Getting some quotes

Today I got in touch with a bunch of companies online that offer services to take visual design files and turn them into WordPress themes. Since I have my visual design complete, this is the next step. My blog is going to be really simple so almost everything can be cobbled together from existing themes, widgets, and open-source code. Once again, I’m reminded that just because this is over my head does not mean it’s rocket science. I also posted the project description on Craigslist and got some good leads as well. I’d prefer to work with a freelancer, so I think that’s the direction I’m going to go in. More soon!

Building my theme

Today I started working on the design of this so called blog. I spent most of the day looking at other blogs, seeing what works, what fails, what fits with what I’m trying to do, and looking for unique opportunities. And, I’m trying to keep in mind that it’s just a blog … and not to over think it. That said, I visited the blogs of some pretty fancy dancy “experience” designers today and I was pretty disapointed to find some pretty poor experiences out there. It seems these folks create great experiences for companies, but not for their own stuff. Who’da thunk it? Strange …. but I have to say, not too surprising. Human nature has something to do with this I think.

In any case, here the first sketch of my new site!

Early Theme Sketch

Early Theme Sketch

Okay, that’s it for now.

SurfGopher

Putting Your Design Where Your Money Is: A Prototype Wallet

For the past several years, I’ve been walking around with a wallet that is actually the insert for a larger one. At first this was because wallets just seemed bigger than they should be, But over the years I realized that I’ve never found a wallet that really anticipates my behaviors well. For example, being able to reach into my pocket to get my driver’s license or cash without having to pull out the entire wallet. I’ve also never had a wallet in which I can hold business cards without mashing their edges. There are other issues, but those seem to rise to the top.

In true Adaptive Path fashion, I decided it was time to do some rapid prototyping. I started with paper prototypes which I unfolded and used to create a fabrication drawing. I then sent it off to a leather guy to make a better prototype. Regrettably, the fabricator did not fully understand the project, despite lots of notation on the fabrication spec, and I got back something that was worse than my paper version. The dimensions were off and it was made from thick leather that made the wallet too big and stiff. The lesson I took away from this is that you should always try and make the prototype yourself if possible because you understand your goals better than you can possibly explain in a spec. So, I decided that I’d look into making a prototype that was better than paper, but which didn’t require special tools. That’s when the duct tape came in. I’d seen duct tape wallets before so I decided to try making one myself.

I liked the basic design of the insert wallet I had, but it needed some adjustments. Below you can see images of my old wallet next to the prototype I created. I’ve only been using it for one day but I already know I’m heading in the right direction. I’ve turned up a couple issues that will impact my next prototype as well. Yay for prototypes! Let me know what you think!

Old Wallet Inside View – As you can see the cash is simply folded in the middle which allows you to peel off bills like a bill fold. I used to use a bobby pin to keep the cash in, but ultimately found that it was unnecessary. Also, I liked being able to take the cash out of my pocket without the wallet (this requires that you put the wallet in your pocket with the open end up).

 

oldinsidecash

Prototype Wallet Inside View – As you can see it’s very similar, though instead of using clear plastic that tears easily, I opted for triangular thumb pulls which make getting the cards out easier.

 

newinsidecash

Old Wallet Inside View Without Cash – here’s what it looks like without cash in it (I hate it when that happens)

 

oldinside

Prototype Wallet Inside View Without Cash – same.

newinside

 

 

Old Wallet Outside View – you can see here that the driver’s license is held on the outside, which I really liked. This way you can quickly reach into your pocket and pull out just the license.

oldoutside

Prototype Wallet Outside View – I kept the license on the outside, but added a pocket on the other side for business cards rather than keeping them on the inside like in the old wallet. This allowed me to create a flap of material over the entire business card that keeps the edges clean (note that the pocket in which the license sits leaves the edge of the license exposed). My next version will add a thin plastic card over the business cards to protect them even more.

 

newoutside

Old Wallet Side View – The old one was pretty thin, which I really liked.

 

oldside

New Wallet Side View – the new one is slightly thinner because of the material used. Ultimately, I might have this fabricated from a thin, durable, and slightly stretchy cardura.

 

newside

 

UPDATE:
Here are some other interesting thin wallets:

Wallet Pens

Scenario Planning Meets Internal Marketing

Last week, I sat in on a talk by Andrew Blau about Global Business Network’s scenario planning practice when he came by Adaptive Path as part of our Brown Bag lunch presentation series. I was struck by how his work relates to internal marketing practices, and am writing to share some of those connections. I should also say that my background is in marketing, and this is the focus of my work. I’ve recently joined AP and look forward to bringing some marketing related posts to this blog.

First, a word about scenario planning and internal marketing for those who are not familiar with these terms. The former is sometimes also referred to as “scenario thinking” and is a strategic planning method used to make flexible long-term plans. It is in large part an adaptation and generalization of classic methods used by military intelligence (I realize that may sound like an oxymoron).Internal marketing is an activity that is designed to align creative vision, purpose, processes, and culture in general. You can think of this as the Kool-Aid.

Andrew presented a scenario planning methodology that GBN uses to engage with organizations on a leadership level. The frame for this exercise was a ten year projection, which is far enough out as to limit the effectiveness of incremental visioning, but not so far out as to enter science fiction land. The process of building four divergent visions of the future helps the leadership get in touch with the culture within their organization, and understand how it will respond to different futures. It’s important to emphasize that the scenarios must be divergent from each other in order to address the broadest possible range of possibility. Andrew explained that each scenario becomes a caricature of sorts because it highlights predominant features within an organization that are teased out through specific scenarios.

This reminded me of Joseph Campbell’s mythological archetypes (The Hero with a Thousand Faces), because Campbell uses them to demonstrate that very similar features arise in creation myths across cultures. This approach was taken even earlier in Carl Jung’s use of archetypes as a psychological tool for individual analysis, and has also made it’s way into organizational psychology methods such as meta-analysis, which uses averages of individual assessments to represent larger groups. With this in mind, we touched on some common archetypes that arise within GBN’s scenario planning practice such as a disaster scenario, a utopian scenario, and a climate change scenario.

Internal marketing is relevant here because leadership teams must apply the knowledge that comes out of such exercises to their organizations in order to prepare for a myriad of possible futures. This practice recognizes that a culture of adaptation is key to success and must be fostered. I see internal marketing as an essential tool in cultivating adaptability because it distributes power throughout organizations while aligning resources with a larger cause. This leads to increased resiliency as well, not only because of its distributive nature but because it promotes multi-directional feedback from within an organization. At AP we embrace this approach by aligning our organizational purpose with employee behavior; this is represented through our conferences, Brown Bags, Open Design Sessions, management structure, and our commitment to the Designers’ Accord.

Sales & Marketing People – tell us about your CRM!

I’m writing to ask you about the CRM tools that you use, so that we can make an informed decision and share some knowledge with the community. As I’m also doing some due diligence for Adaptive Path, I can also share some of what I’ve learned as an introduction to the conversation. The CRMs that I’ve looked at thus far are: Netsuite, Sage, GoldMine, Sugar, and Open Object. In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve been a Netsuite customer before while working at a great beverage company called Adina.

At Adaptive Path we’ve been using a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool called SalesForce to manage our client relationships, and we’re considering upgrading to a higher level of subscription so we can access features like the new Content offering, and so that we might integrate e-mail fulfillment for our newsletter, and our registration database for our conferences.

One important feature of CRMs that I’ve picked up on is that there is quite a range of development models. For example, Sugar and Open Object are open source options that have development communities adding features and functionality. There are also third party development partners available to build what you need on the platform. The issue here is that development can take significant resources if what you need isn’t already out there, though the base service costs less than the proprietary options. With Sage and GoldMine you’re essentially buying a turnkey system (GoldMine is not hosted and runs on windows, Sage can be hosted online or on your own server). These two seem to be hangers on from a previous generation of CRM and it’s unclear how they’ll keep pace moving forward, though they can be less expensive if you’re just using the base service. SalesForce seems to offer the best of both worlds because they’ve opened their API to higher level subscribers, and have many third party partners who are working directly on their platform to add functionality (e-mail fulfillment, event registration, project management, accounting, etc). The challenge with SalesForce is knowing in advance if you can get what you need through their base tool plus the AppExchange. Also, while SalesForce is definitely going to be around in 5 years, some of their partners may not be. Lastly, Netsuite has gone for the kitchen sink approach. Their product is fully integrated beyond CRM to include accounting, supply chain management, e-commerce and more. They do have some partners as well, but that is happening mostly behind the scenes. While it has the highest subscription fees, the nice thing about Netsuite is that you can do everything in one place. The not nice thing is that the user experience isn’t so hot.

Actually, the user experience for all these tools is dissapointing. Because we use SalesForce currently it’s started an internal conversation about how much we’d like to improve the experience. We think there is a real opportunity for the right CRM to stand out by providing a great experience. There’s obviously lots more to say about these tools, but I really want to hear from you. If you work in client relations or marketing and I know you’re out there. Tell us: what CRM do you use?What are the challenges? How do you use it? What advice do you have some firms that are just adopting a CRM?

Thanks  -Roland