Weekly 1s and 0s
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About Me
I show businesses how to succeed in the digital landscape. For over 12 years, across numerous industries and companies in the Fortune 500, I’ve been a strategic thinker, leader, designer and technologist.
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- Blog post redux: Startups with solutions in search of problems -- Canary in a coalmine http://t.co/95zCUUOC
- Global development: Great for business and productivity, bad for consultants #4am #tired
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Author Archives: Ryan McCormack
Five strategies to keep high-octane in your brain
My brain has been running on fumes for the last few weeks. Ever since returning from an extended vacation in New Zealand, I’ve had a hard time finding mental energy for much beyond day-to-day routines and work. No amount of surfing the Web, sci-fi-book-reading or self-motivation has filled my mental tank.
The problem? Not enough high-octane fuel. Continue reading
Posted in Web stuff
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Don’t be a hamster: Own your routines
The best thing in the world to break your routine is a vacation (preferably to someplace new and exotic). From when you wake to the moment your head hits the pillow, everything is outside your daily routine: where you sleep, what you eat, the places you go, the people with whom you interact. The comfortable slippers of your daily life are gone. It’s a fantastic way to inspire creativity, stimulate your mind and re-energize your spirit.
And then the vacation ends. You come home. What happens when you get back?
Continue reading
Posted in Random bits
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Plangasm: Last-minute tips for SXSW pilgrims
The time has finally come for South by Southwest (SXSW) 2011 Hordes of technorati, cinephiles, and music fans are descending on Austin like a pilgrimage to Mecca, only instead of the Kaaba Stone, SXSW attendees will have the AT&T Convention … Continue reading
Posted in Web stuff
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Carpe Diem
It’s rare that I cross-post to my personal blog, but some occasions call for extreme measures. Please check out the following: In Memoriam — Alan Nathan Yost (1972 – 2010).
Posted in Web stuff
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Pitch imperfect: When strategic thinking misses the mark
The big day has finally come: the pitch.
You and your team have been working feverishly for a week pulling together your response to the RFP. Digital strategy, audience research, creative execution, and a business case for significant future growth. You did your competitive research, understood the landscape, and developed a strong story about a 3-to-5-year arc of business growth. You hone your story, removing extraneous detail, crafting a presentation that will fit in your slim one-hour slot. And then you’re ready, finally. Continue reading
Posted in Strategy
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Smackdowns, hyperbole and semantics: The world of social media debate
Discourse around social media has become depressing. It’s less about debate and more about mudslinging and hyperbole. Continue reading
Posted in Social media, Web stuff
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Social media pundits: Introspection or public navel-gazing?
Amber Naslund wrote a piece today about why she believes the social media “industry” has a credibility problem. In it, she decries four basic failures of people who claim to be experts in social media (direct quotes):
- We talk too much about the value of our time rather than putting it to good use
- We cannibalize our own
- We’re intolerant of missteps
- We talk about conversation, but we focus a great deal on the tools. And, on ourselves
Posted in Uncategorized
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Key logs and the path to success
In a bygone era, courageous men moved logs by the thousands with rivers, crossing vast distances and enduring enormous risks. One of the perils of the trade was the log jam, when topography and conditions conspired to bring the flow of logs to a halt. In these situations, the solution was to find the key log, the one log that, when released, would break up the entire jam. Continue reading
Posted in Strategy, Web stuff
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WordPress for content management: The good, the bad and the ugly
Wordpress (WP) has enjoyed a great deal of success over the last several years. It’s a wildly popular publishing platform that’s gone from being just a tool for bloggers to a publishing system used by more traditional publishing sites (e.g., the Wall Street Journal magazine). In its most recent upgrade (version 3.0), a number of significant feature enhancements have pushed it further down the road towards become a more full-featured web content management system (CMS), garnering acclaim from many looking for Wordpress to evolve. Continue reading
Posted in History, Web stuff
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Will “Good enough” kill the digital design agency?
"Abundance creates more problems than scarcity." Clay Shirky
A lot has changed since the early days of web design, when tools were scarce and skills were in high demand. Design tools, platforms and patterns have become ubiquitous (and often free). Does this spell the end for digital design agencies? Continue reading
Posted in Presentations, Strategy
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