General rule: if someone tells you that the solution to your problem involves complicated maneuvering and strategy they are probably not giving you the right answer. Corollary: anyone can come up with a simple solution with no basis in fact and pretend they know what they are talking about. I’ve recently spent some time rewatching…
If I were starting a #CRE software development group….
Let’s play what if. “What if I started a software development company tomorrow. What would it look like?” Goals and Objectives. First you have to decide what you are doing. Likely this company will be focused on a single industry (to start with) and the team should be familiar with that. Then we need to…
CoStar, Piracy, Litigation and amazingly civil discourse
The news in CRE circles recently has been about CoStar suing several individuals and companies as well as asking to unmask several John Doe defendants (or if you’d like a link from CoStar go here) that it accuses of data theft and digital piracy. This is a sexy story in the normally calm, tranquil world of CRE (maybe…
Do you have the will to do what you must?
Most decisions are hard. Some decisions are harder than others. And then there are the decisions that take a true force of will to bring to fruition. Those decisions which change the direction of your company and force you to say no to everything you used to do. Why does will come into it? Because…
“Earning” your way.
An article over at Medium has me stopping in my tracks: Dear Jr Creative…Earn Your Place. You’ll Be Better For It. It hits two of my pet peeves: Referring to someone generically “younger” as Junior. Assuming everyone should follow the same path the same way. The world is a messy place and all of us…
Hacking your mindset – 4 reasons your agendas suck and 5 ways to fix them.
Meeting agenda’s are deceptively hard. For a one hour meeting it’s not too bad because the damage is only a lost hour. For a full day meeting it gets rough because you start wasting serious time. Multiple days and your agenda can not only waste time but set wrong expectations and accomplish counterproductive results. The…
Things I will never understand – artificially limiting a digital service.
I have to admit that I don’t like Pandora. I have never understood creating a radio station but not being able to listen to the songs I actually want to listen to. I understand that it’s free and they are working within the bounds of their licensing agreements but it’s an artificial limitation. Same goes…
A Case Study is no different than a Picture
Just as no model includes bad pictures in their portfolio, no company submits bad case studies with their references. Look to politics to see another common use of case studies. How often do we hear about “the mom whose life was saved by Obamacare” or “the family that had their health insurance increase by 3x…
Confusing Macro and Micro – missing the big picture.
I love when people reference the unemployment rate when talking about a specific industry or company in a market. I live in Columbia SC where unemployment is still hovering north of 6.5%. Things are not back to where they should be by any means. But that does not mean that every company can hire the…
Technology you should be using – WolframAlpha
Did you ever wonder how many cars are on the road in Georgia? (8.5 M vehicles in 2009). Type in the city you want to know about (such as lovely Irmo SC) and get to know a bit of everything. Want to know everything about an airport – just type in the airport name. WolframAlpha seeks…