OMG, the relief...

I spend a scary amount of time each day on social media, increasingly so of late. So, with the season of Lent acting as a prompt, this morning I ran through my Facebook news feed and hit '"unfollow but stay friends" with all of my friends' posts. I hit "stop receiving posts from this page" for pages (although I did make a list elsewhere of my favourite pages, if I want to go back at some stage).

The scary thing was, once I'd done it I LITERALLY felt a weight lift off my shoulders. I thought I'd feel deprived but instead I feel released! That was unexpected.

And the prospect of having more free time each day is great. Like most people these days my life is busy - so those 30-60 minutes mean a lot!

Now to browsing while on work time. This one's a bit more tricky because I should read and network online for work reasons - I need to keep my skills and understanding up to date and to continue to learn all the time. I'll work on that one - but if you've any ideas on how to curb surf time (and increase productivity) I'd love to hear them!

A return to blogging

It's been ages since I've written a blog post. I've been busy with work and life in general - but it's time to get back into it and keep you all posted about what's happening in the zany world of KnowledgeWorks!

Zany - because the type of projects that come through the door can be bizarre but wonderful! It makes for very varied work: no month is the same, and the collection of weird facts I'm gathering is growing exponentially!

For example, recent times have seen me working on such varied feasibilty studies as:

The market for a new device for treating urinary incontinence

Who knew how many types of UI there are? And the symptoms, causes, and treatment options! Well now I do :) And I know the estimated numbers of sufferers, by age, by country, globally! And I also know that a new product is coming to market which is novel, which has almost no competition and which will successfully treat the most difficult cases. This was a tricky project, requiring a  good understanding of the medical condition in order to properly size the market - something which many commentators had been doing incorrectly. Warning to those of you doing your own market sizing: drill very deeply into the definitions of your sector and segment, because more often than not your source is not using the same parameters as you, and what you think might be a large market may not be quite that, or vice versa.

In depth review of discounted hotel breaks services in Ireland

Who knew that the value that's available with these websites! The likes of Lidl Breaks, TodayFM Breaks and Supervalu Getaways give real discounts on everyday hotels that we all book, day in day out. I'll never book a hotel again without checking one of these sites. We produced a detailed analysis of pricing, added extras, Ts &Cs etc, and presented these details in an easy to use Excel matrix. My client could then understand how its own product was positioned relative to competitors - at a glance. Being able to unearth the finer competitive detail is one thing - being able to present it in a way that is USABLE is quite another, but that's a task that I relish.

The market potential and competitive environment for a new type of disposable drinking cup

We've all heard the story of the American lady who sued McDonalds for 'millions' because her coffee was too hot. It turns out that coffee spillages is something that is of huge concern to players in this ever expanding market. Our research revealed that the likes of Starbucks and McDonalds are increasing the number of their drive-thru outlets significantly, both in the US and on this side of the pond. And that they're on the look out for a solution to prevent these costly and dangerous spillages - as are the rest of us who've ever experienced a damp coffee lap, just as you're heading into that all-important meeting! It was fun looking at the solutions already on the market, and it was very satisfying to relate back to the client that none of those new cup designs have really taken off. The outlook is good for my client - the market is growing, competition is weak, take away hot drinks are ever popular, including in China.. And the outlook is good for all of us who like take away coffee - once my client brings its fab new paper cup to market. I'll post a photo here when I can - watch this space!