Web 2.0: Separating Fact From Fiction

We hear a lot of talk about Web 2.0 (read “web two point oh”) these days. In the news, in the business press and on the world Wide Web itself. It seems everybody and his brother has a “Web 2.0 compatible” this or a “Web 2.0 capable” that, or can “...help get you working with the latest “web 2.0 aps!”

Like I said, we hear a lot about Web 2.0 these days. Unfortunately, much of what we hear is confusing, conflicting or downright “counterfactual”.

So, let's see if we can't add a little clarity to the discussion.

To start, Web 2.0 is not any single product, company or technological advance. There is no “web 2.0” database”, no “web 2.0” software nor even a “web 2.0 technical specification” to which developers must adhere. Like the terms “green”, “low fat” and “natural”, “web 2.0 is used and abused by anyone who chooses to use it.

Web 2.0 is simply a name used to distinguish one period in the development of the Internet and the World Wide Web from other periods. In a broad sense, “Web 2.0” is an “age” in the same way that “The Middle Ages” and “The Protestant Reformation” are two ages distinct from other periods in history.

The Web 2.0 "age" is currently seen as the period of time during which Internet based information systems moved from delivery systems for "static" information to hosting systems for more fully active and interactive information and communication. 

Although the term has a definite date of birth, the period of time that the term “Web 2.0” describes is much less distinct, with some debate over exactly when (and even IF) the Web 2.0 age started. And on the timeline of all recorded human history, “The Web 2.0 Age” is not much more than a single point in time. 

There are some (most notably Tim Berners Lee, the man widely recognized as the architect of the World Wide Web, though, who believe that the use of the term is premature at best and completely inappropriate at worst. These people point to the interactive Internet we now enjoy as having always been the intent and goal of the initial developers of the Internet and the World Wide Web. 


Many of these folks feel the term "Web 2.0" is little more than marketing hype intended to make it easier for software and system developers to re-package and re-brand tired old products as "the next big thing".

Regardless of which point of view you take, the fact is that the term has entered the lexicon and appears to be here to stay.

Welcome to the "Brave New World**"

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If you need help sorting fact from fiction in your web 2.0 operations, leave a comment here or e-mail me at: TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com.

(** the term "brave new world" is from  Shakespeare's The Tempest, Act V, Scene I and was used as the title of an Aldous Huxley book published in 1932)

Copyright 2010 Tom Fawls. All rights reserved. 

The Customer's NOT Always Right!

"The customer's always right!”

I'm amazed at just how often I hear those words coming from the mouths of otherwise smart, logical people who run successful businesses. And even more amazingly, they actually think they believe it, too!

I've heard supposed “certified experts” in CRM (Customer Relationship Management) use that tired old chestnut as the primary theme of high-priced, long-winded books, CD's, seminars and lectures. They tell you all about how “the customer knows best” and how we all need to “mine the customer's mind” if we hope to build Customer Relationships.

Not me.

I've worked with too many customers in too many situations for too many years to fall for that one. And I've been a customer who's been wrong, or said or done the wrong thing way too many times to even pretend to believe that I'm always right.

I have little patience for and even less desire to do business with companies who don't understand that.

No, the customer isn't always right...but the customer is always the customer and the reason we are and can remain in business!

This is a critical distinction. It means that while we must always treat customers with courtesy and respect, we can disagree with them when they're wrong. It means that we have a right to bring our expertise and imagination to the table. It means that we can demand that the customer gives us and our people the same respect and courtesy we give them and theirs.

Of course this doesn't mean that we need to go out of our way to highlight their ignorance (or demonstrate your superiority) or embarrass them; that's no way to build a solid customer relationship. It does mean, however, that we are obligated to use our “superior” knowledge and expertise to serve their best interest. It means that sometimes we must risk alienating (or even losing) the customer by correcting their serious misconceptions. Sometimes, their understanding is more important than our income.

This approach to the customer relationship has implications in other areas of our business, too. It should color how we build our products, how we deliver our services and how we work with our customers to meet their needs and solve their problems.

Healthy relationships are two way affairs. Both parties need to recognize and accept the other's strengths and weaknesses. Both parties need to acknowledge that the other has a right to their point of view.

And that's pretty much it.

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If you need help convincing your customer (or your boss) that it's OK to disagree with a customer, contact me. I'd be happy to help. Leave a comment here or e-mail me at: TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com.

Religion In The Workplace?

To build an "ethical organization", we must first establish and clearly articulate a firm fundamental definition of what we see as "right" and what we see as "wrong". This is the "morals" part of the equation. 

Once this basic definition of right and wrong is articulated, we must look at and define what specific behaviors are "good" and what behaviors are "bad" in the day-to-day workplace. This means that we must not only provide a formal set of behavior guidelines, but it also means that as owners, executives and managers, we must set the example ("model the behavior") by living up to those same standards of behavior ourselves.  This is the "ethics" part of the equation.   

Whether you're starting from scratch building a new organization or re-building a shattered one (a la Enron, Worldcom, Countrywide, etc.), these two steps must be done. 

Here, I must remind those who want to keep religion out of the workplace that virtually every one of the various major religions in the world have already both articulated a set of basic moral principles and developed (more or less) effective codes of ethics. 


This is not to say that I believe that conversion to any religion should become a condition of employment. I don' think forced/coerced conversions are ever a good idea. 


I do believe, however, that there are certain fundamental principles of "right and wrong" that have been common  to virtually every successful human civilization and organization throughout history. I also believe that the major religions have spent a lot of time and energy working to articulate those principles and ideals and that they have developed some useful guidelines for living those principles. 

And in keeping with my fundamental aversion to "reinventing the wheel", I think that if you're trying to build a moral, ethical company and corporate culture, they are a convenient place to find well thought out, structured, "ready-made" guides to leading an "ethical life". 

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If you need help building your ethical organization, let me help. Either leave a comment here or e-mail me at: TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com.

Life On The Road!

We were sitting at the bar, lamenting how horribly difficult it was being on the road...sitting in the hotel bar drinking while our families lived their lives an ocean away.

It was a tough life, to be sure. Nothing to do but drink, shoot the breeze with colleagues, and joke with the hotel staff who, after nearly 7 months living there, had become a virtual surrogate family.

Tough indeed.

Just then the phone rang. In the bar.

It was my wife (the front desk staff knew when to transfer it to the bar). nearly in tears because the well pump had failed and there was no water in the house and she had no idea what to do and she hated me always being gone and I needed to do something right now.

4,500 miles away, what could I do? If I jumped on a plane that evening, it would be very late the next day before I got home – assuming I could even get a flight on this short notice.

And then what would I do? I'm not the most handy guy when it comes to fixing electric motors. In fact, I hate it and I suck at it.

As you can imagine, this wasn't quite what my wife was hoping to hear. It did, however, give her something other than the water problems on which to focus her frustration and anger.

I quietly ordered another beer as I listened. VERY quietly.

She muttered something like "that's right, I'd forgotten how utterly useless and aggravating you are in these situations."

She then reminded herself that she'd have ended finding someone else to fix it even if I was at home and what the hell was she thinking calling me with a problem like this? She might as well just call the neighbor and see if HER husband would come over and fix the damned thing.

I listened quietly. Not too quietly, but just quietly enough so she wasn't immediately aware that I was drinking another beer.

My colleague was laughing it up with the bartender and the waitress...He'd been through this before, too.

"Well, sorry I bothered you" she said. "I need to get off the phone so I can call Karen and see if she'll send Jim over to look at the damned thing."

I sighed heavily, the guilt obvious in the sound.

"It's OK." she said, "I know this isn't easy for you either, being too far away to do anything and having to listen to me whine."

"No, honey, it's the least I could do. I'm sorry I'm not there for you. If you want, I can catch a plane tomorrow."

I wasn't due home for another 5 (billable) weeks...a fact of which we were both acutely aware.

"No. I'm fine. I'll take care of it......but I need to get off the phone now, it's getting late.

"Ok, dear, I'll let you go." disappointment obvious in my voice. "Do you want me to call later to see how things went?"

"No need. What can you do from there anyway? Gotta go. Bye. I love you."

"I love you, too. Bye."

She hung up.

I ordered another beer.

Yup, life on the road sure is tough. :-)

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If you need a professional consultant to help straighten out your remote operations, leave a comment here or e-mail me at: TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com. I'd be happy to get on the road for you!

© 2008 Tom Fawls. All Rights Reserved

Sleep Is Over Rated

I'm tired.

And it's not just the “get a good night's sleep, you'll feel better in the morning” kind of tired, either.

I'm dog tired.

Bone tired.

Dead tired.

I'm Beat. Knackered. Exhausted. Burned down. Burned out. Broke down. Fried.

I'm tired of life, tired of living and tired of lies,

I'm tired of caring, tired of not caring. I'm tired of winning. I'm tired of losing and I'm really, really tired of never knowing which is which.

I guess I'm just plain sick and tired.

But I'm here.

I'm still plugging away. Still trying. Still working. Still caring. Still crying. Still breathing.

I'm still alive, after all.

And until that changes, I suppose I'll just stay tired. As the saying goes “I'll sleep when I'm dead.”

So I'm hoping that that's the point of this life...keep working even when you're tired. “Push through the pain”, as they say.

Well, I've gotta get back to work here. I hope you have a great day...and keep on plugging!

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If you're exhausted, too, leave a comment here or e-mail me at: TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com.

STUPID QUESTIONS 101: "How?"

Since starting my career as a project manager in the mid-1980's, I have led numerous engineering teams developing complex commercial and military systems and products. With degrees in Accounting and Systems Management, I'm usually the only non-engineer in the technical meetings and, understandably, the degreed engineers tend to assume I'm a bit of a technological idiot.

Knowing this, I have learned to use stupid questions to great effect...and “How?” is one of the most effective questions to use when working with professionals in technical fields. I've found that, for me, not having a technical degree actually helps in these situations. Rather than risk criticizing their work by pointing out the errors, I simply play dumb ask them to “explain how it works.”

A good example of this was on one very complex project I managed, the initial system design was missing a rather critical communication link between two major subsystems. After working on the design for almost 2 months, neither the design team nor the QA team had noticed the missing link.

Knowing that finding fault with the design would put my engineering team on the defensive, I played the know-nothing, non-technical manager. I told the Project Engineer I was having trouble understanding the data paths and asked him to explain them to me.

He brought the system diagrams into my office, cleared a space on my work table, unrolled the diagrams (13 or 14 sheets) and proceeded to trace data pathways through the system. Six times he traced them without noticing the “missing link” and six times I looked confused and said “I know you probably think I'm an idiot, but I just don't get it. Can you show me one more time how the data gets from Subsystem A to Subsystem B? Thanks for your patience.”

After the sixth time he was not only ready to kill me, but he definitely thought I was the dumbest Project Manager in the company. And yet, knowing this, I still asked the seventh time (who says “third time's the charm?!”). He was halfway through the seventh explanation when the light bulb went on. He stopped his explanation mid-sentence, rolled up the system diagram, and walked out of my office without saying another word.

Three days later, he walked back in the office, unrolled the (updated) system diagrams, stabbed his finger onto the new data pathway and started explaining the design as if three days had not gone by. When he was done, I apologized for my obtuseness, thanked him for the explanation, and signed the system approval sheets.

Nothing was ever said about it again, Neither and I nor my Project Engineer (PE) ever acknowledged the issue had even existed. But the error was corrected, my PE saved face and, most importantly, the customer got a solid, more robust system.

Persistent Stupid questioning saved the day.

So don't be afraid to ask the stupid question...or to sound stupid asking an embarrassing question. It is often the least best way to get the job done.

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If you need help asking stupid questions, contact an expert. Either leave a comment here or e-mail me at: TomFawls@Council4SmallBiz.com.