A Catchy Name for Service System Component 2.2

Look, I'll be the first to admit that my company name is a bit looooong. Leading Edge Process Consultants LLC doesn't exactly roll off anyone's tongue, including mine. This isn't usually a huge problem for me, although it has forced me to attend at least one industry conference wearing a name badge introducing me as the CEO of Leading Edge Process Consulta. (Mildly irritating, perhaps... but not nearly as disturbing as the photo I referenced in my last blog entry.)

What I can't live with is domain name confusion. What's my company URL? www.leadingedgeprocessconsultants.com? No, I long ago decided that would be ridiculously lengthy. www.leadingedge.com? No, already taken. (But do visit them if you need "24/7 Real Time Monitoring" -- and who among us doesn't? -- or if you want to see a cute redhead looking like she'd just love to chat with you.)

Anyway, my corporate domain name is www.leadingedgeprocess.com. Nice, perhaps, but does it make you want to run into the street and shout it out to the world? (If so, send me a resume ASAP. I could use a good PR person.)

Thus began my search for another domain name. I'm still keeping my corporate domain name, mind you. I just wanted something easier to remember and connect to what it is that I actually do. And the thing I've done lots of in the past several years is CMMI training. It makes sense, then, that I had my eyes on www.CmmiTraining.com for a while. The hurdle involved here was the little detail that somebody else already owned it. Oops, problem there! Well, everybody has their price. After a bit of negotiation --- my initial offer was $750, their counter was $7500 plus my firstborn child --- the domain name finally became mine. (Connor, please make sure to write home!)

Of course, it's just a URL. There's no website there, yet.

(At this point, a reasonable reader might wonder if this post has anything to do with the CMMI for Services. Yes, I think. In my last post I mentioned that my "marketing" system -- once fully developed -- will have 14 "service system components." One of these, Number 2, is "My Websites." This breaks down further into 2.1 www.LeadingEdgeProcess.com, 2.2 www.CmmiTraining.com, and 2.3 which I can't mention until later this year. Okay, wake up!)

So, I now own www.CmmiTraining.com. This weekend I put up a "splash page" on the site, just so people who go there will at least see something. I've even taken a calculated risk by announcing the site's target completion date right there on the page -- March 16, 2009. (Last year, when I focused way too much on doing and not nearly enough on planning, I would not have been so bold. Thank you so much, Project Planning SG 1: Estimates of project planning parameters are established and maintained! See my blog post "An Agile Approach to Project Planning Saves the Month of February.")

Now, back to building service system component 2.2...