The guys at 37 Signals have a list of what they call “red flag” words that often come up in business communications and can get teams into trouble. Words like “only” and “can’t” (as in, it should only take you a day to add this feature, and we can’t ship the product without it) lead…
The state of Texas recently held an “e-vote” to choose a new license plate design. There were five designs in the running, and over 450,000 people cast their vote for the worst one. Just my opinion, but Design Observer agrees with me. This always seems to happen when design meets democracy. Letting the masses into…
In my post yesterday, I questioned the value of “process” in web and software development and discussed my successes and failures both with and without it. The biggest problem with process is that it deludes people into thinking they have the fundamentals in place to guarantee a successful project. Process is too often a crutch…
UPDATE: There’s a Part 2 now. When I started in the web development business about a decade ago, I worked at a small agency with a few smart people, and we were basically winging it. As the dotcom bubble expanded at a frenzied pace, we grew along with it, and inevitably we had a couple…
Starbucks To Begin Sinister ‘Phase Two’ Of Operation read the headline from The Onion. That was 2001, and Starbucks was heading for world domination. Seven years later, domination is accomplished, but it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. The stock price has slumped badly, reflecting drops in both sales and general affection for the…
I read a lot of blogs, which I organize into a number of categories. One of those categories is marketing, which is a fruitful domain for bloggers. I thought I’d share the list of marketing blogs I find myself reading every day… Blog Maverick – The usually long-winded, sometimes incoherent, but always colorful musings and…
Today I ordered a book called Information Dashboard Design from Amazon.com – my latest in a series of work-related purchases. Of course, whenever you buy anything from Amazon, they generously suggest other books you might be interested in… Amazon seems to recognize that guys who habitually purchase books on information design and software engineering need…
“Dear Citizens of America, In view of your failure to elect a competent President and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. Her Sovereign Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories (except Kansas, which she does not fancy),…
My iPhone and a good soundtrack is essential to my daily commute. Here’s a list of what I’ve been listening to lately: Radio Lab – Each episode of Radio Lab takes on a basic part of human existence like “sleep” or “time” and examines it from all angles. With wide open eyes, the hosts question…