Writing generally involves deadlines and limited access to the people who can provide the information and the direction. Much of being successful is being able to get everything you need in one shot, usually at the drop of a hat.

In this situation – which can happen pretty much anywhere – I try to lead a detailed conversation, to really get a sense of what we want to write about. This really beats getting a slew of information that people think you would need to get the job done.

In these types of discussions I will assume the role of someone who knows nothing about the subject (which is often not a stretch). The goal is to get the person/people to explain concepts, ideas, and approaches (whatever the subject matter might be) in a variety of ways.

When I want to drill down I “provoke” people. What I mean by this is that I will intentionally reiterate something they’ve said incorrectly. I’ll get it wrong. In some cases it is as simple as repeating a word that they have already said “doesn’t quite capture” what they mean. This prompts people to re-explain something against another notion; often using different language, often with further clarification. Sometimes with a hint of anger or frustration. This is the sign to move on.

The underpinning to this approach is that you need to be engaged and leading the discussion and you need to make sure you capture everything that was said. Believe me, you can’t be engaged and take notes. It breaks the flow and draws focus away from the discussion. I use a recorder. It sounds simple, but I see very few people using them.

Back at my desk, I revisit the conversations (sometimes ad nauseam), make sure I truly understand the discussion and pull out the salient phrases and concepts – in their own words.

Whether I’m under a deadline or undermotivated, it makes it much easier to hit every point while creating a succinct, measured and articulate version of the discussion.

People really like that.

Scott Lake’s post about being more than an email address (how to categorize people who sign up for the MG beta) got me thinking.

The Scotts’ discussion touched on an important aspect of communications. Target audience. The person you are speaking with. It affects the vocabulary, the delivery and the complexity of your message. It determines how you present ideas. We all do this to some degree during face-to-face conversations, but its it’s less of a focus in written conversations. Tragically.

Target audiences are usually defined at the planning stage; ahead of writing, design, layout… Truthfully speaking, this usually involves pretty general categories and a lot of educated assumptions.

If someone has taken the time to give you their email address, you should take the time to engage them in a little conversation.  It will be evident soon enough what people’s interest in your application is and why they signed up.  Then group them accordingly and interact with them in the way that is most productive for both of you. These days, if the only engagement you are having with your beta signups is to send them an email when your application is ready, you are missing a major opportunity. 

This opportunity can inform our process in several ways. 

Beyond interaction for productivity, its interaction for practice. For perfection. For persuasion. 

At the start of the project our focus was on messages and concepts that the entire group felt fit on the same page.  An equal amount of energy now has to be spent on getting to know who we’re talking to.  In the end, its about message received, not message sent.

These early discussions give us the chance to take an iterative approach to our communications – ultimately developing a conversation instead of a broadcast.  And the potential to create conversation specific to different partners and players is rare.

So cool.

Scott Annan’s recent post on community driven software got me thinking about ways that companies can gain insights for product directions. For the most part, social networks are generating some great discussion when it comes to technology. Although I’m not sure much of it comes in the CRM space, I think that there are still great opportunities to use social networks to collect ideas.

It seems that most of the innovation is happening in the social networking space. Not only are the features getting better but they are also “training” people on how to use web based technology. That being said, why not use that knowledge to improve the features in your own applications.

Aside from just the technology, as social networks begin to mature, there is so much more diversity in the topics that are being discussed than there was three years ago. The good news is that social networks are great places to pick up ideas for use in all sorts of projects. The bad news is that in some cases you have to slog through a lot of low value content to find the good stuff. However if you can find the right people it may make a huge difference.

Photo: Spatialk

I am always amazed at how lousy software companies are.

Yesterday I read two different blogs that highlighted the two biggest problems with software companies: product quality and customer service.

The first was an irate internal email Bill Gates sent in 2003 about his experience trying to install Movie Maker.  You can read the whole email here, but here is a highlight after 15 minutes of trying to install the software, installing Window’s patches, and having to reboot:

So now I think I am going to have Moviemaker. I go to my add/remove programs place to make sure it is there.

It is not there.

What is there? The following garbage is there. Microsoft Autoupdate Exclusive test package, Microsoft Autoupdate Reboot test package, Microsoft Autoupdate testpackage1. Microsoft AUtoupdate testpackage2, Microsoft Autoupdate Test package3.

Someone decided to trash the one part of Windows that was usable? The file system is no longer usable. The registry is not usable. This program listing was one sane place but now it is all crapped up.

But that is just the start of the crap. Later I have listed things like Windows XP Hotfix see Q329048 for more information. What is Q329048? Why are these series of patches listed here? Some of the patches just things like Q810655 instead of saying see Q329048 for more information.

What an absolute mess.

It turns out EVERYONE gets frustrated by Microsoft Windows.

The second blog was sent to me by Jevon MacDonald of StartupNorth.ca - an article written on the D-Tools blog where the author describes the customer hell his company went through trying to work with NetSuite CRM.  After several years as a customer, and after negotiating a $125,000 price for 26 users (!), he decided to finally leave NetSuite:

The reason we left NetSuite was their business practices.  I do not think I can explain it any clearer than here. We had a dispute over what contingent means and as a negotiating tactic they threaten to cancel our paid in full account that was not set to expire for five months.  That is like negotiating with the mafia while they have your head in vise.  Who wants to do business with a company like that?  I was actively securing financing for this deal with our bank when we got the first collection letter nine days after the estimate.

Here is someone who is leaving the company - not because of the product capabilities, but as a result of how he was treated.

I wonder if the NetSuite executives are aware of this specific case - or the many other situations like it.  I wonder if they sent irate internal email to their sales and account management teams.

I bet they did.

But what really blows my mind is that executives know this is happening and they condone it by not stopping it.  Bill’s email was from 2003, and just yesterday I was told by a service technician “Whatever you do, don’t install MS Service Pack 3!” (luckily I am on a mac).  NetSuite consistently treats their customers poorly, if you believe what several people report on the many websites dedicated to their business practice (including netsuiteconsumerfraud.com where they’re trying to launch a class-action law suit).

Software companies have to stop handcuffing their customers with faulty products and lousy customer engagement.  It’s disgraceful.

I always hit project deadlines.

I think its equally important to clients and members of the team to know that, come what may(!), we will deliver on the day we said we would.

There are three ways to ensure you always hit your deadline:

1. Stop “scope creep”.  Deal with all new features as “phase 2″ of the project.
2. Know what features you can push out without affecting your core success metrics.  Push them out at the slightest delay.
3. Have a backup plan.  Always.

Make sure everyone knows that the deadline is non-negotiable, and expect everyone (including clients) to make sacrifices to hit the date.

The only time you should break this cardinal rule is when the final deliverable isn’t “good enough”.

Sometimes you’ve done everything right - every task, every follow-up, every test, client reviews - and the end product is just “not good enough”.

When this happens I throw out the initial timeline (never try “pushing back” your due date) suck it up, go back to the drawing board, and start again.

For me, the only thing worse than not being dependable is being second-rate.

(note: Mercury Grove’s first major web design was cut at the last minute)

Scott and I grabbed a quick sandwich at Goonies on Friday. A series of last-minute meetings and the need to deliver on a speech request (read: It’s 9:30, I need to see something from you by 3:30, but I can’t meet you until 11:00) had hijacked what was supposed to be a casual Friday after a long week.

In an abridged meeting, Scott and I talked applications, we talked community, we talked web site messaging and we talked blog.

The reality is that the ebb and flow of creative inspiration, work/life demands and basic motivation do not always contribute to a healthy writing process. But to get everything together by September and to keep people in the loop, we need steady production. For our plan to work - for our blog to work - the whole team needs to be turning out written material with regularity.

As we headed back to our respective afternoons Scott and I agreed that we would meet again on Sunday to bring Scott L into the discussion to brainstorm suggested topics and find ways to motivate and encourage each other.

Starting with no direction takes too much energy. If everyone has a few ideas to work from, we may be able to yield a higher return. It’s the blank page that’s the killer.

Sure brilliant ideas can come from nothing, but sometimes there’s a need to summon brilliance (or at least quality writing) when you’re just not feeling it. Having a defined topic, a critical path and a deadline can be incredibly motivating. This fact was crystal clear later that day as I hopped on my bike, having just hammered out two days worth of writing in three hours.

The next generation of software will be built by companies with vision, the ability to execute, and a vibrant, engaged, and active customer community that will drive product innovation.

The idea is pretty obvious and the execution is pretty radical.

Today software companies use a prescriptive approach to software design - the software defines how people should work (”A better way to do things!”) - and use forums, salespeople, and conferences to create a passive feedback loop with their users.

This leads to innovation being led by a small number of marketers and engineers who want to develop software to make money.

The future of software will move the company from the center of the innovation process to the periphery, replaced by the people who use the software who will drive innovation by engaging in discussions about best practices, success stories, shared metrics, and ideas for radical improvements.

This leads to innovation being led by a large number of subject matter experts who want to use software to achieve business objectives.

Which makes a lot more sense.

Success will be determined by the strength of the community, the quality of the ideas that come from the community, and the ability of the company to execute them - which is radically different than the current model with success being defined by winners of “feature wars”.

At Mercury Grove, we believe that the foundation of community-driven software requires three ingredients:

1. Professional, passionate people with the proven ability to execute.
2. Effective, transparent processes that actively and aggressively engage people.
3. Passionate people who want to be involved in the process of achieving more with software

This is the future of software.

Customer retention is a defining factor for the validity of a SaaS company. A high (or low) customer retention rate is a symptom of company’s quality. For a Saas company, a 90-98% customer retention rates is considered excellent.

In its almost 3 year existence, Mercury Grove has yet to lose a subscriber - a fact attributed to:

   -   Quality products - our products are simple and intuitive to use and thoroughly tested internally and through beta-releases.
   -   Quality customers - our customers have come via target marketing efforts, as well as through interaction with the communities in which we live.
   -   Quality service - this becomes more challenging as we scale, but the challenge is offset by a well-defined support model assisted by our fantastic support application (AppManager), a passionate support team, and the quality of our products and customers.
   -   Luck - We’d be arrogant to think we figured it all out before we started. Taking measured steps towards our product development approach and marketing strategy, combined with a little luck, has allowed us to minimize the impact of any mis-steps

…but it’s the world wide web - the customer base is almost infinite (> 1 billion). Why should we even care about customer retention?

1. It’s still hard (and expensive) to find new customers. Period. This makes coddling the existing ones all the more important. Simple math shows that, if you spend $2000 in time and resources to land a $100/month subscriber, you’ll need to average a 20 month subscription for that customer just to break even. Note to self - if we ever lose a customer, I’ll need to calculate our average retention time ;-).
2. Satisfied customers represent a referral base for our business. You’ve heard it a hundred times - a satisfied customer will tell 4 or 5 others about their experience (a dis-satisfied customer will tell 7 to 13 others).
3. Our current subscriber base is a more reachable, more willing market for our new products. New products that we deliver will complement existing ones. Subscribers that have been around a long time are more apt to give a new product a go.
4. If a customer has been around a while, it likely means they’re doing well for themselves. Companies that continue to grow represent a powerful partnership that could help us better understand how companies can be successful through the use of our tools.

As we continue to grow, our support model will indeed be tested. I’m confident, though, that if we continue to “act local” and represent more than a domain name to our customers, we’ll be in a better position to overcome many of the obstacles that we’re likely to face.

Watching a designer make something out of nothing is a pretty amazing process. Even after 10 or so years of watching Andrew ‘create’ a vision based on someone else’s broad description of ‘how it should look’ and ‘I kinda think it could maybe look like, you know, that…kinda’.. I’m still impressed by what he comes up with day after day. Over the past week we’ve pulled the team together for quick 5 minute bull sessions to bounce ideas off of them..he’s been running around the office with his camera snapping photos of different work environments and essentially pulling hair out of his head trying to find a free minute (nothing new). Then he’s down to our studio in the basement with a few empty cans of Red Bull. Towards the end of the week he’s sitting at his desk, music is hammering out of his headphones and he’s muttering to himself (again). I still have no idea what he’s doing, but I do know that Scott A is pushing (as expected!) to see something that is cool and different. 9:30 p.m Thursday night Andrew and I touch base…it’s pretty much the only time during the day when we can connect. 10 p.m I’m going through 5 new designs. They’re all the same, but all a bit different, to help him fine tune a few words (even the best need a sounding board). We talk messaging. We talk audience. We talk purpose. Modified designs hit my inbox. 10:30 p.m, there it is boys….the new blog layout. Very strong.

Depending upon where you live, this statement may or may not surprise you…not everyone gets Web 2.0.

Mercury Grove has offices in Ottawa, Cincinnati, and Lexington, KY. The Web 2.0 community is fairly mature in Ottawa. In our other region (the OH, IN, KY tri-state), however, Web 2.0 is a foreign concept that hasn’t been bought into (yet).

The hi-tech scene here is limited to the IT departments of plodding giants - P&G, Lexmark, Fidelity Investments, Kroger, etc… While isolated IT software groups certainly know Web 2.0 and employ limited facets (e.g. Wikis) the companies themselves are unwilling to ween themselves from low-risk, low-reward Enterprise software.

So how do we spread the word? How do we generate excitement? How do we get these people to understand the power of Web 2.0 and maybe attract the “creative class” that is so important to creating regional job growth and developing a commerce built upon innovation?

Note: I’m not expecting to be able to mobilize an entire population, but I think it’s important to showcase to the regional leaders that it should be a priority of theirs.

So here are three vehicles to help develop the community…

• Web 2.0 “unconferences” such as Barcamps/Democamps - Mercury Grove was responsible for hosting one Democamp in Lexington, KY and another in Cincinnati. The attendance was good and the participation lively but there has been no continuance. We will need to somehow convince a Community to own these events.
• Chambers of Commerce - We’ve recently joined the local Chamber and will be assessing the acceptance of the group to “innovative thinking”. I know several members of the Chamber and it seems like an humble group that recognizes its shortcomings. We hope that the primarily SMB makeup of the Chamber will be receptive to our suggestions.
• Press - We’ve had some success having our company covered in the regional papers but the lack of coverage for Web 2.0 or the IT community as a whole is dreadful. I’d like to put together a press-kit that is convincing enough to the agencies to make them realize that they, themselves, are the foundation to forming the sense of community.

If it doesn’t work. I guess we’ll move.

Seriously, though…much of our existence is based upon being able to give back to our community. If our community won’t have us, I may be forced to look for a foster city.