Archive for the 'business' Category

03-06-2007

Free Mindmapping Software, Today (3/6/07) Only

I’ve been keeping an eye on the Giveaway of the Day website lately. Every day, the site posts a new Windows program that is available for downloading free for just one day. The programs are fully licensed, though they must be installed the same day they are downloaded and are not upgradeable.

In the weeks that I’ve been checking the site, the offerings have been hit-and-miss, but today’s software looks interesting. It’s a mindmapping program called ConceptDraw MINDMAP Personal 4.

I’ve been using mindmapping software for a long time. Mindmapping has been especially useful for outlining my ideas before sitting down to write. I originally used Mindjet MindManager, but it has gotten to be too expensive, in my opinion.

Lately, I’ve been using the free, open source mindmapping package called Freemind. Freemind is slow to start up and a a bit clunky overall, but it is remarkably useful, especially considering the price. Still, I’m interested in giving MINDMAP Personal a try. I’ll be downloading it as soon as I finish this post.

Posted by Matt in business, communication, creativity, learning, tech, writing | No Comments »

02-14-2007

Do-It-Yourself Tendencies and Why Software is Hard

Salon has an interview with Scott Rosenberg about his new book, Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software. The book details the long development process of the Chandler open source software project.

In the interview, Rosenberg includes a quote that explains a phenomenon I’ve seen numerous times in my years in I.T., as programmers build their own software rather than learning to use off-the-shelf tools:

And programmers, as I quote Larry Constantine in my book, programmers are programmers because they like to code — given a choice between learning someone else’s code and just sitting down and writing their own, they will always do the latter. And the programmer who says, it will be faster for me to write it, rather than to learn it, is usually correct. Except that what he will write, most likely, is something that will work but will not have its rough edges worked out, will not have the benefits of a piece of software that has actually been used for a few years, where the bugs have been found and the users have given feedback and have helped you figure out where the problems are. So what they will often be handing you at the end of that I-can-do-it-faster-myself thing is something that works, but that is kind of a mess in certain ways. Whereas the thing that you were going to pull off the shelf, maybe it will take the programmers a while to learn it, but once they learn it enough to hook it up to this project you are creating, what they are hooking up will probably have a lot fewer problems.

Personally, I usually find it easier to learn how to use someone else’s software than to build my own. That’s part of why I’m a big fan of open source tools like PmWiki, Drupal, and WordPress. With them, I’m able to be more productive than I ever would if I had to design, code, test, and implement everything from scratch.

Posted by Matt in business, tech | 1 Comment »

01-26-2007

Wiki of Free Book Summaries

I just ran across the WikiSummaries site which is off to a great start at becoming a resource for high quality free book summaries. My own book notes tend to be outlines that are more ideal for reviewing material I’ve already read in depth. In contrast, WikiSummaries take a more narrative form, similar to CliffsNotes or Barron’s Book Notes and make for easier reading.

Both fiction and non-fiction titles are included. WikiSummaries can help you decide whether or not to read Barack Obama’s The Audacity of Hope or help you review the plot of a previous Harry Potter book before starting the next one. And since anyone can edit the wiki, it’s easy to contribute your own summaries or help to improve the existing ones.

Posted by Matt in business, communication, lifehacks, reading, wikis, writing | 1 Comment »

01-12-2007

Optaros Report Catalogs Open Source Software Options

I just ran across a report on open source software via the Creative Commons blog. The report, prepared by a company called Optaros, includes a fairly comprehensive catalog and evaluation of over 250 open source projects. For anyone needing to evaluate or compare open source software options, the report is a great starting point.

There are many guides and catalogs for open source business software online and doubtless there are things to quibble with about Optaros’ take, but having a fairly comprehensive catalog in a nice looking 45 page PDF may come in handy at IT departments worldwide. Handier still, the CC license allows customization so long as credit is given to Optaros.

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Posted by Matt in business, cc, tech | No Comments »

10-06-2006

Bizarre McDonald’s Rebuilding Strategy

After reading Fast Food Nation and watching Supersize Me, I’m no big fan of the fast food industry. Lately, I’ve noticed a new trend that bugs me. McDonald’s is tearing down what apprear to be perfectly good buildings and then rebuilding new ones in their place. I’ve seen this happen to two Austin locations recently and my mom mentioned that the same thing was being done in Gallup, New Mexico while she was there visiting.

I did some research today and found that it’s happening all over the place. It’s apparently a corporate strategy that’s even losing them some franchisees. To me, it seems like a waste of resources and a bad environmental move to completely demolish and rebuild a strcture that’s solidly built and only 20 years old. Why not let the buildings learn?

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Posted by Matt in Austin, business | 1 Comment »

06-22-2006

37% Rule: A Shortcut for Decision Making

I ran across an interesting article via populicio.us recently about the mathematics of evaluating options and making optimal decisions. The article offers the following handy heuristic and details the math used to derive it:

At the British Psychological Society’s conference in April 1997, on Dr Peter Todd, of the Max Planck Institute in Munich, spoke about the best (optimal) strategy for finding a partner. He also drew a parallel with the employer trying to find a suitable new employee from a range of applicants, and quoted the 37% rule. Once you have seen 37% of the application forms, “a coherent picture of the ideal employee is built up and the next person to fulfil these criteria gets the job”.

Posted by Matt in business, general, lifehacks | No Comments »

05-26-2006

Economics of Leisure

A recent New York Times article on the founder of the Geek Squad computer repair service includes some interesting information about the economics of leisure time:

The results from two online calculators that determine what your time is worth may surprise you. Try http://hughchou.org/calc/realwage.php or http://moneycentral.msn.com/…. First, your hourly rate may be lower than you think. For instance, someone making $70,000 a year, but who puts in 50 hours a week and commutes an hour each way, may discover the hourly rate is not $33, but about half that.

So does that mean you hire a handyman only when he costs less than $16 an hour? It’s more complicated than that. With only about 12 hours of true leisure time a day, each precious hour is bought with more than 5 hours of work. According to the calculator, each hour of spare time would then be worth about $85.

The idea ties in with a very enlightening presentation Daniel Gilbert gave at SXSW on How to Do Precisely the Right Thing at All Possible Times. He explains why many decisions are not as cut-and-dried as they appear. A podcast of Gilbert’s presentation is available, along with many others on the SXSW site.

I haven’t yet read Gilbert’s book, Stumbling on Happiness, but it has been getting some good reviews. It’s definitely on my list to read soon.

Posted by Matt in business, lifehacks, money, tech | No Comments »

05-11-2006

Virtual Web Conference Via Google Techtalks

Google regularly brings in experts from various fields to give presentations to the company’s employees. In the spirit of sharing, the company makes these Tech Talk presentations available to the public via Google Video.

There are currently over 70 presentations, most lasting around an hour. Topics range from MySQL Tuning to Collecting Meteorites in Antarctica. Presenters include authors, such as Kevin Kelly and Barry Schwartz.

Of the ones I’ve watched so far, I recommend Seth Godin’s “All Marketers are Liars” talk. As with many presentations exported to the web, the video and audio aren’t always the best, but the content and the caliber of the speakers are hard to beat. And new videos are posted on a regular basis.

Posted by Matt in business, communication, tech | No Comments »

01-07-2006

Notes on The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing

I recently finished reading The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing and I just posted my notes to my wiki page of book notes. Some of the examples in the book are a bit dated, but the information is still relevent. If nothing else, I think I’ll have a different perspective on marketing going forward.

If you’re shooting for second place, your strategy is determined by the market leader.
“You must discover the essence of the leader and then present the prospect with the opposite. (In other words, don’t try to be better, try to be different.”

In each situation, only one move will produce substantial results.
“Most often there is only one place where a competitor is vulnerable. And that place should be the focus of the entire invading force.”

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Posted by Matt in business, communication, reading | No Comments »

12-05-2005

The Economics of Qwerty Versus Dvorak Keyboards

In the vein of Freakonomics, Reason Magazine has a great myth busting article on the debate over Qwerty vs. Dvorak keyboards.

The QWERTY keyboard cannot be said to constitute evidence of any systematic tendency for markets to err. Very simply, no competing keyboard has offered enough advantage to warrant a change. The story of Dvorak’s superiority is a myth or, perhaps more properly, a hoax.

What made the article interesting to me is how much related information it ties in—science, economics, academics, and more.

While on the subject of articles I enjoyed reading, the Freakonomics website has a copy of the “What the Bagel Man Saw” article, which is also included as part of the book. If you haven’t already read the book, the article will give you a taste of its thought provoking writing.

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Posted by Matt in business, general, reading, tech | 2 Comments »

11-23-2005

Speak to a Human Being, Not a Machine

I see the IVR Cheat Sheet coming in handy in the future. The table, created by the founder of the travel site Kayak.com, is a list of shortcuts to bypass various corporate phone systems and get to a human being.

travel phone steps to find a human
American Airlines 800-433-7300 ”00, then say “”agent”“”
Amtrak 800-872-7245 ”0 or say “”agent”“”
Delta 800-221-1212 ”say “”agent”” four times – every time it asks for a response from you”
jetBlue 800 JET-BLUE 1 flight status; 2 reservations; 3 vacation packages
Kayak.com 203 899-3120 0
Northwest 800-225-2525 Star, 0,0 after initial greeting
Southwest 800-435-9792 Calls answered by operator; during busy times you might have to hold
United 800-864-8331 Do nothing, wait for human.
US Airways 800-428-4322 4, wait, 1
Walt Disney World 407-824-4521 Direct line to Magic Kingdom Guest Relations

The full sheet includes shortcuts for a variety of industries, including finance, government, insurance, and retail.

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Posted by Matt in business, communication, lifehacks, travel | No Comments »

11-19-2005

Black Friday vs. Buy Nothing Day

Black Friday is almost here—lots of crazy deals, the day after Thanksgiving. If you’re interested, a site called Black Friday 2005 has already posted lists of what will be on sale at most major retailers. The Fat Wallet Forums also have plenty of information, mostly in the OFFICIAL Black Friday 2005 Thread.

I feel obligated to also mention Buy Nothing Day, brought to you by Adbusters.

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Posted by Matt in business, money | No Comments »

10-26-2005

Great Notes from Getting Things Done: the Roadmap seminar

I just finished reading some notes from David Allen’s Getting Things Done: the Roadmap seminar posted on the From the Belly of the Beasts blog. In particular, the following item jumped out at me:

Use “draft” instead of “write” (less intimidating to have “draft proposal to yada yada” on your list than “write proposal”)

It’s subtle, but I think it would be useful to help change my thinking about writing. It fits in well with one of the themes of The Now Habit:

Work for an imperfect, perfectly human first effort.

I’m also curious about the paperclip exercise mentioned toward the bottom of the notes. Anyone know more details about it?

Posted by Matt in business, lifehacks, writing | No Comments »

10-22-2005

Notes on Making it Happen by Mackenzie Kyle

I just finished reading a book on project management called Making it Happen. It’s written as a novel that details the story of a project management novice who is suddenly asked to manage the rollout of a new boat design. Though the story wouldn’t keep my interest on its own, it made learning the basics of project management more engaging. I’ve added my notes on the book to my wiki page of book notes.

Structure of an Assignment

  1. GENESIS
  2. DESIGN (describes the final product in enough detail so that you could produce it)
  3. EXECUTION PLAN (Project)
  4. EXECUTION
  5. REVIEW
    1. (Review of Design)
    2. (Review of Execution Plan and Execution)
    3. (Review of Genesis)

Posted by Matt in business, communication, general, reading | 1 Comment »