tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7990297798028314422024-03-13T15:24:34.621+01:00The Glass Wall ClimberStories, open questions and thoughts of a dreamer working in TechnologyJosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11536363001750993791noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799029779802831442.post-88458018521687889542017-05-01T09:10:00.000+02:002017-05-01T09:10:21.411+02:00If you are walking through hell, keep going<br />
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During the last years I have been working in environments that where under the deep impact of disruption. Having been in the telco industry for 17 years now, I've seen the raise of mobile, the internet bubble burst, the raise of mobile internet and, unfortunately, the decline of telco. There's a lot of ink about it so I'm not going to add any more about it. But I want to write about the tough situations you face when all this means changing organizations, reducing budgets, lay-offs... or just rumors on all the above.<br />
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My team, very often, comes frustrated, concerned, wondering what is going to happen. I've noticed that here are three attitudes to face this situation (or maybe there's a combination of them). These are:<br />
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1. The coffee machine rumor engine crew<br />
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You know what this is. The coffee machine is a pretty cool space to increase social interaction and awareness in the team. It helps create bonds that could not be created without the easy chit chat. But it also has a double edge. It can become a source of rumors, frustration and negative energy in difficult times.<br />
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I always say to people this can get you an ulcer. Not a good think to do. It will increase your stress levels, you will be all the time concerned about the last "fake news" and it will decrease your productivity massively... not a good option, I guess<br />
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2. The head down and do your shit<br />
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A second approach is not to pay attention to anything. Put your head down, focus on your business goals and deliver, deliver, deliver. This is like when Miguel Indurain, the Spanish cyclist, fronted a big mountain. He used to put down his cap and focus on the front wheel. Hell, it worked, he won the Tour the France 5 times!!!<br />
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I know you are not Indurain, me neither, but this will keep your productivity very high and if your manager is a bit smart, you'll get reinforced in the transition. And, even if not, at least you'll be busy making shit happen so will not be thinking about what may or may not happen<br />
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3. The "there are no lions in the door"<br />
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And look, if you are not happy, don't believe in the project or simply need fresh air, you can always hit the road. Nothing stops you from doing it. Just your own decision. It will kill your current problems and create new ones. By the way, if you take this option, leave thinking about what is that that you really want to do with your life. Leave with a plan of what you want to achieve, and what your dream job will be. I've seen people failing in this transition, it happened to me once, just because I wanted to leave something behind that was not perfect, and got into something worse. So, keep cold head!!!<br />
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All these are valid options. Personally I have gone through the three of them. The first one demonstrated useless and very frustrating. The second gratifying and even good for my career. The third, depends one how I built my next step.<br />
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But as a manager, I always encourage my team to keep on pushing to accomplish what we are at. We have a dream and we have to fight for it till the end. Nothing is easy and in these difficult situations, it's really rewarding when you get to a good end. So as Churchill said, "if walking through hell, keep going"<br />
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<br />Josehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11536363001750993791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799029779802831442.post-49585583953876837742016-12-31T10:28:00.000+01:002016-12-31T10:28:14.400+01:00My personal 2016: a great year<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">2016 has come to an end and I see
everybody complaining about how it did go. Ok, it’s true that it has not been a
good year in terms of politics and, most importantly, due to
the terrible catastrophe of war and terrorism. These things are scary and I’m not
sure we are taking our civilization in the right direction. But on a personal
note, 2016 has been great for me and I want to share my interpretation of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It’s been about balance. I know you
would think that I should have started saying that it was awesome, exciting,
full of achievements or whatever that would make this year spark. But yeah,
it’s been about balance. The balance in between the three parts of everybody’s
life: family, own space and work. All of them have worked quite well, I’ll
explain right after, but the important thing is that I have had the right
portion of each of them to make me feel complete, happy in all senses. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In previous years of my life,
although I cannot complain about how it has gone, it’s always been unbalanced.
Too much work usually was the source of it. And I’m not talking about the time
I spent in the office but about the quality of the time I spent out of it.
Travelling too much didn’t help to keep up with family and self, but the source
of all problems was not in travelling. The source of problems was about not having
the right focus when outside of work-time; not to have the discipline to make
something for me and to invest quality time with my family. So the focus was
always in work… no matter how good or bad the work was, travels, blackberry
(yeah, I used to have one) and then been exhausted all the time... By the way,
being all day attending emails, calls and thinking only on work does not make
you more productive, most of it is noise that can be ignored. So then it’s
simple, it’s about having the right weight in each of life dimensions, if not
life doesn’t feel rounded. But with the current balance I have had, it has made
me enjoy everyday to its max.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Family<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">During 2016 I have lived a life I
had never lived in terms of family. In my current role at work I don’t need to
travel. And that has made a big difference. I have had the chance of doing
things I never did before. Enjoying a coffee with my wife in the morning,
taking my kids to school, attending their amazing performances, having dinner
with them… being around. And it’s not only about the time during the week but
also on weekends. When I used to travel a lot, I got home usually tired, wanted
to get in the couch and be a vegetable for the whole weekend in front of the TV,
sleepy. Now, I have the energy to be part of the family activities and that has
made the difference with my wife and kids.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I missed my family in Spain, that’s
true, but at least the time I spent with my closer family was longer and of
more quality</span></div>
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<u><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Own-space-time<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I call own space to that part of
your time that you own deeply. It’s what you do with your own personal time.
You can spend it with friends, reading, watching movies, practicing sports or
doing whatever you please to. During 2015, mainly when I worked in Saudi, my
own-space-time was a disaster. Working too long hours, stupid hours I’d say,
left very little space for self. Getting back late to the hotel made me not
even to want to got to the gym so I just hit the room as soon as possible and
just read or watch series. It was too lazy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In 2016, I decided to take a much
more active role. I started challenging myself in running and have definitely
improved a lot. By the way, I never liked running, but it has brought me the
needed challenge to catalyze that thing inside that makes you push yourself
everyday. It has triggered discipline, sacrifice and ambition… I’ve loved it<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I’ve also enjoyed my friends in
Dubai and met very cool people, but the daily challenge of training hard has
really made the difference<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Work<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Work has always been very important
for me. Sometimes even obsessive. But what can I say?, I like it. But lately I
had lost a bit the spice. I need to feel part of a bigger thing, to be
challenged, to fight against the odds, to explore new businesses and
technologies to get the best out of me, to be a part of a team with a common
ambition. Probably, since I left running BlueVia in Telefonica I had never felt
that. I had cool jobs, but none in which I could bring everything I have
inside. But this year’s challenge was great. Got into a business line
(Enterprise new business) at du that was making the same mistakes we lived in Telefonica
Digital and we had to turn it upside down, transform not only the portfolio but
also how everything was done. And we’ve made it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It’s true that it was easier because
I shared background with my boss so I didn’t have to argue with him about what
was the best way forward. We were almost totally in the same wavelength. That
way I could focus my energy in building the team, changing the roadmap, aiming
at the right working model and hitting the market as fast and strong as we
could. It has not been easy though, telco transformation is not an easy task
but my colleagues and team have made it even a pleasure. And you know, if you
work hard enough in the right direction, you just need a bit of luck to be
successful… And there we go. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">So, yes, it’s been about balance. But
there are still things to improve. Now, I want to push on two sides: focus and
quality in the three dimensions of life. I’ll write more about it soon. But,
meanwhile, let’s celebrate the end of 2016 and wish everybody for a great and
peaceful 2017.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Josehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11536363001750993791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799029779802831442.post-62039114275198944062014-07-28T12:05:00.000+02:002014-07-28T18:42:38.010+02:00Why people hate telcos that bad. A real story with Sky in the UK*** Updated with the reaction from @skyhelpteam after my Twitter and Blog complains<br />
<br />
It's been a while since I wrote my last post but I thought this was really worth it.<br />
<br />
I've been working in telecommunications for 14 years, my whole life almost. I worked in Spain, Czech Republic and the UK with Telefonica. I loved my work, I love that company and always wondered why people hated us so much. I was everyday trying to do my best to keep customers happy but people always had terrible stories to tell about us, they hated us big time!<br />
<br />
And now I've lived one that is insane and wanted to share with all of you.<br />
<br />
Ending july 2014, my family was leaving the UK after two years enjoying the services of Sky. Full package, Talk, Broadband and TV including movies and sports. More than a £100 per month. On June, I had an issue with Talk, they cut my service because I was speaking too much (hell, yeah, I was talking with UAE because I was moving here). I got so annoyed that decided to ask for the cancellation of all services even earlier than the typical 31 days cancellation notice they have in the UK.<br />
<br />
So on June 19th, I contacted its online chat and after some discussion decided to cancel all services. We agreed services were gonna be cancelled by July 23rd. Everything OK till here.<br />
<br />
However on July 26th my wife tells me the TV service ain't working but Talk and Broadband are up still. I contact the chat and they tell me it'll be cancelled in 48hours because it was their mistake, nor mine<br />
<br />
Today, July 28th I've contacted again to doublecheck everything was cancelled. To my surprise the agent, called Gayle, informs me that the service keeps running and there's no cancellation programmed. I ask to solve it immediately and although I share the transcript of the previous chat, that I kept in my inbox, Gayle tells me it's impossible to cancel in less than 14 days. As a solution, Gayle applies a credit of £10 that could cover extra costs.<br />
<br />
My question is, of course, what will happen if the new house tenant decides to use the telephone and exceeds the credit. Simple answer, I'll be responsible to pay the bill.<br />
<br />
I love this, so Sky made a mistake and I have to bear the costs... nice!<br />
<br />
Unluckily this is just a drop in the sea. This happens now and again with customers. Like a telco worker I feel embarrassed about this and hate to realize it's not an exception but the rule. That's why companies like Pepephone in Spain, led by the "personality" of Pedro Serrahima are doing it so well. Treat people like you would like to be treated and your service will be, maybe not loved, but surely respected.<br />
<br />
By the way, Gayle did the best the systems of the company allowed. No complain about her. Even when I said to her that I was going to publish a post about it she couldn't even escalate it because the systems don;t allow it. I felt sorry for her because she was bearing all my frustration against the company, probably not fair for her.<br />
<br />
Next steps are: I'll ask my bank to cancel any payment to Sky and will wait to see what they said. And second I'll do my best to change how companies connect with customers in the companies I'll work for. No doubt the "the customer is at the centre of everything" has been forgotten and we should make it our main motto.<br />
<br />
Jose,<br />
<br />
<br />
***Update: after writing this post and tweeting about it, the @skyhelpteam got in contact with me through Twitter and set up a chat. They checked everything and has given me the reason, solving all the issue in one shot. Thanks. Good work of the social media team, especially Ross, but next time it'll be better your customers don't need to get to such a situation and you solve the issue straight forward.<br />
<br />Josehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11536363001750993791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799029779802831442.post-40739327205669504282012-10-03T20:12:00.000+02:002012-10-03T20:12:02.356+02:00Woo hoo, 17 million dollars out of the blue!I love these emails... makes me dream<br />
<br />
Now, let's go back to work<br />
<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NjwOqXcqOMQ/UGx_j7VaQzI/AAAAAAAAADE/Y1CcGRxVqjI/s1600/Captura+de+pantalla+2012-10-03+a+la(s)+19.01.57.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="244" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NjwOqXcqOMQ/UGx_j7VaQzI/AAAAAAAAADE/Y1CcGRxVqjI/s320/Captura+de+pantalla+2012-10-03+a+la(s)+19.01.57.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Josehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11536363001750993791noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799029779802831442.post-48662787163419228542012-05-28T21:43:00.001+02:002012-05-28T21:43:03.525+02:00Team changes. Threat or opportunity?This week my good mate James Parton leaves my team. We have been working together in Bluevia from its early days and he's got an outstanding reputation in the industry, with developers and within the company. So lots of people came to me saying, "WOW, that's a big problem, ain't it?"<br />
<br />
And my answer to that is NO, it's not. Actually I see it as an opportunity. But what does it take me to think like that? Am I a masochist or is there something that really drives me to think that way?<br />
<br />
I must say I knew that was a about to happen. Sooner or later. He's talented and I knew from lots of talks in our trips and drinks that he had the internal need to face a challenge outside a big corporation. And Twilio, a hot Silicon Valley start-up is a cool way to cover that need.<br />
<br />
So yes, I knew. But that doesn't make the difference.The reality is I really think that people need to rotate. It's good for them and for the teams. After being too long in a team you lose your passion or at least the stress so getting new people in is good.<br />
<br />
It's also good for team spirit to see member growing. If everybody is stagnated in their positions for long, everybody can get to think that there's no better life than that. So this can be a good incentive for the team. Of course it needs to be explained like that to the team. Better avoid saying, "he's leaving, OMG, OMG, we should jump off the window". A positive message would work better :-)<br />
<br />
Personally for me it's a good signal. I'm doing my work right. I've always thought that managing a team is about supporting your team member to get to their goals. If they get to them and it's perceived inside and outside the company, it means that I've done something right myself.<br />
<br />
So yes I'll miss working with him but I'm sure somebody will come who will challenge the status quo and think totally out-of.the-box. And that will make it better for the team, the initiative and, finally, for me.<br />
<br />
Keep moving<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Josehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11536363001750993791noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799029779802831442.post-48170947569211459942011-05-30T13:33:00.001+02:002011-05-30T13:34:06.006+02:0010 change agent tricksAll across organizations, no matter if big or small, you find people with the weird interest of improving things, making things better, make of their companies, units or teams best in class. These rare animals assume as their "confort zone" exactly that that others run away from: change, change, change.<br />
<br />
These people are continiously finding different ways to make things, even irrationally, it's in their DNA. Rules usually don't work too well for them and have an internal permanent frustration that moves them to evolve.<br />
<br />
For all those, I'm going to share some tips, rules that I apply in my day to day. These are my learnings after several years of hard work, failures and hits against brick walls wherever I've been working in. These have been generated working in a big corporation and also small businesses. But the most relevant comes from my years in a big Corporation so you'll realize they are clearly applicable there but probably most are useful in other environments.<br />
<br />
<b>Trick 1. Choose the battles to fight in: Change is great but focus on what you CAN change.</b><br />
<br />
There are lots of things to change so choose based on answering two different questions: can you change it? Have you been invited to the party?<br />
<br />
If you see you cannot do it, find another battle. If it's too big, concentrate in small pieces of change. If you deliver differencially, at the end of the day, you'll find out that you've changed more things than expected.<br />
<br />
And of course, if you haven't been invited to the party, don't go! I've done myself the failure of trying to force a change in something that wasn't my responsibility and it always ended up in high energy crash with fire.<br />
<br />
<b>Trick 2. Prepare the best sales pitch ever.</b><br />
<br />
This is about preparing a great argumentary. Do it, be ready, you'll need to use it a thousand times. I learnt this from a business colleague. Thanks Michael for it! The steps are:<br />
<br />
<i>2.1. Challenge the Status Quo.</i><br />
<br />
If you want to change something, first you need to answer the question: why do we need to change at all?<br />
<br />
Most people dislike change so this question will come. Be sure about it. And some will be really rude so be ready.<br />
<br />
<i>2.2. Share your vision.</i><br />
<br />
There's a second question coming from your colleagues the, let's call them, "change challengers". Ok, so what you want to do?<br />
<br />
Prepare a great answer. Be as bold as possible. Figure out where you want to be once the project is finished. THINK BIG!!! But remember, be realistic, figure out which boundaries you can afford to jump over and which you don't. One thing is been visionary, another is being a dumb.<br />
<br />
Once the answer is ready, use only a 10-20% of it. Yep, do you think that people that don't want to change and are probably far from beeing like you are going to say yes to your dreams? Sorry, no, so tune it down. That will set the expectation of your organization on your iniciative.<br />
<br />
But keep your own personal and private target in your first estimation. Fight for it, maybe someday it'll become real.<br />
<br />
<i>2.3. Define clear small steps to get to your vision.</i><br />
<br />
There's a third question you must answer: how do you want to do that?.<br />
<br />
Probably they'll say something like, that's impossible, cannot be done because bla bla bla... First barriers mate! So define those baby steps. That's going to be your WORKING PLAN. That will define your sucess so be fair with your estimates. Not too positive, not too pessimistic. The right point is exactly what you are able to deliver<br />
<br />
Probably, the most difficult to dimmession is the third point. Naturallly positive people tend to make timing short and targets high. I've learnt on the way that in order to be adjusted to reality I need somebody to pull me down to reality (I'm naturally optimistic). That works if you have those profiles near. It can be a colleague, a team member or your boss. Sorry, mate, you are not perfect, let others help you in your imperfection to make your delivery an optimum.<br />
<br />
<b>Trick 3. Win friends, you'll need them.</b><br />
<br />
You cannot change the World alone so win as many friends as possible. Read "How to Win Friends and Influence People" of Carnegie. It may help.<br />
<br />
Avoid to create enemies for free. There will be people that won't like you, it's natural, but don't generate negative sentiments around you, that will hinder something sooner or later.<br />
<br />
Actually you'll be surprised if you invest enough time on some people that initially may look negative, they can become your best allieds.<br />
<br />
Of course there will be people you will not convince. No matter if you have the best sales pitch, if you are lovely, fun and brilliant buddy or if you bring the cure of cancer to Menkind. It doesn't matter. There will always be one guy saying you: "NO WAY". To this, apply trick 4.<br />
<br />
<b>Trick 4. Find ways around. Be creative!</b><br />
<br />
This is the moment of the bad news. Nothing is going to be ready to help you. Processes were created for another kind of business, the resources are always limited and probably you don't have all the skills required in your team.<br />
<br />
So be prepared to create ways around, imperfect solutions for all poping up barriers. One good colleague told me once: perfection is the enemy of what's good. That trick can be used whenever it doesn't break trick 5. <br />
<br />
<b>Trick 5. Don't compromise the quality of your delivery.</b><br />
<br />
When you find ways around (trick 5), sometimes you must compromise certain parts of your vision. That's OK whenever it will not affect your result.<br />
<br />
If after all compromises required by your organization, environment, resources, whatever, you deliver a piece of crap, nobody will remeber that it's because of all the difficulties. Nope, you'll be a failure. Bad luck, no time for losers, go back home!<br />
<br />
One small hint, prepare your Santa's list with bulletpoints but make sure you know which of those you cannot renounce to.<br />
<br />
Note: This rule doesn't apply if you are Steve Jobs, He never compromises his vision<br />
<br />
<b>Trick 6. Bring your passion in! Work harder, work longer.</b><br />
<br />
No real trick. Talent is great. But hard working is needed. Simple. Waking up earlier and going to bed later helps. Be very efficient in your time usage too, it costs millions.<br />
<br />
And when you leave the office, disconnect your brain from business... if you can.<br />
<br />
<b>Trick 7. Be prepared to frustration.</b><br />
<br />
Nothing is going to be easy. Everything will be a pain. Lots of things will fail and lots of people will critize you so be ready for it. If you love what you do, that will make it easier.<br />
<br />
<b>Trick 8. Stop often, watch how things go and reshuffle plans.</b><br />
<br />
Sometimes the picture changes while you are working, so be ready to realize and react.<br />
<br />
And also iterate fast. If you can deliver pieces of what you are doing to others (in SW this fits well), do it and ask for feedback. That's really useful. Of course some trolls will show up and will try to put you down, don't pay attention to them and focus in constructive feedback.<br />
<br />
But listen more to those that say you the failures than the good things. Those will help you grow, will help you to be better.<br />
<br />
<b>Trick 9. Find inspiration wherever you can.</b><br />
<br />
No matter what you are trying to achieve, there's been people before you trying to do things that were more difficult than your challenge. Find them, read about them, listen to them and, if possible, meet them. They'll be glad to share, I've learnt that this kind of people are usually altruistic in sharing views, so be open to learn...<br />
<br />
<b>Trick 10. Have fun!</b><br />
<br />
You are going to be the weird guy, the enemy, the green dog, so at least have fun.<br />
<br />
If you are able to put distance in between things and you, that will make you happier and capable on laughing about all things happening around.<br />
<br />
A friend of mine told me that when he was in a "war" of change, he used to meditate once per week and work out everyday. I'm sure that helps but I prefer laughing.Josehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11536363001750993791noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799029779802831442.post-68711041608888006232011-02-27T17:58:00.000+01:002011-02-27T17:58:25.395+01:00My own private MWC... hectic days!Back to the core of MWC week, here are my notes on my own personal experiences<br />
<br />
<b>Monday 11th</b><br />
<br />
Monday was hectic, it started with a meeting with Bala Balabaskaran, VP of products of Schakra Inc, a Redmond based company that has started using BlueVia APIs. It was great to speak with a guy with his experiece and also motivating when he praised BlueVia.com because of having a proper business proposition. Please, find the link to its Case Study<br />
<br />
<div id="__ss_6930624" style="width: 477px;"><b style="display: block; margin: 12px 0pt 4px;"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/bluevia/gogostat-connect-case-study" title="GoGoStat Connect Case Study">GoGoStat Connect Case Study</a></b> <object height="510" id="__sse6930624" width="477"> <param name="movie" value="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/doc_player.swf?doc=2764gogostatcasestudy-110215040845-phpapp01&stripped_title=gogostat-connect-case-study&userName=bluevia" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><embed name="__sse6930624" src="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/doc_player.swf?doc=2764gogostatcasestudy-110215040845-phpapp01&stripped_title=gogostat-connect-case-study&userName=bluevia" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="477" height="510"></embed> </object> <br />
<div style="padding: 5px 0pt 12px;">View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/">documents</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/bluevia">BlueVia</a> </div></div><br />
<br />
Then I headed to a panel at Telecom TV with a very motivating title "Applications: is it already game over for telecom operators". I joined Emma Mohr McClune, Research Director at Current Analysys and Erik de Kroon, VP of Devices and Products at WAC. Funny to see how they put my name in the video... Spanish names are a pain for foreigners :-)... I'm Jose A. Valles Nunez, Jose Valles to make it simpler... don't play with my name, please! :-)<br />
<br />
<script src="http://www.telecomtv.com/embed/swfobject.js" type="text/javascript">
</script> <br />
<div id="embedplayer"></div><script type="text/javascript">
var so = new SWFObject('http://www.telecomtv.com/embed/player.swf','mpl','500','300','9'); so.addParam('allowscriptaccess','always'); so.addParam('allowfullscreen','true'); so.addParam('wmode','transparent'); so.addParam('flashvars','file=decisive/live-sites/www.telecomtv.com/low/MWC11_MA_Applications&volume=100&autostart=false&streamer=rtmpt://mydeo.fcod.llnwd.net/a584/d1&type=video&image=http://video.telecomtv.com/web2/ugc/thumb/MWC11_MA_Applications_large.jpg'); so.write('embedplayer');
</script><br />
<br />
And, with no time, rushing to see WAC keynote including our COO Julio Linares. It was good to have the chance, finally, to meet Peters Shuh, WAC CEO and meet my former boss there, Yotam Ben Ami, currently CFO and CSO at WAC. WAC is hitting their milestones but still have a long and tough way to become a success. They count with our support at Telefonica!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-qKModfFrB7s/TWqADbGoHiI/AAAAAAAAAAs/kvWKrohotEI/s1600/Press+Conference+Low.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-qKModfFrB7s/TWqADbGoHiI/AAAAAAAAAAs/kvWKrohotEI/s320/Press+Conference+Low.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
And to finish the day what's better than a party. I headed to the Mobile Premier Awards organized at the building of Telefonica R&D, that by the way is impressive, and also had the chance to meet Andreas Constantinou, who thinks really big in the Telco evolution to 2.0.<br />
<br />
<b>Tuesday 12th</b><br />
<br />
On top of lots of different meetings I have to highlight two things:<br />
<br />
First the discussions on how to speed up GSMA activities in OneAPI. I hope something good will come from there<br />
<br />
Second an Analysts round the table, that was a good termometer of what is about to happen with BlueVia. Let's see what they write but the first reactions were really possitive.<br />
<br />
<b>Wednesday 13th</b><br />
<br />
This was probably the hardest day but also the most exciting. On top of lot's of meetings starting at 8am, I want to highlight the meeting we had with Alan Quayle. it's always enriching to talk to Alan, his broad view of the telecom industry and like for details makes every meeting a learning session. Also a meeting with the team running Forum Nokia represented a chance to see, first hand, one of the most influencial orgs in developer engagement... Some chit chat on WP7 announcement couldn't be avoided, of course!<br />
<br />
And finally, almost exhausted, headed to WIP Jam Carnival of Nations to see James bum bum Parton playing drums (or that's what he wanted) and the chance to meet Jason Silva, founder of JBBMobile Inc who left this great quote for the future... And we hope he'll start working with BlueVia soon!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-96H4yIr3ArY/TWqByULfSiI/AAAAAAAAAAw/4XarupeVTx0/s1600/Jason.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-96H4yIr3ArY/TWqByULfSiI/AAAAAAAAAAw/4XarupeVTx0/s320/Jason.bmp" width="293" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Thursday 14th</b><br />
<br />
After some meetings, thanks God, back home. Funny and disgusting when I opened the the door and my 19 month old daughter run away.... Not good to be so long far from family.<br />
<br />
I hope next year we can bring 20 developers with us showing cool stuff done using BlueVia APIs!<br />
<br />
Special thanks to Arturo Garrido, CEO of Twitea.me and Bala Balabaskaran, VP of products at Schakra Inc. for their collaboration spreading BlueVia message at MWC. And also to Carlos Domingo for this nice piece at TechCrunch Europe<br />
<br />
<script src="http://player.ooyala.com/player.js?height=300&width=500&embedCode=1xamsxMjrAi3M-EowG7MuILE6-o8fjvK&deepLinkEmbedCode=1xamsxMjrAi3M-EowG7MuILE6-o8fjvK">
</script><br />
<br />
Next year more<br />
<br />
Jose Valles<br />
@josevalles49Josehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11536363001750993791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799029779802831442.post-89450174066085792252011-02-19T22:23:00.000+01:002011-02-19T22:23:22.504+01:00My experience at MWC 2011... the warm upThis year has been a special one. Finally we got to launch <a href="http://www.bluevia.com/">BlueVia.com</a> and that gave us the chance to talk about this fantastic story to tell. However, despite what everybody could be expecting, we decided not to make any big statement, event at the MWC zoo. We know that we have still a long way to walk and prefer to keep working grass-rooted, directly with developers and ISVs until we gain speed, demonstrating that our value proposition for developers makes sense and works. But the warm welcome and what has been said really deserves a few lines.<br />
<br />
<b>Thursday 10th</b><br />
<br />
This year MWC started a few days before for us. On Wednesday James Parton (@jamesparton), Head of Marketing BlueVia briefed UK press on BlueVia public release and in Thursday I did it with the Spanish one. So Thursday was a special day as we had all the press covering the story (see <a href="http://pressoffice.telefonica.com/jsp/base.jsp?contenido=/jsp/notasdeprensa/notadetalle.jsp&id=0&idm=eng&pais=1&elem=16142">Press Release</a>). Some pieces are:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=204266&f_src=lightreading_gnews">Light Reading</a>: "Telefonica shows developers the money"<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.cincodias.com/articulo/empresas/Telefonica-tienta-desarrolladores-nuevo-reparto-ingresos/20110211cdscdiemp_16/">Cinco Días</a>: "Telefonica tienta a los desarrolladores con un nuevo reparto de ingresos"<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.telecomtv.com/comspace_newsDetail.aspx?n=47266&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10#">Telecom TV</a>: "Telefonica consolidates its app developer grooming effort"<br />
<br />
Following what was said a few weeks before when we released our closed beta:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.intomobile.com/2010/12/22/telefonica-bluevia/">Intomobile</a>: "launched a developer platform called <a href="https://bluevia.com/en/" target="_blank">BlueVia</a> that’s just about the most innovative thing I’ve seen come out of the backwards telecommunications market since ringback tones"<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.telco2.net/blog/2011/01/bluevia_telefonicas_global_dev.html">Telco 2.0</a>: "We believe that the thinking behind BlueVia is a major step in the right direction for the telecoms industry. One that other operators should emulate, and fast"<br />
<br />
This is just a sample but shows the interest generated. Said that, the reality is that we need to demonstrate all that with delivery, delivery, delivery... <br />
<br />
<b>Friday 11th </b><br />
<br />
Friday was a cool day, we announced the first four services using our APIs and demostrates the multiplatform approach makes sense.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.slideshare.net/bluevia/otter-case-study">Otter app</a>, an android app<br />
<a href="http://www.slideshare.net/bluevia/gogostat-connect-case-study">GogoStat</a>, a WP7 app<br />
<a href="http://www.slideshare.net/bluevia/text-deck-case-study">Test Deck</a>, a Mac app <br />
<a href="http://www.slideshare.net/bluevia/2764-twitea-casestudy">Twitea.me</a>, a service to tweet using SMS<br />
<br />
And also we had the chance to have Sam Ramji (@sramji) in Telefonica's premises to explain how APIs are changing the way brands get connected to their customers. Following I explained how BlueVia can change the way we enhance our customers lives and also Arturo Garrido (@arturogarrido), CEO & Founder of Twitea.me explained how BlueVia is leveraging its Business Proposition and helping him to spread his service to other countries.<br />
<br />
It was fun to share stage with Arturo and Sam <br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="300" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/20093433" width="400"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/20093433">BlueVia evangelises API’s to Telefonica’s leadership team</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/bluevia">BlueVia</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Saturday 12th</b><br />
<br />
I arrived to Barcelona on Saturday because I was invited to by Stefan Rust (@srust99) and the Exicon crew to participate at the <a href="http://www.exicon.mobi/qtel/">Qtel Innovation Forum</a>. It was a great chance to see first hand the things that Qtel is thinking on deploying in their footprint.<br />
<br />
To congratulate for the panel on MCommerce and mobile payments. Very thoughtful<br />
<br />
About the part I was in, of course, Apps business, I shared a panel with actually a sample of all the ecosystem, from developers, Android, WAC, aggregators and, of course, a telco. It was cool to see the warm reaction of everybody to the approach of Telefonica through BlueVia and their willingness to collaborate in our challenge. Lot's of follow ups to be done<br />
<br />
<b>Sunday 13th</b><br />
<br />
A part from meetings the whole day, it was cool to get to the first event of the MWC: Mobile Sunday Barcelona. I had the chance to meet with great people and friends of BlueVia like Caroline Lewko (@carolineWIP), Carles Ferrero and Rudy de Waele (@mtrends), these are people you should follow as are very representative in this new economy of apps and APIs<br />
<br />
<br />
There are lot's of things I saw and enjoyed and then headed early to sleep as MWC week was about to start and the rithm expected was frenetic... and I promise it was.<br />
<br />
I´ll write some more notes here on MWC plus the full story of the BlueVia crew at MWC to be published at www.Bluevia.com/blog<br />
<br />
I hope you enjoyed this warm up.<br />
<br />
Jose Valles<br />
@josevalles49Josehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11536363001750993791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799029779802831442.post-52708945140548262182011-02-02T10:56:00.000+01:002011-02-02T10:56:32.210+01:00The APIconomy growth in the retailer space: what about Europe and LatAm?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:HyphenationZone>21</w:HyphenationZone> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:UseFELayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><img src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/video_object.png" style="background-color: #b2b2b2; " class="BLOGGER-object-element tr_noresize tr_placeholder" id="ieooui" data-original-id="ieooui" /> <style>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;">Yesterday I came across this <a href="http://www.floristone.com/api/uses-of-the-florist-one-api.cfm">article</a> of a florist company offering an API to allow developers to ingest in their apps its flowers offer. They have a simple incentive for the usage of the API: they pay a 22% commission on flowers sales. Simple, straight forward and bloody brilliant.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;">We are already familiar with big consumer brands in the US taking this step forward. Tesco, Best Buy or Sears offering APIs with a different grade of maturity or commercial thinking but having something out there that others can use to create, out of the blue, a totally new way for those brands to engage with their customers. This recalls me more and more to the Business Darwin evolution shown by Sam Ramji in his <a href="http://vimeo.com/11511078">Darwin's finches</a> talk</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;">But what about Europe and Latin America? Are there commercial brands already exposing APIs to generate a new "evolved" sales channel?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;">I'd love to have companies like Zara, El Corte Ingles, Harrods and others exposing APIs and enriching this new business space. I hope the Old Europe and the Promising LatAm react soon on this new space for competition/growth and this won't be, once again, a train that passes by without having us in.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;">If there are some examples out there, happy to hear about them</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;">J</span></div>Josehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11536363001750993791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799029779802831442.post-4862144849840207612011-01-04T05:37:00.005+01:002011-01-04T11:35:16.366+01:00APIconomy and 2011 expectationsYear 2011 is starting and, probably, it's going to represent a very interesting year for software developers. All Industries are realizing or have already realized that third party development represents a cornerstone for future growth and even existence. Telco, consumer, media and entertainment Industries give signals of a shift in this direction that will, for sure, enrich the business possibilities of start-ups and ISVs all around the World. The signals I see are:<br />
<br />
<b>1. The API business is boosting already</b><br />
<a href="http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20110103/event01.shtml">Salesforce.com does 400 million transactions a day. 50% of its transactions are API call.</a><br />
What else can I say? Mentioning again that Twitter got to have 80% of its traffic generated by third party applications seems poor behind Salesforce.com numbers. It's awesome and I expect that from other businesses soon.<br />
<br />
<b>2. The "APIconomy" is not only for Internet companies</b><br />
The story of GoldCorp that starts <a href="http://www.wikinomics.com/book/">WIKINOMICS</a>, shows how mass collaboration can change the results of a company. But now it's about the APIs. <br />
Embracing that, lots of companies are heading in this direction exposing their assets through APIs. Companies like ING, TESCO, SEARS and NYT have understood this is not only an opportunity but probably a neccesity to keep on competing and they are speeding up. I hope lots of others to follow soon.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/jmusser/pw-glue-conmay2010"><img border="0" height="198" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dSHakU6Imb0/TSLs0d_s1jI/AAAAAAAAAAk/Pq3VFEHMwmc/s320/Programmable+web.bmp" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<b>3. The paranoia of control is stepping aside in the companies Innovation</b><br />
As this <a href="http://blogs.hbr.org/kanter/2011/01/five-lessons-from-2010-worth-r.html">Harvard Business School article says</a>: "Innovation takes courage and the willingness to be out in front rather than following the herd".<br />
And that's something we are seeing in companies that are bold enough to dare on assuming new technologies, new processes and new business propositions to leverage their assets. P&G, with that great figure showing that 50% of its sales are not coming from own developments, demonstrates different ways to face innovation became an advantage in the past: But, in the near future, it'll probably be a must.<br />
Open Innovation is a reality, our companies cannot exist as isolated islands and require the support of third party innovation to ensure the future. Now it's about execution and APIs will play an important part on it.<br />
<br />
<b>4. Customers are eager to live new and richer experiences</b><br />
<b></b>Quoting <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/30/so-much-for-free-apple-will-sell-2b-in-apps-in-2011/">TechCrunch</a>, "Gartner’s estimates that the total app market was around $4 billion in 2010 and should grow to a whopping $27 billion by 2013". This shows a WOW growth and demonstrates customers are expecting new experiences and also the number of customers with access to those new services is growing rapidly. Smartphone sales growth and mobile internet penetration will spur new niche services that we cannot even imagine now.<b> </b><br />
<br />
<b>5. It's not only about Smartphones </b><br />
The "Internet of the things" is here. Smartphones are now the "Queen of the Party" but tablets are gaining importance quickly. In CES we'll see tens of new tablets, surely not all of them will get to the market, but the efforts and expectations in that arena are huge.<br />
But consumer electronics will utilize these technologies in lots of our living experiences. Not only through Smartphones or tablets. Lots of other connected devices. Why not in a car, in your fridge or in whichever device you use?<b> </b><br />
<br />
<b>6. Yes, not only about Smartphones, but the Smartphone is the killer</b><br />
There are only two things in History that from their invention, apart from clothing, have gone with men as a must have. The watch and the wallet... cannot live without them. Or should I say, couldn't live without them?<br />
The watch is being killed by the Smartphone, despite the <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE70201A20110103">iPhone alarm bug</a>. And the wallet is on the way. NFC is becoming a reality and mobile payments will probably speed up as it's a hot market and certain acquisitions can be expected in that space.<br />
And what to say about mobile advertising? Some may say it's a hype created by analyst but, as far as I see it, the potenciality is huge as 80% of my personal digital life ocurs through my mobile handset. That market has to grow and if it's not in 2011, it'll be the next year.<br />
As soon as those opportunities cristalyze, the companies behind will expose those capacitites to developers through APIs to grab traction faster and better... Let's see what's the business model behind.<br />
<br />
Well, under my view, all this makes 2011 an interesting year to be in SW development. There's going to be new things showing up and that will probably be the catalyst for a new stream of creativity, services and business opportunities.<br />
<br />
Enjoy 2011!Josehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11536363001750993791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799029779802831442.post-87659984508476730362010-12-11T13:51:00.000+01:002010-12-11T13:51:02.547+01:00Hunger racks one's brain<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">A few days ago, after a casual meeting with the guys of <a href="http://www.ulugh.com/">Ulugh</a>, a start-up from Girona, I came across a conclusion: you don't need lots of resources to do great things and, sometimes, it's even a disadvantage to have abundance.<br />
<br />
When I was at the presentation of BDigitalApss in Barcelona they showed several videos of products from start-ups and the one of Ulugh caught my attention:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<object style="height: 304px; width: 500px;"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/i6RaY_dYMMg?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/i6RaY_dYMMg?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="500" height="304"></object><br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I liked its simplicity and straight forward message utilizing so little resources. I really liked it. Afterwards, during the lunch, I had the chance to chat with Rik and Xandra, two of the three members of Ulugh, and I asked them how they got to make such a simple and clear video. The answer was great: “we didn’t have resources but we knew what we wanted to say”. Awesome!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">And I do agree. I buy the concept. “Hunger racks one’s brain”. So let’s dare even without hunger!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I see in big companies that we’ve got used to create processes for everything and that, when it gets to creativity, there’s also a process for it. Planning, briefing, agencies, debriefings, etc. So why not to break those processes and try new things coming from our employees? Incentive their ideas and creativity and dare to bring them to life?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">Really, if you work with a product and live it as yours, breathe it and smell it everyday, and all your energy is on it, why not to bring also your imagination?. <b>Who’s going to have a better idea about it than you?</b> Dare to create your own concepts, to exercise your creativity. You'll surprise yourself. If you are emotionally engaged with your product and have an idea about how to explain it and trigger the like of your customers, it really deserves exploring it.<br />
<br />
Best ideas come from simplicity and genius is everywhere, what is difficult is finding people who dare to express what they have inside. Find it inside you, bring it out and you'll have a diamond.</span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"><b> Do you dare???? </b></span>Josehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11536363001750993791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799029779802831442.post-59487135542524320902010-11-22T18:04:00.002+01:002010-11-22T20:58:51.007+01:00Turning code into cash: notes from my talk at BDigital Apps and the developer dilemma<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">On November 17th I attended <a href="http://eng.bdigitalapps.com/">BDigital Apps</a> in Barcelona, an event aimed at industry, start ups and developers in the mobile apps space. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The event was really good. It was oversubscribed, with the audience exceeding capacity by far, to the extent that they had to use extra rooms with TVs outside the main auditorium. There were some ties, people from the Industry and media but the biggest share was of developers, start-ups, people eager to see and find new business opportunities, ways to commercialize their apps, monetize them or fund their developments. And there was one question at the end of the first panel that really raised my interest. One developer posed the question: “What is there for me? I have problems, fragmentation and people's salaries to pay and I don't see any proposals from you to help help my business.” And that's true. We, organizers, sponsors and speakers, should focus more in listening and understanding developer needs to try to help them as they are a source of growth for our society and country.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">And that's exactly what I missed during the time I was at the event; I would have liked to have seen more relevant products for developers. I'm sure La Caixa and Tecnocom, have or are planning to have products that may be cool or at least useful for developers and people is eager to lay their hands on anything new. Would't it be nice to see La Caixa explaining how to embed their Caixa Tickets service in, for example, a music app to allow concert ticket purchase straight from an ad shown while you listen to a song of your favourite band? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Well, moving on to Telefonica's story, it was good to see a positive response from the audience to my presentation. I received lots of tweets on it and was mentioned several times in Twitter. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://prezi.com/0li7kcm8wasl/bdigital-event-november-17th-barcelona/"><img border="0" height="161" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dSHakU6Imb0/TOqhpvUFSJI/AAAAAAAAAAM/oTE2ZUBGJe0/s320/BDigital.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Main comments, learning, thoughts from me are:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-GB">1. Open Telefonica/open telcos an oximoron?</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Exposing APIs and allowing developers to sell to Telefonica's customers and utilize our billing represents a huge change of the paradigm. From the so used term "walled garden" to an Open Telefonica? That's why we are here!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">This is the beginning and a trend in the Industry. We see a lot of value there for developers and in a few years that will be a reality.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-GB">2. People are surprised when we admit that working with telcos is difficult</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Yes, definitely. And this isn’t just a problem with telcos. All big companies are difficult, slow, full of complex processes. And complexity kills. Ray Ozzie explains this situation well in his post: <a href="http://ozzie.net/docs/dawn-of-a-new-day/">dawn of a new day</a>. Recognizing it is a sign of maturity and willingness to change. And there we are, using technology to avoid complexity. That should allow developers to interact with us in a frictionless way.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Now it's about execution: "release the APIs, listen, re-shape, new release, ..."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-GB">3. People are surprised when we mention that the fanboys effect is starting to disappear</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">If you see the recently published Vision Mobile <a href="http://www.visionmobile.com/blog/2010/07/developer-economics-2010-the-role-of-networks-in-a-developer-world/">Developer Economics research</a> you might perceive that the drivers to chose a platform to develop are starting to be market share andmonetization opportunities. Technology is cool, yes granted, but developers are businesses and businesses need to pay salaries and that is turning developers to look at new opportunities to turn code into cash. It's natural to pass from a fan level to a pragmatic one.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">But, of course the fanboy effect will last long in the consumer consciousness. The brands themselves will come and go, but the effect remains forever. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-GB">4. There is always an open question about what operators can offer to developers</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">It's all about APIs, distribution channels, business models and customers, customers, customers... more to come soon.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">After my talk was done with, we received more than 20 requests to become part of the Closed Beta [and contact me if you want to know more about this too]. We are starting soon and that shows us that we are not going in the bad direction. We'll try to proceed all them</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Well, finally thanks a lot to the organizers, other sponsors and, of course, the developers. And to Andres Martinez who attended the panel discussion and Yashim Zavaleta for his support.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Looking forward to BDigital Apps 2011!!!</span></div>Josehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11536363001750993791noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799029779802831442.post-16373662260591428252010-11-13T13:37:00.005+01:002010-11-13T18:42:39.141+01:00Hamburgers, creativity and a way to solve Big Companies' artificial barriersDuring the years I've been working in a Corporation and trying to change the speed of business, I and my teams have suffered the inmovilism, lack of will to change of some members of the organization we were supposed to change.<br />
<div><br clear="none" /></div><div>That is a commom feeling to all those that, in big Companies, are challenging the Status Quo and creating new things.</div><div><br clear="none" /></div><div>But I've seen with my own eyes that, no matter which barrier is in front of you, there's always a way to save it.</div><div><br clear="none" /></div><div>As an example a funny story that ocurred to me in 2008 in Barcelona. I was with a few friends watching the Davis Cup final and after the match wewent for dinner and drinks. When decided going back to my hotel we went walking beside the shore. It was already late night and everything was closed.</div><div><br clear="none" /></div><div>Well, not everything. Suddenly, we came across a McDonalds that was opened. Great stuff! Nothing better that eating a burger beside the sea before going to bed, we thought. And there we went thinking on buying Big Macs. But when we arrived to it we realized that the restaurant was closed. The only thing open was the drive-in with 3 cars in a queue. So we thought, why not? Let's queue ourselves.</div><div><br clear="none" /></div><div>And then it showed up the security guard. Let's call him the Big Co Brick... <a href="http://freekvermeulen.blogspot.com/2008/08/monkey-story-experiment-involved-5.html">Or Corporate monkey</a> </div><div><br clear="none" /></div><div>He came and said to us that we couldn't be in the line because tha line was only for vehicules. We argued back that we were hungry, wanted to buy and pay for hamburguers and that there was no danger on queueing in that place. But the guy got furious and started yelling at us that those were the rules. We must drive a vehicule to get our food. We said that that rule was stupid but he threat us with calling the police. Can't you recognize the monkey hitting another monkey climbing the ladder... Buufff, what could we do? Of course, use the rule on our benefit. We asked the guy if we needed a vehicule and he said yes. So a friend of us went an picked up one of those bicicles for rental that are all over in Barcelona. </div><div><br clear="none" /></div><div>The guard was furious but he understood that we were using a vehicule and let us continue. It was ridiculous and funny at the same time but we got to what we wanted.</div><div><br clear="none" /></div><div>I see this everyday in my work. The Company Mavericks tend to fight the rules to try to break them. That's an option but each battle will be more and more difficult. What I've realized is that most of the times it's better to use the rules in your benefitnand leave the rule breaking just for those cases when it's totally neccesary</div><div><br clear="none" /></div><div style="color: red;">Use your creativity to turn the rules on your benefit and you'll make the difference<br />
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Are you a Maverick and will eat your burger? </div><div style="color: red;"><br clear="none" /></div><div><br clear="none" /></div><div><br clear="none" /></div>Josehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11536363001750993791noreply@blogger.com0