Great post from the folks at 15Five. If you want to find out how to empower knowledge workers to do what they do best, this blog post and Dr. Daniel Pink's book contain the recipe. Running a company can often feel like caring for a newborn child. There is a natural and healthy fear that arises that if you are not eternally vigilant then something bad will happen. With a baby, this is called good parenting. With a company, this is called micromanagement and it is universally resented by all employees. In physics, the observer effect states that observing a phenomenon has an impact on what is being observed. For example, when using an electron microscope to view subatomic particles, the light from the microscope impacts the movement of those particles. Since scientific methods require objectivity, the influence of observation can call the entire experiment into question. By micromanaging, people are only driven to perform in the hope that you will one day leave them alone. The US patent system may not be perfect, but this article is an excellent reminder about why we still need it. I asked myself how this device called the “smartphone” – which didn’t even exist as a product category five years ago – could have become such an integral part of my morning routine. The wireless-technology pioneers who invented the technologies that enable these connections were bold enough to do costly research and development in extremely risky and unproven areas, at a time when cell phones were the size of brief cases and only carried by doctors and heads of state. They were able to take those risks and do that R&D because there was a chance, albeit a small one, that they might solve problems previously considered unsolvable and then sell products or license that technology to others for a fee. Some of those successful inventors then took some of that money and reinvested it in even more R&D that produced even more advanced, licensable technologies and generated even faster connections. So tomorrow morning, when you wake up and reach for your smartphone, think about what the smartphone would look like without the technologies encouraged and enabled by patents. I think it might look a little like this: two tin cans connected by string. We've "known" this for a long time, but here are the numbers to back it up (and some cool visuals).
This is presenting a difficult challenge for independent devs and small shops. Do I build for the larger user base or do I build for the users who are actually going to pay? Right now, both platforms appear to be a race to the bottom (all the things are a free), so it will be interesting to see how/if that plays into Android's favor. Scripture for coders…
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000043.html
How many times do we convince ourselves that all of the great ideas have already been done? “All the marketable software has already been written.” Of course it's not true. Technology evolves, needs evolve, new concepts spring from the ether, etc. This article is a great bit of inspiration when you find yourself feeling...well, uninspired. “Find something in your life that is broken and write software to fix it.” The best software is personal. It’s something you need. It heals a wound in your life and makes you happy." A nerd needs a project because a nerd builds stuff. All the time. Those lulls in the conversation over dinner? That’s the nerd working on his project in his head. It's been a year now since I left my prior employer for much greener pastures. In going back through some old emails, I found one from a good friend I met at that job. The subject line was "for guys with bright feathers..." It simply contained links to two apropos video clips from The Shawshank Redemption. Here's to you and the rest of my friends still doing time. The weather is nice here in Zihuatanejo! I'm going to leave an envelope for you guys under a keyboard that has no earthly business being where it is.
In space, “there is no problem so bad that you can’t make it worse.” Chris Hadfield is quickly becoming one of my new heroes. This TED talk is simply inspiring. First, this is the sort of representation that the space program has been missing. How could any young child watch this and NOT want to grow up to be an astronaut? Second, this is the most succinct breakdown of danger verses fear that I have ever heard - and it's coming from someone who should be no stranger to both. …you don’t need to panic and go with your caveman reaction. The danger is entirely different than the fear. On a related note, this video is simply epic - an absolute embodiment of the beauty that can come from the amalgamation of science and humanities. This feels like every single project I was ever involved in with my prior employer... |
Josh SloatThe flotsam and jetsam of a techie mind... Archives
March 2017
Categories |