So I’ve been thinking a bit since my last post, about how to tie those visions of taking responsibility for oneself to management structures. What would a management structure that followed those principles look like? I don’t really have any answers yet (nobody does, I suspect), but here’s some ideas. Let’s start with what’s out […]
Category: management
Inside the Tornado : Marketing Strategies from Silicon Valley’s Cutting Edge, by Geoffrey Moore
Amazon link After reading Crossing the Chasm by Moore a few months ago, I had some interest in reading his next book Inside the Tornado but didn’t quite get around to it. However, one of my coworkers brought it into work last week, and I borrowed it and read it over the weekend. Inside the […]
Aramis or the Love of Technology, by Bruno Latour
Amazon link I really liked Science in Action, another book by Latour, so when I saw this on a friend’s shelf, I borrowed it. Unfortunately, it took me several months to actually get through it; I started it over Christmas vacation, but I kept on getting distracted by other things, until I finally powered through […]
The Art of the Long View: Planning for the Future in an Uncertain World, by Peter Schwartz
Amazon link I liked the talk by Peter Schwartz that I went to, so when I saw his most well-known book at the used book store for $3, I picked it up. A pretty quick read detailing the idea of scenario planning, a management strategy involving coming up with several detailed future possibilities for the […]
Big versus small companies
Just a quick observation – something I said at work today and thought was interesting. I was commenting how some people use process as a way of covering themselves in case things don’t go well (a reflection of my earlier sentiment). I understand how process can be used to answer questions of importance if it […]
Shirky on software development
I’m a big fan of Clay Shirky’s writings, and am subscribed to his mailing list. His most recent post discussed situated software, and I wanted to discuss it some more. So I am. Shirky teaches classes on social software at NYU, and observed an interesting pattern in the software that his students were submitting for […]
Team building
Several of the engineers based at our parent company in Toronto came down to our San Francisco site this week to sync up with us on the project that we are collaborating on. Our project manager thought this might be a good excuse for a team building exercise. Suggestions included going bowling or ice skating, […]
Crossing the Chasm, by Geoffrey Moore
Amazon link This is one of those standard high-tech marketing books that everybody refers to in the technology business sector. I had never gotten around to reading it, but after our marketing folks started mentioning the chasm in every presentation recently, I figured it was time to skim through it, just to find out what […]
I hate meetings.
(written 9/28/03) Not exactly a rare sentiment, I know. But I’ve been trying to consider why I dislike certain meetings so much. I think it has a lot to do with how I like to take in information. I’m not a linear thinker. Or, perhaps, I’m too accelerated a linear thinker. When somebody is presenting […]
Clay Shirky on Process
(written 9/25/03) I’ve been starting to read more blogs recently, including VentureBlog, Corante and that of my friend DocBug, and I figure it’s time for me to start posting thoughts on the web again. We’ll see how long this lasts. The post in particular that inspired me to post was over at Corante, by Clay […]
