Product & Marketing – johnny88keys

Building AI People Can Trust

Imagine this: your sales team is thrilled about a new AI assistant. Then someone asks—what if the bot accidentally exposes our pricing data or internal manuals?

That simple question opens the floodgates:

Are we allowed to record our sales reps for training data? Where does customer PII go? Do vendors really keep our data private? What if the bot gives unsafe product advice?

There are frameworks (NIST AI RMF, OWASP, FTC/CCPA/GDPR) and key practices (data classification, enterprise tiers, vendor diligence, clear disclosure) that can help. It’s on us, the humans, to build responsibly.

The question isn’t “Should we trust AI?” but “How do we build AI people can trust?”

Choose Rough

Paraphrasing a lesson from Oliver Burkeman

‘Smoothness’ (aka ease) of life is not a great target. The ‘roughness’ of life comes from places where we humans rub against each other. When we remove all the friction from life, we rob it of meaning because we remove the opportunity to interact with other people. Convenience leads to emptiness.

The smoother life gets, the more we feel like weirdos amongst each other. We never take the time to get to know each other, because technology takes away the need for us to interact. To make time for what matters, we need to give up things that make life easier. And that can feel radical and even misguided in a world that seems to value convenience and speed and efficiency.

I’m not recommending to throw away all your appliances or cutting up your credit cards to pay in person with cash. But maybe there are a few opportunities in your life. Going to a restaurant versus ordering food online. Working face-to-face versus all-day zoom meetings.

Value is a Feeling

Paraphrasing what I’ve learned (so far) from Seth Godin about marketing.

What marketing is about is helping someone tell themselves a story about maintaining vs changing their status. We are all operating within a status – Continue reading “Value is a Feeling”

The Banana Problem

The problem with bananas is buying them in a big bunch. Unless you’re hosting a banana-split-making party, it’s hard to get through the entire bunch before one or two start turning. The solution in my house is to only buy 2 or 3 bananas at a time and/or plan on putting a few in the freezer for Continue reading “The Banana Problem”

What Einstein Knew

What Einstein knew: ‘No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it.’ In other words, you can’t solve your problems using the same mixed-up logic that got you into this situation in the first place. If you’re spinning in circles thinking about the problem, not Continue reading “What Einstein Knew”

Careful! Don’t Squash It

A new idea is a fragile thing. Particularly as organizations mature and processes are adopted to streamline work, new ideas get crushed easily. This is a root contributing factor to the Innovator’s Dilemma. “We can’t do that because it’ll slow production.” “How can you expect us to be nimble Continue reading “Careful! Don’t Squash It”

Focus on the 90

Volunteering at one of the Lighten Up Boulder events. Standing on the corner of a busy intersection during rush hour. Giving away free bike and pedestrian lights to anyone passing by, no strings attached! Just free lights to promote safety.

30% of the people who stopped came right up and asked what was going on. Continue reading “Focus on the 90”

The Value of VOC

In the realm of new product development there is heavy emphasis on Voice of Customer (VOC) outreach. Building quick prototypes to gather customer feedback early, testing concepts with real users, using different methodologies like focus groups and requirement workshops, all leading to Continue reading “The Value of VOC”

First Ten

I’ve now heard this from at least three different respected sources so I figure there must be something to it.

As a marketing concept: Tell 10 people about what you’ve got. If those first ten tell other people, you’ve got something. If they don’t, you don’t.

Innovate Every Day

The world is changing at an unprecedented rate. There are many reasons to look at what you’re doing day to day, and how you can begin doing it differently. This is innovation.

Imagine a guitar player who plays the same chords, the same note patterns, Continue reading “Innovate Every Day”

The Right Hammer

Any construction worker will tell you a 20-oz framing hammer, the perfect size and weight for driving structural nails into solid wood framing, is not the right hammer for finish work. For finish work, use a lighter weight hammer with a specific clean finish head. And no one would use a finish Continue reading “The Right Hammer”