Customer's Girlfriend Sends Mike an Email

Hey Mike,

This is the hapless girlfriend who shares an email account with a techie who subscribes to your newsletter.

The amount of dry poopey emails that we get in our inbox is criminal, and it's pathetic that the other electronic types are perpetrating the geek image that's out there by doing these incredibly boring emails. I mean come on? 'All you've ever wanted to learn about C++, Extensive Layer Management Plug-In for mental ray Pipeline? BRUTAL! Thank you for the sense of humour in your newsletters.

Mike - I think you need to start a 'how to write a cheese free newsletter course' I can think of many companies that need your help!

Signed,
Disgruntled Dish

Springtime Breezes at B&B Electronics

I don’t know about where you live, but here in Illinois we just had one of those early-spring weekends that makes you smile, no matter the circumstances.

There’s just nothing like a fresh spring breeze after a long, frosty winter to clear your head.

Forget the bailouts, forget your 401k has downsized to a 201k, and forget that our middle-aged sun is working on its 5 billionth birthday (in another 5 billion we’ll have something serious to worry about).

Seem impossible? Try harder. There ain’t a thing you can do on your own to solve those problems anyway.

Swear off CNN and spin up some Miles Davis instead. Quit reading USA Today and dust off a good book (Atlas Shrugged might be a timely read). Get off your treadmill and get outside and live a little.

Burying my head in the sand?

Nope - just a matter of focus.

In my little world there are perhaps a few hundred lives out there that I can directly impact. And some thousands more that I touch indirectly. That’s where spend my energy. I’m not gonna save GM, not going to fix Wall Street and I’m not going to reform Lindsay Lohan, so I’m not going to spend my time worrying about them.

What have I been spending my time on?

• This month I’ve been tweaking B&B’s product development process, a great effort between engineering, product management and operations. As customers, you will see the results.
• I’ve been working on our product quality processes (and if you’ve had a less than top notch quality experience with B&B I want to hear about it).
• I’ve started a new blog. Check it out over at http://blog.bb-elec.com/
• I wrote a new paper on wireless that I shared with you all last month and have been responding to your terrific feedback, such as:
• Paulo from Oz who wrote, "'10 Commandments of Wireless Communications' was well condensed, clearly explained and easy to understand. Well done Mike!!! It's a good help for those deploying wireless devices in old as well as new installations.”
• Ted from a research vessel deep in the south Pacific penned, “Thou shalt continue to bring Mirth to my Draconian work shop of horrors. It sootheth my soul. Thanks, and Best Fishes”

I’ve posted the 10 Commandments wireless piece up on the blog. So if you missed it last month, and wireless is in your future, check it out at http://blog.bb-elec.com .

What can you do in your world? Fix processes, or develop processes where none exist. Take on that instrumentation project. Add those next few I/O points to your SCADA system. Think of 10 things you can do to do more with less and make them all happen. There’s never been a better opportunity to roll out your “A” game. Neither politicians nor bankers are going to revive the world’s economy – it’s you and I, and the ranks of creative geeks like us that are going to make that happen.

What projects are you driving in the face of slower spending? Email me – I’d like to hear about them.

Mike Fahrion
e-support@bb-elec.com
815-433-5100