Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with management

Recommend me some Correspondence-Management software?

sjbrophy — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:32:52 -0800

Can anybody recommend me some software that will allow me to manage correspondence paperlessly; that will allow 4 networked users to access a database containing all correspondence, including scanned copies of stuff received on paper from customers and third parties contacted on their behalf. I work for a public representative. we currently use a lotus notes - based system that allows us to record details of our customers, and stores soft copies of any letters we compose. However it is not designed to accept scanned documents or emails.

We open about 50 new cases a week, in addition to ongoing work on existing cases, and dealing with queries verbally (this still needs to be recorded).

I am hoping that there is an off-the-shelf solution - something used by SMEs or government agencies in other countries.

Many thanks to anybody with any input - this is my first time using metafilter :)

How can I make myself into a better manager?

newfers — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 23:16:51 -0800

I recently took a job as an evening manager at a grocery store produce department, so, nothing fancy or glamorous. I have 2 - 4 young kids working under me every evening and am seeking advice on how to keep them working, instead of chatting with each other... I have been working at a Kroger store for 8 years, in the produce department. Recently, I took a position as assistant head produce manager, and I work evenings (1:30 - 10). I generally have between 2 and 4 kids working with me, and my job is to keep them busy.

I have no trouble finding and delegating work for them, but the problem is, as soon as I am out of sight, they congregate, and not much gets done.

I am not a pushy type, but was wondering if anyone had suggestions on how to deal with this sort of behavior without coming across as a jerk. I'm 37, and these kids range in age from 16 to 22, if that helps.

To be honest, so far, things have worked out well... we get a lot done, but I'd like to be more experienced in the art of motivating others to do a good job :)

Thanks in advance, folks!

David in Athens, Ohio

People management

The1andonly — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:57:57 -0800

People Management: How to make time for people? Family-members, friends and others. For the last year or so I have had a regular work-schedule (9-5 barely any over-time). I work out 5 times a week (majority of time during lunch and during the weekends I wake up and run) and I am also a singer/song-writer. When i get home I try to socialize a little (through myspace in order to promote my music), write a little and sing a little. I also live alone, cook for myself, try to clean everyday and like to have at least half an hour to read something and try to relax without doing anything. To me this sounds fairly simple enough but I am constantly being told by other people (family members, people I am dating, etc) that I never make time for them, specifically time to talk on the phone with them. I have to admit I am horrible at making time to talk on the phone with people, girlfriends have always complained about it (if I am with them during the weekend everything is gravy otherwise they are lucky to hear from me during the week, if they do call me however I try my best to talk to them), my mother constantly berates me for it (though I visit her house at least twice a month). I used to work in an investment bank and due to my long working hours i used to have an excuse for it, but now that I am working less hours I still keep the same behavior. I feel that both my music and physical fitness are very important areas of my life, and the other administrative things such as cooking and cleaning are also necessary. I only watch about 2 hours of tv per week...yet with commuting time (i live in NYC) I feel that by the time I am done with everything during my day is already 11pm and almost time to go to sleep....Can you give me any tips to fit people into my life? Am I the only one that feels that the day does not have enough hours?...To me this shouldnt be a big issue...but apparently for everybody else involved in my life it happens to be.

My life is a blues song.

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 17:37:57 -0800

Brokenrelationshipfilter? Two weeks ago I found out that my girlfriend of a year had been seeing an acquaintance of my best friend for the past two months. They're over, and she told me, asking that we stay together. I'm not sure now if we're going to or not, but we agreed to six months more to see if we can make it work. I'm pissed, frankly, and she's suffering from horrible post-breakup depression; crying, insomnia, apathy, the works. I do, I believe, love her, but I'm having trouble seeing how we'll get through all the smoke in the air. I'm well aware that I'm the only one who can make this decision, but rationality isn't my strong point right now, and I could use some outside perspective. Messy, eh? There are a few corollaries to this that you should be aware of. First, my leg was broken 1.5 months ago, and I'm still recovering from that. It's one of those steel insert thingers, so I'm able to hobble around without a cast, go out, etc., but it limits my mobility to a certain extent. We don't have the option of going hiking, clubbing, or out to dinner, like we normally would. She's sick and tired of staying at home. I, however, work from home, as does she. She actually manages a business complete with staff that comes in during the day from here. I mostly work on the web.

The other really ugly complication is that our circle of friends is one that's closed pretty tight. My girlfriend and I know the same people, are pretty equally liked by them, and the drama this would create if it got out isn't something I like to think about. I can't really rely on them for support without shredding the circle. I've told two of them that it happened, not with who, and responses were "ditch her" and "consider me the bat poised in hand - if I find out who the motherfucker is I'll beat the shit out of him". That is the last thing I need on my conscience.

As to her depression, well, it's in full swing. She doesn't have energy to do any housework (I'm doing what I can, but, my leg is broken), nor much rational thinking. Last night she spent the entire night sobbing, alternating between "I love you" and "I regret ending it with him". She's mentioned suicide in passing, and though I don't think she's serious, I'm watching for warning signs. She's 29, I'm 24.

I'm exhausted and confused. She's been the most supportive, loving person I've ever known, and up until about the time she started seeing him, this was the most satisfying relationship I've ever been in. We were and are still talking about marriage. Even now she is as loving and supporting as she can be in her lucid moments. I want to be the same for her, but I also do feel very, very wronged, and at times that comes out. I need to control that if I'm going to get through this. My primary complaint is that she just does not say it when things are bothering or hurting her, that she acts out, is acknowledged by our mutual friends as probably her biggest shortcoming, and we've made a lot of progress on that front. What I've come to understand since this all came out two weeks ago is that she felt ignored by me, for a long time, and I'll attribute that to my moodiness - I prefer solitude when I'm stressed out or angry, and on the career front I have been frustrated since February, when I had to take a job I didn't want to retain residence in this country (I'm somewhere in Asia; primary career is freelance web stuff). I've got some time off because of the broken leg, but once it's healed I'll have to either go back to work or quit for a job with less demanding hours.

And that's my dilemma. I think this relationship is worth saving, but I really, really don't know how, and after a lot of long, sleepless nights trying to help her sleep, I'm beginning to wonder if it's worth it, or possible.

Any thoughts, feelings, or advice are deeply appreciated.

Any central signature managment tools for MS Exchange?

bartleby — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:33:56 -0800

ExchangeFilter: any centralized signature/logo/disclaimer management tools you can recommend? I'd rather not go desk to desk to add a logo. OK, so I asked basically the same question two years ago; I ended up going from workstation to workstation adding a disclaimer to 40 people's signatures in Outlook. (There's a policy that no one is allowed to modify their own signature, so any changes have to be made by IT, which is me.) That involves travelling to 5 different sites, and I'd rather not do it again.

But there's a request in the air to add a logo or some other doodads to the company email signatures. Since my question was asked the first time, perhaps some advancements have been made.
Can this be done by:
1) a new Active Directory feature in Server 2008?
2) a new feature in Exchange 2007?
[we're running Server/Ex 2003 now]
3) if not, and this is still a 3rd-party-software solution, can you recommend any products? Exclaimer seems to come up a lot - any reviews?

Holy Grail of web-based file management?

metajc — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:36:01 -0800

Holy Grail of web-based file management needed for girlfriend's non-profit ... so far, no luck. My girlfriend has been picking my brain for months about ideas for a file management system for her office. I've scoured Metafilter and shown her many sites but nothing has been perfect.

Her criteria:
- Hosts all kinds of files from JPEGs to spreadsheets
- Web-based
- Intuitive, Accessible to non-Geeks
- Searchable / Tags
- Bulletin board for messages, links, web addresses
- Tasks and Calendars would be great
- Budget is limited (Boss hasn't mentioned $ figure though)

Has already looked at:
- Basecamp (I think she likes it but hasn't settled)
- Wikispaces (?)
- Access (I would think this would be intimidating)
- PHPfileNavigator2 ("too clunky" and questioned the search capability)

Personally, I use Basecamp but I think there has been resistance for some reason. If you all want to vote or have other apps in mind, I thank you kindly. Let's put this to bed.

What kind of CRM-like software can manage contacts via a building layout?

unformatt — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:07:01 -0800

I'm looking for software to manage contact information in a way that may be similar to how a landlord might manage an apartment building. My friend has a job where he meets with a lot of people so he has to manage a lot of contact information. He often enters into a building (e.g. a college or hospital) and there are several offices he may want to stop at. He finds searching through a spreadsheet for certain people/rooms/phone numbers unbearable - he wants a different kind of interface for information. So he presented to me an idea about how he would ideally manage his contacts. He had the idea of being able to create a map of a building with rooms and he would be able to place contact info in the corresponding room. Its kind of like CRM software meets tenant-management software - or something like that. Has anyone heard of anything like this or know what this category of software is called?

Web based file management

bytewrite — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 10:38:24 -0800

I need suggestions for a web based file management solution I do not care if I have to pay for the software but would obviously like to minimize the cost. If I do have to pay I'd like for someone else to host it.

If i host it myself I would probably go with PHPfileNavigator2 as it meets most of my requirements (see below). Anyone have any experience with it?

Requirements
1) Multi-user (unlimited preferably)
2) Robust access controls (user, groups, folders, files, etc)
3) Secure
4) Robust search that includes ability to add comments (or tags or whatever) to files and search through those as well

PM Software with emphasis on task-tracking

neilkod — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 09:50:53 -0800

Suggestions on task-tracking/project management software for small teams with multiple projects? The primary requirement is that a superuser can assign tasks and receive status and percent-completed updates. A friend of mine who owns a small business says task management is his biggest nightmare. He has employees, contractors, and vendors across the country. He has a hard time of keeping up with his team members' responsibilities and actions. With some good task-management processes he said his business will be a thousand times more efficient.

Ideally, tasks can be assigned and reassigned to people. A GANTT chart would be nice but is not essential. My friend would like a dashboard view of what people have (left) to do, and what's been done.

These people are non-techies if that matters. They build expensive widgets, each widget is its own project.

An iPhone-optimized interface would be great since the owners use them. Free is nice but he's willing to pay. I also have the option to host any software on a LAMP server.

Google yields nozbe, basecamp, zoho, etc. I'd love to hear suggestions and experiences.

sorry if this has been beaten to death on ask already but I'm more interested in the group task-management views, none of the earlier posts highlight that

Is there a simple (kinda) task manager for Linux?

Koffeeman — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 09:45:46 -0800

Linux + EEE + Chaotic Projects = ????? Project Manager. What should I try? I have a 700 series 4G Surf Eee that I am using as a PDA plus. I like the thing (very portable, long battery life, easy to get accessories). I t has almost everything I want. But what I need is some kind of easy to use project manager.

My employer responds to RFPs (Request for Proposals) that can vary from really quick and simple to the monstoruosly complex. Most of the time the sales person and I work out the RFP needs and work that plan...Until we talk to the client and start all over as new data comes in. In order to keep to the tight timelines I have, I often try to figure out who I need to call, what needs to be done, and how the sales person needs to present our proposal. That means drafting out at least some tasks for the project. But after revisions, or Q&A sessions, or merely phone calls to the RFP company, most of those plans get rearranged. Therefore I need a better way to keep track these decidedly transient projects, allow me to toss entire trains of thought, and can make sure I don't sit around blowing bubbles when work needs to progress.

I would like the software to work on Xandros or Debian, allow me to keep soemthing like nested todos, allow me to strikethrough entries as well as delete or check off entries, and keep notes on either project or tasks as data changes, and classify projects as either active, passive, or dead. I have tried Baskets (didn't like it), use Evolution now, and would like something that would be locally installed. Ideas? Need more details?

Book catalogue with web OPAC?

Webbreader — Tue, 27 May 2008 03:30:53 -0800

Can anyone recommend a simple open source library management system / book database which offers a searchable web front-end / OPAC and which accepts imported data without MARC records (ie CSV or tab-delimited)? My organisation has a large collection of books which have been catalogued in Readerware, which is a basic book database with an auto-cataloguing function. We would like to make the catalogue available to outside users via a searchable web database. It needs the following features:

* Users can search by different fields (author, collection, keyword, etc).
* Records can be imported in CSV or tab-delimited format (my records do not have MARC data).
* Easy to set up and administer for a non-expert (with some qualified IT expertise on call).

My current server is a Windows server running Microsoft SQL 2005; there is some flexibility in server options, however.

It would be fine for this to be a static database without any significant management options - as long as I can import my existing data and allow other users to see it, my basic needs are met. However, more functionality is obviously better.

In the long term, this collection of books will be properly catalogued and we will want a proper library management system. So, a system with the potential to meet these needs would be nice, but my priority is something quick and easy.

I have some familiarity with Ruby on Rails, so a Rails system might be easier for me to administer, but this is not essential.

I've looked at some open source LMS such as Koha, and they may meet my needs, but I'm definitely in need of some input from the hivemind!

Money and banking for American expats.

Mr Bunnsy — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:47:15 -0800

Expats, particularly Americans abroad, how do you manage your money? Do you keep a US bank account for your credit cards, student loans, etc? Do you try to use a bank with global branches like Citi or HSBC? Do you keep any money in the US accounts beyond the bare minimum? (With the current exchange rates, I would guess not?) What about your 401k/IRAs?

Do you try to maintain a credit history in the US by occasionally using US-based credit cards, or keeping your name on former roommates' leases or utilities? Do you have a friend or relative manage your bills, or a paid financial planner or lawyer?

Was there any financial issue you were kicking yourself about after moving, and wishing you'd taken care of it while still at home?

Any other info and generic advice is appreciated. Thanks!

Cat brutally savaged, has had complicated surgery, aftercare will be difficult, costly and I have know idea where to begin

watercarrier — Sun, 04 May 2008 10:13:08 -0800

Cat brutally savaged, has had complicated surgery, aftercare will be difficult, costly and I have know idea where to begin..... My cat Mati was brutally and savagely attacked by a pack of wild dogs that were passing through the remote area where we live. She went missing for 48 hours where we were in sheer panic and terror of not knowing what happened to her. She somehow managed to drag herself back home, let out a moan and then collapsed from pain and exhaustion. From there she was rushed to the emergency room.

It was found she had very serious and complicated injuries to her leg, it was also badly infected with maggots after being left laying where she was for 2 days straight in the hot sun. No internal injuries or broken bones. There was a lot of necrosis, infection and damage to the leg. 4 days later she was operated on today where most of the tissue and muscle of her knee was removed in a very complicated procedure, requiring many stitches, tubes for drainage inserted and was given a warning that the after-care will not be easy.

I really don't know how to begin being a nurse to a cat that needs intensive care. I'd like to approach this from a very practical and effective, holistic way. What will I be needing in terms of equipment? How do I care for a cat that isn't usually very cooperative to say the least - with being hypersensitive to touch? What kind of therapy could I do with her after the infection subsides to help with muscles and tissues? Are there any homeopathic remedies that are good for this?

Also regarding the vet fees - I'd like to begin fund-raising to cover the costs that will be involved in her ordeal, either through song posted on the internet, a website, or finding resources out there that would help me help her. Anything, anyone out there that could possibly help in any way in this kind of situation would be greatly appreciated.

She is a wonderful, loving cat and certainly deserves to live the best way she can now - one thing is for certain - she will never, ever be going out again under these circumstances - only if and when a fenced in area can be managed and even then under close supervision. And that's a long way off from now - if ever.

Thank you.

Document management with SharePoint

I_Love_Bananas — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:20:48 -0800

SharePoint filter: Examples of how to use SharePoint's Records Center site type for corporate document management? I'm trying to wrap my brain around the ins and outs of configuring a SharePoint Records Center for our smallish (250+) employee insurance company.

We don't have anyone in IT dedicated to site design for SharePoint so I'm sort of on my own and trying to read as much as I can.

Our records retention policy is almost finished, and we are working on specifying how long to keep the various types of company records to comply with regulations etc. I really think SharePoint could give us the records management structure we need and I want to do it right.

I have found a lot of process documentation and "how to follow steps in the system" type of articles, but what I really need are examples to help me understand the difference between, say, record types vs. content types, lists vs. libraries; and especially how to set things up right on the front end so that I can create subsites that carry over the all the features I want into the various subsites.

I think I get it, but to really click for me I need to see examples.

Postmodernist Dilemma? Or Lack of Self-Confidence?

tcv — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:37:14 -0800

If you look up my user history, you see a fair amount of stuff around trying to come to grips in a new job that has me sacrificing some technical skills for management skills. It's a struggle, especially with my personal demons, but I am making progress. I ran into a situation that finally clarified some things for me and allows me to ask this question. It seems to me that Truth, as it is defined, does not exist. For me, the proof that Truth was dead appeared during the 2000 elections. Regardless of the outcome, no "final count" could be accepted as the truth. One group would come out with a number and another group would offer legitimate concerns that it wasn't accurate. And here we were counting holes in paper. What couldn't be more tangible than that? And yet, there were real opinions, back-and-forth, that called into question each "final tally."

As I become a manager, or a person of authority in this company, I find myself concerned with Truth. Obviously, I have an opinion. But does my status necessarily guarantee weight? Why would it? Why should it? If I ask someone to do something ... no, if I tell them to do something and they disagree and have an opinion, why is my opinion necessarily better? And if it isn't, then shouldn't I have a real, indisputable reason for asking someone to do something? Why? Why not?

Is this all just a bunch of self-esteem hullaballoo? Or should I care less about Truth with a Capital-T, smile, and offer a "'cause I told you to?"

How to Fertilize the Grassroots?

Scram — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:18:22 -0800

Can you point me to a good web platform for hosting a grassroots activism campaign, including supporter mailing lists and the ability to send customized emails to people in power? A group I'm working with is about to launch a website announcing a grassroots campaign that will probably attract a lot of attention. We have worked with Drupal sites in the past and plan to use Drupal again. We are looking for a way to organize information on a large number of citizens who want to be kept informed about the campaign, and to allow them to simply send a customized email registering their feelings to people who have the power to change policy.

We are looking at the site CitizenSpeak.org, a free Drupal site which promises to do all these things.

I'm wondering if anyone has experience with CitizenSpeak as a campaign management site, or if there are other options we might not be aware of.

is there a way to combine a set of Word documents into one large file without cutting and pasting?

Nayano — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 18:59:54 -0800

is there a way to combine a set of Word documents into one large file without cutting and pasting? I am using Office 2007 and I have a folder of about 20 files, all of which are lists of references. I need to have them all on one document. Is there a quick or easy way of doing this?

How do they manage a lot of little projects where you work?

andrewzipp — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:31:54 -0800

Graphic design department question: How do they manage a lot of little projects where you work? Where I work, we have "job tickets" that are printed out and spray-mounted onto big envelopes, and one person who's entire job is to run around with these. If a client needs something done, an account rep writes it down, then they go to her, she prints out a ticket, glues it to an envelope, stuffs the note inside, and then at some point in the next few days, carries to to a designer. Who then completes the project, and walks the envelope back to her desk.

The whole process seems archaic, and is prone to having her walking around from desk to desk looking for lost tickets. And it seems really poorly suited for very small jobs, that sometimes take two minutes to actually do, since a lot of time goes into running these tickets around.

I've seen web based project management software for managing big projects with teams of people, but I would have to think there is something out there where you could say "make the logo bigger on this by tomorrow" and add it to a designer's queue, and they could work through that list, just checking off jobs as they're done. Since this tends to be a lot of little projects going to a few individuals, rather than a group of individuals working as a team on one big project.

How do I stay objective with an annoying/tedious/high maintenance employee?

icollectpurses — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 20:44:58 -0800

How do I stay objective with an annoying/tedious/high maintenance employee? (More information inside) I have an employee in my team that I find very annoying as a person and as an employee. There are multiple issues, both the way he is as well as performance related, that annoy me. They're not that big of a deal in the big picture. But I find his annoying habits and pettiness annoying.

To give you an idea of what I mean, he'll demand his desk to be adjusted because it's too high for him, when the person before him was fine with it just by raising the chair. Whenever I ask him a question, he'll pause for 2 seconds without looking at me then would say, "I am sorry?" as if he hasn't heard what I said. If I use email to communicate with him, he won't respond for hours even if it's of high importance.

Performance wise, he's not the most efficient/productive person. He requires additional explanations when others understand it the first time.

Anyway, how do I maintain my objectivity as his superior and effectively manage him? So far, I've been trying VERY hard to ignore all his sniffles (then he swallows!!!), coughings on the phone IN to the speaker, gum poppings, annoying questions in meetings that were JUST addressed. I've been doing ok being understanding but my sarcastic, direct, no-BS, no-bitching/complaining, management style seeping through, and I am sensing he's feeling that I am treating him differently, even though it's in reaction to what he says/his behavior/his performance.

In regards to considering firing him, it's too much work and will take at least 4-5mos for me to 'prepare' for it.

Any suggestions?

Any good online Program Management resources?

white_devil — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:06:22 -0800

I'm finishing my MBA next month and am moving from my Product Management role into a newly created Program Manager position for our business unit. I'll be the prime interface between the business team and engineering along with pulling together supply chain, manufacturing, training, service, support, and the other pieces that go into delivering a completed product. Can anyone recommend good online forums or resources, and favorite tools that have helped you in similar endeavors? Also, any good advice? I have considerable leeway in how I structure this but must apply some 6 Sigma framework. I have managed diverse teams throughout my career and have great working relationships with the internal and external groups I'll be working with.

IT Forumz?

SirStan — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:59:31 -0800

Is there an IT Management Forum? I work as a jack of all trades IT guy. There seem to be forums for everything under the sun, but I can't find anything that I might connect with IT Management folk, IT directors, non profit IT, or mental health IT. Thoughts? Anandtech has a decent tech forum, but conversations don't ever go past single PC conversations.

How to cram lots of differing but related info into a graphic

tarvuz — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 16:21:03 -0800

A few years ago I saw a graph/map/info chart that displayed Napoleon's 1812 March to Russia. What was interesting about the graphic was how it displayed multiple facets of informations all at once. Somehow the days, temperature and perhaps even army strength were displayed in one single fluctuating line with perhaps some wording at the bottom.

I am trying to find out what this kind of meshed multiple information is called and where I might find other examples of it.

What is the "X factor" when it comes to classroom management?

jacobean — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 09:40:47 -0800

What is the "X factor" when it comes to classroom management? When it comes to managing a group of high-schoolers what is the personality trait that makes some teachers have more control of their classroom than others? When I was in high school, some teachers had complete control the minute they walked into the classroom whilst other teachers would walk in and the class that would erupt into laughter, talking and just general giddyness.

I have never quite figured out which personality triat in teachers dictates this sort of behaviour.

It seems to have nothing to do with verbal threats, how inspirational the teacher is or the subject matter being taught - there seems to be some other factor at play here - that I've never been able to work out. So what is this "x-factor"?

Time optimization?

emptyinside — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 11:57:36 -0800

In the space of a busy life, full-time work, girlfriend, and misc other interests, how does one pave the way for larger projects? As everyone can attest to, there just aren't enough hours in the day, sure, I could try sleep deprivation, but that really cuts into my creative ability.

I enjoy programming, playing music, writing, reading, and hanging with the love of my life. I have a number of greater vision-type projects I would very much like to complete. Needless to say, my girlfriend is the greatest priority and greatest hindrance in this aim.

After the mandatory 8+.5 work day, 1.5 hour commute, that leaves 6 hours, allowing for a good sleep cycle. Lets cut an extra hour for meal prep, chores and personal grooming.

What would be an optimal way to plan this very limited time?

Lets jump past the GTD, I understand the basics of setting small goals and personal organization.

I'm really interested in your time-optimization strategies.

How can I fend off the boss with data while I do my job of building a great website?

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 11:48:33 -0800

What kind of web stats can I provide my bosses, to satisfy their hunger for "measurable stats" but avoid going down a rathole and losing focus? I joined a very old line company mid-way through last year as the manager of the web team. The company is a few hundred years old, and is roughly in the retail business. The company's clients are generally older, well-heeled, and relatively technophobic. The website itself is mainly brochure ware for the company, but has extensive and detailed on-line product catalogues. There is no e-commerce component. My hiring was coincident with the re-launch of its website. There's little interactive "2.0" functionality to it, but some pretty cool stuff with regard to displaying items for sale.

When I was hired, I knew all of this, and basically took the challenge on to, over time, redo the website and bring it into the 21st century (employer user-centered design techniques, rich interfaces, etc... make the whole experience a lot more engaging). I have built out a product roadmap with a lot of this functionality, but my boss and the CEO (his boss) don't want to hear any of it, until we can establish some benchmarks for success and some reasonable goals. The first thing they are looking to show is the adoption rate, i.e.: how have the traditional customers taken to the new platform? Has this led to additional sales activity, has it lessened costs (i.e.: do we need to do shorter runs of print catalogues because more customers are now exclusively doing product research with us on-line?), and so on.

Those are worthy pursuits, but the problem is that we have not even been through a full business cycle, and the site's functionality is so basic, I cannot think of anything past basic stats like pageviews/customer or unique visits by each customer trended over time (however, until we get through a business cycle or two, these data will be skewed). Just the most basis stuff.

Problem here is that the CEO has a monomaniacal focus on everything being data-driven and my boss seems unable to push back on him, if he even wants to. My viewpoint, based on all of the above is that if we build a state of the art site and make elegant, engaging and highly useful, we will attract a new generation of customer. Any attempts now to justify what's been done, or what we're going to do (other than focus groups), I think might be premature or misleading.

Can anyone offer any help?