IS1101 – Intro to MIS

IS1101 – Intro to MIS Guy Kawasaki’s “Rules for Revolutionaries”

1. Create the Next Curve – Think Different • Revolution vs. evolution. • Purge – challenge old assumptions and procedures • Prod – attack challenges in a way that forces you to consider new solutions • Look for powerlessness • Separate form and function • Work the edges • Precipitate – emergence of new solution from thought • Be lucky – harvest naïveté, unintended findings and exploit latent potential. • Examples: • Amazon.com and traditional booksellers. • Ryanair

2. Don’t Worry. Be Crappy • “Shift then test” – don’t wait for perfection. • Must be 10 times better than existing standard, e.g.: • Laser printer - daisywheel • Telephone – telegraph • Great products are • Deep • Indulging • Complete • Elegant • Evocative

"I'm an educator, I am a motivator of people, I excite their imaginations" • Great Teams • Strong leader • IQ • Emotional intelligence • Idealistic, busy people • Small, separate team • Great Practices • Find fault with existing products and services • Go with your gut • Design for yourself • Build prototypes – keep it simple • Ignore naysayers

3. Churn, Baby, Churn! • Rapid improvement of revolution. • Assume you will have to do it – problems will emerge after you ship product. • Fail quickly but last long. • Build in the means to improve/revise – open architecture, redundancy and documentation. • Use your own product/service. • Example: MS Windows

4. Be prepared to break down barriers • A “chasm” exists between the market of early adopters and the market of more pragmatic buyers. • Crossing the Chasm. Geoffrey A. Moore • Problems: • Ignorance • Inertia - reluctance to change • Complexity • Channel Issues • Price

Solutions: • Enable test-drive/demos • Create a sense of ownership • Outrageous positioning • Jump on existing bandwagon • Deliver “whole product” – Geoffrey Moore • Or, do things the old-fashioned way: • Focus on a subset of customers • Choose a strategic position: variety-based, needs-based or access-based positioning • Erect Barriers • Strategic position requires trade-offs • Activities should fit together and reinforce one another - locks out competitors. - What is Strategy? Michael E. Porter (HBR 1996)

5. Make Evangelists (not sales) • Importance of early adopters – people who “believe” in the product and try to convert others. • e.g. Mac Evangelists • Add emotive sales pitches to a great product • Let people use your product in ways you didn’t imagine.

6. Defy the death magnets • Avoid the common mistakes: • “Our product sucks less” • Creeping adulteration – sacrificing quality for cost • “Kiss of yes” – being afraid to have niche products, trying enter every market • Brand as a hunting license • “Monkey see what gorilla do”. • The best product wins

7. Eat like a bird, poop like an elephant • Devour information (about industry, customers and competition) • Use amateurs to gather information • Get 1st hand information – institutionalise the process • Observe instead of asking • Use wide variety of human and other sources • Spread the information • To group, company and even competitors (legitimise the revolution) • The more inevitable your type of product or service is, the more you should strive to establish a standard. • Use the web; get all levels of your organisation involved.

8. Think digital, act analogue • Importance of relationships • Use technology carefully • Identify the right decision makers: • Go for the people who “get it” • Ignore people’s titles • Create a Virtual Community

9. Never ask people to do something you wouldn’t do • Get over paranoia • Empower your employees • Put customers in control –give them accurate information and allow them to make decisions • Under-promise and over-deliver

10. Don’t let the bozos grind you down “Everything that can be invented has been invented” - Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, US Office of Patents, 1899 “640k ought to be enough for anybody” - Bill Gates, 1981 • Etc…

IS1101 – Intro to MIS