The Tale of the Tail
For nearly twenty years, the most concise description of me was "the guy with the really long pony tail.” That’s no longer the case, and I am frequently asked why. I find it curious that …
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A New Mission for Media
Facilitate the flow of information to the point of its highest value. The media industry at large has lost its path. Most media companies are heavily tilted toward media as entertainment, rather than …
How I Get 152 Miles per Gallon in the City
How good is the mileage on your car? I just did the math, and I travelled 2,288 miles in the past 4 months on 15 gallons of gas, so I’m getting 152 mpg. And I don’t even drive a hybrid! …
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
As I write this, I sit in an apartment in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward, just a few blocks from where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached to his congregation. I cannot express in …
Take heed, managers: your 'best practices' are killing your company
If you are a manager, you need to understand the ideas of W. Edwards Deming. Deming wrote several books about management, in which he chastised American business schools and American …
Systems vs Habits: Why GTD Often Fails
In my previous post, I wrote about David Allen's Getting Things Done book and productivity system. If GTD has a weakness, it is that, although the book describes the system very well, …
Getting Things Done -- Productivity System
David Allen's Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity is a phenomenon in the tech community. If you're reading this blog, you've probably already read the book, or at least …
How to set up a new PC in 12 Steps, or How I spent my evening renewing my disgust with Windows
Step 1: Spend 30 minutes unpacking boxes, peeling plastic, and connecting cables. Step 2: In breathless anticipation, press the power button. Step 3: Spend another 30 minutes hunting for the Windows …
A Framework for Innovation
How does a large company create an environment that encourages and leverages internal innovation? Here is my checklist of prerequisites for "enterprise" innovation: Great people. You may think …
Systems and Mental Deficiencies
I was surprised when I read some of the things writer Terry Pratchett wrote or said about developing PCA, a form of dementia. I cannot now find the original source that I read, but there are several …
Natural Laws
I figure any phrase that people deem to be a "law" and find important enough to attribute to a specific person (even if incorrectly) probably contains some real wisdom. Here's a collection …
Efficiency: Enemy of Innovation?
The science of management in the industrial age was all about efficiency. It had to be. The whole concept of capitalism is based on efficiency. An entrepreneur acquires capital at a cost, and …