Everyone remembers the Technology Adoption Life Cycle from Crossing the Chasm. But I’ve always thought that the concept of the Whole Product Solution got short shrift. And while they are constantly aware of the difference between technology enthusiasts, visionaries, pragmatists, conservatives, and skeptics; they tend to forget that the whole product solution is an essential piece of the strategy to cross from the visionaries to the pragmatists.

Whole Product Solution is often abbreviated to Whole Product. That makes sense outside of high tech, where it is usually unambiguous how to use the whole product. But in the wonderful world of high technology, you need a roadmap of how to use the whole product as well.

Personal weblogging is close to achieving a whole product solution. Hosting solutions such as TypePad and Radio Userland come close to the whole product. I think that they need to offer an optional bundle with a smart desktop blogging client to get there. And I think there are enough successful personal weblogs to define a process to keep new webloggers on track.

17 Dec: Integrated Search for Knowledge Blogging
14 Dec: They Also Serve Who Index and Link
8 Dec: Solution is Useful and Repeatable