John Bullard » Development

RE: Email

John — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:32:27 +0000

We use (and misuse) email for just about everything. Google’s answer to this archaic messaging service is Wave. I’ve been using the app for a few months now and I’m thoroughly impressed. That said, I’m not sure how wide spread adoption will fair. Despite all the hype, there still isn’t an easy answer to “What is Google Wave”. I think Wave, like other revolutionary products like One Note, will suffer because of this.

In the meantime, soft changes can significantly cleanse our Inboxes:

The real solution here is to move people beyond email silos wherever and whenever possible.

Broad kudos? Post it on a feedback forum or your blog.

Need an urgent, immediate answer? Pick up the phone and call.

Got something that needs a lot of touchy feely discussion? Set up a face to face meeting.

Discussing a particular topic or product? Post it on a public message board.

Is this more of a friendly, social thing? Try using a social network like Twitter or Facebook.

Coding Horror

Loose Thinking and Tight Analysis

John — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 21:09:41 +0000

Mr. Bezos, moreover, has become a proponent of kaizen, which means “continuous improvement” in Japanese…

For Amazon and Mr. Bezos, that balance has always been there. Experiments were encouraged, then the results measured. This combination of loose thinking and tight analysis seems to be very productive.

NYTimes: Curious at Amazon, but Not Idle

This seems a powerful combination. Solid metrics can be eye opening, but they can also stifle innovation. Cultivating a positive, failure friendly environment is key.

Manual Transmission / Bad Software

John — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 20:37:00 +0000

Fairly spot on:

To me, driving is not an end in itself. It is just a tool for solving the problem of getting from point A to point B. The less I have to learn about how to accomplish this task the better.

My goal is not to become a car expert. My goal is to get to my destination conveniently. I don’t want to “have greater control over the experience”; I don’t want “more power”; heck, depending on where I’m going, I often prefer to take the bus, where I have no control over the experience at all!

It occurred to me as I read commenter after commenter try to convince me that my own personal priorities were incorrect that I drive a car the same way most people use a computer. They don’t want to know about the difference between ROM and RAM or how many floppy disks you can store in a 6 megabit cable modem. They just want to surf the web, send email, and look at pictures of their grandchildren. (Okay, they may want to do other stuff too, but knowing the difference between PIO and DMA is definitely not on the list.)

The New Old Thing > I Drive a Car the Way Most People Use a Computer