Pebble vs. Android Wear, Which One Do You Buy?

While I am a long time user of the Pebble and backed it on Kickstarter, I wanted to compare it to Google’s Android Wear technology since its first announcement. It naturally led me to think, “Pebble vs. Android Wear, which one is better?” Well, I was lucky enough to snag an LG G Watch for $80 on a black friday sale. Since then, I’ve been switching between the two smartwatches, comparing how well they work in the real world. Deciding on the winner was harder than I thought, and the conclusion might surprise you… Continue reading

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Digital Media Analytics Presentation: An Introduction

I recently met with a community of social and digital media producers, many of whom had a limited exposure and understanding of web analytics. So, I gave an introductory analytics presentation that tried to focus on social principles to help them realize the incredible opportunities analytics could offer them. Metcalfe’s Law, also known as the Network Effect, is a popular concept that argues the potential value of a network increases exponentially with every incremental increase. Most do not realize the same principle also applies to analytics. The more dimensions of data you collect, the higher potential value of the resulting data set. Since the analytics presentation was so well received, I thought I would share a public and reusable version that might help you in your work. Continue reading

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What does a Product Manager do? A Musical Metaphor

For the longest time, I’ve been passionate about working as a product manager. Once I got my first taste of it at Adobe, I couldn’t get enough. And yet, whenever I would talk to people in social circles, I had the hardest time describing my role without confusing or boring them. One of the ways I would describe my work was that of a mini-CEO, responsible not for the success of the entire company but rather just one or a few products within the company. While that metaphor helped, it was still woefully inadequate. While I held similar responsibilities for the success of my small portion of the business, I lacked the authority and budgets that CEOs have to work with.

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Principles of Gaming in Industry

It is the nature of all human beings to seek learning through games, a structured paradigm that allows one to grasp new concepts and expand their horizons in a safer environment than the real world. We play house, tag, and create fingerpainting art as children. As we grow, we play sports, more complex games, and create finer works of art. Indeed, from our earliest days we rely on playing as the most effective way to learn about our world and how to live in it. Pondering this topic inevitably led to the question: Why does the playful approach to life stop when we grow up and move into a professional field?

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Home Solar Panels: Trying to make it work in Utah

(skip to the bottom of the post for the Home Solar Panels: TL;DR)

Last year I almost bought a full-house solar system that would replace my current electricity bill while generating an immediately positive cash flow along with a good amount of equity. I was so excited to be able to find an economically sensible way to install home solar panels, but our family soon found out that Homeowners Associations (HOAs) and many lobbied public interests have no desire to make solar projects easy. The biggest blocker for us was the HOA decided to strictly interpret its so-called solar provisions to only include panels that were installed flush with the roof. This was next to impossible without entirely rebuilding the roof. I thought my solar ambitions were dead in the water…

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