Archive for December, 2010

Fail fast, fail cheap, fail smrt

Monday, December 27th, 2010

Failure is an option that is finally getting explored in Ireland. It’s now starting to trickle through that trying something and failing is not the sin it once was. Many have been saying for years how in Silicon Valley people are trusted almost more if they have previously done something and failed. It’s not the failure per se but it’s the experience gained from work and being at the coal face. In Silicon Valley it’s “hard luck, what are you doing next?”. In Ireland it’s been a case of “Oh that guy failed, should you really do business with him?” It still exists too. Lots of companies merged or were acquired in recent years to save face.

There’s a definite culture thing at play here. Good old Catholic guilt probably contributes to this. Communities via the pulpit have always been encouraged to knock anyone that rises about their “station”. Possibly tied to that is the excuse about bankruptcy laws in Ireland. I’m not convinced strict bankruptcy laws are holding people back.

If struck off it’s hard to start new business yet there are plenty who never go as far as being struck off. Plenty of people have risen above being struck off and have done well for themselves. If bankruptcy laws are holding you back are you not creative enough or are you too risk averse?

It seems like years ago but at a conference in March Dylan Collins amongst others talked about embracing failures and mistakes and learning from them. “We have to be proud of our mistakes – It’s how we learn.”

Any fans of James Burke and his Connections programmes will know of the way discoveries throughout history were more to do with lots of trials and their errors moreso than eureka moments. A “good” failure allows the lessons learned to be applied elsewhere and lots of these combined becomes a new discovery.

Just like the scammers swarmed into seo and social media though, now I wonder will the acceptance of failure see the spirit of it twisted to: hard luck, what grant are you going to try and nobble next?

Failure when you and others/the collective learns is important. Selfish failure does not help anyone, it encourages skewing of data, hiding results and outright lying. Going back to companies merging, many that invest in companies including organisations like Enterprise Ireland and VCs have plenty of companies on their books that are probably already dead but to save face, are not publicly wound down.

I do wonder has this culture of fear of failure not only slowed our progress and experimenting but also created an even worse scenario where you can have worse failures because of the level of secrecy that happens. And what of all the things learned in them. A secret failure means others will have to trudge through the same stuff too. Can we have a Wikileaks for this stuff?

Cheers Homer.

Fluffy Links – Wednesday December 22nd 2010

Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010

I have about six blog posts in draft ready to write over Christmas. More long-winded meandering shite is on the way, guaranteed.

9 week Social Media/Online Marketing nightclass by MulleyComms in Dublin starts Jan 24th 2011.

9 week Social Media/Online Marketing nightclass by MulleyComms in Cork starts Jan 12th 2011.

Tweet #xmaseveryday and Strategem will donate a euro per tweet up to 1000 euros to Focus Ireland.

Trocaire asked me to mention their Christmas gifts campaign, see their Facebook here.

Showing how the solar lights are being used in Uganda:

Hanna, maybe what Kickass could have been?

Fluffy Links – Monday December 13th 2010

Monday, December 13th, 2010

Social Media/Online Marketing nightclass by MulleyComms in Cork starts Jan 2011.

Beat the earworms.

Moral compass Joe Duffy says Gerry Ryan’s cocaine habit that gave money to criminals didn’t harm anyone.

Flahavan’s is looking for funny morning photographs for its ‘Stir Up a Smile’ Facebook competition.

Fisticup. A cup that helps people with weak grips but also looks like a knuckleduster.

Got asked to pimp Eric McGrath’s music. So I have,

Some solid ideas on PR/Marketing trends for 2011.

Facebook and how it operates, from a psychology perspective.

Not exactly nero on his fiddle but a harpist plays from Shandon on budget day

Fluffy Links – Monday Dec 6th 2010

Monday, December 6th, 2010

Looking for new Irish business social media case studies for my presentations. Want to feature? Fill in this form.

Sigur Ros online store is a go! Woo.

Adrian Weckler goes over some great biz apps for the iPad. My fav apps are Osfoora and oPlayer though.

Via Ben. A website that shows you how high the Thames is in a visual manner. Leave the site open and you can see the rise and falls. From the same guy that allowed you to print a book of all your tweets and other insanely clever ideas.

Put your tweets on a tea towel.

Via Jim Carroll – The Unthanks

Reachout have done an anti-bullying video. They have not called it a viral. Thank feck.
BullyOS

Fluffy Links – Friday December 3rd 2010

Friday, December 3rd, 2010

Ireland competes in another International sport –Football Tennis. Really.

I give a lot of presentations on online marketing/comms/social media each month. If you want your company as a case study to be used in my presentation, fill in this online form. Note, the form will be made public so everyone can avail of good case studies.

Measure It! January 5th or 12th, you decide.

Remember that online retailer list I put together? Now standing at 82 listings of people selling goods online in Ireland, some have special discounts. As a retailer, you add yourself here. It goes live right away.

Some videos from the launch of Wicklow TV.

Was in Malaga the other there where I had a good laugh with Mr. Adair from NI Travel News.

At the Janelle Monae gig the other night, where she painted and sang, some clever kid got a video: