Steve Neiderhauser

Everything Metaphor

I finished reading one of the books that Dan Pink recommends to help develop whole mind thinking -- Metaphors We Live By.

Your thoughts and lives are shaped by the metaphors you live by. Indeed, authors George Lakoff and Mark Johnson suggest that metaphor is more than language; metaphor is a way to structure our conceptual systems and daily activities.

Consider the drag race metaphor in the Marketing Playbook. The drag race's actions, thoughts, and words are different from any other marketing play.

Renaissance Man

Kare Anderson got me thinking about the importance of language for the renaissance man of business -- a person fluent in technology and business.

Let me explain...

Coordinating efforts between business and technology teams is like translating messages between Russian and French diplomats. When you’re talking with business people you need to speak in business terms and skip the technobabble. If you don’t, the business audience may feel as though they’re watching a film that needs subtitles. On the other hand, you need to understand technology so you can call technology bluffs and drive projects to success.

To be effective, however, you have to use language that seduces the five senses. A gifted communicator will also romance the sixth sense -- metaphor.

Yes, metaphor is imagination’s engine. In addition, metaphor helps disparate groups find common ground. Remember the last time you worked on a project where business and technology teams clashed. Metaphor can help.

Here’s an example:

Software’s Building Blocks

It’s easy for business people to understand building blocks, and software developers should already be using the building block metaphor. When you wrap your idea in metaphor people will be eager to open it and explore it.

How to see trends

Remember the last time you anticipated a customer’s needs and gift-wrapped a product that turned your customer into a wide-eyed wonderer? Ready to do it again?

Read the Trendmaster’s Guide by Robyn Waters. Recognizing trends is a skill -- a skill that anyone can learn. Robyn shows you how to raise your trend antennae, connect the dots, and see the big picture.

Software Trends

“True art is in the doing of it.”
-- Jean Renoir

Have you noticed what's happening in software? It's getting flat-out easy to build business applications.

Consider this tutorial for Apple's Core Data -- a simplified way to build applications that connect to a database. In the past, it may have taken more than 100 lines of code to build this model. Now, it takes zero.

From Apple to Web 2.0, building blocks are being created that simplify the development of business models. And because this trend is only going to get stronger, it supports another trend: The hiring of ambidextrous employees -- people with business and technology skills.

As it gets easier to build applications, a balanced professional can complete the full development life cycle. So instead of having a business analyst and a software engineer, you now have a business engineer.

Investment banks have been using this hiring model for years -- they hire people (financial engineers) with a solid understanding of finance and software to create complex financial models.

You could have employed a business analyst with software skills years ago, however, that would have been visionary. Indeed, you would've had to circumvent the IT feudal system -- the CIO and her cronies. And a revolution of the institution isn't always successful.

For those managers out to sea, forget about your beloved methodologies -- If you're unable to internalize it and forget it, forget trying to internalize it. Instead, here's what a modern-day business engineer should base her craft upon:

• User Interface Design -- Human Factors
• Business Models
• Software Design

By mastering these three areas, you'll be able to perform true art.

Mastering Business Narrative

Steve Denning shares an advance copy of an article about using story in business.

He describes eight different narrative patterns. I found the knowledge sharing story interesting. As an example, he uses this narrative from Julian Orr's book Talking About Machines.

You’ve got a malfunctioning copy machine with an E053 error code, which is supposed to mean a problem in the 24-volt Interlock Power Supply. But you could chase the source of that 24-volt Interlock problem forever, and you'd never, ever find out what it is. If you’re lucky enough, you’ll eventually get an F066 error code, which indicates the true source of the malfunction—namely, a shorted dicorotron. Apparently, this is happening because the circuitry in the XER board has been changed to prevent the damage that would otherwise occur when a dicorotron shorted. Before the change in circuitry, a shorted dicorotron would have fried the whole XER board. Changing the circuitry has prevented damage to the XER board, but it’s created a different issue. Now an E053 error message doesn’t give you the true source of the machine’s malfunction.

This kind of training story may work in the world of copy repairmen. But in the world of software development, it probably means the developers have cooked up spaghetti code -- a tangle of half-backed noodles that is unable to support future meals. On the other hand, designers who use software platforms are able to speak to developers -- and executives -- in business terms. I guarantee: Business people love it when software developers speak the language of business.

Although, I do agree that a story model should be used to craft a story.

• Who is the hero
• Who is the holdfast
• What is the inciting action
• What is the climax

And so on.

Explore the model and let the story take the shape of the problem.

Sage advice for writers

From Elise Hancock's Ideas into Words -- Forget the tell 'em, tell 'em, tell 'em method. You know,

Tell 'em what your gonna tell 'em (opener), then tell 'em (the body of the piece), then tell 'em what you told 'em (the closer).

Instead, embrace the advice given by Alexandre Dumas pere for three-act plays:

The beginning (first act) should be clear, clear, clear; the middle (second act) should be interesting, interesting, interesting; and the end (third act) should be short, short, short.

The book is well worth the read, if only for the examples of openers that clear, clear, clearly grab you. And while reading those gems you'll find others --

Don't let the general framework of the three-act play shape your story. Rather, the material has a shape that it wants to be. Use that shape to structure your article.

Green Energy Rising

Daniel Pink has started to write a column for Yahoo about trends. His first article discusses energy trends -- the green variety.

A couple years ago, before a State of the Union address, some analysts suggested that the US should embark on a NASA-like energy project. The goal? To reduce reliance on foreign oil. We were told, however, to drive to the mall and shop.

To fill the void, venture capital firms have stepped in and are investing in ideas such as solar panels jazzed with nanotechnology. Instead of idealism, profit is now driving investment in green energy -- And that's a good thing.

Product Platforms

A year ago, I attended a new product development presentation. The topic? Product development for software applications. The speaker, a product manager for a large consulting company, asked the group for questions before beginning the presentation. After several people provided input, I thought I would lob a softball.

"How do you use product platforms to speed development?"

Well... the presenter asked me to explain "product platform", and the audience looked at me like I should be in the accounting seminar down the hall. To shut me up, the moderator suggested a marketing book -- one that had nothing to do with product platforms.

Although, some marketing organizations do provide training regarding product platforms.

Companies that develop software products benefit when they educate their chief architects about product platforms. For there are many parallels between software frameworks and product platforms. What's more, you'll have one more employee who sees the whole picture.