Mobile Geek, Gadget Fan Boy.. Phone Addict and Photography nut.

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The USPS is a business, run it as one

I am annoyed at all the press lately about the USPS and how upside down they are.   The government is doing it's effort to try and turn things around, but in a big typical government fashion.   Don't get me wrong, doing all the assessment of the full operations for the USPS is not my intent, but I wanted to show a couple of key things that irritate me.   Let's take a look as if I were actually running a business in this space.

I didn't have all the USPS data at hand online, I will update if I find more data.  

What I did pull was a comparison from the USPS Annual Report, Fed Ex and UPS data to compare.  I am a Product Manager by trade and have had to deal with the pressure of showing profitability on products or a plan to get there.   When you are investing and growing a business it is not uncommon to lose money for a period of time.  When you are a mature business, trend lines on projections should definitely be one of your bellweathers of things to come.  

First.. if I am comparing myself against competition, how do I stack up as a business.  I have general mail (high volume/low price) delivery.  I have some specialized products that have more competition in the industry from the likes of Fed Ex and UPS.   I also have direct shipping which is exactly in the line of site for my main competitors.  Again, we are running a business here.   How does my top line revenue stack up against my competition?  
 
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OK.. clearly looking at the past few years is not showing a good trend.  My competition is growing leaps and bounds and even post recession, they have shown an uptick in growth.  If I am USPS, nope.. I am failing here.   

OK, lets look next at the Net Income for my business.  Maybe it's not doing so hot.. sure, but how do I compare against people with similar products in the marketplace?

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Wow.. that hurts.   Not only are my competitors profitable, they are killing me on net income.  Looks like I may have some serious cost issues to deal with in my operations.  Sure.. the chart above is indicative of the overall profit margins in the business.. but just to be clear, here is how we compare.  

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Yes, we suck.   Our competition is running between 3.7%-7.2% on average for the past decade.  The past three years I have averaged a 7% net loss.   This is starting to look as though I have some serious issues.   I need to consider doing some things to fix them.   Some say the number is around $30B that USPS needs to cut to get towards profitability.   There are huge numbers on cutting employees, locations, number of days for delivery, etc.  Let's hold on that for a moment.  

If I cut $30B in costs.. doesn't that make me profitable to the tune of $20B immediately?   Where are my mounting costs coming from?   Oh.. wait, we are government employees here.   I get a pension, and the most amazing health care coverage known to man.  Don't get me wrong, my Grandfather was a postman and I believe to this day my Grandmother gets health coverage from his retirement.  By the way, he passed away in 1978 and my grandmother has been widowed TWO more times since then.   Unheard of coverage.   Check out this chart below from the USPS latest report.  You can see how health benefits are killing them long-term.  

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OK.. so clearly we have to fix this, right?   Do you know what one of the recommendations is for trying to save money?   Take a first class priority mail that used to be one day delivery and make it 2-3 day delivery for the same price.  Huh?  How do you do that and compete with UPS and FedEx? That seems like it will get me less business overall, not help make my current business more profitable.  If I can't cover costs, shouldn't I raise prices?  We are one of the cheapest postal services in the world.  

While you think it may come down to a poorly run business because it's government, it gets a little harder than that.   In some digging around the latest report I found a portion on page 13 that talked about the Postal Act of 2006 that limits pricing for every class of mail service.  I guess the government put regulations over itself that locks the price of a piece of mail to a cost index that in no way is in line with the cost of actually delivering mail.   The USPS tried to go fight this in 2010 however the government decided against itself here and forced the hand of the USPS to stay in a losing battle for price hikes.   

My frustration comes down to things like this that happen in our government.   There have to be some hard decisions made around retirement, the work force being used, the prices being set and how to turn this ship around.. or just concede that you are giving up.   If you choose to give up.. do you let USPS go away and have less competition overall in the world?  or do you let USPS be a solid cost center and pure overhead for the Govt?   Let's hope neither happen.   Without the price pressures of USPS in the market, UPS and Fed Ex will have a lot more control over consumers and the ability to grow margins even higher at the expense of our pockets.   

Sure.. I am being a little cynical in my assessment.. and I usually try not to get all wound up about government crap.  This one just seems to be something that is getting a lot of press and I'd personally love to see it solved.   As much as I wanted to pick on the USPS for running a crappy business it is also coupled with the government regulating pricing, policy and impacting profitability and speed to market for the postal service.   

If you were the product manager running this business and forcing stiff competition, an undermining boss and business rules that limit your abilities, what would you do?  It's harder than you might think.  
 

RANT: Securely storing Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

Quick rant here.  I came across another article about a company and their data being compromised.   I use "THEIR" very loosely here, as it typically means OUR data (read for what I mean with PII).  

Tivo had their email database hacked, which is leading to a bunch of spammers getting access to valid email accounts.  While this isn't as bad as the Gawker incident, it is still a concern. My email address and password had to be changed on their site due to the security breach.  It is a hassle. (and risk)  PII is largely talked about with regards to health care and HIIPA, but in my view, people storing your personal information should be as concerned about protecting their customer data as those in other, more secure sectors.  

There are some best practices when it comes to storing and retrieving data, but by all means.. storing passwords in clear text has to be the dumbest rookie move ever.  (GAWKER).  Beyond that, let's try to get people to be responsible.  I'd like to see a certification of sites that safely store my PII.  At least that way I know how often and who I need to watch when storing certain data.  

Word of the day?  Encryption.  Hell.. at least use and MD5 hash or something!  :)  

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I dig this concept.. very nice

I came across this "spotify box" concept while reading through some blogs tonight.  First off, I gotta say how nice of a concept this is.  

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The idea is simple.   A small box to get your internet streaming from a source, pre-configured and as easy to use as possible.  In this case, they are using Spotify for the example.  Spotify is a competitor of someone like Rhapsody or Mog.  Basically a subscription music service that gives you access to millions of tracks for a flat fee per month.  I  have been a long-time Rhapsody subscriber, so I can appreciate this a ton. 

The clever thing here is the use of RFID tags that are magnetic and can be configured based on color to be your "selector" buttons for radion stations.  What I don't think this shows in detail, and maybe I am taking this a bit beyond where the inventor was thinking.. but simple programming of the RFID chip to be your "source URL" for music makes a possible way to allow me to bring my subscription easily with me to other friends houses.  Think of this:  You go over to your friends house, everyone has their "chips" for music, and every radio is programmed to read the RFID chips with built in authorization.  Now when I go to my friends house, even if he doesn't have Rhapsody, I can still play my music at his place with MY account.  

Short post.. killer concept in my view.  I'd like to think more about how to extend this out.  Very clever Spotify box, and I hope they bring it to market as an extensible platform for others as well.  

APAC Mobile Tour Lesson: Don't do Product Management from your office

I've been spending the past week traveling around meeting with a couple of our customers and a variety of content providers in the APAC region.  Keep in mind, I've been involved in the mobile space for over 12 years now..  but even after all the knowledge transfer from co-workers, reading of countless articles and a good solid effort to understand pre-paid markets, there was one thing that stood out for me.  Music and radio in India over the voice channel.  

The concept of someone dialing into a number to listen to songs on their phone was baffling to me.. but then again, it is a different market and even I should have known better than to be stunned.  Most of the users of this service have no other means for internet. So.. how do you listen to your radio station when you don't have a radio, don't have internet?  Just dial a number and burn some pre-paid credits with live radio.  It's a few seconds (ten-ish) delayed.. but very useful for those markets with a similar demographic.  

I've become immersed over the past week in many great conversations with smart people.  It goes back to the philosophy that you can't do Product Management from your office.  I try to practice this road trip education as often as I can.. no better people to learn from than the actual markets and customers.  

Continuing week two.. let's see the joy and fun this brings.  

The need for a Web Application market

While there have been many posts lately about the need for something like OpenAppMkt, most have not seemed to support the market.  

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I for one am totally for sites like this to spring up.  I am confident that this is not the last one you will see, or that OpenAppMkt is even done innovating.  Sure this is a nascent market, but this is an area ripe for innovation.  

Consider the number of solid developers for a given platform.  I am not sure on the total numbers of each type of developer, but you have a breakdown of devs that could support an OS and a smaller number of ones that support cross-os

iPhone:  Objective C
Android: Java
Windows Mobile 7: c#/.net

While these developer numbers are quite substantial in a group.. consider the number that actually build and crank out applications.  In an article published on iSmashPhone, they list iPhone developers around 43,000 and Android around 10,000.. with an overlap of only 10% at 1400.  What this means is the number of solid cross-platform applications will be small.  There are many niche apps that could be written with wide distribution needs yet no easy way to distribute them, monetize them, etc.  

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If you could then look at the total number of "HTML web developers" as a generic term.. and imagine that is in the millions, you have a HUGE resource pool who could build a large number of valuable applications that the public and private sector could readily use.  Sure, a lot of them won't develop for mobile, but there is a definite need.  I sort of look at it like a chicken and egg scenario.  

There are not a lot of great mobile web apps yet for two reasons. One is the general lack of great cross-platform support for HTML 5.  This is changing.  (and yes, HTML5 is a buzzword, but we generally mean in-line media, local storage for offline use, SVG and CSS3 support.  SECOND is a way for great HTML5 developers to distribute and monetize their applications.  I think this is where someone like OpenAppMkt comes into play.  A way to get the distribution out there and a way to control access without the dev having to write that code.  

It is the early stages.. but web applications will have their place.  It doesn't mean thick client applications are going away, it just means we will have some balance and improved access for even more that the creative community has to offer.  
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Taken at Everett Station

Leavenworth

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A night in my office

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Personal Productivity Saga Continues...

I've been on a quest for myself to be as efficient as I can at all times of the day.   I personally get frustrated when tasks take longer than I'd hope, I hate being late for things and I am forever trying to stay on top of professional and personal tasks, appointments and projects.  For those who know me, you know I have a horrible stand alone memory. I am always trying to be better at this.  

Daily Planning
For a long time I have tried to be efficient on my daily tasks.  Stay on top of what is important and don't lose site of the goals.  What i've found is that I am apparently impatient enough to not really live the full GTD lifestyle, and I clearly can't seem to manage a real task list with great efficiency.  What I'd done for a long time (and lost the habit) was to sit and plan every day with key tasks.  I later found almost an identical solution done by David Seah called the Emergent Task Planner.  This is basically the same thing that I'd do in my Moleskine notebook every morning.  I remember things better if I write them down, so each morning I'd get my left hand page of my Moleskine and write out my days calendar, very similar to what you see in the ETP page here...  (not mine but a sample I found)

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This would help me remember the daily meetings I had, which if I didn't keep fresh in my mind, I'd forget.  Once I had this written down, I'd review the weeks meetings and goals, make sure I could pick the top three tasks I had to complete for the day.  I'd write those down.  I use boxes for any TODO in my written notes. I'd also review yesterday's uncompleted tasks and determine a plan of attack for them.  Are they important? Should they be on today's list?   Then, throughout the day, as new tasks came up, I'd add them to my list for the day. Trying to complete in priority order what made sense.  

A key thing I'd do is actually block out time on my calendar to say I am working on task X in this time slot.  It was key to keeping me focused on what is important.  Without it, I think we all fall in to the reactionary mode of each day, handling people with unimportant tasks or conversations as they occur, or happen to swing by our office.  It is not helpful when trying to make a goal happen.  

Project or Goal Management
This has been an area where I suffer a discipline the most.  I bounce back and forth between many task tracking programs that I can bundle all projects, goals and tasks to prioritize.  It is an area I feel I need to do better at.  Here are my various options and what I like/don't like.  

Pros:  
  • Easy to use site for inputting tasks
  • Access on my iPhone
  • Nice sorting, searching capability including auto generating a status report for weekly tasks
Cons: 
  • Sometimes tasks can be tedious if you don't remember the keyboard shortcuts
  • no easy way to manually sort tasks (including things for today)
  • No high level summary of things to accomplish quickly

Pros:
  • Great Mac interface
  • Syncing to iPhone possible
  • Easy to manually sort tasks by project and pick TODAY items
Cons:
  • Syncing to mac didn't work on my works network, made it a hassle
  • Felt like I spent time managing things.. which may be the right thing to do actually

Pros:
  • Syncing everywhere automatically
  • Embed file attachments with tasks
  • Easy/free flowing form
Cons:
  • Formatting was weak
  • No easy way to extract tasks, I tried a couple Task apps for evernote.. no good.  
  • Evernote just needs to add in task management as a class 1 citizen, they have not
There have definitely been other things I've done to try to keep up with my projects, goals, etc.. but I am forever in flux.  

My current solution has me at a single note in Evernote with the following by project...

Project Name:
Goal: (must be clearly stated)
Due:
Stakeholders:
Notes:
Tasks: A simple, easily sorted list

This also makes it easy to send to my boss if he ever needs to know everything I have on my plate.  Now, each morning I can review these in detail, pull out my top tasks and go to work.  It makes it nice considering at this point in time I have around 11 "projects" that range anywhere from a contract update that needs to be negotiated and completed to a full fledged product launch.  If you remember I actually suck at having a memory, writing this down and reviewing daily helps keep me focused. 

UPDATE:  One app I forgot to mention that falls into my daily routine.  Due App.  

For those quick reminders, things that are not project based but I don't want to forget.  Grab milk on the way home, take cookies to work in the morning, ask boss about project X at 10AM meeting.. I use Due for this.  Quick, simple reminders.  I love this app.  

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Note Taking
This is another area that is killing me a little inside.  I SOOOOOO want to be fully digital in this space.  As of the past 4 months, I've been keeping my iPad with me 100% of the time and trying to keep digital notes.  Sometimes in Evernote, sometimes in apps like Audiotorium.  Neither were working for me.. Also, previously I had tried to keep notes using a LiveScribe pen.  Here is what I've learned.  

First, typing notes in a meeting vs. writing feels awkward to me.  I always feel like people don't think I care enough to listen, so they think I am doing email.  That's not the case, but I feel bad typing.  When typing, I'd always lose the easy sketch ability.  I sketch diagrams, etc a lot when taking notes.  iPad was not helping me there.   What did this amount to?  With these things as factors, I found myself taking less notes than before.  Even though it should have been easier.  

As of last week I've returned to my trusty Moleskine for notes.  Sure, it's analog.. but I am comfortable with it.  If need be, I will take a pic with my phone and email to Evernote.  Evernote  is a daily tool for me and I couldn't remember without it.    

Summary
What I've learned is the following.  
  1. Keep a simple list of projects and goals prioritized and in one easily accessible place
  2. Review that list daily, make decisions on what stays, moves or goes away
  3. Write down daily tasks and meetings to help keep them fresh in my mind
  4. Daily triage outstanding tasks or goals.. don't let stuff drop
  5. Take notes in a format that I use vs. can search on later is important.  if I am not taking electronic notes, I can't very well find the data that is not there.  Paper is at least getting my attention for notes. 
I know each person has their own thoughts, ideas, software, etc.. but I'd love to hear others thoughts in this space.  It is an area I am spending less time than I did in the past as I refine my process.. but still have room for improvement.  

WindowsPhone Omnigraffle Templates

I am working on a project at work going through some product concepts on WindowsPhone, seeing what sort of interesting things I can build.  The problem I have had so far is doing mockups.  The PSD files Microsoft gives out are not so friendly.. and honestly, I prefer to use Omnigraffle for my mockups anyway.  Unfortunately there were no Omnigraffle WindowsPhone templates.  

I went over to the Microsoft site here... http://goo.gl/8qpw  to grab a PDF they had on their design templates.  I am now trying to re-create these in Omnigraffle.. one by one.  It's a little slow.. but will be helpful for me when done.  

Eventually I plan on creating a Stencil..but for now I am just creating them as individual canvases.  If you are interested in using these. (the pics are just a few examples).. download the attached ZIP file.  

Also.. jump over to Microsoft's site and download their design template ZIP file. It has the font files you will need for this to work right.  They are using a font called SegoeWP. It is a clean metro style font.. and required for the templates to render correctly.  


Give me any feedback you have.. I will be posting updates as I go.  

- jeff

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