Author Archives: Krishna

Good Boss, Bad Boss, by Bob Sutton – Book Review

Bob Sutton was kind enough to send me the galley of his forthcoming book “Good Boss, Bad Boss” (GBBB) a few weeks ago. I am quite fond of Bob’s books and blog posts, and was eagerly looking forward to this … Continue reading

Posted in business management | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Convincing People

How do you make someone change their opinions? Scott Berkun has an article with some thoughts on how to convince people, primarily that you have to understand the viewpoint of the other person and try to put your argument in their … Continue reading

Posted in business management | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Tracking Conversations

Steve Rowe has a management tip: When doing 1:1’s with your team (you are doing these regularly, right?), take notes to keep track of the conversations from week to week. I currently use a 5-tab notebook with one tab for … Continue reading

Posted in project management | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

37 Signals’ Rework: A Missed Opportunity

37Signals is one of my favorite companies; their flagship product, Basecamp, one of the best web applications I have used. Their blog, Signal vs. Noise (SVN), is a great resource for application designers and small business entrepreneurs. So I was … Continue reading

Posted in business management | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Decision-Making Protocol

One of my acquaintances is fond of saying, “Employees view managers as monsters, at the worst, and idiots, at the best.” The point being that, even good managers have to overcome mistrust about their intentions and judgment before employees accept … Continue reading

Posted in project management | Tagged | Leave a comment

Are We Safer By Abolishing Rules?

Jurgen Appelo writes: In a Dutch article titled “Traffic is safer without rules” traffic expert Hans Monderman explained that the flow of traffic at an intersection can increase, while at the same time casualty rates decrease, when all traffic lights … Continue reading

Posted in project management | Tagged , | 1 Comment

The Scourge of Silly Software Patents

I was about to link to a story about a major software company suing another for software patent violations which included such brilliant ideas as “System and method for providing and displaying a web page having an embedded menu“. Then … Continue reading

Posted in general issues | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Reality of UI Test Automation

Michael Feathers explains how the reality of user interface test automation differs widely from the expectations: The Dream Janet comes into work in the morning and she sits down at her super-duper testing console. She presses a button and the … Continue reading

Posted in software development | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Dreams of the Future

Robert Fortner reminds us that speech recognition is going nowhere: The accuracy of computer speech recognition flat-lined in 2001, before reaching human levels. The funding plug was pulled, but no funeral, no text-to-speech eulogy followed. Words never meant very much … Continue reading

Posted in general issues | Tagged | Leave a comment

Confusing Arrogance with Benevolence

In the way that only David Heinemeier Hansson can: Where to start? For people who complain about bad luck, it doesn’t really matter what a successful person is talking about. If the complainer has put in no or little effort, … Continue reading

Posted in business management | Tagged , , | Leave a comment