Lessons From The Trainwreck That Is Healthcare.gov

If you’ve ever worked on a large-scale, relatively high profile Website project, you can’t help but be drawn to the ongoing analysis of the problems that have plagued healthcare.gov since its October 2 launch. It’s a trainwreck in the true definition of the word: “a chaotic or disastrous situation that holds a peculiar fascination for observers.”

All politics aside, I can’t look away. I’m intrigued in part because this is a unique opportunity for developers and others to Monday morning-quarterback issues that never before commanded a mass audience. Finally people care about technology infrastructure, content management systems, agile development, testing, managing the number of throats to choke, etc.!

For the record, there’s nothing to enjoy about this flawed launch. And for those of us who work on Websites, it’s helpful to remember “there but for the grace of God…” What's fascinating is watching technical specialists try to educate the media and the rest of us on how Web projects should be managed. Who knows how many people are bookmarking these explanations for future reference? 

Project Management

"It's very hard to estimate how long a project will take. That means it's hard to know how many programmers to devote to the task, how much it will cost and so on. Measuring progress isn't easy, either, which means it's hard to tell how far along you are. 

"The worst problem is probably that requirements change while the software is being developed. This may mean that you have to redo work you've already done, but the effects can be more far-reaching. It's like building a house: If the owners suddenly decide they want a big floor-to-ceiling picture window on the second floor, it may require rerouting water pipes. That may require moving the ground-floor bathroom, which in turn could affect the kitchen layout, because the bathtub and the kitchen sink share drain pipes. Part of project management's job is to say "no" to many change requests, but that's not always possible."

Excerpted from Why healthcare.gov has so many problems, October 14

Pacing

"The fatal mistake they made is bringing up everything at once," making debugging the sprawling system a challenge, said David Starr, a former chief information officer for 3Com Corp., ITT Corp. and other large companies. But, "it's almost always better to postpone things than bring them up broken," said Mr. Starr, who is not involved in the exchange development.

The problem might have been largely averted if consumers had been able to browse plans without going through the complex registration process first, experts say.

"If you put a critical pathway at the front of the experience, you're going to logjam everything," said Patrick Byrne, chief executive of Overstock.com, an e-commerce company. "If you have a bunch of Web services talking to each other, you want to put the transaction at the end," he said.

Excerpted from Healthcare.Gov's Flaws Found, Fixes Eyed, October 10, 2013

Asynchronous vs. Synchronous

"An alternative to an online lookup of personal data or account creation would be to store the request for later processing. This is commonly referred to as queuing. It turns an online process into an offline one: the system goes from being synchronous—waiting for a response from another system after making a request to it—to asynchronous—not waiting for the response and arranging to check the result somehow later…

It is now a widely established pattern for system development. For example, when you buy a ticket from an airline reservation site, and wait for your credit card to be processed and the whole transaction to complete, that is an example of a synchronous, or online, system …When you place an order with Amazon, on the other hand, you receive a response almost immediately (“thank you for your order!”). If there is a problem with your order—your card is expired, or was declined—you later receive a notification, usually an email, asking you to update your payment info. That is an example of an asynchronous system.

Why does this matter? Asynchronous, distributed systems have components that are de-coupled—if one fails, it doesn’t necessarily bring the rest down with that… This introduces operational complexity: you must have a functioning queue system, you must have programs that process the queue, they need to be monitored and errors have to be handled appropriately (since there is no online user that can respond to them), and notification systems like email that are out-of-band of the website may need to be employed (in case you need to ask the user to come back and provide more information).

Excerpted from Healthcare.gov and ACA marketplace sites from the perspective of a software engineer, October 4, 2013

Responsive Design

"Jekyll, for those who are unfamiliar with web-development trends, is a way for developers to build a static website from dynamic components. Instead of running a traditional website with a relational database and server-side code, using Jekyll enables programmers to create content like they create code. The end result of this approach is a site that loads faster for users, a crucial performance issue, particularly on mobile devices.

"Instead of [running] farms of application servers to handle massive load, you're basically slimming down to two," said [Bryan Sivak, chief technology officer of the United States Department of Health and Human Services]. "You're just using HTML5, CSS, and Javascript, all being done in responsive design. The way it's being built matters. You could in theory do the same with application servers and a CMS, but it would be much more complex. What we're doing here is giving anyone with basic skills to basic changes on the fly. You don't need expensive consultants."

Excerpted from an optimistic piece published June 28, 2013, Healthcare.gov: Code Developed by the People and for the People, Released Back to the People

Agile Development

"Like anything that involves human beings, shipping code can devolve into squabbling, missed deadlines, and flawed releases. The programming community’s key realization is that the solution to these problems is to create more transparency, not less: code reviews, tons of “unit tests” to automatically find flaws, scheduled stand-up meetings, and the constant pushing of new code into the open, where it’s used by real people." 

Excerpted from The Obamacare Website Didn't Have to Fail. How to Do Better Next Time, October 16

No iOS 7-Updated Mutual Fund, ETF Apps Yet

With all of the attention being paid to the mid-September release of Apple’s iOS 7, I’ve wondered how asset manager iPad (mostly) and iPhone apps weathered the updating process. Are any apps taking advantage of the drastic operating system redesign? Were any apps redesigned to reflect the more flattened look?

For answers to those and other questions, the App Details area of App Annie is a useful resource. (See a related April 11, 2013, post What Are The Most Downloaded Asset Manager iPad, Android Apps?)

After a review of the asset manager apps, it looks as if the short answer is No. While a few of the App Details for mutual fund and exchange-traded fund (ETF) firm apps include updates for iOS 7 compatibility and bug-fixing, none is flagged as having been “Redesigned for iOS 7.”

This doesn’t mean that they won’t be. The redesign was unveiled only in June and not all have the capabilities to work around the clock, as other app developers have, to deliver a refresh. My guess is that most of the leaders in the Finance category are preparing redesigns in the expectation that pre-iO7 apps will begin to look, and be, dated. (If you need background on iOS 7, by the way, the iTunes Store includes a Designed for iOS 7 section.)

A handful of asset managers, including a few surprising names, haven’t updated their apps since 2012. Let's not hold our breath looking for iOS 7 updates from them, unless... The optimist in me wonders if something big is in the works, the realist makes me wonder if they're rethinking iPad development as a worthwhile activity.

The absence of iOS 7 updates notwithstanding, App Annie's App Details provide updates on the evolving state of the art of asset manager app capabilities, a few of which are highlighted below.

J.P. Morgan Insights App Climbs The Finance Chart

First, how about some respect for J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s iPad app? If your job includes mobile app development for another investment firm, you’ve probably heard all you care to hear about this app, thank you very much.

But, for the rest of us, check out how this late-starter has made up for lost time. Version 1 of Insights by J.P. Morgan Asset Management was released in May of this year and it now ranks #50 on the iPad Top Charts-United States Finance category apps.

Judging from the description of the capabilities—most of the magic happens behind an Advisor/Advisory Firm or Institution/Consultant registration requirement—this app provides an experience that’s unique to the tablet form factor.

J.P. Morgan is building on its leadership of having provided useful charts and graphs for years offline via its Guide to the Markets. It now enables registered users to create custom versions of the Guide by selecting individual slides for presentation and/or packaging them up as PDFs for clients. Awesome.

The app’s overall popularity speaks to the treasure trove of content and its usefulness for non-registered users. The downloads have to be coming from than investment professionals alone.

The image above is just a screenshot of an (un-embeddable) video of how to use the app. Click on it to go there. 

Other App Enhancements

The following are selected highlights from other reported app enhancements:

Vanguard iPad app (current release: 3.2, September 30, 2013)

• Open an account from the app
• Stay logged on for up to 15 minutes when multitasking or navigating outside the app

Vanguard for Financial Advisors iPhone and iPad apps (current release: 5.3, September 20, 2013) 

• A Briefcase feature for content storage and retrieval  
• Briefcase content is now automatically synched to Apple devices using iCloud 

USAA (current release: 5.8, October 1, 2013) 

• USAA MemberShop, enabling users to take advantage of USAA exclusive savings from merchants 

Fidelity (current release of the iPhone app: 2.2.3, October 1, 2013)

• Instantly connect to customer support by tapping “Call a Rep” 
• Home screen updates, including a U.S. Markets day trend visual 
• Real-time, streaming quote details available to customers who are Active Traders

Schwab (current release of the iPhone app: 3.2.0.298, October 3, 2013)

• Listen to the Schwab Market Update through the new Media Center button on the main panel. It’s updated throughout the day with the latest news, including a performance summary and key market mover statistics.

Putnam Social Media Research Provides Insights And Data To Slice And Dice

Early discussions about financial advisors’ use of social media gravitate to the same three questions, which I’ve paraphrased to capture a bit of the skepticism:

• “Of course, they have a LinkedIn profile, but what’s social about that?”
• “Well, they may have accounts but their Compliance departments don’t let them really do anything, do they?”
• “Yes, but are ‘our’ advisors—you know, the ones with the assets—really using it? Really?”

With the research it’s releasing today, Putnam adds to the collective understanding of how advisors use social media as a marketing, networking and relationship tool. Some of the data aligns with other research (including the authoritative work done annually by American Century) and is unsurprising. At the highest level, 75% of advisors use at least one social network for business, and eight out of 10 name LinkedIn as their primary network.

But there’s also a lot that’s new here. I’m going to cherry-pick but encourage you to review the full results.

The "Putnam Investments Survey of Financial Advisors’ Use of Social Media" (see infographic, a link to the full press release will follow when it's available) was conducted by FTI Consulting in July 2013, based on a survey of 408 U.S.-based financial advisors. More than half (54%) of the respondents are affiliated with independent broker-dealers, 17% national broker-dealers, 13% regional broker-dealers. The others have insurance, bank and financial planner affiliations.

Most exciting for some of us is the data visualization capability accompanying the research. Putnam has published the data in a workbook accessible via a public (free) version of Tableau software. This enables users to view the data distribution and even do their own slicing and dicing. 

“It's all about data discoverability, open-source data, and collaborative use of data. So, have at it,” Putnam Social Media Director Jayme Lacour told me.

The question never asked: Advisors on Google+

Before we look at how the Putnam research provides insights to the most frequently asked questions, I’ll call your attention to the data on advisor use of the sleeper social network: Google+. People rarely ask about Google+ and yet advisor use of it ranks much higher than most people would have guessed. Almost one-third of advisors surveyed (31%) used in it in the past year for business purposes; it’s second only to LinkedIn.

Overall, while LinkedIn is the most used social network, Facebook consistently ranks #2, largely in relationship management activities. The screenshot below is from the data viz page.

This data is reminiscent of similar questions that appeared in a previous FTI Consulting study done in conjunction with LinkedIn. The graph below is from the May 2012 Financial Advisors’ Use of Social Media Moves from Early Adoption to Mainstream research. 

These are two different surveys, but the dimensions are so similar I can’t resist comparing the findings and wondering whether a few differences reflect an evolution in the networks advisors prefer to use.

While the datapoints are different in the Putnam work, most of the order of the preferred networks is unchanged from the earlier research. Two exceptions relate to the prominence of Facebook as a means of enhancing current relationships and cultivating client prospects.

Twitter does not stand out in the Putnam research, except on a dimension that asset managers have keen interest in. Note that it is the preferred network for cascading thought leadership. That’s a much stronger showing than in the LinkedIn/FTI Consulting work a year ago when LinkedIn towered over all in that category.

Oh and elsewhere in the data you'll see that 58% of advisors say their usage of Twitter has increased in the last year, closely following 61% who report increased LinkedIn usage.

Q. “Of course, they have a LinkedIn profile, but what’s social about that?”

Take a look at the activities reported in the research and you’ll see that advisors who consider LinkedIn their primary social network are doing more than maintaining LinkedIn profiles.

The infographic reports on six activities but you’ll see a dozen total LinkedIn activities on the data viz page.

This may be the most encompassing look at advisors’ participation on LinkedIn. It was smart, for example, to ask whether advisors can access LinkedIn at work and whether advisors follow companies. For next time: What percentage are using the Contacts mobile app? What percentage are following the LinkedIn thought leaders? How many are customizing their LinkedIn updates? All have bearing on asset manager content marketing initiatives.

Putnam has more than research interest in LinkedIn. As you may recall, the firm broke new ground earlier this year when it empowered its wholesalers to engage with advisors on LinkedIn.  

Q. Well, they may have accounts but their Compliance departments don’t let them really do anything, do they?

The screenshot above of advisors’ LinkedIn activities is from the intriguing Activities tab on the data viz site. On the page you’ll see a rich list of possible activities that advisors could and do engage in on the other surveyed platforms: Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.

Unfortunately, Putnam chose to report the data by advisors’ primary network. Given LinkedIn’s dominance in the survey, the result is that low levels of data are reported for the other networks.

Other surveys have asked advisors to identify a primary social network, too, but this is an artificial construct. In this case, it diminishes the value of the data that could be collected to report on what advisors do on all networks.

Proceed with caution and be sure to note the sample sizes when considering the Activities data that's being shared.

Also, Twitter gets short shrift in the list of surveyed activities. Following and maintaining Twitter lists are two activities to report on next time, for example. 

Q. Yes but are “our” advisors—you know, the ones with the assets—really using it? Really?

This is the acid test for most mutual fund and exchange-traded fund (ETF) firms evaluating the opportunity today in social media.

Putnam’s work is not the first to seek to provide insight. When Accenture reported in March of this year, it surveyed 400 advisors including 250 brokerage/wirehouse/bank advisors and 150 advisors who were independent or represented a regional bank or insurance firm and reported very different results. According to its research, nearly half (48%) of financial advisors are using social media on a daily basis to interact with their clients—most of whom (60%) were reported to have assets of more than $20 million. Hmm, many found that hard to believe.

Putnam’s profile of The Social Advisor—which they defined as the advisor who uses social media on a daily basis—confirms the views of social media skeptics. Daily social media-using advisors look to be a little light in the AUM and in the average client portfolio, when compared both to the Accenture findings and to the characteristics of RIAs, as reported in Cerulli Associates' "State of the RIA Marketplace 2012." This is not an apples-to-apples comparison, note. Not all Putnam respondents were RIAs.

However, advisors surveyed report a return on the investment they make in social media as a form of connecting. Almost one-half (49%) of advisors say they acquired new clients through social networks and of those, 29% gained over $1 million in new assets, Putnam research reported.

And—in a move that might be most useful to broker-dealers and individual advisors—Putnam goes a step further and uses the data to map the states where the new clients and assets came from. The darker the blue, the more successful the social media participation. Sweet.

8 Mutual Fund Commercials From Way Back When

Some of digital marketing’s roots can be found in advertising. Before marketers went online, television and radio advertising is where many mastered media, audience selection and targeting, and developed a command of analytics. 

In that spirit—and because it’s Throwback Thursday—here’s a look at eight mutual fund commercials from yesteryear. 

The messaging, the style and the feel of most of these are a far cry from what mutual fund and exchange-traded fund (ETF) marketers produce today. But, in the days before social and digital media, television advertising was the highest profile activity Marketing could engage in. These commercials and commercials like them were instrumental in driving what is now a $15 trillion industry.

Dreyfus, 1961

Based on the YouTube comments accompanying this Dreyfus commercial, a lion walking through the subway made quite a lasting impression in the pre-CGI days of 1961. It's interesting that the oldest commercial in this collection is the one that takes the most risk.

Dreyfus again, 1987

There’s a lot to love about this commercial promoting a Ginnie Mae fund, providing access once available only to the "moneyed few." My favorite part is when the actor needs to turn his back on the camera not once but twice to read the 800 number.

Fidelity, 1989

Maybe those were the good old days. This commercial message urges conservative investors seeking 10% money market fund returns to “call anytime day or night” to invest with Fidelity Spartan Funds. “But you must act now!”

Franklin Templeton, 1995

About 1 minute in to this collection of 1995 CNN commercial breaks, you’ll hear a fast-talking Mark Mobius promoting the potential of “developing markets” for Templeton Funds. 

Oppenheimer Funds, 1998

The IMDb says Gene Hackman's voiceover work for Oppenheimer Funds was done in 1998 but this Oppenheimer Funds commercial and others in its series have a very contemporary feel.

Kemper Funds (RIP), 1998

OK, Oppenheimer, I'll see your Gene Hackman and raise you one John Lithgow. Lithgow provides the voiceover for the Kemper Funds commercial that starts at 3:59. I'm partial to this work, which was launched when I worked for Kemper, managing "electronic communications."

T. Rowe Price, 2006

Here's a newer fund performance commercial from T. Rowe Price, and note the much longer disclosure.

Janus, 2007-ish

This Janus commercial was uploaded in 2007 and, if memory serves, might have aired right around that time. With a more complicated message than the rest of these commercials, this ad covers a lot of ground in 30 seconds.

As a final note, I felt a pang while searching for these videos on YouTube. The commercials that are out there have been uploaded randomly, and there's so much that can't be found. Is anyone other than the individual fund companies and FINRA (who has the most complete de facto archive, thanks to filing requirements) preserving this work for posterity?

Big News, Multiple Platforms: How PIMCO Addressed The Un-taper

Most of the time, exhortations to create asset management "newsrooms" are about content throughput and planning, overlaid on a commitment to communicate more frequently.

But make no mistake—to succeed in content marketing aimed at relevant, timely communicating, your team also needs to understand that some events require dropping everything. When the alarm sounds, you need the agility, the energy and the relationships in place to clear the decks and make the most of the opportunity.

This morning I'm admiring how PIMCO got the word out after the Fed's decision yesterday to delay tapering off on billions of dollars of bond buying.

Admittedly, it may be a lay-up to get Bill Gross on CNBC the day of a Fed announcement. And if the announcement had gone as planned, PIMCO's syndicating of commentary might have been less impressive. The firm already has significant content distribution relationships in place.

One Strategist, 2 Platforms, 2 Commentaries

Still, there must have been some hustling that went into the publication of two different Mohamed El-Erian pieces on two very different platforms—Financial Times and LinkedIn—on the day the news was made. Note the social sharing totals, which are the payoff for being on the spot when people are wondering what the heck just happened here.

In the meantime, guess what didn't get updated? PIMCO.com, which as of 10 a.m. Central had no fresh commentary related to the taper. Also and despite Gross's typical use of Twitter to make news (and he's doing that with tweets on Janet Yellen's prospects), the @PIMCO Twitter account has been used primarily for navigation, pointing followers to where the expanded PIMCO insights are.

I'd like to see the Website reflect the other-site content activity, or at least an embed of the Twitter stream. Also, the firm is missing an opportunity on LinkedIn. I wish the PIMCO company page, which has one-tenth of the followers that El-Erian has, would link to the El-Erian updates. As is, people going to the PIMCO site or LinkedIn company page (brand loyalists, ostensibly) are missing out.