Once or twice a year, I get a call from someone who wants to get a patent. They saw some cool product while they were traveling and would like to a get a patent on the product in the U.S.

You can’t. In order to get a patent, you have to be an inventor. If you did not invent it, you cannot get a patent on it. You could avoid telling the Patent and Trademark Office that you did not really invent it. Of course, that would be fraud. Your patent would be worthless and you may get sued over it. If you see something cool overseas - buy it. Import it if you want. Just don’t try to get a patent on another person’s invention.

This blog post is intended for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as legal advice or as pertaining to specific factual situations. Consult with an attorney concerning your own needs and circumstances and to obtain any legal advice with respect to the topics discussed in this post.

Don't have time to read every popular business book out there? Read the book summaries at either Wikipedia or Wiki Summaries. These "Cliff Notes" of sorts work great for buzz terms, new ideas, and heavy meme books like the following:

• The Tipping Point (chapters here)
• The Long Tail
• Getting Things Done

The list could go on and on. Just Wiki a popular book and have at it. Of course, this isn't a substitute for that excellent thing called actual reading, but it's a great way to stay up to date, if not refresh yourself on the key ideas of emerging (or repackaged) concepts in business.

It has been said that almost 80% of all IT projects go over schedule and budget. That's huge. And since I build web software for a living, I've had my share of mistakes. But fortunately, I learned early on that superior project management can significantly curtail delays and rising costs thus increasing the chances of a client leaving happy. Over the past two years, Griffio has completed 92% of its projects on time and 84% under budget. I'm very proud of that result and hope the trend continues as I learn knew ways of speeding up the development process through better communication. So why do most IT projects fail? Information Week writes: "Technology projects very seldom fail for technology reasons. By far the highest percentage of failures results from human communication issues." In short, good project management is a must. And good project management is all about managing both client and developer expectations. For example, what specifically is included in an engagement, and more importantly, what's not. Have an open door policy and don't be afraid to lay your feelings out on the table when problems arise (and they will). Project management isn't rocket science. It's just good ole fashion accountability using delivery milestones, progress updates, and honesty up front when things aren't going as planned.

Funny how smaller buyers still devalue software that arguably takes just as much time if not more than physical tangible products like homes, buildings, and cars. Developers: you've seen this before. Keep moving forward. Prospective clients: take note, and if you've done this, don't ever do it again. Complete rotating .gif here.

I am doing some research on a company and came across a “Patent Pending” notice on their Web site. How do I uncover information on this patent pending? Is there a useful Web site out there? Where is the best place to go without using an attorney?

Thanks in advance!

I have been following the media coverage closely since last night’s tragedy at Trolley Square. Having managed more than three dozen crises from murders, kidnappings, accidents, arrests to executive salary controversies and terminations, I view stories like these through a different lens.

It is impossible for most to comprehend how challenging it is to try to manage a crisis situation with its ever changing dynamics, the drama taking place behind the scenes especially in the executive suite, and the speculation that runs rampant. It is usually apparent from an organization’s response as to whether or not they are executing a current crisis plan, as well as if they working with an experienced crisis communication professional.

It never ceases to amaze me the attention and exorbitant fees companies and individuals in the midst of crisis are willing to pay for anything that can help to ease the pain. Yet, on the flip side, ongoing crisis planning and preparation seems to be a low priority or even an unnecessary expenditure.

In the case of Trolley Square’s planning and response, the jury is still out. So far, the initial statement released last night was thoughtful and well written. Because of the unfolding drama, investigators and witnesses have dominated the coverage and mall management has been more of an afterthought. Today will be the beginning of a much larger test for Trolley Square as it faces tough questions regarding its role, if any, in the incident, ongoing security and reopening for business.  

I have been asked by a couple of local media organizations for my perspective regarding when the mall should reopen and how it should respond. Many of my answers revert back to crisis planning. It is important to understand a crisis, or the incident itself often doesn’t result in the greatest damage, it is usually poor response or lack thereof.

A couple of important tips for crisis planning include the following:

1. It is imperative for an organization to identify its key audiences and organize or have a plan for responding to each one. Following two mall shootings in Tacoma, Washington in 2005 and Fort Lauderdale, Florida last December, the media reported shoppers were undeterred when they reopened quickly after the incidents. However, shoppers quoted in media stories commented that employees were distraught and were the only ones mentioning the tragedy. From these sources, it seems apparent that not enough attention, grief counseling and training was provided for employees. 
2. Every organization should get in the habit of meeting regularly to update plans and participate in training. It is a good idea to retain a crisis communication firm or consultant in this process to provide an outside perspective as well as to equip the firm with a deep understanding of your organization and planning so they are empowered to assist in the event of a crisis. In addition, my clients tell me that their top executives are less likely to cancel or postpone crisis planning because of the investment in my firm’s involvement. You also may want to consider retaining a firm or consultant outside of those who already provide public relations services to your organization in order to preserve legal privilege.       

You never know when a crisis situation big or small may suddenly impact your organization. You can never be too prepared even for circumstances that seem unthinkable.

I grew up in Oregon and got plenty of environmental indoctrination in high school. I believe we need to do our part to protect the environment. I believe in recycling. I think deforestation is a bad thing. I’m concerned about pollution.

But the global warming rhetoric has reached an absurd level.

Environmentalist are now taking aim at Valentines Day claiming that:

“…’flower miles’ could have serious implications on climate change in terms of carbon dioxide emissions from aeroplanes.”

I thought that was loony until I read this article from Ellen Goodman of the Boston Globe:

“I would like to say we’re at a point where global warming is impossible to deny. Let’s just say that global warming deniers are now on a par with Holocaust deniers, though one denies the past and the other denies the present and future.”

I am speechless.

It’s about 1am. I and one of my developers are waiting for a client’s website to come back online after their hosting company took it down about five hours ago. We’re waiting because the client needs some new code put in place to facilitate a marketing campaign that begins tomorrow morning. We’re waiting because while the hosting company told us about two hours ago that they would get the site back up, we haven’t seen anything yet. My wife has already gone to bed. I’m tired. I’m definitely not waking up at 5am so that I can go to the gym tomorrow. And I’ll probably end up going to bed before this gets fixed, and then getting a phone call from the client at 7am asking why the site still isn’t up, at which point I’ll have to call the hosting company again, wait for an hour on hold again, only to have them tell me that somebody is working on it and I need to be more patient. Do I get paid overtime for this? No. Can I take the day off because I worked late? No. Will I get a promotion for working hard? No. I will receive a sincere thank-you from our client, and they may continue using our services for one more month, after which there are no guarantees.

This is just one of those “glorious moments” of being an entrepreneur. But I shouldn’t complain. I used to stay up all night all the time. I used to work every single weekend until midnight Saturday night. I skipped my sister-in-law’s wedding reception because I needed to go back to the office and get some more work done. I’ve been married for over seven years but only within the last few months did I finally take a few days off to spend with my wife, just the two of us. I rarely have enough money to pay my employees or the rent on time. Last year I was stiffed to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars by clients who either went out of business or put me on the bottom of their list of creditors. For that and other reasons I haven’t paid myself a dime in four years. Some people become entrepreneurs because they think they’ll be free, only to find out they are slaves.

A year and a half ago I sat down one night and started typing on my blog about what it means to be an entrepreneur. In less than an hour I had come up with a list of 75 completions to the sentence fragment “You might be an entrepreneur if…” Since then I have added detail to many of the items on that list such as You’ve maxed out more than $50K in credit cards to fund your business, You work for two days straight without sleeping and then feel guilty for buying a hamburger off the dollar menu at McDonald’s because you really can’t afford it, and You’ve worked overtime, over a weekend, or two consecutive days not so that you could pay your own mortgage, but so that you could get money to pay one of your employees’ mortgages.

I’ve had people tell me their spouses don’t want them to be an entrepreneur after reading my list. I’d like to think I’ve performed some sort of noble service and perhaps have preserved a marriage. I still have a few more to finish expounding on, and as I’ve expounded I’ve come up with even more items although I’ve resisted adding to the list. But there’s one I think perhaps I should add, because you might just be an entrepreneur if you can read through my list, seriously consider the items on it and the risk you face of having to endure each one just as I have, but then you dive into being an entrepreneur anyway.

You see, entrepreneurship is not for everybody. Many people try it, fail, become burned out and/or bitter, and go back to corporate life. That’s ok and as it should be. But true entrepreneurs are addicts. Even when it hurts, we keep on doing it. There’s something that drives us to succeed, even when we’ve failed so many times. Although everyone around us only sees our failures, we only see how much closer we are to success. Some entrepreneurs are successful from the get-go and don’t know what it’s like to endure year after year of struggle and slow, incremental progress. But some of us have been through it, some of us are going through it right now, and even when we’re suffering and things are difficult, we’re still having fun and can’t wait for the next day to begin.

The question is not so much whether you want to be an entrepreneur, the question is whether you are an entrepreneur, and there’s only one way to find out.

Occassionally, as I hear people talk about negotiating a venture capital transaction or an M&A deal, I hear bravado about taking it to the other side.  I also see these deals fall apart. The intended outcome of most of the transactions I have been involved in is rather more like courtship and marriage than they were like buying or selling a used car. While I don't think there is ever much of a need to negotiate even the purchase of a used car in hostile terms, I do acknowledge that it is somewhat harder to see why the buyer of a used car should be concerned about the welfare of the seller.  Negotiating hard for the best possible deal on a car for some may involve a range of tactics that include putting your own needs well ahead of the needs of the dealer. More to the point, when negotiating a M&A deal or a venture capital placement, I believe that those are typically intended to be long-term relationships, with almost all of the significance of a marriage.  Can you imagine negotiating the terms of a marriage the way you would negotiate the purchase of a used car?  I've seen it happen. Let me suggest that the approach to negotiating a term sheet should include a couple of dates, a nice dinner out or at least a long lunch or two.  A couple of long  romantic walks through the warehouse, the plant or the office will help.  You may also want to watch some PowerPoint together in a dimly lit conference room.

         As we approach March Maddness, I’ve been thinking about my favorite basketball coach of all time, John Wooden, and the many stories that circulate about him this time of year.

        My favorite Wooden story doesn’t involve any of his many NCAA basketball championships.  At least not directly.  And there are some great stories about those games, his incredible winning record and the amazing players that went on to be legends and leaders in the NBA.

            No, my favorite story about Coach Wooden centers around his traditions on the first day of practice.

            To preface the story, just think about UCLA basketball in its glory days under Wooden.  Every top prep school player in the country wanted to play for the master.  Poly Pavilion had become the Mecca of collegiate hoops and Wooden had his pick of the very best talent that high school basketball had to offer.

            So there they would be on the first day of practice, sitting on the bleachers in Poly sizing each other up.  Wooden enters the gym, bigger and greater than life.  What words of wisdom would he dispense?  What tools would he add to their already sizeable toolboxes?  And when, they just had to wonder, would they feel their fingers wrap around the seams of a ball so they could show the venerable coach their talent?

            Oddly enough, their hands would not caress the pebble texture of a basketball that day.  Their feet would not generate the high pitched squeals of rubber soles hitting varnished wood.  For John Wooden believed firmly that you started with the fundamentals, and the most basic of  fundamentals did not include dribbling, blocking or dancing along a free throw line.

            His first directive each season wasn’t about passing or shooting techniques.  Instead, the first words addressed to any new team were, “Men, take off your shoes and socks.”  He and his assistants would then proceed to properly size each player’s feet and teach each player how to put on their socks correctly.

            Experience had taught John Wooden, and he was a man who learned well from experience, that more players were benched because of blisters, from improperly donned socks and ill-fitting shoes, than all other reasons combined.

            The most basic “fundamental” for a team which plays solely (pun not intended) on its feet, is the care and support of those feet.

I firmly believe that the most valuable assets of any team, business or organization, is its people.  And yet, as I meet with business leaders, presidents and CEOs, I find that many of them think of people as a renewable energy source, a replaceable commodity.  As the labor market continues to tighten, those leaders that hold this belief will see their bottom line, bottom out.

            It is people that make an assembly line go, an organization grow and a business prosper.  Without them, no piece of equipment can function, no product can be produced, no strategy can be implemented.  People hold the institutional memory of any entity.  And make no mistake, at the end of the day; the critical memory of any organization is institutional.

            Great coaches know inherently that great teams are made of great team players executing against a great strategy to achieve a great goal.  Jim Collins said it best in Good to Great, decide “who” before “what” and put the right person on the right seat on the bus.

            People are the feet that support any business or organization. They can carry it to greatness or create blisters that will bring an entire organization to its knees. 

The fundamentals of creating a winning team is a simple as properly putting on shoes and socks.  In hiring, you must consider fit, not just skills and qualifications.  Don’t hire because of time, hire because you’ve found the right person for your open seat on the bus.  And when you know you have a “people  problem”, act, don’t hesitate.

In his best seller, “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team”, Patrick Lencioni concludes that “The ultimate dysfunction of a team is the tendency of members to care about something other than the collective goals of the group.”  A “star” employee can bring down even the highest performing team by eating up team energy on personality and attitude clashes and a focus on personal success rather than the achievement of team goals.

There’s really no magic to finding the right strategy which allows you to capitalize on your human capital.  It just involves an understanding that there has to be a strategy, the will to correct and the desire to work until you get it right.

In the end it’s just as simple as having your management team take off their proverbial shoes and socks and get down to the fundamentals.