Tag Archives: motivation

Gamification – the emperor has no clothes!

Shortly before the holidays I decided to stop checking in through Yelp’s iPhone app. I really gave it a go. For around 6 months I regularly checked in when I was at restaurants, grocery stores, music lessons, basically anywhere I went. What do you suppose I earned for over 300 manual check-ins?

I’m proud to tell you I’m the “duke” of 20 different places. I have acquired the prestige of 6 special “badges” while also being recognized by yelp as a “regular” at 11 establishments. Impressive, right?

No discounts. No special treatment. Nothing tangible. Just feel-good ego-stroking nothingness. This form of gamification simply plays to our competitive nature. It is hollow and empty.  I feel like I am wearing the Emperor’s New Clothes.

Games are fun and don’t need to translate into tangible stuff but somehow I feel like somebody gets something tangible out of this.  Somebody also has gone through great pains to make me think I’m getting something out of it. 

I’m not faulting Yelp here, they are working with what they have and riding a trend.  However, I am concerned as we see more and more gamification in software offerings (particularly in the mobile space), we will begin to see more and more distrust by users.  Nobody wants to feel used… nobody wants to realize they are parading through the streets with no clothes on.

Innovators: Looking for Mr/Ms Right Now?

Do you remember the last time you were infactuated?  You saw someone who caught your interest and chased after them.  You thought they were the hottest thing you had seen in some time. Your passion flaired.  Your excitement level increased.  Spending time with them or thinking about them was the best part of your day.  Your attention was largely focused on them.  You talked, you laughed, you did things together… things were going along just fine. No strings.  No commitment.  Just get together when you could and things would be cool.

But after some time other things started to get in the way.  No longer could you dedicate as much time / attention to each other. Maybe one of you wants more than the other.  Things get complicated.  They want to know where things are going… if you have a future together.  It becomes clear that if things are to continue, someone needs to get serious. 

Less calls.  Less meets. You get distance… which leads to feelings of guilt.  “Maybe we can spend some time together next week.”  “I haven’t talked to them in a week.”  It gets easier to avoid and harder to rekindle that initial passion. 

You just stop talking.  No breakups or bad feelings.  You just stop. 

Life goes on. You fall for someone else.  Rinse & repeat.

Face it… you aren’t ready for a commitment. You love the chase, the excitement, the adrenaline!  You’re looking for Mr/Ms Right Now.

———————–

Maybe this is the same chase, excitement, adrenaline that fuels innovators to innovate?  You get excited about an idea, give it some focus, even make some initial progress.  But then things deflate. Maybe its too much… maybe it needs different skills than you have…. maybe it takes up too much of your time… maybe you need more money.  Whatever the case, you lose focus and then interest and passion.  You still like it and think its cool but it just sits there… dying on the vine.

———————–

Perhaps this is why we hear venture capitalists and entrepreneurs talk about how the team is more important than the idea for a new venture.  Maybe what they are really trying to determine is your level of commitment.  They want to know if you’re flirting with your idea and playing it cool or if you are ready to settle down and get serious.  They want to know if you are looking for Mr/Ms Right… or Mr/Ms Right Now.

 

What do you think?  Good or bad analogy?

I’m motivated by more than money

Maybe it’s just because I came from a big family that didn’t have too much money? ??Maybe I feel more entitled than I should? ??Maybe I’m just needy? ??Whatever the case, I am greatly motivated by being recognized for the value I bring to my work. ??Sure I like monetary awards… but my personal motivation is fueled by more than cash.

In today’s workplace, there are lots of talented people and one way to stand out is to have your successes publicly documented by others. ??In other words, have a great reputation. ??While I can blog about my own exploits and triumphs, my reputation is really driven by awareness and/or validation from others. ??So I get a warm & fuzzy feeling when that validation comes in public settings.

Earlier this week there was a story featured on my company’s main intranet page regarding a recent announcement of CIO Leadership Awards. ?? This caught my eye as there appears to be an ever-declining trend to award programs as a result of the current economic environment. ??So I was really happy to see this high visibility recognition program. ??Reviewing the article, it certainly sounded as though there were several interesting projects recognized. ??However, I must confess I was disappointed to find I didn’t recognize any of the projects/teams. Where were my peers? ??Hell, where were my projects?

Regardless if these kinds of team awards have a monetary component or not, I think the broader recognition and visibility is a great motivator. ??I know I would feel proud if something I worked on was recognized publically in this manner. ?? Reputation building has always been important for career growth but it seems in today’s ‘flat’ and wired world, having electronic trails of your reputation has increasing value and importance. ??

As @ceonyc opined in one of his recent posts (Blunt advice for MBAs who want to work at startups), “wouldn???t I rather have a note from someone… (with) a twitter account where 500 more people follow you than follow you back???and indication that you say things worth listening to.” ??While having a twitter following is only one dimension of online reputation, it can provide validated evidence of your value…. just as internal recognition in the form of awards can. ??And many of these kinds of recognition & reputation building motivators don’t have any hard-dollar costs.

Seems to me that making people feel good and valued through recognition systems is more important today than ever before…. and its really inexpensive too. Of course I’ll still take cash but flattery and recognition can keep me motivated too.

Twitter – the why and how (at least for me)

You’ve heard the hype… maybe you’ve even created a twitter account… but you still don’t see the value or you don’t know how to get twitter and microblogging into your normal routine. Here’s a few suggestions based on my personal experience.

Why even bother…. what’s the value?
I mostly use twitter because it brings ME value. Me me me!!! Here’s a few ways I’ve gotten some practical and tangible value since I joined twitter in May 2007.

  1. Stay informed with ease
    Undoubtedly my favorite benefit from twitter is that I can stay informed on many different things without having to discover them all for myself. Often people will tweet about fresh news, a great article, an upcoming event, etc. The sheer fact that someone else in my network found something to be valuable increases the likelihood I’ll find it valuable. In a sense, twitter helps to filter all the data simply by being validated by the people I have chosen to follow. Another example is people tweeting from a conference I was unable to attend…. by following their tweets I can gain some value from that event as well.

  2. Pick what you want to overhear
    I decide. I decide who I want to follow (and stop following). As I build a network of individuals I follow on twitter, I am implicitly deciding I am interested in what they have to say. For example, I’m interested in enterprise 2.0 for work so I’ve decided to follow @dhinchcliffe. Similarly, I can follow other users who are focused on topics of interest to me whether it’s people that live in my town, work at my company, went to my school, have similar hobbies, etc.

  3. Pick when I want to listen
    I love that I can access twitter when I want to. Although it can be powerful for real-time conversation, I mostly use twitter in asynchronous mode where time is not of the essence. Not sitting in front of my computer…. no problem. Standing in line at the coffee bar I can catch up on tweets from my phone.

  4. Build relationships and grow my network
    Through the course of following individuals and their twitter postings (also called tweets), you can get additional depth about who that person is. You can learn they have kids, like soccer, travel often, etc. This creates additional dimensions through which you can better connect with that person. Likewise, they can also learn more about me. One can also establish new relationships with ‘friends of a friend’ or other community members that have a shared interest. For example, about 50% of the people I follow on twitter I’ve never met in person or worked with but I have come to know them in some way or another. You can also have conversations via twitter (by using @username) to engage specific people as well.

  5. Enhance my reputation
    Through the sharing of my personal insights and happenings via my tweets, my reputation with others can be enhanced. Followers can seek my advice or suggestion on something they perceive me to be knowledgeable about. Folks can also retweet (or forward) one of my postings to a broader groups of followers that can ultimately lead to a larger unknown group of people that can benefit from something I originally posted.

  6. Social help desk in real time
    Whether you need help picking a restaurant, getting suggestions for a movie, or finding a piece of code… twitter can help you. A great feature of twitter is turning to your network for advice, opinion, and assistance.

  7. My file cabinet
    I have almost abandoned bookmarking since I can use twitter as a way to “store stuff” I might want to revisit at some point in the future. Whether its a great quote, an interesting insight, or an incredibly funny video…. I know if I tweet it I’ll be able to get my hands on it again if I ever need to.

  8. Simple and fun
    Another great value for me is the occasional wisecrack or rant someone tweets. Others send links to fun new games. Many tweet about random things they overheard. All of these things add up to a bit of hilarity and lightness when reading your tweets. I like that!

How can I get started? Who should I follow?
Here’s a few simple ways you can learn more about twitter and how to establish an initial list of folks you wish to follow. Before long, you’ll have not only created a list of people you follow but you’ll also grow a list of people that follow you and your tweets.

  1. Watch twitter in plain english
    Brief video provides a very high level overview of what twitter is. Please keep in mind that this video is geared more towards social use rather than business use but it provides a good context of twitter’s capabilities.

  2. Create a twitter account
    Creating a twitter account is as simple as picking a username and password. Keep it short if you can. I also recommend you upload a picture or avatar for yourself after all, twitter is fundamentally a place where people can talk so having a personal element to your twitter account is crucial.

  3. Follow a few of your coworkers
    I work for IBM and there are lots of IBMers that twitter so I can search and find a few that interest me and then follow them. For example, a simple search for “ibm” on the twitter site yields 64 different accounts. Once you find a few coworkers, look at who they follow and chances are you’ll come across even more folks you know.

  4. Find a few non-work people to follow
    We all have different interests so why not find some fellow twitters who share some of yours? Maybe you like knitting, the Yankees, Shaq, or even your local library…. search around a find a few others that you might find interesting. I follow a few different folks that range from industry thought leaders (@timoreilly) to funny stuff (@someecards) to book authors to conferences/events. I even follow one or two folks from my town that I don’t know… kind of interesting to see what they think of that new restaurant down the street.

Is it safe? Should I protect my updates?
In today’s society it’s important to keep in mind that many of the social tools available are by default public and open. This is a good thing and helps you to get value from those you know as well as those you don’t know. However, there are plenty of stories and speculation out there about how twitter and other status-driven tools can be used maliciously. Fortunately I haven’t had any problems (nor has anyone I know) but here’s a few tips just in case.

  1. Be mindful about what you twitter
    Make a conscious decision about what you will and won’t tweet about. You can keep your tweets totally personal, totally business, or some mix of both. Then you can decide whether you’d want the checkout clerk at the grocery store or your mom to see what you tweet about. Keeping your tweets public allows the entire twitter community (and other applications that use twitter’s API) to view whatever wisdom you care to share. This can help you build a reputation in the community and lead to more and more followers.

  2. Update your twitter settings to be protected
    I have small kids and like to sometimes tweet about them and our family stuff. For these reasons, I’ve chosen to protect my twitter updates. By protecting my updates, only those people I approve receive my updates. My tweets do not appear on the public timeline. Although the value I provide back to the twitter community is diminished, I still can keep twitter optimized for me me me.


How can I fit twitter into my day-to-day life?
We’re already buried with too much stuff…. do I really need more stuff from twitter? There are a few simple ways you can integrate twitter into your normal routine and you can decide how much you wish to.

  1. Visit your twitter home page
    When you’re at your computer, you can always visit http://twitter.com/home when online.

  2. Access twitter from your phone
    My favorite way to catch up on twitter is on my blackberry. Any mobile device that has a browser will work. Just add http://m.twitter.com as a bookmark and visit it when you have time. I like to view twitter updates on my schedule so having a quick read when I’m standing in line at the grocery store or waiting for something suits me perfectly. Sure the visuals are minimized but I like twitter for the content so not seeing a person’s picture is OK with me most of the time. There are lots of different cheap/free mobile applications you can install to get a more powerful experience on your phone (like Twitterberry) but I’ve found most of what I need is available from m.twitter.com anyway.

  3. Setup up notices on your twitter account
    On your twitter settings, you can set up how you’d like to get twitter update notices. You can have text messages sent. You can have emails sent. You pick how you want to be alerted.

  4. Install a twitter helper application
    You can also take advantage of many cheap/free helper applications to embed twitter into some of your desktop experience. There are browser plug-ins/extensions like TwitterFox allow you to add twitter postings to your browser. There are also plug-ins for Lotus Notes, such as TwitNotes, that allow you to display twitter postings right in your Notes workspace. There’s many more too so you can start by looking at the Twitter Apps page or Read Write Web’s Definitive List of the Top Twitter Clients to find something that works for you.

Well, that should be enough to get you started. Good luck!

http://twitter.com/wolfc

Is Moore’s Chasm theory telling intraprenaurs something? Are we listening?

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Geoffrey Moore’s Crossing the Chasm is written with a specific focus of marketing high tech products to mainstream consumers. It cautions how many high tech new ventures fail in reaching mainstream adoption primarily because those companies don’t evolve their marketing strategies to cater to the tastes and preferences of a the very pragmatic early majority audience whose motivations and risk tolerance differ significantly from their existing visionary/early adopter clients.

I believe there is some wisdom in Moore’s pages for internal innovation teams as well. Complementing Andrew Chen’s recent blog, it seems we largely lack a consistent process or approach with respect to stimulating demand with more pragmatic and conservative user communities inside the firewall. Some firms have great internal programs for gaining early adopters and refining some of their technical innovations. But what happens we the pilot ends? Where is the graduate program that guides those early successes into more mainstream audiences?

Don’t get me wrong… being successful with innovator and early adopter types accounts for nearly 16% of the user population. In a firm with 300,000+ employees, 16% represents nearly 50,000 users. Reaching 50,000 internal users is remarkable and should be celebrated as an incredible success in and of itself.

BUT if we can break through to the early majority types, that is where the significant economies of scale and ROI really kick in. By gaining traction in the early majority, the usage would grow from 50k to 150k users. That is 3 times the value at nearly the same cost to support just 50,000 users.

Sure there are some internal innovations that have made it to the “big show” primarily through viral growth inside the firewall. But there are many other promising capabilities that seem to plateau and don’t quite make it to the more mainstream internal user. I believe we can overcome this adoption challenge through marketing innovation rather than technical innovation.