I huge shout out to my Blast Radius colleagues who created the Facebook app for the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte contest (or PSL as heard around the office).  Not only did the contest engage a large portion of the nearly 25 million Starbucks Facebook Fans and create a huge buzz around this seasonal drink, but it was the most shared Mashable story in August.

Hum, is the equally loved eggnog latte next?

When I travel I like to read books about the place I’m visiting. On a recent trip to Maui, my honeymoon in fact,  I took along several books on Captain James Cook. He was one of the greatest explorers of all time, whether you love or despise him. He discovered the Hawaiian Island in 1778, and was ultimately  slain in 1779, “his body was disemboweled, baked to facilitate removal of the flesh by the natives,” which is just my kind of titillating beach reading.

In reading “Blue Latitudes”  by Tony Horwitz, I noticed some modern maps tracing the Endeavor ‘s routes. In many cases these maps illustrate what looks like a lot of back and forth, up and down, and zig-zagginess. Certainly not a straight line to his next discovery.

c. 2002 Jeffrey L. Ward

I found  that an interesting metaphor about discovery. It’s not a straight line. It’s not a known path. It’s uncharted. And to get anywhere, you have to pursue a course. You’ll most likely get off course, find a way back on track, or change course completely.

Therefore, I feel compelled to publish a Discover category in this blog. The idea is to learn how we think about and pursue the unknown through exploration and adventure, and what the path might look like along the way.

Convenience and privacy have finally met up in the medical world. After visiting my doctor for a lower back freeze up, and having x-rays, he quickly registered me to a medical extranet website where I could read his evaluation of my x-rays without another trip to his office or waiting around. It was fast and convenient. Just the way we like our burgers. But quickly after getting the doctor’s email informing me to visit this site for his evaluation, and logging on, there was one big problem. I almost deleted my results. Why? Because the user interface was archaic, as in 1999 or earlier. The “delete” button was just pixels under “Click Here.” Why am I even provided such a quick option to delete?

Check it out. Look where the delete button is, and where the accept button is. Bad, bad, bad.

I hate to think how much money went into this doctor patient system, front-end, back-end, platform development, consulting etc. No one was really focused on the user experience. I would imagine a simple paper prototype of this page would alert the designers and interaction design folks (I don’t think there were any, really.)that it was broke. Good idea. Bad execution.

Today, Radiohead unexpectedly (which is what we expect from Radiohead) released their first video from their newest album, King of Limbs, one day earlier than scheduled and communicated by the band. So what does this mean? Not a whole lot other than if you followed the social buzz, it made maybe millions of fans’ Friday an exceptionally wonderful day—this fan included. So here’s to delivering early and making maybe not millions of people, but some people, like your clients, unexpectedly happy.

Aim for Friday. Who doesn’t like good news on a Friday?

Excerpt from the greatest radio station in the world, KEXP.org, website.
“Although The King Of Limbs was slated to be released tomorrow, Radiohead continues to defy expectations (even ones they’ve set themselves) by authorizing downloads of it a day early to those who pre-ordered the album. That means now! Run!
Here’s the brand new, elastic video for “Lotus Flower”:”

The Logical Framework tool or “LogFrame,” is a strategic project management planning tool and methodology that’s surprisingly simple, yet potentially highly effective. I say potentially because I only learned how to use this tool in Terry Schmidt’s workshop in Seattle this summer and have not tried it at the agency.

The digital advertising business moves fast. And planning rarely gets enough upfront attention. I  imagine  is true for most businesses running a hundreds of projects. Therefore, I feel project managers must adapt and find a way to plan more quickly. The LogFrame seems like an answer to planning strategically, which to me, really means honestly deciding what the problem is and write a plan to solve it.

It’s surprisingly simple because the logic is simple. You and your team ask each other “if” we do this “then” this is the desired outcome.

You think this way using four questions to guide your planning:

• What are we trying to accomplish and why?
• How will we measure success?
• What other conditions must exist?
• How do we get there?

Terry has a book, workbook, website, and blog.

In doing some very early research about starting another business, I came across an interesting study by the Kauffman Foundation. This economic downturn continues to smash this fantasy about working hard, saving money, investing and then retiring into Blisstown USA. And that likely makes a lot of older boomers really, really pissed off and jaded. Yet this report indicates that the recession has become a breeding ground for boomers to return to work running their own businesses.

I think this is exciting news. At least for me. As I’m on the tail end of the boomers, I’m still one of them and hoping I can someday soon, successfully run my own business and likely never retire because I’m really enjoying what I’m doing.

The study was conducted by Dane Stangler, senior analyst at the Kauffman Foundation. And to quote directly from the synopis: “The decline of lifetime employment, the experience and knowledge of the age group, longer lifespan, and the effect of the current recession are all factors contributing to the increase in entrepreneurial activity in the baby boom generation. The study was conducted by Dane Stangler, senior analyst at the Kauffman Foundation.

“Key findings: In every single year from 1996 to 2007, Americans between the ages of 55 and 64 had a higher rate of entrepreneurial activity than those aged 20-34, averaging a rate of entrepreneurial activity roughly one-third larger than their youngest counterparts.”