A Funnelweb World

Proud but not lucky

Yesterday, one of my good friends in the US sent me a link to the blog of a mutual friend. I had only met him a couple of times and had lost touch with what he had been up to.

It was wonderful to see that he had become married to his partner - but very sad to see that he had to move countries and make some personal sacrifices in order to do it. It made me realise how lucky I am to live in the UK, where same sex marriage was legalised around 3 years ago.

But is “lucky” the right word? Surely, we shouldn’t feel the need to be thankful to our governments for recognising civil partnerships. Surely, as a social group, we should have expected legal recognition to have been granted world-wide as a matter of course several decades ago.

Ironically, being able to get married wasn’t such a big deal for me personally as I have been openly gay for as long as I can remember and have always talked about it in the same terms as I speak about being an Aussie. The fact I am now married hasn’t changed the way I live my life at all - though it leads to more arguments with call centre operators who ask for my “marital status”. (Note to various companies: don’t try and sell me anything if you can’t correctly record my status.)

Being gay is simply a part of who I am. My entire family and circle of friends have always known I was gay and have always welcomed my partners and friends into their homes, right from when I was a youngster. They accepted it as being me. They didn’t and don’t need any laws to make them do that.

And I’ve never had to hide my gayness or felt the need to apologise for it - and I never will. So laws haven’t changed that either.

But I know that I am one of the fortunate few in the world - and that until same sex marriages are recognised worldwide, as a worldwide community we will still have to fight for true equality and to end homophobia and discrimination.

Not that legal recognition of same sex marriages will put an end to homophobia - as I can sadly attest from recent experience. But it will eventually make homophobia and sexuality-based discrimination appear to be even more outdated, childish and irrelevant in our society.

And we can then all get on with living our different lives, with our different family groups, in our different ways - working together to address the REAL problems of our world such as the environment, global hunger and poverty.

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Thinking like a net-gener

Yesterday I read Don Tapscott’s brilliant article in the Guardian. (He was the guy who wrote the excellent book, Wikinomics). It helped me feel that I wasn’t being unreasonable in wanting to find somewhere where “work” really could be “fun”. Hey, there is a whole generation of people who think that way.

He sums the dilemma up perfectly and big organisations really should take notice.

He suggests that work = fun when you are able to choose where, when and how to work and you have the right organisational structures and toolsets (mostly web 2.0 tools) in place to support that choice. And when you have challenging problems to solve and can work collaboratively with whoever you need to work with to get the job done, and share common goals and achievements.

The crucial point about this is that for the new generation of workers (”net-geners”) coming through, they expect that to be the norm. Organisations that don’t sit up and take notice of the needs of their future workforce, which have or are growing up with the web, are going to find challenging times ahead.

From the article:

It’s a case of the irresistible force meeting the immovable object. The net-geners arrive at work, eager to use their social networking tools to collaborate and create and contribute to the organisation. However, they are shocked to find technological tools more primitive than the ones used in school. The organisation still thinks the net is about websites presenting information, rather than a Web 2.0 collaboration platform. Then the organisation bans Facebook at the office because it suspects net-geners are chatting with friends and throwing digital snowballs when they should be working - thus depriving net-geners of their link to friends, to fun, to colleagues. Pretty soon, they head for the exit.

His article was inspiring.

If there are a whole bunch of people out there seeking the same things as me when it comes to work, then there must be some organisations out there (not many, its true) who are starting to respond to  these needs - I’ve just got to keep on looking.

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Playing with google optimiser

Last week I discovered Google Website Optimiser. It’s a great free service that allows you to perform some simple A/B and multivariate tests on a website. And it helped me to understand more about what these types of tests are, and how to set them up.

First, A/B Testing.

Put simply, A/B testing is where you test two complete pages in order to see which one has the greater conversion rate to your desired target page.

To try this out, I created a copy of my original London for Free homepage and simply removed some text and links, saving it as index2. Then, using google’s wizard, I added some javascript code to each version of the home page as well as to the target conversion page (which I chose to be my bus tour page).

The idea was to see which page was the best version when it came to encouraging people to click the link through to the bus tour page.

All well and good, except that the quality of the google code was awful. Even though it validated for google’s purposes (allowing my test to run), the W3C validator hated it. I managed to fix two elements of the code but everytime I edited the third part, the optimiser rejected it.

So I persevered with buggy code just to see how this test would work. After running it for a few days, it became clear that the page with less options encouraged greater conversion to the bus tour page. Probably fairly obvious, but it was an excellent way to get my head around how to set up and run A/B tests.

Multivariate Testing

This is where, instead of having two complete pages to test, you select only one page and indicate the sections or elements of that page that you want to vary and test. You still need a conversion target but you can test say several different images and see which one encourages greater clickthroughs to the conversion page.

I removed the A/B test code from the home page and decided to run a multivariate test on it, varying the text in one particular style element, the subfeatures section. I created two versions of the text, both aiming to encourage users to click through to the bus tour page.

Then, using the google wizard, I dropped some javascript code into both the home page and the target page, and copied my “variant code” directly into the google dashboard. The variant code is effectively a second version of the “subfeatures” ID code snippet.

(Yet another reason for using div IDs in page designs).

I’ve now been running this test for over a week and though the results are interesting, what has been of most value to me is to be able to understand how easy it is to use the google tool and how multivariant testing works.

I need to try and validate this google code and will probably also extend the tests to include multiple variants and see how it goes.

That’s tomorrow taken care of, then

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Let’s hope……..

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Becoming better web informed

Today I visited ecommerce expo in London. It was interesting, not only for the presentations on social media but also to see the number of snake oil vendors still operating in the marketplace.

You know, the types of guys who’ll sell you a custom website for £4k (5 pages only, and SEO advice extra, of course) and then charge you a commission on top of it for any sales you make.

It made me think of Hector and how he gets apoplectic every time I tell him how much it costs to service my car, and what they actually do for it. “£xx for an oil change!”  and so on. But he knows a thing or two about cars - don’t most dads??

But cars are as alien to me as the web is to him. If I wasn’t looking after his website, I’m sure he’d think £4k was a bargain.

And therein lies the problem when it comes to these vendors. If you don’t know enough - just enough - about what service they are actually offering, how much work they would do etc, how can you know whether you’re being ripped off or not. How would you know whether you are paying for something that is very difficult, or something that is quite straightforward (and that you could do yourself).

So I thought about how someone could become better informed about the web. Not enough to be a developer but enough to know when you’re being taken for a ride.

In my view, its simple. Make use of all the free tools out there, build yourself a web site and practice using them. For example:

• get yourself a free web editing package (you could even use something like Aptana Studio, which you can download for free) and some cheap web space (e.g. from 1and1 hosting) and create a simple web site. It doesn’t really matter what it’s about. The aim of this is to develop your understanding and confidence of html/xhtml and css.
• If you don’t know much about those “languages”, do the excellent free tutorials on w3cschools first
• Once you’ve created your site, upload it to your web space, and have a cup of tea!

• then, learn about accessibility and web standards by running your site’s live pages through the w3c markup validation service. This is by far the best way to learn about how to debug your html and css pages and make them standards compliant and largely accessible.

• then start exploring the world of plug-ins available for your site, starting with something simple such as a google adsense or an amazon affiliate plugin. (And make some money while you’re at it

• just go to google / amazon, create an account, copy the script they give you and follow their instructions to include it in one of your html pages. This is the simplest way to become familiar with the world of javascript, because what you are basically doing is embedding some javascript into your site

• while you’re at it, include some code from google analytics

By the end of all that, you’ll know a little about how easy it is to build a standards-compliant web site, how easy it is to include plugins into it and also gain some familiarity with “presentation layer” things such as accessibility, analytics, SEO and web marketing.

And at this layer, a simple site isn’t really that much different to how big CMS systems work. They still use css for design layout, they still use html / xhtml for content rendering, they still require metadata to be added to each page (keywords etc, which are important for SEO) and they still use javascript (and sometimes also iframes) for inserting plug-ins and pulling content through etc.

So you’ll also know at a basic level about how CMS systems work at presentation layer level.

(They also use design templates, content wizards, user permissions, application script calls and so on but the fundamentals of css, xhtml and javascript remain.)

You’ll still be a long way from being an expert but hopefully you’ll feel more informed about just how “difficult” some of this web stuff really is.

The web equivalent to being able to change your car’s oil yourself or at least know if you’re being ripped off!

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Messages

Sorry friends and family that I’ve been lying low for the past couple of weeks. Seems it was sinusitus - I haven’t been in that much pain since the wardrobe fell on my head back in Ivy Street. Now there’s an experience I’d forgotten about, actually.

Anyway, thanks to some prescription drugs and taking it easy, I’m starting to feel relatively normal again.

And so to updates -

Hector, ignore it, its spam. Do not pay them any money.

Kimberly, I got them and will post them in the next few weeks when I have the energy to stand in a post office queue.

Gill, I am glad you weren’t running in the lakes but isn’t Yorkshire near there somewhere?? And if you like living in Liverpool why do you spend so much time away from it????

keystone friends, yes I am still working up to the prototype but it will take a while. I am having trouble embedding the geolocation API in my test page, so have gone back to basics and am doing an online course in JavaScript to refresh my knowledge, so I can then read up on ajax (thanks Russ). Like I said, it will take a while……

the journalist at ABCnews, yes I will help you with your London questions but you’ve sent rather a lot. Should I just write the article for you?

Good night and stay well!

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The problem with IT and Marketing

My dad runs his own business, I guess he employs around 30 or so people. I work for a company where the IT dept alone is probably 10 times that size. And that’s not unusual for big organisations.

And having now worked for several large companies, I’m becoming more convinced that companies of a large size are just not geared up right for the web 2.0 world. They are still too much like oil tankers.

I’m particularly referring to marketing and IT departments. And here’s why I think that.

IT

I manage my dad’s website. Whenever he wants a change made to it - anything from creating a new page to editing a photo or pdf - he just sends me an email. One email. And I plan the change, make the change, test the change and deploy it. He then takes a look at it and if its not right, I change it again until its what he wanted.

I suggest it takes at least 10 times as long, 10 times as many emails (oh, and let’s throw in the number of people involved, the number of conference calls, documents and meetings required) to get the equivalent change done in any typical large organisation.

Hardly agile. Not the most responsive. And totally wrong for our growing web 2.0 world where things have to be done quickly.

Yes, I appreciate the need for risk management, governance and so on but this approach to managing IT change just doesn’t work for the web. It really doesn’t. I agree it is probably necessary for big corporate system changes where requirements can be quite clearly defined and outcomes predicted but its not right for web changes where often the preferred solution isn’t known until its seen. There are too many people and layers of mgmt involved, for starters.

Never mind doing the change itself - you usually need to debate it, document it, challenge it, plan it and so on. (Ask yourself in a typical project within any large org, what proportion of time is spent physically implementing the change?) Its bizarre.

The solution seems to me to be strikingly simple - adopt more agile and collaborative ways of working. Create small cross-functional, multi-skilled teams and empower them to deliver the project objectives. Remove as many layers of bureaucracy for them as possible and just let them get on with it. What’s the worst that can happen? Create some / minimal controls to guard against this - but don’t go overboard.

That’s why small organisations are probably more agile than larger ones - they have less people getting in the way of change, for starters.

Marketing

The other day, when talking about his website, my dad happened to mention an enquiry he received through it from a new customer in Perth. He then went on casually to say that he put the customer in direct contact with his supplier in China so they could discuss the enquiry (about product spec) directly, and in more detail.

Customers / suppliers talking to each other. Without the organisation.

I thought about how difficult it would probably be to do that in many large organisations, and pondered why this was the case.

Now I’m definitely no expert in marketing but I think its because in typical large organisations, you probably have whole departments whose very existence depends on them managing the brand and controlling the messages around it. Its historical, from when messages could be controlled and sent one way only. The thought of customers and suppliers now talking about their products without their knowledge is probably terrifying to them.

Not sure if this is something about a lack of trust (why do many organisations seem to naturally think that if given the chance, customers will say bad things about them??), but I doubt its sustainable in a web 2.0 world.

This is traditional marketing. Web 2-based marketing (also known as social media marketing) is multiway, participatory and user-generated. Its also loads cheaper and I suspect more insightful.

And I think its the future.

And totally not what many large marketing departments are probably about. They’ve got to change, to trust the conversations that will happen or are already happening and to become a part of them. There are loads of opportunities for customer insight, surely.

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No time for feeling crook

Anyone who knows me knows that when it comes to being sick I hate 2 things - taking painkillers and going to doctors. I prefer to just ride it out. And I hate not feeling well as it gets in the way of all the stuff I want to do.

Having a headache each morning makes it difficult to concentrate and to get started with developing the early stages of my web idea. I was hoping to spend this weekend testing out how to use the google geolocation API to determine someone’s location when they accessed my site on their mobile (the idea being so I could then push some relevant content and free offers to them). But yesterday I was barely able to drive to Sainsburys to get the shopping done - managed to fix a few things on london for free but spent the rest of the day resting.

Having a headache and ringing in my ears will also get in the way of all the stuff I want to do this week. I am hoping we can make a start on two big new projects at work, and that means holding workshops to analyse requirements and agree high level project plans. I really want to get stuck into it - just wish / hope I feel in top form for doing it.

And not feeling my best will also make chairing tomorrow night’s T&RA meeting more challenging. Thankfully we have agreed an agenda for it and hopefully we can plough on through it fairly smoothly. I really don’t want to have to sort out arguments or tell anyone to behave or leave.

Maybe I’ll try and struggle through tommorrow and if I’m still sick by Wednesday, I’ll give in and visit Dr B.

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My web 2 business idea

Lately I’ve been doing lots of future gazing and talking with smart, like-minded people about a range of web 2 business ideas.

Like several of my friends, I’ve come to the realisation that working for yourself has got to be more fun than working for others. The challenge though is in finding the right idea.

So the other day I started to really give it some serious thought. Words such as mobile, London, free, marketing, online/offline and presence awareness began running through my mind.

Then today in Sainsburys I had a “eureka” moment.

I’m going to create a diagram to outline the idea and will then bounce it around with a few friends to see if they’ve heard of something similar. Fingers crossed they haven’t.

This could be the beginning of a whole new adventure. Or it might lead to nothing, of course. But at least it will be fun trying it

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Another wonderful opportunity

I have been very lucky throughout my working life to have worked for some excellent managers.

Right the way back to the various managers I had when working in the book trade all those years ago, who gave me the scope and freedom to do everything from establishing new branches to refurbishing stores ( re-building the shelves myself - fun, as I once considered becoming a carpenter).

And of course the various managers I worked for, even as recently as at Royal Mail - where Dennis once said to me “just keep doing what you think needs doing”, giving me an open ticket to sort out any areas I figured needed tuning in order to drive service improvements in the online space. A brilliant opportunity to shape my own role, keeping me flat out busy and hopefully helping Royal Mail at the same time.

The interesting thing is that my role turned out to be very different to the job description for the role I was employed for (Development Manager). It made the job the best one I’ve ever had in the UK.

And it was accidental. I had little idea what a “dev manager” should do so I just got in and did what I figured was needed.

Same with PwC.

When I joined the internal IT Department, I really had no idea what a typical “relationship manager” should do. It sounded interesting but at the time I was a little worried I wouldn’t be able to do it. However, another great manager simply advised me to do “whatever it takes to keep the customer happy”. Simple enough guidance and it helped define the scope of the role for me - and certainly kept me engaged and busy.

Again, I loved it.

And so to M & S.

This time around it was different. I had much more of an idea of what to expect in the role, as I had done various programme / project manager type jobs in the past.

I have to say in all honesty that from the outset I was a little worried that there wouldn’t be the volume of work or scope in the role to keep me challenged, engaged and busy.

I even said at my interview that I get bored very easily. I had come to understand it about myself, finally, and wanted to be honest with potential employers.

And yesterday was my 8th week at M & S, and yep, I was getting bored.

So I had a heart to heart with my manager. After clearing up some misunderstandings (yes, I still wanted to do PM work - the issue was that I needed more to get my teeth into), I basically got a similar message to the one from Dennis.

“Make the role my own, get involved wherever I think I can add value.” ie. don’t be limited by the job title.

Music to my ears.

I’ve already started to get myself involved with the biz dev guys around innovative uses of technology - way ahead of them becoming projects. Stuff which could help drive up revenue for the business. And started to share best practice information e.g. yahoo patterns stuff.

Yet again, I’ve been lucky to get another great manager.

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