Tuning In To What Works

On being great (aka: The role of competive analysis)

Here's a good post on the pros and cons of keeping up with the Joneses in the business realm -- Don't Be Better than the Competition

It resonated...

Think about it this way: would you rather have a conversation with a prospect about whether your feature list is longer than the competition's or about the benefits the prospect will derive from your product?

Food for thought and a good reminder, if nothing else...

Where on this chart is your brand?

Got it from here

Are there times you shouldn't listen to users?

Read this article and it talked about Apple and if there are times that you maybe shouldn't listen to users. But the key take away on usability testing:

After all, a good lab moderator won't ask the customer what product they want ... rather they'll simply try to understand the customer's unmet needs and pain points, so that they can (back at the company) innovate the right solution. Customers, important as they are, are not designers.

Read the full post here.

Share of Online Searches by Engine, April 2008

Google Health beta -- What's really new and different?

Interesting perspective on Google Health beta.
Read Post

A Google Health Clinical Exam

Quick clinical review of Google Health from the Health Care Blog. Read Post

The Apple iPhone: Successes and Challenges for the Mobile Industry

The Apple iPhone is easily the most publicized new mobile device in recent memory. But despite all the discussion about the product, there's relatively little hard information available to the public on its impact. How is it being used? What effect is it having on customers and on the technology industry?
Read more...

By Nilofer Merchant and Michael Mace

Prototypes rule

I love prototypes. There is no easier way to find out what you don't know about something until you start trying to craft an example of it. It seems that Tim Sanders thinks so to. He also gives some good pointers on how to respond to prototypes and how to offer that response.

Thoughts?

Health 2.0 Social Search Commentary

This post from the Health 2.0 blog has some interesting insights into what it takes to build a strong healthcare social search community: http://www.thehealthcareblog.com/the_health_care_blog/2008/05/imedix-social-s.html

Want to be a good product manager?

Then stop gathering requirements. When I first read that it was a little like - huh? But as you read through this post it starts to make sense. It isn't that you stop completely, you actually do more then that. Don't be a 'would you like ketchup with that drop-down menu' product manager, actaully think through what is important and what needs are currently being unmet.

Great read.

Is it finally time to consider a Mandarin HRA???

Based on this analysis: http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/29/magazines/fortune/seven_years_learn_chinese.fortune/index.htm
it may indeed be time to consider that Mandarin HRA. China looms....

Internet Trends - from Morgan Stanley

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There are some interesting insights to be gained from this presentation. Techcrunch does a great job of breaking those down, particularly where social is concerned.

My question is - how can such a big company put such important information into such a god-awful slide presentation?

Social Media Meets Healthcare

This is an interesting (but kind of academic) piece by Jane Sarashon Kahn on the evolution of social media and healthcare. Where its come and where it may be heading. Worth perusing though. http://www.chcf.org/topics/chronicdisease/index.cfm?itemID=133631 . The actual article is a PDF link at the end of her intro.

What makes design Google-like?

This is a great post from Google about what they look for and focus on for their design. It is somewhat of a high level list, but it is some great things to keep in mind as we build out our product offering.

The 10 things that Google has found to be true

The ultimate phrase: Never settle for the best.

This is a brillant vision for their company. No wonder Google is kicking butt and continues to do so on a daily basis.

Friday SEO thoughts

PHRs and Privacy

An interesting article from today's NYT regarding PHRs, patient information, privacy and potential abuses: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/business/17record.html?ex=1366171200&en=3f64b831c0c20791&ei=5089&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss

Probably something we'll be hearing more on as PHRs continue to move to the forefront.

Muve, Gruve and The Mayo Clinic

Interview with John Montague, CEO of Muve from Doug Cress on Vimeo.

Based on the the status description below it looks like Muve plans to leverage our existing sales channnels and product line. It would seem that we should be considering the future of Gruve and how it may integrate with our product offering in our current work on our online weight program.

Status
Muve is highly focused on the broad market adoption of its core Gruve offering. The primary marketing and sales channels will be corporations, groups, retail outlets and the web. The relationships, practices, content and events of Mayo Health Solutions, MayoClinic.com and Professor James Levine will be constantly leveraged. The company has also planned a series of events to create publicity including a television feature on ABC's "20/20" program in February 2008

Thoughts on population health management: Current trends and future possibilities

Some overviews on the status of population health management strategies.

Current Trends in Employee Health Management
http://www.worldhealthcareblog.org/2008/04/11/current-trends-in-employee-health-management/

Future EHM Development Possibilities
http://www.worldhealthcareblog.org/2008/04/11/future-ehm-development-possibilities/

Using Jott to keep track of your life

Jott is a pretty cool site that allows you to track and input tons of information and then keep track of it in one spot. Here is a post about how a person is using this service to keep a medical diary. Does it make sense to look at these quick apps as integration possibilities?

From the Economist...The semantic Web

http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11002939

Lots of talk about the semantic Web and what that means. (Is it really Web 3.0?!) It'll be interesting to watch it fall into place (assuming it does).

Waist size matters more then weight when it comes to health

It seems in this test that your waist size is actaully a better measurement of your health then your BMI. Not sure if this has any play with the various weight related products. But it was interesting.

The complete Web 2.0 directory

http://www.go2web20.net/

Not a ton in the Health category. What role could we play??

Could we use Sketchcast?

Welcome to the idea compost

This is a blog that will help gather ideas, concepts and scraps of information and put them into one place.

Happy posting.