What Do Customers Know?

By Doug Powell, Senior Vice President, Wachovia

The Customer: Part II of III

What’s your favorite product? What’s your least favorite product? Why? We’re all customers and we all like to think that we know something about something, right? In Part I: “Knowing your Limits,” I noted how important it is to talk to the customer and that if we don’t we’re liable, and likely guaranteed, to develop functions in our products that customers don’t want and miss functionality that they do want. Talking to customers is an essential part of building quality into our products and services.

“But wait,” you say. “I’m a professional in my field, have years of experience, I do talk to customers and I know the industry. I know what customers want.” Really? OK. And I’m not calling into question anyone’s experience and intelligence—the business world is full of smart, hardworking people who know their business. Besides, almost everyone at some time or another has said the phrase “Customers don’t know what they want!”

Process for Project Management

By Cristina Lee, COO, The Tatham Group Phils

 If you think managing a project is all about using good techniques and tools, think again. There is a process for managing a project, more than just using tools!

A lot of instances (and I have seen this happen so many times), there is a tendency to start out building a GANTT – and project management software prompts this behavior – without considering the fundamental purpose of the project, or even have any clear idea of how to systematically go about it. In other words, the project management tools drive and manage the project.

It should be the people driving the project.

Prototype Is The Missing Piece

By John Munce, Deployment Executive, The Tatham Group

The bank manager looked at me across the table and said, “We don’t know what we don’t know.”  Bob is an experienced guy who has run several mergers in the past.  However, this one was B-I-G.  He’s talking to me because he knows I’ve been through it all before.  He is looking to buy my experience, scars, stumbles, and mistakes from having been through an enormous painful merger.  But he didn’t ask outright for help.  He just said he didn’t know what he didn’t know.  That set me to thinking.

How do you learn what you need to know when you don’t even know you’re ignorant?

What Does Customer Focus Really Mean?

By Michael Blackman, The Tatham Group

Virtually all business leaders now agree that customer focus is essential in 21^st century commerce.  The problem is that customer focus means very different things to different people, with the key difference falling along emotional vs. intellectual/systematic lines. 

 For those front-line associates and especially leaders who let emotions guide their definition of customer focus, one might expect to find comments and actions like:

• We love our customers
• We will do anything for our customers
• The customer is always right
• If the customer asks for something we will do it

The Future Is Friendly

By Michael Tatham Jr, President, The Tatham Group

Are the members of Generation Y lazy or just searching for an environment to thrive in?

 The late 1990’s introduced an environment that expected more of Generation Y, the group that falls into the approximate birth timeline of 1980-1999.  This was a time when technology and more specifically the Dot Com phenomenon began. According to Wikipedia: “They needed to be faster and more efficient (with the advent of better technology), smarter (increase in college enrollment), and available (40-60 hour work weeks) than Boomers and Gen X. Therefore some of the defining characteristics of Gen Y are tech-savviness, family-centric, achievement-oriented, team-oriented and attention-craving”.  

Building Friendships

By Mari Franco, President, The Tatham Group Phils

The two most important factors in building relationships are TRUST and CONFIDENCE. 

This leads me to my personal practice of handling relationships and friendships. To develop friends and keep my networking alive I am very careful in making sure that they trust me. This is a very key word that many people take for granted and do not necessarily practice. They say they believe in it, but in reality, they don’t practice it.

 There are five letters that are very important to me and I practice them in my leadership ways. The five letters are F F F E and S.

 The three F’s stand for FAIR, FIRM and FRIENDLY.  Always treat people fairly with firm convictions and in a very friendly manner.

 E stands for Empathy.  Always put yourself in the his/her place. Try to imagine how he/she feels before you make decisions.

 S stands for Sympathy.  Again, by understanding people’s feelings you tend to develop long lasting relationships and true friendships.

The Cycle of Hell

 

By Laurie Clarke, Chief Operating Officer, The Tatham Group

Ever wonder why? Why some problems keep coming up over and over again?  Each summer I wonder why my city, Toronto, is taken over by construction workers fixing potholes and repaving roads?  Why are those five pounds (okay ten) shed in the summer regained in the winter? Why are meetings called to discuss the same things?  Why do short-term incentive goals appear the same year after year (or maybe pop up every two to five years)? Why can’t these problems be fixed once and for all?

 Welcome to the cycle of hell. Well, ok, the cycle of hell for some people.  And that is the problem. 

More Than Broken Bones

By Michael Tatham Jr, President, The Tatham Group

What’s broken in this story? 

 I was having a great game – 20 points, 4 assists and 11 rebounds.  I was diving for the ball to gain possession but what I didn’t realize is that my opponent was doing the same.  The result?  A head-on-head collision.  I set off for St. Michael’s Hospital’s emergency room reception and register as soon as I arrive.  Thirty minutes pass before I’m called to speak to a triage nurse.  I point out the obvious head injury – the three-inch gash on my brow is bleeding profusely – and explain to her that I’m a mild hemophiliac.

Boot Camp – A Confidence Builder?

By Rosario Ocampo, Coach, The Tatham Group Phils

When I first started working with one of our client’s redesign teams I was a bit nervous to face them, let alone coach the team. 

 However, I was confident in the thought that I was equipped with the things I learned at Boot Camp. I was also given some Tatham team deployment materials to read, background information on what step the team was on and some coaching on what to expect. This provided me with all the knowledge I needed to help me think ahead and plan for the next steps with the team.

Three Simple Questions

By John Munce, Deployment Executive, The Tatham Group

Last week I went in for a little outpatient procedure.  To me, any surgery is major surgery.  But to the doctors it was minor, routine, no big deal.  

When I arrived for the pre-surgery checklist with the three nurses and the anesthetist the clerk handed me an admissions packet.  I flipped through it.  The contents were much more interesting than I expected.