Blog Yes & Know

American Apparel in Los Gatos

There's been some flack in Los Gatos about whether to allow an American Apparel store to open up in downtown. The primary concern is that a big mall-type outlet store …

Marketing is Reality

In a recent meeting with a client, we brainstormed on what to do about an upcoming product announcement by Microsoft. The new Microsoft product will substantially increase the competitive pressure on our client, and in typical Redmond fashion the press and analysts have been briefed about it for months. Even though the product won't ship until this summer, our client is in effect already competing with it.

Are the Mammals Eating Your Eggs?

Clients ask us lots of questions, but with the world buzzing about Web 2.0 and software changing in some pretty significant ways, one question that clients should ask but never do is, “Is my company becoming a dinosaur?” Maybe it’s because people don’t want to know, or perhaps Rai Wasner, a former colleague, had it right years ago when he said that life can be pretty good for the last dinosaur as you seem to have the whole swamp to yourself. Once you stop innovating, you’re stuck in the status quo, and if—really when—the world changes, you’ll be unable to adapt. Your company’s name will be added to the corporate “Where are they now?” file. As a public service, Rubicon Consulting has compiled a list of signs that your company may not be as nimble and innovative as it needs to be to defeat challenges from upstart competitors.

Software as a Service: The New Cargo Cult

The big buzzword at April's Software 2006 conference was Software as a Service. What does it mean, what impact will it have, and what should companies do about it? Former Oracle exec Ray Lane, now a venture capitalist, listed the key attributes of hot new software companies. They included software that's viral (anyone can download it and try it out), that generates value for an end user (so they'll have an incentive to install it), that doesn't require any data entry or training (so users can work with it instantly), and that generates immediate value (he called it "value first, pay later").

New Drivers for Digital Video Editing: A Personal View

My experience over the past year with digital video (DV) makes me wonder if the market is changing in important ways that are perhaps not being picked up by the market. Like so many parents, I bought my first camcorder after the birth of my first child. My wife and I took lots of video the first few years, and I spent many, many, many hours turning the first couple of years into a decent—but not great—movie. By the time my son turned six, I had four years of partially edited video and was falling further behind even though we were taking less video and I had better software. Suddenly, a year ago I started taking a lot more video and within days turned it into dozens of five to eight minute videos kids and adults love to watch. I don’t have a whole lot more time on my hands, so what changed? Hint: the difference is not the fabulous editing software now available for consumers, nor any of the snazzy little DV cameras on the market. It is more fundamental than that.

The Rise of Product Management

We're seeing a rising tide of interest in the art and science of product management. The product manager is the person who translates customer requirements into product features at the start of a development process, and who translates the features back into customer benefit messages at the end. As the point of contact between market reality and engineering reality, a product manager is the linchpin who can make a product into a market success – or doom it to irrelevance. But product management isn't well understood within many corporations. They often fail to give product managers the support, training, and empowerment they need to succeed.