Thursday, July 5, 2007

Tell Stories Another great post from Guy Kawasaki. Add this one to my post yesterday about the Heaths' book, Made to Stick. One component of a sticky idea is a good story. Here is an analysis of nine good story ideas. What People Talk About. Lois Kelly is the author of Beyond Buzz: The Next Generation of Word-of-Mouth Marketing. This is her explanation of the top nine types of stories that people like to talk about. If you[base ']re pitching your company to investors, customers, partners, journalists, vendors, or employees and you don[base ']t use at least one of these types of stories, you probably have a problem. Aspirations and beliefs. More than any other topic, people like to hear about aspirations and beliefs. (This may be why religion is the most popular word-of-mouth topic, ever.) Sun Microsystems[base '] Scott McNealy[base ']s point of view about ending the digital divide is aspirational as is Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard[base ']s views about how companies can grow by reducing pollution and creating more sustainable business strategies. Aspirations are helpful because they help us connect emotionally to the speaker, the company, and the issues. They help us see into a person or company[base ']s soul. David vs. Goliath. In the story of David and Goliath, the young Hebrew David took on the Philistine giant Goliath and beat him. It is the way Southwest Airlines conquered the big carriers, the way the once unknown Japanese car manufacturers took on Detroit, and the way social media is taking on the media giants. Sharing stories about how a small organization is taking on a big company is great business sport. Rooting for the underdog grabs our emotions, creates meaning, and invokes passion. We like to listen to the little guy talk about how he[base ']s going to win and why the world[~]or the industry[~]will be a better place for it. Avalanche about to roll. The mountain is rumbling, the sun is getting stronger, but the rocks and snow are yet to fall. You want to tune in and listen to the [base "]avalanche about to roll[per thou] topic because you know that there[base ']s a chance that you will be killed if caught unaware. This theme taps into our desire to get the inside story before it[base ']s widely known. It[base ']s not only interesting to hear someone speak about these ideas, they have the ingredients for optimal viral and pass-along effect. Contrarian/counterintuitive/challenging assumptions. These three themes are like first cousins, similar in many ways but slightly different. Contrarian perspectives defy conventional wisdom; they are positions that often are not in line with[~]or may even be directly opposite to[~]the wisdom of the crowd. The boldness of contrarian views grabs attention; the more original and less arrogant they are, the more useful they will be in provoking meaningful conversations. Counterintuitive ideas fight with what our intuition (as opposed to a majority of the public) says is true. When you introduce counterintuitive ideas, it takes people a minute to reconcile the objective truth with their gut assumption about the topic. Framing views counter to how we intuitively think about topics[~]going against natural [base "]gut instincts[per thou][~]pauses and then resets how we think and talk about concepts. Challenging widely-held assumptions means that when everyone else says the reason for an event is X, you show that it[base ']s actually Y. Challenging assumptions is good for debate and discussion, and especially important in protecting corporate reputation. Anxieties. Anxiety is a cousin of the avalanche about to roll, but it is more about uncertainty than an emerging, disruptive trend. Examples of anxiety themes abound: (1) Financial services companies urging baby boomers to hurry up and invest more for retirement: [base "]You[base ']re 55. Will you have your needed $3.2 million to retire comfortably?[per thou] (2) Tutoring companies planting seeds of doubt about whether our kids will score well enough on the SATs to get into a good college. Although anxiety themes grab attention, go easy. People are becoming skeptical, and rightly so. Too many politicians, companies have bombarded us with FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) with no facts to back up their point. Personalities and personal stories. There[base ']s nothing more interesting than a personal story with some life lessons to help us understand what makes executives tick and what they value the most. The points of these personal stories are remembered, retold, and instilled into organizational culture. Robert Goizueta, the respected CEO of Coca-Cola, said he hated giving speeches but he was always telling stories[~]often personal ones about how he and his family had to flee Cuba when Castro took control and had nothing more than his education. Similarly, when Steve Jobs gave the commencement address to Stanford University in June 2005, he shared his personal story and life lessons. That commencement address, [base "]Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish,[per thou] was talked about on thousands of blog and was published verbatim in Fortune magazine. It helped us see Jobs in a new light. How-to stories and advice. Theoretical and thought-provoking ideas are nice, but people love pragmatic how-to advice: how to solve problems, find next practices, and overcome common obstacles. To be interesting, how-to themes need to be fresh and original, providing a new twist to what people already know or tackle thorny issues like how to get IT and marketing organizations to work together despite deep culture clashes between the two. Glitz and glam. Robert Palmer sang about being addicted to love. Our society is more addicted to glamour and celebrity. Finding a way to logically link to something glitzy and glamorous is a surefire conversation starter. For example, tagging on to the widespread interest in the Academy Awards, Randall Rothenberg, former director of intellectual property at consultancy Booz Allen-Hamilton, last year talked about the similarity and challenges between creating new [base "]star[per thou] product brands and movie stars. Seasonal/event-related. Last, and least interesting but seems to resonate, is tying your topic into seasonal or major events. Talking about industry predictions around the New Year, advertising during SuperBowl season, executive compensation reform when an executive of a well known company [base "]resigns[per thou] with an especially bloated compensation package are examples of this type of story. [How to Change the World] 11:29:39 AM    comment []

News briefs A bunch of stuff accumulated while I was in Phoenix and Israel. Software as a Service (SaaS) keeps popping up, although in manufacturing it has yet to make an impact. I use it for my soccer referee assigning. Advantage, I donâo[dot accent]t have to do anything to the application software or worry about backupâo[per thou]thatâo[dot accent]s handled by the provider (I hope). Disadvantageâo[per thou]I have to be online to use it and itâo[dot accent]s slow. However, there is a lot of effort going into making the concept work. Astoria Software launched Astoria On-Demand, SaaS application for structured content management. It is a scalable solution for rapid, low-cost creation and delivery of complex product documentation and leverages the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) technical information standard established by OASIS. Another SaaS for content management âo[ogonek]delivering instant gratification through immediate access and regular automatic updatesâo[caron] comes from SpringCM. The system provides secure document storage, processing, collaboration and management for finance, HR, sales, marketing and other functions. The Fieldbus Foundation announced the availability of the FF-569 Version 2.0 Host Interoperability Support Test Profile and Procedures Specification. The new release includes updated Foundation Fieldbus host profiles and features defining interoperability requirements and test procedures leading to host registration. Hosts successfully completing registration testing will be authorized to bear the foundation's official product registration symbol. In the Foundation Fieldbus automation infrastructure, host profiles are a key to system interoperability. The profiles define required host features for different classes of hosts, including Class 61 Integrated Hosts, Class 62 Visitor Hosts, and Class 63/64 Bench Hosts. A new on-line Benchmarking Analysis Tool gives benchmarking companies the ability to create their own reports and view benchmarking data in a way that's most useful to them. The new tool helps companies break down the complexity of various measures and help determine what actions they need to take to improve operations. Benchmarking Participating global companies in the ARC Benchmarking Consortium have been using the data to compare to other companies, and are now able to take the analysis of metrics data one step further. "Not only are we comparing detailed metrics from 79 different plants around the world and showing how a single plant compares to each of the others, but we can also make further assumptions based on the interdependency of different metrics," said Dick Hill, ARC Vice President and General Manager, and leader of the ARC Benchmarking Consortium. Dick adds, "We need to look at the metrics beyond their face value and determine what is optimal for each plant. For example, can you really deduce that fewer people are better in a plant? When compared to another metric, like the number of alarms, you might see that in some instances, more people mean fewer alarms, but in others, more people still correlate to more alarms. This is a red flag that more work needs to be done at this plant." Registration is now open for a couple of conferences (that happen to overlap slightly). MESA International's 2007 Plant-To-Enterprise Conference: Integration to Innovation (http://www.mesa.org/conference/2007/na) September 16-18 in Orlando promises to show you âo[ogonek]how to move from Integration to Innovation in their operations. This year's agenda looks at many pieces of a manufacturing landscape: PLM, SCADA, PLC's, ERP, MES, CRM, BPM, SOA, LEAN - just to name a few.âo[caron] The 2007 CIP Networks Conference and 12th Annual Meeting is September 18-20 in Denver. Membership in ODVA is not a requirement for attending. It promises that youâo[dot accent]ll learn new techniques and innovations to make your factory more productive and learn the latest developments in DeviceNet, EtherNet/IP, CompoNet and CIP Safety. ABB has appointed Enrique Santacana as Region Manager, ABB North America and President & CEO of ABB Inc. USA, effective July 1, 2007.  He replaces Dinesh Paliwal, who left ABB at the end of June. Santacana will continue to be based in Norwalk, Connecticut. Most recently, he was ABB's Region Division Manager for Power Products in North America. The $2 billion USD business develops, manufactures and sells products and services used in the electrical power industry. Previously, Santacana served as head of ABB's Power Technologies Division in North America. Additional positions held with ABB include Vice President and General Manager, Medium-Voltage Products, Vice President and Director of ABB Power T&D Company's Electric Systems Technology Institute and Vice President and General Manager of the ABB Power T&D Company's Electric Metering and Control Business Unit. Soccer playing robots. Kuka Robotics is sponsoring RoboCup 2007 Atlanta, the world's most renowned research competition among custom-built robots and their designers to be held at Georgia Tech University in Atlanta, Georgia from July 3-8, 2007. In addition, the company will demonstrate its Lightweight Robot (LWR) during the finals portion of the event on July 7 and 8. DVI (the German Packaging Institute) has endorsed the OMAC Guidelines by the DVI Automation Circle to it's German members, OEM machine builders, and packaging equipment users, significantly increasing the recognition of the OMAC Guidelines with European end users and OEMs. The ongoing dialog and interaction between OMAC and DVI regarding the application of OMAC standards has brought the two organizations even closer together through the realization and acceptance that true efficiencies can be realized in the design, operation, and interoperability of machines. The organizations have also found that machine lines may significantly improve by streamlining definitions, vocabulary, machine states, interfaces and operational standards. The OMAC Guidelines help to enhance industrial automation in the packaging industry, including making, converting and packaging. The results will enable end users to reduce overall costs and enhance responsiveness to changing business requirements. Automation companies boost effort for alternative fuels. Siemens Energy & Automation and the National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center (NCERC) announced a partnership to speed the growth of alternative fuel technology. The 10-year agreement between the center and Siemens represents hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment, software and on-site simulation training. Opened in 2003 at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, the NCERC-the only research center of its kind in the world-facilitates the commercialization of new technologies for producing ethanol more effectively, resulting in improved ethanol yields and reduction in costs. The Center plays a key role in the Bio-Fuels Industry for Workforce Training to assist in the growing need for qualified personnel to operate and manage bio-fuel refineries across the country. The NCERC also contributes to investigation in agricultural science, which results in creating new jobs and further economic development initiatives in the region. The Simatic PCS 7 distributed control system and instrumentation from Siemens is now being used by the NCERC to help validate near-term technologies that are enhancing the economics and sustainability of renewable fuel production. ABB has supplied System 800xA extended automation, as well as related automation equipment and services, to two major bioethanol plants in Thailand, supporting the country's efforts to reduce its reliance on oil imports and to mitigate environmental impact by reducing its use of fossil fuels.   These plants are a crucial part of projects initiated in 1985 by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand. They will produce up to 350,000 Liters of 99.5-percent pure bioethanol from sugarcane (molasses) per day for use in the production of gasohol, an alternative fuel consisting of 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent premium petrol. ABB provided the Thai Agro Energy Company and the Petro Green's biofuel plant with motor control centers, automation systems, field supervision and commissioning services for controlling the bioethanol production process in addition to a range of other services, including the conceptual design, detail engineering and application software programming. Security Compliance Institute At a May 2007 meeting with the ISA-sponsored Automation Standards Compliance Institute (ASCI), an ad-hoc group of influential asset owners and suppliers of industrial automation technology and services moved forward with a plan to establish an ISA Security Compliance Institute. The group established the mission for the proposed organization, which is to decrease the time, cost and risk of developing, acquiring, and deploying control systems by establishing a collaborative industry-based program among asset owners, suppliers, and other stakeholders. The program will: *    Facilitate the independent testing and certification of control system products to a defined set of control system security standards; *    Use existing control system security industry standards where available, develop or facilitate development of interim standards where they don't already exist, and adopt new standards when they become available; *    Accelerate the development of industry standards that can be used to certify that control systems products meet a common set of security requirements. The standards, tests and conformance processes for control systems products will allow the products to be securely integrated. An ultimate goal of the organization is to push the conformance testing into the product development life cycle, so that the products are more intrinsically secure. CAN in Automation (CiA) has released several new and updated CANopen specifications. Most important is the CiA 311 XML electronic data sheet (EDS) specification. It defines the XML scheme to be used for the electronic description of CANopen devices. The specification is based on the ISO 15745 standard. In the future, XML electronic data sheets will substitute the well-known ASCII-based EDS as specified in CiA 306. EDS are used by configuration, diagnostic, or testing tools to get information about the CANopen device to be configured, diagnosed, or tested. 10:38:27 AM    comment []

Searching for manufacturing data I was in Israel on vacation when Rockwell Automation held its annual RSTechEd--the education gathering of distributor and integrator specialists. This year it also held a "Manufacturing Forum 2.0" at the same time/same location. Lots of notable speakers including Geoffrey Moore of Dealing with Darwin fame. Since I couldn't go, I asked Dave Gehman, one of Automation World's Contributing Editors to go. His report is here. The interesting idea--the need for good search engines for manufacturing data. That was a "duh" moment for me. I hear all manner of new features for manufacturing software but I don't think I've ever heard one of the suppliers talk about search. In the tech world search is really heating up. Ask.com has upgraded and I use it more than the venerated Google. Jason Calacanis has started Mahalo--a human-factored search engine. And Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, is working on an open-source search called Wikia. What do you think? Is it time for a good search engine for manufacturing software? Hmmm, ads by Google? It tracks what you search for and serves up ads for more of the vendor's products? Whoa, let's not go too far ;-} 7:25:41 AM    comment []