Archive for the 'misc.' Category

June 10th, 2169

Published by brian on June 10, 2008 in misc.. 0 Comments

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On this day in 1847, the Chicago Tribune began publication. With the decline in newspaper circulation & change in people’s media consumption habits; take a few minutes to imagine what they’ll be saying about the internet in 161 years. The manner in which we access & interact with it currently will be so foreign by 2169; people will have a difficult time comprehending how what we do now was the norm. They won’t have to access anything because it will just be there; on demand & ready to fly. Who knows, it might not even be called the internet by that time.

Your work space & internet activity will be more Minority Report than contracts, notes, laptops, & smartphones. Astronauts will have already traveled to & from Mars, hopefully our dependence on oil will be minimal, the city of Philadelphia may have won a championship…let your mind wander for a bit. How do you think people will be interacting with each other & information more than half way through the twenty second century?


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Beautifully Articulated

Published by brian on May 5, 2008 in misc.. 2 Comments

It’s not often I’m at a loss for words, but I have been struggling for a better way to convey something I think & use to guide me every day.  If you’re going to be something, be it.  If you’re going to do something, do it.  Not very profound; I know this.  I feel like it belongs up there with, “We know the knowns, but we don’t know the unknowns.”  Someone actually said that in a meeting a couple years ago (I’ve definitely heard it many times from others since) & I think I almost flew out of my chair.  

Seth Godin’s post Avoiding the Passion Pop Gulf could not have illustrated my thoughts any better.  All too often, I see businesses getting stuck in the middle.  They seem paralyzed by indecision, as if all available options are the best.  Without capable decision makers providing clear direction you end up settling.  By chance, you may end up achieving a modicum of success, but you will just be another consideration among a plethora of options.

When you compromise your goals, you end up with an incoherent plan & many confused people executing it.  There is no strategy or your strategy is not sound; that is no way to compete.  Don’t make me quote Sun Tzu again!

If you want to be all things to all people, you run the risk of being nothing to no one.


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The Allegory of My Pink Tie

Published by brian on April 28, 2008 in misc.. 3 Comments

Too often we limit our options &, consequently, experiences with silly thoughts based on nothing but a particular preference or preconceived notion.  There is nothing wrong with going with your gut instinct, but we need to be open to the thoughts, opinions, & experience of others…especially those you know are or pay to be knowledgeable.  Because, to be honest, your gut could be terribly misleading.  Mine is whenever I think it’s a good idea to eat large burritos before hitting the gym.  Dummy.

I am not the biggest fan of pink &, until this weekend, never owned anything pink.  Did not previously consider it much past my initial thought of hell no.  While not fully fashion-forward, I am aware of trends, styles, seasonality, etc.  I am also aware that if you are a guy, own a pink polo, & pop your collar…well, let’s just say my thoughts on that belong somewhere like this. 

I stopped by Macy’s Saturday morning to purchase a new tie for a wedding I was attending that day.  Not having much time, I flagged down one of the sales associates (completely bypassing the very elderly lady…Lord knows she had no sense of style) & asked for help.  One condition…no pink.  It would not have taken a genius to observe I severely limited her options (I’d advise you stop by the men’s department in Macy’s…you’ll see what I mean). 

Ten minutes later we had two lame ties.  Time was running out (was heading out of town in 20 minutes) & I was nowhere closer to getting what I wanted.  Finally, I relented & she almost immediately added five ties from which I would choose. 

I chose & wore a pink tie & looked good.  What exactly was I thinking all this time?  I wasn’t; I’ve always thought the saturation of pink on dudes was just stupid.  There was plenty of external influences around to guide me in a different direction, but I was NEVER OPEN TO THEM.  While I don’t love pink ties as much as my Treo (your iPhone is overrated…nice keyboard), there is a much higher probability I’ll wear this tie again & buy another.

Editor’s Note: None of Brian’s friends or family are allowed to use he & his pink tie against him.  He knows you jerks have them, too…probably some pink shirts in there as well.  He also said he knows where you live…even if he hasn’t actually been to your house yet.


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Creadibility

Published by brian on April 6, 2008 in misc.. 2 Comments

Or should I call it creditivity? Unsure what I’m talking about? I am merely combining credibility & creativity for the purpose of this discussion & certainly not trying to invent any kind of catchy jargon.

Matt McDonald published a quick & thought-provoking post last week. There is no shortage of voiced opinion within the digital realm. Combined with the numerous methods available to aggregate, view & share content, you basically get a lot of words thrown in your general direction all day, every day. It’s a challenge to digest everything let alone decipher it. Depending on your tolerance level, it can be quite difficult to accomplish either.

Let’s take a look at the definitions of both. As you can see, the two are certainly not co-dependent.

  • Creativity: the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination.
  • Credibility: the quality, capability, or power to elicit belief.

If you are to believe that no ideas are truly original, potentially skewing one’s perception of creativity, then the argument can be made that more emphasis should be placed on credibility. When applied to business, leaders are looking for ideas that can make a positive impact with measured results. What is the likeliness an idea morphs into a tangible & valuable product or service?

This type of approach can handcuff the decision-making process. If you are not willing to take risks with creativity, is it possible to be innovative? How, then, would you achieve credible creativity?

Both have their own mutual exclusivity, but combined are more powerful. It’s a dizzying, circular argument; I am merely expressing my opinion. What’s yours?


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I Was Bored

Published by brian on March 29, 2008 in misc.. 2 Comments

Last night, I decided I was not going to wake up until, at the very least, noon today. That was shot when I couldn’t fall back asleep and it was 8:30 am. Horrible. Since then, I’ve accomplished the following…

  • Freshly grounded and brewed a cup of coffee
  • Drank it - Trader Joe’s Volcano; recommended although it’s not in my top 10
  • Exchanged a few texts with Pfluger, confirming that skipping an alumni golf outing was wise (temperature at 7:30 am tee time was below freezing) - no chalepa ta kala today
  • Flipped my iPod on shuffle
  • Received an entirely too positive-sounding text from Hammer, who went
  • Adjusted the size of my new RSS button
  • Ate the last of the taco pizza
  • Discovered the fancy AJAX thinger that enabled in-page navigation and live search for this site did weird things in Firefox. And by weird things I mean no page resolved and it looped endlessly.
    • 79% of my traffic uses Firefox (thank you, Google Analytics), but view fully 1.5 and 2 pages less per visit than Internet Explorer and Safari users respectively.
    • IE users spend a minute and a half longer on this site than Firefox users.
    • I’ve removed this functionality, replaced it with the standard archivery (yes, I just made up a word) and am now curious to see if Firefox users begin to view more pages per visit and spend more time.

Makes sense to try and improve the experience for my largest audience, wouldn’t you say? Big ups to my usability, analytics, development, & QA teams.

Opportunities for improvement are everywhere. Identify, act/change, measure, record, repeat…agility is the key. But first, you must do something.

It’s now 12:34 pm and time for me to do something else…


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