August, 2008

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Aug 08

Average Environments

David of 37signals contemplates the effect of your environment on the work you produce in his post Average environments beget average work. He says:

In my experience, we’re all capable of bad, average, and good work. I’ve certainly done bad work at times and plenty of average work. What I’ve realized is that the good and the exceptional work is at least as much about my environment as it is about me. Average environments begets average work.

David works in a exceptional environment so he might not be the best to judge. What do you think? Would your work be better (exceptional?) if something in the environment was different? What would need to change?
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Aug 08

iPhone is the new Blackberry

AppleInsider has an in-depth analysis of how the iPhone is fitting into the mobile handset market. As an Apple-focused site they are (of course) pro-iPhone. But if you know me, you know I’m OK with that. To be honest though, I find it a lot easier to understand and decipher ”the real story” when I know ahead of time the bias of the author. They said regarding BlackBerry: [emphasis added]

Apple’s iPhone is weaker in messaging than the more mature BlackBerry platform, but stronger everywhere else, with a desktop class standards-based web browser (providing access to corporate IT web apps), advanced iPod media playback features, and an integrated store featuring everything from games to media to productivity apps. It will be much easier for Apple to match RIM’s messaging features [...] than for RIM to clean up the rest of its OS, which currently just stinks.

Especially considering that the iPhone natively supports Microsoft Exchange (ie, Outlook). Even Blackberries don’t integrate directly – they need the separate (and expensive) Blackberry Enterprise Server.

If you are interested and have time, I’d recommend the 4-page read.

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5
Aug 08

The Spirit Of Change

Christopher Walker wrote a great article on The Spirit Of Change, “Putting the Heart and soul back into Work and Life”. He talks about how we must embrace change:

Continuous improvement is an essential ingredient for future success. We all need to become agents of change. Embracing change is continuous improvement. It’s a team sport. We’ll make it happen more easily. Of course change was once an annual event. Now it hourly. Flexibility is a key to success in any field.

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4
Aug 08

Digital To-Do Tool that Just Works

I’ve tried countless to-do tracking systems over the years. Backpack is the first one I’ve stuck with for more than a month. Actually, today marks my 2-year anniversary since I first signed up for the tool. Yeikes! Two years!

I’ve used it to pick baby names with Sarah, track my work and home to-do lists, plan vacations, communicate with our kitchen designer, and set up reminders to change the furnace filter regularly – it works great!

Give it a try!

Backpack

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Aug 08

Opposing Features

Ryan has a short write up on how Features are a one-way street.

Once your user base has grown beyond a certain point, you cannot take features away from them. They will freak out. Whether the feature is good or bad, once you launch it you’ve married it. This changes the economics of feature additions. If you can’t destroy what you build, each addition holds the threat of clutter. Empty pixels and free space where a new feature could be added are the most valuable real estate on your app. Don’t be quick to sell it, because you can never get it back.

Avonelle agrees, as do I. Pulling features out, even if no one uses it, is not something anyone ever wants to talk about – much less invest resources into.

 

 

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