Important and not urgent, but how important?

Whether and how you delegate something depends upon its importance, especially if you recognize three levels of importance. Sometimes the very important and critically important items require a CPA, or Content-Proposal-Analysis marketing professional. (I know one.)

When importance is simple

Last October I spent some time talking about the Eisenhower Matrix and its critical flaw, focusing upon the “important but not urgent” quadrant:

When you have a single level of importance, then decisions are pretty simple. For urgent things, do it yourself if it’s important, delegate it if it’s not.

When “importance” is more granular

But what if, instead of “Not Important” and “Important,” we had three levels of importance instead of just one? In other words, “Not Important,” “Important,” “Very Important,” and “Critically Important”?

A U.S. Navy plane flying over a Soviet ship in October 1962 is, um, classified as “Critically Important.” Oh, and it’s urgent. By USN – Dictionary of American Naval Aviation Squadrons Volume 2: The History of VP, VPB, VP(H) and VP(AM) Squadrons [4], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7328539.

In that case, you not only consider whether to delegate something, but who should be delegated that thing. (Or, as you’ll see, WHAT should be delegated that thing.)

  • If the need is not important, delegate it, but it doesn’t really matter to whom or what you delegate it. ChatGPT or Bard is “good enough,” even if the result is awful.
  • If the need is important, delegate it to someone you trust to create very good content. Let them create the content, you approve it, and you’re done.
  • If the need is very important, then you may delegate some of the work, but you don’t want to delegate all of it. You need to be involved in the content creation process from the initial meeting, through the review of every draft, and of course for the final approval. The goal is stellar content.
  • If the need is critically important, then you probably don’t want to delegate the work and will want to do it yourself—unless you can find someone who is better than you in creating content.

As I noted in October, a more granular approach to importance increases the, um, importance of Bredemarket’s services.

  • In the simple Eisenhower Matrix model, Bredemarket handles the Not Important stuff while you handle the Important stuff.
  • In the “three levels of importance” model, Bredemarket handles the Very Important and Critically Important stuff. Because the merely Important stuff and the Not Important stuff doesn’t require my 30 years of technology, identity, and biometrics expertise.

Sometimes you need a CPA (but NOT a Certified Public Accountant)

But if your needs are critical, and you require the services of a CPA (Content-Proposal-Analysis marketing professional), then you need to learn what Bredemarket can do for you. Click on the image to learn more.

Bredemarket’s “CPA.”

I’m Shaky

Ever since I started working from home in March 2020 (while I was still at IDEMIA), I’ve gotten used to having work-related brainstorms at 3:30 am.

So it’s Sunday at 3:30 am and I had a brilliant idea for a Wednesday Bredemarket post.

While drafting that post on my phone, I discovered an UTM-related issue in Friday’s Bredemarket post.

I couldn’t fix it on my phone, so I got up to go to the computer.

Then the house shook and a nearby car alarm went off.

Earthquake preliminary reading, Ontario, California, Sunday, October 6, 2024, 3:51 am PDT.

We’ve had a lot of earthquakes in the 3-4 range lately.

As long as they stay small, I’m fine.

Now back to my brilliant idea…

Educating the Fake Abbott Salesperson

A salesperson from Abbott just contacted me via LinkedIn InMail.

Well, she CLAIMED to be from Abbott. I’m not sure.

Anyway, she said she wanted to “get to know each other” because we are “in the same industry.”

Rather than dismissing the InMail out of hand as a #fraud #scam attempt with a #fakefakefake identity, I embraced the opportunity of a teachable moment and shared Bredemarket’s 2021 post on the difference between biometrics and biometrics. Excerpt:

In my circles, people generally understand ‘biometrics’ to refer to one of several ways to identify an individual.

But for the folks at Merriam-Webster, this is only a secondary definition of the word “biometrics.” From their perspective, biometrics is primarily biometry, which can refer to “the statistical analysis of biological observations and phenomena” or to “measurement (as by ultrasound or MRI) of living tissue or bodily structures.” In other words, someone’s health, not someone’s identity.

Fun fact: if you go to the International Biometric Society and ask it for its opinion on the most recent FRVT 1:N tests, it won’t have an answer for you.

Yeah, “FRVT.” Told you I wrote it in 2021, before the great renaming.

So Abbott salespeople, real or imagined, won’t be interested in what I’ve been doing for the last 30 years. ‘Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings.

But those of you who use biometrics (and other factors) for individualization WILL be interested. Click on the image to find out more.

Drive content results with Bredemarket Identity Firm Services.
Drive content results with Bredemarket Identity Firm Services.

Bredemarket’s “CPA”

Is your firm losing business and leaving important items unfinished?

I, John E. Bredehoft of Bredemarket, am a “CPA.” Not a Certified Public Accountant; a Content-Proposal-Analysis marketing professional:

  • Content such as blog posts, case studies, data sheets, white papers, and more.
  • Proposal submissions from identity/biometric and technology firms to governments and enterprises.
  • Analysis of markets, companies and competitors, products, and websites and social media.

I offer over 30 years of technology experience—30 in identity/biometrics, where I am the biometric product marketing expert.

I ask questions first (why, how, what, and more) and collaborate later to ensure I deliver the right content to you.

I provide pre-packaged services or bill you at an hourly rate.

Click here to find out more about Bredemarket’s “CPA” services, and schedule a free 30 minute content needs assessment with me.

Always Trust Anyone Over 30

I shouldn’t be telling you this, but…

…well, you’ll have to watch the video for my deep dark secret.

Thirty.

Contact me if I can help with the product marketing for your identity/biometric company.

#biometricproductmarketingexpert 

#id30and9 

My LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbredehoft

Training the Bot (who was smarter than I thought)

Perhaps I was a little agitated or excited this afternoon.

  • Perhaps I was a little agitated because five (or maybe more; I lost count) scammers had sent me LinkedIn DMs when they gravitated to my #opentowork LinkedIn banner…like flies speeding to a carcass. (Which gave me an excuse to write about identity management on LinkedIn.)
  • Or perhaps I was a little excited because a Never Search Alone participant had shared an identity management product marketing position with me.

The bot says hello

After applying for said job, I was reading the company’s website to learn about its identity management product when the company’s bot kept on messaging me.

At 2:30 pm Chat Bot says: Hello, this is an AI Rep from [COMPANY]. If you need any assistance, feel free to ask.

At 2:30 pm Chat Bot says: Saw that you’re interested in our SaaS management and identity governance software. Any questions?

Being the curious type (after all, I worked for IDEMIA), I wondered how the chat bot would deal with what I REALLY wanted to ask about.

  • Not about a demo.
  • Not about the company’s recent funding round. (Series B, $35 million.)
  • Not about how they want to save the badgers or whatever.
  • But about my just-completed job application.

At 2:47 pm I say: With 30 years’ identity experience and 9 years as a PMM, I just applied for your Sr PMM Identity Management role. So the only question that I have is when you will interview me.

Yes, 30 years. Not “over 29” years. See my prior post.

And yes, my assumption that the company would immediately drop everything and interview me may have been a little overconfident. But it’s better than imposter syndrome.

And after all, this was just a bot. I assumed that the bot would be completely confused by my question, so no harm would come from overconfidence.

You know what they say about people who assume?

The bot exceeds expectations

At 2:47 pm Chat Bot says: Thanks for applying for the Sr PMM Identity Management role! Could you provide your email address so we can follow up on your application status?

One note here: the bot parroted my response back to me. The company’s job description does not include a job title with the “PMM” acronym.

Regardless, I was pleasantly surprised. The bot was trained to respond to job applicants. So I provided the email address that I used for my job application.

The bot does not meet expectations

That’s when I was UNPLEASANTLY surprised.

At 2:47 pm Chat Bot says: Thank you for your interest. Please provide a business email address so we can follow up on your application status.

Apparently the training wasn’t thorough enough. Think about it; if you’re an individual applying for a job, why would you apply with a “business email address”? Which one? From your current employer? THAT is not a good idea.

But as it turns out, I DO have a business email address-the one for Bredemarket. So I entered that, even though that email address does not appear anywhere on the job application that I had just submitted.

At 2:47 pm Chat Bot says: Thank you for providing your email. Our team will review the conversation and follow up if necessary. How else can I assist you today?

So it will be interesting to see whether the company contacts me at both of my email addresses.

(Post image generated at craiyon.com)

Postscript for those who don’t click on every link in a Bredemarket post

You missed Brian May’s collaboration with the Weebl folks.

From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EllYgcWmcAY.

This resonated with me because in mid-September I spent some Instagram time thinking about the word “flash” (as in how fast a human can create content).

Proven

This video is, in marcom words, “for immediate release.”

Proven.

It was fun to convert my Never Search Alone “candidate-market fit” text statement into a video with AI-generated music.

The text version:

“Proven Senior Product Marketing Manager who drives growth. Expert in identity/biometrics. Seeking an individual contributor role on a co-creative team delivering exceptional business results.”

Except that’s not the COMPLETE version. 

To see the full version, you’ll have to watch the video. Then you will know why I had to change one of my hashtags this month.

#biometricproductmarketingexpert 

#id30and9 

My LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbredehoft

BigBear.ai’s Digital Identity Products

One of my more popular posts during the past year (October 2023 to September 2024) was one that I wrote way back in 2021, “Pangiam, CLEAR, and others make a “sporting” effort to deny (or allow) stadium access.”

A lot has happened since then. (The aquisition of Pangiam by BigBear.ai closed in March of this year.)

Here is how BigBear.ai describes its digital identity offerings in 2024:

  • Pangiam is BigBear.ai’s digital identity brand, harnessing facial recognition, image-based anomaly detection and advanced biometrics with computer vision and predictive analytics.
  • Trueface Performs one of the fastest one-to-many (1:N) facial matches with real-time photos, delivering safe and efficient identity verification.
  • veriScan™ Securely captures and transmits real-time photos into a biometric matching service supporting access control and biometric boarding/bag tags.
  • Dartmouth Delivers real-time image-based anomaly detection for enhanced 3D baggage screening.

All these products, including Dartmouth, were developed before the BigBear.ai acquisition. (Where is Pangiam Bridge?)

We’ll have to wait and see what happens next.

Electric Feel

Installation of iOS 18 has increased my phone’s battery life. But not for the reasons you may think.

From Macworld.

To install iOS 18 on my older 64GB IPhone I had to offload or outright remove many apps, including most of my game apps.

One of those game apps was Niantic’s most recent location-based app, Peridot. Like many other Niantic games, Peridot encourages outdoor activity—and heavy smartphone use while playing the game.

From https://playperidot.com/.

Today was the first day that I took my usual Saturday morning walk WITHOUT Peridot on my phone. Ordinarily, my phone desperately needs a charge at the end of my walk. Today, despite filming a number of video clips for a personal October video, I returned home with over 75% battery remaining.

But with a paucity of virtual sandwiches, flowers, and tomatoes.