Following from in front and Leading from behind

Career tips, Teamwork 7 Responses »
Jun 242008

 

I had an interesting experience when going out to lunch with my team.  They took me to one of their regular lunch spots where I had never been.  I kind of vaguely knew where it was, but I didn’t know exactly where it was.

I had to drive separately to get back for a meeting, so we split up in the parking lot to get into our cars.  For some reason I ended up getting into my car and out of the parking lot first.  Since I vaguely knew where the restaurant was, I started heading in the general direction of the restaurant.  But, since I didn’t exactly know where the restaurant was, I had to follow them.  But, I was in front of them.  So, I had to follow from in front.

So there began my little adventure.  I kept going towards the general direction of the restaurant.  But, I kept looking in my rear view mirror to see where they were going.  I looked in the rear view mirror to see which lanes they were getting in, and then I switched into those same lanes, but did this many cars in front of them.  I actually followed them from in front for about three turns… all the way into the parking lot of the restaurant.  It worked perfectly!  And, it was actually pretty fun!

So, why am I writing all this?  Well, I thought it was pretty funny to follow from in front.  And then I thought about how it applies to work.  Sure, as a manager I’m the official leader of my organization.  But, in many ways, my team members “lead from behind” while I lead by “following from in front”.  I mean that I lead by getting the best ideas from my team and others around me and I use these ideas to help guide all of us forward.  Now, I think I have a good idea of my own every now and then, but I’m also perfectly happy to push forward the great ideas that my team members have.  Hey, a great idea is a great idea no matter where it comes from.  And actually I’m kind of proud of my ability to pick out great ideas from my team.

We’re all familiar with the concept of “Leading from behind”.

What do you think about the concept of “Following from in front”?

Have you followed from in front?

 

Posted by susiewee at 10:29 am

Toys in my sandbox: HP Touch, Mini, and Slim

Experience, Technology 4 Responses »
Jun 222008

One of the neat things about my new job is getting to play with, I mean, work with some cool products. Last week the HP Personal Systems Group (which I'm now in) had a big product launch in Berlin. I was happy when the launch date finally came, because I could finally talk openly about the products that I was playing with- oops!- I mean working with at work.

Before I introduce you to my new toys, let me wander into a little career advice since some readers told me that they missed this during my little blogging drought.

Back when I graduated from grad school and was looking for my first job (12 years ago!), one big thing I realized was that the company that you work for determines the kinds of projects that you can work on. In other words, your company sets the context for your work. This was very important from a research perspective, because your company's strategy determines which research problems are relevant or irrelevant, you should work on problems that relevant to your company, and thus this has a big influence on your research career. This not only applies to research, but is true for any field that you're in: research, engineering, design, business, marketing, sales, etc.

So, my two career tips from this little story are:

  • Work on areas that are relevant to your company and your company's strategy!

  • Work for a company that provides a context for the type of work that you believe in!

Note that this is related to Tip #10 in my Top 10 Career Tips:

  • Align your work with your passions and strengths. Define your career accordingly.

To say this in a more playful way, I have always viewed that your company is your sandbox, and your company's current and future products are the toys in your sandbox, and these toys are the ones you get to play with and build on to do your work.

Okay, enough of the career advice. Let me introduce you to some of the new toys in my sandbox: Touch, Mini, and Slim!  (This is not supposed to be a sales pitch, but I have to say that I love these products, so apologies in advance if it sounds like one.)

TouchMini

Touch is the new HP TouchSmart PC. It's the second generation of the TouchSmart product. Touch has a 22" widescreen with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. All the computer guts are built into the touch monitor, so all you do is plug in power and an ethernet connection. It comes with a wireless keyboard and mouse. The first version was bigger and boxier, and this version is much more streamlined and sleek. It's neat to see the evolution of the product as we refine it through improvements in technology (e.g., touch sensor technology, display technology, etc.) and through user testing and feedback. It's a neat new device category that we're driving. So far the blog posts have been fun to read  and I can't wait to learn more from the new users of the product to get a well-rounded perspective. I'm really excited about the emergence and evolution of this category, and it will be neat to get more software developers going on this platform!

Mini is the new HP 2133 Mini-Note PC. It's so cute! (Sorry- I couldn't help myself.) It is less than 3 pounds and it has an 8.9 inch WXGA display. It comes with Linux or Vista. It has a cool aluminum case. When I first saw this model in an internal board meeting many months ago, I was immediately drawn to it. The first thing that came to my head is that this is just about to reach the size where I could put it in my purse and still have a fairly full computing experience (I say "fairly" because of the small display). It was slightly bigger than the purse that I had at the time, but I liked it so much that I was thinking that I would buy a slightly larger one so I could carry it around. This raises an interesting usage question that I'll have to write another post about: women like products that fit into their purse while men like products that fit in their pocket. So I wonder what will become of this new form factor of devices. Don't worry- it's not a women-only device. When we unboxed one in my lab the other day, all the men were equally excited about it and we all drooled equally! This is the product category of the Asus Eee PC and surely more competitors will emerge. An interesting this about this product category are the price points- baseline versions are at the sub-$500 level, which allows this fairly full computing experience to get to quite a few places.

Slim is the new ultra-thin notebook, the VooDoo Envy 133. It's 0.7 inches thick and is just over 3 pounds with a 13.3 inch display. It fully boots into Windows, but it has a quick boot Linux-based OS- another great topic for a future post! The upgraded version has a solid state drive for more money, of course. Unfortunately, I don't have one of these myself yet, but I have seen and touched them and they are pretty cool. My brother has been in the market for a laptop and I told him to hold off until this model came out. Bloggers  are comparing this to the MacAir, which is .76 inches in the center and tapers out on the edges. These thin and light notebooks with full-size displays are very interesting and they change your coffee shop, airplane, and over-the-shoulder carrying experience. I like the thought of tucking this away in my slim bag neatly lined up with a writing notebook and a few folders. Slim looks and feels very crisp and sleek- very much in the VooDoo spirit!

My team's job is to look at next-gen software experiences for these and other HP personal computing products. All I can say is I have a fun sandbox to play in!

It's neat to see these emerging product categories evolving.  I'd love to hear your thoughts on these categories, so here are a few questions:

  • What do you think about these product categories (the good, the bad, and the ugly)? 

  • How do you think these product categories will evolve?

  • How would you like to see these product categories evolve?

  • What kinds of experiences would you like to see on these products?

 

Posted by susiewee at 7:13 am

I'm back: From research to business

Career tips 2 Responses »
Jun 092008

Sorry for my long break from blogging. Thanks to JCS for asking me to come back, as it was just the push I needed to get this post out. A few other readers have also noticed my absence from the blogosphere, thanks to all of you for your encouragement and support.

My silence does not mean I've been idle and it does not mean I've run dry on topics. In fact, it's been quite the opposite. My recent experiences over the last few months have given me plenty of reflections to write about, but very little time to write them! The biggest news I have to announce is that I changed jobs within HP. I moved out of the research lab and into the business.

I am now leading what I call the newest startup in HP–the HP Experience Software Business (ESB). ESB is within the Emerging Businesses unit in HP's Personal Systems Group. I coined the term "Experience Software" to refer to software that drives and is driven by the user experience. I have found that taking an experience-centered approach to software and business is as important as taking an experience-centered approach to design, research, and technology (which I've written about in the past). Putting the experience first is really a mindset that affects everything you do, ranging from deciding what feature you put in a product to asking your friends what they like or dislike about their coffee cup. I want to thank my experience-driven researchers in HP Labs for teaching me the importance of experience over the last few years- they knew the importance of this long before it became fashionable!

While I am no longer in HP Labs (after almost 12 years!), I am still very involved with the Labs. I am on one of the advisory boards that is responsible for approving, guiding, and reviewing the research projects. In fact, I rely on HP Labs research even more now than I did when I was a lab director there. I feel very fortunate to be able to work with the researchers- to get consulting advice in their areas of expertise, to listen to their newest and oldest ideas to inspire ideas for my new business, and hopefully to bring some of their great ideas to market!

I'll try to post more now that I have the monkey off my back regarding my silence in the blogosphere. I plan to keep my posts in the same flavor unless you suggest otherwise. (Any suggestions?) And, while I can't reveal everything we're doing, some posts will give hints about the areas that we're thinking about. In the mean time, please wish me luck with ESB!

p.s. We have a new blogging system that makes it easier to leave comments. Like any other blogger, I love to hear what my readers are thinking; so please feel free to leave comments.

Posted by susiewee at 9:02 am
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