Posts By Dick Davies

Assigning Credit

We’re in a startup, which is frequently taking us where no man has gone before. So I asked Jack, “How would you value Zack’s contribution?” Jack said, “Well, it’s different.” I said, “Actually, it’s exactly one third, as there are three of us working.” We are all doing very different tasks to get this beastRead… Read more »

Sales and Courts

I watched a litigator is trying to sell by banging and haranguing on the prospect. After the prospect left (at a high rate of speed), the litigator asked for some tips on his sales technique. In the law world, when a case finally gets to court, the two sides are essentially chained together and executeRead… Read more »

Positive Benefits Of An Internal Meeting

There’s a bunch written about the waste of internal meetings. Sure they are often an absolute waste of time, but if the commentary is negative, we never improve. I am currently in an asynchronous organization. It would be a deal-breaker to all work together, as we all have widely dispersed customer obligations. We all produceRead… Read more »

Basics

I was working with a business owner who wants to step back from his business. He has learned that means getting sales help, since in its absence, he has learned that sales is the most important thing he does. I showed him the Sales Model, and he understood it immediately. I spend over 80% ofRead… Read more »

Objectives and Outcomes

Frank Strickland gave a talk at CTMH this week that defined, clarified, and corrected one of the most common destructive organizational behaviors. Picture this: You’re in a development meeting, or a sales meeting, or a deployment meeting, and a ranking member, often from outside the team, starts grinding for some unknowable information. “When will youRead… Read more »

HTML 5 – Google at AOL

Last week, AOL hosted the National Capital Area Google Technical User Group. In AOL’s lobby, they had HiDef video presentations, the kind AOL has been perfecting since the 1990s. They are getting sharper with new technology and better production values, but the use of post-TV video has been an AOL feature for as long asRead… Read more »

All Hands On Deck

Robert and I were discussing a new opportunity. I said, “If you have to start by carrying somebody, they just get heavier.” Robert said, “Can I use that?”

Infinite Meetings

There are good reasons for scheduled, repeating meetings. However, without a clear understanding of how to use them, I have seen repeating meetings get mired in processes that go nowhere, I guess expecting that donuts are infinite. There are as many processes for describing work as there are serial numbers on dollar bills. However, thereRead… Read more »

Website For One

Bruce asked for some pointers about putting up a personal website. He’s a content consumer more than an author, and needed a personal website as a prototype for a new project. That would usually involve getting a domain, server space, hiring someone to do the work, building something, updating, and on it goes. I suggestedRead… Read more »