Project Idealism
If you're interested in my take on the iPad, along with what it means to the Android world, check out this post on the Duarlander blog.
Short term planning does not mean short term thinking
One of the great things about the world of software development right now is the growing acceptance that you know more about something after you've started working on it, and understanding that you know the very least at the beginning of your project. This means less time spent up front trying to figure out every little detail, getting to work, and iterating as required.
This is a great approach and I've seen first hand how effective developing in this manner can be. The first version of GoFind! was designed and built in just under 6 weeks. We then released small updates about once a week for another four weeks. I kid around with my brother who works at a large insurance company that we probably built a product in less time than it would take them just to get a job requisition approved.
There's a significant distinction though that I don't feel like I hear many people talking about. Just because you aren't planning for everything far out in the future, doesn't mean you shouldn't be thinking about the future.
You still want to be aware of the direction you're heading.
Maybe you're a small company that wants to stay true to your core values, remain quick, and always be flexible. Because of this the actions you take today are done with the understanding of how you want your company to be in the future. You may not be planning for two years from now, but you're aware of how the decisions you make today will affect your overall goals. To me, this is long term thinking.
Let's take another, but this time more fun, example. You're leaving Chicago on a road trip out to Yosemite National Park in California. Instead of planning every detail of your trip though, you just decide that you'll stay at a hotel when it makes sense, camp where you can, eat when you feel like it, do some sightseeing along the way, and you're just going to take it easy. Awesome.
Here's the thing; this whole time you're still aware that you want to actually get to Yosemite. If during the course of your leisurely approach to getting there you find yourself heading Northeast for a couple hundred miles, it's probably a good idea to ask yourself if you still want to make it to California. Regardless of your answer, as long as you asked yourself that question, you just engaged in long term thinking.
In your world, this might mean understanding that separate systems are going to eventually need to communicate with each other in order to be effective. It might mean choosing WordPress for your client over building a website from scratch because you know they're going to want to maintain everything themselves. In another situation it might mean hiring a developer based not only on their proficiency in one programming language, but also the likelihood that they'll be able to learn another one.
As we spend less time planning for tomorrow, I believe we need to spend a little more time understanding how our actions today are going to affect us in the future.
If you're planning less, that's great. Just start thinking more as well.
This is a great approach and I've seen first hand how effective developing in this manner can be. The first version of GoFind! was designed and built in just under 6 weeks. We then released small updates about once a week for another four weeks. I kid around with my brother who works at a large insurance company that we probably built a product in less time than it would take them just to get a job requisition approved.
There's a significant distinction though that I don't feel like I hear many people talking about. Just because you aren't planning for everything far out in the future, doesn't mean you shouldn't be thinking about the future.
You still want to be aware of the direction you're heading.
Maybe you're a small company that wants to stay true to your core values, remain quick, and always be flexible. Because of this the actions you take today are done with the understanding of how you want your company to be in the future. You may not be planning for two years from now, but you're aware of how the decisions you make today will affect your overall goals. To me, this is long term thinking.
Let's take another, but this time more fun, example. You're leaving Chicago on a road trip out to Yosemite National Park in California. Instead of planning every detail of your trip though, you just decide that you'll stay at a hotel when it makes sense, camp where you can, eat when you feel like it, do some sightseeing along the way, and you're just going to take it easy. Awesome.
Here's the thing; this whole time you're still aware that you want to actually get to Yosemite. If during the course of your leisurely approach to getting there you find yourself heading Northeast for a couple hundred miles, it's probably a good idea to ask yourself if you still want to make it to California. Regardless of your answer, as long as you asked yourself that question, you just engaged in long term thinking.
In your world, this might mean understanding that separate systems are going to eventually need to communicate with each other in order to be effective. It might mean choosing WordPress for your client over building a website from scratch because you know they're going to want to maintain everything themselves. In another situation it might mean hiring a developer based not only on their proficiency in one programming language, but also the likelihood that they'll be able to learn another one.
As we spend less time planning for tomorrow, I believe we need to spend a little more time understanding how our actions today are going to affect us in the future.
If you're planning less, that's great. Just start thinking more as well.
You are a genius.
You are a genius. You don't think you are? Well Seth Godin does (he thinks I'm one too) and this is how he opens his new book Linchpin. After reading it you will see that you are, in fact, the genius he claims you to be. The only question that remains is whether you will choose to overcome the resistance.
This book is about art, politics, gifts, education, money, economics, business, society, fear, talent, love, evolution and leadership. I consider it an honor to have had the opportunity to read this book before it's public release on January 26th, and I'm humbled to be part of the crowd that is posting reviews.
Seth explains that much of what is happening in the world today is because we're in the midst of another kind of industrial revolution. Suddenly, success doesn't depend on fitting in, doing well in school, or landing the perfect job. Success now is loving what you do, creating art, and then (here's the hard part) showing it to the world by shipping it.
You don't do art? He's not talking about painting, or photography, though he certainly could be and does at times. He's talking about taking what you do, and doing it amazingly well. Doing it with emotional labor. Doing it in a way, essentially, that makes you irreplaceable.
Linchpins don't worry about a 15% unemployment rate. We're needed now more than ever before. Are you replaceable? Why?
We live in a world, Seth explains, where we are all manufacturers. The barrier to entry in the new factory of production is now a high speed internet connection and a computer. We have only just begun to see the transformation of our economy, and our society; and that this thing we call the internet is still in it's infancy. We live in a world where we can now, all of us, make something. We are all creators. We are all inventors. We are all artists.
We are all amazing.
Let me ask you a few questions. What if the education you received was designed to prepare you to work in a factory that no longer exists? What if instead of being rewarded for doing work you were rewarded for creating art? What if the "safe" thing was dangerous and the "dangerous" thing was actually safe? What if part of your brain was constantly working to hold you back?
Seth explains in Linchpin that these aren't "ifs", but instead outlines how we are, by in large, a people who have had the artist beaten out of us. We were trained to be replaceable cogs in a giant factory optimized for efficiency. A factory that, by the way, can be a row of cubicles in New York just as easily as it can be an assembly line in Detroit. Pretty much everyone in your life who has told you to fit in, that your idea was silly, that you should have a backup plan - they've all conspired to keep you from being amazing.
And then there's your lizard brain. This part of our brain controls our "fight or flight" response and other basic instincts. It's what kept us safe, alive and evolving. Now however, our Lizard brain is actually holding us back.
"Trust me", Seth seems to be saying, "you will not be eaten by a tiger if you publish that book, pitch that idea, give that speech, or write that book review."
Probably my favorite thing about this book though is the way it makes you feel about your ideas. I think the way Seth Godin would put it, is that he presents his ideas in a way that allow you to see them through your worldview. The result is, you don't feel as if you've just been given a bunch of ideas by someone, or that someone else has injected their beliefs into your brain. Rather, it's as if your own ideas have simply been shaken loose.
The skill this takes as a writer is almost beyond my comprehension.
What Seth Godin has done with Linchpin is motivated his reader to see their ideas, understand why they hold themselves back, and most importantly challenges us to create and ship.
There are few books in the world that can make you think you can be a better spouse, parent, artist, and business person all at the same time. His book is a gift to all of us, and I highly recommend you check it out.
You can buy Linchpin starting Tuesday, January 26th by way of Amazon, a regular book store, on the kindle, or as an audio book.
-----------------------
In case you're interested in how I came into an early copy of the book, Seth gave his blog readers the opportunity to join him in a bit of an experiment when he wrote this post, giving us the first chance to review his new book before anyone else.
In 48 hours, Seth Godin gave away 3,000 copies of his book and raised over $100,000 for the Acumen fund.
----------------------
This post is also being published, verbatim, on another blog I write on at http://blog.duarlander.com
This book is about art, politics, gifts, education, money, economics, business, society, fear, talent, love, evolution and leadership. I consider it an honor to have had the opportunity to read this book before it's public release on January 26th, and I'm humbled to be part of the crowd that is posting reviews.
Seth explains that much of what is happening in the world today is because we're in the midst of another kind of industrial revolution. Suddenly, success doesn't depend on fitting in, doing well in school, or landing the perfect job. Success now is loving what you do, creating art, and then (here's the hard part) showing it to the world by shipping it.
You don't do art? He's not talking about painting, or photography, though he certainly could be and does at times. He's talking about taking what you do, and doing it amazingly well. Doing it with emotional labor. Doing it in a way, essentially, that makes you irreplaceable.
Linchpins don't worry about a 15% unemployment rate. We're needed now more than ever before. Are you replaceable? Why?
We live in a world, Seth explains, where we are all manufacturers. The barrier to entry in the new factory of production is now a high speed internet connection and a computer. We have only just begun to see the transformation of our economy, and our society; and that this thing we call the internet is still in it's infancy. We live in a world where we can now, all of us, make something. We are all creators. We are all inventors. We are all artists.
We are all amazing.
Let me ask you a few questions. What if the education you received was designed to prepare you to work in a factory that no longer exists? What if instead of being rewarded for doing work you were rewarded for creating art? What if the "safe" thing was dangerous and the "dangerous" thing was actually safe? What if part of your brain was constantly working to hold you back?
Seth explains in Linchpin that these aren't "ifs", but instead outlines how we are, by in large, a people who have had the artist beaten out of us. We were trained to be replaceable cogs in a giant factory optimized for efficiency. A factory that, by the way, can be a row of cubicles in New York just as easily as it can be an assembly line in Detroit. Pretty much everyone in your life who has told you to fit in, that your idea was silly, that you should have a backup plan - they've all conspired to keep you from being amazing.
And then there's your lizard brain. This part of our brain controls our "fight or flight" response and other basic instincts. It's what kept us safe, alive and evolving. Now however, our Lizard brain is actually holding us back.
"Trust me", Seth seems to be saying, "you will not be eaten by a tiger if you publish that book, pitch that idea, give that speech, or write that book review."
Probably my favorite thing about this book though is the way it makes you feel about your ideas. I think the way Seth Godin would put it, is that he presents his ideas in a way that allow you to see them through your worldview. The result is, you don't feel as if you've just been given a bunch of ideas by someone, or that someone else has injected their beliefs into your brain. Rather, it's as if your own ideas have simply been shaken loose.
The skill this takes as a writer is almost beyond my comprehension.
What Seth Godin has done with Linchpin is motivated his reader to see their ideas, understand why they hold themselves back, and most importantly challenges us to create and ship.
There are few books in the world that can make you think you can be a better spouse, parent, artist, and business person all at the same time. His book is a gift to all of us, and I highly recommend you check it out.
You can buy Linchpin starting Tuesday, January 26th by way of Amazon, a regular book store, on the kindle, or as an audio book.
-----------------------
In case you're interested in how I came into an early copy of the book, Seth gave his blog readers the opportunity to join him in a bit of an experiment when he wrote this post, giving us the first chance to review his new book before anyone else.
In 48 hours, Seth Godin gave away 3,000 copies of his book and raised over $100,000 for the Acumen fund.
----------------------
This post is also being published, verbatim, on another blog I write on at http://blog.duarlander.com
Duarlander Update
Readers of this blog know that a little while ago we launched Duarlander, a community based approach to application testing for the Android Operating System. In the past few days we've gotten a little press and have gained some nice traction.
We still have a ton of work to do to get the word out, but the past few days have been really exciting.
I'm also writing on the Duarlander Blog, so you may want to consider stopping by there every now and then or subscribing to that RSS feed as well.
We still have a ton of work to do to get the word out, but the past few days have been really exciting.
I'm also writing on the Duarlander Blog, so you may want to consider stopping by there every now and then or subscribing to that RSS feed as well.
New year, new direction, new website
I've mentioned previously that I was making some changes with my business this year, and along with this is the launch of a new website. The old site was feeling kind of out dated, and I didn't think it really shared the company's direction any longer.
When I started thinking about a site redesign, I kept coming back to the idea of having images that I could click on and then see the text from some of my favorite blog posts. I had actually started the search for someone to work with to redesign my site, but ultimately it turned out that I was going to have to do this myself. I've no doubt the people I was talking to would have done an awesome job, but I had to limit the amount of money I was going to spend.
Much to my delight, I came across a very minimalist template on ThemeForest that I liked quite a bit. ThemeForest allows you to download all the .css files, .html files, images, etc. For the non-technical of you, it's basically a pre-built website, but where you can edit the text and the images.
This template was great also because it demanded a bare minimum amount of content. It forced me to keep everything very short and to the point. My old website was filled with content, so this gave me the opportunity to see how something that's the polar opposite of my old site would perform in terms of people contacting me after visiting.
Huge thanks to Bill Labus of labusdesign for this great design. I'm really happy with how it turned out, and would love to hear what you think about it.
When I started thinking about a site redesign, I kept coming back to the idea of having images that I could click on and then see the text from some of my favorite blog posts. I had actually started the search for someone to work with to redesign my site, but ultimately it turned out that I was going to have to do this myself. I've no doubt the people I was talking to would have done an awesome job, but I had to limit the amount of money I was going to spend.
Much to my delight, I came across a very minimalist template on ThemeForest that I liked quite a bit. ThemeForest allows you to download all the .css files, .html files, images, etc. For the non-technical of you, it's basically a pre-built website, but where you can edit the text and the images.
This template was great also because it demanded a bare minimum amount of content. It forced me to keep everything very short and to the point. My old website was filled with content, so this gave me the opportunity to see how something that's the polar opposite of my old site would perform in terms of people contacting me after visiting.
Huge thanks to Bill Labus of labusdesign for this great design. I'm really happy with how it turned out, and would love to hear what you think about it.