January 2011
9 posts
1 tag
The Death Spiral Of The Cheapest
I was in a meeting a couple of days ago with a non-profit organization that is doing great things ( or at least trying to ). They are building out a donor platform that I think could be really interesting down the road. The application is about 90-95% completed, but can’t be launched because they are having problems getting the current vendor to wrap things up.
This is so common,...
Technology Isn't About Technology
I was sitting at home this weekend watching some of the football games, and had the opportunity to watch both Apple ( primarily iPad, but the same is true of iPhone ) and Android ( various devices ) commercials. It made me think of a recent conversation with Anders about this subject
The contrast is both obvious and telling. Apple focuses on what you can do with their device. Watch videos,...
1 tag
Books To Read - January 2011
Books I have read in the last six months that I would recommend:
The Mesh by Laura Gansky
This is a really good book about the future of business from a proven entrepreneur. In-depth analysis of ZipCar and other “sharing” models makes for interesting and thought-provoking reading.
The Confession by John Grisham
I have read most all of the John Grisham novels, including some that I...
Observing The Generation Gap
Over the holidays at my in-laws, I took time to observe their behavior and compare it to mine. My in-laws are in their 60s. Each day they:
Watched the local news on TV
Watched the national news on TV
Read the local paper for news
Spent almost no time on the internet
Carried no smart phone
Spent almost no time on their cell phone
I compared that with my routines. Each day I:
Scan news...
2 tags
Unfocused
I was reading a post by Michael Hyatt this week called ‘Why I Stopped Reading Your Blog’. A few of the points he made I agreed with, a few I didn’t. One of the points made me think for a while about this site, specifically his point about being unfocused. Michael is a great writer and a tremendous businessman, and I respect what he has to say on most every topic.
The topics I...
1 tag
Re-invention
One of the great gifts of being a professional in technology is the gift of re-invention. What was true of me yesterday does not have to be true of me tomorrow. As I was looking for opportunities to do something new, I made a purposeful decision to not focus on what I had been doing, but instead looked at what I could be doing. I have done many things in my career ( running network cable,...
Apple
I was in a meeting the other day at a local technology company. There were seven people in there with me, and one on the phone. Every person involved in the meeting was using a Macbook Pro notebook, and had an iPhone sitting next to them.
The lesson for me was not that Apple makes great gear and lots of people are buying it. It was that it took them about five years of one tremendous product...
1 tag
The Sewing Machine
Every now and then I come across a book I had at one point wanted to read but for some reason let get off of my radar. Such was the case this past week as we traveled to Oklahoma to spend time with family. I found Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell sitting on my father-in-law’s bookshelf and decided I would read it. I enjoyed the book a great deal, and think it’s worth the read.
There...