Being Peter Kim

A model for evaluating your job (now or the next one)

The first job I ever had was scooping ice cream at a joint called White Mountain Creamery.  In the decades between then and now, I've worked for or consulted to a lot of companies of varying sizes, grographies, and states of health or disrepair.  Naturally that entails working with a lot of different people, as a manager, peer, or subordinate, in addition to sitting on both sides of the interview table as well.  I'm sure you can relate.

I started thinking about a model for evaluating a job after reading some of the posts during Guy Kawasaki's Career Week (start with that post and step forward by day).  I've tested this model against some of the past work situations that stand out in my mind:

• My manager at the ice cream store who was a recovering alcoholic, so could never make the Bourbon Ball flavor (that used real Maker's Mark).  He did whippits instead.
• The co-worker who I surprised (unintentionally) while he was surfing porn in an open-air cube environment.   I was sure to always be clearly heard and seen first in the future.
• The employee who had a family fortune yet toiled away in an entry-level position trying to win the respect of others.

So on to the model.  I believe there are three key components to thinking about a job:

1. Culture
2. Focus
3. Rewards

Everyone will weight these differently, so the order means nothing and the sub-components carry weight, too:

1.  Culture

• People (do I like them?  do they like me?)
• Environment:  tangible (office space) and intangible (culture/gestalt)

2.  Focus

• Content (do I like what I do?  does it interest me?)
• Activities (do I enjoy the physical nature of what I'm doing?)

3.  Rewards

• Tangible, i.e. compensation
• Short-term Intangible:  meeting needs (can I spend time with my kids?  am I recognized?)
• Long-term Intangible:  opportunity (how does this affect the future?)

For me, when I think about these factors vis-a-vis why I left jobs in the past - this clearly shows me why it was time to move on.

It's also important to remember that change is a constant - both yourself and in the company, so the model needs to be revisited on an annual, perhaps even quarterly basis.  In the short term, you might overlook the deficiency of one element, but there needs to be overall balance for long term happiness (again, according to your preferences).  I think balance at a macro level = a career.

Hopefully this helps you, too - whether interviewing candidates, mentoring a friend, or searching for a new opportunity.  Any thoughts for improvement are welcome and appreciated!

What's rock called today?

Total stream of conscious here - I put my iPod on play - shuffle everything yesterday morning.  Which by the way I don't think is totally random; songs seem to cluster together by artist.  In this case, I had a lot of R.E.M. songs pop up and reset to listen to Life's Rich Pageant in particular.  Then it hit me - the album's 20 years old!

But despite being released two decades ago, LRP doesn't strike me as "classic rock."  My brain is wired something like this:

• Beatlemania (1960's)
• Classic Rock (1970's until the dawn of disco)
• Indie and College Rock (early 80's - late 80's)
• Hair bands and arena rock (mid-80's post-pop)
• Grunge and alternative rock (1990's)
• Punk revival (mid 90's)

Then I tuned out.

What's today's rock called?  When I look at the current Billboard rock chart, it's a real mix; there's some post-grunge, foreign invasion, and power rock.  Not sure how to think about this.  Billboard's distinction is modern vs. mainstream; mainstream has a definite hair band sound while modern is a menagerie of styles (e.g. how is John Mayer rock?)

Any answers?  One thing for sure, I feel old.

What's the state of the interactive marketing organization?

I've got some thoughts.  But my colleague Shar VanBoskirk is currently fielding a survey of interactive marketers and will write a piece of research in Q4 on this topic.

To contribute your experience and receive a copy of the completed research findings (whether a Forrester client or not), follow this link:

http://www.gmi-mr.com/survey/s.phtml?sn=56456

Forrester's Q3 2006 Brand Monitoring Wave is now live

I began working on the brand monitoring Wave in May and wrapped up the research with publication of the documents today.  More on the process and a pretty picture of the results on the Forrester Marketing blog.  More on the personal side of the process here.

The Wave is a quite intensive piece of research.  It's very process-driven which is good in some ways, bad in others.  The process makes for a very rigorous analysis.  It also means that there's very little time for other activities when you've got one in progress.  I ran in-person "lab" evaluations with each of the seven vendors.  I made 17 client reference calls with existing and former accounts.  I also developed the 56 evaluation criteria (with vendor input) and scales, scoring each vendor and backing it up with written analysis.  These scorecards turned into longer written documents in addition to the "long doc" that describes the brand monitoring market and process.  Moreover, there was discussion at each step of the way with vendors regarding their scores and my analysis, whether fact- or opinion-based.  It adds up pretty quickly.

As a result, I'm looking forward to taking a real vacation!  Haven't had a full week off yet this year...

Real lives hacked in Second Life

A bulletin from Linden Labs early this morning alerts Second Life users that databases containing personal information have been hacked.  According to the site stats this morning, there are 648,420 total residents who have spent US$327,000 in the last 24 hours.

The money involved isn't on the scale of Warcraft (estimated by some to be $1 billion), but it will be interesting to see how this impacts the bridge between real and virtual economies.

Search algorithm quirks - brought to you by the letter S and the number 6

Ever run a search engine query for a single letter or digit, e.g.  to get a stock quote for Ford?  Sometimes, the organic results aren't what you'd expect:

• A:  Altavista (Yahoo), Apple (Google)
• G:  Gmail (Google)
• I:  iTunes (Google)
• M:  Microsoft (Yahoo)
• S:  McDonalds (Google), Standard & Poor's (Yahoo), Gibson's Anti-Semitic Tirade (MSN)
• 2:  WordPress (Yahoo)
• 4:  Microsoft (Yahoo)
• 5:  Microsoft (Yahoo)
• 6:  Internet Explorer 7 (Google)

Sometimes the page reveals the not-so-obvious answer; other times it's in the page source.  Funny how these things work.

Target.com is made of tubes; my order is "stuck."

I'm in the midst of a lousy shopping experience with Target.com that calls for a blog post.

This ordeal actually goes back to October 2005.  A friend of mine was married in Kentucky and one of the places they had registered was Target.  So it was easy enough to find the online registry and order five different pieces of a serving set.

11/1/05:  Estimated delivery date.

12/9/05:  Something goes wrong.  One of the pieces is out of stock and gets a new delivery date.

3/21/06:  Four months after the wedding and a technical glitch: 

"Although we previously notified you that the above-referenced order
was cancelled, due to a technical error, this cancellation wasn't
processed and the order has been shipped to the recipient.

We're sorry for this inconvenience and we'd like to offer you a $10
e-GiftCard to apologize for this error. You can use this e-GiftCard
toward your next online order at Target.com. You'll find the claim
code and further details below."

Well, at least they got the gifts (I think).  Inconvenience?  How is getting something you were supposed to receive in the first place a problem?  Too bad it wasn't in a proper timeframe.

8/16/06:  I decide to use the $10 giftcard.  Shopping at Target.com is tough, because anything I'd want still gets taxed and is also jacked way up by shipping charges.  But for $10 off a $28 electric razor cutting block replacement - online is OK.  I place my order.

8/28/06:  My package is supposed to arrive.

9/5/06:  Nothing has shown up and my order is still being "prepared for shipment."  I called customer service today and after a lot of "hmm"s and "huh"s, I'm told that my order is "stuck" in the system.  "Stuck?" I ask.  "Yes, it's just stuck."  Someone will email me by the end of the week to let me know if the order can be "un-stuck" and shipped or not.

I think that maybe Sen. Ted Stevens runs the Target.com technical architecture - my order is stuck somewhere in the series of tubes that makes up their e-commerce system.

Maybe I'll get a $10 gift card out of it.  For anyone who sees me in the meantime, please pardon my poor shave while we work this out.

(BTW how did the razor break in the first place?  Because I checked my luggage...)