How NOT to label products

I hate it when I buy something, take it home, and find I have to struggle with irremovable product labels. Note to Boise Cascade, Home Depot, and anyone else who is listening... If you are going to sell AB Plywood, put the #%&@! label on the B side, not the A side.

I'm paying extra to get a clean finish for my project. Do you think that means I want to spend 15 to 20 minutes scraping off your UPC that seems permanently glued near the middle of the sheet of plywood?




You would hope they would know better!
Now I feel better.

Diane Rheme interviews Eduardo Porter, author of "The Price of Everything" listen

Diane Rheme interview with Eduardo Porter, member of The New York Times's editorial board, and author of "The Price of Everything" Podcast - I bought the book becasue of my interest in pricing, but it's much more about value and values. [~ 50 minutes of great listening]

Advice on Freemium Software Pricing

Andy Singleton, founder and CEO of Assembla a SaaS provider gives an in-depth summary of experience with software pricing terms.

Secrets Of Freemium Pricing: Make The Cheapskates Pay

The post provides practical priorities for pricing, and many other pricing nuggets.
The number one goal: Maximize Revenue
The number two goal: Reduce Cost of Sales

Recovering from information overload: McKinsey Quarterly

Always-on, multitasking work environments are killing productivity, dampening creativity, and making us unhappy.
JANUARY 2011 • Derek Dean and Caroline Webb


My favorite quote from the article:
"Multitasking is not heroic; it’s counterproductive."

Ann Deavere on hope & determination (heard on NPR)

Philosopher Cornell West, according to Ann Deavere: Hope and optimism are different. Optimism, you look out the window, you say it looks pretty good out there. Hope says it doesn't look good at all. It doesn't look good at all. Evidence doesn't look good at all, but I'm going to go beyond the evidence, and create new possibilities based on vision, become contagious to allow people to engage in heroic actions always against odds, no guarantee whatsoever, that's hope.

Ann Deavere on rodeo bull rider Brent Williams" Think about it, we shouldn't be able to stay on top of bulls trying to buck you off cause we weigh like a hundred fifty pounds bull weighs over 2,000 pounds. but I think what keeps you on top of that bull is determination, something in side you.

Toughness is when you meet that thing that is going to defeat you, how do you ride that bull? The thing that keeps you going is this understanding that we are small, that we weigh a hundred fifty pounds, but the bull... What keeps you going is determination. And the determination is hooked into a belief that if you keep going, if you struggle, something really beautiful is going to happen.

Duncan Jones of Forrester on Pay-per-use Software Pricing

Duncan Jones of Forrester Research focuses on software pricing and licensing and helps clients understand and address the effect of technology changes on software contracts.

Pay per use provides flexible, on-demand services, suitable for temporary needs, but is not suitable for regularly used applications. Jone's concerns include:

1. Complexity to define and track. How to measure time-based or transactional usage reliably?
2. Unpredictable and uncontrallable. How to prevent an unexpected, unbudgeted bills at the end of the month?
3. Expensive. Some people assume that it'll be cheaper if they only pay for what they actually use. That's an incorrect assumption. The per hour rate will always be sufficiently more than the per year rate to push customers to the latter. Price is driven by negotiation leverage and competition, not the licensing model.
4. Counter-productive. Software vendors want people to use the tools you've made available, so why create a cost disincentive by making customers wonder, before starting an application, "How much will this cost?"

Jim Collins Good to Great

Jim Collins is a student and teacher of enduring great companies — how they grow, how they attain superior performance, and how good companies can become great companies. Having invested over a decade of research into the topic, Jim has authored or co-authored four books, including the classic BUILT TO LAST.

Executives spend too much time wordsmithing vision statements, mission statements, values statements, purpose statements, and aspiration statements—and nowhere near enough time trying to align their organizations with the values and visions already in place.