Monthly Archives: June 2010

Is The Road to Riches Paved With Oil?

… and blood?

According to this recent article in the Wall Street Journal by Scott Adams, if you want to get rich, put your money on companies that you hate the most because the usual reason for hating a company is that the company is so powerful it can make you balance your wallet on your nose while you beg for their product. Why? Those companies are typically wildly successful and the type that will generate a big return on your investment. Like the oil companies. One accident turns paradise into purdition, but they still get richer and more powerful. And if they have a Dogbert in charge, with a Catbert managing human resources, they do even better. Which leads me to ask, is the road to riches paved with oil, or, as the recent rash of suicides at a major manufacturer appear to demonstrate, blood?

The Dumbest Conversation I’ve Ever Had

When SI reviews a product, SI insists on a demo. It’s very simple. If you can’t show me a demo, then I have nothing to say. I’m not interested in your PowerPoints or your opinions about the marketplace or your scuttlebutt about your competitors. I have one question, and one question only: Where’s the Beef?

Two days ago, one of the largest independent vendors in our space offered to provide a demo so that SI could cover them. Then, yesterday, they insisted on an NDA. This is the second time I’ve had this conversation in a month. And I’m as dumbfounded now as I was last month.

As per the FAQ, SI will not cover any company that insists on an NDA. Please don’t tell us any corporate secrets, we don’t want to know them. What good are corporate secrets if they are revealed under an NDA and they cannot be written about? Furthermore, SI has no interest in them. SI is not a gossip column that hints around at this or that. That’s why SI can’t be manipulated by marketing people. We don’t care what you have coming next month or next year, unless it can be written about. We’re not going to “hint around” that we “know something important” about your product line or your future plans. That’s not what we do here. You can go to dozens of other sites for that.

At SI we are into reality, not fantasy. And in the real world a company’s released products are not corporate secrets.They are in the public domain. Everyone sees them. Everyone uses them. I am no different than anyone else who has seen the product. How on earth am I supposed to write about your product if you tie me up with an NDA? It would be the dumbest conversation ever, and the most worthless article ever published on SI. Not that worthless articles aren’t published daily on dozens and dozens of other sites, but as I said, you can go to those other sites if you like worthless articles.

Forgive me, but I am deeply suspicious of any company that won’t demo their product to me. (And I’m glad to say that there aren’t many that have officially refused. In fact, to date, only four companies have officially refused. However, the four that have refused are four of the eight biggest companies in the space. And that is worrisome.) SI is not in the business of product bashing — and if you look at my past reviews of dozens upon dozens of solutions, if nothing else, this one fact should be abundantly clear. I have great respect for anyone or any company that brings a product to market. Having done it myself a few times (as I am not your average liberal-arts blogger with no other marketable skill, but a CS PhD who has designed, architected, implemented, and brought a number of e-Commerce and e-Sourcing platforms to market), I know for a fact that it is not easy to do that. No matter what you might hear, it never is.

Take me up on my challenge! Every review SI has ever done is archived on the blog. The majority are indexed in this post (which is updated a few times a year). If the product solves a problem in our space, it will be written that it solves a problem in our space. Any product that has made it to market that actually works and actually provides value is a product that somebody somewhere can use. It’s SI’s job to let that somebody know about it. That’s what we do here.

I can’t figure it out. What are these vendors afraid of?

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To Maximize Your Time, Tweak These Ten Time Management Rules

A recent headline over on the Supply & Demand Executive Site on
“the art (and business) of finding more time: 10 ways to organize your time and resources for maximum ROI” caught my attention because I thought it might have a good tip or two for improving supply chain ROI that I hadn’t covered before. It didn’t, but the 10 tips of time management it offered from it’s review of a chapter from thriving in the workplace all-in-one for dummies are still worth covering, if you give a few of them a little tweak. Here are the tips, and tweaks, that will help you achieve success in your supply chain efforts.

  • Live by the 80/20 ruleGiven that 20% of your tasks produce 80% of the results, spend 80% of your time on the 20% of the tasks that produce results. Furthermore, for the 80% of tasks that don’t produce results, 80% of perfect is more than enough.
  • PrioritizeActions that advance an initiative in-line with the strategy take priority. Unless it’s a true customer emergency, busy work and colorful smoke are low priority.
  • Conquer the In-BoxesVirtual or Physical, there are three types of documents. Those you act on, those you delegate, and those you discard. If it’s a priority and you need to do it, you add it to the work queue according to its priority and deadline. If it’s a priority that can be done by someone else, or not a priority but still needs to get done, you delegate it. Otherwise, you discard it.
  • Clear the ClutterAs the article states, a topsy-turvy desk translates into greater stress and the misleading feeling that you have all the time in the world to complete your projects. Plus, it’s distracting — and with all of the modern forms of communication, you have enough distractions as it is.
  • Ask Specific QuestionsSpecificity cuts out confusion and extraneous detail. Ask for precisely what you need, and you just might escape the data overload you’re hit with on a daily basis.
  • Burn the Time LeechesYou don’t have to close your door, wear headphones, or be arrogant, but when the office Wally stops by, wish him a nice day, thank him for his interest, and escort him to the door or, if you work in a cubicle, the coffee room on your way to a meeting (which might be a meeting with yourself back at your desk, but since a brisk, short, walk every hour or two keeps you alert, the 2 minutes it takes to lead him astray will be more than worth it).
  • Preemptively Appreciation Strike the Busybody ClientsThere’s always that client or contact who needs to be involved with everything or always up to date on what is going on. Make brief update calls to them on a regular basis, preferably when you only have a few minutes before “an important meeting to advance the project or product”, and they’ll be less likely to call you with excessive demands for your time.
  • Give Yourself a Kit-Kat, Give Yourself a Break for a Job Well DoneIf you do a great job, splurge a little on yourself. If you get the bonus you deserve, splurge a little more. (Save some, like a responsible person, but remember that the carrot always works better than the stick.) Sometimes it’s as easy as holding off on the Starbucks until the report is done.
  • Track Your ProgressJust like you can’t measure the effectiveness of your supply chain initiatives without regular measurements and trend tracking, you can’t measure the effectiveness of your performance if you don’t analyze your performance on a regular basis as well. Even if you aren’t required to file a time-log or a weekly report, create a brief report that captures what you did, how long it took, how it compares to your goals for the week and performance over the previous weeks, and what you plan to get done next week. Also include a summary of any problems or distractions that cost you time, breakthroughs or inspirations that saved you time, and anything significant that should be remembered. It should never be more than a page, and often half a page will do.
  • Be BrutalApply the rules consistently and when you need to, be harsh with your desk, your documents, and your doorknob cow-orkers who worship Wally as their leader.

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If You’re a MultiNational, Why Would You Use a Domestic 3PL?

After reading a recent article in the new SCMR that contained a 3PL update which noted that analysts suggest global/domestic lines may be blurring, all I can do is ask why would a multinational use a domestic 3PL in 2010? A modern multinational is in-sourcing, out-sourcing, near-sourcing, far-sourcing, high-value sourcing, and low-cost-country sourcing … and moving products back and forth all over the globe. What possible logic would there be for using a domestic 3PL? If you’re outsourcing your logistics to a 3PL, then you’re outsourcing to use the full capabilities of the 3PL, not just to manage product as it comes into or leaves your country.

You could use a domestic 3PL to manage your product nationally and then a global 3PL to mange your product globally if you really wanted to, but, in doing so, you’re creating complexity, cost, and sowing the seeds of future disruption. If two 3PLs have to coordinate with every international transaction, that’s unnecessary complexity. If you’re using two 3PLs, that’s twice the 3PL fees. And if you do a lot of international shipments, that’s a lot of handoffs and a lot of chances for something to go terribly wrong.

Plus, with the greatest growth coming in China and India, chances are that your domestic market will be less and less important as time goes on. So why would you, as a multinational, use a domestic 3PL? If you have a good reason, let me know!

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There’s Opportunity in Global R&D …

… but there’s also risk as well. In fact, I’d say the risk is as big as the opportunity presented in this Global Services article on the “globalization of R&D and Product Development” which claims that there is a tremendous opportunity for growth based on the fact that only 5% of current R&D spend is based on outsourced partnerships.

While it is true that the average small to mid-sized software product company will continue to be faced with cost pressures and increased revenue expectations, that headcount in other economies like China, India, Poland, and Russia are considerably cheaper, and that a few of these countries are as likely to produce as least as many software geniuses as North America, it’s also true that there are disadvantages and risks to outsourcing. The first is market risk. Does the outsourced R&D provider’s team truly understand the market needs? The second is education. The educational systems in these countries traditionally pump out some of the world’s greatest mathematicians, but mathematicians (and pure mathematicians in particular) are often the world’s worst coders. They can come up with the most brilliant algorithms on the planet, and maybe even code an initial version of them, but good luck integrating and maintaining their code as part of your code base — because no one but them will be able to understand it, ever.

Then there’s the ever-present culture risk. Will your North American or Western European or Australian team be able to work with them to produce great results, or will they continually misunderstand each other? Then there’s the performance risk. You might get the hardest, best trained worker, or you might get the ultimate slacker who’s there because his father, brother, or uncle is in management or has a strong say over who is hired. Arun Krishnan of Cutting Chai didn’t address outsourcing and how to threaten your outsourced employees, by telling them “I will single out every one of you and kill you”, in Hindi in his first “Learn Hindi from Bollywood Movies” podcast just to be humorous. If you’re unlucky with your hires, you really will want to yell that!

Finally, there’s the cost risk. The only way to insure success is to build a relationship and understanding with the outsourced team, work closely with them, and manage the integrated team on a regular basis. This will require regular trips to their location to find the team, train the team, and manage the team, and then multiple trips for your employees who will have to take turns visiting each location to build the camaraderie required for them to truly work as a team. Early on, this will likely cost a lot more than you budget for.

Now, I’m not against the globalization of R&D, and, especially if you’re a multi-national, I think it’s a great idea, but it has to be done right, and you have to move slow at first. Otherwise, like many companies that don’t properly plan and rush right in, you’ll see nothing for your efforts but huge losses.

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