I was thinking about a book I read 5 years ago called The Goal. Basically, it states that you should focus on the worst, slowest, most painful part of your process and improve that. Additionally, it does a good job of explaining that you/your company should have a focused goal. Yesterday, I said that a…
How long do you prepare for a presenation? I usually like to start thinking about the presentation 1-2 weeks in advance. Hopefully, I have a decent slideshow prepared, but the details rarely come into focus until this 1-2 week period. I’ve been thinking about the ExtJS conference that I am speaking at next Wednesday. I…
How does one USE a dream? I have alot of dreams and I think of it this way: A dream is your mind’s way of telling you something you don’t want to think about. I used to have a dream about being chased; always in a different place, like Yankee Stadium, the subway, an office…
This Saturday, I skipped P-Camp and went into San Francisco to see the Interaction Design gathering at Adapative Path‘s offices. (Photos) I have to say, I was kind of disappointed. P-Camp, last year was pretty dynamic with alot of energy and interesting talks. The IxDA conference seemed really toned down and the presentations were mixed.…
The presentation last night went well. Very talkative bunch, but they asked good questions. I had a good time and hope they did too. My slides can be downloaded here as a PPTX or PDF versions. I don’t like putting them on Slideshare because they only support PPT, not PPTX. I do things to my…
All weekend and yesterday (and today a little), I have been fighting off a cold of sorts. Haven’t eaten, slept most of the time, aches and pains. The worst thing is not being about to think clearly. It’s like driving in thick fog. You can do it, but it’s more dangerous and you can’t see…
UX is all about human psychology. Here are some key truths. People are dillusional optimists. Whether it’s estimating how much work something will take, stock market speculation, gambling, or any other predictive test, people will always exaggerate their chances of success. It’s hard-wired into most of us. How many times have you said, “Just a…
I saw this image on Coding Horror by Jeff Atwood, which borrowed it from Thom Holwerda. on this page. I redrew the image using Balsamiq. Since, I saw it, I have been internally using this metric for a slew of other topics besides code. American Idol. For each contestant, I used this metric to measure how…
I made this my desktop background. It’s giving me a headache. Courtsey of Grand Illusions
My mind is overflowing. Work has been hectic, so I haven’t been able to finish a coherent thought/blog. These are some short bits, that could have been blog entries, but didn’t quite make it. Try and imagine them fleshed out. Programmers are modern magicians making things appear as if by magic. People love software that…
Naming things is super important. People will like something or hate it based on appearances and names. See “Don’t Think of an Elephant” by Lakoff or “Blink” by Gladwell for more details, but suffice it to say, “People make decisions quickly based on very little criteria”. Microsoft is naming their next operating system “Seven” or…
What a day. We started off by learning to GeoCache. It’s basically an international treasure hunt using GPS, a website and hiding treasure around the world. Believe me when I say, there is a secret geocache within a few miles of you. There are 3 within a half-mile of me. It’s loads of fun and…
Twas the night before Solstice and in the Lipka hut, we are wrapping and cleaning and cooking it up. We have a big day tomorrow and lots to prepare, but I have time for a quick blog post, … maybe, if I dare. It’s been an up and down year with some good and some…
Every year its the exact same thing. Over and over and over again. They Jets get my hopes up. They show a glimmer of decency. They look like they could almost play. Then they break my heart. The rip my heart right out of my rib cage, then they throw it in the ground and…