The Biz School Chronicles :: Personal Leadership Brand

Update: The original video I embedded in this post in 2009 is no longer available. I found an updated video playlist at  by Norm Smallwood who was featured in the older video (along with Dave Ulrich)

"You have a strong personal leadership brand when your individual strengths deliver value to the people you want to serve."

A great interview I came across while doing research for a report I have to submit this weekend. The report is on Manpower Planning and related HRM disciplines. My question is, if you know your strengths and those whom you serve neither seem to possess the ability to recognize nor accept delivery, how should one react? Good question right? I would say it's a valid question for any manager, Human Resource or otherwise. Comments welcome.

Should Startups Focus on Growth or Profits?

Should Startups Focus on Growth or Profits? - Scott Anthony - HarvardBusiness.org

"Today's tough economic climate is surfacing an interesting debate: should emerging Web 2.0 disruptors prioritize financial results or audience growth?"

I would say growth in terms of product users. The option to grow might not be as lucrative as the option of showing profits to the VCs. But if you are planning to stick around, having a growing user base will provide you ample opportunity to fine tune the existing business model or create a new one.

But if you are in it for the short run, go for profits. By short run I mean those hit-n-run entrepreneurs (if you can call them entrepreneurs). These are the individuals who have neither the business acumen nor strategic vision to create a great company. They create a product, let it out in the wild, fish some users and using the resulting profits as leverage sell the company to the highest bidder. A typical example is Yammer (also highlighted in the article above). Compared to Twitter, who are focusing on increasing their audience than profits, Yammer with about 60,000 users are on the path to hit-n-run.

Then again, a startup, in my opinion should decide whether to grow audience or profits depending on the team it has. Especially the business savviness of the leadership team. If your team is a bunch of panicky amateurs, by all means sell and payback investors and (if you give stock options) employees. But if you have true visionaries in your leadership team, grow and become a lifetime employer. Let history remember the name of your company and you as the founder.

Why you should lean on Open Source amidst turmoil

According to a latest post, Microsoft may disband the Popfly team. Popfly was their entry to the Mashup space with quite a bit of press. Google 'axed' their Mashup Editor this month and something tells me Yahoo Pipes may not last for long either. So what do all these have in common? They are proprietory, closed source software owned by companies trying to cut costs in a recession and when they are gone, no one can gather the pieces and rebuild. The users are lost without their familiar tools and will either have to look elsewhere or give up altogether.

Now take an Open Source offering such as the wso2 mashup server. Rarely in the limelight and overlooked by most tech pundits when talking about Web 2.0, Mashups or Social Computing, yet silently and steadily adding features. Features not only decided by corporate plans but demanded by a growing user community. Yes, as most Open Source software it might be a bit rough around the edges. But you can rest assured that once you ask, the developers will fix it.

So what's the difference? The code. It's there for everyone to see, download and improve. Even if it loses corporate funding or if the developers lose interest, there's always the possibility to either take over the code or fork it. That's why Open Source software is recession proof. As long as the human race survives and as long as there's server space left somewhere, the code will live!

So Mashuppers of the world. Join us, be part of the code and most of all, be free!!

Your favourite mashup server.. now on FB ;)

• Become a fan
  
• Post your ideas, feature requests, tips and tricks with other fans
• ???
• Profit (..sorry I just couldn't resist. South Park FTW!)

I just created a page for the WSO2 Mashup Server on Facebook. Something I wanted to do for a while but never really got around to doing. They created a page for WSO2, which gave me the perfect excuse to put some time into it.. finally!

Our Iceberg is Melting

A simple but well written book I read recently, that tells a story of inspiring and managing change. It also has nice illustrations, unusual for a book of this nature. Then again, so is telling a fable about Penguins to demonstrate business principles. A good, satisfying read!

Obama's CTO choice may usher in mashup era

Obama's CTO choice may usher in mashup era - Computerworld Blogs

"Using information technology to enable data access can unleash creativity and ideas that can provide government and citizens with new insights. The benefits flow both ways. As Kundra wrote recently on his blog: The District of Columbia is bringing people closer to government through collaborative technologies like wikis, data feeds, videos and dashboards. We’re throwing open DC’s warehouse of public data so that everyone—constituents, policymakers, and businesses—can meet in a new digital public square."

Make sure you visit Washington DC's Data Catalogue to have a look at all the data available in various forms from Atom feeds to Google Earth meta-data files. Last year, they have held a contest where people could use data from this catalogue, create mashups and submit their cool applications. These mashups are in a directory named Apps for Democracy.

Hmm.. time to have a long look at this data catalogue and write a mashup using the wso2 mashup server. So many mashable data sources... so little time!

The Biz Schools Chronicles :: Not to boast.. but..

Here's the story. We started yet another subject today. The last one for this semester but in no way the least, Human Resource Management. Our teacher (he refuses to be called 'lecturer') is Mr Bennot Pattornet a Sri Lankan with an MBA from the Columbia University, New York with over 35 years of experience working in 6 countries. Half way into the lecture he asked whether we read publications such as the Harvard Business Review. None of us did except one. Then he asks, and I quote "What are you people doing on your free time?" and went on with his by now frequent, "Pardon me for saying but.. You buggers are useless!". Needless to say it was a fun filled lecture, which I enjoyed immensely and will look forward to in the coming weeks.

So I drove home in the evening, showered, had my dinner and visited the Harvard Business Review site. Lots of content there and a must see for any business student (then again.. it's Harvard). But I digress. While browsing, I saw a link titled How the Hype Cycle Works. As regular readers might remember, I posted about this last week along with some of my predictions. I primarily focused on Mashups, which I have been working on during the past year or so. To me a Mashup Platform is something that bundles Social Computing technologies such as Tagging, Folksonomies and of late, Google Gadgets & OpenSocial as well as allowing users to compose content form different sources (have a look). I also focused on Cloud Computing, which we are looking at these days and obviously SOA.

Guess what? here's a screenshot form Harvard's hype cycle followed by my humble one.

^Says Harvard

^Says me. Some guy from the third world ;)


Not bad ha? Look at Mashups and Cloud Computing. In the Harvard one, they have broadly put Social Computing Platforms instead of Mashups. Note how their one is for 2008, while mine is for 2009 and the relative shift forward of these two technologies in mine. Harvard and I seem to disagree on SOA, timeline wise, but we both see them as passing the Trough of Disillusionment, so that's something. Unfortunately SaaS seems to be out of Harvard's radar at the moment.

According to the Harvard Business Review article, this was adopted from a book published by the Harvard Business School Press. Mine was done with my experience with the Hype Cycle as a Software Engineer and whatever Business Accumen I have or learned from my teachers. As I said earlier, I have never visited this site before nor seen that article anywhere else.

Oh Toyota, how I admire thee

.. the way you manage and lead at the same time!


Toyota managers to buy cars in slump - drive.com.au

A group of 2,200 Toyota managers have decided to buy the company's cars in an effort to help the Japanese auto giant withstand the global economic crisis, a company spokesman said on Wednesday.

This is impressive, to say the least. As many times before, this too will go down in history and students of business will study it in years to come. The power of nurturing employees to think of the big picture than just themselves, their security and status is amazing. I always admired Japan and her children. Successful and powerful yet civilized unlike many others. Developed not just in the external, material aspects but inside as human beings.

They also remember their past. Not merely to learn from their mistakes, but also to keep in mind those who helped them when they were down. I'm sure JR would never have imagined the way they would repay the act of kindness we extended to them at the San Fransisco Conference in 1945, when the whole western world and its allies were after their blood, representing a tiny island nation, he said No! Hate can't cure hate only love and compassion can.

Even though generations in Sri Lanka since seem to have forgotten those words, some of us do and we also know you are a true friend. I hope one day we will get to be successful exactly the way you are, materially while retaining the good qualities we have even today.

One nation.. one anthem.. one love!

Google shuts down their Mashup Editor

Google Mashup Editor Blog: From Mashup Editor to App Engine

The Google Mashup Editor wasn't the best of their products, in my opinion (I thought that was the point of calling it a 'private' beta). Maybe they failed to realize where mashups stand in the hype cycle at the moment as well. Oh well ... I, for one am not surprised!

But, in a way this shows my prediction, at least on mashups is fairly accurate. This is the slope folks, hold on to something.

Google Gadgets for Linux

google-gadgets-for-linux - Google Code

Google Gadgets for Linux provides a platform for running desktop gadgets under Linux, catering to the unique needs of Linux users. It's compatible with the gadgets written for Google Desktop for Windows as well as the Universal Gadgets on iGoogle. Following Linux norms, this project is open-sourced under the Apache License.

An important area where Google Desktop for Linux is different from its siblings on other operating systems is support for gadgets. Now, the Linux version of Google Gadgets will extend the gadgets platform to Linux users. By enabling cross-platform gadgets, a large library of existing gadgets are immediately available to Linux users. In addition, gadget developers will benefit from a much larger potential user base without having to learn a new API.

.. and guess what. The WSO2 Mashup Server allows you to write gadgets for your mashups and host them in it. With this application, you can have those gadgets on your desktop. How cool is that?

Every project needs an entrepreneur

Some interesting points ...


Every project needs an entrepreneur | Open Source | ZDNet.com

"Boards and committees are fine. Structure is a necessity. Transparency is obvious.

The real question is, should there be a name on the door, someone who takes the place of the CEO or (better still) the entrepreneur at a proprietary company?"

And if this truth hasn't been told already ...

 

"These Are some serious times
 All I can see round natty is violence and crime
 Full time for Rass to centralize socialize and realize
 To let the sun shine through out every day
 And let the moon shine through out the peaceful nites
 This is 7 times rise and 7 times fall but i dont really believe in the falling tings at all
 Cause life continues as it goes if u really want to no the true of the true isnt been told
 No no no no no"

 "To sometime u think peace in every ting
 It could b the first sign of distruction
 Say i wake up this morning for that i give thanks u dont no if u gonna live to c tomorow
 Life is much more precious than gold
 yeah yeah
 And if the truth hasn't been told
 So i say ... "

My Translation:

We live in troubled times,
All I see around is violence and crime
It's high time we come together as a society and realize
That we need to let the sun shine everyday
And let the moon shine in peaceful nights
Instead of rising 7 times a week just to fail 7 times, but I don't believe in failing
Because otherwise, life as it is will continue, even though we yearn the truth and it's not being told
Enough is enough.

Often they talk about peace being everything
Yet sometimes it can also be the first sign of destruction
I woke up this morning, for that I'm thankful. Nobody knows whether one will live to see tomorrow
Life is much more precious than gold (or oil, or land or any other bloody reason we kill each other for)
And if this truth hasn't been told already ...
I will tell it


Dedicated to the people of Sri Lanka, our brethren in Gaza and all God's children suffering from war!

Pinpointing Products in a Hype Cycle

Looking back at my career so far, I see a clear pattern of the type of work I enjoy the most. Without doubt it's Research and Development. The bleeding edge stuff. Working at the R&D Labs of Virtusa as a Research Focus Lead before I moved on to WSO2, it was one of the best practices to read Gartner reports before investing resources on a new and potentially profitable technology. It is there that I was first introduced to the Gartner Hype Cycle. Every week the R&D leaders would get a mail summarizing the latest reports and we in turn would dig into interesting areas and do quick feasibility studies on upcoming trends.




When you have done this itteratively for several years, this pattern of thought kind of sticks to you. So everytime I hear someone passinately advocating a certain new technology, subconciously I try to see where it fits in the Hype Cycle. WSO2, where I work at the moment, is also a research oriented company. New technologies are put on the table frequently and are either integrated to our products or brand new products spawned. But working on the bleeding edge runs the risk of getting disoriented, especially when you are a startup pressed to generate revenue.

In my opinion, the amount of revenue generated by a product depends on at what stage of the hype cycle it is in. Imagine that someone (Let's call them company A) somehow managed to turn a latest technology into a product offering, immediately after the Technology Trigger. You will undoubtedly manage to rake in money during the technology's journey through the marketing buzz and hype generated by media. Relatively inexperienced and naive CIOs will flock at your stall to buy your product. But is this sustainable? No. Can you forecast your revenues using the money you're raking in today? No. Is it wise to raise more funding based on todays earnings? No.

Why? simpley because you're in a bubble and it's bound to burst once the technology reaches the Peak of Inflated Expectations. If you wrongly forecasted future revenues and was unfortunate enough to act based on these forecasts, you are in for a rude shock. You might probably lose faith of the VCs or worse lose your startup altogether.

So what if another company (Company B) develops a product based on a technology that is at the Peak of Inflated Expectations? Again, things might not go as planned. Users are finally getting frustrated by all the hype and are begining to look elsewhere for their silver bullet. The technology is travelling a sliperry slope towards the Trough of Disillusionment. The users feel cheated by products from the the likes of Company A, who took their money yet never delivered what they read in the papers. Company B would have a tough time selling their product to begin with. This may not necessarily be due to their product being an inferior one, but more a case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The only option for Company B right now is to wait till the technology hits rock bottom to reach the Trough of Disillusionment.They can spend this time fine tuning the product, improving performance, removing bloat and most importantly defending it from the internal and external forces who want to kill it. Why? because the next stage is the Slope of Enlightenment and all those users and potential new clients will finally see the light. Case studies will emerge on how a certain comapny increased productivity using the technology and how government X is planning to use the technology to improve infrastrucutre and transparency etc, etc.

Company B should be ready with a proper marketing strategy at this point and a few case studies either from their limited clientele or based on hypothetical scenarios. Because sales are about to pick up for them only if they are ready. If a proper marketing strategy is in place Company B will undoubtedly see business picking up for their product offering and most importantly, this time around it is safe to forecast. Why? Because unless you do something really stupid, things can only go up and stabilize as the technology matures in the Plateau of Productivity.

After a long read, here are my predictions on where certain technologies of today stand in the hype cycle. This prediciton is based on my work in some of these areas and what industry analysts say in general. So please feel free to comment.

The Biz School Chronicles :: Why Motivation is a Bad Idea

Yes you read right and I agree with Prof. Degamboda, who lectures us on Managerial Economics. Here's why;

Of late, I have been wondering whether the traditional methods of motivation, especially when applied to individuals, are flawed. Why? Imagine you have a bunch of engineers working for you. These engineers will have varying degrees of experience, some just graduating from the university, some with 1-2 years experience and others who are veterans of the industry with 5 or more years of experience behind them with scars to prove it. So theoretically, how do you motivate all of them? The original theory dictates that one should carefully analyze each individual and try to figure out exactly where they fit in a scale of motivation such as Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs. The next step would be to set goals according to each individuals current state in this scale ensuring that these new goals would pave way to the next level in the hierarchy.

But in many organizations we don't see this happen. Instead, by tradition, most organizations use a 'one size fits all' strategy. In comes 'flat hierarchies' and 'each to ones self' type motivational schemes. The end result as I have seen, is a complete mess in team structures and overall vision. Yes, the top management gets what they want. A bunch of goal oriented cyborgs who are willing to do whatever it takes to impress them in order to get ahead. What happens downstairs is a human tragedy to say the least. The inexperienced begin to loath those who join with a bit of experience, since they are potentially a threat to bubbling up. So what happens? Corporate back stabbing, speaking without thinking just to get ones words in become acceptable practice. The experienced employees, who were hired at a price (obviously) and their input gets discarded to satisfy the insecurities of those with lesser years under their belts. Mistakes, that could have been well avoided (with the industry experience of the seniors) are repeated again and again.

The same can be explained using a marketing team. If the management motivates the individuals with goals such as Rs. 10, 000/= for every X number of units sold, eventually the employees will go to such extents as preventing others form selling this X amount once they themselves have achieved the target. Mind you, this is the culture in this part of the world. So the traditional motivational practices as above may have and still might work in the western world, but one begins to wonder whether they are ideal for us.

What's the alternative? Divide the workforce into teams and let teams compete with each other. This has different dynamics than individuals competing as apparent in many sports. But one should also remember to instill the greater vision of the organization in these teams. A classic example of teams competing with each other, while keeping the greater vision in mind is the Japanese auto industry.

A few years ago, Toyota was the first to implement VVT technology among Japanese Car makers. But if they introduced it immediately, it would have had a negative impact on Honda, Mitsubishi and Nissan. This impact would have almost killed them. The Japanese auto industry would have suffered while Toyota made some short term profits. So what did Toyota do? They postponed production for 2 years until others implemented their own versions of VVT. We all know where they are today, don't we?

As I said in a recent post, western theories might have been dominant till now. But this does not, in any way mean that they are the only way. There's a new world order emerging, look around you!

Enterprise Mashup Patterns

Enterprise Mashups: New Book Highlights the Patterns

"Although mashups started out in the consumer space, their success makes a migration into corporate IT environments inevitable. Firms exploring this new software development model may struggle at first to understand the importance of mashups from a corporate perspective. In the upcoming book, Mashup Patterns, author Michael Ogrinz provides a collection of use-case driven patterns intended to explain the value of enterprise mashups to both technical and non-technical readers."

The author talks about 34 patterns in 5 main categories depending on the circumstances where mashups are used in the enterprise.

1. Harvest: Mine one or more resources for unique data
2. Enhance: Extended the capabilities of existing resources
3. Assemble: Remix existing data and interfaces to serve new purposes
4. Manage: Leverage the investment in existing assets more effectively
5. Testing: Verify the performance and reliability of applications

I skimmed through all 34 patterns listed in the article under above categories and was pleasantly surprised how all these patterns are supported by the WSO2 Mashup Server (Open Source, Apache Licensed). With version 1.5's introduction of a Gadget Dashboard and integration of OpenId and Cardspace even the Manage category is covered.

Interesting discovery.

SOA is dead, survived by offspring: Mashups, BPM, SaaS, Cloud Computing .....

Application Platform Strategies Blog: SOA is Dead; Long Live Services

SOA met its demise on January 1, 2009, when it was wiped out by the catastrophic impact of the economic recession. SOA is survived by its offspring: mashups, BPM, SaaS, Cloud Computing, and all other architectural approaches that depend on “services”.

The above is an interesting observation by Anne Thomas Manes. Actually, SOA isn't really dead, it just reached the "trough of disillusionment" in the Gartner Hype Cycle. The hype is gone, along with all the unrealistic expectations, which means that things can only move up from here towards enlightened adoption.

Enterprise mashups will pick up from this point, with other service dependent architectures. Finally, real adoption instead of hype and buzzwords!

Invoking Web Services from a Mashup

Invoking Web Services from a Mashup | WSO2 Oxygen Tank

"The objective of a mashup is to compose or mash information obtained from several sources. The WSO2 Mashup Server supports several ways and means of getting such information. Invoking external Web services (or mashups deployed on the same server) is a popular mechanism of obtaining such information."

In this latest article, Keith guides you through the 3 methods that can be used to invoke Web Services when writing Mashups in the WSO2 Mashup Server.

1. Using a generated JavaScript stub
2. Using the WSRequest Host Object
3. Using the Dynamic version of the WSRequest Host Object