The Chasm Companion : A Fieldbook to Crossing the Chasm and Inside the Tornado

Rating:
Summary: For converts of The Technology Adoption Life cyle
Review: I have been a keen student of the Chasm Group publications for a number of years and this book starts to bridge the gap between the theory of visionaries, tornados, gorillas etc and the application of the concepts in practice. The style is very readable and filled with good "common sense". I have already started using it in earnest

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Summary: Repetitive and could be turned into a leaflet
Review: I have read "Crossing the Chasm" and "Inside the tornado" by Moore, both very good books! When I first laid my eyes on this book I had a slight feeling that there might be risk of overlap. I think Wiefelds saw this as well and got a good endorsement by his colleague Moore - to state that this is a complement, not a repetition. That the book was published after the dot-com, in 2002, felt reassuring though - a lot of good lessons were probably to be learned for the reader. Ok, so I had high expectations, but felt a slight doubt.

After reading the book I have two statements:
1. The book delivers some more hands on the two books it referrers to, some really good lists. All in all about nine pages of good ROI-of time material.
2. I am very sad that Wiefelds did not listen to his own good recommendation: don't talk about your product as you know it - know your target group! Wiefelds should know that I am not planning on reading this book for fun - I want a high gain/time-quota, not 352 pages that take a week to read, when a 20 page leaflet would be sufficient! Because the book is repetitive - very!

To summarize:
The book offers some good hands on tips and lists, but should have been a 20 page leaflet.


Rating:
Summary: THE guide for tech marketeers and managers
Review: It's a very simple and clear framework to keep in mind, with VERY practical results in day-to-day activities of product management (specially for those, like me, come from "techies" backgrounds). It's reccommended to read the other 5 books of Chasm Group to fully understand the concepts, but to start using as product manager, this is THE guide.

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Summary: Tough Marketing Decisions Made Easier
Review: Paul Wiefels has given a gift to marketing and technology executives by doing an extraordinarily difficult thing: adding yet more value to some of the most valuable marketing strategy books ever written (Geoffrey Moore's). For both readers and non-readers of Moore's books (Crossing the Chasm, Inside the Tornado, and others), The Chasm Companion is an immensely useful how-to guide to successfully marketing technology products and services. It provides thoughtful and provocative connective tissue between Moore's books for those who are already Chasm devotees, but doesn't rely on the reader already having familiarity with Moore for this book to be completely understandable and immediately actionable. The author's intimate experience with difficult technology marketing decisions saturates each chapter with a pragmatic perspective often missing from consultant-authored books. The "field guide" format insures that theory consistently supports rather than trumps practice and execution. As a strategy consultant and former Fortune 100 marketing executive, I highly recommend reading The Chasm Companion before your competitors do.

Rating:
Summary: Extends beyond high tech
Review: Wiefels get to the heart of high tech marketing. Nothing I have read has more insights or is more useful in the practical application of marketing constructs for high tech. Anybody in high tech, indeed in marketing of any sort, can benefit from these concepts.

Rating:
Summary: Extends beyond high tech
Review: Wiefels get to the heart of high tech marketing. Nothing I have read has more insights or is more useful in the practical application of marketing constructs for high tech. Anybody in high tech, indeed in marketing of any sort, can benefit from these concepts.