Ben Lilley

Embrace a Flexible Future

Sun, 24 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

A few months ago none of us knew how much our lives were about to change. Stay at home orders and lockdowns existed only in dystopian novels but then COVID-19 arrived and disrupted life in almost every way. It’s brought upon us a devastating loss of life, economies in tatters and a world that will likely never be quite the same.

To say these are challenging times would be an understatement. I can’t fathom what some people are going through personally and in society there have been so many different lessons and changes to consider. From the decisions (or lack thereof) of our leaders, how our streets and communities changed, how people coped and the impact we saw so quickly on the environment.

Robin Williams & Mental Health

Wed, 13 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Mental health is something that as a society we don’t like talking about and while we may be getting better, we’re certainly not doing it fast enough. Last week we lost Robin Williams, a man of many talents who was loved and respected around the world. From the tributes that have poured in it’s clear to see what a great man he was and how many lives he touched.

I’m not writing this to add to the mourning though. While I have a great amount of respect for him, I feel there is a bigger, more important message that should come from this - and that is, this can happen to anyone.

2010 Review

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Pitch

2010 was a good year for Pitch with lots learnt, a lot gained and only a little lost. We actually got smaller this year, but because of this change the business had higher revenue and was more profitable. We’ve got the business to a point where we are fairly comfortable so I think this year will be a year of pushing the growth a little bit, see if we can expand while keeping the quality, revenue and profit all in the right areas.

Staying Motivated

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Finding motivation is something everyone struggles with from time-to-time, I know it’s something I suffer from more than I’d like. Take this blog as proof, I’m now two articles behind where I should be, and while I was out of the country all last week, and this week has been horribly busy I could still be on track if I’d had more motivation. So, as you might have guessed, in this article I’ll share some ideas that seem to help keep me motivated (clearly not enough though!).

iPad - My Take

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0000

The iPad has received a lot of criticism since it was announced on 27th January and while some of it is deserved, I still feel a lot of people are missing the point about what this device is and what it (hopefully) will become. For that reason I’m going to share some of my thoughts about it, but you should also read a couple of articles from people far smarter than me for an interesting perspective.

Happy Team (Part 2)

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Continuing on from where we left part one, I’m going to share three more ideas that will help keep any team happy.

Listen

How often do we genuinely listen when we ask “How’s it going?” or “How was your day?” to someone we work with? I’m willing to bet it’s rarely, and I admit, I’m just as guilty as the next person, but this needs to change. When you’re browsing the net as someone is talking to you, or checking your messages on your phone you’re not really listening, and we all know it. We all get frustrated when we know someone isn’t listening properly, so why do we do it when the roles are reversed?

Having a Routine

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

There’s never enough time in the day for us to achieve everything we want and I don’t think that’s going to change any time soon. Instead, I’m trying to make the most of my time and I’ve found having a simple routine helps me do that. Today I’m going to share my simple daily routine that I attempt to stick to whenever I can (obviously there’s going to be plenty of days where that’s not realistic) and explain why I’ve broken it up this way.

Happy Team (Part 1)

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

I believe when it comes to running a successful business nothing is more important than having a happy team. How often do you hear people come home and complain about their bosses or their work environment? I hear these stories pretty regularly, and when I do I truly believe that the person running that business is failing. While I don’t think we have the perfect balance or setup at Pitch we’ve certainly found a few things which seem to help keep the team happy so I thought I would share three of those with you today.

Getting Paid

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

It’s December 23rd 2008, James and I are staring at the Pitch bank account wondering why nobody has paid their invoices this month and stressing about how we’re going to pay all the bills. Little did we know that everyone else had gone on holiday before paying their bills!

Thankfully one of our clients actually paid on the 24th so everything was fine but it’s not a great feeling being strapped for cash and Pitch happened to be at a stage where we were young enough to be living off each months invoices. I want to help you avoid a similar scenario so below you’ll find some tips on a very important part of business or freelancing: getting paid, on time.

Demon’s Souls Review (PS3)

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

It was around word 705 that I realised my review of Demon’s Souls was absolute rubbish. Don’t get me wrong, the writing wasn’t any worse than normal and I think it was reasonably entertaining to read, something just didn’t feel right. Then it dawned on me, Demon’s Souls just isn’t a game that deserves a simple review. I can’t describe to you how much you’ll loathe this game, in the same way that I can’t describe the adoration you’ll feel for it, this is a game then that simply deserves to be played.

New Year, New Start

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Starting the New Year is an amazing feeling, we feel that we’re getting a fresh start, a time to right all the wrongs from the previous year and hopefully not make the same mistakes again. This feeling doesn’t last, we may start with the best intentions, but generally we revert back to our usual selves within a matter of weeks, if not days.

This year I’m going to change that and this very site is the beginning of that change.

Contact

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’m always keen to have a chat. You can email me at benlilley+website@me.com

CV

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Profile

Product leader with 18 years across product, engineering and business operations. For the last 10 years I have been Head of Product at SiteHost, New Zealand’s largest locally owned hosting and cloud infrastructure provider, where I run the Product & Automation team and lead product strategy, design and delivery across the portfolio alongside the founders.