January 2009

Let’s Define Micro-Management Properly

January 31, 2009

Everybody hates micro-managers and a lot has been written about micro-management. Unfortunately, quite often, they are written from the viewpoint of the micro-managed person, and not the micro-manager. Here is what Kathy Sierra had to say about micro-managers. Let’s do a thought experiment and provide a resounding “No” to every question she asks. You are not […]

Read the full article →

When Ads Destroy Branding

January 30, 2009

The reason why free markets work is that profit is a powerful motivator for economic activity. Supply and demand in the marketplace drive production, encouraging greater investment in goods demanded more by consumers. This is just as true on the Internet. There is a growing need for online services and information, and suppliers are rushing […]

Read the full article →

The Ugly Side of Online Success

January 29, 2009

Once again, another blogger (Michael Arrington of TechCrunch) is targeted with death threats. This is fast becoming too crazy for comfort: Something very few people know: last year over the summer an off balance individual threatened to kill me and my family. He wasn’t very stealthy about it — he called our office number, sent […]

Read the full article →

More Why Managers Get Kooky Problems

January 28, 2009

Yesterday’s post on delegation perhaps requires some additional context about why managers are faced with greater challenges as they delegate more. The missing context is how teams are built and how individuals operate in the team. In the beginning, you start as a manager for a team of people. Some (or all) of them may know […]

Read the full article →

Proper Delegating Means Moving Onto Tougher Problems

January 27, 2009

Michael Lopp (a.k.a. Rands) explains why managers get to see a disproportionate amount of problems: There’s a reason you’ll see an inordinate amount of bizarre organizational crap as a manager. See, the individuals can handle — and should handle — the regular stuff. You want a team of people who aren’t bringing you every little […]

Read the full article →

100 Skills You Should Know if You are Still in the 20th Century

January 26, 2009

Or you are just miserly or into chest-thumping manliness. A few months back, Popular Mechanics published what they called the Ultimate Do-It-Yourself List of the 100 Skills Every Man Should Know. Every man should know things like “run rapids in a canoe”, “grow food”, “use a sewing machine” and familiarize themselves with wood chisels and […]

Read the full article →

Seth Godin Wrong about Rubber-Necking and Virtual Communities

January 25, 2009

In a recent post, Seth Godin talked about rubber-necking and how it results in taxing the time of other drivers. A few years back, I did some research on traffic patterns, and the reality is that you don’t (necessarily) need anybody rubber-necking to create traffic jams. Even minor changes in traffic patterns can be the […]

Read the full article →

Comparing Blogger and WordPress.com

January 24, 2009

Blogger and WordPress are both blog platforms as well as blog hosting services. The latter allows you to write and post blogs on their servers, saving you the effort of setting up your own server. This is useful if you are an individual blogger, less if you happen to be an organization. I have been […]

Read the full article →

Government Websites Around the World

January 23, 2009

The White House website looks like it had a major overhaul. In addition to the striking new visual design, it also has a blog, video address and slideshows, and there is a promise to expand the website to increase the ability of ordinary citizens to interact with the website. This is obviously a carry-over from […]

Read the full article →

Public Domain Resources

January 22, 2009

I have previously written about Creative Commons and taking advantage of free resources. Something that I didn’t clearly express was the availability of public domain resources, which do not have any copyright as opposed to copyleft or Creative Commons licenses. Public domain materials are not owned or controlled by any person or entity, and can […]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries