Working hard verses thinking hard: Why weak management always falls back to measuring hours above all else. I measure a lot of things in my job, but I am very careful about introducing measurements and metrics because they are prone to abuse and can be damaging to the overall efforts of an organisation. I willContinue reading “Working Hard vs Thinking Hard”
Category Archives: Opinion
The Rockstar Programmer Stereotype
The term “Rockstar Programmer” label has been going back and forth for a while now. It started with people recruiting for “Rockstar Programmers”, then went into backlash with people bemoaning why you would want someone opinionated and difficult. Working in a room with single minded, opinionated and difficult colleagues does not make a great team,Continue reading “The Rockstar Programmer Stereotype”
Useful Unicode Characters
Depending on your system of record, there may or may not be a lot of ways to express information. That’s where these handy unicode characters can help a lot! I use the Unicode “Scale of Awesome” to mark up test results. ✅ ✓ ✗ ☠
Coffee vs Books
Independent authors can rock! I own books from independent authors and although you are taking a little chance (unless you know their work or get a recommendation) it can be well worth it. But then this popped up in my social feed! The concept here is that coffee takes 1 minute to make and costsContinue reading “Coffee vs Books”
Windows 8 Revisited
When I upgraded my main laptop to Windows 8 when the special offer was on just over a year ago, many of my friends were quite surprised. As usual with a Windows release, the general perception was that it was rubbish. I actually got along fine with it – I didn’t even miss the startContinue reading “Windows 8 Revisited”
What Size Boxes Should I Use To Move House
Despite having moved house quite a few times, it dawned on me that I have never really thought about what size boxes I should use to move house. Back In The Day™ boxes were typically sourced from shops, who couldn’t wait to offload their waste cardboard on home-movers to avoid paying for them to beContinue reading “What Size Boxes Should I Use To Move House”
Software Product Development Requires Focus
I have worked in product development teams for a lot of different industries. I have seen a great many strategies at play. From finance, to retail, to communications, to health – no matter what the industry, the key to successful software product development is focus. It is very easy to use your sector as aContinue reading “Software Product Development Requires Focus”
The Future of Search
I have made a few statements in the past that haven’t been far wrong from the truth, so I have something of a track record. I’m no Nostradamus by any means, but I can certainly see how some things are going to turn out based on my experiences. For example in 2008 I noted thatContinue reading “The Future of Search”
Why Spotify Will Make Music Better
I have been using the Spotify for a long time now and I am in no hurry to go back to using CDs, MP3s or any other time-wasting format. Not only do I have (very nearly) all the music available in one place on Spotify, that place is with me wherever I am. When IContinue reading “Why Spotify Will Make Music Better”
5 Annoying Social Media Techniques
I am now a proud member of just one social network… which is mostly meeting people in my local coffee chop. These annoying social media techniques were contributing factors when I retired all my social network accounts. Let’s have a look at the anti-social-media methods. Enigma We have all seen this one. Someone wants aContinue reading “5 Annoying Social Media Techniques”