I managed to go almost the entire month of May with no posts. It’s been since the 5th. Absolutely nuts. I’m planning to get started again this week – hopefully back to my regular schedule. The topics may see a bit of a change as my role has been changing. It goes hand-in-hand with why I’ve…
Sometimes the best way to get work done is to do the administrative tasks first.
We all hate administrative busy-work. Paperwork is not fun for most people. It feels like a waste of time, it often is a waste of time, yet it is still required. But then thing about administrative work is that it is there because someone up above wants it to be there. It’s an intentional hurdle…
Forecasting Development beyond this quarter is a fool’s game.
Everyone wants to know what you are going to be working on and bringing to market over the next year. They want to know what cool things you are choosing to work on. And most software groups fall into this trap of trying to show all the things they want to bring to market. It’s…
I’m beginning to worry myself with these thoughts…
With every passing day I begin to think more and more that it may be nice to have a Microsoft Surface Pro. The latest reports on the Surface Pro 4 (via BGR) only have that feeling growing. It’s making me slightly scared for myself – I wasn’t sure craving Microsoft products was a possibility.
Changing productivity tools. Review of Nine Email for Android and ActiveExchange.
I have used NitroDesk’s TouchDown (now owned by Symantec) product for about 5 years now. It gave me a better email experience than Google’s built in Email application, better widgets and better notification actions. However over the past couple of years it has not been maintained and enhanced to the levels I was looking for….
Exponential Growth doesn’t stay Exponential Forever. Ride it While it Lasts.
I was recently forwarded a presentation on the power of exponential growth and business disruption. Every other slide told the story of how exponential growth was the new normal and how it needed to be harnessed. The problem is that eventually exponential growth collapses or has no additional value or becomes focused on a niche…
Stories can be dangerous without complete context.
Stories are how people relate with each other. We tell stories to indicate how we feel about situations and to explain ourselves. Sales is all about attaching stories to what we do to get others to relate and understand the value of what we are offering. Case studies are simply stories. Biographies are stories. A…
Not all that surprising really: you don’t own the products you buy that contain “proprietary” software.
Over at Wired.com is the story about John Deer, GM and others (but not Tesla) submitting notes to the Copyright Office that they (not their customers) own the software the runs the products they sell. They argue that customers who “own” their products are not allowed to tinker or make changes to anything involving the…
Managing short burst projects is much different than projects that take a month or more.
I’m in the middle of a two week all-hands on deck project. It’s interesting to think about how I’m managing this one versus how I would manage the same project if I had a month or more for it. There’s definitely a completely different tone and style going on. First, there are daily update meetings. On…
I yearn for worthy competition. Broadband providers not so much….
Competition makes us all better. It causes us to be creative, it causes us to think about our customers, it forces us to be different. The most profitable company in the world (Apple) is providing extremely high value products in some of the most cut throat industries out there – cell phones, laptops and software….