While I wouldn't be so bold as to label it a “definitive collection,”
it is nonetheless very rich. The techniques I am familiar with are very
effective and effectively described, which gives me confidence that
those new to me are worth investigating as well.
The definitive collection of idea generation methods. Martin Leith gifts us with a page [...]
A nice reminder from Jack Vinson about an excellent resource on ways to
poke on complex systems that are more likely to be effective than our
typical efforts. I’ve pointed to this before in several incarnations (here and here).
We’ve certainly seen more than our share recently of ineffective ways
to intervene. Perhaps we can hope that some of [...]
Bob Frankston has had several recent posts illuminating the long-term
strategic blindness of competitors pursuing doomed approaches to
Digital Restrictions Management (DRM). The short and sweet version:
DRM vs the Bathroom.
For those who found my recent DRM post too complicated I’ll put it more
simply. There are those who believe that I must not zap commercials
while watching their content. [...]
An interesting reminder for the morning. It is curious that we
generally devote so little time to this in both our education and our
work practices. Think how often the organizational and educational
systems we are embedded in convey the implicit assumption that someone
else has already defined the problem correctly and that our only
responsibility is to produce the [...]
Always worth seeing what Kay has to say. The slashdot thread has its moments as well.
How Heraclitus would Design a Programming Language. CowboyRobot writes “Developer of Smalltalk Alan Kay has an interview on ACM Queue
where he describes the history of computing and his approach to
designing languages. Kay has an impressive resume (PARC, ARPAnet,
Atari, Apple, Alan [...]
I'm running a bit behind these days. That makes it a bit ironic that my
most recent column at Enterprise System Journal looks at the topic of
project management.
The column actually appeared last week and looks at project management
from a minimalist perspective. Jim Powell, my editor there, decided to
title it A Swiss Army Knife for Project [...]
If you are curious about how interesting the world turns out to be, here are two great articles to add to your reading list.
A Master Equation for All Life Processes?. In “Life on the Scales,” Science News
recently wrote that some simple mathematical equations, known as
quarter-power scaling laws, can explain the metabolic rates of living
organisms. For [...]
Fantastic and fascinating editorial turning the purported 'logic' of
intelligent design against itself. The only drawback, of course, is
that ID is only superficially about logic, so this isn't an argument
that will carry any weight with anyone who finds ID appealing.
Intelligent Design's idiotic designer. Cory Doctorow:
A fantastic editorial in this weekend's NYT shreds the idea of
“Intelligent Design” [...]
My latest column, Improving Systems: Forget Architecture – Look at the Buildings, is up at ESJ. This one was inspired by Steward Brand’s excellent How Buildings Learn; What Happens After They’re Built. It riffs on Brand’s work to reflect on what we might learn about building better systems.
I’ve certainly been guilty of this kind of approach at multiple points throughout my career. The best techniques I’ve encountered for dealing with these challenges are the “contracting” conversations that Peter Block advocates so strongly in his excellent Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used. Regardless of which side of the table you [...]
