Book Review: WWGD by JJ

What we do is what we do
It's all the same, there's nothing new
What we do is what we do
It's turnin' 'round on me and you
What we do is what we do
Just different names, it's nothing new
What we do is what we do
'Cause all we do is what we do"
-- "What We Do," Something for Everybody, Devo, 2010.

I was on the phone with my friend, Morten Nielsen, who is a product manager for Contex. Contex A/S is a manufacturer of large format scanners and large format scanner software for both color and monochrome scanning solutions. Contex creates scanning solutions for Reprographics, Technical, CAD, GIS, Graphic Arts, Document Archival, Copy shops, POP/Exhibit providers, Pre-Press, Sign and Billboard production, Architecture and Engineering offices. Contex is preparing for Autodesk University 2012, and that got us on to a discussion of the book What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis.

Using the power of getAbstract, here are my Take-Aways of this book.

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The book gets its title thusly: As a corporation, Google offers a valuable example of how to survive and prosper in the Internet age. Everyone, from corporations to governments, and from nations to individuals, must find new ways to evolve in the Google era. To plan your future business activities more effectively, ask: "What would Google do?"

When you do as Google would do, you are looking for new ways to understand a world in flux and to see it. Firms and industries can stay viable by heeding the "Google Rules."

• Focus on your customers.
• Cede control to customers and interact.
• Be open and collaborate with them so they become invested in your products.
• Be "searchable" so consumers can find you.
• Appreciate the power of a niche market.
• Connect.
• Be obsequious, purple, and clairvoyant. No wait - that's Steve Martin¹. For Google, it's be transparent.
• Build networks.
• Draw customers with free offerings.
• Don’t bog down with inventory and "stuff."
• Do what you do best and link to the rest.

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At Autodesk Labs our approach is to provide technology previews, free of charge, so that we can connect with our customers and allow their feedback to shape the technology. We appreciate the set of early adopters who find us and interact with us.

Doing what we do is alive in the lab.