Thursday, November 09, 2006

This Lane is Ending; Merge Now

Have you ever noticed that some people think the signs don't apply to them? They drive in the lane that says "Lane Ends / Merge Left." As their lane gets narrower and narrower, they eventually find themselve driving between the shoulder line and the crease in the pavement. Eventually, when the lane really does end, they don't have any choice except to merge and join the rest of the traffic.

We have analogies in our business.

The other day I deleted a fold labeled "W2Kupdates" and had to defend my actions. "What if we need that?" You don't need it. Windows 2000 had four service packs. Add Windows XP and two service packs. That's seven generations. Vista will mean eight generations since your precious Windows 2000 came out.

The lane has merged. It's dissappeared. You're either driving on the side of the road or you need to get in the lane and drive properly. Eventually the side of the road leads to some obstacle.

Merge Now.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:15 AM

    I can think of the same analogy applying to our business model, as I move from break/fix to Managed Services (and your writings, books, etc are largely why and how we're doing that). But it feels to me like the break/fix lane is ending. How do you feel most customers view it Karl? Are they becoming increasingly open to the idea, or are we just getting better at choosing prospects?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't know if the break/fix lane is ending. I do think we as a community are getting better at picking our prospects.

    Perhaps the next analogy is that we're in the carpool lane -- consultant and clients riding together, with the same goals and "roadmap."

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