Posted by: Don Mathis
- [16439179] Thu, May 17, 11:59
Perm Dude recommended I post to the boards, so I decided to take him up on the suggestion. I’ve left Small World, but wanted to pass on these “farewell” thoughts:
Dealing with the Gurupies was the best lesson I’ve had in my career about customer service. By focusing the company on my “Gurupie initiative” – which, I can tell you, was unpopular throughout the company at first – I think we changed the culture of Small World from being a group of internally-focused game developers to a real company that understood that we existed to serve the customer. And the Gurupies, by keeping the heat on, forced us to look our problems in the face, and actually fix them.
I think the company is far better today than it was a year ago, thanks in significant part to this effort.
Now, things should get even better, with Small World a part of The Sporting News family. The backing couldn’t be stronger (Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures). More importantly, The Sporting News is a great shop, well run by a fantastic management team, and committed to being a major presence in the sports space – which, of course, is why they bought Small World! I think the games will get better with such strong backing. Further, the really strong technical and game design folks from SW have carried on with The Sporting News.
Most of the executive team, however, has left. For us, the goal was to do the deal to ensure that the company continues to thrive, then move on. Personally, my plans are to take a little time off, spend it with my family, and figure out what is next. And by the way, the thread conjecture was correct – I do have a non-compete contract, so fantasy sports won’t be next on my horizon! (grin).
So now I become just another player of the games, like you guys. I expect that they will be good – The Sporting News is a terrific company, the good game building/maintaining talent is still on board, and this customer-centered culture has really taken hold. But if there are issues again down the line, I strongly encourage the Gurupies to do what they’ve always done – rattle the saber until they are fixed!!
Best to all of you, Don
1
APerfect10
ID: 432432619 Thu, May 17, 12:04
We gratiously appreciate all your help with the Guru community and wish you the best of the luck in whatever life brings you next! -AP10
2
darkside Leader
ID: 1845038 Thu, May 17, 12:04
Thanks very much, Don, for all of your help. You did a lot to keep our faith in Smallworld alive...a task not easily accomplished. Good luck and may the be with you!
3
azdbacker
ID: 51392423 Thu, May 17, 12:06
Best to you as well, Don, and thanks for being a stand-up guy. I appreciate the effort you have put forth trying to improve the customer service aspects of SW. I suspect we'll miss you. :)
4
saber34
ID: 41338116 Thu, May 17, 12:06
I'm not rattled!!
Hope the best for you, I, myself, am torn between leaving an institution with infinate possibilities, but with limited motivation and management. It hurts more to see something that could have been good, fail.
5
VIDevilRays Leader
ID: 0502611 Thu, May 17, 12:06
Don-thanks for all of your assistance given in my many emails to you. Good luck in all future endeavors!
6
Pistol Pete
ID: 2041038 Thu, May 17, 12:08
Good luck to you, Don. Thanks for all your efforts, timely responses to e-mails, etc. I can't thank you enough for having the patience to deal with all the problems associated with changing SW's mindset. The results have not gone unnoticed. I hope you get a lot a quality time with your family over the next few. Come back and visit us sometime too. Don't be a stranger!
7
KKB, Guru Jr.
ID: 51521713 Thu, May 17, 12:08
Best Wishes Don!
8
Sludge Donor
ID: 113368 Thu, May 17, 12:09
Adios!
Sorry for being such a pain in the ass last season. :)
9
J Sustainer
ID: 50726110 Thu, May 17, 12:14
Thanks for all you've done Don. Let me know when you want me to add you to the standings!!!
;)
Best of luck to ya! J
10
GoatLocker
ID: 26058212 Thu, May 17, 12:14
Best of luck in all you do Don and thanks for all of your help in working to improve SW for the players.
Enjoy your time with the family.
Cliff
11
Makisupa
ID: 11458179 Thu, May 17, 12:16
Thanks Don for all your efforts! I bet you won't miss all those annoying e-mails acking you to look into "phantom" points and trades =) Good luck in your future, and enjoy the time off.
12
Perm Dude Leader
ID: 582521316 Thu, May 17, 12:17
I hope you negotiated some extra pitcher trades in your severance package!
Thanks for posting. If you are going to continue to play SW, you are going to have to spend some time here, so I hope to see you around.
And thanks for putting up with cranky players like us for so long.
pd
13
JeffG Donor
ID: 40451227 Thu, May 17, 12:19
Don, thanks for listening to us. You are the main reason for many of us changing our once negative perceptions about Small World.
Best of luck, health and happiness to you and your family.
14
Willix Sustainer
ID: 1186209 Thu, May 17, 12:25
Good luck to you Don! You were always honest and upfront with us. I appreciated your communication with us during certain issues we had with Smallworld. Thanks for helping.
15
Baggio Leader
ID: 2742149 Thu, May 17, 12:33
On a personal level, Don has helped me on several occasions, and I have really appreciated his PROMPT and HONEST answers.
Good luck Don!!
16
walk Sustainer
ID: 592181610 Thu, May 17, 12:39
Thanks for posting and for changing things at Smallworld, Don. You really made a difference. I hope your legacy lives on! I enjoy(ed) your games mucho and appreciated your posts and efforts to deal with a very difficult to please community.
Good luck with your future endeavors. Perhaps I'll see you around town.
- walk
17
Catfish Sustainer
ID: 71158811 Thu, May 17, 12:57
Don, good luck. And please let us know your handle when you show up next time ... as a manager.
Thanks for all your help. Best of luck in new adventures. Drop a line with new e-mail address if you get a chance.
Steve H
20
Species Donor
ID: 304521510 Thu, May 17, 13:14
This is a test of the Emergency Reality System. Do not adjust your monitor. This is only a test
Fascinating response. I guess it's my turn for equal time.....
Before my short diatribe, however, I will say this to you, Don - I always felt that you honestly intended to do all of the service-oriented improvements that you touted upon your arrival on these message boards. For reasons that were probably out of your control (you were overruled, technically couldn't be done, etc. - I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt), the vast majority of your promised improvements never materialized. However, in my direct dealings with you I truly felt that you cared and wanted to take the Gurupie ideas into account in order to improve Smallworld's games.....that is until my criticisms became so harsh that you stopped dealing with me.
That last part being said, I honestly wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors - none of my criticisms directed at you were personal. Sure I was ripping the promises you made and your lack of follow up of those promises, but as I say above I feel that your intentions were pure.
Going forward, If you're a heavy enough hitter to have a no compete agreement, you are talented enough to land on your feet before I finish typing this if you really wanted.....
To my fellow Gurupies - I suppose I'm beating a dead horse (my specialty, I guess), but I am shocked that the sentiment in this thread is so positive. Again, I'm not doubting Don's intent, but I have a hard time believing that so many of you feel that he did all of the things he promised on these boards.
I'll take it a step further - I dare someone to go back into every thread he posted within, count the number of promised improvements and see how many of them actually materialized. The man totally dropped off the face of the planet midway through last year's baseball season, and only came back to sell the pay basketball games! Come ON, people!
Then, of course, there is the entire Basketball Survivor/3-for-all debacle of changing the rules of the final freeze after the fact and after clarifications had been made to players both privately and on the game site.
I guess I just can't believe what I'm hearing, that's all.
This ends this test of the Emergency Reality System. We now return you to your regularly scheduled butt-kissing farewell.
21
beastiemiked
ID: 430122212 Thu, May 17, 13:37
Thanks for helping me locate my prizes Don, good luck in the future.
22
Perm Dude Leader
ID: 582521316 Thu, May 17, 13:46
Species, I was wishing him well on a personal level. And so were you, kinda. Let it go at that.
pd
23
darkside Leader
ID: 1845038 Thu, May 17, 14:11
Species...you better watch out; that high horse is a dangerous place to sit. Guess the rest of us are too far down here kissing a$$, though, huh?
24
walk Sustainer
ID: 592181610 Thu, May 17, 14:14
Species. GONG! Wrong time and wrong place for your ventilation here. I sent you an email to spare you what you should have spared Don.
Self edit your post, dummy!!
:-) walk
25
KrazyKoalaBears
ID: 51521713 Thu, May 17, 14:17
Species, Don was not the only employee, nor the only decision maker, of SW. That about sums everything up right there.
However, to add, I don't think Don ever did anything malicious against the Gurupie community with specific intent. Consider that Don was the only person in a management level position to even acknowledge the Gurupie community and communicate with them on a regular basis, through email and this message board, and how can you wish anything but the best for the guy? Whose email did everyone post when someone had a problem? dmathis@smallworld.com because it was your only hope of getting a response other than the ones from "The Commish".
1 person can only do so much in a company of many.
26
APerfect10
ID: 432432619 Thu, May 17, 14:30
Why do some people feel the need to be negative all the time? Rather annoying i think. Can we not wish a guy g'luck in the future and thank him for what he has done, and yes he has done a lot for us.
Please self edit out post #20...
27
biliruben Sustainer
ID: 3502218 Thu, May 17, 14:33
Don - thanks for your good faith efforts and your help in keeping smallworld alive so it could make it to this transition.
To all: I'll leave my post up there. Feel free to continue to kill the messenger.
darkside - no high horse here, but at the same time I didn't spend a month or more making promises I couldn't keep. Perhaps the "butt-kissing" comment was out of line, but the fact remains that the overly flattering commentary about what he added to SW's level of customer service (to be seperated from personal good wishes, which I echo), IMO, is not especially worthy.
KKB - I understand that he could only do so much. As I mentioned, many of the service failings could have been out of his control. However , rule #1 of customer relations: Don't make promises you can't keep . When you can't deliver on promises, it makes them as hollow and worthless.
Let me summarize my POV more simply:
1 - Don is not a bad guy 2 - I feel Don had very true intentions 3 - For whatever reason, he wouldn't or couldn't follow through on many items he promised to us that he would 4 - For that reason, it taints the positive steps he took in even coming to us in the first place 5 - Adding to #4, he disappeared in the midst of the timing of his promises and left us totally in the dark........that is until he needed us to buy into his new pay games
I guess the biggest thing for me is that we were so glad to have ANY communication that even half-hearted (judging by the performance) promises seem like a Godsend to too many of us here. I just can't understand why he would garner praise in this forum for a job well (again to be seperated from personal good wishes) done when we handed him the ball and he fumbled.....
AP10 - I'm not negative all the time, but some of these issues really get my goat. If no one (it doesn't mean me - it could be any one of many Gurupies who have strived to improve the SW games and service) was around to blow the whistle and raise their hand to challenge these things, how would the integrity and service from SW get any better? If no one challenged their service and (mis)management of the games, why would they try to change their ways?
My email is noted. If you want to blast me, drop me a line and I'll be happy to discuss it.
29
walk Sustainer
ID: 592181610 Thu, May 17, 15:49
Species. You bastid. I have already emailed you, 2 minutes after you posted that drivel above in post #20.
Time to stop getting defensive, and besides now self-editing two of your posts -- 'cause this thread should not be about you, but Don leaving -- you are, IMHO, missing the point of courtesy, timing and appropriateness. I gather you still feel frustrated about things that were promised and not delivered, however, folks here are basically saying: "good luck and thanks for doing some stuff and for trying to do some other stuff." We are not editing Don's accomplishments nor writing his epitaph. Usually when someone leaves a firm, or leaves this plane as we know it, we generally take the high road and say something nice, and in this particular case, "if ya got something not nice to say (eat it and) don't say it at all."
Duuuuuuuuuuuuude, trust me on this, you're right on the inside, but wrong on the outside. This is about appropriateness, not the time for venting.
Hmmmmm. baseballmail.com seems to be failing me. If I'm going to offer the chance for everyone to throw tomatoes at me, may as well be a genuine offer. Let's try this again...
31
Slow Stick Sustainer
ID: 324561714 Thu, May 17, 16:30
Even I as a member of the general population of players that can only marvel at the quality of the groupies can tell that someone at Smallworld cared. Now that I know who that person was, I can only wish him the best in his future endeavors. You will be missed.
I am in a similar position in my company and know all the frustrations of not being allowed to be right in the eyes of either the customer or the management. The knowledge of what can be accomplished is actually appreciated, even when the users do not realize they appreciate it. Soon Smallworld will soon know of the good of having a person like in the company.
Don will be successful at his new endeavor because he knows what it takes to be successful.
32
Gary
ID: 381157822 Thu, May 17, 16:35
Thanks Don, for all the effort you put to making SW better. I know we groupies can be tough at times and very demanding but I know we appreciated your honest and quick approach to working with this little community.
I wish you the best of luck with your family and future employment plans. I hope to see you on these boards asking and giving advice on fantasy sports, as a player;)
Good luck and best wishes Gary
33
Razor
ID: 13213180 Thu, May 17, 16:48
Don Mathis - Good luck to you.
Species - I think what walk is getting at is that if you have a problem with the job he did, then this is not the time or the place. More importantly, you shouldn't rip on other people's comments, that's just ridiculous. What other people think and say is there own business, not yours or mine.
34
JW Leader
ID: 83441917 Thu, May 17, 17:03
Don,
Please ignore unnecessary and inappropriate static above.
For my part, I hope the new owners will have the wit to organize Don-Mathis-seminars for those now charged with customer relations - and that you'll charge a hefty consultancy fee for providing them ;)
Best of luck.
35
Rogue's Strikers
ID: 300382817 Thu, May 17, 17:03
While I never had the pleasure of meeting Don I have heard of him. I, like everyone else here, wish you luck in all your future endevours and would like to thank you for your efforts at SW.
As someone who has worked on an internet project in the past (which had just as many ups and downs as SW, perhaps more so) I know all too well how difficult (but rewarding) a job it can be. In the end I too decided to pack my bags, and now enjoy the game I helped create purely from a gamer's point of view. I strongly suggest/urge you to do the same. Its only fair that you get to enjoy that which you worked on for so very long.
In any case, enjoy your time off with your familly.
OT: Species, I find it quite ironic that you of all people would say "Feel free to continue to kill the messenger." In essence, when you were saying to Don that which you said way back when, you were doing just that.
36
j o s h
ID: 32461112 Thu, May 17, 17:30
Good luck Don. I only e-mailed ya once. And got my problem solved pronto.
Thank species! You ought to change your handle to fsu!!!
37
rfs- work
ID: 49401514 Thu, May 17, 18:00
Good Luck
My personal intercation w/ Don: 1 e-mail = 1 problem solved and e-mail promptly answered.
Thank You
rfs
38
KrazyKoalaBears
ID: 51521713 Thu, May 17, 18:01
Species, no matter what promises Don made and/or kept or fell through on, he was, and still is the only contact that I've ever seen for SW here on the boards. That alone deserves a "job well done". While most other people chose to ignore the Gurupie community, Don made a concentrated effort to recognize us, hear us out, and do what he could to make changes and follow through on his promises. Sometimes people make promises that they later can't keep. That's life. If I were to have ill will against everyone that didn't keep a promise they made to me, I wouldn't have any friends. In Don's case, I think the fact that he even made an effort was good enough for me. Think about how insignificant the Gurupie population is to SW in the whole scheme of things and you may just "get it". We can't even effect price changes, why should they be concerned about a couple hundred people that post to a message board?
That's why Don deserves a "job well done". Who else at SW has even given validation to the Gurupie community? The fact that he listened at all is good enough for me.
39
Endangered allhair Sustainer
ID: 8259112 Thu, May 17, 21:51
Species, Don't hold back, bud! Tell us how you really feel! :) Kudos to Species for being the most consistant Gurupie around. ;) You're the long term memory I never had but wish I did.
Don, I thanked you before on the boards for resolving a problem with one of my teams that ended up doing very well in Hoops. Thanks again for that and GL2U.
40
James K Polk
ID: 29430182 Thu, May 17, 22:07
Don -- best wishes, and many thanks for your assistance in getting a long-delayed prize last year. Now if you could just get us those 170 SWP for the doomed Unit start ... :)
Seriously, I hope you have some great time off with family, and then great success in whatever endeavor you choose.
Ryan
41
Shelby-villian
ID: 117361915 Thu, May 17, 22:17
I like Don. I like Species. They are both swell.
42
Matt S Donor
ID: 57543213 Thu, May 17, 23:05
Well, Don has been very helpful to me, and for that I am thankful. Good luck, Don!
43
The Pink Pimp
ID: 36423223 Thu, May 17, 23:51
To my knowledge Don first appeared on these boards in this thread, Small World Cheaters theatre Moderator Mikes story. Check out how he just dove into the thread when anti Smallworld sentiment was at near DEF-CON 1 levels. I believe Don when he says that "Dealing with the Gurupies was the best lesson I’ve had in my career about customer service." In fact I'm sure you could make a business case study out of it. To claim that all promised improvements did not materialize is to miss the point that many improvements were in fact made.
I'd like to thank you Don for making the effort where no one else did and for trying to get others to see what you had realized. If the new suits at Smallworld ignore the lessons that have already been learned, they do so at their peril.
Good luck to you and your family and feel free to drop by and post anytime... especially if you get drunk and want to tell us how the pitcher pricing works this year :-) But use a public computer so it can't be traced!
See you on the boards,
The Pink Pimp
44
JW Leader
ID: 83441917 Fri, May 18, 03:01
ROFL, PP
Don, the pub is open, you just relax and tell us all about pitcher pricing ...
45
Lutefisker
ID: 59421106 Fri, May 18, 04:38
Don...
I want to truly thank you for your efforts on several levels. You did start posting to us gurupies when things were at defcon 1. That takes guts and heart.
You did the best you could to mediate between the position you had at a company that had a thing against gurupies. This took guts and strong mediation skills, I assume both on this end and perhaps moreso on the smallworld end.
You gave a vocal but very dedicated minority the respect that it needed to feel to remain a part of smallworlds custumer base. Job well done.
On a personal level. Perhaps, just perhaps, you might consider making up a team or two, or perhaps you already have one, and become part of the gurupie community. You are welcome and respected here on a personal as well as a professional level.
Regardless of your decission... Good luck and may you do well in your next venture!
46
jedman
ID: 27481118 Fri, May 18, 12:01
I have to defend Species a little here. Because of his tireless efforts in not accepting the "apologies" from SW, many things improved and there was open dialogue. He is correct in that many important questions were never answered and we were ignored. It is true that Don did make inroads in helping with customer service, but it is still lacking greatly. I don't think Species should be bashed here because of his posts. As Allhair stated, he has stayed very consistent in his approach. He did wish Don luck personally and that is getting ignored. Would I have chosen to post the way he did? No. Do I think he should be bashed and asked to delete his post? No. We have all had different interactions with SW and Don. I don't see anything wrong with Species taking the approach he did if that is how he really feels. What I don't want to get lost in this is the positive things that happened because of Greg's up front posts and continued asking of questions that helped all of us.
47
walk Sustainer
ID: 592181610 Fri, May 18, 13:03
Good defense, jedman, but I am friendly with Species, too, and I'll bash him for this and ask him to remove his posts.
;-)
The bottom line is that while Species has done a lot, and Don has done a lot, and that Species is right and that maybe some things were not done that were promised to be done, this was NOT the thread to make the beef.
That's really the issue. There are two wavelengths here: The issue of timing and appropriateness of feedback and the issue of principle. The principle that Species asserts is not really appropriate in this particular thread. It's akin to bashing someone when they are retiring or leaving a job (in-person; at the office, not in this virtual world where behavior is often warped). We would not do it in-person at someone's farewell luncheon or dinner or coffee break, and it ought not to have been done here -- whether Species's points are valid or not.
Nice chattin' at ya!
:-) walk
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