Brian Immel says...

6 Things I Learned While Getting My Teeth Cleaned

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 08:31:05 -0700

Honestly, no one really likes a visit to the dentist’s office. Certainly not me. But as I was lying there on my back, mind wondering, it occurred to me there were a few lessons I was not expecting to find.

Trust the Professionals

If you’re going to outsource anything, make sure it’s to someone you can count on. Referrals make this easier. Ask a friend. Find a good review online. Do whatever research it’s going to take for you to have confidence in the person.

If you do this right you’ll stop worrying and quickly get back to more important things. If you don’t, you’ll be micromanaging and distracted the entire time (which defeats the point). Do you’re homework and build trust with the professional, then stand back and let them do their thing. What you’re really paying for is piece of mind.

Dental Wisdom: Find a good dentist that people you trust, trust. You’ll sleep better at night.

Make Friends, and Make Them Fast

In almost any situation it’s to your advantage to have a few allies on your side. In a dramatic turn of events these people can be your backstabbers or your saviors. The sooner you build these relationships the sooner you can lean on someone when times get tough. Favors and cooperation come to mind.

Dental Wisdom: Dental hygienist are the keeper of the anesthetic. If you don’t piss them off, they’ll make your visit a breeze.

Be Present or Don’t Be - Your Choice

Sometimes it pays to be in the moment. Whenever you’re with someone you care about, being present means being emotionally available and intellectually sharp. Other times, having your mind somewhere else is just enough of a distraction to remove you for a situation. These are the tools, you decide when to use them.

Dental Wisdom: Since there was pain, I choose “elsewhere”. My mind wondered further in the boring or more painful portions of my visit. I choose to take the time to figure out a particular piece of software code that has been stumping me lately. Pain disappeared.

Free Stuff - Never Gets Old

As a reciever, I get excited just like Christmas morning. Now how long that feeling lasts entirely depends on what the “gift” is, but recieving something for nothing still triggers that psycological joy. Hopfully it’s worth it.

Dental Wisdom: Free toothbrush, floss, toothpaste. Awesome. Nuff said.

Talk Me Through It

Explaining and communicating your actions to someone who isn’t fully informed goes miles toward trust and confidence. If your behavior is justified, the thought process brings in others and allows your good intentions to shine through. People never want to feel in the dark, especially when there’s an impression that they could understand it if they just had the chance. Share everything and leave nothing to the imagination. Above all, don’t set the stage for negative surprises or mistakes.

Dental Wisdom: No matter what’s going on, a dental hygienist who explains what’s happening next puts your mind at ease. No surprises. “Are you ok?”. “Do you need more water?” “This may hurt.”

Teach Me Something New

Empower people. You’ll always be the expert but allow others to learn from your mastery and gain actionable education. It draws others into the process, builds a bond and empowers them to make informed decisions in the future.

Dental Wisdom: I already knew how brush my teeth. But after a few glances at my x-rays and some jaw models I now know the who, what, where, when and why when it comes to my teeth. Hint: it’s not just about brushing anymore.

New Features... You Didn't Even Know About

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 12:08:00 -0700

Today’s demo was exciting.

At BigDoor, the developers (myself included) demo to the entire company everything we worked on during last week’s sprint.

Honestly it’s one of my favorite parts of the job. We move so fast that the demo has become a greatest hits list of killer features that makes our platform so great.

With so many awesome things coming down the pipe weekly, we set the bar pretty high. So to demo something truly impressive it’s got to break the mold of normal awesome and become uber awesome.

Today, Harley Holt gave us that opportunity.

Our weekly sprints are jammed packed with “stories” we’re working on. Usually this means new features, performance gains and bug fixes that are in line with our company roadmap.

However, Harley went above and beyond the call of duty. Somewhere between his daily work hours and getting a nasty ankle sprain playing kickball, he built something truly uber awesome. I can’t tell you what right now (awwww, you tease), but I will say it got me all giddy and giggly with excitement.

As a result, today’s demo was exceptional. At the end of our normal routine, Harley showed off the thing he’s been working on for the last few weeks outside of our normal sprints. No one asked him to do it. It was just a damn good idea he led himself.

So kudos to the man. In my mind it was worth the ankle sprain, since we’ll see ripples from Harley’s work for months to come.

And that was all before 10:30 today. Wonder what we’ll do tomorrow?

Make it easy for users to interact - no matter how small the...

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 08:32:05 -0700

Make it easy for users to interact - no matter how small the feature.

SendGrid reduces the “Was this article helpful for you” survey in to a one click response.

Movie descriptions always let me down. They usually seem...

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 08:31:06 -0700

Movie descriptions always let me down. They usually seem super cheesy, lame or totally off base. More importantly they never seem to describe the movie the same way I would.

“not-so-nice dog-headed beasties with lazers”

Thought I got a completely different movie.

…yeah, I guess they were kind of lasers-like. But really?.

Don’t take yourself too seriously. If you’ve got to...

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 08:31:06 -0700

Don’t take yourself too seriously. If you’ve got to let the user know some bad news, make it a little less painful with some humor.

Example: Dropbox

I’ve heard tales that somewhere deep within “The...

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 08:30:05 -0700

I’ve heard tales that somewhere deep within “The Shack”, there exists the remains of an old Radio Shack - a place where someone could reliably find electronic parts for projects.

But that’s just a ghost story to scare children who buy cell phones every 9 months.

Yaaa sure, seems like a good idea now.

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 08:55:48 -0700

Yaaa sure, seems like a good idea now.

Now that I’ve seen behind the curtain, the magic is lost.

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 08:31:06 -0700

Now that I’ve seen behind the curtain, the magic is lost.

Shovels Are Bullshit

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 08:30:05 -0700

Editorial note: This won’t make any sense for most, so just let it be.

—-

I’m not saying bullshit for sensational purposes or anything, but seriously shovels are bullshit!

Especially, hoes. Hoes are used by do-it-yourselfers that frequent Home Depot on the weekends. Real gardeners would never claim to use a “hoe”. They have specific names like collinear hoes and Dutch hoes. None of this general “hoe” nonsense.

Real gardeners are many things, but they are not stupid. They invented these and other made up modifiers of the word hoe in order to confuse everyday gardeners and elevate themselves as a select group of superior gardeners.

But hoes are easy. Most gardeners look at the angled metal and the end of a hoe and “just get it”. Many find it it’s simplicity reassuring.

Well that’s bullshit.

Hoes aren’t simple. They’re a complicated tradition passed down through generations of real gardeners. Many even use two hands.

So, you want to move a small amount of dirt around? Well keep looking because a hoe isn’t just some willy nilly tool you can just grab and start pecking at the ground with.

Real gardeners have critiqued general purpose hoes on the grounds that it gets gardening wrong, mistaking hoes for a pitch fork’s job. That may be true, but bullshit. Pitch forks may get the job done, but you really should feel ashamed of yourself in the process.

In the past I’ve suggested the phrase “stick that gives my hands blisters” as a more accurate name for hoes. For if you’re truly interested in the truth and haven’t taken off your foil hat yet, you’ll realize this is the honest intent of hoes.

I’m not naive. I realize that hoes seem like an easy answer for digging holes and controlling weeds. I realize that people don’t have much time and although a hoe will move dirt around, it requires thinking to move the dirt to one side instead of back and forth. You can’t simple slap a hoe on your website. For the rest, who aren’t having any fun while gardening and really haven’t spent much thought or effort trying to use a hoe anyway, there another name the gardening world has for you: they call you a “whiner”.

Gardeners, gardeners, bullshit, hoes!

Get off my lawn,
Angry Gardener

It May Not Look Like It, But This Stupid Hat Is A Honor

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 08:31:00 -0700

One of the things I really like about working at BigDoor is just how right on our culture can feel at times.

Last week’s development sprint was a good one. The team cranked out a ton of quality code in a short period of time.

As we reflected back on the body of work the team decided I should wear “the horns” - some stupid hat that’s recently become a badge of honor.

No one told us that we needed a badge of honor. The team created the idea organically, because it just felt like the the right thing to do.

In other words, we celebrate our wins.

In terms of culture, it doesn’t get much more right than that.

Ultimately that dinky little hat means very little. It’s hard to wear headphones around it and it itches. But for the team it signals a job well done and the camaraderie the goes with it.

Do the right thing, and celebrate your wins!*

*hat optional

Just a guy in a dog costume eating some lunch. No big deal. Move...

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 23:38:00 -0700

Just a guy in a dog costume eating some lunch. No big deal. Move along.

A Model Subscription Model

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 08:31:00 -0700

Out of all the business models that a company can use to make money, I have a love-hate relationship with only one, subscriptions.

As a business I love the idea of a recurring revenue stream from a dedicated customer base. Not only does it make predicting the financial books easier, but it clearly identifies who you should be focusing your efforts on day to day.

As a customer however, I hate it. Time after time I’ll make one-off transactions over a reoccurring charge on my credit card, even if it means spending more. Something about the commitment and forcing myself to justify a long term perceived value makes me hesitant.

But when you play off of my irrational subscription fears you’ve got a business model powerhouse.

MediaLoot does this very well in my book. It’s a site where you can grab stock design elements for web, mobile and print design work allowing users to create websites that use high quality royalty-free designs (buttons, textures, layouts, etc) with minimal effort.

MediaLoot allows subscribing “members” to download a certain amount per month (varies by plan). So $9 allows you to download 5 different elements a month.

Now for the twist. MediaLoot will also let you pay to download individual items if you’re not a member. At a premium of course.

A rather convenient have your cake and eat it too moment. The per-design charge allows you to try before you buy, commits you to nothing, but makes you think twice if you purchase more than a few items. On the other hand the subscription is aimed at the heavy users and may even become ignored over time as an operating cost.

Now for the genius. MediaLoot from time to time will either have promotions that reduce the subscription cost temporarily or alerts of a subscription increase in the future. Sometimes they’ll even throw in the hook that current members will be grandfathered into the price they already pay for.

So at the end of the day customers have a tough decision to make, pay once or get your foot in the door now and start subscribing.

This is why MediaLoot is doing subscriptions right.

It’s not a new model, but for online virtual goods like this it fits like a glove. Multiple options like these make it just a little easier to pull out the credit card and commit to a purchase.

This brilliant subscription hybrid is one of my favoriate business models. Adapting the purchase transaction to the fears of the customer like this means at the end of the day I can love this both as a business and as a customer.

This photobooth I found at a Microsoft Bing event last week...

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 08:30:06 -0700

This photobooth I found at a Microsoft Bing event last week reminds me that,

1) I still really want (to build) a photobooth, but can’t justify it other than to send goofy photos to my friends.

2) My Palm Pre is not holding up so well. Low light is tough for any camera, but the photos just look sad and dated (but not in the hipster Instagram sort of way).

Marketing Toward the Tech in Us

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 08:30:06 -0700

I’m a big fan of the blog Hack A Day. It chronicles DIY hardware and software projects from people who just love to build cool things. Today while scrolling through some past entries I noticed an advertisement that didn’t suck! Ya, big surprise.

A silent video showed three guys talking. The guy in the middle had some homemade electronic device strapped to his head and an RC remote in his hand. Content like this is not uncommon for Hack A Day.

Investigating further I found it was a Verizon Wireless advertisement demonstrating the speed and low latency of their 4G network. The video showed a guy fling his RC quadcopter through an obstacle course using a phone video chat app.

Ok pretty simple hack, but what a great Ad. Technical DIY audience with an Ad to match. I can’t remember an Ad placement so contextually relevant.

Finally at the end of the video you’re lead to vzw.tumblr.com where you can find all kinds of nerdy Mythbusters-style “tests”. Just like Mythbusters most of their tests leave you pondering in that grey area of plausibility.

I don’t care if they’re real or not, I was satisfied just being engaged on a technical level for once. Verizon (actually their advertising firm), you get my kudos for the week.

Attending a Startup Weekend means never wondering if someone has...

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 00:22:00 -0700

Attending a Startup Weekend means never wondering if someone has a laptop for you to check your email.

10 Tips to Remember for Startup Weekend

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 12:24:00 -0700

Startup Weekend is a great kick in the pants that pushes you to your limits regardless of skill set. Want to see what you’re made of, try creating a startup in 54 hours. Here’s my tips for success.

Prepare yourself: You don’t have to spend sleepless nights before Startup Weekend, but make sure you are ready for the event. If you want to design graphics all weekend make sure you’ve got Photoshop installed and ready to go. The clock may start Friday night, but you don’t want to waste it with stupid stuff you could have figured out earlier.
Shop around: After the pitches Friday night you’ll have a big choice of which team to join. If you pitched yourself, you might even have to make the tough choice of abandoning your idea and joining forces with others. Either way take the time and walk the room and talk to the presenters. Once you dig deeper and hear the details of the “how” and “why” of their idea you may change your mind.
Surround yourself with a solid team: You’ll be spending the next few days with these people. Make sure they’ve got the chops you need, are going to be easy to work with and don’t smell too bad.
Find your core idea: With such a limited time to work you’ve got to have lazer focus on what your core idea is. Whatever your idea is, take as many layers off of it as possible and find the simplest concept and work on that. If you’re trying to solve a problem (you should be) make sure you are solving the problem itself, not the symptoms.
Delegate / Teamwork: No matter how big or small your team you’ve got to work together. Split up your project into tasks delegate the work. The quiet guy may be an all-star coder, but he’s not going to pull a rabbit out of his hat without your help (at least an uglier rabbit).
Get to a MVP ASAP: You may have all weekend, but most of it will be spend stressing out over your death by 1000 bugs unless you get your widget working early. You can always iterate (in a few hours or a few days), but make sure you’ll have something that works by the end of the weekend.
Validate your assumptions: Get customers using your product or service immediately. Yes that means during the weekend. Some of the most successful teams I’ve seen put their work in the hands of others right way and learn from it. At demo time having the numbers of people using your project is very impressive. (more on testing your assumptions)
Rock the demo: After a weekend of hell you may be tempted to share the pains of X or the trouble getting Y to run. No one cares. You’ve got 5 minutes and they go fast, make them count. Identify the problem, convince everyone your idea is the solution and finish them off with a killer live demo. They’ll never know what hit em.
Make friends: If you’re attending Startup Weekend that means you’ve intentionally put yourself in a position of high stress and crazy deadlines. You fool. However you’ll look back when the weekend is over, be exhausted, but regret nothing. Make sure you take the time and enjoy the ride. Meet your team and make friends you can connect with later.
Learn something new: Although it’s counterintuitive to getting something done fast, most people like to play with new toys or tricks. I’m not going to say don’t do that, because you’ll probably do it anyway, but there’s plenty of other opportunities to learn from too. Pitches, demos, developing, delegating and working with a team are all great experiences to pickup more tricks you can use later. Embrase it all. And don’t forget to talk to the mentors and the Startup Weekend vetrans, they’ve got wisdom of their own.

Seriously, What's Your Problem?

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 20:34:40 -0700

I want to know.

This weekend I’ll be participating in another Startup Weekend event in which a crack team of startup junkies and myself will create a new product or service in one weekend.

There’s a ton of ideas we could do, but I’m looking for ideas that will take the pain out of X or Y.

If you problem is knowing how to eat healthy, I wanna know. If you’re looking for a way to organize your life, I wanna know. [insert your own better examples]

Sure I’m going to personally gravitate toward the sexy high tech solutions, but above all I want to make something this weekend that myself and others will still be using in 6 months. I want to make something of value that real people can benefit from.

So if you’ve got a pain point, let me know and you may just get the product or service of your dreams in one weekend.

Convincing Devs with Devs

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 12:09:00 -0700

I recently attended a meetup of the Seattle Android Developers group. Their guest speaker was Tim Bray, Developer Advocate from Google. Tim was there to talk about the Android OS for mobile phones. Among Tim’s many accomplishments he’s also the co-inventor of the XML Web standard. Whatever, no big deal.

That night Tim made the distinction himself that he was not “developer relations” - a role that usually has that fishy not-a-developer smell. All night he spoke to an audience of active developers, as a developer but with an official tone. He shared wisdom, but wasn’t afraid to poke at the faults of Android at the same time. He was honest and genuine.

Maybe it’s the open source nature of Android, but Tim never made me feel like I was being sold to. He was viewed as a resource and as an expert.

And it worked. I’d already been interested in Android for a while, but the very open and approachable nature of Tim and his message at the end pushed me over the edge and sold me on Android.

That’s right. He sold me but never appeared to be selling me. Oh how stealth his black magic was.

If you want to get developers using your products don’t “sell them” (or at least don’t appear to be), inform them. Be like Tim and present yourself as a expert there to answer any skepticism. That open culture feel is a warm inviting blanket for developers like me. I’ll be much happier to work with you, rather than work for you.

Above all don’t be “that guy” who’s there just to have you sign on the line which is dotted. That guy smells fishy.

Violence in local arcade outrages parents when a tiger is found...

Tue, 31 May 2011 13:55:06 -0700

Violence in local arcade outrages parents when a tiger is found crushed to death by spiky balls. After many failed attempts to use the torture device’s “claw”, crying children continue to plead for “just one dollar more”. News at 11.

My Thoughts On "Early Brids"

Sun, 29 May 2011 17:40:00 -0700

Adam Loving is a friend and co-worker who’s getting a head start on ideas for the next Startup Weekend. He’s already jotted down a few concepts that have been rattling around in his head, but “Early Birds” is the concept he’s running with at the moment.

He’s even gone as far as mocking up some basic workflow and screen shots of what a finished product might look like. Not only is it a great way to flesh out the idea, but it allows someone like myself to respond to a concept, rather than idea - like this…

I initially liked Early Birds as one of the top ideas on Adam’s initial list. For me sleeping and waking are two things that I feel I’ve never gotten right and I’m always looking to improve on. Early Birds one line synopsis of “mobile sms alarm clock game” was exciting enough for me to jump on.

Now after seeing Adam’s iterative thoughts on the idea through his mockups Robert Taylor responded with a simple tweet stating, “…a text won’t wake me ~ unless you resend it until I txt a respns”.

I agree. Nor txt nor tweet nor anything as similarly short lived will wake me up. What often does wake me up is a phone call. For one the ringer goes off for a long long time. Even if my phone is on virbrate (which it is 95% of the time) it will wake me up. There’s also something on a subconscious level because I will wake up for a phone call over an alarm from the same phone because I feel it may be important. More on this later.

However what interests me most is what Adam threw into the mocks, response time. Even with the idea of a a txt, response time is something that is very motivating to me. Again, I may wake up faster if motivated by something externally relevant rather than just my alarm.

So here’s my iteration. Stay with the web service and keep utilizing phones. I’m split on app or no app, but that’s a small detail. Push more for the competition factor of response time. Say my alarm is at 7:30am. From that point on I have up to 500 points (or worms as Adam calls them) to gain. Each second I don’t, the points drop. Finally if I don’t respond (button, txt, call, etc) in 15 mins I get 0 points.

If you want to get really fancy you could even have a daily trivia question through which you could earn a 2x multiplier. This would serve as another motivator to shake off the zzzz’s and wake up so you could gain the points. The real motivator in this case is playing with your friends. Streaks for good behavior and king of the Saturday morning wakup should be recognized to ensure maximum bragging rights.

Tropo and Twillio would be great candidates to help with all the “drirty work” of a web service version.

Now here’s the key. For me to pay for a service/app like this, I’d want to improve. Whatever it takes for me to sleep better and be able to wake up faster to beat my friends is a win.