Category: Employment

  • Lessons of a Failed Startup(s)

    A couple of months ago, I finished reading Eric Ries’ The Lean Startup. It got me to thinking about startups and small projects I’ve been a part of in the past. Every time you sit down to put more into the project, you’re saying that you will get that back in cash on the other […]

  • Boiling the Ocean (or Attempting to Keep Up With Tech)

    I was asked by a fellow developer how I keep up to date on the variety of technologies that I’m expected to understand when doing my job. I intended to write a short answer, and generate a blog post as a longer answer. I got this idea from Scott Hanselman, who in his talks about […]

  • Deming on the Financial Crisis From Beyond the Grave

    Tell me these aren’t relevant. Tell me it isn’t like a summation of Wall Streets mistakes leading up to 2008. Deming died in 1993. Deming’s 7 Deadly Diseases of Management* Lack of constancy of purpose Emphasis on short term profits Evaluation of performance, merit rating or annual review Mobility of top management Running a company […]

  • Flex is a Relic and Silverlight is a Zombie

    …or some other catchy metaphor that will grab your attention. These technologies were hot over the last 5 years. Flex gained a particular amount of popularity in the Java community where UI technologies have a bit of a spotty record (that’s like saying my Bengals have a bit of a spotty record over a lifetime). […]

  • The Myth of Multitasking

    I read The Myth of Multitasking this fall, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. I let the book sit a bit after reading before writing this post, in order to see what type of difference it has made. Having read it, and worked through the exercises in the book, and put the principles into […]