I would like to see an effective app for helping me plan. And not just one kind of planning, but all kinds of planning. It should be effective at helping me prioritize, even helping me figure out the pros and cons to various options. It should also be able to interact with my various calendars to help me schedule the parts of my plan that I am making. It should work on my phone or on the Web. Just an idea.
Showing posts with label Software. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Software. Show all posts
May 19, 2012
September 20, 2011
Agile Education
So, I work mostly with computers and application development. One of the big movements or trends these days is called Agile Development. It is a methodology for creating regular incremental iterations (of 1-4 weeks, usually) of software that is highly responsive to customer needs and developed by self forming teams. To really learn more about it, a good place to start is Wikipedia.
Interestingly, my educational background is in educational psychology, dealing mostly with ways and methods that people learn and what works best. In thinking about education in the last month or so, I came up with the idea of Agile Education. Well, turns out that it isn't totally original, but the one presentation I found on the web tried to copy the Agile Manifesto and only change the word software to education. Well, I can tell you, that education isn't developed. At least not in the way software is. The idea in the presentation is a good start, but certainly didn't go far enough into a methodology and system for education that really will help people learn better.
The basics of the full idea that I had uses an iterative approach to identifying scaffolding and ZPD's, but not just a first tier ZPD, but second tier, and related foundational ZPD's required for future tiers. It allows the individuals to progress at their own speed, and at the same time work in cross cultural social situations through self forming teams. The teachers in such a system, would be more in the role of student external advocate combined with scrum master and coach. Learning is a self driven activity, even when the motivations are external, so the customer is the student themselves, but they often loose site of or fail to fully comprehend their own needs and educational situation.
Anyway, there is no way I could really give such a big idea adequate justice in a simple blog post, or even a presentation for that matter. I think I will have to start writing a book on it. Maybe. It is a great idea. I just don't know if I have the time.
Interestingly, my educational background is in educational psychology, dealing mostly with ways and methods that people learn and what works best. In thinking about education in the last month or so, I came up with the idea of Agile Education. Well, turns out that it isn't totally original, but the one presentation I found on the web tried to copy the Agile Manifesto and only change the word software to education. Well, I can tell you, that education isn't developed. At least not in the way software is. The idea in the presentation is a good start, but certainly didn't go far enough into a methodology and system for education that really will help people learn better.
The basics of the full idea that I had uses an iterative approach to identifying scaffolding and ZPD's, but not just a first tier ZPD, but second tier, and related foundational ZPD's required for future tiers. It allows the individuals to progress at their own speed, and at the same time work in cross cultural social situations through self forming teams. The teachers in such a system, would be more in the role of student external advocate combined with scrum master and coach. Learning is a self driven activity, even when the motivations are external, so the customer is the student themselves, but they often loose site of or fail to fully comprehend their own needs and educational situation.
Anyway, there is no way I could really give such a big idea adequate justice in a simple blog post, or even a presentation for that matter. I think I will have to start writing a book on it. Maybe. It is a great idea. I just don't know if I have the time.
October 12, 2010
Shake the Google out of my head
My wife and I have a variety of isms that we refer to. She has a particular set of isms that are all her own, mostly consisting of very memorable yet completely nonsensical phrases and words which sound like other things, and that somehow, most people can make sense of, even though they have certainly never heard them before. She doesn't think these things up intentionally, she just speaks and these things just come out. One of the first ones she uttered after we were married was bravewength. It was kind of a combination of brainwave, and wavelength, but didn't come out quite right, and at the same time, expresses a little bit more than either of those terms.
The other night, my wife was fairly tired and meant to say "I need to shake the gobbletygook out of my head." We were sitting down at the computer, and what came out was "I need to shake the Google out of my head." I laughed and laughed, and the more I thought of how applicable and meaningful that erroneous sentence was, I laughed even more.
We can find just about anything in Google. It has tons of info, and makes it easy to search for stuff. But really, how often do we enter a search and get nothing but garbage. And not just a little garbage, but incomprehensible amounts of garbage. Who can really wrap their head around several million (or more) virtually irrelevant search results. So, when she said she needed to shake the Google out of her head, I thought of all that sentence could mean.
Out with the massive volumes of worthless, meaningless, incomprehensible yet potentially distracting and deceptive garbage. How often does the content of our brains resemble a Google search results page. So much there, and yet so little. Perhaps we all occasionally need to "Shake the Google out of our heads."
The other night, my wife was fairly tired and meant to say "I need to shake the gobbletygook out of my head." We were sitting down at the computer, and what came out was "I need to shake the Google out of my head." I laughed and laughed, and the more I thought of how applicable and meaningful that erroneous sentence was, I laughed even more.
We can find just about anything in Google. It has tons of info, and makes it easy to search for stuff. But really, how often do we enter a search and get nothing but garbage. And not just a little garbage, but incomprehensible amounts of garbage. Who can really wrap their head around several million (or more) virtually irrelevant search results. So, when she said she needed to shake the Google out of her head, I thought of all that sentence could mean.
Out with the massive volumes of worthless, meaningless, incomprehensible yet potentially distracting and deceptive garbage. How often does the content of our brains resemble a Google search results page. So much there, and yet so little. Perhaps we all occasionally need to "Shake the Google out of our heads."
May 11, 2010
Where politics and technology intersect.
Yesterday, someone sent me a link to a video regarding a supreme court case relating to business process patents and by extension, software patents. I have a pretty slow connection right now, so when I watch a long video, I usually get it started, and then pause it to let the rest download. While I was waiting for it to download, I read the comments on the video to get a feel what others had to say about it. That left me with almost a feeling of dread before I even viewed the email. The problem is that too many of these process patents are locking up common sense approaches to doing business or of programming.
As both a business entrepreneur and a software programmer, this issue affects me. I also have the background of having been an assistant patent librarian for a patent repository library (a while before everything went web based) and helped patent attorneys and inventors search for patents and make sure they had all the information for protecting their own intellectual property. I believe that patents were a major factor in helping the United States of America become the leader of technology world wide and really were one of the keys of the industrial and post - industrial revolutions. However, I can also see how the system must be very diligent so that it isn't abused so as to stifle innovation instead of encourage it.
For my current situation, I have a fair number of innovations (that I am not sharing on here) that I am working on, that since they do things that have never been done before, are, in my opinion, very patentable. At least, they are under the current software patent regulations and tests. At the same time, I don't want patent trolls keeping me from creating new innovations by locking up basic functions of programming. So, in all my huff and puff prior to watching the video, I was concerned that what the comments were saying is that the court had given even more blank slate to the patent trolls, which I would view as bad for the industry, and for the economy.
Well, then I watched the video. And I was like... "and so..... what was decided?" Well, after some searching, I found that while the arguments for the case were last year, the decision is not expected until sometime this June. From some of the transcripts of the arguments, I have to conclude that the Justices are not as clueless as many people like to pretend they are. Then again, I have heard comments from Justices before than seem to go completely against the decisions they write, so, take that conclusion with a pound or two of salt, and maybe some indigestion medicine. Anyway, my thoughts are, why is everybody in such a huff, if the decision hasn't even been released yet.
Then, something else happened. I read that Obama hates technology, and went, huh, I thought he was "Mr. Technology" during the election. Then, I read from InfoWorld that the whole thing was a joke. Ok, I have to admit that I am not an Obama fan. I think he has way too many control freak fascist tendencies, even worse than Bush, but perhaps about as bad as Cheney. The hubbub on this one is that people took snippets of an address he gave and missed that they were part of a joke. Not only did they not get the punchline, they never even knew there was a punchline.
Now, it is just too bad that there is sooo much venom out there that people jump to attack without know why they are jumping. Like most jokes, a good part of the humor worked because of the true parts of the joke, like the parts about media and how "some of which don't always rank that high on the truth meter" and "some of the craziest claims can quickly claim traction". Ok, they Obama hates technology headline should have made people go, "wait a minute" this doesn't sound like it is fully founded in reality. Need to get the whole story.
I suppose getting the whole story is too time consuming, especially when seconds count in being the first to break a story. I know we aren't going to get all cyber-journalists and bloggers to be more responsible, but perhaps there is a way that we can leverage the strengths of the internet to fix the problem and create better news sources at the same time. If there was a blog/cybernews integrator, it would still give credit for breaking stories, but if it allowed add-ons by other journalists who provide "the rest of the story" or additional details, then the truth would eventually come out in a single source for each story that is out there. At the same time, those who have an axe to grind could post as additional details, but the rants and slants could quickly be voted as such and relegated to comments and rants, and leave the real additional details in the body of the page, each with their respective authors getting their due. We could call it associated bloggers or something like that.
As both a business entrepreneur and a software programmer, this issue affects me. I also have the background of having been an assistant patent librarian for a patent repository library (a while before everything went web based) and helped patent attorneys and inventors search for patents and make sure they had all the information for protecting their own intellectual property. I believe that patents were a major factor in helping the United States of America become the leader of technology world wide and really were one of the keys of the industrial and post - industrial revolutions. However, I can also see how the system must be very diligent so that it isn't abused so as to stifle innovation instead of encourage it.
For my current situation, I have a fair number of innovations (that I am not sharing on here) that I am working on, that since they do things that have never been done before, are, in my opinion, very patentable. At least, they are under the current software patent regulations and tests. At the same time, I don't want patent trolls keeping me from creating new innovations by locking up basic functions of programming. So, in all my huff and puff prior to watching the video, I was concerned that what the comments were saying is that the court had given even more blank slate to the patent trolls, which I would view as bad for the industry, and for the economy.
Well, then I watched the video. And I was like... "and so..... what was decided?" Well, after some searching, I found that while the arguments for the case were last year, the decision is not expected until sometime this June. From some of the transcripts of the arguments, I have to conclude that the Justices are not as clueless as many people like to pretend they are. Then again, I have heard comments from Justices before than seem to go completely against the decisions they write, so, take that conclusion with a pound or two of salt, and maybe some indigestion medicine. Anyway, my thoughts are, why is everybody in such a huff, if the decision hasn't even been released yet.
Then, something else happened. I read that Obama hates technology, and went, huh, I thought he was "Mr. Technology" during the election. Then, I read from InfoWorld that the whole thing was a joke. Ok, I have to admit that I am not an Obama fan. I think he has way too many control freak fascist tendencies, even worse than Bush, but perhaps about as bad as Cheney. The hubbub on this one is that people took snippets of an address he gave and missed that they were part of a joke. Not only did they not get the punchline, they never even knew there was a punchline.
Now, it is just too bad that there is sooo much venom out there that people jump to attack without know why they are jumping. Like most jokes, a good part of the humor worked because of the true parts of the joke, like the parts about media and how "some of which don't always rank that high on the truth meter" and "some of the craziest claims can quickly claim traction". Ok, they Obama hates technology headline should have made people go, "wait a minute" this doesn't sound like it is fully founded in reality. Need to get the whole story.
I suppose getting the whole story is too time consuming, especially when seconds count in being the first to break a story. I know we aren't going to get all cyber-journalists and bloggers to be more responsible, but perhaps there is a way that we can leverage the strengths of the internet to fix the problem and create better news sources at the same time. If there was a blog/cybernews integrator, it would still give credit for breaking stories, but if it allowed add-ons by other journalists who provide "the rest of the story" or additional details, then the truth would eventually come out in a single source for each story that is out there. At the same time, those who have an axe to grind could post as additional details, but the rants and slants could quickly be voted as such and relegated to comments and rants, and leave the real additional details in the body of the page, each with their respective authors getting their due. We could call it associated bloggers or something like that.
May 6, 2010
Bootstrapping
Bootstrapping (in Business) is to start a business without external help or capital. The hard thing about bootstrapping is that there are a whole bunch of business processes and areas of expertise that have to be known and executed correctly. Now, often when someone is talking about bootstrapping a startup, they have some minimal and often much more significant financial resources, and they are able to outsource a whole bunch of those business processes and just pay for them. What happens if a startup doesn't have the funds to pay for such services. Well, they better be good at accounting, and have a thorough understanding of legalese, and be technologically savvy, and know hr policies, oh, and not just regular accounting, they also need to know enough about merchant accounts and banking to be able to make sure they are getting paid. They need to be an expert at taxes, which while most people think that means accounting, there is a whole separate class of accountants that deal with taxes.
My personal experience with bootstrapping wasn't quite that bad, but close. We got a pretty big contract right out of the gate which paid for things like an accountant/tax professional, got some legal advice on trade, and had enough cash that when our merchant account got messy, we were able to make it through that without too much problem. We had the technology understanding, so we were able to get around that. They problem was, we wanted to do far more than what we could afford. We did contract work for other companies with the hope that it would pay enough for us to work on our own projects. Well, being our first attempt at running our own business, we didn't execute it flawlessly or even close. We did survive being stiffed $40,000 by a client, and were able to continue operations for 2 years until the economy collapsed and most of our clients went with it (for some reason, we had a lot of mortgage and real estate clients at that time).
Since then, I have reverted to the garage band version of business. I am developing a big software system in my spare time with two partners, but we have no business at this point, as we have no product to sell. We have no cash, and all our work is done on our personally owned machines. We would love to try to venture a small trial balloon offering to see what kind of response we would get, but that would constitute conducting business, which would mean bank accounts, business licenses, accountants, lawyers, taxes, and so forth. I think back to the days of yore when you built something or had something or provided some service, and you just went about doing business. Sure, the tax man would want his share, so some simple accounting would be needed to track what you did so you could pay your share of taxes, but that would be the end of things. I know there are some who still try to do it that way today. The problem is that complying with the law and regulations has become more complex than most people can manage unless that is all they focus on.
It shouldn't have be like that. We need some kind of established system that in a very cost effective way, provides all these services so that a businessman/bootstrapper could focus on what they are doing. Intuit provides a lot of those services, and even pretends to integrate them, but it really doesn't meet the needs. They, or their competitors, need to provide a complete small business we take care of your headaches so you can take care of business package. No nickle and dime marketing, just a single upfront, complete, take my headaches away small business startup solutions package. Yeah, I know, each small business has different needs, so they can offer an a-la-carte service selector, but when all is said and done, they take care of the headaches. They business registrations, the tax payments, the payroll, the hr, etc, etc, etc. Yeah you will need to sign off on things, but they do all the prep work. Much of it could be automated, and the rest could reach into a community of providers that work from a standardized set of requirements. And, I should be able to get price without committing to the purchase, just in case I am not ready to pull that trigger yet.
My personal experience with bootstrapping wasn't quite that bad, but close. We got a pretty big contract right out of the gate which paid for things like an accountant/tax professional, got some legal advice on trade, and had enough cash that when our merchant account got messy, we were able to make it through that without too much problem. We had the technology understanding, so we were able to get around that. They problem was, we wanted to do far more than what we could afford. We did contract work for other companies with the hope that it would pay enough for us to work on our own projects. Well, being our first attempt at running our own business, we didn't execute it flawlessly or even close. We did survive being stiffed $40,000 by a client, and were able to continue operations for 2 years until the economy collapsed and most of our clients went with it (for some reason, we had a lot of mortgage and real estate clients at that time).
Since then, I have reverted to the garage band version of business. I am developing a big software system in my spare time with two partners, but we have no business at this point, as we have no product to sell. We have no cash, and all our work is done on our personally owned machines. We would love to try to venture a small trial balloon offering to see what kind of response we would get, but that would constitute conducting business, which would mean bank accounts, business licenses, accountants, lawyers, taxes, and so forth. I think back to the days of yore when you built something or had something or provided some service, and you just went about doing business. Sure, the tax man would want his share, so some simple accounting would be needed to track what you did so you could pay your share of taxes, but that would be the end of things. I know there are some who still try to do it that way today. The problem is that complying with the law and regulations has become more complex than most people can manage unless that is all they focus on.
It shouldn't have be like that. We need some kind of established system that in a very cost effective way, provides all these services so that a businessman/bootstrapper could focus on what they are doing. Intuit provides a lot of those services, and even pretends to integrate them, but it really doesn't meet the needs. They, or their competitors, need to provide a complete small business we take care of your headaches so you can take care of business package. No nickle and dime marketing, just a single upfront, complete, take my headaches away small business startup solutions package. Yeah, I know, each small business has different needs, so they can offer an a-la-carte service selector, but when all is said and done, they take care of the headaches. They business registrations, the tax payments, the payroll, the hr, etc, etc, etc. Yeah you will need to sign off on things, but they do all the prep work. Much of it could be automated, and the rest could reach into a community of providers that work from a standardized set of requirements. And, I should be able to get price without committing to the purchase, just in case I am not ready to pull that trigger yet.
HP WebOS
So, you may have noticed, I haven't posted in about two weeks. I have been out and about the country. I realize I missed a wonderful opportunity to add my voice to the chorus of others throwing in their commentary on the HP-Palm connection. And really, I hope HP does something wonderful. I am not getting my hopes up, not because I don't like HP. This post is being written on an HP laptop. I love my laptop. The problem is that HP rarely does anything really innovative or revolutionary. They do a great job adding polish to existing innovations. They make good quality products. Their support could use some help, but most companies need this as well. Many of the things HP does, it does really well.
What it doesn't do well, or at least not very often, is create innovative and revolutionary products and break ground where others haven't. Palm's WebOS is a great piece of programming, but it doesn't go far enough, and I doubt that HP will have the self restraint to let go of control and let it become what it needs to be. In case they missed it, they should check out my post on a Smart Phone Dream Machine.
What it doesn't do well, or at least not very often, is create innovative and revolutionary products and break ground where others haven't. Palm's WebOS is a great piece of programming, but it doesn't go far enough, and I doubt that HP will have the self restraint to let go of control and let it become what it needs to be. In case they missed it, they should check out my post on a Smart Phone Dream Machine.
April 15, 2010
Smart Phone Dream Machine
Imagine that down the road, an older Steve Jobs walks on stage in his classic black turtleneck and says something like "Everybody loves the iPhone, and they love the iPad too. Many wish that the iPad would fit in your pocket, or the iPhone had a bigger screen. Wouldn't it be great if you could just do this?" He holds out an iPhone, pulls at two opposite corners, and ssssttttrrrrreeeeettttccchhh, its an iPad. The audience explodes with excitement and wonder.
I first thought of that scenario a couple of years ago, way before the iPad was even a rumor. I could see what the iPhone represented and could lead to, but I could also see it's limitations. I was interested, but reluctant to actually spend money on one. The iPod Touch seemed like a much better offering, but it's additional limitations were too much. I hate the abuse heaped on me by AT&T since they bought Cingular, so I wasn't about to subject myself to more. I had already suffered abuse by Verizon and swore in my wrath that I would never use Verizon. Period. So, that leaves me being abused by AT&T or underserved by T-Mobile, Sprint, or Virgin. Perhaps I could use one of Walmart's phones and make Slim a little richer. Anyway, so, I opted for the status quo and have just watched the Market since then.
I was very excited when I first heard about the Palm Pre and their Web OS. I have been cautiously optimistic about Google's Android. I was surprised, but skeptical when Windows Phone OS was announced. I was unmoved about most of the other news on the smart phone front, apart from being more and more impressed with the iPhone and more and more disgusted with the draconian policies and behavior from Apple and Mr. Jobs. They have so many things nearly perfected, but then go and make things awful by their ridiculous developer agreements, their totalitarian control of applications and content, and the unbelievably bad mobile service from their only provider.
There are a few things that could be done much better than the iPhone. Of course, you have to have a multi-touch screen, and lots of wonderful apps, and incredible base functionality, but that is only to equal out what Apple has already done. Then, you have to beat them. First on the list, you have to do better on enterprise functionality. I will have to see the enterprise friendly features in iPhone OS 4 before I really believe they have got them right. Apple has never got enterprise even close since they have focused so much on the consumer, and never the twain shall meet (maybe).
Next, address one of the next biggest complaints. Make it so you can open it up, change your own battery, and even swap sim cards and radio units. Imagine, you get tired of being abused by AT&T (yeah, I know, pretty far fetched) and so you decide to order or buy a T-Mobile radio modulator. It wouldn't matter that they use different protocols on different bandwidth spectrum, you just open the case, remove the old one, put in the new one, and activate your account. Yeah, maybe someday the American Telecoms will get a clue and start using open standards, but until then, swappable radio units are the way to go. Then you don't loose all your stuff. Better yet, make all the major components like wi-fi, gps, battery, and memory swappable and upgradable.
Next, and here is where Apple has really missed the boat. They needed some kind of central access location where all applications and a lot of content would be available and they also needed the ability to reach in and clean things up (used very judiciously of course), but they don't have to have draconian developer policies, and they don't have to act like they own their customers because the customers bought a device. The centralized site ('store' for lack of a better word) should only provide services to the app vendors. All apps should be submittable to the store to be verified as quality, but if 500 developers want to build a music playing, managing, or purchasing app, the store shouldn't care as long as they pass quality control requirements. Let the natural market decide what things are available. They should also require all service providers to provide on-bill selling of apps and content. They would of course set up a robust API to make sure it all works perfectly, and then the sellers would have simplified selling, if they wanted. If they thought they didn't need it, they should be allowed to go it alone. If they can get enough people wanting their apps, they shouldn't even need to have them verified through quality control. I know, this puts people at risk if they are stupid enough to download or buy bad apps, but it is time for a little personal responsibility, don't you think?
Now, to wrap things up, lets really make it better. I want some more features that no-one seems to offer. One, I want a bigger screen than the iPhone, but it still needs to fit in my pocket. Two, I want extensive external connectivity, even if it is through some kind of special dock. In fact, I want to be able to have the dock support an external monitor and display multiple apps in blowup mode, and even support full screen modes for those apps that can handle multiple screen sizes. Three, I want a dual slide out keyboard. I want it to be a full qwerty keyboard in landscape mode, and a numeric keypad in vertical mode. Then, and I alluded to this before, I want to maximize the hardware. When a new processor comes out, I want to open up the thing, and pop out my old processor, and pop my new one in. I want to do that with everything except the screen, the case, and the motherboard (which should be an integrated unit that could support your old peripherals until you upgrade them. Oh, and I want to run this thing without an cell contract when I want to.
I know that such a device doesn't exist, and probably won't, but if someone did it, the marketing opportunities would be incredible.
I first thought of that scenario a couple of years ago, way before the iPad was even a rumor. I could see what the iPhone represented and could lead to, but I could also see it's limitations. I was interested, but reluctant to actually spend money on one. The iPod Touch seemed like a much better offering, but it's additional limitations were too much. I hate the abuse heaped on me by AT&T since they bought Cingular, so I wasn't about to subject myself to more. I had already suffered abuse by Verizon and swore in my wrath that I would never use Verizon. Period. So, that leaves me being abused by AT&T or underserved by T-Mobile, Sprint, or Virgin. Perhaps I could use one of Walmart's phones and make Slim a little richer. Anyway, so, I opted for the status quo and have just watched the Market since then.
I was very excited when I first heard about the Palm Pre and their Web OS. I have been cautiously optimistic about Google's Android. I was surprised, but skeptical when Windows Phone OS was announced. I was unmoved about most of the other news on the smart phone front, apart from being more and more impressed with the iPhone and more and more disgusted with the draconian policies and behavior from Apple and Mr. Jobs. They have so many things nearly perfected, but then go and make things awful by their ridiculous developer agreements, their totalitarian control of applications and content, and the unbelievably bad mobile service from their only provider.
There are a few things that could be done much better than the iPhone. Of course, you have to have a multi-touch screen, and lots of wonderful apps, and incredible base functionality, but that is only to equal out what Apple has already done. Then, you have to beat them. First on the list, you have to do better on enterprise functionality. I will have to see the enterprise friendly features in iPhone OS 4 before I really believe they have got them right. Apple has never got enterprise even close since they have focused so much on the consumer, and never the twain shall meet (maybe).
Next, address one of the next biggest complaints. Make it so you can open it up, change your own battery, and even swap sim cards and radio units. Imagine, you get tired of being abused by AT&T (yeah, I know, pretty far fetched) and so you decide to order or buy a T-Mobile radio modulator. It wouldn't matter that they use different protocols on different bandwidth spectrum, you just open the case, remove the old one, put in the new one, and activate your account. Yeah, maybe someday the American Telecoms will get a clue and start using open standards, but until then, swappable radio units are the way to go. Then you don't loose all your stuff. Better yet, make all the major components like wi-fi, gps, battery, and memory swappable and upgradable.
Next, and here is where Apple has really missed the boat. They needed some kind of central access location where all applications and a lot of content would be available and they also needed the ability to reach in and clean things up (used very judiciously of course), but they don't have to have draconian developer policies, and they don't have to act like they own their customers because the customers bought a device. The centralized site ('store' for lack of a better word) should only provide services to the app vendors. All apps should be submittable to the store to be verified as quality, but if 500 developers want to build a music playing, managing, or purchasing app, the store shouldn't care as long as they pass quality control requirements. Let the natural market decide what things are available. They should also require all service providers to provide on-bill selling of apps and content. They would of course set up a robust API to make sure it all works perfectly, and then the sellers would have simplified selling, if they wanted. If they thought they didn't need it, they should be allowed to go it alone. If they can get enough people wanting their apps, they shouldn't even need to have them verified through quality control. I know, this puts people at risk if they are stupid enough to download or buy bad apps, but it is time for a little personal responsibility, don't you think?
Now, to wrap things up, lets really make it better. I want some more features that no-one seems to offer. One, I want a bigger screen than the iPhone, but it still needs to fit in my pocket. Two, I want extensive external connectivity, even if it is through some kind of special dock. In fact, I want to be able to have the dock support an external monitor and display multiple apps in blowup mode, and even support full screen modes for those apps that can handle multiple screen sizes. Three, I want a dual slide out keyboard. I want it to be a full qwerty keyboard in landscape mode, and a numeric keypad in vertical mode. Then, and I alluded to this before, I want to maximize the hardware. When a new processor comes out, I want to open up the thing, and pop out my old processor, and pop my new one in. I want to do that with everything except the screen, the case, and the motherboard (which should be an integrated unit that could support your old peripherals until you upgrade them. Oh, and I want to run this thing without an cell contract when I want to.
I know that such a device doesn't exist, and probably won't, but if someone did it, the marketing opportunities would be incredible.
March 17, 2010
Integrators
I predict that there will someday arise a whole class of integrator websites. What I mean by an integrator website is a site that addresses a specific market or class of websites, and pulls all the major ones out there into a single place, while making sure that the content providing sites are still benefited by actions done on the site.
An example of this would be a Job search integrator. It would integrate with all the big job search sites out there. It would also integrate with as many major employment providers and major corporations as it could. It would need to have some kind of supporting niche that it either provides or that it advertises for, like resume building, technical training, or certification providers (in order to provide revenue). It would have to be well designed so that the sites that contribute to it (or that it grabs data from) are not disadvantaged by it, and even are promoted by it. It would need tools so that one resume experience there would populate and extend to all the contributing companies, so monster.com and careerbuilder.com would both get updated at the same time.
Other types of sites for which this could happen are shopping sites (Amazon kind of has already started this), social networking sites, blogs, software code sites, product review sites, deal sites, etc. I think when these sites are fully functional, they will make life a little (or a lot) easier for those of us who just want to live life. I can see some sites refuse to use the integrators, but only those who want you to be their captive customer.
An example of this would be a Job search integrator. It would integrate with all the big job search sites out there. It would also integrate with as many major employment providers and major corporations as it could. It would need to have some kind of supporting niche that it either provides or that it advertises for, like resume building, technical training, or certification providers (in order to provide revenue). It would have to be well designed so that the sites that contribute to it (or that it grabs data from) are not disadvantaged by it, and even are promoted by it. It would need tools so that one resume experience there would populate and extend to all the contributing companies, so monster.com and careerbuilder.com would both get updated at the same time.
Other types of sites for which this could happen are shopping sites (Amazon kind of has already started this), social networking sites, blogs, software code sites, product review sites, deal sites, etc. I think when these sites are fully functional, they will make life a little (or a lot) easier for those of us who just want to live life. I can see some sites refuse to use the integrators, but only those who want you to be their captive customer.
March 11, 2010
Looking for work in the Modern Era
I am out of work. I know, a lot of people are. It is pretty tough out there. It isn't that there aren't any jobs, but that there are so many applicants for each job. Today I got word from a guy from church that is hiring an entry level or barely above that desktop support person. The top of the payscale is about $32K. Not the worst pay for entry level, but they want entry level that knows what they are doing with Windows, Linux, servers, MSSQL, and a fair number of other things. That doesn't sound like entry level to me. Well, with my experience, he said he could put me at the top of the pile, even though he knows I wouldn't be planning to stick around for that pay level. He expects I will eventually find something that pays about 3 times that. The real point, then he told me, is it will only take him about 2 months to get through the resumes he has received already. This job has been open like a week.
Now, I typically wouldn't be even considering anything entry level or desktop support, or anywhere even close to that. With well more than a decade of IT management experience, I should be applying for IT Director positions, and I have been. But in 6 months of looking, I have had 1 interview, ... by a recruiter. I suppose part of the problem is that my experience is so broad, and companies are looking for silo'ed people. The other part of the problem is that there are sooooo many people looking for work. 2 months of resume sifting. Man, and you though desktop support was rough.
We need some kind of system that integrates jobs openings into a single mega system and really closely matches the skills and backgrounds of those looking for work. Yeah, I know, lots of recruiters have automated systems out there. I have tried most of them, and they really don't come even close to what is needed. Not sure how such a thing would be created. It would have to have meta data on the meta data, and granular focus on everything, and then somehow still be able to come up with a good selection of matches. I have more ideas, but I don't need to build a better job search system right now. What I need is a job that pays actual money.
Now, I typically wouldn't be even considering anything entry level or desktop support, or anywhere even close to that. With well more than a decade of IT management experience, I should be applying for IT Director positions, and I have been. But in 6 months of looking, I have had 1 interview, ... by a recruiter. I suppose part of the problem is that my experience is so broad, and companies are looking for silo'ed people. The other part of the problem is that there are sooooo many people looking for work. 2 months of resume sifting. Man, and you though desktop support was rough.
We need some kind of system that integrates jobs openings into a single mega system and really closely matches the skills and backgrounds of those looking for work. Yeah, I know, lots of recruiters have automated systems out there. I have tried most of them, and they really don't come even close to what is needed. Not sure how such a thing would be created. It would have to have meta data on the meta data, and granular focus on everything, and then somehow still be able to come up with a good selection of matches. I have more ideas, but I don't need to build a better job search system right now. What I need is a job that pays actual money.
212 Catapult
Warning: Shameless Product Review
Ok, I really hadn't planned on doing product reviews, but this one really deserves it, because it is awesome. The product is called Catapult by 212 LLC. Disclamer: Two of the four partners were former business associates and clients of mine. Another was a former employee. I really can't be completely un-biased here, but this thing is still awesome.
Now let me underwhelm you. It is a media player. But, it is way more than a media player. It allows you to play all sorts of media, track who it gets sent to, who uses it, and in general get statistics on usage way beyond anything else out there that I have encountered. It also allows you to specify specific calls to action, and add supporting documents and links to related material. The bit-rate on whatever media you have added to it can also be adjusted.
All in all, it provides a very good media viewing experience, and can be tailored even to those with slower connections. The downside is that it doesn't help you make your videos or other media. You still have to have some talent with that. I will be testing it out in the next few weeks or months as I am seeking a new job. I look forward to being able to see the statistics of who is viewing my resume and so forth. Not only can I see that it is being viewed, but I can see exactly who is viewing it.
Very powerful. In the right hands, this could really do wonders. Of course, that is where that other required talent comes in. Once I get my Catapult resume promotion sequence set up, I will probably put a link on here so you can see it. Now, I just have to figure out what kind of media experience I want my users to have.
Ok, I really hadn't planned on doing product reviews, but this one really deserves it, because it is awesome. The product is called Catapult by 212 LLC. Disclamer: Two of the four partners were former business associates and clients of mine. Another was a former employee. I really can't be completely un-biased here, but this thing is still awesome.
Now let me underwhelm you. It is a media player. But, it is way more than a media player. It allows you to play all sorts of media, track who it gets sent to, who uses it, and in general get statistics on usage way beyond anything else out there that I have encountered. It also allows you to specify specific calls to action, and add supporting documents and links to related material. The bit-rate on whatever media you have added to it can also be adjusted.
All in all, it provides a very good media viewing experience, and can be tailored even to those with slower connections. The downside is that it doesn't help you make your videos or other media. You still have to have some talent with that. I will be testing it out in the next few weeks or months as I am seeking a new job. I look forward to being able to see the statistics of who is viewing my resume and so forth. Not only can I see that it is being viewed, but I can see exactly who is viewing it.
Very powerful. In the right hands, this could really do wonders. Of course, that is where that other required talent comes in. Once I get my Catapult resume promotion sequence set up, I will probably put a link on here so you can see it. Now, I just have to figure out what kind of media experience I want my users to have.
March 10, 2010
Non processes
Some years back, I worked at a public agency that was attached to a public university. The university implemented a new education based ERP that while having tons of features, and tons of capability, and so on and so forth, it really created a drag on a lot of processes, like purchasing and ordering, and all sorts of institutionalized policies that should have only been applied in specific cases and not across the board. Over time, I suppose they did start getting the rougher edges cleaned up and functioning a little better, but I left before it really became usable like it was supposedly going to be. One thing it did try to do, although doing an awful job of it, is try to make sure the chain of command was followed on things like purchasing.
Compare this to another experiences I have had, where companies didn't have anything in place, and in order to do something, individuals had to take specific initiative to get things done. I suppose it works better to just do it manually in situations when you have a small staff, and everyone knows everyone else, and all the major aspects of the company budgets can be kept in the heads of one or two finance types. The problem then becomes individuals taking specific initiative. If they don't want it bad enough, it doesn't happen. Even if their higher ups want it, but not badly enough to make sure that specific initiative is had by those in the trenches, it still wont happen. The solution would seem to be some sort of ERP solution.
However, ERP solutions are ridiculously expensive, painful, clunky and awkward on their best days, and extremely costly to support in both time and money. I have seen very large fortune 500 companies with very large staffs assigned to supporting SAP or Oracle or other ERP implementations that seem to have no end of problems with them. A complex solution to a complex problem, that seems to breed yet more complex problems. But hey, I hear your ERP vendors have more complex solutions to those complex problems. They are only [insert a six or seven figure number] and will only cost [insert an even bigger number] to support.
There is a better way. I haven't seen anyone really hit this one out of the ballpark, but Infoworld had a good write-up on it a while back. I guess one of the major questions is whether not having an automated process or even having a non process is better than an expensive or poorly implemented automated process. I have recently run into a troublesome non-process. A good automated process, or even partially automated process would be very helpful about now. All the big ERP solutions are not even remotely solutions in this case, and it wouldn't be up to me, but a good low cost process automation tool would be really nice for these guys, even if it is too late for me to benefit.
Compare this to another experiences I have had, where companies didn't have anything in place, and in order to do something, individuals had to take specific initiative to get things done. I suppose it works better to just do it manually in situations when you have a small staff, and everyone knows everyone else, and all the major aspects of the company budgets can be kept in the heads of one or two finance types. The problem then becomes individuals taking specific initiative. If they don't want it bad enough, it doesn't happen. Even if their higher ups want it, but not badly enough to make sure that specific initiative is had by those in the trenches, it still wont happen. The solution would seem to be some sort of ERP solution.
However, ERP solutions are ridiculously expensive, painful, clunky and awkward on their best days, and extremely costly to support in both time and money. I have seen very large fortune 500 companies with very large staffs assigned to supporting SAP or Oracle or other ERP implementations that seem to have no end of problems with them. A complex solution to a complex problem, that seems to breed yet more complex problems. But hey, I hear your ERP vendors have more complex solutions to those complex problems. They are only [insert a six or seven figure number] and will only cost [insert an even bigger number] to support.
There is a better way. I haven't seen anyone really hit this one out of the ballpark, but Infoworld had a good write-up on it a while back. I guess one of the major questions is whether not having an automated process or even having a non process is better than an expensive or poorly implemented automated process. I have recently run into a troublesome non-process. A good automated process, or even partially automated process would be very helpful about now. All the big ERP solutions are not even remotely solutions in this case, and it wouldn't be up to me, but a good low cost process automation tool would be really nice for these guys, even if it is too late for me to benefit.
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