Ramblings.
Metaphors vs. The Obvious
December 20, 2017
Sometimes an idea makes perfect sense until you see the end result. Great in theory, but not in practice.Read more
Coasting
August 2, 2017
McDonald's just brought back its $1 coffee promotion, wonderfully timed to coincide with Tim Hortons' price bump. This obviously makes the latter look pretty bad in comparison, but their problems run deeper than that.
Tim Hortons have been coasting for a long time by co-opting Canadian national identity as their own, rather than relentlessly focusing on the customer experience and the quality of their products. Profits are down and franchisees are unhappy, but decades of marketing have managed to inextricably link Tim Hortons to people's idea of what it means to be Canadian. But that can only take you so far.
McDonald's, on the other hand, is the exact opposite – they have a rather bad public image, that of a guilty pleasure at best – but they constantly tweak and refine and introduce new things to their menu. They've been very aggressive in promoting their coffee, setting their sights on Tim's in particular given the similar price bracket (as opposed to Starbucks or Second Cup).
Tim's over-reliance on public image rather than its products is catching up to them, as are their competition. It's a shame, but why didn't they see it coming?
“Why?”
May 24, 2017
It seems too easy, almost childish, but asking "why" is a great way to figure out what to do to accomplish a goal. Each time you ask yourself why, you're zooming out a little bit more and seeing more of the big picture. Keep doing it until you can't zoom out anymore, then dive back in. I find that exercise really helpful in situations where I have a solution in search of a problem, or when I think I know the answer intuitively but need to validate it.
Be Prepared
January 30, 2017
We often don't have a contingency plan in place for something that hasn't happened to us before - it tends to be top of mind only after we've gotten burned. I noticed this last week due to a few different circumstances.Read more
Dark Patterns
January 24, 2017
Dark patterns are deliberate design decisions made to trick people into believing or doing something they might not have done otherwise. They're so insidious that often times we don't even realize we've fallen for one. Read more
Babies, Bathwater, and Watches
October 6, 2016
I recently saw a quote written a few years ago in the context of business strategy that says (paraphrasing) "You don't want to be starting a mechanical watch business when everyone is switching to digital". The intent of that piece of advice is clear - don't jump into a dying industry - but as a bit of a watch nerd I found that specific example interesting, in that it refutes itself. Read more
Reinventing the Wheel
September 20, 2016
The marketing industry, especially the more tech-driven corners of it, tends to pile onto new technology as soon as it launches. I've been guilty of it myself with failed platforms like Google+. Read more
Obsolescence Through Technology
October 27, 2015
Cars used to have a useful lifespan of decades. Compare a '38 Ford to a '58 and there are some marked improvements, but the older model would have been quite at home on the roads of 1958. That longevity applies less and less to the cars of today.Read more
Goodbye Cable
February 1, 2015
We're now about four months into our Cable-less life (and home-phone-less for that matter), and I regret not doing it earlier. The pros massively outweigh the cons.Read more
Of Standards and Shower Curtains
October 8, 2014
I've been investigating home automation systems lately; partly because I like to overcomplicate things, but also because automated lighting and HVAC seems like a good idea. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I've been dissuaded by the fact that the many systems that exist are mostly incompatible with each other.Read more
Being the Center of the Universe
August 7, 2014
I was helping a friend with his business website on Sunday; he uses Shopify for ecommerce but wants to move to WordPress for his CMS mostly because of the excellent WPML plugin for multilingual websites (affiliate link, but I would recommend it for free). While adding his content I was momentarily shocked to discover that Shopify doesn't make a WordPress plugin.Read more
Bending the Truth
May 21, 2014
Cereal is my breakfast food of choice. I usually buy it at Costco, and last time we were there I happened to buy a box of "Vector" cereal "meal replacement". The front of the box advertises the fact that it contains 13 grams of protein per serving, and I wondered as the box was in my cart whether they had sneakily included the protein from the milk (after all, it is the "suggested serving").Read more