Dave Harkins' Blog

The “Great” Facebook Blackout

Dave — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:31:16 +0000

December 15, 2008, over a million members of Facebook.com planned to stop using the website for a day. It seemed many users were unhappy with the new layout, account deletions, and interaction limitations of the network. They believed that by staging a blackout, Facebook management would listen. It didn’t work. There are more than 40 million [...]

The last thing you hear

Dave — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 18:54:20 +0000

The automated phone system in the office has six option prompts. That’s not a big number, really. Yet, when we made a small change to the last prompt recently, we noticed a 100% increase in the number of misdirected callers who hit the last prompt–the one before, “If you need to hear these [...]

Learn the road and know your carpool

Dave — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 04:47:09 +0000

In recent months, I have encountered a number of people who are new to their jobs. They’ve come from outside the organization for which they now work and they were hired in part because of the good work they had done with their former companies. No doubt, they were told when they were [...]

Thank you for your support*

Dave — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:44:59 +0000

When I relaunched my blog a few weeks ago, several people asked me to re-post some of my older writings. I’ve accommodated that request with a few that were still relevant. I’ve added them here, marking the date of the post as the date of the original writing. I will also add some of my [...]

It’s all in the tone of your voice

Dave — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 02:25:00 +0000

Growing up, I learned quickly how to determine when my dad wanted my attention. He could add a certain tonal quality, let’s say, to the delivery of a sentence that let me know I needed to focus on what he was saying. He never raised his voice, but I often heard him “yelling” [...]

Trust is still the currency

Dave — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 01:25:38 +0000

As Web 2.0 and social networking technologies gain a greater foothold on our culture, I often hear LinkedIn.com founder Reid Hoffman’s quote, “Privacy is an old man’s concern,” tossed about. There is some truth to that, I suppose. Although I suspect the real issue is “trust” and not “privacy.” Trust is certainly not [...]

Looking through the wrong end of the telescope.

Dave — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 01:27:57 +0000

Recently I had the privilege of proposing a couple of new product ideas to a small group of folks. Both ideas involved new media, never before used by the organization in this fashion. Early in the conversation one member in the group said something like, “…in the 80’s we made a decision not to move [...]

If it’s a good idea, it’s worth doing poorly.

Dave — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 02:01:13 +0000

When I was the CMO of a software engineering firm at the end of the dot com era, my boss would find a way to work, “If it’s a good idea, it’s worth doing poorly,” into every conversation. When I got over the annoyance of it, I realized he was on to something. “We can’t drive [...]

I like change, except…

Dave — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:10:13 +0000

I like change. I like the excitement and energy of something new. I like the experience of interactions with new people, places and things. I’m invigorated by change and actively seek opportunities for change in my daily life. I live my life in search of opportunities for change. Yes, you could say I love change. [...]

Are you making promises you can’t keep?

Dave — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 23:21:34 +0000

I’m sure you’ve all read the news about the few bad apples at one leading consulting firm who have cost the jobs and pensions hundreds, if not thousands of people. Both the consulting firm and its client have lost large numbers of customers, again, because of the actions of these few individuals. To read some the press [...]