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By 1954, a Denmark-based toy manufacturer called “The LEGO Company” had established a reputation for making high quality wooden
toys. Some five years earlier they had introduced a plastic toy called
“the automatic binding brick.” It met a poor reception that spawned
prophesies of failure in the industry press. LEGO made good wooden
toys; this brick just was not happening.

Then, something funny happened. A junior managing director of the
company, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, had an idea. He had just spoken
with a toy store buyer who lamented the fact that certain things were
missing from toys of the day. Toys didn’t work together - there was no way for toys to interact with other toys. Toys did not provide a system of play.

In retrospect we might think “of course that’s just what’s needed.” But this was just an idea. One idea in a toy company that had been around for quite a while doing it’s (toy) thing.

Kirk Christiansen’s idea grew into a new vision for LEGO
products. Initially it was outlined in broad terms, without a specific
product in mind. As the idea developed, then, the entire LEGO
product line – some 200 different toys – were scoured to see which had
the best chance of measuring up to the That vision was summarized,
according to LEGO, like this:

• Unlimited play potential
• For girls and boys
• Fun for every age
• Year-round play
• Healthful, quiet play
• Long hours of play
• Development/ imagination/ creativity
• The more toys, the greater their value
• Extra sets available
• Quality in every detail

LEGO found one product with a real chance to live up to the vision.
The time of the automatic binding brick – a failure according to some
- had finally come.

The brick was refined. The company developed a precision mass production system around it. The idea spread and grew.

As of this writing, 5 billion hours per year are spent playing with LEGO bricks.

The brick has twice won the award of “Toy of the Century.” LEGO based
video games are big sellers on systems like the Wii. The bricks are
featured in YouTube stop motion video remakes of Star Wars. There are
new character lines, and entire movies in an world of LEGO There is
LEGOland.

The LEGO brick may be the most widely known – and loved – toy in
the world. It is certainly the backbone of one the largest toy
companies in the world. The “binding brick” has become synonymous with
the company itself.

I say “LEGO”, you see a picture of the brick in
your minds eye.

It’s another example of the idea put forth in so many other
disciplines and arts: that any given idea grow in value over time; that
a good idea is worthy of refinement and development. This doesn’t
mean EVERY idea is a good idea. It does mean that even simple ideas can
have their value compound the way interest compounds on an investment.

When the time is right, those ideas can offer tremendous returns. Just think about that little brick.

An interesting note: most of the serious Windows Mobile developers I have met have iPhones for their personal emails. They keep a Windows Mobile device for work purposes.

An interesting note: most of the serious Windows Mobile developers I have met have iPhones for their personal emails. They keep a Windows Mobile device for work purposes.

In my reading, and in my day to day perusal of emails from their Apps team, I am struck by how directly they communicate with me. Check out this blog where they discuss new features and many times the implications. You are getting the guy or gal who was part of the development effort talking to you about it. No marketing schtick, no techie jargon, just a person you can relate to telling you about ways they are working to provide you, the consumer, and themselves with value.

I find this to be a great recipe, and a great example of a company investing in ways to reach part of their audience. They have multiple blogs written from multiple perspectives, covering a wide variety of interests that relate to their products. They ask for feedback, they give advanced information on the latest development.

This is a model worth studying.

It is reminiscent of the rush to get online in the late 90’s. One of the big lessons from that time: just because everyone is moving online doesn’t mean everything you do online will be useful and or profitable.

From my perspective, the questions to ask are a) What are your specific goals, b)How is your performance measured and c) How does your process allow you to iterate and improve what you do based on feedback you get from the metrics in (b). We have some clients who needs little more than a Web presence to see ROI from their marketing dollars. For others there is a trial and error process. Magic bullets and secret sauces are not as easy to find as service companies sometimes want you think.

In everyone’s excitement about the new platforms and their adoption right, there seems sometimes to be an emphasis on being a part of the rush, versus coming up with ways to truly connect with customers/clients and build value.

The point of this blog: don’t forego setting specific goals and measurement just to jump on the social media bandwagon. Facebook, Twitter and a few others are here to stay. They offer great ways to connect with your client/customer base if you use them intelligently to enhance your relationships with those groups. If you are just using the scream louder at them, I would not be so certain of your success.

And in the rush to ‘social’, don’t sleep on mobile – adoption of ‘mobile’ apps and text-based programs is on the rise as well.

• Tumblr – love their start up screen for the first time user
• Shopify – love their little floating explanation div’s that you can close
• Posterous – can it get any easier to set up an account and get started? I think not.
• Google Mail and Google Calendar – they make all the bells and whistles unobtrusive, yet available. Have you ever set up a Notes or Exchange server? Google apps is a crazy simple contrast to the same functionality.
• Squidoo – love their 1st 10 days emailings to walk you through getting started.
• heroku.com – really like their approach to saying what their company does and value prop – its very well targeted to their audience. Also like pricing options page

Share your favs.

When I first entered software professionally, I was shocked by the zeal of developers who had chosen one vendor without examining anyone else competitor. It was considered supremely uncool to follow any other vendor’s ways of doing things – even though the individual may have learned his preferred vendor’s product purely by chance.

I think of this a “religious” thinking. It’s as though some higher purpose is served by choosing one vendor over another. The software vendors often do everything they can to stoke this fire. A lot of this religious-style thinking – where non-belief is contemptible – came from the vendors themselves. Mac or PC is a case most people are familiar with…but the people writing the software for both platforms frequently do this amongst their own competitors as well.

Specifically I am talking about a line of reasoning where an idea can only be valid if it fits into a given “proven” methodology or system that everyone practices and accepts. One of those systems must “bless” the idea. What we sometimes forget is that at one point people thought you were an idiot if you believed the world was flat. One of my favorite blog posts from Will remembered a time when you could be burned at the stake for professing a belief in the number zero. True stuff. They’d find you, tie your rear end up, on a pile of fuel, and light it.

Think of all the innovation that disappears without that concept. Dark ages ensue, for that matter.

In today’s world, Microsoft develops great architectures and products but far from perfect architectures and products. PHP is a simple, fun, easy to understand language with wide adoption but not the best programming language I have ever encountered. ‘Agile’ and ‘SCRUM’ methodologies for software development are welcomed “reformations” of -and rebellions against- “Waterfall” and related software development methodologies…but they are not in and of themselves a successful business outcome.

There are to be sure, times when you need a good set of standards (process, methodology) to unify a group of people. I like the responsiveness of Agile and SCRUM relative to old, slower methodologies. I have often been an “evangelist” for various methodologies. I love C# as a language. PHP gives me warm fuzzies. I am currently in a serious relationship with Ruby and Ruby on Rails object orientation and testing framework…I have my preferences and beliefs like anyone else.

At the same time, we need to be open and flexible in getting the business outcomes we want. Any of today’s popular frameworks or methodologies has value in its ability to allow us to work together in good way. Personally I like to remind myself new innovations and methodologies will come about tomorrow. To be successful we must remain ready to adapt – and in some cases drive change.