The bookstores are dead. Amazon won. gg. But people still enjoy going in and looking at books. And drinking coffee. And doing book signings, and poetry reading, etc. So, bookstores are good too. That’s why Amazon should buy them. They should become the bookstore interface to Amazon. They could even sell a bunch of other top-selling items that…
The Three IT Roles: The King, the Sage, and the Cog
I observe three basic types of people working in the IT field: kings, sages, and cogs. The King The king is one who has complete control over how they are going to orient a given IT shop. He creates strategy and manages the implementation of that strategy. Most importantly, he can come up with his own ideas and…
Scenario Prepping as an Investment Strategy
I had an interesting idea last week about investing. The idea is that you get a bunch of experts in history, economics, politics, and sociology into a single room to perform analysis on current events. They evaluate the news with the goal of predicting future events (but not so much when they’ll happen). They build a set of…
ROWE: Results-Only Work Environment
ROWE is a simple concept: let people do what they want at work — as long as they’re getting work done. Evidently Best Buy has put the system into place and has increased productivity by 41% This, like democracy, is another example of a great system that works for the best among us, but fails to deliver for…
Economy Failing, Exxon Making Record Profit
Does anyone else think it’s (shameful | criminal | wrong | outrageous) for Exxon to be making record profits (10.7 billion last year) while the economy and the dollar are heading into the toilet? That’s $1,700 a second, by the way — in profit, not earnings. This is while the country faces an energy crisis caused by our…
The Consultant Joke
A shepherd was herding his flock in a remote pasture when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced out of a dust cloud towards him. The driver, a young man in an Armani suit, Gucci shoes, Ray Ban sunglasses and YSL tie (Corb), leans out the window and asks the shepherd, “If I tell you exactly how many sheep you…
GTD Basics
Collect Capture everything that you need to track or remember or act on in what Allen calls a ‘bucket’: either a physical inbox, email inbox, tape recorder, notebook, or any combination of these. Get everything out of your head and into your collection device, ready for processing. All buckets should be processed to empty at least once per…
How Managers Should Be
This is an excellent collection of 10 beliefs that managers “should” have — or, good ones anyway. I find the list to be quite accurate, and I liked this one in particular: “Managers believe that people are innately good. Without this core belief and faith in people, great management is not possible.” It’s funny because this is exactly…
Why Consultants Have A Bad Name
I’ve always heard two things about IT consultants — 1. they make tons of money, and 2. they don’t know much. In short, I’ve always heard that as often as not, they’re largely unqualified to be advising anyone on anything. Well, now that I am one, I’ve been paying close attention to my surroundings. I won’t go into…
Wikiphilia
Wikiphilia n. Medical A mental illness characterized by the irrational conviction that any problem faced by a group can be rendered solvable through installation and use of a Wiki. This delusional ailment has been occurring in increasing numbers ever since it was first identified in 1995. Wikiphilia usually manifests in two distinct phases – the rapturous anticipation of…
Getting Things Done is the Book That’s Had The Most Impact on My Professional Life
Mar 12, 2019 — Nothing has helped me more in life than this system. I use it to this day. [ Oct 16, 2004 ] There is a book out that is getting a decent amount of attention within the geek community. It has to do with mastering time management and counteracting inefficiency in life in general. It’s…