Deborah Schultz

Code, Shmode - people trump algorithms! Tummeling for success

I was privileged to be invited to speak at StartupFestival Montreal this month - great city, great event, great team [thanks Alistair]. My favorite time was spent meeting with startups. At one point I found myself in the advisor tent with three companies' founders chatting tech, culture, politics, business models and global scene.  Amazingly these founders all grew up outside North America - Singapore, Ethiopia, Norway, Hong Kong and Brazil.  And each had spent a significant time living outside of their native countries. They all run virtual teams but place equal importance on meeting face to face to build their companies.  They understand the importance of the human side of success and are driven not by money or selling their companies to Google or Facebook but want to build something innovative and lasting on their own terms .  That's why we all got into this game to begin with, ey?![nod to Canada!]  

These are exciting times to launch a startup - Internet focused or not.  Technology is quickly becoming a means to an end rather than an end to itself. The way it should be.  We can start building companies that put people and human behavior at the center rather than forcing us humans to alter our behavior to fit the tool.  With that in mind, I spoke about the importance of the people side of tech and your business.  Algorithms alone won't be your differentiator.  Unless you're in bio-tech the tech won't differentiate your company.  The User Experience, Features and understanding of human behavior will be where we are seeing the true differentiators.  A good point in case is Path [see Brendan Mulligan's recent piece] and Nir Eyal's work at Stanford on human behavior.

Here's my talk - enjoy.

Code, Shmode - people trump algorithms. Tummeling for success from deb schultz

Code, Shmode - people trump algorithms. Tummeling for success from deb schultz

Forging a New Social Contract

A lot has been said recently about the utopian vs. distopian aspects of the Social Web. You can't watch a media broadcast, attend a dinner party or pass by a bookstore without someone either praising the benefits of our new hyperconnected relationship economy or bemoaning it as the end of civilization.  

Frankly, I have become more than a bit bored by the binary nature of these conversations and commentary.  Technology isnt good or bad - what we do with it and how we adopt and integrate it into our lives is the challenge.  The Social Web is a mere teenager and although many of us may have grown up on the Internet, the Internet is by no means all grown up.

I am looking forward to sharing some of my thoughts and catalyzing a hearty discussion on this topic at SXSW this week.  Here is the description of my talk - all snarky and fun for the SXSW zeitgeist.  In truth this is less about actual etiquette than about discussing the implications of living in world with emergent socio-normative behaviors. I promise to post my slides and reactions after the show.

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Dear Miss Manners: The Social Web, WTF?

The Social Web is now a teenager –awkward, arrogant, snarky, fearless, experimental and open. She is shaking things up and having a major impact on our culture, social dynamics, and etiquette. What are the new social dynamics and cultural impacts of all these tools and technologies? This session will explore the emerging etiquette issues of our participatory hyper-connected world. What are the new rules? How are our relationships, culture and business assumptions changing? Do we understand the impact of this new relationship persistence?

• Do I have to ask before I post a photo of a friend online? Who has editorial approval?
• Am I required to respond to every inbound communication I receive or is “ignoring” an accepted response?
• Where is the line between encouraging participation and being just plain annoying?
• What are you doing mucking up my activity stream?
• What the heck is a “friend” anyway?

How do we design, build and manage these new spaces? What are the new rules of the online commons and the associated appropriate etiquette? This participatory session will ask attendees to contribute their own real world examples and will lay out a new framework for a new social contract. It’s our job to decide what we want our web teenager to be when she is all grown-up.

If you are attending SXSW please stop in and participate and view the preso here.

 

Pause for self-promotion

I have been chastised by friends, colleagues and confidants for not posting about recent talks past and future, so without further adieu here is some info on an upcoming talk.  Of course, with my reader's time in mind - it is only fair to also include some additional food for thought.....

I will be speaking at The Cluetrain at 10 with Doc Searls, Thor Muller and others on May 29th in Palo Alto at an event hosted by The Conversation Group, SAP, and Forrester. 

Should be an interesting day focused on both ""you've come a long way baby" and how far we still need to go.

Little did I know when I signed the Cluetrain Manifesto ten [ gulp ] years ago that I would end up being one of its' loudest mouthpieces. 

I took a look at what I posted to the site in prep for this post and I have to say I love my quote from back then and my philosophy still holds.  Good to see I am consistent.

Deborah Schultz, Manager, EC|Solutions, AnswerThink Consulting Group - "Amen! I refer to this as the Dr. Seuss metaphor - 'Revenge of the Whos.'  Gone are the days when all the little Whos in Who-ville have to shout to be heard.  The Web empowers all the Whos...er humans!

It is great to see that ten years later  we now have many new tools and technologies that have moved the Relationship Economy forward.  It is fantabulous that many have jumped aboard - but I also think many have reduced the concepts to mere "new marketing" drivel. At the risk of sounding like a broken record - this is  BIG change stuff not just "chatting with your customers".  It is also frustrating to see how much farther we still need to go.  Today, I feel less like ranting and more about discussing the good stuff, so here are a few good examples: 

• Edgeconomy - the cool, interesting stuff is indeed happening at the edges - are you paying attention?

• Project VRM   - Energy around the power of the individual
  

• Acknowledgement of the importance of both design, craft and [dare I say]  humanity in the post industrial age - ya know the not so concrete stuff around DNA, Whoofie, Culture - call it what you will!

• And for further reading see Brian's nice list

On the road again

Yup -traveling again this week.  Just got back from eTech where I got to do a fun Ignite chat - brain still popping from smart folks.  Now I am off to SXSW - aka -  "geek spring break", where I will do the panel thing and look forward to some awesome conversations over beers, BBQ, music  and  geek comedy. 

Catch ya on the flip side.

Don't tell me you love me, show me

Monday morning, en route to catch a pre-dawn flight to Cincinnati, as I hovered between coffee induced alertness and the fog of sleep deprivation, it dawned on me that a great metaphor for old marketing versus new relationship economy communication is the death of the "Grand Gesture".

You know what I mean; the Grand Gesture is represented by the roses you send on Valentines Day or the present you buy on holidays or anniversaries to make up for all the times you did not hold your weight in a relationship.  We have all been either on the giving or receiving end of such gestures and we know that they don't make up for consistent listening and support.  The mark of a deep relationship is being there consistently - even when it is not convenient.  It is often about putting the other person first.

The Grand Gesture is all about the "gesturer" and not at all about the receiver.  The "gesturer" is thinking only about themselves, is being reactive and hoping it makes up for lack of attention or a big mistake. Well, the truth is, it never really does. 

The company equivalent of the Grand Gesture can take many forms - a major press announcement or briefing, a product/feature launch, a special price break or an insufficient rebate when there has been a screw-up. Those are all well and good but if they are not backed up with taking out the trash at 2am, staying up late when I am sick and listening to me bitch late at night - well then those grand gestures don't add up to much. It is the small consistent gestures that are often inconvenient that make up the core of a trusted relationship. 

Companies need to understand that punctuating bad behavior with the occasional grand gesture just is not going to cut it anymore.  We demand more.

That's why I am really excited to participate in Satisfaction's  upcoming Customer Service is the New Marketing" conference. The gang at Satisfaction understand that the future is about consistency and respect and  "grand gestures"  can't make up for consistently great customer service.   They have assembled a great group of experts on community and customer service --folks who really live the mantra of putting the customer first.

I'll be leading a round table on the important first step - the cultural shift required to succeed in the relationship economy. If you are interested in attending I've got a special 25% discount for anyone I send along.  So register here or enter the PANL discount code when registering.  I look forward to seeing you there.

[check out Paulo's other photos on flickr]

The "Widgetization of our World" [from FOWA]

Back from London and the Future of Web Apps conference.  Thanks to Carsonified for the invite to participate and for putting on a great show. 

From my POV it seems that a major theme out of the event is "the widgetization of our world" - and I don't mean "apps".  My brain is still percolating.  Listening to the breadth of chats during the three day event, it has really hit me that success in the future hinges on understanding the nodes that make up the network - whether this is data, people or organizations. Top down, centralized mechanisms just do not work any more.

Here are just a few examples:

Leisa Rechiert - on Ambient Intimacy
Umair Haque - on the economics of open society and velocity of information
Thor & Lane - on customer service (and customers) as the new marketing
Brian Oberkirk - on productizing relationships and services

My workshop on Friday addressed how we communicate and "market" in this ever increasingly decentralized universe of Social Media. Thanks to everyone who attended and to Brian for joining in on the fun.  I am cleaning up my slides and will upload them to the slideshare group ASAP.

For full coverage make sure to check out Suw , Jennifer and Steph's blogs.  Conference after conference these ladies do an amazing job capturing info for those who cannot attend in person - how *do* they do it!?

[Addendum: and let's not forget that last week was also devoted to two different conferences on Facebook apps - if that is not an indication of the chunking of our world -- what is?]

Picnic O7, Social Media & enhanced relationships

It is no surprise that I have been thinking a lot  about the scale of our social networks and connections, the velocity with which news and media travel and the impact this has on our relationships both 'offline' and online. There are lots of articles (the backlash begins) on how all these tools actually detract from relationships and are time sucks etc etc.  But what the pundits/writers fail to recognize is what is going on underneath all this activity and the flexibility of all these tools enables people to put their own stamp on how they choose to use them. 

One size does not fit all

My friend and former colleague Anil once said it best; "blogs don't get people fired, people get people fired'. This was in response to the flurry of articles about the dangers of blogging as a result of the few few people who had gotten themselves fired because of what they wrote on their blogs.  The same holds true for social networks, social media, blogs, wikis, videoblogging, liveblogging, microblogging, shoutcasting, yadda yadda yadda.

It is not the tools but how you choose to use them

This week's Picnic cross-media event (it is SO much more than a conference) in Amsterdam is a wonderful case study in how all these networks collide and how social media tools at its core can serve to enhance (not detract) relationships and community.  Alas, I could attend this year's event due to prior commitments, but I got to watch from afar. 

I particularly love the photo booth and the community's fast response to the catastrophe in Myanmar (everyone wore red t-shirts as a sign of solidarity).

Originally uploaded by Guido van Nispen.

Kudos to Guido and the team for organizing what looks --from afar--to have been another highly successful event.  Marked in 'pen' on next year's calendar.

 

Weaving my way through Gnomedex

I had the pleasure and honor of being asked by Brady Forrest to give an Ignite talk at Ignite Seattle and then again at Gnomedex.  As I only had one day notice, I smushed down a longer bit on how we weave in the uber-social networked world.  Practice makes perfect and giving this talk twice gave me some additional "aha-'s and feedback from the crowd.  My passion (ok, obsession) about observing and dissecting this aspect of our digital culture is a work in progress.  I had some great hallway chats that I am sure will make it into
future versions.

Hard to believe but this was actually my first Gnomedex - schedule just never seemed to allow before this year.  It was great to finally meet Chris & Ponzi F2F!  Thanks to both of them as well as Brady  for putting on two great events.  What a great intro to Seattle. 

Supernova Week - gazing into the future

I’ve been attending Supernova for years. It has always been one of my favorite events as it combines a unique blend of big thinkers, practical idealists and the future of the Internet. I have always taken away some great “content and contacts” to chew on. As a matter of fact, it was at Supernova four years ago that I first sat down with Ben & Mena in a hotel lobby to chat about Six Apart and before you knew it, I was living in San Francisco and working there [things like that just happen at Supernova]. 

The theme of this year's conference is The New Network. I think it is highly apropos as we are living in the midst of a renaissance of the impact of the network on businesses and relationships. Social software enriches my life tremendously and at the same time it adds some unique challenges. I am often asked about specific tools and features. This is only natural, as the landscape is genuinely confusing. However, I think some of the biggest challenges we currently face are not learning new technologies but learning new modes of behavior.

Traditional roles, organizational structures and behaviors are breaking down and reformulating in exciting new ways. But a “behavioral code of conduct” has not yet been codified into our individual or corporate DNA. We face a myriad of challenges that include:

• How do we handle the current onslaught of information?
• How do we develop meaningful connections with all the individuals available to us in the flattening world of the New Network? Do we want or need to?
• How will companies and customers find each other in the future?
• How do we deal appropriately with the amplification and distortion of encoded modes of behavior online versus off-line?
• How do I ensure access to the Network now that my living breathing existence is more reliant on connectivity than ever?
• Who owns my online data?
• Who sets the standards?
• And, once we have identified all these issues, how do we find a common language from which to address the confusion?

These are BIG questions being passionately discussed and debated across the across the Net and face to face at Supernova. Tomorrow is the Unconference event, Wednesday is Challenge Day and Thursday and Friday are the Main event.  Kevin and Jeanne work very hard to create an event with layers of dialogue and format in order to encourage varying points of view and as many voices as possible to be heard. It's like peeling an onion and I really enjoy the variety.

This year, I was thrilled when Kevin asked me to co-curate the “Markets & Relationships” track, as it addresses many issues that are near and dear to my heart.  Specifically,  the impact the New Network is having on how individuals and companies interact and the need for smarter more genuine interactions moving forward.  My dear friend Jerry Michalski has graciously stepped up to facilitate the day and we have an amazing array of really smart folks in the room lending their voices to the next evolution of the Relationship Economy.  We have practitioners in the formal sense of the word and a great round-up of innovators doing cool stuff at the close of the day.

In the spirit of the theme of the conference, we encourage everyone to contribute, not just the "official" speakers [we like to refer to them as catalysts].  People drive the New Network, so we are inviting any impassioned folks to speak up.  For starters, if you are already blogging about any of the themes of this year’s conference we suggest adding the Technorati tag “supernova2007” to your posts.  There is also a Supernova channel on Jaiku and a myriad of other ways for you to jump in. 

With all the media being created around this conference, it will be fun to see where it takes us. Make sure to check out the ConversationHub for pointers to posts, twits, photos, livestreams of sessions and more.

I am a huge cheerleader for this event.  I don't hide it.  I look forward to a week of really interesting 'food for thought'.  Let the conversations begin.

Flickr photo: Colliding planets, originally uploaded by FlickrJunkie.

DFJ East Coast Venture Challenge: $250K

Unfortunately, I cannot be in NY today - but DFJ Gotham [nepotism pause: Managing Patrner is my big bro Dan Schultz ] isabout to anounce the winner of the first ever East Coast Venture Challenge up at Columbia B School.  If you are in NY and want to get a jump start on who folks will be talking about in the next 12 months - head on up to 116th Street pronto! I am sure there area bunch of interesting start-ups in the room. 

The winner gets $250K and free office space.  Sheesh,  in today's market they could flip to one of the big tech or media guys in 6 months for a cool $20 million...;)

Plus, anything that debunks the myth that there are no creative start-ups coming out of the East Coast, is just fine by me