The Headline Writer Must Be a Democrat
Economic Growth Slows Down to 4 Percent

Yes, this is slower than the blistering 8.2% last quarter, but a VERY healthy number for GDP growth . The fact of the matter is that the first three words is what catches the eye.

The employment number is still stagnant, but many economists have noted that the government calculation is not capturing a large swath of the population who are self-employed. In addition, I am waiting to see the productivity number since this amount of growth in the face of stable employment is truly remarkable.

Democrats will ignore the growth number and talk about the unemployment number, but the question is: what can the government do to increase employment other than encourage the economy to grow?

posted by Director_Mitch @ 4:32 PM (Permalink)
|

 
It's Doubled Since Grade School
Scientists Discover New Form of Matter

This makes a total of six forms of matter. And I remember only having to learn solid, liquid and gas just 25 years ago.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 2:40 PM (Permalink)
|

 
The Trashing of HP
Having worked in the tech industry for a decade and a half, I have watched a number of interesting corporate changes over the years. I watched Apple grow from a small company to a large one, flirt with bankruptcy, and recover. I remember visiting this small company I never heard of called "Cisco" back in the early 1990s (if only I had bought its stock then!). Stupid acquisitions like the AT&T purchase of NCR were interesting. And all of this was before the whole tech bubble and subsequent burst.

One of the sadder things to have watched has been the trashing of Hewlett Packard's culture. I never worked for HP but I have called on them for years as a supplier and know people who work there. HP was recognized throughout the tech industry as one of the prototypes of the modern tech company in the way they treated their workers, their open environment, and the close interaction between top management and staff.

All of that has changed, and it's becoming public. I recommend reading Fear and Loathing at HP.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 2:02 PM (Permalink)
|

 
The Cellphone Camera Market
My new job involves marketing components for cellphone cameras, so I thought I would take the opportunity to run through some of the steps I am running through to create a marketing plan.

TAM, SAM, SOM
The first part of creating a marketing plan is to figure out the size of your market. The total market category is usually referred to as the TAM, or Total Available Market. The TAM for cellphone cameras has shown significant growth over the last few years and is forecasted to penetrate about a quarter of all cellphones in 2004.




Not that the total cellphone forecast in 2004 ranges anywhere from 500 million to 550 million handsets. I have used the smaller number here (500 million) since in forecasting, it is usually better to underestimate and beat forecast than it is to overestimate and come up short. However, what is important here is really the order of magnitude and not the exact number since forecasts are rarely very accurate.


The next part of a marketing plan is to figure out your SAM, or Served Available Market. A particular product usually can't meet the specifications of 100% of the TAM, so the total market share a product can possibly penetrate is usually less than the TAM (It is possible for a SAM to be equal to a TAM, but is unusual in technical products).

This is when segmenting a market becomes useful to figure out the SAM for your product. If your SAM is less than the TAM, it can point you towards product extensions. In the end, instead of one product serving the entire TAM, you typically will have a series of products with different SAMs that together serve the entire TAM.

There are a variety of ways to segment a market (I got this question in an interview: How many ways are there to segment a market. Answer: There is no limit, but how you do it depends on what you are looking for). For the purpose of this analysis, I will use two examples: country penetration and camera resolution (the number of pixels used to capture the picture).




The country penetration rate is dependent on a variety of factors including migration to higher speed cell standards (2.5G and 3G), how the phones are distributed, the churn rate, and cultural factors. These are all reasons as to why in Japan and Korea cameras are essentially a standard feature. The main issue here is that the product I am marketing isn't necessarily usable in every region "as is" and may need modifications depending on cellphone standard (GSM, CDMA) and other country specific issues.

Resolution is also a big issue. I am not going to go through the definitions, but the chart shows the cellcam market moving towards higher resolutions over time (CIF is about 100K pixels and 3M is 3 million pixels).


The last step in this exercise is to figure out your SOM, or Share of Market. How many am I selling today and what is my goal for next year? Who do I sell to? SOM is calculated based on your SAM, but it should be compared to the TAM so you can tell if you should shift your product to a different SAM.

One of the interesting things about the cellcam market is that the companies that sell the most cellcams are not the ones selling the most handsets. The reason for this is the graph above showing the high penetration rates in Japan and Korea versus the rest of the world. This factor should be interesting to watch as cellcams increase penetration worldwide since it has the potential to change worldwide cellphone market share.




This last step also starts you on going through the "3 Cs", or Customers, Company and Competition.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 10:53 AM (Permalink)
|

 
HR: The Electronic Database
Another poor reflection is exhibited in how Human Resources responds to applicants for job openings. This is a timeless classic:

We have received your resume. Thank you for your interest in The Company. We will hold your information in our electronic database for a minimum of 2 years, and will contact you if there is a match to one (or more) of our available openings. Please note that we do skills/experience matches on a daily basis to each of our job openings. If there is not a current match, we will consider you for any future opportunities. You do not need to send another copy of your resume unless it is updated.
**Please do not reply to this automated e-mail message.**

My initial reaction:

Electronic database? Woooo... that's so 1985.

Minimum of 2 years (cough) it must be a huge electronic database.

Hmmm... now I wonder what happens if I reply to the automated email message?

Then I started pondering the expected (and mythical) conversation:

Doctor Bob: Bob here.

HR: Hello, Doctor Bob, this is HR from The Company. We did a skills/experience match this morning on each of our job openings and guess what, you're a match to one (or more) of our openings!

Doctor Bob: Ah ha ha ha hah. Director Mitch, is that you?

HR: Uh, no, it's HR from The Company. You applied to us, oh, almost two years ago.

Okay, not really. But the response is just oozes the cognitude.


One of the worst experiences I had with HR was with a restartup -- which is a nice way of saying "pissed away its initial investment, the executive team was gutted and the VCs are rebuilding because they think they could recoup some of their money. After prolonged conversations, there was mutual interest and they wanted me to fly to the other end of the country on a date two weeks in the future. HR was tasked with setting up appointments and travel arrangements. A week prior to leaving, I hadn't received any travel arrangements and inquired with HR. Their travel agent called me back a couple of days later to set up the itinerary, by which time airfares tripled.

I was to visit for two days, meeting everyone in the office. You can imagine my surprise when I arrive on Day One at 8:00 a.m., totally jet lagged but running on a triple espresso, no one's in the office. I camped out in the lobby, reading every magazine I could find, called around, walked around the building checking out Dilbert cartoons, anything to relieve the boredom. Finally around 10, someone comes in. I explained my situation and thie person offered me space in a conference room where I could at least check my mail.

I found out that HR hadn't been able to set anything up because people were traveling, ironically to my side of the country. They found some people for me to talk with, but it was obviously an after thought, and I spent time regurgitating my resume. I left at 5pm, scheduled to have a phone call with one of the folks traveling.

This made a poor impression, and I decided that if they hadn't had anyone lined up when I got there the next morning, I was taking an early flight home. The phone conversation went well, but it was with a consultant whose comments supported my intuition that the company was not going to be a fit. The Company had a few people lined up for early in the afternoon, but otherwise it was going to be another waste of a day. I decided to cut bait, explained myself and left. When I returned, I thanked HR for my visit, offered to suggest more appropriate match (e.g., someone in town) and asked about being reimbursed for expenses. Here was the response:

Good to hear from you and thx for your help.

Given that we paid for the $1,100 airfare and that the decision to not pursue was initiated by you, I don't think that it would be fair for us to assume all of the expenses. I hope that you agree.

I didn't. And then I went ballistic. I asked Director Mitch about this, and he, too, went ballistic. After I calmed down, I started dialing around, thinking I would eventually work my way to the principal VC. Before I had to do that, they agreed to reimburse me, but the damage had been done: later, I contacted several people I know in their industry to suggest they should be wary of these guys' integrity.

posted by Doctor @ 9:20 AM (Permalink)
|

 
Dating's Over, Work Begins
I think looking for, interviewing and negotiating for a new job is a lot like dating. There is excitement of the unknown, the infatuation period where all faults are overlooked, and the anticipation of the unknown. There are those dates that go horribly bad, as exemplified by the HR horror stories below, but you eventually find a match, get everything consummated, and settle in for the daily routine.

It's been a little like that this week. I accepted the position at Company A and have given notice at my old company. I am now a "short timer" and hardly need to show up at the office for my last two weeks. When I do, I am actually starting to gather information and material for my new position, and no one here really minds. They understand.

In some ways it's anticlimactic. Although I am starting a new position, I am not moving, my commute is hardly changing, and I am going into a segment which I know extremely well, so there is no learning curve. I essentially hit the ground running and am expected to deliver results quickly. The good thing is that I AM working on something instead of looking out the window all day.

So I will no longer be a "Window Manager", but I won't be changing the name of my blog. While my blogging volume will likely go down, I don't expect it to stop. I figure I can do a post a day for those days I am not traveling, and I'll have guest bloggers from time to time, like the post below.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 9:37 AM (Permalink)
|

 
HR: Your Company's Anti-Marketing
The names of most departments in a company describes the function they perform: engineering builds things, sales sells, marketing markets, maintenance does upkeep, etc. The notable exception is "Human Resources," which describes an attitude towards people. That attitude is: You are only a cog, and is unfortunate because they are able to undermine, in a single interaction, months of agreement building, goodwill and planning.

I've experienced this from both sides of the desk, but most often in the interview cycle. HR departments continue to amaze me with their ability to totally dampen any enthusiasm I had for a job or the company. Director Mitch and I have been exchanging email during the last couple of weeks on our trevails with HR. Since I don't have a blog for this, he's graciously provided a venue, and with his indulgence, I will vent my spleen, gall bladder, liver, and small intestines on some of the interactions I've had.

I heard of a position with Company C, whose product I have used for two years. (For the avoidance of doubt, I will not reuse letters the Director has.) I applied, writing a very thoughtful cover letter tying my experience to their description, highlighting my experience with their product, etc. In short, I was a great match for the job, and had passion for their product.

HR sat on this for a month, ignoring my followup queries. I finally get an email back from the HR Director asking if I'd be interested in discussing the position. We scheduled a phone call that went something like this:

HR: So, what do you know about Company C?

Doctor Bob: Well, as I indicated in my cover letter, I've been a customer for two years. (Detailed example of use of their product offering)

HR: Let me tell you about the position. (Reads the same description text I applied to.) Does this interest you? How do you see your background applying?

Doctor Bob: (I reiterate my cover letter line by line; point out my extensive collection of educational degrees; also add specific high level thoughts on their product line.)

At this point, she asks if I had any questions. I really wanted to ask "are there any pods in your office?" but instead inquired about the process. Not willing to reveal anything, she said she would present this information to the hiring manager and get back to me in a few days.

A week passes, I send a tickler email. No response, so I write this off. Another week passes, and HR sends me email because theyw ant to schedule an interview with two hiring managers, as they have two positions open and think I could be a fit for either. Included with the email are a plethora of background forms, an applications, EEO declaration, non-disclosure agreement, and map to the facility. She doesn't ask, but it's implied that I'm to fill these out.

She fails to supply the promised specific agenda, but I show up at the appointed time and the receptionist scurries to figure out who I was to meet with. I'm relegated to a conference room, where I pass the time reading their press clippings. Twenty minutes later, the receptionist has the names of the hiring managers, and I spend the next two hours meeting with each. The position I applied to is a great fit, and I'm receiving strong buy signals from the hiring manager. The second one isn't a good fit, but provides perspective on Company C's direction, and is not a total loss because I know people I could steer their way. The second hiring manager gives me a tour of the facililty while the receptionist tries to locate the HR manager and ask if she needs to talk with me. She's nowhere to be found, so I leave.

No one's asked me for a signed NDA, which is very surprising since it's almost a given in my industry. They do not ask for (nor do I volunteer) the application or background check.
I don't see any point in pestering my references (whose time I respect) until an offer has been extended. A clean background check (including credit) isn't really going to influence their decision at this point. Would anyone believe them saying "He is exceptionally well-qualified, but I'm concerned that he may have missed a payment on his Chevron card. We should delay moving forward until the credit check comes back!"

Two more weeks pass. HR emails me a response asking for general availability for another round of interviews, but doesn't provide any parameters like "we'd like you to visit all day," so I throw out some dates. This appears to be too computationally intensive for HR to contemplate, and she passes it off to the receptionist, who I'm now on a first name basis with. Lucinda has her act together and provides a schedule, names, and titles of the people I'm to meet with. She also includes the same forms and asks that I have them when I visit.

If the phone screen is a blind date, the third round interview is equivalent to introducting your potential fiancee to your parents. Assuming everything goes as well as expected, someone gets a ring it the end. If it's a disaster, you break up.

During the day, schedules were juggled and I had a half hour sitting in the conference room amusing myself until the last interviewer was available. At some point, the HR director emerged to give me the Information Packet with all the listed benefits and her card. She said things were going well and I could expect to hear from them in two days. She didn't ask for any of the application or background check forms, and once again, I didn't volunteer.


The last interviewer apologized three times for being late. After a couple of questions relating to the job, we spent the rest of the hour chatting about a variety of topics ranging from the New England Patriots to the Mars rover. He had to go to another meeting, and asked Lucinda if I needed to speak to HR again. I didn't, so I was free to go.


I hadn't heard from anyone by the end of last week, and called the hiring manager. I left a voice mail with a lead-in, I said "Oh, I noticed that you all hadn't asked for my forms" and asking her what the next steps were, call me, yatta.
A few hours later, HR sends me an email:

Hi Doctor Bob!
I noticed I didn't receive your application and references etc. I would still like this documentation, can you please send it to me. We will be interviewing for another week plus, before we make further decisions, so please hang in there with me. I will be in touch with regards to the next step.

Translating HR to English, she is saying "You're not our perfect candidate, but we're going to string you along some more until we interview other people. I'd like to get all my forms, though."


Suffice to say, I'm not sending them just yet. The lack of a direct response and inept HR mangling has made me seriously question my interest in working with these people or at this company. I am assuming it's a dead end, but will ping them in a week for closure. Meanwhile, I'm looking elsewhere.

Strangely, this is not the worst story I've had from an HR department. That story comes later this week.


posted by Doctor @ 9:37 PM (Permalink)
|

 
Guest Blogger
My good friend Dr. Bob has asked for a forum on this site to discuss some of HIS recent experiences with HR, so expect a posting from him soon.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 10:16 AM (Permalink)
|