Category Archives: About us

I Still Can’t Find My Marbles … But I’m Sure I Know Who Hid Them!

Twitter Bird A few years ago:

Follow Me! Follow Me!
Who are you?
I’m the Twitter Bird!
What’s a Twitter Bird?
It doesn’t matter. Follow me! Follow me!
Whatever. Have a nice day.

A couple of years ago:

Follow Me! Follow Me!
Back again little bird?
Follow Me! Follow Me!
You’re persistent, aren’t you. But I’m not much of a ornithologist.
Who cares? Follow Me! Follow me! Everyone else is!
I find it hard to believe everyone is following a little thrush. You’re cute, but not worth much more than a passing glance.
Follow me! Follow me! Join millions of people around the world.
Millions of people? I think you flew into a patio glass door a little too hard.
Celebrities. Scientists. CEOs. They all follow me. Twitter.com Follow me! Follow me!
Okay, I’ll check you out.

…

Let’s see. A centralized website for sending 140-character blurbs to hundreds, and even thousands, of friends and “followers”. Mass SMS, or, for those of us who are UNIX, a web-based write command that has been around in UNIX operating systems in one form or another since at least 1969! Potentially useful for getting quick messages out, but so is e-mail and SMS. Possibly useful for consumer goods companies wanting to send quick product announcements or, more likely, quick “special of the day” announcements to consumers (if they will actually follow the company) and for gossip-mongers. (I can’t wait for Perez Hilton to tell me what Lady Gaga is thinking right this second! I need to know now!) But for the rest of us? Those of us in the enterprise market? Those of us who don’t give a damn about celebrity rantings? Those of us who actually want to have a real conversation? Doubtful.

Sorry little bird. You’re not my style.
You will follow me! Everyone will follow me! I’m the Twitter Bird! And even the fail whale can’t stop me!
Maybe you should see a veterinarian. Obviously you never quite recovered from that encounter with the patio door. Goodbye

A few months ago:

Follow me! Follow me!
Back again little Twitter bird? You certainly are persistent.
Time to Follow me! Time to Follow me! Four score and twenty million users sending more tweets per day than there are people in the U.S.A can’t be wrong!
That’s a lot of followers. Not Facebook level, but a lot of followers.
So follow me! Follow me! Popularity awaits!
I’m about knowledge. Knowledge isn’t about popularity. It’s about truth. And those who seek shall find.
They’ll find it faster if you follow me! Follow me!
Knowledge isn’t a destination, it’s a journey. And journeys take time, like the acquisition of knowledge.
Follow me! Follow me! I’ll lead you down the yellow brick road!
I’m not looking for courage, a heart, or a brain, as I already possess all three, and I don’t believe in a magical wizard who will solve all my problems. I think I’ll keep going down the road I’m on. I’m joined by thousands of readers making well over a hundred thousand visits per month in their mutual quest for knowledge.
But it’s not millions! Follow me! Follow me!
I’m writing about Supply Management. You could count every practitioner on the planet and you wouldn’t reach a million. And if only 1.5% of people on the planet are on your network, that’s not many more readers for me.
They will follow me! You’ll see. Follow me! Follow me!
You never did see that veterinarian, did you?
Follow me! Follow me!
I’ve tried to be patient and polite with you, little bird, but enough is enough. I swear that as long as I have my marbles, I’ll never follow you!
See you in a few months! Then you’ll follow me! Follow me too!

About a week and a half ago.

My marbles! Where are my marbles! I’ve lost my marbles! I don’t know what to do! How can I make sense of this crazy world without my marbles?

This is an automated e-mail message from the Facebook borg. Resistance is futile. You will join us. You cannot resist.

I … cannot … resist. Friend me.

Look at all the pretty pin boards you can make! Web works of art. It will change the way you bookmark.

I have no idea what a pinboard is or how to make one. But the borg say I can’t resist. So why not? Pin with me.

I’m back! Now you will follow me! Follow me!
I know I shouldn’t. I really, really shouldn’t. But without my marbles to connect my logic centre to my action centre, I can’t stop myself. I … must … follow … you! Follow me!.

And, while you’re at it, don’t forget to:
Card Me,
Circle Me, and
Link With Me*.

Damn you! Damn you to hell Twitter Bird!
I know you hid my marbles. I don’t know how you got them, but I know it was you! Someday I’ll get you for this! Someday!

*Assuming I know who you are. Otherwise, Friend Me first. I believe in keeping my LinkedIn Network limited to those people I have actually interacted with at some point.

I’ve Lost My Marbles!

Last time I saw them, three days ago, I was playing a rousing game of Ringo (not to be confused with Rango, who is one heck of a lizard may I add) with my developer colleagues (who are very easily amused, and even more easily distracted by giant rubber bands — but that’s a story for another day). I know this because I distinctly remember sticking seven marbles in a row and trouncing my competition in the final game. But that’s not important. What’s important is that they’re gone! Gone! GONE!

Like your average genius, I’m a few cards short of a full deck, and they were probably the only things keeping my eccentricities and insanity in check. (All geniuses are insane. We don’t all reach the depths that von Neumann or Tesla reached, but other than my marbles, and the tires on my car, I think all things should be square. Because it’s Hip to Be Square.) I’m already losing it. Since that time, I’ve joined every social network known to me. I’m fully aware that Tweets are NOT conversations, that Twitter will likely make me stoopid, and that, with the Facebook double-whammy (where one can spend his days poking, prodding, and writing grafitti on infinite walls), I’ll have no time to be social. I know I should remain faceless, spaceless, and twitter free but there’s a big disconnect between logic and action. I know it would be more productive to try and resolve P vs. NP, capture a Higgs Boson, or to try to answer why Hulk Hogan is still in show business … but all I can say is Game On!.

I’m now linked-in, plaxo’d (which I guess, these days, is for the old and plastered), Google-plussed (but given that, as a degreed mathematician, I actually know what a googol is, I’m not sure how that is physically possible), slide-shared (even though playgrounds don’t exist outside of schoolyards anymore), pinned (but not pinned down, thanks to wireless and the power of the Macbook pro), living in twitter-space (and hoping I don’t get flattened by the fail whale — although it might be cool to get eaten by it if it’s anything like Möbius Dick), and facebook’d (even though I haven’t been arrested — what’s up with that)? And now I’m zanier than the Sourcing Maniacs after a month in the boardroom! (And fondly remembering the days of the APE Circus.)

All I can say is that I hope I find my marbles soon! I don’t think I’ll last as long as Tootles if I don’t. (But if it takes them that long to be returned to me, I hope they are returned covered in pixel dust. I’m gonna need it to fly through the ever expanding social media space.) In the interim, feel free to link to, contact, circle, share, pin, follow, and friend me as appropriate — and be sure to join the Sourcing Innovation groups on LinkedIn and Facebook.

And join me in a rousing verse of the zany socialites! (Sung to the tune of the maniac’s theme song.)

It’s time for social-maniacs
And we’re zany to the max
So just sit back and relax
You’ll tweet ’til you collapse
We’re social-maniacs!

Come join us on the Facebook
And the Twitter Channel too
Just for fun we poke around … and see who’s keeping tabs
You’ll find us in the Starbucks on our laptops and our pads
Reading mail and timeline trails
And tweeting off the rails

‘Cuz we’re social-maniacs
Who take pride in Twitter-yak
We’ll pack away the bits
While the servers store our twits
We’re social-maniacs!

Now someone raise me a picture of Wil Wheaton collating paper!

Sometimes, Less Really Is More!

Regular readers will probably have noticed that SI has decreased its post rate in 2012 by 30% to 40% while some blogs in the space have increased their post rate by up to 100%. Why did it do that? The same reason Salon cut its post count by a third. By moving from a model where they published multiple posts, where most were only summaries of a major news events covered by someone else, to a model where they published fewer, but more in-depth, stories, they increased traffic by 40%.

And even though, the main reason SI moved to less was because it feels you, dear reader, are just being over-whelmed, similar logic applies. You’re already overworked, so why do you need to read the same thing three times, and, more importantly, read three stories where none of them tell you what you really need to know or give you a good picture of the situation. Plus, as we explained on Monday, Work is Murder, so we’re going to make sure everything you read has some meaning and completeness behind it. Plus, we want to make sure you have time to read the in-depth papers that SI comes out with from time to time, including the recently released free e-book on Spend Analysis which really does constitute the definitive guide and the forthcoming white-paper on Taking The First Steps on Your Next Level Supply Management Journey.

And to prepare yourself for this upcoming question, the doctor would like you to ask this question and try to answer it. How do you imagine your Supply Management future? (If you don’t have a good answer, he would recommend picking up one or more of Dominick & Lunney’s Procurement Game Plan, which was reviewed this week, Payne & Dorn’s Managing Indirect Spend, which was reviewed in late January, or Rudzki and Trent’s Next Level Supply Management Excellence, which was reviewed late last summer. They’re all great starting points to try and answer this question. If you can’t imagine your future, you’re going to have a hard time getting there.)

Halloween Sponsorship Special

The rest of 2011 FREE for any new sponsor who signs up for all of 2012 (at published rates) until all slots are full. If you’re interested, and have the authority to contract on behalf on behalf of your organization, send an e-mail to us in the next 48 hours. (By 1:00 pm CT on Wednesday, Nov 2.)

For sponsorship details, click the Sponsorship Information link. (And no, the doctor is not making a PowerPoint available. He refuses to submit to the enemy that is PowerPoint.)

As always, sponsorships are first come, first serve.

 

* You do not have to sign within 48 hours, just express interest. You will be granted extra time to get the paperwork done.

Are You Ready For SI To Take You To The Next Level?

Next week, sixty four (64) months and one point seven five million (1.75 M) words into its operation, SI will publish it’s 3000th post. It’s time to ask the 64,000 Question:

Are You Ready For SI To Take You To The Next Level?

And it’s time for you, dear reader, to give me the answer.

     

On this date, 185 years ago today, the Granite Railway began operations as the first chartered railway in the United States.

In order to demonstrate that SI has achieved its primary goal of educating you and preparing you to be a Supply Management Leader, I want you to leave a comment stating why you are ready for SI to take you to the Next Level, and include somewhere in this comment an explanation of the significance of the Granite Railway to the development of the modern Supply Chain.

I’m looking for the answer that demonstrates, in my mind, that you’re ready for SI to take you on that Next Level Journey.