Test like there is no tomorrow

Why have a series of meetings, when you can set up a test in minutes or seconds?

Why is it so scary to let go, and test your way forward?

Robots and calculators all around

Mitch is asking marketers to let their ego go;

What if everything you have been bringing to the table could be debunked with a simple multivariate testing regiment?

42, 46, 98?

Oh the irony that is my tagline.

Initially i figured that writing would make more sense in the winter, since less time is spent outside then than in the summer months of lazy long sunny evenings. There by leaving more time to read articles, magazines and non fic books.

And by extension; more time to write and reflect, triggering more writing and musings.

Well, the last two years have shown a slight change in that idea. It seems almost like I'm mentally in a coma during the winter - I read, I get the job done and I play some games, watch some tv. But adding more value than 140 characters including a URL has not been a top priority.

Come summer and sun, the energy soars, the ideas floursih, the tv is all but banished (due to reruns of reruns from mid/early May), the games forgotten or unplayable with the sun going until late. And so the blogging picks up.

Hence it has been early summer that has triggered a resurgence of posts, and come fall this 10th year of blogging on and off I'll try to keep it going at a more measured pace.

Aiming for two post each week, possibly scheduled four at a time, seems like doing about five in a sitting works pretty well, as long as the drafts are there with links, quotes or snippets.

With 46 in the bank from May and June, another half year of twice weekly works out to around 98 for the year overall. a stretch but doable. First two full years clocked in at 107 and 98, so putting that out there as a ballpark seems right.


Update @15.7; despite a full stop the first part of the month, there are now ten posts published or scheduled 



- ...and the sun shines in the distance as I write this, who knows how it will be when I polish it up, or when it hits the blog proper...

Urgency is a state of mind

Of course you need to click and get all of it from Seth Godin: Urgent, please read asap

That's what gets done, of course. The urgent. [...] The problem, of course, is that the queue of urgent never ends, it merely changes its volume as it gets longer.

Stay the path

Back? Yes, you need to finish up here, then on to the next post or the next feed. Then that other app. And then newspaper. Quickly back to the inbox, skim a few more messages.

Fire off a reply, forward another message and push the third into the todo folder. Not the urgent folder, or the current project. Just the todo. For those days that never come.

The daily uploads to YouTube are probably more minutes of video than you will watch. Same for the snaps on insta. Not to mention the number of newspapers and tv channels around the world.

There is no way you can see, read, understand or watch it all. FIlters and priority is a fact of life. No one is going to celebrate if you give it the extra 5%. They will just assume you have yet another 5% and continue to push things your way.

Me? 

I turned off my work email on the iPad since that is my main device for consuming news and secondary for books. Set up auto away mode on the phone, and if I'm off for more than a weekend I'll turn off push notifications on the phone as well. Made 8 subfolders under to do, all for storing ideas and links that might be useful, depending on which project actually has priority at any given time.


How are you swimming in the currents, playing with the flow and surfing the expectations?
#urgenttodo

-...and the sun will shine, and the rain will fall, and we'll be here, through it all ...

Some lines are there to cross, others to sharpen the image

The power of zero spend [src];

Rigidity is rarely your friend, but well understood boundaries make decision making a lot easier.

Two Seth quotes almost back to back, but they are from months apart initially. This also marks a push of the draft box into single digits. And that is a nice simile here - having pushed a lot of links partially out by lack of proper draft API, it was time to clean up the blog. Doing that by focusing on getting out at least 5 posts each week, and mainly by eliminating the backlog has made for a bit of extra structure and push.

Same goes for getting a project off the ground - set some (arbitrary) ground rules;

• we'll be testing 3 ideas at a time, but revise that to 2 if the differences are large enough during first runs
• each period will be more or less a week, so we have time to get data, make new ideas and run the numbers
• keep the numbers simple, and consistent - do initial comparison within each test, then combine and compare after 3-4 runs

SImple steps, but makes the difference between going all ad hoc, and being to rigid to flex out the time. 

Had a similar experience in terms of design constraints - a subcontractor just blew past the boxes that had been set up. But the end result was so much better, and inline with the actual goals (rather than the guides), that is will serve as a new template - at least for now.

Some boxes you play nice with, others you just rip apart, and use the shreds to pave a path forward.

But how do you figure out ahead of time which kind of box you are in?

You should handle the truth

So that went well. Or not. I'm still having a hard time with blogger not having a draft option in the API. Makes it close to useless in 2013 with apps and push and IFTTT ruling the flow of ideas and content.

Ranting done, the post I was planning on writing is a short spin of this note:

"Open DataExecutive Order signed by President Obama. Along with the order is an accompanying Open Data Policy released by the Office of Management and Budget and Office of Science and Technology Policy"

[via Pocket, U.S. Government Data To Be Made Freely Available]

Working with data both for analysis and viz, must say that this is great news. Others have gone into the details, and compared it to the British version.

My main "yay" is the focus on tools, including simple wrappers for making just about any database into a functional (REST based) data source and API. Oh. And did I mention they are open source?

Pushing the legacy forward, I think (and hope) this will be remembered as one of the great Obama moments. Understanding promotes stability and peace, and understanding starts with access.

So, here's to hoping for a good summer for open data, followed by inspired announcements in more countries as fall sets in.

j.d.i (-borderline rant)

Almost timely, but last weeks issue was really spot on this week - picking up the theme from the other day;

shikin haramitsu daikomyo

(explainer from NYdojo)


Moving. On wards. Learning. Doing.


You never know when the magic strikes. So don't just wait around for another chance. 


Flinch


Carpe Diem


There are so many ways to say it, but only one way to do it - JUST DO IT. 


Work out
Read
Learn
Discuss
Share




How should you work out? Try one thing, then move on. The evaluate, or move on. Keep at it until it now longer gives the boost, the kick, the energy above and beyond what you put into it. 


How often? Often enough. Be consistent, but don't over do it. LIfe is a marathon if done right, so keep at it, take a break and get back on the horse. And then use the energy for moving on down the list.


What should you read? A little bit of everything. Read for fun.But also for learning. Read to expand your horizon, and to challenge yourself. Read as a reward, and as relaxation.


Learning? A little something new every week or month. Dive into Codecademy or pick a course at Khan. Watch a TED talk and then pick up some background insights. 


And then transform the learning into insights - by reformulating the points, by discussing at home, work or online. 


FInally, take what you got out of the discussion, and share it - blogg it, put it on Quara or write a book. Giving back, and sharing forward. Keep the loop flowing.

You make what you measure

C.S Penn piece with the snappy title; What cake can teach you about metrics:

The next time someone insists that they need a simplified, single dashboard metric of all your marketing performance, remind them that they are far more comfortable with 5-6 metrics (cups, teaspoons, inches, temperature, ounces, etc.) for a simple cake.

It is almost sad that the mantra "you get what you measure" is so little understood. Focus on call times and everybody will escalate or 'try this then call back'.

Not because people are evil (...) but because we are good at adapting. And at learning how our rewards work. If we can adjust our behaviour easily we will. As long as the cost of change is less than the imagined (or subconscious) reward, there will be an effect.

So take the time to find the balanced overview, take the time to dig into the factors - and think about what you would do yourself if the goals changed.

Just look at measuring a website

Users?
Pageviews?
Bounce rate?
Time on page?
Engagement, actions?
ARPU?
Frequency?
Recency?

There is a reason for tools like Google Analytics having all this and more. One nail does not a house build. The interplay, to consequences and the trends. Not the actual number as of last night. Either the number the last five seconds, then the last 30 minutes. Or the last month.


...and if you need more specifics on all that jazz - there is no one like Avinash. Read. Do. Learn.