more than anything.

It's nice to finally come out of the electronics closet.  It feels good to know who I really am.  Plus, with a notepad instead of an iPad, at least the people I'm meeting with know I'm not sending email or playing Flight Control!

Gamey, Ribeye, GroupOff

The Weekly Wrap
Monday: Lovers
Tuesday: Gamey
Wednesday: Innovation
Thursday: UX
Friday: Research
Saturday: GroupOff
Sunday: Cowboy Ribeye

Enjoy!

Bone-In Cowboy Ribeye

Last century, before kids, we used to go out to dinner a lot.  We often saw movies, as well.  We slept in.  Most impressive, however, was that when we were younger, we both could eat an entire Cowboy Ribeye, by ourselves.  With an appetizer.  And, dessert.  I repeat, by ourselves!

The Cowboy Ribeye, for the uninitiated, is a Stephan Pyles signature dish.  It originated at the now non-existant Star Canyon, in Dallas.  Thankfully, it returned to Stephan Pyles namesake restaurant in the Arts District.  It is a bone-in ribeye that sits atop a pinto bean wild mushroom ragout with red chile-dusted onion strings on top.  The steak by itself, would be a top 3 steak in Dallas, by itself, but the combination of flavors and textures of the 3 components of the dish together make one want to kiss Mr. Pyles on the lips, regardless of gender or sexual-orientation.

These days, we will occasionally wander down to Stephan Pyles on date night, without reservation, and sit at the bar in front of the kitchen.  Most times, we will get an appetizer or salad, share a dish or order second appetizers.  Occasionally, we will order the Cowboy Ribeye.  To share.  And, we don't finish it.  And, we definitely don't eat dessert.  Then, usually, one of us has to roll the other one out to the valet to get our car.

I'm most amazed at my previous self, when I reflect back on this.  How in all that is holy could I eat an entire Bone-In Cowboy Ribeye?  What has happened to me?  Have aliens done this to me with their constant experimentation on me at nights?  Either way, it's still a great dish, no matter how much I can eat of it.

Lost in all of this, of course, is that although Stephan has resurrected the Bone-In Cowboy Ribeye, he has not done the same for the Lace Cookie Taco.  The best dessert in Dallas in its day.  Not that I would have the room to eat it, though.

GroupOff

So, I finally actually used GroupOn.  I've been signed up for a while, mind you, but there's only so much Botox and Circus School that one person can do in their lifetime.  Having said that, the daily GroupOn email flashed up on my iPhone's screen this week with a very intriguing offer: $20 iPhone screen repair.  Say what?!?  $20 iPhone screen repair.  Yup, I just wrote it, again!

Score!

First, it's a great deal.  I've had my original iPhone 3G in a drawer with a broken screen for about a half-year and did not know what to do with it.  Now, we can use it as our home phone and cut the cord, or give it to the kids (who would scoff at us, since it's 3-year old technology), or sell it.  Go ahead, make me an offer.

Second, it's the first deal that I have seen on GroupOn that:

1. was something that did not make me giggle.  I was serious about the circus school offer.
2. was something that was actually useful. 
3. was something actually targeted towards me: male, 40s, nerd.

I'm not necessarily sold on all the latest fad of electronic promotion companies that have arisen, but first and foremost to be useful, they need to be contextually relevant.  I'll admit I might be looking at some of the deals that are not relavent to me, but would be for my wife and buy them for her.  Still, I think companies like GroupOn are currently selling audience for small and medium local businesses, when I think the larger opportunity is to sell electronic loyalty programs.  

I might run across town once for a great deal, but what gets me coming back to businesses frequently?

3 Fatal Misuses of Market Research

I'm not blogging to knock audience measurement or market research.  It put bread on my table for 3 years, while I worked at The Nielsen Company.  My advice, if the numbers don't help your story, turn the graph 90 degrees and check again.  You won't be the first marketing person to do so.

Do blogger moms think I'm sexy?

Having seen the sausage being made, I can say there is more science to it then some would care to recognize, but, still, I see people quote stats all the time and make three fatal errors of market data usage:

1. Asking and understanding the methodology: What were the questions asked, or sometimes, more importantly, what was asked?  Who did they ask?  How many people did they ask?  Was the sample representative?  One classic case you see in reporting on mobile phone sales is comparing sell-through numbers with sell-to numbers.  What's in consumers hands vs. on shelves.  Big difference.
2. Market research is only directional for the innovator: If research data could predict the future, a lot of Nielsen, Gartner, Forrester, IDC, etc. analysts that I know would be retired on a beach somewhere.  They're not.  Data can definitely give you both a status of where the world stands today, and trends, so they offer great directional insight.  When it comes to innovation, however, that's probably the limit.  I've had people ask me if I had research which would validate the innovations they had planned.  That's equivalent to expecting people to say they wanted the Facebook before it was available.
3. Cite your source: If you are going to use some data, cite the source and date of the data.  Otherwise, I can assume you made it up, or its 3 years old, which is okay if your nostalgic, but not so cool, if you are trying to make informed decisions.

Have a good weekend.  I don't have the data to prove that it's going to be good.  I just have a feeling.

You, Sir, Experience

People always wax poetically about great user interface (UI), or look-and-feel.  User experience (UX) is a science, though, and I always appreciate the science behind everything.  Developing great UX is much more than just "look and feel", though, that sounds somewhat randy when I type it again and again.

It's no wonder I have no friends...

To the UX nerd, the depths of the science likely know no bound.  While Apple gets kudos for the simplicity of its design choices on the unibody MacBook Air or the iPhone 4, this excellent article today pokes at some of Apple's not so nice design choices and teaches us about skeuomorphic vs. metaphoric design choices.

In the case of application design, I believe that sometimes the most important decisions to affect the user experience are the features that are not included.  For example, Home Depot makes an extremely rich mobile application for the iPhone.  I'm not sure there is much you can not do on the app, but I wonder if there is much that you really won't do on a mobile app.  Removing that excess allows a focus on the features that have impact on their consumer's needs or their company's goals, all while freeing up valuable UI space for better creative treatments of what is most important.

In the world of mobile and mobile apps, beauty is indeed more than skin deep.

Innovation

On the longest and toughest days at work, it's things like Oink that can wake me up, get me pumped and remind me why I like my work and my job so much.  Innovation.  It's like a stiff drink after a long day.  It's like a unsolicited kiss on the cheek from your kids.  It's the $5 bill you find in the parking lot of the grocery store.  When it happens, it's a sure smile and new energy.

Thanks to @rfijoey for tipping me to this one yesterday.  I love the different perspective of this service.  Don't just get me to a location, help me navigate inside.  What is the place known for?  Still, like Yelp and Google, it's dependent on crowd sourcing opinions, and sometimes dog+world can give you good advice, but as has been shown through research, nothing replaces the opinion of a trusted friend or family member.  Bubs, for example, is my go-to for dining in New York City.  Should be yours, too, but she doesn't blog.

This idea of enhancing our typical web services to dig deeper, inside of the places, is not unique to Oink.  Applying electronic mapping inside of big box retailers, for example, could help consumers map their path to get in and out most efficiently.  The path data from their (opted-in) consumers could help the retailers organize their product placement.  It could help those same retailers make more contextually relevant recommendations for additional purchase, "you're going to need some jelly with that peanut butter and bread that you bought."

Specific innovations aside, it's always great to explore and see innovators in action.  Sometimes, its a hit, other times a miss.  Sometimes, it's one small step to something bigger.  And, remember, if you are not trying to disenfranchise your service, someone else is.