How David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear some 20 years ago
The alleged secret behind the trick here. Best line from the video: “I’ve never seen a Statue of Liberty disappear like that one before.”
I run this joint. Don’t know where to start? Let me show you around:
The alleged secret behind the trick here. Best line from the video: “I’ve never seen a Statue of Liberty disappear like that one before.”
Game development, like any software development, is an immensely intricate process. Given its temperamental nature, delays are inevitable — it just comes with the territory. Sometimes, game developers delay a game’s release in order to enhance the gameplay or polish the presentation, frustrating original release dates in the process.
“Typically, development teams delay games because they want to add an extra feature or spend more time on a specific aspect to get it just right,” says Dave Karraker, senior director of communications at Sony Computer Entertainment of America. “You need to remember that at the end of the day, the developer is truly an artist and their name is on that final product,” Karraker continues. “They will take every opportunity to get just a little more time to make the game as great as it possibly can be.”
But even though quality is a major reason for game delays, it’s far from the only reason. “Delays occur for both strategic and quality reasons,” says analyst Michael Pachter. Contrary to what you may think, publishers are just as as likely to delay a game for strategic reasons as they are quality ones.
If you haven’t already, go read Clive Thompson’s excellent Wired article on transparency in business and how it’s helping companies outperform the old way of doing things. “Fire the publicist. Go off message. Let all your employees blab and blog. In the new world of radical transparency, the path to business success is clear.”
And please. Let’s not turn “transparency” and “authenticity” into half-hearted memes. They should be guiding principles towards a better way of doing things in this Cluetrain world of ours.
This, my friends, is just too weird not to post. From the Associated Press: “Keith Richards has acknowledged consuming a raft of illegal substances in his time, but this may top them all. In comments published Tuesday, the 63-year-old Rolling Stones guitarist said he had snorted his father’s ashes mixed with cocaine.”
Rock ‘N Roll snorted my soul ™.
Presidential candidate Mitt Romney denied his Mormon fundraising connection in speaking to ABC News today. When asked if the $3M raised in Utah of his Republican-leading $20 million was tied to his being a Latter-Day Saint, Romney dodged the affiliation citing his 2002 Olympic popularity and his being a former resident of the state. The presidential hopeful corrected NY Times allegations that Utah raised “more per capita than any other state” citing California as holding the honor (Nota bene: In shere numbers, Cali is home to more Mormons than Utah).
First, I recognize that Romney is liked for what he did at the 2002 Olympics, for once living in Utah, for his success as a business man, and for his work in Massachusetts as Governor. But is there anything wrong with Romney stating the obvious? Like, “My record aside, of course people with a similar faith are more likely to financially support me.” Just seems like human nature to me, and I’m sure Catholics were extra generous with Kennedy. Despite some journalists fishing for stories that Romney’s church quietly endorses him, is there anything wrong with like individuals supporting each other due to a natural affinity? The issue seems akin to asking Obama about high black turnout or high female turnout for Clinton supporters.
So from a strategic standpoint, I think Romney has a better chance being forthright about his religious supporters.
Disclosure: I’m Mormon, not a Republican or Democrat, won’t vote in the primaries, and still don’t know whom I’ll vote for in 2008.
I despise seeing bloggers or sites in-line link using their affiliate codes without disclosure. I don’t mind helping others turn a quick buck on something they really believe in, but recommending without disclosing affiliate participation feels counterfeit. Either physically separate your affiliations from your posts and label them as such, or disclose. The long-term benefits of straightforwardness are far greater and lasting than the the few bucks you may or may not earn from an affiliate link. A quick roll over is all it takes to get busted, so link responsibly. I promise you’ll earn just as much if not more by disclosing your affiliates when linking. Believe it or not.
Long-time Smooth Harold readers know I like baseball. I like to watch it, and I like to play it. After becoming eligible this year (I turn 28 in July), I will be playing in an adult baseball league starting next week. Not softball, baseball. The problem is I haven’t formally played the game since being a freshman in high school some 13 years ago.
Rumor has it a handful of ex-college players in the league can throw upwards of 80 miles per hour. Yikes! To further compound the problem, a lot of pitchers put quite a bit of junk on the ball, so that’ll be a challenge as well. I hit some fast-pitch balls on Saturday at the local batting cages and made a lot of contact, but keep in mind these balls don’t move position, nor do they break. Oh, and my arm is way out of shape.
I’m really in over my head…
I don’t really care for MadTV. It’s never as sophisticated as I like my satire to be. Still, this little piece is spot on. We laugh because it’s funny, and yet we laugh because it’s true.
[via My Woman Cooks]
My last year of business was the best ever. Griffio has yet to hit the growth stage in its 3.5 year life, but every year has been better than the last. Growth, albeit small. And I feel blessed.
However, I owe the tax man a hefty sum this year. I owe him even more for being a profitable LLC (darn pass-through entity). It’s funny because as I was sitting down with my tax adviser, I realized how much money I owe Uncle Sam. In the process I caught myself saying, “Man, I wish I incurred more losses so I wouldn’t have to pay so much. Why did I have to be profitable?” That’s brilliant.
Although I don’t agree where all my tax money goes, I’ll pay my dues appreciating the many opportunities this great economy has created for me. Does knowing that make it any easier to pay taxes? Maybe. At least that’s what I tell myself.
When I first started my company back in July of 2003, I was gun ho on proposals. I’d spend hours on ’em. They’d generally end up being 9-10 pages detailing what we intended to do on a project, but they were also filled with a lot of marketing fluff. I have since reduced the number of pages of my proposals/contracts focusing solely on scope and deliverables, and I now do something I should have always done; estimate first, then scope out a proposal.
I have been estimating first now for about a year and I can’t tell you how much time it has saved me. People have been estimating for years now, and I still don’t know why I didn’t take advantage of the idea earlier. Here’s how I put the very old best practice to work: when someone asks for a request for bid, I ask a few more detailed questions. I then get with my lead developer and estimate how much each “chunk” of work will cost. I’ll send back the totals, and assuming the client is satisfied, we’ll further the discussion to clearly define the scope of expectations and put together a final proposal or contract. Estimate options are, of course, subject to change as the initial scope can change.
I’m sure most of you have been smarter than me. So do you use estimates before bidding on work? If not, you should.
Former rivals Nintendo and Sega announced today a mashup title featuring the largest two franchise characters in video game history. Mario and Sonic At the Olympic Games will exclusively ship for Nintendo’s DS and Wii platforms later this year preparatory for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Granted, cross-promotional games like Square/Disney’s Kingdom Hearts and Lego Star Wars have sold well in the past, but here are five reasons why the announcement doesn’t really matter.
Everyone and their dog says “mischEEvious” not “mIschievous.” So should the spelling be changed to reflect widespread American use, or is that English heresy?
Here’s an easy, if not cheap, content strategy to drive copious amounts of traffic to your website or blog really fast. No mischievous cats needed.
Don’t confuse my simpleton post with sarcasm; this is guaranteed to work, I promise. In this case, you’re banking on human nature alone, tabloid-style. It will work every time assuming you’re first to market with a well-written post, however subjective. This applies to any product or service that gains easy notoriety on the web.
According to Digital Spy, market research firm NPD says the PS3 is selling marginally better in its first four months than the 360 did for the same period. “Figures show that the PS3 is selling slightly faster in the US than the Xbox 360 did at the same stage in its release,” an NPD spokesman told the UK publication. The news comes amid a lackluster PS3 launch across most of Europe last week.
Not the most creative ad-parodies, but still funny… assuming you know your Linux history. Sadly, not many people do, so not many people will get the new Novell ads. The second one is the best.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtp5gNhBZgo[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVOnFdMf0RU[/youtube]
When I first read this headline, I thought, “Oh boy. Here we go again.” Usually when someone makes the one-sided case for becoming an entrepreneur, I just roll my eyes. Nearly all of them try and convince you of the following: “Everyone should be an entrepreneur,” “realize your dreams and be happier while making it on your own, ” and “let your money work for you.” Ugh. That train of thought is so tired and illogical. Fact: risk averse individuals will be happier and more successful working for someone else. There’s no shame in that. On the other hand, if you have an unusual fetish for making something better, entrepreneurship or independent contracting may be a good fit.
But Why You Need To Be An Entrepreneur — despite its clever link baiting headline — is a misnomer as the article’s recommendation is more balanced than the headline suggests. “There is nothing wrong with working a 9 to 5 because one of the main goals in life is to be happy. It’s just that different things make different people happy.” Well said. The column’s points for entrepreneurship are also correct for the most part, though I dispute numbers 1 and 4 a bit.
Pick the Brain has abridged George Orwell’s 5 rules for effective writing. All together now:
Thanks, George!
First, let me preface this post with a disclaimer: I come from a long line of individuals that simply must be right all of the time. No inaccuracy, however insignificant, can go uncontested in my immediate family. Part of that stems from the high number of intelligent siblings I grew up with, not to mention two shrewd parents. And while I can’t speak for others, I know my motivation to cross-examine every single statement was — and still is to an extent — rooted in my desire to display how much I know rather than enlighten others with meaningful truths. Truths with value. How noble of me, right?
That said, my feelings have slowly changed over time, especially since courting the beauty and brains that is Lindsey Snow of Seattle, Washington. In the last 4 and a half years of knowing her, Lindsey has taught by example in discerning what warrants correction, and what doesn’t. I can’t imagine how many times she must have let slide something I inaccurately said. I doubt she even acknowledged the act, rather opting to just let it go. At the same time — and while typically a quiet individual — Lindsey will readily stand up for something that matters; a material truth. “What matters,” you ask? I’ll leave that up to you, but I do know the order someone was cut from a reality show or what color shirt someone was wearing (when not profiling a criminal, of course) doesn’t matter.
I’ve been presented with three opportunities in the last week alone to correct another individual on some minute detail. In realizing what was important, I decided against correction without telling myself, “Don’t worry, Blake. You REALLY know what s/he doesn’t.” I just moved on in the moment, and it felt really good. Like, “Wow, that was really nice. I should do this more often,” good.
So, yeah. It’s a refreshing experience not to have to be right all of the time. There I go boasting again…
Juicing the Orange by Pat Fallon/Fred Sen of Fallon Worldwide. Not only has Fallon developed some of the most memorable ad campaigns in recent memory, these ad ninjas know how to leverage creativity to the fullest. And by that I mean driving trackable revenue. This book has heavily inspired my thoughts on creativity, messaging, and how to position my company before my competition does it for me. Highly recommended for any business professional. Black turtleneck optional.
It’s a geometry game called Planarity. You simply drag the dots so that no lines are intersecting. It gets harder the more you succeed. Very addicting. Perhaps cubical Minesweeper or Solitaire has finally met its match…
Click for enlarged image. As featured in the March 2007 issue of Connect Magazine (a local trade magazine). Now let’s see if I wasted my money… Whatd’ya think?
One of the things the new Griffio website is lacking, outside of the all important content that is coming soon, is footer paragraphs. Footer paragraphs are a great way to increase your website’s usability, user goals, and traffic via SEO juice. Take this one for example that I use on a fan site I publish:
“Infendo is a gaming blog for gamers passionate about all things Nintendo. The site covers news, tips, cheats, rumors, speculation, reviews, culture, Wii, DS, GameCube, Game Boy Advance and a whole bunch more several times daily. Subscribe to our RSS feed, listen to Infendo Radio — the number one Nintendo podcast on the internet — or send us a tip! Infendo. Always informed.”
As you can see, the footer copy serves as a site summary and a call to action featured at the bottom of every page on the site. It’s keyword rich, it makes sense to humans, and encourages them to further interact with the site in a way we desire. Will your site see an explosion of traffic after implementing such an idea? Probably not. But it’s better than the alternative as analytics prove. White space and a bland copyright statement in your footer is a waste of space despite their clean looks. People like suggestions when reaching the end of content. Make sure you give it to them with well written, key word rich, and action-encouraging footer paragraphs. I promise you’ll see results, however small.
[Thanks, Nicholas]
According to a survey by MediaPost, 50% of 1,100 business respondents feel that viral marketing is a fad. From the article: “A lot of people are asking for viral campaigns because they see a lot of free reach and the creators getting a lot of PR. There’s a lot of desire to do it, but viral is dependent on something big, outrageous or new… It’s hard for everybody to be outrageous, new and funny. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try, but it’s not appropriate for many marketers.”
It’s not a fad, it’s just severely misunderstood. Virality is indirect marketing (which most marketers don’t like and largely don’t understand how to execute), and its success is almost entirely dependent on consumers and consumers alone. That makes for a tricky and unpredictable result.
Seinfeld is the greatest sitcom ever and one of the best comedians of our time, if not the best. With that, 2 Spare has compiled what they dub the 30 funniest Seinfeld quotes. Here are a few of my favs from their list:
According to a recent study, 32% of the city’s households own a video game system, more than any other metropolitan area in the nation. That’s what happens when teetotalers don’t spend their money on booze, or at one of state’s million plus restaurants. Mormons have to do something with their spare time…
Lindsey and I went the doctor today to solidify evidence that she is, in fact, pregnant with our second child. Sadie, our first, is currently a year and a half old. I’m really excited with the prospects of another little mini-me running around the house, filling it with more life than it already has. And I’m really proud of Lindsey, not only as a husband, but as a father too. She really does a great job with Sadie and is very patient while teaching her. She’s hoping for a girl as am I. But a boy would be just as exciting (i.e. the pressure of having both flavors would be off). We’ll find out what we’re having in a couple of months.
A hat tip to any seasoned fathers and mothers out there with lots o’ kids and/or teenagers in the house. I feel for you. Sorta.
I was at lunch today downing a delicious Green Chili Quesadilla from Bajio when I overheard to young bucks discussing sales strategies. They must have both been in their early twenties. The one doing the training was pitching the all too familiar and cliche “assuming the sale” method with a misconstrued twist. Here’s what he said, slightly paraphrased: “You just want to go to the door, and assume the sale. Don’t even ask them if they want to buy your product. Assume they do and move on to payment details, i.e. ‘How do you want to pay for this?'”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at the inexperience of these two knuckleheads. If this wasn’t amateurish, I don’t know what is? At the same time, I’m not the best salesman and could really take a cue from their ambitious “everyone will want our product” approach, but I always ask for the sale. Sometimes I ask several times to metaphorically pinch myself. I realize that’s a no-no on my part. Just today I was talking with an existing client about renewing a monthly consulting engagement. They already said “let’s go again,” but were out of town, so I was unable to formalize the repeat business until today. But I still asked and now realized the client must have been thinking, “Blake, shut up. Let’s do this. I shouldn’t have to tell you to assume the sale, you already freakin’ got it.”
So how do you define the “assuming the sale” strategy from both a salesman and consumer perspective? How have/haven’t you successfully used the method in your sales efforts?
While the PS3 is still learning to crawl, its older brother is running marathons. Like 115 million unit marathons perhaps close to 130 million when it’s all said and done. Despite avoiding specifics, Sony’s Phil Harrison told CNN/Money yesterday that his company would be raising its PS2 sales targets above the already projected 13 million for 2007. If a reality, that means the would-be seven year old console would have sold more in its last year than Microsoft’s 360 did in its first.
Easy. They call your posts, “blogs.” I got an email the other day from a really nice, uninitiated guy that said, “I really like your blogs,” referring to my posts on a single blog. I’ve heard this several times before and can’t think of a time where the person using the inaccurate phrase wasn’t new to blogging. Generally speaking a log, or web log, is a single entity with several entries, though I suppose each entry could technically be called a “log” or “blog.” But for the sake of convention, they’re called blog posts, not “blogs.” Not trying to call out those new to the superior form of information exchange because I think it’s fine, it’s just a funny use case for the word “posts.” (Tries to think of newbie phrases that I use on occasion…)
Smooth Harold is about to break its 600 post in just under two years since its inception. Small fry compared to most. But that’s not the point of this post. My point is that out of that group of 600 articles (some short, some long, some funny, some serious, some just links), could some posts effectively be repurposed and republished to the homepage (in their original form) to the value of current readers without alienating long-time readers? I think so (if and only if the original content is that endearing).
Here’s how it could work. Bloggers would scour their favorite, most commented, most viewed posts from their archives and resyndicate them to their own homepage just like several TV shows resyndicate their content in its original form. I believe TV shows are the only medium that does this, but if in moderation, I think it could work for non-ephemeral blog posts. That may be a bit presumptuous of me to think my content is that prolific, long-lasting, or worthy of republishing, but I think I have a good 10 or 15 pieces lying around that I could repurpose to good reception. What say ye, oh wise readers? Can resyndicated blog content work?
After six and a half months, we’ve just deployed our latest social website built on the Rails framework. We’re pleasantly surprised with the turnout. The new WeightLossWars.com offers tagged browsing, a member profile system, a user-generated blog (hyperaggregated), recipe box, stat tracking of just about anything you want, weight loss competitions, AJAX graphs, and a whole lot more. Sign up for a FREE account today and let me know what you think in the comments. Credits:
Publisher: Chad Blodgett
Architect: Blake Snow
Developer: Robert Bradford
UPDATE: Well this is some nice early praise from Jeff Jordan the sales ninja: “[WeightLossWars] is already my favorite social network… This is the first social network that I have convinced my wife to join. She’s always been a hater of the 2.0 stuff, so this is a big step in our relationship… Congrats to Chad, Blake and the Griffio team for teaming up to make this happen!” Thanks, Jeff!
In addition to blogging for myself, on various side projects, and for Weblogs Inc, I’m going to start blogging for Om Malik this week on his GigaOm Network, specifically GigaGamez which covers the business of video games principally stocks, trends, etc. I’m excited to start working alongside Om and his team in San Francisco, and if you haven’t already noticed, I really like blogging. It’s like my second favorite (now perhaps favorite) thing to do online. It also lends itself well to the other various web projects I’m engaged in on a given day as a consultant.
And for any interested, you can check out my latest article at Next-Generation examing user-generated game content. It might be a bit boring for some, but I really feel this is going to be a big, big space. Everyone and their dog is trying to be the next YouTube, no matter where the conversion is taking place.
PC World has compiled a list of whom they believe to be the 50 most important individuals on the internet. The Google boys take the top spot with all that power they yield, Steve Jobs takes the number 2 spot with all that influence he yields (however warranted), and BitTorrent founder Bram Cohen rounds out the top three. A slew of A-list bloggers also made the list. Check it.
Time magazine’s 2006 Person of the Year was “you.” Not because you’re special, but because of your collective ability to readily produce, publish, and share content with others. It’s called user-generated content, and it’s slowly starting to creep into console video games.
While user-generated game content is no stranger to PCs, it’s clearly in its infancy; especially on consoles.
Wikipedia fittingly describes user-generated content as “various kinds of media content that is produced or primarily influenced by end-users as opposed to traditional media producers, licensed broadcasters, and production companies.”
[via Boing Boing]
Logo Orange has a nice history of big brand logos in alphabetical order. Both logotypes and marks are represented. Designers, get to it.
[via Kottke]
This post comes courtesy of a good friend — Nicholas Roussos — as he so concisely describes and interesting event that transpired in public relations yesterday. First a little background. Sony’s newly launched PlayStation 3 is in a world of hurt. It costs a whopping $600 (Blu-ray included) and people aren’t buying it. The value proposition just isn’t there yet (if ever) on a mass scale. Note: PlayStation brings in 60% of Sony’s total profits.
So yesterday, the world’s largest gaming blog, Kotaku, leaked information that Sony would be releasing a new social networking tool heavily inspired by Nintendo’s and Microsoft’s already existing user-generated content efforts. Sony asks them not to run the story, but Kotaku rightfully does anyway.
About an hour later, Sony blackballs Kotaku from all company relations saying only information in the “public domain” will be made available to Kotaku in their coverage of Sony products. Kotaku publishes Sony’s archaic email ban and fittingly describes the biggest conflict of interest between PR and journalism in a respectful reply to Sony’s head of PR, Dave Karraker: “I think [your reaction] only highlights the differences that PR people and journalists have. My interest is not in making sure that Sony has positive news or that the timing of their news is correct, my job only is to inform the readers of news as quickly and accurately as I can.”
Immediately after Kotaku’s follow up post to their rumor, the internet implodes. Every single gaming blog is quick to criticize Sony’s reaction. The story reaches Digg’s homepage, and Sony’s already negative relationship with consumers spirals even further out of control, all in a matter of hours. Sony quickly caves, and reinvites Kotaku to all of their events, etc. Everything like it was before only Sony leaving having learned a valuable lesson. That is the online conversation changes everything, as Nic states “Cluetrain-style.” The above example shows Sony PR trying to do what traditional PR does; control the message and its timing. Kotaku makes that effort to control public and fosters more leverage against the mighty Sony corporation than it ever could alone. The online conversation is so powerful that even a company as big as Sony has to give in.
TechCrunch is reporting that Adobe will release a FREE, online edition of Photoshop within six months time. I’m a little iffy on its likely performance (since larger PSD’s gobble up so much RAM), but if it’s a suitable alternative, my journey to the webtop will be near complete. Here’s a list of current software I use online, all the time:
I still use iTunes, Dreamweaver, Fetch (ftp), and Photoshop locally, but I’m all about migrating files and tools online in an effort to make my work flow more accessible from anywhere. How much of a webtop are you currently using?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYATbZmz5BU[/youtube]
But I still love technology…[via email]
The most recent issue of Business 2.0 has a great article by Om Malik on hyperaggregation, or sites that aggregate other sites that do niche aggregation of a specific topic. For example, this blog is an aggregator of web, business, tech news, etc with a local Utah flare. My blog is also hyperaggregated by Connect Magazine that also aggregates other specific bloggers on a variety of topics though mostly focused on business issues. At some point Connect will likely post ads and start earning revenues merely by aggregating the best content. In theory, they will incur little to no content costs. The reason? People pay (in this case via attention and their time) for convenience, so as we get bombarded with even more worthwhile content, expect hyperaggregators to profitably compliment the big aggregators already out there.
Reading the article also makes me a bit sad to remember a project I was working on 9 months ago. It was an editorialized hyperaggregator built in WordPress that aimed to collect the best individual blog posts across a variety of topics. It was aptly named ContentDJ (one of the better site names I think I’ve come up with). Independent publishers signed up with our site for the chance to increase their exposure and ultimately take a cut in future ad revenues. I believe in a short few weeks with no exposure resulted in several hundred independent publishers. Sadly, my funding got cut, the site never left Alpha, and I currently don’t have the resources to keep it going though I still plan on seeing it realized.
On a related note, Griffio won a small account with Podango a few weeks ago to build a website for their newly launched Latest At… service which hyperaggregates the best of the best on big social websites like YouTube, MySpace, even PerezHilton.com. So take note: hyperaggretion will likely do very well in the coming months.
I don’t care what calculated advice your PR company gives you, this is how you start correcting a mistake if you run a consumer business, or any business for that matter. It’s called a sincere apology and it’s been helping men stay out of the dog house since the dawn of time. Watch as JetBlue CEO David Neeleman publicly apologizes on YouTube to his customers. He takes full responsibility after leaving numerous passengers stranded on a frozen tarmac for 10.5 hours at JFK. Admirable.
My wife Lindsey is learning the piano taking formal weekly lessons. She used play when she was younger, but has since forgotten some of her chops. So for the last 6-7 months, she has been practicing often after she puts the baby down to sleep. The sweet sound fills our house. Though she doesn’t yet sound like Mozart, Liszt, or Beethoven, the aural harmony of progress, practice, effort, hard work, and dedication is music to my ears.
It’s very motivating for me to hear this change in action. My line of work is either visual, experiential, or cognitive so my ears don’t get to participate in gauging my development (if any). So outside of practicing musical instruments, I can’t think of many skills where you can hear actual progress aloud. Keep up the good work, Lindz!
I started work on a project for the Podango boys a few weeks ago. Podango, like myself, all work virtually out of home offices. The saved overhead, non-existent commute, and luxury of remaining close to family is twenty first century goodness, yes. But one of the biggest downsides in working from home is when you and the client need a good ole fashion conference room or business office for necessary several-person meetings. In the past, I’ve mustered up private library rooms or a quiet restaurant, but they’ve always been far from ideal. Since neither I or Podango have a central office, their team recommended we meet at Noah’s in Lindon, Utah. “What’s Noah’s?” I asked. “It’s a multi-purpose rental building with online bookings,” they replied. “Cool,” I thought, but I had my doubts.
I was wrong. Noah’s great and spacious multi-purpose rental building is awesome! It has business rooms, gaming rooms, racket ball courts, basketball court, studio rooms, rec centers, reception rooms, private theatre and even a freakin‘ ice skating rink. All the business rooms include 50 inch plasmas, mini-bar, bottled water, 20″ iMacs, leather sofas, conference table white board, laptop to TV cables, free wireless, and our room even had a pool table to boot. It’s a very nice, flexible, and accommodating facility. You book a room (for as little as $18/hour) online or by phone and they send you a passkey with a room number. Granted, our key didn’t work right away, so we had to get assistance, but the place is only a couple of weeks old. Kinks are expected, but I see this thing as having tons of potential. Expect to see several more of these facilities in the near future as more and more individuals work from home. Me and Noah’s Rental Ark are tight right now.
I like music. I like it even better in iTunes. So with that, here are the artists, albums, and songs heavy in my rotation for early 2007 ordered by ones I’m listening to the most. Nota bene: these aren’t necessarily what have been released in early 2007, just what I’m currently listening to:
Of course, my playlists are also peppered with 80’s, classical, and a bunch of other stuff, but this is what has my attention as of late. I’m also anticipating Air’s new album due March 5 (new single here). Mmmm. Air. What are you currently listening to?
I did something yesterday that I don’t recall doing before. With exception to a single message, I avoided my email from 8am-6pm while still working. No gmail, no Blackberry, no nothing. I had to finish up a magazine article by this morning and needed the extra focus and added attention to get it done. I have a personal goal of replying to every action email within 2 business hours, so this was hard for me to do. But having put out existing fires and working under a tight deadline, it worked. And you know what, I actually enjoyed it. Ordinarily, I treat my email like life support, so it was nice to break away and breathe on my own terms as opposed to constantly checking my mail at all hours of the day, including nights. I should do this again.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to check my email…
Don’t have time to read every popular business book out there? Read the book summaries at either Wikipedia or Wiki Summaries. These “Cliff Notes” of sorts work great for buzz terms, new ideas, and heavy meme books like the following:
The list could go on and on. Just Wiki a popular book and have at it. Of course, this isn’t a substitute for that excellent thing called actual reading, but it’s a great way to stay up to date, if not refresh yourself on the key ideas of emerging (or repackaged) concepts in business.
It has been said that almost 80% of all IT projects go over schedule and budget. That’s huge. And since I build web software for a living, I’ve had my share of mistakes. But fortunately, I learned early on that superior project management can significantly curtail delays and rising costs thus increasing the chances of a client leaving happy.
Over the past two years, Griffio has completed 92% of its projects on time and 84% under budget. I’m very proud of that result and hope the trend continues as I learn knew ways of speeding up the development process through better communication. So why do most IT projects fail? Information Week writes: “Technology projects very seldom fail for technology reasons. By far the highest percentage of failures results from human communication issues.”
In short, good project management is a must. And good project management is all about managing both client and developer expectations. For example, what specifically is included in an engagement, and more importantly, what’s not. Have an open door policy and don’t be afraid to lay your feelings out on the table when problems arise (and they will). Project management isn’t rocket science. It’s just good ole fashion accountability using delivery milestones, progress updates, and honesty up front when things aren’t going as planned.
Funny how smaller buyers still devalue software that arguably takes just as much time if not more than physical tangible products like homes, buildings, and cars. Developers: you’ve seen this before. Keep moving forward. Prospective clients: take note, and if you’ve done this, don’t ever do it again. Complete rotating .gif here.
A while back, I received an email invite from both my wife and a colleague of mine. The request was for me to share five things you may not know about me on this here blog. I believe the meme phenomenon was called “blog tagging” or something. Well, here’s number one (others to follow periodically… maybe).
First off, I don’t drink alcohol. So after turning sour on coke, juice, and other soda varieties all the time, I decided to ask for a virgin drink while dinning at a restaurant a few years back. The only kiddie cocktail they offered was a Shirley Temple, so I obliged and have been in love with them ever since. So much that just last weekend I bought a bunch Sprite and grenadine and having been sucking down the cherry-lime goodness to no end during the busy first months of the year. It’s gotten so bad, that I drink the things at all hours of the day. Just listen to what my wife said as I prepared yet another Shirley Temple over brunch this morning: “Blake, it’s 10 in the morning!!??” True story.
So yeah, I love Shirley Temples. If they weren’t virgin, I’d be a drunk.
In an effort to be a better human being while attempting to do what countless others have done for me, I’m launching two new social features on Smooth Harold. The first is the Smooth Harold Helpdesk. If you have a specific question you think I might be able to answer (business, web, personal, etc), don’t hesitate to ask via email, phone, or in person. I’ll usually respond same day when possible and free of charge. If I don’t know the answer, chances are I can refer you to someone who does. And no, this isn’t quid pro quo (really), it’s just a genuine attempt to share the little that I’ve learned from talking with people smarter than me, reading good books, and seeing what sticks.
The second offering is perhaps an extension of the first; it’s an open invitation to share lunch with any one either living in or visiting the greater Salt Lake area regardless if I know you personally or not. I remember a little over a year ago being down and out in business. I had just become a first-time father and hadn’t taken home a paycheck in over three months due to slow sales. Swallowing my pride, I asked an individual whom I respected but didn’t know if he’d be willing to go to lunch and answer some of my questions. It was one of the most helpfully and motivational experiences I’ve had as an entrepreneur in progress and was just the antidote I needed to keep going. (Thanks, Josh!) All you have to do is ask, and there are plenty of other people out there willing to do the same. So have your people call my people; we’ll do lunch! Of course, I don’t have an entourage of people, so you can just contact me or have your entourage contact me.
See the updated sidebar for complete details on both.