Claire, Isla and I went out for a nice fall walk, and Claire snapped this photo of Poss and I.
7 November, 2008
The Olympics are done and one of the biggest winners was the UK.
They took 19 gold medals, and 8 of them were in cycling.
The director of British Cycling explained: “We focused on ‘performance by the aggregation of marginal gains.’ Even when you’re nearly perfect, you keep looking for a one percent improvement in every single thing you do. That’s what we try to do from the mechanics upwards to the rider. Some teams neglect the little bits. Not us.”
It made me think about customer experience (as I always do, you know) - where no detail is too small…where every experience can be made that little bit easier, more useful or more enjoyable.
I put this to Phil Terry, CEO of Creative Good (www.creativegood.com), while dining with him the other day. Creative Good is a customer experience pioneer, and Phil is one of the most interesting characters in the industry. Among other things, he’s organized a book club that will take you the rest of your life to get through. Take a look - www.readingodyssey.com.
But, back to our conversation…
DMcQ: Phil, Dave Brailsford says you gotta go for that incremental 1% improvement on every detail. Seems that there might be a good message there for business.
Phil: Dave Brailsford?
DMcQ: British Cycling coach.
Phil: Er, right. Anyway. He’s got a point - you need to have mastery of what you’re doing and look to continually improve. We can extend that thinking to business - that we must have technical mastery of what we’re offering to customers. But there’s something else you need to think about if you really want to deliver great experiences - the law of probability.
DMcQ: Law of probability? Uh. Can you pass the wine?.
Phil: Let’s take this example: Imagine a plane has 2,000 parts. And imagine that each of those parts has a reliability of 99.9%. There is only a .1% chance that the part will fail. What is the chance, when the plane takes off, that one of those parts will fail?
DMcQ: Umm…calculator’s broken. Sorry. (whew)
Phil: 86% likely that one part will fail. This is why a plane has back up for those parts (in case you were worried about airline safety).
DMcQ: WHOA!
Phil: Now, extend that to your business - which certainly has more than 2,000 parts. You must have technical mastery - they must be under control and 99.9% reliable (if you’re lucky). But, no matter how hard you work on every last detail, things are going to go wrong and your customer’s experience will suffer. If you face that reality, you can do three things.
- Simplify the experience. Fewer parts means fewer chances that something will fail. Something with 10 parts, for example, has only a 1% chance of failure.
- Create a service experience that continually delights your customers. This way, when something does go wrong, you’ve built up enough goodwill that customers will be more forgiving.
- Know what can go wrong and how to deal with it. If your staff knows how to deal with a bad experience, they can recover from it.
DMcQ: Singapore Airlines has such a programme. Staff has a list of the ten most common service failures, such as spilling a drink on a passenger, and how to deal with it.
Phil: Exactly. If you have those three things in place, you can deal with the inevitable failures in your customer experience. If you don’t, then there will be chaos. And very unhappy customers.
30 October, 2008
Well, I never thought I would get so into this, but I’ve become a bit obsessed with my new site, The Sufferfest. It’s a site dedicated to indoor cycling/spinning, since that’s pretty much my workout routine now that winter’s coming. I’ve produced two of my own workout video podcasts, which are no available in iTunes (just search for The Sufferfest in the iTunes Store), and written a bunch of reviews of other spinning podcasts. It’s been a lot of fun, although Claire thinks I’m a little crazy, and it’s been really cool to discover so many other people with great spinning sites and blogs.
4 October, 2008
Finished the video, and finally finished the site. Anyone who’s looking for good spinning workouts, music and reviews, head over to my newest hobby - The Sufferfest. (Guess I should start training myself now, since Claire is really killing it on the spinbike…)
8 September, 2008
Just finished working on my first Sufferfest Spin video.
Since I had just about bored myself senseless on the spin bike two years ago, I started writing my own workouts. Then I started adding them to iPod playlists. I had played with the idea of doing my own videos after buying and using the woeful Carmichael Training System podcasts.
I started with a basic workout that I wrote for a 45minute spin session. Then I started looking around youtube for cycling videos that fit the workout segement - for instance, the Olympic Pursuit Final between Bradley Wiggens and Brad McGee for a 4minute time trial effort or the finish of the 81 Paris-Roubaix for a series of 1minute intervals.
After cutting the videos to the workout, I started adding music - which was a lot of fun as I could mix it with the sountrack from the videos (Paul, the elastic is starting to snap on Menchov and Sastre is riding away! - cue sound up on Muse Black Hole). Putting in a few title slides adds the workout instructions and, viola, it-s done!
The next project is to get the Sufferfest website up and running so I can post some of the videos for any of you who want to download them - once I figure that out, I’ll let you know. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with some classic Hinault….
24 August, 2008
Went out today with the Garmin and mapped out a training loop that I intend on using quite a bit this fall. It’s got 150m of climbing per 3.6k loop. The first nine minutes or so are flat out, granny gear climbing, with a couple of (too) short flatish bits. The rest is a fast, twisty downhill followed by a rolling/flat part. A great course to work on maximum climbing efforts. You can see it below…
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/episode/view.do?episodePk.pkValue=6588538
18 August, 2008
Now, we’ll never say she’s not the most talented baby in the universe, but she’s not quite there when it comes to picking up small objects….like cheerios. Not to be outdone, our Red Rascal has developed her own unique solution to the problem.
18 August, 2008
K1 finishes the climb above Davos with Roman. A very rocky, high-speed free fall is about to ensue.
The K1C Crew
Eccentric Arosa Personality and part time “IT Guy,” Bert-Jan “K1″ Van Essen organised the K1 Classic this weekend. Building on the already successful K1 Base Camp for snowboarders, which has run for several years, the K1 Classic was a three-day sufferfest of mountain biking high above Arosa, Switzerland.
Founding riders of the K1C included Jens, Roman (Base Camp veteran), Chopper, Dana, Bert-Jan and myself. The three days turned to two days, as the Friday got snowed out (yes, in August). Saturday and Sunday, however, made for excellent riding, as the weather was cool, the company chilled and the efforts extreme.
Jens and I were the only hardtail guys, while the rest were full-suspension. After more than 10 hours of riding in those two days, I returned home sore, sunburnt and exhausted. And, after careful consideration, I make the following awards:
- Best crash - Jens and Roman tie with their subtle, low speed, over the handlebars tumble. Jens probably edges ahead since he actually ended up on the ground and didn’t move for awhile
- Best almost-crash - I’ll have to award that to myself for my 40kph incident where, while sprinting, the chain came off, I slammed down on the top tube, both feet came off the pedals, landed on the street and I skidded, bike still between my legs, down the street with sparks flying behind me from the SPD plates on my shoes. Whew.
- Best idea - K1s suggestion to have a grappa after dinner.
- Worst idea - Trying to follow Chopper, who clearly had the best technical skills, down the Medregen descent.
- Most improved rider - Dana, not least because he got up the climb to Medregen in one piece.
- Loudest - That would go to Zoe, poor thing, who decided that screaming at 3am was the best way to tell her parents that she really wasn’t happy and they should do something about it.
- Thing that will never be lived down - GGW
22 April, 2008
It’s been brought to my attention that I don’t have a photo of Claire at the site. Shameful. For a woman of such beauty and charm, it’s a grave injustice to her, and you dear reader, that she’s not here. Consider this error rectified with this photo of such an INCREDIBLE mom and her very happy daughter.
2 April, 2008
The most emailed article on the International Herald Tribune today is about the soaring taxes for Americans who live abroad. It seems there is some upcoming legislation that might help relieve that burden, but it doesn’t sound too optimistic.
“Whether the legislation backed by DeMint, and a similar bill in the House sponsored by Representative Gregory Meeks, Democrat of New York, stand much chance to draw attention in a year when the Congress faces an array of enormous economic crises remains unclear. “If Congress can’t fix this,” DeMint said, then its prospects for dealing with its larger economic challenges “seem rather dismal.”
29 March, 2008
After spending another 10 days in Oz, Claire and Isla finally came home - to much better weather than we’ve been having lately! Although they’re not sleeping that great - still on Oz time - Isla found the energy to lift her head up and give a big smile while hanging out in her room!
24 March, 2008
Jens, Martina, Scott and I were having dinner last night and got to talking about having more…uh…meaningful dinners. Something more cultural, more exotic and more ritual - something like the Hash House Harriers have with their whole running traditions (well, not quite, but sort of). From that, The Country Club was born. We’ll see where it goes….
23 March, 2008
As an American living abroad, I’m in the unique situation of having to pay not only Swiss taxes, but also US taxes. Why unique? Because no other developed nation in the world requires its citizens living abroad to pay taxes. German living abroad? My expat friends and colleagues from other countries look at me with bewilderment when I mention the US tax situation. No German taxes. Australian living abroad? No Australian taxes. Each year, I have to pay for US services, infrastructure, education and government that I don’t use. It’s a double burden, and one that makes being American abroad a disadvantage. My daughter, who now has an American passport, will have to pay US taxes even if she never lives in America. US lawmakers seem to think that all expats are on generous packages that pay for our housing, food and travel - which simply isn’t true. I’m a local hire on a local contract here in Zurich. The “expat” package is a myth. What’s going on here? A fantastic insight into this situation can be found at the Amcham blog, and the American Citizens Abroad website provides a forum for Americans abroad to be heard.
20 March, 2008
Claire and Isla are still down in Tassie, while I’m back in the brisk, gray days of Zurich. Thought I’d post another photo of Isla, so that you, and I, could see her face a bit more! Thanks goodness they’ll be back next week!
16 March, 2008
Back in 2004, strolling down the dusty streets of Lhasa, Tibet, I wandered through an uneasy mix of Chinese entrepreneurs and Tibeten families. It was hard to see how the Chinese would ever leave, but also hard to see how they could ever stay. As we rode out of town after a few days, and on toward Kathmandu, I felt like Lhasa was slipping away and being replaced by something else entirely.
Today, the Herald Tribune reports on violence in Lhasa, as protests against Chinese occupation erupt for the first time in over a decade. I thought of my sister-in-law, and how she must feel, watching this happen in her homeland. I’m thinking of you Jamyang, and I’m thinking of Tibet and its continuing struggle. As we get closer to the olympic games, the world’s attention will be ever more focused on the rights of Tibetens - how the Chinese will respond when violence isn’t an option remains to be seen.
14 March, 2008
…well, not really. But it’s 34degrees celsius here in Hobart, and blowing a gale. Hot and sweaty, with no air conditioning. Isla was getting a bit fidgity, so we filled up a plastic tub, took it outside and gave her a little dip. She’s always loved the water, from her very first bath. She’s also a very good stander (well, with a bit of help), so between dips we stood her up to cool off in the breeze.
12 March, 2008
I’m not a fish guy. Or at least I wasn’t. Growing up on the shores of Lake Erie you got to thinking that all fish were poisonous. But since being in Tasmania, I’ve changed. Tasmanians, who have the ocean within sight no matter where they are on the island, seem to have it in their genes to love seafood. In the last few weeks, I’ve had Stripey Trumpeter (didn’t know there was such a thing), Abalone (on the BBQ with a bit of chili), Squid (as a matter of fact, it was the same squid that we hauled up on a wobbly fishing trip and which, once on deck, promptly attacked me with a massive spray of salt water and god knows what), Whiting (white-ing, as I found out too late after ordering a whit-ing), Barracuta (spelled differently, sounds the same, is different), Flathead, Oysters, Mussels and, lastly, Flounder.
My father-in-law, Chris Fuglsang, is a man who has not ever tasted a fish he didn’t like. Every single fish that has ever been on his plate is a fish that he has been happy to devour. He’s also a master fisherman and a master cook. Tonight, he brought out a Flounder, which he’d BBQd on the grill outside and instructed me how to eat it (as I’d never been confronted with an entire fish on my plate before).
11 March, 2008
Being half Australian, it’s important that Isla gets to know her homeland a bit! We took her out for her first bush and beach walk, just down from Orford, Tasmania, starting in Sandy Bay. She must have loved it as she stayed awake for almost half the walk! We didn’t see any wombats, but the scenery was stunning.
11 March, 2008
I’ve been a fan of Monocle magazine since I picked up the first issue in Zurich airport early last year. The cover story that issue was about bicycles, and how more and more cities are becoming bike-friendly. Thanks to the hard work of Tiia Tuisku, and the other members of Credit Suisse’s Five Senses Team, we’ve recently been featured in Monocle. Their “Euroscents” article captures some of the details about our Five Senses project, where we created the first multi-sensory branch banking experience. We also won the European Front End of Innovation Champion Award in Vienna back in January. Well done guys!
10 March, 2008
This week, my brother-in-law, Jarrod, and I took the short trip from Orford to Kellevie, Tasmania, to ride the course for the Kellevie 24hr MTB race. We weren’t doing the race, just checking out the course (you have to be crazy to be a 24 MTBer). The 10k circuit goes down as the most fun I have EVER had on a bike - it’s incredibly technical, with about 180m of climbing, through bush, rainforest, riversides, fields and the very occassional fire road. Not a momet to relax, either physically or mentally - as one of the guys who was on the course with us said, “There aren’t ANY skills that aren’t examined on this course.” Tight turns through dense bush seemed to be Jarrod’s undoing, though, as he crashed three times in three attempts at the same corner - the video above shows attempt number three (which resulted in three sliced fingers and multiple bruises)…and the video below shows some of the very tight track through the rainforest section of the course…god knows how anyone is going to do this in the dark!
