Math

I used to want to be an engineer, but found I just wasn't strong enough in math to keep up. So I switched to business, jokingly because I though I was a bit better at math than the average student there. I figured it'd be an

The SLA tradeoff

When you build process for others, and especially when that involves a service level agreement (SLA) from others - recognize that this is a two sided arrangement. In exchange for getting your requests in the right fashion, you have to meet your requestors halfway with communication and clear expectation of

Helicopters and race cars

When talking about overpowered, overkill tech, I'll often use an analogy like "we're using a race car to go to the grocery store". As I get deeper into Eloqua, and especially spend time around long time users, the common narrative is that it'

Acronyms are a double edged sword

I've worked in a lot of organizations that are BIG on using acronyms internally and externally. On the one hand, using industry jargon and acronyms may help establish legitimacy for you in the marketplace. For those who do what you do, you suddenly seem like you know what

Inflow / Outflow

lf you only judge your task list just by what's been added to it—the inflow—it's easy to get overwhelmed and discouraged. How could you possibly get all these done and get back to an empty list? But that of course is missing the point.

Double standards

Whenever you're working with super smart, capable-seeming people, it's easy to feel inadequate, and let impostor syndrome set in. Most advice in dealing with this is centered around recognizing that you're more critical of your deficiencies than other people are - in short, you&

Routine and observation

Somedays, like today, it's pretty hard to get into the headspace to put one of these posts together. If I've learned anything over the last 4.5 months of doing this daily, it's that routine matters. For example, I always write these in the

Starting simple with scoring

When launching or even revising a scoring model, the temptation is to solve it in one go. To spend all your effort up front defining the perfect elements to include, and how best to weight them. There's nothing wrong with methodical consideration of this stuff, but it tends

Indecision

Kotaku has a great article up about the troubled development of Anthem, a new role playing game from BioWare and EA. Even if you're not a gamer, it's a worthwhile read, if only as a cautionary tale of where design and execution can go horribly awry.

Skip the pleasantries

When you need something from a person on your team—especially someone you don't speak with super often—the temptation is to start with the small talk before you get into why you're really reaching out. But you really ought to consider skipping the pleasantries and

That sort of person

If you're the sort of person who often says "I'm not that sort of person",  you might not be the best judge of what you are or aren't.

Falling short of personal

One of the reasons nurture is often found to be ineffective is the lack of effort put into personalization & targeting. Marketers build the basic nurture first, but because it is never yields results, they never bother with the more targeted streams. In an era where personalization is more talked