What are the worst management sins?  Here is my short list.

1. Micromanagment. I really hate it when a boss says, “I want you to be responsible for this, but I am going to dictate how you do it.”  This is the thing that made me want to leave Intuit.  If you delegate then, let the person do their job.  You can give them feedback and guidance, but don’t dictate.  I know this sin happens when the shit hits the fan.  People think that they need to clamp down and have more process, but it never works.  See chart.  This is also related to Avinash’s HiPPO.
2. Lying, concealing, misleading, omitting.  How often have you been in a meeting where someone says, “Don’t tell them, we don’t want to start a panic!”  Grown people treated like children.  My number one “good thing” in business is integrity.  This is specifically, the lacktherof.  Transparency is the only way to a healthy work environment.  Concealing information is the road to failure.
3. Absence of Mentoring.  I think every boss should actively mentor their subordinates.  The lack of this is surely a sin. We spend most of our lives at work.  Everyone deserves to grow emotionally, professionally and spiritually.  Being a boss isn’t about power.  It is about growth and responsibility.  Help people beneath you and you will help yourself.

What are your worst management sins?

Yesterday, I was struggling to achieve a basic goal.  I wanted to list out the sections of the application and specify all the different buttons and menus and features.  It was basically a quick outline of the product to be used as a UI specification doc.  There are lots of task managers, but none achieved my goal.  I had three requirements:

1. An outlining tool as easy as MS Project 2007.
2. A column for task name and notes.
3. Output HTML in a dynamic tree form.

Some “nice-to-have” features, but weren’t required:

1. Online, but just as fast as MS Project. (Possible, I think with EXTJS).  Needs to be editable by multiple people.
2. Columns for %Complete, Target Date, Owner, Priority, Effort Level

Details of the interaction design:

1. SHIFT-LEFT and SHIFT-RIGHT should indent/outdent.
2. Drag and drop should work for reorder
3. Cut and paste from excel or notepad should work.  (Tabs should be considered indents)
4. Cut and paste TO text should paste with tabs
5. Export to UL/LI should work.
6. Export to UL/LI Tree should work by using the jquery Tree plugin or Ext Tree.
7. Should be able to select multiple rows to delete/move/copy.  (Shift-Click)
8. Keyboard should work for up/down
9. Pressing enter at the end of a task should go to the next line to start a new task.
10. Pressing tab at the end of the task should go to the next column
11. Show levels should work.  Great feature.
12. Should be sticky so that the last open/close stays

Here you can see how it looks in Project.  I think this would be a really useful quick tool.   Some people do open source project development.  I do open source product definition.  Feel free to add/modify this with me.  And of course, feel free to build it.  Please give me some credit somewhere on it if you do.

Interaction Design is fun.

The first company I worked as an interaction designer, Remend has officially closed it doors.  Here are some lessons learned for dot-coms building a product:

1. A dollar spent in architecture is 10 dollars saved in maintenance.  Never hard code anything if you can help it.  The lesson is that things change.  Details change. You have to roll with the punches.  It is alot easier to change something flexible than something rigid.  Architecture is the key.  You don’t get alot of chances to start over.  This is exactly the opposite of what Extreme Programming states with YAGNI (You Aint Gonna Need It).  YAGNI works on a project, but not on a product.  A product is something that has to scale and flex and grow.  You will absolutely need it.  In a project with a start and end and defined scope, YAGNI works fine.
2. 2 Great engineers are better than than 5 mediocre ones.  Great engineers have a can-do attitude.  They understand the spirit of what the business needs and can expand their minds to see the technical requirements of tomorrow’s needs, not just todays.  A mediocre developer will just see the exact specification.  This will come back to haunt you.
3. Never let the short term business needs dictate the long term technical architecture.  This is so hard to do, but it is critical.  If a large customer wants you to build something custom, you have to figure out how to implement it in a generic way so that it can be productized.  You should never forget that you are building a product, not a project.  Building a product is a marathon, not a sprint.  I understand how hard this is to follow, but it turns out badly when ignored.
4. Do not play revolving doors with your Architects.  When you let your technical architect or your user experience architect position become a revolving door, then you run the risk of the entire application falling apart.  A dot com has one, maybe two, chances to make it.  You have to get good people and keep them.  Leadership can not be a hot potato.  If you lose your main architects, you have to seriously consider your entire game plan.

I don’t want to bash any company.  Additionally, I think these lessons are very difficult to follow.  All I am saying is, I have seen these problems come up several times, and each time it has been a critical blow to the company.

In any non-trivial piece of software you have alot of features.  Often, there is a bug in some of those features.  In the rollout phase of software, there are usually ALOT of bugs.  People use the word “beta” to mean buggy, but it carries a deadly payload.

When a user encounters one bug, they will assume that all “similar” features are suspect.  In other words, if one menu button doesn’t work, then the user will assume that ALL menu buttons are tainted.  To overcome this ONE bug, the user will need to reassure themselves that the other buttons work ONE AT A TIME.  In other words: “One bad apple spoils the bunch.”

This is a tough pill to swallow for some developers.  They think, “No, they should assume that just that one button is broken.”  I am sorry to those developers, but they are living in a fantasy world.  Trust in software is not something that is diminished incrementally.  Trust is blown away in large chunks.

This is a warning to all software makers.  Release buggy software at the risk of creating trust issues.  I understand that this is inevitable.  This is why most users do not trust computers.  They are buggy.  But capitalism is king and software must be released.  The only answer is to be as transparent as possible and fix bugs as soon as possible.

The best model is to be vocal about finding and fixing problems.  This gives the user trust in YOU, if not in the software.  And that is close enough.

I love the Web.  I have loved it since Netscape 1.0 in 1994.  Here is why, in the form of two stories.

Thanksgiving, 1996,  there were not that many websites in general, but there were a bunch.  My step-mother said, “The internet is a fad.  Mark my words, it will be gone in a couple of years.”  That night at dinner, we had alot of people over my dad’s house for Thanksgiving dinner.  The discussion somehow got onto Kiri Te Kanawa, the opera singer and how old she was. My dad, in his infinite wisdom said, “If your internet is so special, why don’t you (me) find out the answer.  Primed for the challenge, I walked over to the computer and logged into AOL with our 28.8 modem.  Not only did Kiri have her own website at the time, she also had an email address for contact info.

I emailed her saying that my father was a big fan and we were discussing her work at the table.  She emailed me back within an hour.  Then my father had a several email discussion with her that night.  I was so proud.  The internet had not only triumphed, but spectacularly.  It exceeded expectations.  Not only did it answer her age (She will be 64 in March), but it connected my father to her in a totally unexpected and personal way.  Technology brought people together!

Did my father become a technology convert?  No.  But I always remembered that episode as the quintessential web experience.

The second story is shorter.  This morning my mother-in-law, the weaver, said that a tree had fallen down in her backyard. (Not the big one).   She emailed a few people asking, “Does anyone have any suggestions about fast growing trees?”  Of course, I attacked this challenge in the same way.  I entered “Fast growing trees” in the top right search box of my browser and clicks on the first google link.  Lo and Behold, there is a website called http://www.fast-growing-trees.com.  Can you guess what they sell?

I emailed her back with the Arapaho Crape Myrtle tree as a suggestion.  This website is great.  It’s specific.  It has just the right kind of data.  I can look up where it grows and how quickly.  It has pictures.  It is perfect.

The web can be frustrating sometimes when the answer isn’t obvious or a designer makes things hard.  However, sometimes, in fact most times, it is easy and pleasant.  I love the web.  The user experience is awesome.  I still remember my step-mother’s words and mark them well.

I haven’t used Listernine in years.  I was in Rite-aid this morning, buying Claritin and I saw the Listerine.  I was looking for one for the kids, but I thought it might be better to try it on my own first.  It’s ADA certified so I felt confident.  I took a swing and started swishing around.  Immediately, my mouth started to burn horribly.  Then it got worse.

My gums receded immediately.  My nose hairs started to smolder.  My head started to spin.  I quickly looked at the bottle.  30 seconds!?  Crap.  Keep going.  Tough it out, man!  You can do it!

Finally, 25 seconds (I couldn’t make it) elapsed and  I spit it out.  I then swished with water 3 times.  My mouth was on fire!  Holy crap!  What the hell is this?!?  SOme sort of nail polish remover?  Wow, that is some serious stuff.

My friend Bobby said he takes Listerine twice a day, every day.   Plus he brushes his teeth at mid-day.  I wondered if some traumatic event happened in his childhood.  I can picture his mom in a pink bathrobe looking menacingly at Bobby saying, “Who has a dirty mouth?  Yeah, you know you do.”  (let your imagination run wild here)  How else can I explain someone purposefully setting their face on fire twice a day?

Anyway, my teeth feel clean.  My mom should be happy.

We had a nice Thanksgiving this year.  Penny was happy.  Katie was happy, but not taller than Darcie.  The kids got to ride their bikes in an empty mall parking lot.  Ethan got to cook a little.  Ben and Darcie were happy with their new baby Henry.  All the extended family was there.  Everyone had a good time.  Everyone took pictures.   The funny thing is: I will never see those photos.

It’s strange.  Everyone I know has a digital camera.  No one takes pictures on a 35 mm anymore.  But even today, we received IN THE MAIL (not e-mail but real post office mail) a picture of Katie’s friend’s kid in New Jersey.  What is up with that?  Emailing a picture is one thing, way easier than mail.  But what about an online pictures site?  There are a gillion of them. and they are free!  Picasa is so easy to manage and upload.  I really don’t understand why people don’t put their digital pictures online.

I set it up for Darcie and showed her how to upload.  I wonder if she will do it.  It literally is one click.  Something about online photos scare people.  Maybe that stalker who obsesses about me will find the photos and make a Glen alter in his closet.  All the photos will have my left eye circled.  Boogie woogie woogie!!!

Actually, just writing that gave me the heebie jeebies.  Maybe that is it.  The fear of the unknown stalker boogie man is going to take out pictures and do nasty things.  Do pictures really contain something of our souls?   I am not sure.  But I wish more of my family had online galleries.  I need to fill out my closet alter, alot.

A new updated Internet Explorer tool is on the scene called DebugBar.  I was excited at first for this tool because I think IE has no decent tools.  However, my hopes were soon dashed.  I might be stupid and it was there and I couldn’t see it, however, I could not find out how to change a CSS attribute.  I didn’t see it anywhere.  There were JS tools, but I couldn’t find the CSS power.

Hmm,  I just noticed they have a beta version.  Installing now…  Looking…  Nope.  It shows all kinds of CSS information, but doesn’t let me change any of it.  Why is this missing?  Maybe it’s planned, but it isn’t implemented yet.  Is it really a beta?  Or is it an alpha?

Doesn’t Beta mean “Feature complete, but very buggy”?  Is this thing feature complete or not?

Here is a quote from their beta page:

• Attrs (existing feature): You can see the list of attributes defined for this tag, modify then and see DIRECTLY results under Internet Explorer !”’ : Moreover, when this attribute is a “class” attribute, the list of all the defined attributes in the styleSheets are displayed in a combo box for the selection !

This sounds like what I want.  But I can’t for the life of me figure out how to do it.  Frustrating.  So close, yet so far.

One small UX item.  I don’t love how to inspect an individual item.  You drag that traget thingy onto the page.  It took me a while to find it.  Maybe they should bump up the discoverability of that one item.

If this tools works, I will use it.  But right now, it doesn’t do the basics of what I want.

Mozilla has launched Firefox 3 into beta.  I quickly downloaded and installed it.  I realized this might be a mistake based on the fact that I need to use Firefox 2 for my development work.  Turns out there are two major problems, which caused me to uninstall the program almost immediately.

1. I couldn’t run both Firefox 3 and Firefox 2 at the same time.  Haven’t we learned this lesson from Internet Explorer.  Developers need to run multiple versions at the same time to test.  Firefox 3 is clearly different in rendering, as I saw by quickly looking at our application in it.  So I will need to see both 2 and 3 at the same time to test.  Please do not make me launch a virtual machine for this.  Please be developer friendly.
2. Firebug didn’t work.  None of the plugins worked.  I have become 100% dependant on firebug.  It is a developer’s dream come true.  It works so well, I can’t live without it.  Mozilla should incorporate firebug into it’s core development.  It is the best developer tool in existence, bar none.  But it didn’t work, nor did any other plugin.  I think this is a pretty bad thing.  Sure, the developers will make new versions, but couldn’t there be a converter or something?  My web developer toolbar also did not work.  I HAVE to have that.

So overall I gave the beta an F.  I can’t use it in it’s current form.  I don’t care what fancy cool new things it does.  I need the above two conditions to apply.  I use Firefox as my primary browser, but I am also a developer who needs to use what the audience is using. (All of them).

I am so sick of browser compatibility wars.  I don’t like the time I spend making shit work on different browsers.  It just puts me in a bad mood.  I will try Firefox 3 beta 2 when it’s released, but I desperately need both points above to enjoy the experience.

Avinash, analytics and web guru, was kind enough to invite me to GooglePlex for lunch.  The food was good overall, the variety was outstanding, but it was the energy and the style that was most impressive.  I really appreciated the energy of the people and the way everything was arranged.  Everyone shared offices.  Everyone had two gigantic screens to work on.  I imagine the computers were very fast.  There were all kinds of fun things there.

I haven’t ever thought about working there, but being there made me feel, “Wow this place looks fun!”  Which is precisely what they want me to think.  The whole place is a recruiting scheme.  It’s like a college campus.  You make it look nice so people who visit want to be there.  They did a great job. (SGI built the place originally)

There was free food everywhere.  Free cookies, free drinks.  It was almost “pax romana” in the spectacle of it all.  I also think I would get lost if I worked there.  All these tunnels and stairs.  Too much for my simple brain.  The whole thing kept making me think, “Wow, all of this is built on AdWords.”  It feels like a slender reed to lean on to quote Al Smith.  I was thinking that their strategy right now is to give software away for free for the purpose of making Microsoft lose money, and not particularly to make money.  It might work.

I sort of feel like it was a trip to Disneyland.  They should do tours like Pixar.  I bet they probably do.   Anyway, thanks much to Avinash.  His new gig sounds really exciting.  He is truly an analytics rock star.  I hope my future is as bright as his.