In 1998, I was working for Digital Equipment Corp (DEC) and the NASA Payload Data Management Systems group at Kennedy Space Center was one of my customers. I was able to schedule an onsite visit for December, right at the time of a scheduled shuttle launch, and they got me tickets to the turn basin […]
What To Do, Part Two
Several weeks back I wrote about posting medium-term priorities at the top of my whiteboard as a way to keep from getting sidetracked. The three stories that I’m working on completing by the end of the week, the three outcomes I’m expecting (or expected) to produce. That continues to work well, though it might be […]
What To Do, What To Do?
If multiple people independently set priorities for your organization, are priorities really set at all? How do you know what to do when you’ve got too many “very important” tasks on your to-do list, and someone brings you another? One suggestion is to stop focusing on tasks. My personality — and I suspect that of […]
April Fun
I’m not usually one for pulling (or even attempting) pranks on the first day of the fourth month, but yesterday evening I happened to think of how many times over the past year or so I’d joked that I was going to do something in particular. The day was right, so I got together with […]
Organizational Knowledge and Communication
Jon Udell, of who’s ideas, discussion and writing I’ve long been a fan, wrote in an article last week: Pub/sub networking for enterprise awareness: In theory everyone talks to everyone and everything gets taken care of. In practice, as we know, not so much. This is so true, and frustrating for me. My guess is […]
Boo!
A Quote for the Day
In my own defense, I can point out that I have also written heartwarming books where people return from the dead. Usually to eat the living, it’s true, but surely that is a quibble — a miracle is a miracle.” — Stephen King, in his article ‘A History of Violence’
Just a Few Motorcycles
I really need to post more, if for no other reason than to get those pictures of snow off the front page [grin] Here are some pictures I’ve taken over the past few months…
Practices of an Agile Developer
This past week, I read Practices of an Agile Developer, not because I’m currently employed as a developer, nor because my employer uses them, but because I believe the guidelines are good ones to be practiced no matter what the profession. Check out some readers’ notes, then invest some time in the book yourself, especially […]
Is your site intentionally broken?
As a follow-up to my previous post, Is Your Text Broken, see also John Gruber’s article today on Tynt, the Copy/Paste Jerks: All they’re really doing is annoying their readers. Their websites are theirs, but our clipboards are ours. Tynt is intrusive, obnoxious, and disrespectful. I can’t believe some websites need to be told this. […]