Ramblings of a digital insomniac » other http://www.digitalinsomniac.com Thu, 20 Oct 2011 22:35:21 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 20 things I believe in as a technologist http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2010/03/22/20-things-i-believe-in-as-a-technologist/ http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2010/03/22/20-things-i-believe-in-as-a-technologist/#comments Mon, 22 Mar 2010 18:11:05 +0000 Adam http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/?p=47 More→]]>
  • Brooks’s law: Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later
  • Parkinson’s law: Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
  • Hofstadter’s law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take Hofstadter’s Law into account.
  • Clark’s law: Sufficiently advanced cluelessness is indistinguishable from malice.
  • Lewin’s equation: B=ƒ(P,E). An individual’s behavior is a function of both their personality and their environment.
  • Fast, good or cheap.  Pick two.
  • “The bearing of a child takes nine months, no matter how many women are assigned.” – Frederick P. Brooks
  • Flitting doesn’t work, nor does sitting tight
  • Attention economics
  • Don’t write a functional spec
  • Start-up metrics for pirates
  • The Zombie Function: micromanagers create zombies
  • Death by risk aversion
  • Fail fast, fail cheap (re: tactics, not the overall business).
  • Beware of future creep
  • To create change, you need to reach out to those who don’t already agree with you.
  • The 18 mistakes that kill startups
  • 85 operations rules to live by
  • Things that get in the way of good software:
    • Competing interest (departmental)
    • Political infighting
    • Lack of audience clarity
    • Fuzzy strategy
    • No vision for success
  • Aspects of good software
    • Functionality: does it do what I need?
    • Correctness: does it do it correctly, without a bunch of bugs?
    • Learnability: can I learn it quickly? Is the manual good?
    • Efficiency: does it let me do what I need without long workarounds?
    • Usability: is it user-friendly?
    • Intuitiveness: does it feel natural?
    • Flow/enhancement: does it keep me fully engaged where the world drops away?
    ]]> http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2010/03/22/20-things-i-believe-in-as-a-technologist/feed/ 0 My Favorite Webapps http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2009/02/28/my-favorite-webapps/ http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2009/02/28/my-favorite-webapps/#comments Sat, 28 Feb 2009 21:59:13 +0000 Adam http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/?p=51 More→]]> Last Updated: 01/28/10

    12 seconds

    23 and me

    Akoha

    AMEE

    Beanstalk

    Blippy

    Boxee

    Ch.mp

    ChipIn

    Concept Share

    Cork’d

    Delicious

    Dipity

    Disqus

    Dopplr

    Etsy

    Facebook

    Fire Eagle

    Flickr

    Friendfeed

    Get Satisfaction

    Ginx

    GitHub

    Gnip

    Good Guide

    Good Reads

    Have a mint

    Hubdub

    Hulu

    Indeed

    Is.gd

    Kiva

    Kluster

    Kuler

    Last.fm

    Linked In

    Me-trics

    Mint

    Netflix

    NewsCred

    Notable

    OpenCongress

    Patients like me

    Pipes

    Pipl

    Posterous

    Powerset

    Quarkbase

    Qik

    Reddit

    Scribd

    Shopify

    Sifter

    TeachStreet

    Tip’d

    Tipjoy

    TripIt

    Twitter

    TypeRacer

    Vimeo

    What a lovely name

    Widgetbox

    Wis.dm

    WordPress

    WuFoo

    Yammer

    YouTube

    Yelp

    Zemanta

    ]]>     http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2009/02/28/my-favorite-webapps/feed/ 1     Adamism #127 http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2009/02/28/adamism-127/ http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2009/02/28/adamism-127/#comments Sat, 28 Feb 2009 18:05:59 +0000 Adam http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/?p=107 If you can’t join them, beat them.

    ]]>     http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2009/02/28/adamism-127/feed/ 0     Adamism #126 http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2008/07/13/adamism-126/ http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2008/07/13/adamism-126/#comments Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:51:47 +0000 Adam http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/?p=45 Don’t spend all of your money on a piggy bank

    ]]>     http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2008/07/13/adamism-126/feed/ 0     Adamism #125 http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2008/07/12/a-failure-to-recognize-success/ http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2008/07/12/a-failure-to-recognize-success/#comments Sat, 12 Jul 2008 14:21:48 +0000 Adam http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/?p=44 Success is often transparent, while failure is usually obvious.

    ]]>     http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2008/07/12/a-failure-to-recognize-success/feed/ 1     Advertising: traditional vs. digital media http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2008/07/08/advertising-traditional-vs-digital-media/ http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2008/07/08/advertising-traditional-vs-digital-media/#comments Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:13:01 +0000 Adam http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/?p=43 More→]]> From TV Decoder: A study to be released on Wednesday finds that advertisements appearing in traditional media like television are still “much more likely” to have made a positive impression with consumers than ads running in digital media.

    Now, compare that to last month’s Venture Beat article that says consumers continue to abandon traditional media for digital media.

    OK, I get it — traditional media advertisements are more effective, but nobody’s viewing them.  Great!

    ]]>     http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2008/07/08/advertising-traditional-vs-digital-media/feed/ 0     Adamism #124 http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2008/06/22/adamism-124/ http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2008/06/22/adamism-124/#comments Mon, 23 Jun 2008 04:20:42 +0000 Adam http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/?p=40 A calculator does not make one a mathematician.

    ]]>     http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2008/06/22/adamism-124/feed/ 0     Adamism #123 http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2007/09/25/adamism-123/ http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2007/09/25/adamism-123/#comments Wed, 26 Sep 2007 00:11:33 +0000 Adam http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/?p=20 Those who consistently fail are typically far more experienced than those accustomed to success.

    ]]>     http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2007/09/25/adamism-123/feed/ 0     Adamism #122 http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2006/02/12/adamism-122/ http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2006/02/12/adamism-122/#comments Mon, 13 Feb 2006 00:09:48 +0000 Adam http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/?p=18 Plans are for those who lead boring or charmed lives. Unfortunately, I lead neither.

    ]]>     http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2006/02/12/adamism-122/feed/ 0     Adamism #121 http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2005/07/25/adamism/ http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2005/07/25/adamism/#comments Mon, 25 Jul 2005 23:52:52 +0000 Adam http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/?p=13 Hey boss, here’s a tip: never take advice or compliments from a complete stranger.

    ]]>     http://www.digitalinsomniac.com/2005/07/25/adamism/feed/ 0