Performance Zen

Author: spierzchala

  • Comcast: Lower Your Prices Or Lose More Customers

    Dear Arrogant Monopolistic Cable Operator:

    The day of reckoning is upon you. Your formerly monopolistic power has been drained by years of failed mega-mergers, media plays, satellite providers and gross mis-management. Your cash cows are showing signs of Mad Cow Disease.

    The final straw for me is your incredibly pig-headed strategy of price inflexibility on your high-speed Internet service. I pay what I consider a ridiculous amount every month for what is a necessary service for me. Now I see that your Telco competitors are slashing prices every way they can to win back business.

    I read that you will lower your price if I call you and threaten to move to an alternate provider. But only for 3 months.

    You really need to step back and realize how dead your business is going to be in 2 years.

    I live in the testbed for fiber-to-the-home in Massachussetts. Every day, Verizon linemen, training to string fiber to every home, drive up and down our street, leaving spools of high-speed goodness on every corner.

    They say that in a year, I can have incredible speeds to my home, for less than what I pay for your high-speed Internet service.

    So, Mr. Cable Operator (you have to be a man, because only a man would be this pig-headed), what are you going to do to keep me a customer?

    Sincerely,
    me

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  • Leadership Paradox

    Skip has some great thoughts on what leadership means when you reach the VP or C-levels in an organization. [here]
    What does a true leader do?

    So, I began to delegate by better defining the roles of people, provide them with the right level of responsibility and accountability, and make sure I was available for any questions that was a result of lack of clear direction. I, on the other hand, needed to ensure that each person has what they needed to get the job done (equipment, training, skills, communication, etc) and then get out of their way and let them do it!

    The worst managers and VPs I have ever encountered were those who could not delegate. These managers failed because the did not, would not, could not admit that their job, and their only job, was to be a conciliator, facilitator, negotiator, reporter, and mentor.
    A leader is great by not trying to do the job. A leader’s job is to ensure that the job gets done by the team best able to do it.
    Leadership is a Zen Koan: Being, not doing, shows leadership.
    Read it.

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  • Apple: So you might run Windows….how about linux? FreeBSD?

    A Tri-Boot Powerbook: MacOSX, Windows, AND LINUX!
    Or a QUAD BOOT Powerbook: MacOSX, Windows, Linux and FreeBSD.
    The mind boggles.

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  • Apple: On Sales Strategies

    As many have said now, Apple may have committed a serious marketing and sales error by announcing the move to Intel for 2006-2007. Ppersonally, I would have no problem buying a PowerPC Powerbook right now, especially if Apple is forced to lower the price to reduce stock or drive sales.
    We will have to see how that plays out. There must be something else going on. Maybe there will be a G5 Powerbook…and an Intel Powerbook. That would be a tough choice.
    If Apple lives that long.

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  • The Tipping Point

    It appears that over the weekend, this blog reached a tipping point of sorts. Traffic hasn’t skyrocketed, but over the weekend, there wasn’t the usual drop-off.
    I have started using Technorati tags on posts where they are relevant, but based on an analysis of the traffic, it’s not one or two posts that is increasing traffic. It is the volume of total posts on topics that people are searching for.
    So, it goes to show that if you don’t have a specific topic, but you do post frequently and often, eventually you will begin to attract a wide-range of readers, some of whom may actually stay for the show.
    Not getting rich, but there is a certain happy feeling to see traffic stats going up, not down.

  • Oh…and I still haven’t gotten my Powerbook!

    How much of a hint do I have to drop? I will do ANYTHING for a Powerbook.
    I know some of you have been meaning to get me one; maybe this is a good time!

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  • Wow. Apple thinks ahead.

    From MacRumoursLive:

    Catch up – two major challenges – making OS X think on intel procs. Every release of OS has been compiled for intel x86 for the last 5 years – cross platform by design.

    Wow. Wish I could have snuck out those binaries.

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  • Apple: Ok, it’s Intel. But which chip?

    Apple goes to Intel. But which chip? I can’t see getting a dual-boot Powerbook.
    More info! Now!

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  • Garden Geekery and Gadgets Galore!

    Being a gardening geek in charge of watering in my spare time, I appreciated this post on automated drip systems.
    I do it manually right now, because for me, watering is a Zen-like therapy. However, my mother-in-law’s garden is extensively dripped due to the scale and density of the plantings, and the fact that they want to spend more time gardening than watering.
    Go forth and be lustful of this system!

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  • GTD: Meeting Mantra

    Jeffrey Philllips has a GREAT post on how to make your meetings more effective. [here]
    I had already started applying these instinctively, but to see it codified gives me hope that we can pound this into a few people’s skulls. It is a serious contributing factor to people failing at GTD.
    When you start to actually analyze the meetings you attend, ask yourself some basic questions:

    • Was the organizer prepared?
    • Was it clear who the organizer was?
    • Did this meeting actually require your attandance?
    • Were you expected to take a next action?
    • Is another meeting necessary to report on your next action, or can it be done informally?
    • Do you consider the meeting a success?

    If you pass along your comments to the meeting organizer, or simply talk to that person informally, you may be able to evolve meetings in your organization into useful activities.

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