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Buying New Technology: Blackberry Pearl Edition
I’ve long held the opinion that it’s important to think long and hard before upgrading to new technologies. Often a single technology purchase causes a daisy-chain of purchases, as illustrated below: Nintendo Wii > Big, giant, flat TV > Cable > Premium Channels (Total upgrade cost = $250 + $1,000 + $60/mo + $10/mo =…
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Experiencing the power of Java
So this evening I’m reinstalling Java. Not by choice, but because the annoying little balloon keeps on popping up in the corner of my screen. Then, while it’s installing, the installer has the audacity to say something extremely stupid like: By installing Java, you will be able to experience the power of Java…” NO WAY!…
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Seeing fewer choices
Alternatively titled: On Covering Your Ass Check out that picture on the right. That’s from my credit card’s website. My favorite part is the red link on the bottom that proclaims, “See fewer choices.” You know what that option is? That’s a designer or usability person saying to the team, “Hello team, we have heard…
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I’m Addicted to GoodReads
You know, every once in a while you start to use a really great social networking tool, like LinkedIn or Facebook, and the time just flies by. Thanks wholly to Karen, I found a new one…GoodReads. There’s a lot to like. I’m constantly on the lookout for a good tool for keeping an index of…
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Turn off your Blackberry
If you’re going to accept a meeting invitation and come to the meeting, make sure you’re not sending mail on your Blackberry throughout said meeting. Get off the phone, and pay attention. Please. Oh, and if you pick up the phone when it rings, I swear I’ll…
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"Pretty" Software Applications
One of the most difficult expectations for me to overcome with respect to my coworkers is the idea that I’m here to simply make the software look pretty. It’s difficult for so many to understand. I do understand principles of typography, layout, color, and design in general…and yes, I do have the ability to decorate…
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Taxi-cab confessional
I almost missed my flight this evening. Nearly every Sunday for the past few months I’ve taken a flight to Raleigh, NC. This flight is preceded by a trip in a taxi from my house to the airport. Except tonight it didn’t go as planned. As routine turned to complacency, I wasn’t alarmed when the…
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On the Misleading Lexicon of Agile Development
Whatever happened to clear, consistent language? Why do we use words that have inconsistent meaning in contexts where they’ll be unfamiliar? Why, oh why? Day in and day out I work with clients in an Agile development setting. I use words that have been trained into me, that I’ve been taught over and over again.…
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Agile Design, a response to my friend’s quandary
This evening Kynthia‘s thoughts got me thinking. Among other things, she said: “[W]e design heads get in this place where, just because we wouldn’t be caught dead releasing something into the wild, we think there is nothing to learn from it.” My brain took her thoughts on a tangent and went this way: So since…
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Agile anti-pattern: Developer-focused retrospectives
On most software projects, there is a far higher percentage of developers on a team than any other role. In general, this works to the team’s advantage. The developers, after all, are the ones who make what everybody else works for come alive. In a retrospective, however, it is important that no one group of…