Information Technology Dark Side

Disclaimer Look, I’m a 37Signals fanboy. Why deny it? I’ve been reading their blog for years, and the stories behind their success with products such as Basecamp and Highrise inspired me to launch TroopTrack.com, which will be two years old pretty soon. So don’t expect me to be all critical. Just sayin’. Here are five [...]

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This isn’t the kind of thing I usually write about, but since so many of you travel I thought you should know about this problem. FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) – The discovery of special “toilet cams” in multiple U.S. airports has left airport security experts scratching their heads and travelers wondering whether their private moments [...]

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Believe it or not, this post is eventually a book review. The Presumption There is a strange logical commonality between those who deny the feasibility of creationism and those who deny the validity of the science of evolution. I say it’s strange because the two factions couldn’t be more at odds with each other – [...]

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Yesterday I had an irritating incident with ZenDesk, the SaaS provider of the help desk used at Collaborative Software Initiative (where I work) and TroopTrack.com (a hobby project of mine). I asked for a new feature in the public forums and got this terse reply from Jake Holman at ZenDesk: Automations are for batch administrative [...]

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Keith Owens, from East Aurora, NY sent this very intelligent response to my previous post Where are the Smart Caterpillars and Cool Humanoids?. This response came via Dave Harp, a friend and neighbor. Thanks to both Keith and Dave! Here’s Keith’s response in full: First, taking the big picture, there’s no doubt at all that [...]

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I mentioned a few weeks back that this blog was going to have a broader focus than in the past. Well, this post might suggest that I now have a completely random focus! At any rate, it’s my first attempt at waxing philosophical on these pages. Disclaimer: Don’t Blame Religion First off, let me make [...]

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This tip is based on my own experiences of late. I’m very curious how other testers/developers feel about this tip. State the PROBLEM Clearly in a Single Sentence It’s easy to confuse stating the CONDITION with stating the PROBLEM. Here are two simple examples, one states the condition, the other states the problem: The Scout [...]

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Lo-Glo as You Go Globalizing and localizing a Rails app isn’t hard work, but it’s mind-numbingly tedious if you have to do it all at once. Trust me. You’ll be happier if you lo-glo as you go, so just do it if there is the slightest possibility you’ll need to later on. REST Along the [...]

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A Goal to Dream On How do you think a company should set it’s growth goals for a SaaS product prior to its launch? What do you think those goals should be? What criteria might you use to figure it out? Would you look at market size, price point, competition market share, etc? When I [...]

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You are an extrovert. You consider drugs, alcohol, porn, food, or video games an adequate substitute for human beings. You value a clear distinction between work and life. You already have marginal hygiene. You can’t afford to buy 7 new pairs of pajamas all at once. That is all. Happy Friday!

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