A Page from Soni's Work Journal

Windows Server Voice-of-the-Customer: We're listening...

smeinke — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:26:00 GMT

Out of curiosity I did a Live Search for "we're listening" and I got more than 1/2 million results back. There's a lot of listening going on between corporations and customers, universities and students, retail stores/online stores and shoppers, etc....(read more)

Listening to natural customer conversation...peak to tail

smeinke — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 22:03:00 GMT

One of the main topics that has been consuming my time at work is the notion of capturing the voice of the customer in a way that will help product groups keep a pulse on what's driving conversations. We're not talking about customer surveys, forms that...(read more)

I'm back...

smeinke — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 01:37:00 GMT

Well, I'm back from my 9 month blogging sabbatical. That's really quite pathetic as far as blogging goes, but work and life in general sometimes consumes your time and that's OK. Part of that included a trip to New York to visit a vendor we're working...(read more)

IT Volunteering - A passion to help others

smeinke — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 09:22:00 GMT

As I was reviewing some feedback that Chandana received from our MVPs regarding the upcoming MVP Summit, I ran across a message from Graham Jones that referenced an IT Volunteering effort he kicked off with two partners -- Stephen Ibaraki and Jing Chen....(read more)

User Group Community Feedback...Keep it Coming!

smeinke — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 06:02:00 GMT

Thank you to all the Windows Server User Group members who have completed the community survey! Hearing from you is critical to ensure we continue building out the most efficient and effective UG experience we can. We're interested in all aspects of feedback...(read more)

Windows Home Server - Peace on the Homefront

smeinke — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 23:25:00 GMT

I'm sure the profile of my family is very similar to other these days...especially if one of the parents works at a technology company. My husband has a laptop...it's a bit old, but functional. We recently purchased a desktop with a flat screen monitor...(read more)

Windows Server Community Surveys - Give us your feedback!

smeinke — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 21:19:00 GMT

The Windows Server Community Team and product group Community Leads are launching what we hope is the first in a series of targeted community surveys that will cover the broad Microsoft hosted Windows Server community space. Community is all about creating...(read more)

Twango!

smeinke — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 06:58:00 GMT

This is a really cool...and extremely easy...photo tool. I first learned about Twango from some dialog on a DL regarding flexibility in posting images to one's blog. Karin Meier mentioned her experience with Twango so I figured I'd give it a try. It is in fact as easy as Karin says. I was looking for something to use for both professional and personal reasons and this really seems to do the trick. To get it posted on this blog (powered by Community Server) I got this ticker of miscellaneous photos of the family and the beautiful scenery in the NW...

...by pasting <embed src="http://www.twango.com/tools/twidgets/ticker.swf?feed=Soni.family" width="500" height="100" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed> into the HTML view.

I'm looking with some blog hosts so we can play around with a more personal "family blog" but it seems now all hosts will accept this code, i.e. Wordpress, Live Spaces, etc. Could be I just didn't dig deep enough or end up in the right corner of their editing tools. I'll keep trying.

Nonetheless...I love this tool.

Ugly, agile "babies"...that grow up to be solid, functional "adults"

smeinke — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 06:48:00 GMT

I had to chuckle when I saw the title of one of my past team member's blog entries...ugly babies & agile development. Having had the opportunity to manage Mr. M and others like Wheatstraw I understand exactly where he's coming from.

Bear with me as I reflect...As I look back five years or so to when our small little team was together hammering out online experiences in our small corner of the MBS (now Microsoft Dynamics) office in Fargo, ND, I realize how far ahead of our time we were with what we were developing. I'm not saying we that much smarter than everyone else...we were just trying to tackle something that many are still trying to do today. And guess what? We did it. One of our tasks as the web development team in a division that focuses on ERP solutions was to help prospects rationalize which of the four ERP products met their needs so we provided a profiling tool that looked at industry, business needs and a number of other factors. From that, due to the logic people like Mr. M, Wheatstraw and one J. Newell wired together behind the scenes we were able to at least narrow down their search and head the prospect in the right direction. And we didn't stop there. Based on the path they took we also started to recommend business partners (MS Dynamics products are sold through an authorized partner channel) in their area they could work with to evaluate the solutions further. That was the prospect facing effort.

Because the partners play such a huge role in the business model, we also wanted to develop some cool stuff for them. So...we created this tool we lovingly called Active Content. It was really an RSS feed (befor it's time) that the partners could pull into their own website. They'd basically "subscribe" to product information developed by MBS so they knew they'd get the latest and greatest. The coolest part about it is the content would appear on the partner website and if anyone came through the partner website and landed on the MBS site, we attached that partners unique ID to the query string so that customer would remain associated with that partner.

Pretty cool stuff. But you know what? Unfortunately it was truly before its time. The functionality of the code was great. It was solid. Partners and customers thought the vision sounded great as we talked them through it prior to development. But...we ran with that initial glimmer of interest and unfortunately the business models and process around it weren't as ready to adjust as we had thought. So...the effort by no means failed...it just progressively was scaled back until it returned to our target audiences (and internal process's) comfort zone. Although people saw the cool factor, they weren't ready to step out to the more personalized, dynamic experience.

OK...enough of the reflection. Back to Mr. M and his ugly baby issue. Although we weren't in agile development mode back then some of the characteristics are similar. Although developers want to be working on latest, most innovative stuff, and get their code released frequently rather than at a snail's pace, deep down they still know that unless customers actually use their product as they intended...and it makes a difference in the customers' lives...the coolness factor is very isolated.

It's all about making a difference for our customers. I'm happy to be on the side of the fence where I'll help drive business and customer requirements/feedback into the group that Mr. M is part of. I look forward to driving real life scenarios into their work so collectively we can make the incremental releases as effective as possible vs. developing for perfection and never getting anything out the door.

Rock on, Mr. M and the rest of the CTT group! Agility + wide open ears to customer feedback = success.

Microsoft.com enters "web 2.0-o-sphere" with Tagspace Beta

smeinke — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 20:49:00 GMT

Check out the latest service delivered (to Beta) by BobReb, Dave Morehouse and team. Dave offers good context for the beta on his blog, or you can go directly to the Beta site to jump in.

Also, there's some helpful info on the Tagspace FAQ site. Questions 4, 5 and 7 have been most popular among the folks I've been talking to. The FAQ and About the Beta and the Road Ahead does a good job of starting to address those points. This beta is a great proof point of the interesting stuff this team is working on...now feedback is critical so we can make sure the best, most effective experience is delivered for the Windows Server and other Microsoft related communities.

Enjoy!

Translating the Web 2.0 cool factor and hype

smeinke — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 02:52:00 GMT

In my role one of the opportunities I have is to translate Web 2.0 and Social Networking jargon and hype into “what does that really mean for my business” terms. Obviously a lot of people understand the coolness, intrigue and opportunity of Web 2.0, but what I feel has been missing is the common language around what tag-based folksonomies, mash-ups, RSS, open APIs, aggregation, etc, really mean to customers and our ability to facilitate connections with and among them. How’s it going to make their life easier and more efficient? Well, in the spirit of tapping into others’ “thinking” in the blogosphere, I did a search to see who else has thoughts on translating geek speak into common language.

Although I found a few good commentaries, the one that caught my eye is Mike Stopforth’s What is Web 2.0? post. I found the full post to be a good read, I pulled the following snippets as highlights:

“A Frustrated Crowd:

Humans hunger for relationship - especially consumers (or customers). In the ‘real world’, we are a disenchanted and frustrated lot - further removed from the corporations who make our clothes, bank our money, insure our goods and even cook our food than ever before. This is not natural, and as a result many of us (consumers) are pissed off. We long to engage in dialogue

”

My 2 cents…we’re all naturally drawn to relationships and finding others like us. So much of what we do on a day-to-day basis can now be done with little to no human interaction…and we’ve asked for it. That doesn’t remove the fact that we as humans still need interaction to grow.

“Rupert Murdoch had this to say about Web 2.0 in a recent Wired News article:

To find something comparable (to Web 2.0), you have to go back 500 years to the printing press, the birth of mass media – which, incidentally, is what really destroyed the old world of kings and aristocracies. Technology is shifting power away from the editors, the publishers, the establishment, the media elite. Now it’s the people who are taking control.
”

My 2 cents (now 4 cents)…Web 2.0 brings power to the people! We have control over the experience and great opportunities to connect with others like us vs. being stifled by a one way communication to and from the “establishment.”

“Software as an experience. Web 2.0 is about the humanification of the web - the humanification of software. It’s about designing interfaces that match, not contradict, the way we normally communicate with each other.

”

My 2 cents (6 cents all up)…again it’s about the warm body using the web. The technology enables, but the person participating in the experience makes it real. The human layer needs to overlay the geek speak.

“Beta is better. When a Web 2.0 company slaps a ‘Beta’ stamp on a product, they’re saying, “We have made something for you to try. We’re not sure it’s perfect yet, but we’re open to criticism and experimentation. We want feedback from you - let’s have a conversation.

”

Another couple pennies…Companies are being more transparent and engaging with their community earlier in the product lifecycle. Result…much more customer centric/driven products. Customers have a say.

“Viral Marketing (or Word-of-Mouth on Steroids) Web 2.0 is a culture, a way to interact, to share and to collaborate. It is about the bigger picture, about getting the most out of any given network of individuals.

”

And for a full dime…Word-of-Mouth is huge in a Web 2.0 environment. And best thing about it is – especially in a business setting – that Word-of-Mouth is the voice of the customer and that’s worth a lot of dimes. J

In coming posts I hope to be drilling deeper into specific scenarios related to driving a new dimension of community for IT Pros...the audience my group focuses on. For now I was just pleased to uncover others in the business of translating the folksonomic wonderment of a predictable, serendipitous, mashed up Web 2.0 experience.

Breaking the mold of social networking

smeinke — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 05:47:00 GMT

If anyone has done an informal, non-qualitative "hallway" survey of people to test their understanding and/or definition of "social networking," chances are you heard many different responses with the most common examples referring to sites like LinkedIn, Flickr, etc. Of course there's nothing wrong about that...they're great examples. However, I was curious about digging up more business related examples of social networking that went beyond simply making connections. None of my informal survey participants were aware of anything...and after doing various searches online I came up more or less dry.

In fact I ran across more posts similar to the Business Pundit's Please, Please Stop With The Social Networking. In it Rob makes some very valid points about sites forcing networking on him when in reality he just needs more time at the end of the day vs. more contacts to draw on your already busy schedule. Individuals need to have more control of their participation plus they need to see more value from the experience vs. simply making a connection. Extending social networking into the business environment will require much more than making a connection...especially in the IT Pro space. Connecting, collaborating, and interacting with trusted sources in an efficient manner is key. In the end these relationships need to save them time instead of randomly consume it. I think there's a HUGE opportunity here.

In David Hornick's Social Network 3.0 post he references the pre-3.0 days where the experience was around the creation and discovery of the social network itself as opposed to how consumers can leverage and use the network. The exciting part of what's ahead of us is looking to social networks to -- in David's words -- inform, enable, enhance and empower experiences for consumers. He makes some great points that lend themselves well to the business experience.

Simple business scenario...

Consider the following…I bet any company that’s hosted a conference has received feedback that one of the top benefits of the event was the customer or partners’ ability to network with people like them. Whether it be those using similar products or finding others in similar roles or industries, it’s a huge value add to be able to meet and collaborate with them at the conference. I’ve observed this firsthand at both Microsoft-sponsored customer and partner conferences.

A year or so ago when I was part of a different product group, we hosted a networking event over lunch for the customers attending. We simply posted different “roles” on tables and asked people to sit at the table that matched their role the closest. We had two large tables of IT Pros who didn’t want to leave. They were having great dialogue, exchanging ideas, solutions to issues they were facing, etc. At the end of the “networking event” many of them exchanged business cards…but then what. Maybe a few of them exchanged a few 1-to-1 e-mails afterwards or called one of their new friends with a specific question, but how much knowledge can really be shared that way. Sure, they’ll likely get their answer and move on, but what about the other people in their circle who are experiencing the same thing? It would have been great to offer them an online, trusted networking experience where they could collaborate, share information/solutions and continue to grow.

Now I have the opportunity to work with a lot of talented and creative people to make this a reality for the Windows Server IT Pro audience, so we’ll be diving much deeper into this area from both a business requirement and social networking services standpoint. Much more to come here.

Social networking before it was "all that"

smeinke — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 20:31:00 GMT

It's now the Monday after a milestone college reunion a bunch of us decided to go back for. It was a great weekend...tiring, but great. A lot of connections were re-established and other friendships just picked up where we left them years ago. That said, since I've been largely focused on building community for business customers/partners over the past few years, it's hard not to just sit back and analyze the whole phenomenon of college reunions and realize that at the core its really not that different from the connections and relationships that are formed in the business community...online or offline.

Many years ago (let's just go with 10+ :-) hundreds of freshman decended on my college campus (e.g. community) for a reason. Maybe they had family connections to the college, maybe the college was highly rated in an educational area of interest or maybe sports or other scholarships drew them in. Nonetheless there was some level of recommendation, reputation or common interest that attracted students to this college. From there the environment was such that people could easily find groups that aligned with their same core interests. That became our common space or comfort zone. Little did we know that before we would graduate our network of contacts would grow exponentially simply because people in our "common space" would connect us with another social group that shared some common interests as well. From there the web continued to grow organically until the common path bridged many zones.

Of course back then we didn't over analyze it or even think of it more than just extending our circle of friends, but, having just come of a weekend where I had the opportunity to hang out with others who were (and are still) part of my college "comfort zone" and see some of the other circles that I was connected to through a mutual "community" member, I noticed an amazing correlation to what we're trying to accomplish in the social networking space. Even after this amount of time there were still very solid connections between our college community groups. Sure, some may need a little nourishment, but the connections are still there. And, it was interesting to see the interactions going on that will help revitalize those connections. Business cards, e-mails and site/blog URLs were exchanged. It was just a really interesting thing to experience. Of course many of the people there were totally oblivious to that real time social networking happening and the huge potential there is associated with resurrecting those connections again, but they'll realize it soon enough.

I couldn't help but think back to BobReb's "Recasting 'Of Citizens and Pioneers" post regarding his perspective on the broad eras relative to Internet participation -- the indigenous population, the pioneers and the citizens. This past weekend I was definitely hanging out with a mix of indigenous types as well as a lot of pioneers. I'd also throw myself in that mix. Without realizing it, we established a really solid social network (primarily offline) over the past (many) years. Now we're trying to make the leap of bringing that network more online so we can continue to grow it more efficiently and effectively. My kids on the other hand are growing up in a time where the boundary between online and offline really doesn't exist when it comes to communication or connecting with people. I've witness my 10-year old navigating through Whyville, collecting clams by playing their educational games, finding other people in the community with like interests so they can combine their clams and purchase more goods to build out their online presence. There are a number of sites for kids with similar experiences. The interesting part is observing how natural it is for kids on those sites to figure it out and understand the value of building those connections. It's going to be truly amazing to see what's considered "standard" when they all get into the work world, but that's a topic for another day.

For today I'm glad to be involved in driving a shift in building business community from informational to social. And, we don't need to wait until our kids are grown up to see truly amazing things. I think once we can optimize our traditional business communications/relationships for the Web 2.0 world we'll see great things. Social networking isn't just for match making and personal spaces anymore.