Nokia: Sisu and Susi

Back in the late 90s, I had the opportunity to work with a company that had Canadian, American, and Finnish operations. The highlight of this job was a visit Finland in 1998. The ritual of sauna, drinks, dinner, and dancing is still a blur in my memory...

The Helsinki stock market was booming during my visit. Like NorTel in Canada, the market was driven by a single company: Nokia. I got my first mobile phone that year; a Nokia 5100 series. It had a intuitive menu system and was a joy to use. Of course, phones didn't need to do much other than make calls and text back then.

Part of the business trip took me to the city of Oulu, north of the Arctic Circle, Oulu has a major Nokia R&D centre and the flight from Helsinki was a veritable Tower of Babel with technologists from around the world on the shuttle.

Our first night in the hotel coincided with the end of the fall semester. It seemed like the whole university had parked their bikes outside the hotel bar for a night of drinking. Earlier in the evening, I had crossed a bridge over the frozen Oulu river and nearly died from the biting wind. These kids were riding their bikes through the same wind - drunk! This was my introduction to that most Finnish of characteristics:"sisu". It's hard to describe, but Wikipedia makes a good attempt. Of course I got it backwards and pronounced the term "susi". This means quite the opposite! More along the terms of "snafu".

Back when Nokia had trouble in the mid 2000's, their CEO said "sisu" would see them through. . Several CEOs later, Nokia is still trying to figure it out. So how did Nokia go from "sisu" to "susi"?

Fortunately, we have an insightful piece that sheds some light. Unlike the usual finger-pointing associated with insiders describing a company's fall, this article is based on over 25 interviews reflecting a wide variety of viewpoints. It has an almost mournful tone. There are many product management lessons to be learned. The clearest example is found in this paragraph:

"In the 1990s Nokia's product development was still very much concentrated on one product - or at the most two products - at any given time. Every product had a clearly-defined team working on it, where the people focused on that one item and no others."

That changed in the 2000's with a component based approach. Now there are rumours of Nokia using Windows Phone 7 as their software platform. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Lemon-Aid

I just went through an accelerated "pre-owned" car shopping experience. The trusty Volvo 850 wagon suddenly became untrustworthy after 14 years and more than 200,000 kilometres of service. The car had been good to me, but it stalled on the way home from a ski trip and wouldn't run for more than 20 minutes before dying. It was sad to sell it to my mechanic for parts, but nobody will buy a car that won't run.

Like many Canadians, I had grown up reading Lemon-Aid as the prime source for information on used cars. I consulted it again. Of course the information is useful, but the organization is really lacking (there is no index!!!) The online site has so much potential for searching reviews, service bulletins, etc... Here's hoping that Phil Edmonston gets some fresh blood involved in this enterprise.

In the mean time, if you are Canadian and want to get a decent idea on the current market values of used cars check out http://www.vmrcanada.com. Most of the data on the web is US focussed. Unfortunately cars are on of those items where the Canucks get ripped off versus US pricing :-(

Oh, by the way I got a 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe in "Natural Khaki" with a beige interior. Leather, sunroof, but no 4WD. It's basically the late 2000's equivalent of the classic mid-size wagon, just made tall.

Watch out for the Zalm

The harmonized sales tax begins to be collected in BC tomorrow. It has shaken up the politics of this province. My thoughts:

The government deserves to be punished for making a major policy change two months after campaigning with a different position. I don't believe for a minute Colin Hansen's timeline. Clearly the BC government had considered this change before the election. Check Hansen's laughable answer on a Globe and Mail Q&A session several weeks back. However, the reaction to this tax could be worse than the actual policy. Be careful what you wish for progressives: especially when Bill Vander Zalm is involved.

With tax, I see two questions: Is it better to tax consumption or income; and , is it fairer to tax businesses or individuals?

Start with an assumption that tax expenditures will stay relatively stable in order to maintain our current standard of public services. The population is getting older. With the proportion of retirees increasing there will be less income tax revenue to support this standard.

We need consumption taxes. Yes, they are regressive, but choosing which items are of benefit to society (hence no tax) seems arbitrary. Provide a relief to lower income tax brackets and leave it simple. It's complicated enough dealing with food

More and more people follow paths where they are both employees and contractors. Nothing drives nuts me more than paying a tax as a contractor but not being able to claim the cost of it toward the revenue I've earned.

The debate over the proportion of taxes paid by individuals or corporations / private businesses is tougher. Not going to try to cover it here - obviously the strength of the anti-HST argument from the left.

The benefits of this tax are there: one level of government will collect and run the tax. Imagine for a second that we had two income tax forms to fill out as individuals?

And the Feds are paying BC to do this... No wonder BC took the money. Close the PST office and turn out the lights. Fundamentally, there is one less administrative task removed from all levels of government. Woohoo!

The Recall Campaigns

Unhinging the Vancouver elite from power may be a good thing, but we will get a re-calibrated right-wing party that loses its urban influence, at least temporarily. It's a good thing to clean the attic for any jurisdiction, party, etc.... Yes, but the risks to social values that many hold dear in this city (Vancouver) would be large.

Bill Vander Zalm. Blatant crookedness that would make the mythical Chicago ward chief smile. I mean: read the Fantasy Garden and Expo land Hughes report. These are dealt with in the public record. He has fundamentalist views that contradict established scientific knowledge. He does not support access to abortion at a level that many see as a fundamental right (including me).

I feel for restaurants in the East Kootenay and along the Alberta border that are going to get hammered by the HST. I predict the petition will pass. It's the recall campaigns that are going to be scarier...

iPad Thoughts and Apps I Want

ReadWriteWeb is reporting  on Steve Jobs talk at the D8 conference: "Tablets will Usher in Post-PC Era. I've had an iPad in my mits for fifteen minutes, at most. No real basis for comment... Just some thoughts.
Many people bitched about the hardware/design at the announcement (over-sized iPhone, bezel size, lack of ports). I don't see major issues with this:

It is an over-sized iPhone. I read lots of the web on my iPhone - simply a bigger a screen would greatly improve the experience.

Bezel size: I would find it hard to bet against Apple's user experience people here. I think they figured that this machine will be grasped rather than laid flat.

You know that Apple will add some ports in future versions.  In any case, the Apple and third party docks will handle card readers, usb, etc... for the interim. Simple clean design for the masses wins here.

If you can believe Apple, they didn't want to build the tablet, but responded to consumer demand and the closing of the eBook opportunity. This meant that they didn't have a huge amount of time to totally revamp the OS. That'll wait to the fifth generation iPhone/iPad OS next year.
This product is about extending the iTunes franchise. Apple has figured out most people  don't want to screw around with computers when adding applications. They are happy to have Apple be their Walmart, controlling what is appropriate for them to buy. Here is a selection of apps where the tablet screen size would perfect. Only one exists now:

• Epicurious- I have four folders of recipes, most printed from Epicurious. Boy, would it be nice to stop printing and have the recipe display full screen behind a splashguard. I have the iPhone app, but it isn't big enough.
• Rebirth - I loved this synthesizer simulator when it came out for PC back in 1997. They have re-released it for iPhone, but the screen size is too small and it looks like it requires lots of finicky scrolling. Release this for iPad.
• iBird Explorer - I love this app on the iPhone. I have used it in the field to identify birds, but rarely go back to it when sitting at home. Put it on a bigger screen and it will replace the Sibley.

I am waiting for the Google tablet, but these apps would tempt me.

Cloud Photographs

Wired has put together some beautiful shots of clouds from space. Of course, the first one they chose was a perfectly formed vortex street: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/05/gallery-clouds/

Vortex Street

What is a Vortex Street?