I am starting a new series of posts.  I am calling them "Make It More Awesome" (MIMA . . . mee-mah) posts.  These are things I see everyday, and just think to myself, "Man, this sucks!  Someone really needs to innovate this!  Make it more awesome please!"

The Coffee Condiment Bar

I am not sure what this is called in the industry.  I am referring to that little table where you add cream, and sugar to your coffee.  This thing sucks.  Someone please make it more awesome!

Why does it suck:

• Filthy - Starbucks is the worst. 
• Lack of Space - Taking the cover off a steaming hot cup, adding cream and sugar, and then tasting it to make sure you added enough while carrying a bag is difficult enough.  Add a morning crowd.  Add a person next to you who has 4 Venti's and roller laptop bag thing. 
  
• Elbows - This is a recipe for disaster.  Elbows are everywhere!  Try taking a cover off one of those cups without doing a Dikembe Mutomo.

• Bottleneck - Why don't they have more of these?  I don't feel like getting in another line after standing in line to get the coffee.
• Room for cream - I do this.  We all do.  I want to add cream.  There is too much coffee.  What do you do?  Yeah, that's right.  Pour it into the trash.  Not sure, but pouring a molten hot liquid into a 4 inch hole while carrying a bag with a shaky non-caffeinated hand seems like a bad idea.  Just saying.
• Out of half-and-half - Honestly, at least 50% of the times, the half-and-half is empty.  The other 50% of the time, they are out of sugar.  So, a 100% of the time, I am pissed.

How to MIMA:

• Just make the area larger.  This will solve a lot of problems.
• Make it 360 degrees accessible.  Don't push it up against a wall.  The Borders near my home does this well.  The area is accessible from all angles, and it is in the middle of the cafe area.
• Innovate the cream and sugar dispensing devices.  A "container of some sort" is so 90's.  How about some pump device that dispenses exact amounts.  Cream?  Pump, pump.  That's 2 creams.  Sugar.  Pump, pump, pump, pump, pump, pump. 
  
• Copy McDonald's - Ever notice how McDonald's does this?  They have this device that pumps out the cream and sugar.  Quick and precise.  Adapt that to the condiment bar area.  I should just walk up, cover off, pump, pump, pump pump, and done!
• Add a drain of some sort.  It could dispense water, and accept molten hot liquid for making room for cream.
• Clean it!  Often!
• Keep it stocked. 
  

Out.

http://startuplessonslearned.blogspot.com/2008/09/what-does-startup-cto-actually-do.html

So, what is a CTO supposed to be doing all day?  I think Eric Ries, in the above post, sums it up pretty well.

The CTO's primary job is to make sure the company's technology strategy serves its business strategy.

So concise.  So correct.  The key phrase in that statement is "serves its business strategy".  Technology often forgets why it exists.  Why does technology exist?  It exists to serve some function.  If you work for a company, that function is for business.  And, if you are really lucky, that business is transforming the world, and culture (Google, Apple, Twitter, etc.).

He goes on to identify 5 (+1) key skills for a CTO.

• Platform selection and technical design
• Seeing the big picture (in graphic detail)
• Provide options
• Find the 80/20
• Grow technical leaders
• Own the development methodology

Provide options

Some technologists have a tendency just to "decide for you" and give you the "best" option, but that's dangerous. You can't have an honest dialog if one party knows all the answers.

"Some"?  I would say "most" technologists.  Usually, when a technologist says, "That's impossible."  What they really mean to say is "I don't want to do that because I don't know the technology you are talking about, and I kind of think you are an idiot, and by the way, I have this piece of code that I wrote 20 years ago that we should use, and basically, I don't care about the business, I care about Perl."  

Too many technologists only think about technology.  What good is technology if it is not meeting a business need?  Provide options.  Be a collaborator.  Collaboration is the key to honest dialog.  Collaboration builds trust.  So, get out of your cave and start collaborating.  

Find the 80/20

Once I understood what the objective of their feature was for customers, I could sometimes see a way to get 80% of the benefit for 20% of the cost.

Now, we are talking!  Everyone, all up and down the food chain, needs this skill!  

This is of ultimate importance for the CTO.  Why?  Because technology is friggin' expensive.  Because a technology project is never 100% done.  Because technology is never as easy as you think it is.

The key to "getting done" is getting ~80% done.  Then, decide if doing the rest is part of the technical and business strategy.  If the CTO (or an leader for that matter) cannot grasp the 80/20 concept, costs will rise while project timelines increase.  A losing proposition indeed.

Grow technical leaders

By delegating and training, we create a corps of leaders who could step in to provide CTO-like services on demand. And by working together, we created a team whose whole was greater than the sum of its parts.

In other words, the CTO needs to mentor.  To me, this is a no-brainer.  For anyone in leadership, one of their main day to day activities should be to mentor.  ABM (Always be mentoring).  But, I am constantly amazed at how little mentoring is done.  I have found that when I mentor someone, it is always a growing experience for me.  I think I get more out of it than the mentee.  Why?  Teaching something is the best way to learn something.  Plus, you can't BS someone you work with everyday.

Out.

I am watching the Palm Pre CES videos on YouTube.

Those who know me have heard me rant about how the Apple iPhone's UI actually kind of sucks. Don't get me wrong. It is the best mobile device out there. But, the UI design is not that great. Sure. It looks great. But, it does not function great.

As I watch these Palm Pre CES demo videos, I am reminded of a few innovation truths:

• There is always room for improvement
• Being first does not make you the best
• Design must be functional

A highly recommend blog about business, management, and innovation:

http://venturehacks.com/

An awesome quote from the latest article (http://venturehacks.com/articles/ordinary-people).>

The problem isn't that money is a weak motivator. The problem is that money is a terribly strong motivator. By itself, money motivates the wrong people to do the wrong things in the quest for more money.