Dane Collins, our CEO, recently sent me a link to a thought-provoking blog by Umair Haque on the Harvard Business Review website. The headline boldly asks, “Is Your Business Useless?”

Before I read the first word, I knew I’d likely smile as I read through it. Having spent nearly my entire career in high-frequency (HF) EDA, I was already willing to admit that this industry isn’t overtly socially friendly. I mean, we are largely a group of engineers whose typical stereotype is introverted, so stepping out into the spotlight to draw attention to ourselves, and, on top of that, to make a point of being “socially useful”…. this was going to be good.

Nonetheless, I read it. Interesting points:

* Socially useless business has a cost – just in the last five years – $12 trillion in bailout packages for socially useless banks alone
* Socially useless business is what has created a global economy on life support
* Socially useless business is what has created a jobless “recovery” and is why we don’t have a better education, healthcare, finance, energy, transportation, or media industry

Okay Mr. Haque, how do you really feel?

He continues, “How is it that socially useless business is to blame for this adverse affect on our society? Socially useless business is the status quo — and the status quo says: ‘You don’t matter. Our bottom line is the only thing that matters.’ ”

This is a tough dose of his reality to swallow, but does it have merit in HF EDA–or high-tech in general for that matter? If we look at recent technology products that have succeeded, Apple’s iPhone/iPod, Nintendo Wii, and Google Search all come to my mind. Somewhere in here, these technologies and tools tapped into the value of being socially useful to the population at large. By using these appliances, we find ourselves more productive in life or enjoying our free time more, or even using them as ways to be more social?

I doubt this is a winning strategy in and of itself (build a better mousetrap) but the way a product or service can connect with a user or consumer and make the experience personal or emotional is timeless. Maybe today the “socially useless” tagline makes the HBR post seem more hip or current but the emotional appeal has worked for many years to build brand loyalty, from Walt Disney to Coke and Pepsi and hundreds more examples I’m not listing here.

In my own experiences within the world of EDA, I have to say that AWR is one of the few places I’ve worked that encourages its employees to have a sense of self and personality that isn’t constrained by the corporate logo but actually defines the brand. Starting the blog on MWJ site was a step into the e-social fabric for me and for AWR… and an experiment that I believe has been a success for the company by enabling us to connect more with our customers and with the larger community of users out there, and to open up a dialogue to figure out how our company and its tools can improve society (our society of users).

AWR has always been customer focused. It’s the reason Joe Pekarek founded the company in the first place. Since the economy began shrinking nearly two years ago now, everyone at AWR has stepped up their commitment to the corporate mission of improving the productivity of our HF customer base –if there’s one thing we understand, its that in order for AWR to be successful, our customers have to be successful. AWR’s philosophy is the polar opposite of the socially useless business. Our culture is focused on ensuring that customers know they DO matter, and that we fully understand that our bottom line depends on their success.

Haque says that socially useless business is built on shoddy, poor economics, and like most things too good to be true, it rarely lasts for long. Socially useless businesses are living on borrowed time. The new order is “constructive capitalism.” Constructive Capitalists are better businesses. They’ve learned how to create value that’s socially useful. They are doing things that matter to people, communities, and society.

So, the question big business and small start-ups alike should be asking themselves these days is, “How useless is my business?”

Recently I returned from an AWR company event that was very informative on a variety of levels. And now that I’m back in the LA office, I’ve had a number of people ask me, “what’s next?” or rather, “what did I learn there and how do I apply those lessons learned/wisdoms uncovered in the coming days/weeks/year?”

This, of course, got me thinking about the recently re-published article, “Top 7 Mistakes to Avoid When Choosing RF EDA Tools” by How-Siang Yap of Agilent, which is hosted on the Microwave Product Digest site.

I must admit that I had a déjà-vu moment reading it and after a few minutes I uncovered the original I recalled reading, but with a 2004 dateline. There is a lesson to be learned here on reuse and repurposing and giving credit to the originator of ideas. However, the reason I see this piece as timeless and worth talking about now is that we as humans make mistakes. What makes us better as we age/mature (I hope) is the ability, wisdom, and humility to learn from our mistakes.

So…let’s use Agilent’s title of  Top 7 Mistakes to Avoid When Choosing RF EDA Tools and try to repurpose it under the guise of “applying lessons learned.”

Mistake #1   Choosing a company without a proven track record

Lesson: Past vs. present vs. future.

Information needs to be put into the proper perspective. A sales tagline comes to mind… “What have you done for me lately?”

AWR was founded on innovative technology and has continued to produce a steady stream of new technologies ever since, most recently our patent-pending Multi-Rate Harmonic Balance (MHRB™) product.  But it’s not just about innovating, it’s also about the value those innovations bring to customers to help you create your designs better and faster.  While industry leadership is nice in and of itself, choosing a company with a history of service and support of its innovations is likely a better strategy.  Industry leadership as measured by market share obtained through mergers and acquisitions does not guarantee a culture of innovation. For that, look to a company that is gaining market share by being the best at helping its customers succeed.

AWR has dozens of customer success stories and quotes about how our products have helped customers and what excellent customer services and support we provide.  But don’t just focus on past performance.  Make sure your vendor is committed to the MW&RF market and not just there as a matter of convenience.  Our commitment to the MW&RF space has never been in question and goes all the way to the CEO, an ex-MMIC designer.

Mistake #2 – Buying for today, without anticipating future expansion

Lesson:   Don’t rob Peter to pay Paul.

Yes, very true!  AWR has consistently proven that our unified open framework approach is superior at providing all the technologies required for every facet of design.  With AWR’s Design Environment, everything can be orchestrated / simulated / done—within a single framework and single UI. See our AWR.TV videos for a demonstration.

Mistake #3 – Overlooking the contribution of test and verification to design success

Lesson: Peripheral vision…a must!

Test and measurement is without a doubt an important component to the design process. However, there seems to be a conflict of interest for a representative of a test and measurement company to place its importance so high on this list.

Nonetheless, Agilent makes excellent test equipment and many AWR customers use its products quite successfully alongside our software. AWR is dedicated to the development of simulation software – period. We’ve always focused on the customer’s needs and ability to have freedom of choice in order to build the best possible tool framework and software design flow.  To this point, we make sure our RF EDA software links with any vendor’s test equipment, whether it be Rohde & Schwarz, Anritsu, Tektronics, National Instruments or Agilent. See our latest white paper, “Hardware in the Loop,” and learn more about our “AWR Connected” joint solutions with R&S WinIQSIM2  and Anritsu VNA products.

Mistake #4 – Failing to understand the difference between low-cost and cost-effective

Lesson: Cost vs. value

“Low-cost vs. cost-effective” reminds me of a few expressions… “a sale isn’t a bargain unless you need it,” “you get what you pay for,” “there’s a reason it’s free.” Bottom line to me is that people want to pay for only what they value and not be charged for extra things that they won’t use. So here the concept of creating software bundles that are properly priced for specific customer segments, as AWR has done since 1998, is the lesson to be learned.

Mistake #5 – Choosing a non-integrated tool

Lesson: Play well with others.

When it comes to a company that is open and values working with third parties, AWR is the industry leader.  From our inception, our belief has been that customers need to be able to choose from a broad set of tools to get their job done.

We have over 18 third-party tools integrated into our framework and continue to grow the list.  For instance, way back in 2003 AWR pioneered its EM Socket™ interface, which enables integration with the industry’s diverse set of EM tools.  Similarly, we offer integrated verification flows with Cadence, Mentor, PolyTeda, and Ciranova, to  name a few. We are a founding member of the Interoperable Pcell Library (IPL) project and are cooperating with vendors such as Mentor and Synposys to develop iPDKs. Most recently, AWR co-founded the OpenWaveforum.org, an alliance of RF and microwave firms formed to collaborate, create, and promote a unified and transparent data exchange format for large-signal simulations, measurements, and models.

With the power of the Internet and Google these days, it’s easy to uncover if your vendor is actively working with other partner firms.

Mistake #6 – Forgetting about the foundry and component vendors

Lesson:  No man is an island.

Absolutely!  You need foundry and model vendor support, which is why commercial GaAs foundries support both Agilent and AWR. Request rates for AWR kits have grown over the years, as has customer adoption.  From AWR’s perspective, we don’t just tick the box and move on with foundry support, we want to make sure the designs that come out of Microwave Office are clean and right the first time.  We work closely with foundries to implement our latest features such as iNets, ACE, AXIEM, etc. into our kits (see our latest press release on UMS PDKs).

As for models, they are key as well.  AWR offers lots and lots of models and incorporates them into the software via an XML library, which provides measurement-based models and footprints accessible from the software so that any vendor model updates are ready immediately.

Mistake #7 – Focusing on software and not on services and support

Lesson: The Golden Rule: Treat others as you want to be treated!

This point must have been written with AWR in mind.  To us, providing good customer support means having people in support who have actually designed circuits for a living, so they understand the problems about which they are being asked.  We offer 1-800, email, Internet, and open (password free) knowledge base access, free on-line training and more.  AWR consistently ranks at the top of user surveys in customer service and support. Today more than ever before, software vendors absolutely need to focus on support. Call AWR’s hotline today and ask a question. You’ll be favorably impressed.

To sum it all up, mistakes are more often than not the way many of us learn.  The only way to avoid repeating them in the future (besides denial) is to take the lessons learned to heart and apply them. Perhaps the most important lesson we can all learn when buying software, or anything else, is to look for a vendor dedicated to the industry and the products it provides, and, most importantly, dedicated to the customer.