I'm staring blankly at a spreadsheet I constructed earlier this week. It's 4 a.m., the dogs aren't even up yet, and Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" is playing quietly in the background. (Unplanned, yet appropriate.) I'm desperately urging the caffeine to kick in, and I even half-suspect that I accidentally made myself a pot of decaf -- which would be like drinking alcohol-free beer. (Unless, of course, you're pregnant -- then, I suppose, it makes sense. I've never actually been 100% pregnant before, but I have carried around 30 pounds of excess weight and became a parent shortly afterward. Coincidence?)
(Note to self: 4 a.m. blog entries may suffer lack of focus; consider scheduling next entry for mid-morning.)
Getting back to the spreadsheet: it's a blueprint, of sorts, for what I'd like my marketing "service system" to look like. It's not a plan, mind you -- it says nothing about how any of these things will be developed -- it's really just an annotated list of what should be in place. But it's critical; if I get this list "wrong," then my marketing system will of course suffer. Results? Ineffective marketing = not enough money for me = start eating the same food the dogs eat!
In CMMI-SVC terms, my list identifies the service system components of my marketing system. (If you're following along in your book, see Service System Development (SSD) SG 2. Service system components are selected, designed, implemented, and integrated.)
I'd love to show you the full list in all its glory. I can't do that, though, because then I'd have to kill you -- you just might be a competitor. And then, I'd have to figure out how to do my marketing from jail, which would probably last about an hour-and-a-half until my laptop battery died. Plus, the wireless connection would be crap and the CMMI might very well be contraband.
So instead of the full list, here's a summary. I've identified 14 different components for the system, and most of these are further divided into subcomponents. For example, Component 3 is My Blogs, and 3.1 is the CMMI for Services Diary. (Imagine standing in a shopping mall right now. You're looking at the big directory map of all the stores, and you've just seen the You Are Here arrow!) I don't have a 3.2 component right now, but if this blog ever gets more than two readers I could eventually envision another blog -- and my numbering scheme allows for that.
(If this talk of components and subcomponents reminds you a bit of configuration management, join the club. But please, don't bail on me yet!)
Component 4 out of 14 is Social Networking. Now, social networking isn't something that I've done particularly well... yet. First of all, I'm not a teenager; therefore, it isn't simply encoded in my DNA. Second of all, I'm not all that interested in trolling the internet looking for friends, hook-ups, buddies, or BFFs. I have a business and that business needs to make money, so there obviously must be a business value to my social networking. (I suppose that for some people there actually is a "business value" in looking for "hook-ups" but that's a very different line of work from mine. Here's a good website for more information on that.)
So, here are my social networking "subcomponents":
- 4.1 LinkedIn
- 4.2 Twitter
- 4.3 Facebook
I could of course add more in the future, or remove any of the above if they prove to be ineffective or simply not worth my time. For example, I see definite business potential in LinkedIn and Twitter if used appropriately. (I already have a bit of a Twitter presence, but my LinkedIn profile is so ridiculously out-of-date and amateurish that I'm not even providing you a link to it here!) Facebook? Maybe. I've simply identified it as something to be researched and probably developed.
Before I toss out another example component or two at you, let's take a quick trip to the CMMI for Services draft document itself. (When all else fails, use the book!) The CMMI-SVC defines a service system component to be:
- "A resource required for a service system to successfully deliver services..."
and it goes on to say that
- "Components may include processes and people..."
The italics are mine, folks. I've added them so I could introduce you to component #1 (a person) and #12 (a process).
- 1 Me
- 12 Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) isn't an "entity" like LinkedIn or Twitter. It's something that you do -- a process. Not to get into the technical details, but I need SEO because I want to make sure that when people do a web search, my company will pop up high on the list. For example -- I just did a Yahoo! search on "cmmi training," and my head grew three sizes when I saw that www.LeadingEdgeProcess.com came up on the very first page of results! Then, I did a similar Google search... and fell asleep after scrolling through god-knows-how-many pages before abandoning all hope for seeing my little company there before the inevitable onset of carpal tunnel syndrome. So, service system component #12, which is actually a "process," needs work. (Unless I can simply convince everybody to just use Yahoo!)
This leads me to component #1 - a.k.a. Me. If the CMMI says a person can be a service system component, and the service system we're talking about is marketing, and I'm the head of a small company... then I'm going to put myself on that list of components.
If I wanted to, I could treat Me like the other components on the list, and decompose myself into 1.1, 1.2, and so on. Although I'd rather not think of myself as "decomposing," let's just for kicks say that 1.1 is "Appearance."
Let's face it folks, personal appearance matters. Luckily for me, though, people don't need their CMMI consultant/instructor to be particularly attractive. (That would stretch creditability, wouldn't it? Or, is this simply wishful thinking on my part?) On the other hand, certain other appearances may be perceived as --- well, disturbing!
Which leads me, finally, to the subject of this blog: "Is Hair a Valid Service System Component?" -- and would I therefore need a component 1.1.1? I need to know, because several years ago I began losing my hair and after a brief "combover" phase I simply started shaving my head close (hoping that people would think that a la Michael Jordan, I was going bald "on purpose").
Well, W. Edwards Deming once said, "In God we trust, all others bring data." So I managed to find some data regarding hair loss and marketability. Specifically, take a peek of these photographs of one particular individual in two different phases:not bald and bald. Which is the more marketable? Everyone might have their own opinion, but what counts is the data!
Let's look at sales figures:
- Britney with hair - Over 75 million records sold
- Britney without hair - Probably about 14 records sold (exact figure unknown; she wouldn't return my calls*)
To which I can only reply --- Yikes!! Anybody got some Rogaine!!???
.* okay, I admit I didn't really try calling her; I didn't want to disturb her at 4 a.m.
