Need someone to lead product management at your software company? I build high-craft software and the teams that build it. I'm looking for my next opportunity. Check out my resume and get in touch.

Adam Kalsey

This is the blog of Adam Kalsey. Unusual depth and complexity. Rich, full body with a hint of nutty earthiness.

Products and Tools

Email as a model for future mobile phone service

Freshness Warning
This blog post is over 11 years old. It's possible that the information you read below isn't current and the links no longer work.

10 Feb 2013

What if your phone wasn’t tied to your phone number?

I think the email model is a possible way to evolve voice telephony and make it more useful and enduring, especially in mobile. You could have multiple "lines" from multiple service providers, on a single device. At one level they would interoperate perfectly, but they might have separate special features or business models, in the same way that Gmail is different to Hosted Exchange or assorted others.

The author, Dean Bubley, knows a thing or two about phone networks and carriers. So this isn’t the wild dreaming of someone who doesn’t understand what’s technically feasible.

Today I might get a call on my mobile to my phone number, one of several Tropo numbers that redirect to my phone number, Skype, a SIP softphone, and probably something I’ve forgotten about. One device, multiple entry points. Messages are the same way. SMS, iMessage, Whatsapp, Skype... they all arrive on my phone.

We’re already doing this today, just the carriers haven’t caught on. If I want two AT&T numbers and a Verizon number, I need three phones. But I think this is coming, and fast.

Recently Written

Think Systems, not Symptoms
Dec 15: Piecemeal process creation frustrates teams and slows work. Stop patching problems and start solving systems. Adopting a systems thinking approach helps you design processes that are efficient, aligned with goals, and truly add value.
Your Policies Aren’t Your Culture
Dec 13: Policies guide behavior, but culture is the lived norms and values of your team. Policies reflect culture -- they don’t define it. Netflix’s parental leave shift didn’t change its culture of freedom and responsibility. It clarified how to live it.
Lighten Your Process Burden
Dec 7: Everyone hates oppressive processes, but somehow we keep managing to create them.
Product Add-Ons Are An Expansion Myth
Dec 1: Add-ons can enhance your product’s appeal but won’t drive significant market growth. To expand your customer base, focus on developing standalone products.
Protecting your Product Soul when the Same Product meets New People.
Nov 23: Expand into new markets while preserving your product’s core value. Discover how to adapt and grow without losing your product’s soul.
Building the Next Big Thing: A Framework for Your Second Product
Nov 19: You need a first product sooner than you think. Here's a framework for helping you identify a winner.
A Framework for Scaling product teams
Oct 9: The people, processes, and systems that make up a product organization change radically as you go through the stages of a company. This framework will guide that scaling.
My Networked Webcam Setup
Sep 25: A writeup of my network-powered conference call camera setup.

Older...

What I'm Reading