The Problems of a Lift and Shift CMS project (and why clients should stop asking for them)

Posted on January 21, 2013 by paceaux

Every CMS implementation is different, but you can generally categorize them into two major groups, regardless of the details: New site or Lift ‘n Shift. If you’re unfamiliar with the phrase “Lift and Shift”, it’s where we take an existing website, in its entirety, and move it into a CMS without modifying any front-end code. The untrained and uninitiated sometimes call this a ‘copy and paste’. This is a popular request from clients on for two reasons: they perceive it to be more cost-effective and they believe it should take less time (which sometimes still has a financial motive).

Unfortunately, the idea of moving an old website into a new CMS is a bit like buying a Porsche and then towing it with your Pinto. It’s more damaging to the bottom line, slower than you’d expect, and completely relieves you of the joy of using what you bought. So let’s talk about what the issues are that arise from a “Lift and Shift” exercise.
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The Myths of Modern Web Browsers, and the Real Problem with IE

Posted on June 20, 2012 by paceaux

Browser Logos from Paul Irish

In a recent project that I’ve been working on I was able to reach a new level of frustration and aggravation with Internet Explorer. Any front-end developer with more than a week of experience could tell you horror stories about Internet Explorer and how wonderful it is to develop in ‘modern browsers’. We mistakenly clump Chrome, FireFox, Opera, and Safari under one inaccurate label, and not bother with a label for the versions of Internet Explorer. We need to correct our way of thinking about the differences between these browsers by looking at why they’re different. And if we consider the real reason that they’re different, we can fix the real problem with Internet Explorer.

An Open Letter to My Congressmen Regarding SOPA

Posted on January 18, 2012 by paceaux

Below is the the message that I’ve emailed to each of my congressmen regarding SOPA.

Hello congressmen Udall, Bennet, and Polis,
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Office Politics: Take It or Lead it

Posted on August 24, 2010 by paceaux

A very wise man once told me to expect Office Politics anywhere. He actually didn’t need to tell me, because I kind of suspected it. But regardless, he reminded me that every business is crazy in their own special way; don’t expect crazy to just disappear. I thought that I was okay with that axiom, but as it turns out — I’m not. I accept the existence of Politics as a fundamental nature of humanity. But when it becomes harmful and dangerous to the business, I don’t think that it’s okay to just cough up the phrase, “that’s Office Politics for ya. Take it or leave it.” If someone tells me just to take it, I think I’d rather lead it, than leave it.

The Grass Is Always Greener

Don’t ever get sucked into the illusion that the grass is greener on the other side of business. I was given that nugget of wisdom in an exit interview. I expected it, but hearing it from someone with more experience gave me a realistic expectation of my new employer. When you’re new to the workforce, or just plain younger, you can get the idea in your head that all of your problems, like Office Politics, will go away with the new job.

It won’t.

It exists in every workplace, but when it’s a detriment to business, it’s time to stop taking it.

“That’s just Office Politics”

I hate hearing that. Not just because the subject annoys me, but because the person saying it isn’t annoyed. You don’t let people apply that, “take it or leave it” attitude to other issues in the office, so why let it slide for Office Politics? Because the person telling you doesn’t have a solution, and she doesn’t really know the problem. When there’s a problem in the office, you don’t stop with just acknowledging the reason. You fix it.

Jesus Didn’t Observe and Report

I’m going to take a step back for a second. The best way for me to elucidate the Office Politics problem is to draw a parallel from my faith. I’m a Christian and have been for ten years now — so I have twice as much experience as a Christian than as an office worker. Forgive me for stepping into my comfort zone.

As a Christian I am sometimes asked how I can believe in a God when there is so much suffering in the world. Having read Genesis, my response is plain: We are a fallen race who lives in a fallen world, because we chose to know both good and evil. If you read the first three chapters of Genesis you’ll figure it out this way: God makes man. God makes knowledge of good and evil. God gives man the option of knowing Him, or knowing Him and a really crappy world. Man decides to visit God on the weekends, and to know what it’s like to live a life that sucks like a Hoover in a wind tunnel.

If you, knowing nothing about the life of a Christian, asked me why life sucks, and my response were…”because it sucks,” you’d be pretty pissed — because you already knew that.

That’s because, “because it sucks,” is only an observation of the problem. It doesn’t work. You want the root cause, and you want a solution.

So as a Christian, my complete response to the question of life’s suckitude is, “We are a fallen race living in a fallen world because we chose to know both good and evil. But by God’s grace, we’re saved through faith — so we don’t have to depend on ourselves to stop sucking like a Dyson on the wing of a 747.”

My response is not just a statement of the state of affairs, but the root cause, and the solution as well. As a Christian, I’d be doing damage to God’s kingdom if my sole response to life’s suffering was only, “because we suffer.” Jesus didn’t just tell us we sucked, He told us why and then pulled the plug on the vacuum.

Back to Business

So why do I get so freakin’ annoyed when I find a serious problem that’s because of Office Politics?

Easy. You telling me that the cause is Office Politics has nothing to do with the solution or the problem. It’s a description of my present state-of-affairs. Just as with Christianity — the solution to the suckiness of life starts when you tell me the state-of-affairs. You want a root-cause and a solution, too. Telling me that the reason I can’t do my job is Office Politics does nothing to push me towards a solution.

Alpha, Beta, Caged

In my observation, there are two types of people who tell me, “That’s Office Politics.”

The first type of person is what I would call a ‘caged lion’. This is someone whose nature has been beaten out of her. She’s tried going directly to the manager, or talking to the VP, but through the years she’s been beaten into submission. She’s accepted that she can’t get ahead unless she says the right thing and does the wrong one. She tried honesty and learned that it didn’t work. She accepts Office Politics because she has no alternative.

If I were looking at this in the world of Christianity, this is a person who follows the pattern Sin, Repent, Repeat.

The second type of person is what I would call the ‘beta lion’. This is one who has recognized the political state of the office. He has no problem acknowledging that Office Politics are a detriment to business because he uses them to his advantage.

If I saw him in the world of Christianity, his modus operandi is sin or let sin.

Politicians are Just Managers

The alpha lion is the politician, in case you were counting. And a politician doesn’t change anything. Politicians never change anything – whether they’re office politicians or government politicians. All politicians do is manage the state of affairs so that they continue to suit their interests. In government, it’s the folks that voted for them, or the lobbyists that pay their bills. In the office, it’s the same thing. The Office Politician — that guy that constantly kisses butt, passes blame, and manipulates — isn’t trying to change anything. He wants to keep the office in a state where it benefits his interests, or the interests of a select few in the office. He doesn’t want to make any changes that threaten his power in the office. He only wants to maintain his Alpha Lion Status.

Politicians aren’t Leaders, but Leaders are Politicians

How’s that for a chiasmus? Let’s take a step back into the world of the Bible. Moses lead a bunch of slaves out of Egypt. He tried politicking. He tried to talk Pharoah into letting them go. But the point was, “we’re going.” There was no negotiation on that. The question was simply, “Is this going to be easy, or hard?”

Moses was a leader. The decision was made and he didn’t negotiate its success. That’s because when you negotiate success, you’re only managing failure. That’s what politicians do; they manage failure. If you’ve read Exodus, or seen Prince of Egypt, negotiating success didn’t work out too well for the Pharoah. Ultimately, it doesn’t work out for the Office Politicians.

If Moses tried to be a politician, the Jews would have gotten Sunday off. He tried to be a leader — and here’s how you can distinguish the Office Leader from the Office Politician: Leaders don’t stay put. Look At Moses, Martin Luther King, Jr. or Martin Luther. They weren’t managing failure, they were striving for success. Success meant improvement on the present state-of-affairs, not better management of the present problem. Plain and simple.

Office Politics: Take it, or Lead it

I’m tired of being told that my problems in the office are just because I have problems in the office. I know there’s politics, that’s what happens in offices. But if it’s hurting my business, don’t tell me to accept the hurt. It didn’t work for Jews in Egypt, or sin on Earth. If there’s a problem with the Office Politics – be a leader first, politician second. Lead the office out of the problem. Play nice if it can fix the problem. But make it your goal to fix the problem. Don’t burn bridges, but don’t die on hills, either. Just work through the problem with nepotism, favoritism, or narcissism. It’s not your problem, it’s his. It’s your problem if you don’t fix it.

Take it and lead it — or take it and leave it.

Designers are from Mars, Clients are from Venus

Posted on July 30, 2010 by paceaux

Designers and clients come from two different worlds. Two very different worlds; they speak different languages, have different cultures, and can easily get into a fight with each other. Usually, the only thing they’ll have in common is that they both own businesses. With completely different languages, experiences and areas of expertise, it’s hard to make sure you can both walk away from a project completely happy. So let’s talk about four questions you can ask each other to make sure that you get the job done well.

1 – Designer to Client: Why are you (re)designing your website?

For the client, a website should be a marketing strategy. Design doesn’t get you customers, content does. If you’ve got a new business, you need a presence on the web because everyone else has a web presence. You don’t care if it looks fancy, you just want prospects finding it and turning into customers. Your goal is singular: Customers. You just want people to buy your product or service.

If it’s an existing business, you probably found out that customers aren’t getting what they want out of your site. Maybe they want to pay you online, perhaps they want to get more information from you, maybe they won’t forward you to other clients because the design makes you look unprofessional.

Regardless, the designer needs to know what your definition of success will be.

2 – Client to Designer: What’s wrong with my website?

Toughen your skin and get ready. The answer is bound to hurt your own/mother/brother/sister/extended family member/neighborhood kid’s feelings. Designers see the web very differently from the clients. We see browser compatibility, code, design, and user experience. Unless you stop and correct us, our number one goal will be to fix whatever we see is wrong. A ‘good’ website is defined very differently when you go from a designer to a client. I spoke with a designer two days ago who said his goal for a website redesign was valid XHTML 1.0 on every page. When I asked his boss’ boss, the answer was “it looks better”. Thank God I asked.

This is just another way of defining success. The designer and client should come to a mutual agreement on their answers.

3. Designer to Client: What do you know about websites and graphics?

The freelancer needs to know what he’s up against. Is this someone who will appreciate some CSS3 animations, or do they want their splash page to work on their Windows 98 machine? Asking this question sets the stage for how the freelancer needs to talk to the client. Remember, the web designer speaks a different language – this helps him find out if you’re bilingual, fluent, or a tourist in his native tongue. If it’s rude to knowingly speak to someone in a foreign language, it’s rude to use technical jargon on someone who doesn’t know it. It’s unintentional, but designers come off as jerks when they use geek-speak in front of grandma.

The other thing this question establishes is expertise. The client may say that she’s used PhotoShop a few times, or coded a Myspace page. This gives the designer an opportunity to talk about how the web isn’t just a snippet of HTML, and that PhotoShop takes years to master; it’s a subtle way for the designer to say, “You’ve visited my world, but I live here.”

This question also opens up a learning opportunity for the client. The designer has a chance to teach the client why splash pages are bad, or why Internet Explorer is evil.

4 – Client to Designer: What do you know about my business/ industry?

Basically, re-read what I wrote above and trade designer for client. There isn’t just one expert in this relationship. Make it clear that you know what’s best for your business. You know your customers better than the designer, so make sure he designs for them, not for himself.

What else?

These are four great starter questions. I’ll throw in a few extras. Again, as a note to both parties – ask these questions before you get started, not halfway through.

Questions for the Client

Who is going to write the copy (text)? Don’t assume your designer is a writer. If he isn’t, you need to get someone to do it. By the way, the designer is assuming you’ll write it.
Where are the pictures coming from? No, you cannot go on Google and just search for an image. That’s illegal. You must have permission to use any and all images.
Once this is over, who is going to update your site? If you’re going to update the site, the designer needs to build it in such a way that you can update it. You have options, depending on your skills.

Questions for the Designer

Are you a full-timer or a part-timer? How many other clients do you have? It’s not a bad thing if you’re part time. If you have a full-time job already, don’t deceive your client into thinking you can do this in a week. Similarly with having other clients. Every client thinks your only focus is on them; they need to know that it isn’t.
What are your working hours? Full-time freelancers are work-from-home guys. Part-timers have an 8-hour gig. They all work goofy hours – often different from the client. The client needs to know the right and wrong times to call you.
What if I’m not happy with the design? The designer should design with a mutual agreement of his and the client’s definition of success. What that in mind, it’s possible that you start work and realize that you still can’t agree on that definition. I recommend that your contract require payment at three times: up-front; after mockups; and then after the finished design. A designer worked to develop those mockups, regardless of whether the client is happy, he deserves payment for that work. However, if the design is unsatisfactory, the client shouldn’t get stuck with the whole website. I say you pay in installments: before starting, after mockups, after the launch.

What a smiley face taught me about my career

Posted on July 6, 2010 by paceaux

Introducing Jerry

I’d like to introduce you to Jerry. You can see his picture here. To you Jerry looks like just a smiley face, but for me he’s a lot more. I’ve taken Jerry to every desk I ever had, and now that I’m moving on to another company, he’s coming, too. You see, Jerry taught me more about business, myself, and God than anyone else ever could. I’d like to share his story.

Just a little over five years ago, I started my very first corporate job at a place called Mannatech. I was hired as a temp in the call center taking French calls. Not too long after I started, the whole call center got “quality training”. We learned how to be pleasant on the phone, practiced etiquette, and were given a smiley face – to remind us that we always needed to smile when talking to the customers.

Smiley Faces Don’t Work on Me

Those who know me will tell you that I’m much too cynical for a smiley face. I thought it was a dumb idea to say the least. But, nonetheless, something told me to hold on to Jerry. So while the other representatives threw theirs away, I kept and named him. I just randomly picked Jerry – there’s no one in my life with that name; he just looked like a Jerry. So I wrote on the back of him, “My name is Jerry,” and just waited to figure out what he had to offer.

I don’t know exactly how to sum up my time at Mannatech – without writing a book. Emotionally it was a roller coaster. I had days, or months where it was miserable. There were other times that it was amazing and inspirational. Both the customers and the company were factors in my drift from one end of the spectrum to the other on any given day. Mannatech taught me a lot about how to learn.

So I could recount all the times that it was the company’s fault, or I could give you countless horror-stories with the customers. None of that really matters, though. It’s not about who hurts you, or how you’ve been hurt. It’s about how you choose to react to it. I didn’t need a smiley face to teach me how to talk to customers. I needed a smiley face to help me respond to life’s difficulties. Or better yet, to life.

One day, while I was dwelling on how to deal with a rough day, I wrote on the back of Jerry: “I’m smiling because…”

And now I need a reason. Any reason would do; with it being an exceptionally rough day I decided to start small: “I’m employed.” That was good enough. I could deal with my troubles because I had that one reminder. But let me tell you, every time, no matter how small or large – silly or serious, I wrote on Jerry when I was reminded of something good at my job.

Life is What Happens When You’re Making Other Plans

Mannatech was just filler in the recipe I had written for my life. Nonetheless, it filled up a lot of time over five years. Here’s a snapshot of the five years I spent at Mannatech:

A no-refund policy for two and a half years and a million customers, many who wanted a refund
Expansion into nine new countries
Website redesign, launch of a new CRM, and launch of a new product line in the same day – and the 6 months of crisis mode thereafter
A product line being on recurring backorder for six months
Going to Australia and New Zealand to train customers and representatives – only to come back and be put on the phones
Mannatech being sued by the attorney general and the customer response for six months after
Hurricane Katrina: Customers recounting the deaths of friends, losing their checks, their jobs, their livelihood
A nine-month web site redesign project
Launching a third website redesign

So yes, it was a very hard five years at Mannatech. But then there was what I had to deal with in my personal life:

Near bankruptcy
Three trees falling on my house
Two floods: one with the water main breaking, the other forcing us to remove all the carpet
Breaking my leg: two surgeries, 2 months in a wheelchair, 4 months with a cane, physical therapy
Breaking my arm
Rejection: by the FBI, 3 police agencies, the CIA, the US Air force, and seminary
Having my heart flipped completely after a 3-year struggle where I opposed ever having kids
A changed heart for children and then the pain of infertility

So who was Jerry to me?

Jerry was a reminder of the choices I made in my life. Not the big, life changing choices. Not the choices I made in my marriage. Jerry reminded me that I could choose to recognize the blessings in my life. His smile was simple; when he smiled, it meant something was still okay. Every time I had a difficult day, I wrote on his back a reason for him to be smiling. And then, every time I had a horrible day, I read it.

So, below are the reasons Jerry smiled at me. You’ll notice a few themes; God blessing me, the customers appreciating me, and the triumph over my life circumstances. I didn’t need a reminder of how to smile; I needed to know why to smile.

I didn’t start working at Mannatech to fulfill a life need. What I realized was that, by working at Mannatech, my life’s needs were fulfilled. I had spent a lot of time trying to leave Mannatech – I never realized that Mannatech wasn’t filler for my life, it was a crucial ingredient. Your job is not a stepping stone; it is a road – a highway for the rest of your life.

Sure, life sucked sometimes at Mannatech. But sometimes it didn’t. So what did I do with a sometimes sucky job? Did I get angry, curse my coworkers and bosses? Yeah, regretfully I did. Did I pray for them? Yeah, I did that, too. Did I recognize that no matter what the deal was, it was still okay? Yes – but not because I could, because Jerry helped.

Where’s Your Ridiculous Smiley Face?

So here’s the thing: do you have a Jerry? What do you have that keeps you going? Business is tough. Life is tougher. What do you have that reminds you of the blessings your job has given? What do you have that gets you to the next day?

I have Jerry. I looked at him every time work hit a low point. I wrote on his back every time work took me to a high point. I’m still not in seminary. I never got into law enforcement. Five years later, Israel is just as far away as it was then. But I don’t care; I don’t focus on the job I want as much as I do on the job I have. Jerry taught me that I’m blessed today – not tomorrow or yesterday. After I got an amazing job at Children’s Medical Hospital, Jerry reminded me that I’ve always been blessed.

Did you know that you’ve always been blessed? I would forget. But every time I forgot, Jerry reminded me. Every single time. Jerry was my reason to keep working. Sure, this is my handwriting – but understand this, it was the circumstance that made me write it. Get yourself a Jerry to remind you how great your job really is.

In five years, here’s what I found written on the back of Jerry:

In case my handwriting is tough to read, here’s that list of why Jerry was smiling at me:

I’m employed
If I curse in French, only three people will understand
Someone believes in me
I’m not a hurricane victim
Because of Jerry
Cheezits
I can always hang up (from when I was still taking phone calls)
Life has a bright side
Voodoo may not work, but I can pretend
Miracles happen
The dumber they are, the more job security
God has always given me the opportunity
It’s not over
This isn’t it
Life is so much bigger than me
I really can go far
Some Associates do appreciate me
God really has sent me far

Is there a smiley face in your career?

Sometimes All You Need Is a Consultant

Posted on June 22, 2010 by paceaux

Not every web project needs a web designer or developer. Sometimes all you need a consultant. Whether it’s budget limitations or the fact that you already have the resources, sometimes you’re better served by a designer’s opinion than his work. If you let a web designer act as a consultant, it can actually be great for both parties. He gets the freedom of telling you exactly what he thinks, and you get the choice of listening or doing it your own way.

Not too long ago, I started up a dialog with an old high school friend, Rob French. Rob is the PR manager for the Illinois Chiropractic Society. They recently bought a new Customer Relations Management system, which also manages content on their website. They decide to curb their costs by doing most of the web-work in-house. The only problem is that they don’t have any web designers or developers. Rob desperately was trying to learn whatever he could, all while doing His full-time regular job. So our dialog started as a discussion on best practices for a style guide which ultimately led to me signing on as a consultant for his web re-design.

Rob’s bachelor’s is in graphic design, so he’s got the the eye and PhotoShop skills for doing a mockup. What he lacked was web knowledge. He and another guy had the basic HTML skills, but having not worked in web, they didn’t know best practices for usability, user experience, or developing a style sheet. This opens a great consulting relationship because Rob and his team weren’t really looking for someone to do the work, they just wanted to know how to do it.

Because of Rob’s desire to be taught, our consulting relationship has been a very natural progression – and it’s been great. Rob has the business knowledge and he knows what his leadership expects out of the web. What he didn’t know was how to arrange it all on a page. So Rob was sending mockups, and I shared my thoughts. I explained basic usability practices and user experience issues, and I gave him resources that supported my arguments.

Our basic practices included avoiding multiple calls-to-action, replacing text with icons, the F-shaped way our eyes explore the page, and coloring text. In five rounds of mockups, only once did I do any work in his PhotoShop file. Rob accepted my advice, and did a great job of merging his business needs with my experience. While there were some final design points that I disagreed on, as a consultant, there’s a forum in place that allows us to respect our disagreements.

After we went through the task of mockups, I offered to develop his pages for him. Rob turned me down and got to work on his own. Not too much later, though, he was on the phone asking about best practices for HTML and CSS.

Sometimes, all you need is a consultant. Sometimes.

What Rob wanted to learn about HTML and CSS couldn’t be learned in a day, or even a week. I’ve had multiple mentors over five years that have helped me learn that there’s much more to HTML than just a few p tags. I couldn’t consult him on being a developer nearly as well as I can develop.

Rob didn’t have the time to learn what I already knew. He had deadlines that I could help him meet, but he doesn’t want to be in a position where there’s a dependency on someone outside the business. So we compromised; I code and explain every step along the way. Now we’ve shifted from consulting to delivering, and delivering to teaching. I’ll admit, it felt odd coding something I hadn’t personally designed. But it felt good knowing that Rob had taken so much of my advice along the way; I could respect the way he wanted this developed and I was happy to develop it.

Rob’s primary business requirement was self-reliance. If that’s a valid need, any freelancer should respect the client enough to help them meet that requirement first.

If meeting the requirement of self-reliance also means letting the business maintain creative control, then so be it.

It’s normal that a client will insist upon creative control. It’s their business, their customers, and their site. They know their customers better than we do. Rob and I differed on some finer points of the layout, but it was his layout, and it was based on what he knew about the business that I didn’t. Freelancer and client really butt heads when the client is grossly unqualified to exert creative control and too unwilling to compromise. Those are called clients from hell. In such cases, allowing the client too much creative control hurts the project, along with the freelancer’s pride and portfolio.

I’ll admit Rob was a special case; he already had graphic design experience and a willingness to learn. Initiating the relationship as a consultant gave Rob an opportunity to be further educated. It also proved that I was competent in my field and deserved a creative voice in his project. The result was a natural progression into me being the developer when we saw the drift from his area of expertise to mine.

Most of the time, a freelancer doesn’t get to work with someone like Rob. But if we get the chance to have a client who just wants to be self-reliant, consulting is the place to start.

You’re Not a Social Media Expert

Posted on May 25, 2010 by paceaux

That’s right, you’re not a Social Media Expert. No one is. I know this contradicts most online marketers’ resumés, but it’s the truth. I don’t deny that there are Social Media analysts, gurus, and students of the field, but I think calling yourself an expert is a bit over-the-top.

You can’t be an expert in a field until someone can retire from that field

An expert is someone with experience, there’s no way around it. Experience is the most valuable thing anyone can put on a resumé and it’s the one thing you can’t get with a degree. Theoretical knowledge, like what you get from an educational institution, is a foundation, but someone who knows the behaviors of the industry is king. Employers especially favor the experienced for those positions with the greatest decision-making power. The most knowledgeable individuals in any industry are the retirees. They have a minimum of 20 years experience.

Why is a retiree an expert?

Most scientists are in agreement now that mastery of a task comes with 10, 000 hours of experience. This applies to chess masters, soccer players, musicians, and even bands like The Beatles. It is a scientifically established fact that the brain becomes rewired after 10,000 hours of practice. Mozart wasn’t actually performing music at age four. It was somewhere around age eight, after 10,000 hours of practice that he became an expert musician.

Someone who has worked 40 hours a week for 50 weeks a year, for 20 years has 40,000 hours of experience. That’s an expert 4 times over. Not only is that expert’s brain completely rewired, it’s actually had the time to rewire itself three more times. Consider then that the bare minimum of expert status is 5 years – where you reach 10,000 hours. That’s a good way to determine how good your developer or designer really is.

HTML is a teenager that can’t even buy cigarrettes

The world wide web was born in April of 1993. That puts the web at a young 17 years old. Someone who started coding and designing for the web on day 1 as a full time job would have been an HTML expert by 1998. That same person, who started coding on day one, still hasn’t done it long enough to retire! However, I think it’s still entirely plausible that someone coding since 1993 has logged well over 40,000 hours of coding; I’m sure there’s a graph tying the Starbucks explosion to that.

Social Media is a Tween

Let’s consider then that the first modern social media website was started in 1997. Livejournal takes off in 1999 with Friendster following in 2002, Myspace in ’03 and Facebook in 04. YouTube is only five years old, and Twitter is still in pre-school. If you follow the definition of an expert as one with 10,000 hours or practice – I see it as highly unlikely that anyone can call himself an expert in a field that hasn’t seen an original episode of Full House.

Consider in addition to this that the scientific definition of an expert may not even apply. After all, how could it? It’s not one or even a group of specific, definable tasks. It’s not like the piano, building a shed, or kicking a soccer ball. The brain can’t rewire to social media.

So if they aren’t experts, what are they?

Let’s go with guru. The social media “guru” should be someone who has knowledge, wisdom, authority, and the ability to teach others. Social Media is an ever-changing thing. Considering the youth of the world wide web and the speed with which it changes, by the time you’re an expert, you’re obsolete.

So how do I hire a social media expert?

Quit calling them experts. Challenge them if that’s what they call themselves. Look for people that just do Social Media. Don’t look for it on a resumé, look for them in Social Media. Ian Lurie has an excellent post on how to evaluate your ”expert”. Use that as your check list.

What Vampires Don’t Know about Economics (but should)

Posted on May 18, 2010 by paceaux

I saw the movie Daybreakers over the weekend and I was blown away by the economic policies and business practices you could pull away. There’s something wrong with anyone who thinks economics when he sees a vampire movie. Seriously, wrong. I didn’t think about batteries when I saw the Matrix. I don’t think quantum physics (much) when I watch Lost. Yet Daybreakers turned on my inner economist. Weird.

You’re going to have to follow an absurd line of thinking – we’re discussing vampires, humans, and blood to make several points about business, the free market, renewable resources, and other principles of economics. I [almost] minored in Economics in college, so Daybreakers was good not just for a plot, but for validating my sheer nerdiness.

This is your fair warning: The Whole Post is a Spoiler!

Great, let’s move on.

Daybreakers takes place about 20 years in the future. Vampires rule the world, less than 5% of the population is human. Shortly after the vampires became known, they offered a deal to the humans for coexistence. Humans shoot it down – and alas – we have very few humans left by the start of the film.

Let’s first establish why there are so few humans left. They are a natural resource; there exists no alternative. This is not a perfect parallel to an oil crisis, but it’s worth considering. Humans are not necessary in the way oil is necessary, they are necessary in the way water is. Life is unsustainable without this resource. That establishes blood as a fundamental need. Though economically oil is a need, oil is not necessary to live through the week.

Following the canon of the vampire, vampirism is a controllable disease. Its spread is somewhat voluntarily. Vampires have a clear understanding that in feeding on a human, failure to kill that human creates another vampire. So there should have been a huge incentive to kill humans after feeding from them. Doing otherwise would add to the pool of available consumers and thereby reduce the blood supply. By the time we reach the story, humans are farmed à la Matrix; keeping the vampire away from the human allows a demand to be met without creating a competitor.

This is the first challenge we have in this movie: There shouldn’t have been an explosion in the vampire population. In fact, the idea of limiting procreation in an environment where the resources are limited is observed and documented in nature. Even though humans don’t balance themselves to ecosystems like other living beings, I still have a hard time believing this could have happened. Our ability to measure and forecast resources for sustainability appears to have been overlooked. Based on the movie, immortal beings don’t plan ahead.

So imagine that we live in a world today where there are vampires. Vampires would be very small in number because they don’t want to manufacture consumers. Doing so means more blood suckers for less blood. So the basic principle here is this: You don’t make competition for yourself when your supply is limited.

So how does this happen in business? Well, there’s a few ways you can accidentally create your competition. One is with employees. Create incentives to keep your most valuable employees – lest they drift out and start their own business, with some or all of your trade secrets. Another is through intellectual properties and patents. Patents have a shelf-life; though your property is protected for a time, there will come a point where your patent is free to be used by the public (at which time, you have manufactured competitors). Granted, not securing a patent gives you no control over your competitors; they can imitate and duplicate without fear of reprisal. Even branching into an untapped market creates competitors. Understand that innovation begets competition, and be prepared to respond.

As the movie progresses, we discover that the main character is working hard on finding a blood alternative. This isn’t a unique plot concept – other books and movies address the ‘blood alternative’ concept, too. What is interesting is that a supporting character, an evil corporate executive, admits that some vampires will still pay a premium for, “the real thing.” He wants to make an alternative – so that blood could become a luxury item. This isn’t a unique idea, either, but I like the fact that he’s speaking this as a business man.

And here again, we have another take-away: Create alternatives to your own products. Apple is an awesome example of this by creating a whole line of iPods. The Touch is an alternative to the phone, the Nano an alternative to the Touch. Look at your product line and find out how to create at least two alternatives. Don’t let another company be the alternative.

The conclusion to the film is what really got me. Our main character discovers a way to change vampires back to humans. So he found a cure. And this cure has a catch – now that the vampire is human; any vampire who bites him also becomes human. With vampires nearing starvation mode, our hero cures himself and lets our evil corporate exec bite him. The hero then serves up the exec to some hungry soldiers who then get served up to other hungry soldiers.

Simultaneously, a blood alternative is created. However, the film concludes with the assumption that humanity is on its way back up thanks to the cure, not the alternative. I don’t think the cure would have helped any more than the alternative. In fact, neither would have fixed the issue - and combined, the issue still lacks complete resolution

I hereby title this economic conundrum The DayBreaker Dilemma.

Here’s the dilemma: You have a non-renewable resource. Consumption went entirely unchecked and demand is greater than supply, and continues to grow. You have two choices: reduce demand, or create an alternative.

Creating an alternative increases supply. The problem, though, is that an increase in supply causes demand to go UP. This is a known force in economics; supply and demand affect each other. The population sees that their size is now sustainable, and has potential for growth. So the blood alternative doesn’t save the humans, which our hero thinks is the case throughout the movie. The blood alternative would actually still keep humans on the market – which is what our evil executive expects. Why? The population becomes sustainable – and humans are now a luxury item. The alternative only fixes the problem of supply.

Our hero choses to reduce demand – so the thinks, anyway. Converting a vampire into a non-potable human certainly reduces the number of vampires who need human blood. But he thinks that the cure will save humanity. He’s forgotten that some people like being immortal, and don’t plan on switching to sweet n low anytime soon. This is that luxury market our corporate executive wanted to create. They’re still going to want human blood. Reducing consumers only fixes the rate of consumption, it doesn’t reduce demand.

So, in the issue of a non-renewable resource you have the Daybreaker Dilemma: You cannot singularly create only an alternative or only reduce demand. You must do both, and accept that it is not a whole solution. In Daybreaker, the solution should be to reduce the vampires and their consumption of human blood -and get used to serving type-o negative with vodka.

The movie ends on a happy note, but that really isn’t the case. Several things will need to happen, and it doesn’t look pretty for the pure-blood humans:

The vampire population must reduce its demand on human blood.
1. Reduce the number of consumers – convert vampires to humans
2. Reduce consumption of human blood – drink the sweet n low
The remaining vampire population must then self regulate
1. Don’t make more vampires than the available supply of blood
2. Don’t make human blood readily available
Start farming the pure-blood humans

If you saw the movie, you walked away warm and fuzzy. Sadly, this won’t be the case. There will still be a demand for human blood. You have reduced the consumers, and you’ve offset demand, but you haven’t saved humanity. Pure-blood Humans will become a luxury item. They are the alternative, and diet-blood is the norm. The mixed-breed human can go on and live a happy life. The vampire still needs blood, and diet-blood will be selling better than Coke Zero. But every graduation party is going to be serving AB Negative cocktails.

The upside is that the pure-blood humans become a protected species— for a while. Vampires, knowing better than to ruin a good party, would protect humans and let them replenish, but the demand doesn’t go away. So long as there is a supply, there is a demand. I still don’t get why they didn’t do that from the start, but then, there wouldn’t be a movie I guess. Unless you eradicate the vampire, humans are unprotected. If you eradicate the humans, you can’t assume that this wipes out the vampire population by-default. They’ll look for alternatives.

So what do we learn from this: The Daybreaker Dilemma applies to all non-renewable resources. Alternatives and reduced consumers helps the issue — but so long as there is a supply, there is a demand.

Vampires clearly need to take some economics classes. And I need to relax.

Frank M Taylor

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