Category Archives: business management

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

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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

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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

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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

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Security Theater

Bruce Schneier (the author of “Applied Cryptography” and other books) explains why security theater (where security measures do not do much to improve real security) has its benefits: Tamper-resistant packaging for over-the-counter drugs started to appear in the ’80s, in … Continue reading

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Outdated Catchphrases

A hilarious take from Ron Rosenbaum: But don’t call it outside the box anymore, please. By now, the injunction to “think outside the box” has become inside the box airline-magazine management-guru cliché. Please, some of you should get back into … Continue reading

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Counterproductive Hiring Practices

I am agnostic about pair programming. I believe that having strong programmers and a good code review process offers at least as much benefit as (if not more than) full-fledged pair programming, but if it is working for someone, I … Continue reading

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Growth is Required Even if There are No Network Effects

David writes in response to Joel’s worries about fast growth: All these business [Facebook, eBay, Oracle] rely heavily on the network effect: Their product is more attractive than the competition because of their market share. [...] Do you know what kind … Continue reading

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Fast Sales-Driven Growth

A friend shared Joel Spolsky’s new column on Inc Magazine which asks if slow growth means slow death and suggests a couple of ways to grow faster: Step One, I think, is to pluck off our biggest competitors. We’re pretty … Continue reading

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Guide to Software Pricing

Highly recommended – “Don’t Just Roll the Dice“, a free e-book by Neil Davidson. An excerpt: Although scientifically purer, it often doesn’t make sense to change a single variable at a time. Theoretically, you shouldn’t change the price of your … Continue reading

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