To lunch or not to lunch

First of all I’m a fiend for outdoor bistros, I think they are the greatest thing since slice bread when the weather is nice. Yet no one seems to have them in the western states. So when I was down in Boise this last weekend, I was ecstatic that not only was it great weather but their was a patio open for lunch. Not knowing what it was or how good they were I was determined to try them based on the patio alone.

Once we sat down and received our menus, I finally was enlightened as to what we where going to be having for lunch, pizza. So after finally narrowing our choices down to two, we inquired as to whether we could have half and half, making everyone happy. Of course we where pleasantly informed, so delving back into the throws of our order we finalized our decision, everyone in agreement at last. Or at least we thought. On return of our waitress, we where devastated, baited without all the terms and conditions, we were. While we could still do half and half, we would have to start with the traditional, and add toppings, resulting in a price almost equivalent to the two pizzas on their own. Delivery was key, since we had already established a heighten expectation; this information was more impact full now than if the option had never been available. What cunning deception, not deterred we returned to the negotiating table to pound out our order.

Through pure determination we narrowly came to an agreement on a pizza, with one stipulation no spinach. As our terms and conditions where presented to the waitress, we calmly waited for a response, while a turbinate river raged inside us, desperately waiting to see if they would be accepted. Which to our joy they were without any counter.

In what seemed like an eternity we waited for our food to arrive, grateful when it finally did. To our dismay the terms and conditions had been breached, there it was in plain view of everyone, spinach. This matter was escalated; the upper echelon of management was now involved. In an effort to gain control of the downward spiraling situation, they purposed a complete scrap and replacement of their contract deliverables. The tables turned, we consulted and presented are counter, we would pick the spinach off ourselves. A cunning retort, by arguing against our best interest, our opponent was perplexed to say the least. Retreating but not retiring, he had to rethink after such a blow.

Alas he returned with a revised counter, our original order half and half extra large, for our troubles. Not to be out done we had to think quickly, but stumbled… Before remembering or original offer, we retorted with a small pizza to go.

Success, a deal made. All and all it was a great pizza place, with excellent management.

Negotiation Unraveled

Any negotiation begins because one or both parties have an issue in which they would like to get resolved, these issue should be mentally flushed out before beginning. One of the most interesting things that I discovered when reading Negotiate This! is how Herb Cohen uses the nature of active listening, to effectively negotiate.

My overall favorite concept is from the chapter “Deadlines are not always Draconian,” where the value of a deadline is discussed. Because deadlines are set for many different rationale’s they should be analyzed and the risks and benefits calculated from eclipsing the deadline. Deadlines are not as firm as they may originally appear, and deadlines should not be blindly followed just because they exist. While you may have a deadline, it is also important to remember that the other side always has a deadline as well, else why would they be talking to you?

Within his book, Herb also discussed some questions you should try to gleam answers for when you begin negotiating with another party. While these may seem like common sense, many are never done.

Why are they negotiating with me?
What are their time constraints and deadlines?
By whom and how will their decisions be made?
How do they react to conflict?
What is their negotiating style?
What are the limits of their authority?
What is their negotiating experience and background?
Do they have a realistic alternative to making this deal?
What incentives do they have to make this deal?
What are their underlying interests and concerns?
What’s their track record for honesty and integrity?
What are their expectations with respect to the outcome?

Negotiating is the game of life and humbleness can go along way when positioning you in a negotiation. From humbleness you have the most options to maneuver.

“How did you become a hero during World War II?”
“It was involuntary, they sunk my boat.”

-President Kennedy

However, sometimes you must respond to a direct threat, which can be difficult especially in the process of negotiation. These threats can typically be defused though remaining calm and detached. Responding with an inconsequential response, typically an inquiry for clarification. If all else fails pointing out why you don’t have the capacity to comply (lack of authority, legitimacy, precedent, etc...)

Finally, Don’t ever underestimate your options or capacity to make things happen. Because what matters is not what power you’ve got, but what the other side thinks you’ve got.

What is Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is a buzz word to describe a new way of communicating and sharing information. However, so far I've not found a good way to explain Web 2.0 in a less technical way, till now. Below is a unique and interesting treatment of text and images to tell a story about web 2.0.



This was taken out of a blog on PresentationZen on the beauty and power of Typography.

The Moment of Reflection, Part 2

Continuing on in the interview with Ira Glass, he discusses the time it takes to develop a good story; however, it holds true for developing any skill. We attempt to develop a skill because we have good taste, a passion for the subject matter.

At first what you are creating isn't so good, its trying to be good, it has ambition to be good, but its not. The reason you know this is that your taste is good enough to tell you that it isn't that good. Causing what you are making to be a disappointment. At this point a lot of people decide to quit, since they are not great at the skill they are attempting to master, yet most people that do creative work go through a phase where what they are creating is not that good.



Like any artisan skill, they cannot be mastered overnight. Mastery of any skill requires dedication and effort. Consider Martial arts, when you begin, you have a vision of what it means to be good, a master; however while you have that taste of what good is, your current work does not product the same results. Through practice your skill is refined and becomes ever closer to resembling the vision of what it means to be good.

Through keeping your standards high and creating a large volume of work, you refine your skill to create something really good.


See the complete interview:

Ira Glass On Story Telling #1
Ira Glass On Story Telling #2
Ira Glass On Story Telling #3
Ira Glass On Story Telling #4

The Moment of Reflection

Ira Glass, has a very interesting video out on Youtube about what makes a story good, which I encourage anyone who is involved with telling stories, whether that be through presentation, to blogs to papers to take a few minutes and watch.


In storytelling there are two basic building blocks as Ira explains: the anecdote, and the moment of reflection.
The anecdote, being a sequence of actions, where as one thing follows from another, avoiding the use of disjointed facts.

"The Power of the anecdote is so great...No matter how boring the material is, if it is in story form...there is suspense in it, it feels like something's going to happen. The reason why is because literally it's a sequence of events...you can feel through its form [that it's] inherently like being on a train that has a destination...and that you're going to find something..."

— Ira Glass

The anecdote should also raise questions, providing the "bait" for the story. Raise questions right from the beginning to enticing the participant. Implied in any question that you raise, however, is that you are going to answer it. Constantly raise questions and answer them. Shape the story through throwing out questions and answering them along the way.

Secondly, the moment of reflection. What is the key point? What does this all mean? Why have I asked you to sit and listen for 30 min, etc. It is not just a series of facts/events. Many people get the first part, they tell an interesting sequence of events, but in the end it fails because it doesn't say anything new, it did not have meaning. Conversely sometimes people have the reflection part and the question is clear in their mind, but they fail to put it in a sequence that compels people to follow and engage.


In a good story you need both the Anecdote and the Moment of Reflection interwoven to make a valuable story for the participant.

Volvo S80

I was working with the TV on tonight when a two part Volvo commercial came on, advertising the S80, what I found so interesting about this commercial was their use of different buyer persona's to elicit a cool factor. It was in my mind a perfect example of the difference between the cool factor and something that will be utilized once the purchase is made.
The first part of this commercial was about a blind spot detector which drew my attention away from my current project, and was directly followed up with an introduction to their heart rate detector, in brief summary the device detected if their was a heart beat in your new S80 and alerts you before you enter your car. Now this has cool factor written all over it.

This is especially important when your market space is already saturated with competition, such as with automobiles. While items such as these two new features which Volvo is showcasing on their S80 may have significant effect on a buyers decision to buy, in most cases they will not be a highly utilized element once a purchase has been made. This isn't to say that such features are not important to incorporate into the design of a product since they very well could make the difference between a evaluator deciding to go with your product or your competitors. But design choices should be made when implementing these cool factors, so that they are not over designed during implementation.
Since these features will only be used when making a buying decision, but not during normal operation, they should consciously not be over engineered. Based off of interviews with potential customers during design these features should be identified. With the identification of such features, more engineering time can be utilized on larger ROI features.