I met Yakov Fain a couple of years ago during a blustery NJ weekend at a Flex bootcamp course he was giving. He is damn smart, and is publishing his second Flex book on OReilly soon. He’s also funny, in a non-self-aware way. Hope you meet him at some conference soon.

One of his russian-english signature sentences: “The mankind went nuts”. Which he used when speaking about the web development community when AJAX was published.

When talking about Flex vs AJAX, he made a really good analysis, and somehow, the bad parts of AJAX stuck with me:

  • Code is in the clear
  • A refresh forces a reload
  • Need to write code to check that all the Javascript code has arrived before app can correctly execute
  • AJAX is a different kind of lock-in. (Flex is big-guy lockin and Ajax small guy lockin.)
  • Cannot jump out of the browser
  • Need to check cross-browser compatibility
  • No data bindings and no closures.

So there you go.

  • Sutus – one of now many companies trying to embed a PBX into a multi-purpose network appliance
  • Interact Incorporated – VoiceXML/CCXML player, their product is called SPOT. They claim 225 cps and 500 channels/host.
  • IntelePeer – a VOIP peering company that is trying to mirror Ribbit, who they claim is a customer too.
  • Jazinga – a PBX embedded in an appliance, with a neat web interface for configuration, ready to OEM for ASPs, Cablecos, etc. Toronto-based
  • Asteria – Asterisk hosting, been around for a while. Based in the traditional Asterisk stronghold of Huntsville, AL.
  • VOIP Innovations – SIP origination and termination
Posted by: Sam | March 15, 2009

Out of Angel.com and NEW phone number

Dear friends,

Just to let you know that I have left Angel.com. More details in a couple of weeks.

My email: samuel@aparicio.org

My NEW cell phone: 571-331-4777

If you have Angel-related questions please contact David Rennyson – rennyson@angel.com

My friends at Socialtext just released Socialtext Signals, a sort of Twitter for the Enterprise. So what is the big deal?

Let’s admit it. Companies these days are laggards when it comes to collaboration. The consumer web has exploded with ideas that are changing how people approach their work.

And Twitter –a half measure of self-centeredness and half measure of gregariousness– has shown us that there is value in constructing a shared awareness around us.

If you think about it, one of the great tenets of execution is that it all starts with good communication. Knowing what is going on –the zeitgeist of a company– is square #1 when it comes to managing for results.

So you may dismiss social software, or enterprise 2.0, or Twitter for that matter, as another fad. And it may be the case that it comes to pass, at least in its current form.

But technology like Signals is reaching out to you, extending a helpful hand to assist you in better understanding the pulse of your company –the customer in crisis, the lead that just came in, the obscure project that everybody should know about– and that is plain, good old execution at play.

And that is why this stuff matters.

Posted by: Sam | January 2, 2009

New year’s resolutions

In 2008 I treated my body like a rag.

In 2009 I will work out twice a week and eat more home-made food.

Why: “Even the least organized among us spends time and energy planning and strategizing about our career, personal finances and health. Why? Because we al think we might be forced to forfeit those things if we aren’t purposeful and thoughtful about them. [...] If we aren’t purposeful about our exercise and diet, our health could fail us.” Lencioni, The three big questions for a frantic family

In 2008 I stressed out majorly about work.

In 2009 I won’t lose any sleep over work.

Why: This year we achieved anything worth remembering thanks to the herculean efforts of 2 or 3 A+ players in the team. But now I have a top notch management team and it is so incredibly liberating to see them take it on themselves to deliver above and beyond.

In 2008 I put my job first and my family second.

In 2009 Lucas and Clara will get my best thinking and my best doing.

Why: In 2008 our family life was unfocused. As the CEO of the family I winged it, crossed my fingers, hoped that everything would work out. But we weren’t purposeful. In 2009 we will focus on having real fun together and enjoying our weekends to the max.

In 2008 I lived a split life between two ideas that could make me rich.

In 2009 I will cast my lot with one and hope for the best.

Why: In 2008 I tried to hedge. I followed the advice of people who haven’t dared starting something new for themselves. In 2009 I will commit to one of two things, and stick with my choice for the next 3 years.

In 2008 I let many good thoughts evaporate.

In 2009 I will blog.

Why: Because I learnt so much from other entrepreneurs out there who not only do a remarkable job, but care enough to share it with the rest of us.

To all my friends and colleagues: keep me accountable!

Posted by: Sam | December 27, 2008

The five dysfunctions of a team

I’ve been reading The five dysfunctions of a team by Patrick Lencioni. Powerful book!.

The main lesson it teaches about leadership is that it really is about building high performance teams. Performance comes from great teamwork and the principles of teamwork are simple to understand but hard to follow. They require persistence and discipline.

To me, the book is so refreshing because it validates my long held intuitions about leadership. That being ‘political’ or ‘playing the executive role’ as some like to say is actually distortion or dysfunction, and ultimately leads to a high price being paid: the lack of performance.

The basic framework looks like this:

I won’t spell it out for you. You can read the book in one 2 hour seating.

Healthy teams at work feel like healthy human relationships elsewhere in life. A collection of individuals who are good listeners, can be frank and sincere, accept their faults and keep each other accountable, who can put the collective good ahead of their own goals and who use their brains at all times.

There’s a lot in the book about how teams overcome these dysfunctions but there seem to be two salient points:

  • The leader must drive the correction of the dysfunctions by:
    • being genuinely vulnerable
    • not protecting members from conflict
    • being comfortable with making less than perfect decisions that may turn out to be wrong
    • stepping back and letting the team serve as the first and primary accountability mechanism
    • setting the tone by focusing on results
    • reserving rewards and recognition for those who make real contributions (and not self)
  • The most effective way to work on correction is by spending quality, focused time together. The book suggests:
    • Annual three day offsite
    • Quarterly 2 day offsite
    • Weekly staff meeting – 2 hours
    • Ad hoc topical meetings – 2 hours

Posted by: Sam | December 26, 2008

Bad Apples

Last weekend I was driving between DC and Hershey PA. My son and his cousin were in the back playing Nintendo so I had a chance to relax and focus on the story on the radio. It was NPR’s “This American Life”, and the stories had this “bad apples” theme.

During the intro, the most interesting part, the host introduces academic research on team dynamics that shows that the most important predictor of a team’s performance is not a) the skill of the most talented individual or b) the average skill of the team’s individuals, but c) the person in the team with the worst attitude.

In other words, a few bad apples ruin the whole bunch.

Listen for yourself

http://podcast.thisamericanlife.org/podcast/370.mp3

Start at 2:03 and then listen till 14:00

There are 3 prescribed bad behaviors:

  • Being a slacker – Not carrying one’s part of the workload
  • Being a depressive pessimist about all team outcomes
  • Being a jerk — Abusing others verbally

The academic research

This gave me a lot to think about.

  • Who are the bad apples on my team?
  • Am I a bad apple in the management team?
  • Do I show “bad appl-y” behavior myself sometimes?
  • When I see it on others, do I act like the son of the diplomat mentioned in the podcast? (12:40)

The most interesting finding: (13:12)

A group leader can change the dynamics and performance of a group simply by going around and asking questions, soliciting everybody’s opinion, making sure every one is heard.

Posted by: Sam | November 21, 2008

Plan B for Telecom

Telecom companies are desperate to find a next-generation service offering that replaces their dwindling fixed line revenue.

As new challengers enter a market traditionally conceived as a monopoly, telcos are struggling to discover sources of innovation within their organizations to help them fend off potentially lethal threats from the competition.

While some postulate that a telco’s central asset is their backbone, a more savvy observer would find hidden gems waiting to be exploited in less conspicuous places, such as:

  • Long-established reputations for reliability
  • Well developed billing relationships
  • Reams of data about their customers usage
  • Tremendous expertise around running complex infrastructure
  • Widespread retail presence
  • Directories of digital identities
  • Marketing muscle

How could all these be better leveraged to generate new revenue?

Jeff Pulver talks about Purple Minutes. As opposed to black and white minutes, purple minutes are those that deliver something more than just connectivity.

That ‘something more’ carries a premium that can be priced according to value delivered. It’s an easy way to escape discount pressures such as those experienced in long distance.

But, how to offer purple functionality —with all its inherent complexity— in a way that scales to hundreds of thousands or millions of business customers?

Surely, there must be a better way than to hire large consulting workforces.

Enter Plan B.

The big idea? A set of killer voice automation applications and corresponding tools that empower end users to self-manage their solutions.

Not just customer self-service, but provisioning, configuration, and reporting self-service.

Community-based issue resolution.

In a nutshell, The Long Tail of voice applications, hosted by telecom.

A high-margin business in a box.

Plan B enables telecom to offer highly targetted vertical voice automation applications to narrowly defined market segments without having to re-create complex infrastructure to deliver each application.

It’s all about repeatability.

Shorten the cycle between voice application creation and monetization. Remove all human chokepoints by building a platform that automates provisioning, instantiation, upgrades, and provides all common services, such as as account management, reporting, monitoring, and data management.

Put application configuration in a domain-specific context that a business user can understand. Make customization possible in way that enables them to deploy their expertise without requiring them to learn about voice automation.

What’s a voice automation application? It’s a solution that uses IVR, ACD, PBX, Call Recording and Reporting technology to solve a particular problem for a particular company that either saves the company money, enables them to make money, or provides an increased level of customer service all through the phone.

It’s not just about talking computers. It’s more about Voice CRM, or how to use a computer’s amazing memory to make sure that each customer gets the most relevant, most personalized and most efficient treatment every time they call.

Voice automation can empower marketing, customer service and sales managers at small and medium size companies to get a handle on that old-time medium: the phone. In the age of the Internet, when web analytics provides unprecedented insights into what visitors are doing on your website every minute, those pesky customers insist on calling over the phone.

And most busineses are stuck with no phone feedback mechanism. At best, a business will know how many people called. Interesting, but of little use if it cannot be correlated to anything else.

Instead, Plan B shines a light into phone traffic. It puts reporting in terms that make sense for business.

For a telco company, Plan B becomes a voice application marketplace management tool. A way to offer hundreds of distinct voice applications in an economic, highly scalable way.

How can one entice an unsophisticated business customer to try voice automation?

It’s all about meeting the customer where they’re at.

What are small businesses used to when buying telecom? Land-lines, hunt groups, NetCentrex.

Give them that, but better. What’s better? More to come…

Posted by: Sam | November 20, 2008

The value of transparency for SAAS

Prove to me that you deserve to run my application!

The basic assumption behind Software as a Service is that I, the vendor, am more proficient at running the system than you, the customer.

So you give up control in exchange for a number of benefits.

But giving up control, in life, takes trust.

So a central question we seek to answer in maturing as a SAAS business is: how is trust in us increasing?

I earn trust by:

  • Keeping the commitments I make
  • Recognizing my mistakes, and fixing them
  • Caring about the things you care about
  • Being accountable for the outcomes of my actions

This brings me to the central question of this blog post: opacity breeds distrust and transparency enables trust.

Transparency is:

  • Recognizing the limitations of my software when I sell it to you
  • Proactively communicating about delays and complications in project work
  • Providing a window into the health of the system, even when it is unhealthy
  • Openly sharing the root cause of an outage
  • Working with you on a shared disaster recovery procedure
  • Telling you ‘no’ when I don’t want to put something on the product roadmap

Recently, I was struck by how quickly (within hours) a customer of ours had gotten in touch with another customer to share the details of the impact of an outage. Then, I remembered the Cluetrain Manifesto. This, in a nutshell, is why opacity no longer works.

Information about you wants to be free. You can’t fake it. You will get caught. You will get shamed. You will be mistrusted. And churned.

It’s best to be the first to come out with the information. You proactively share the bad news. And in the process, the trust that you generate more than makes up for the bad news you delivered.

So the value of transparency in SAAS is that it generates trust. And trust leads to good things.

Posted by: Sam | November 20, 2008

Have you tried LinkedIn Answers?

A common complaint among the collaboration digerati is how useless social networking sites are. But LinkedIn Answers was useful for me in a very practical way.

I’m trying to figure out what SAN is best for us at work and in less than 24 hours I was able to confirm:

  • That EMC is probably the best out there but it costs more
  • That NetApp has a very competitive product that differentiates itself on ease of management
  • That players like Pillar Data and Compellent are the challengers, so they can innovate more

10 answers in one business day… that’s real value for me.

It was interesting to see that a couple of the answers were a bit too slanted towards a vendor with whom the answerer has some kind of relationship, but again, the network allowed me to see these relationships easily.

Thanks LinkedIn!

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