The Treasury just killed the penny. That is the wrong fix for the right problem. The problem is not the coin. The problem is that a dollar today buys about what a nickel bought in 1940. We did not lose the penny's usefulness. We lost the dollar's. The fix is not eliminating the smallest unit of our currency. The fix is putting the zero...

A social media post tried to tell people if they were smart 30 years ago, they should have invested $100/mo in Birkshire Hathaway. It showed a video steadily Maybe it's a dig on Warren or a poke in the eyes of the wealthy? Who knows. When I was in my Technology Management Masters, we had a class in business valuation. The guy who taugh...

Watching the Landman had me explore the state of energy production. We are already in a slow squeeze. The life I knew in the 20th Century just own't be there. Based on the latest projections, we know the old oil fields are drying up. Shale oil levels off in the 2030s. Middle eastern oil will become more expensive to extract. We keep be...

You've had the feeling. An idea forms clean and complete in your head, and by the time you get it onto the page it's gone soft at the edges. That's not a failure of talent. It's what happens when a mind tries to do a filing cabinet's job. David Allen said it plainly in Getting Things Done: your mind is for having ideas, not holding the...

I remain fascinated by the Supreme Court and how it shapes American jurisprudence. The eleven blockbuster cases of this term show this Court is clearly tightening its grip on constitutional lines and reshaped American governance by strictly limiting federal agency overreach and police surveillance, while stepping back to let states cal...

A local weatherman stood in front of the warming stripes the other night, the blue-to-red bands that have become the climate movement's favorite icon, and he was beaming. The image is worth pausing on, not for what it says about the climate but for what it says about the man pointing at it. He was not reporting a finding. He was testif...

With all the hubbub about time zones, I thought I would offer an alternative. We've lived under the Standard/Daylight model as long as most of us have been alive. It's frustrating. For nine months a year things are fine. Then just when it gets dark out, BANG, it gets darker. Half a century ago we tried permanent Daylight Savings Time. ...

The May Day teacher rallies became a bit of a topic here in North Carolina. Teachers here in Wake county specifically complained about not being paid enough. A politician highlighted Wake's "supplies" budget and equated it to classroom spending. I went to law school because I was tired of having people tell me what the law meant. I wan...

If you need production-grade applications running at geographically distributed locations without depending on a central server, and your development talent won't come on-premise, keep reading. I sat in on a Lexmark talk at a ServiceNow conference years ago. Their challenge was finding shadow IT actively hidden by non-US companies. One...

I consume a lot of content. Podcasts, blog posts, YouTube transcripts, conference talks. The problem isn't finding good material. The problem is extracting the useful parts before the next thing buries it. BLUF. I have a simple workflow where I paste a transcript or article into Claude and type "tl;dr" — and it returns a set of structu...

I was told in 2002 that code automation would replace me by 2004. Twenty-three years later, I think someone finally made good on the threat; just not in the way any of us expected. Boris Cherny, head of Claude Code at Anthropic, recently sat down with Lenny Rachitsky and said something that would have gotten him laughed out of any conf...

In today's fast-paced work environment, effective time management is crucial for both individual and organizational productivity. By understanding the concepts of Maker Time and Manager Time, organizations can create a more balanced and efficient work environment. Maker Time refers to dedicated, uninterrupted time for focused, creative...

I was thinking a bit about my developer career circa 2001-2004. I was told in 2002 that code automation would replace me by 2004. It was a dubious claim made by someone who was trying to goad me; when I was more susceptible to goading than I am now. At the time, I was building a somewhat impressive automation capability with web UI in ...

Joy at Work: A Revolutionary Approach to Fun on the Job by Dennis Bakke presents a unique perspective on how to create a joyful and productive work environment. Dennis Bakke, co-founder of the energy company AES, shares his experiences and philosophy on leadership and organizational culture. Here are the key points from the book: Empow...

Over the past few years, the US Supreme Court has engaged on a steady campaign to address systemic problems with US jurisprudence. At least, in my layman's opinion informed by having graduated law school 18 years ago where I focused on constitutional issues. But I assert this is a patient effort to re-establish the Constitution as the ...

This seems to be the weekend for organization. Twenty years ago, I heard about Bob's Rules of Order, which is a lighter weight version of Robert's Rules. I recently started hearing about the Johnny Decimal system, a lightweight but comprehensive way to organize digital information. The Johnny Decimal website goes into the full details ...

I wanted to mention a YouTube video that just came out that I think is inspiring and might help you. It's called "The Cult of Done" by No Boilerplate (9min). He describes 13 principles focused on doing. The principles: 1. There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion. 2. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps...

This post captures some of my notes from the book Toyota Kata, by Mike Rother. I started reading it in 2021 and paused after getting about a third of the way through. I'll periodically update it as I finish it. One major take away from my reading about the Toyota Way and their system of improvement is that Toyota risks nothing in givin...

After over 50 years I've heard a lot of different approaches to giving advice. This podcast that I'm linking below provides a very well considered approach to how to view the space of getting advice and the like. Including when looking at best practices that industry may have to offer, or solutions that have worked for other people tha...

https://world.hey.com/dhh/we-have-left-the-cloud-251760fb Just a reference, but also interesting. If you look through his entire series, he talks about how once a system has become mature, then it is better to leave the Cloud. This would equally be true for systems that have a limited set of users. Cloud is not an inexpensive solution ...

With the explosion of AI, I wanted to offer a use case I've found helpful for me that might interest you. In 2022, I released four novels that I spent 12 years rewriting. As a plotter, my characters often derail scenes, rendering my treatments useless for quick reminders of the novels. Some treatments are missing. To accurately fill in...

I've held back on this blog, and thinking perhaps it is better shared somewhere else. But, These thoughts do not occur to me in the hustle and bustle of work. They do, rather, but not at a time where I can jot my thoughts down. Of course, when I'm home, I should be focused on writing and publishing novels. (More on this below) In fact,...

Through the blog, I talk about frameworks and maturity models. The are a mixed bag, like any business strategy or tactic. Some view them as a panacea; others a fad. The Capability Maturity Model (CMM) is one of those concepts that has stayed around for a while. I talked about some of this a few posts back. (Note, I don't always email m...

I served in the Army for 9 years, joining during the First Gulf War and leaving a bit before the second. I loved my job because success required I learn about everything and become an expert on random topics. It's a career trait that persists 22 years later. When I think of organizational regulatory compliance, my experience has been t...

I've been going for several months about various topics relating to technology management. I am taking a slight pivot to discuss what I have experienced going to Hey for my email. Without getting into its marketing spiel, Hey is yet-another email platform. It is pro-privacy, and low-noise. You are required to intentionally screen in se...

Maturity models can be a divisive topic. Used correctly, they set a path for an organization that has enough process and documentation to survive the varying competence of its leaders and employees. Used improperly, they become a cudgel to beat down employee morale and creativity. My first exposure was to DOD's Capability Maturity Mode...

I started using PowerPoint while in the Army back in 1998. I have the coveted PowerPoint Ranger tab, and numerous deployments under my belt. But, I don't like PowerPoint. I would go so far as to say PowerPoint rots the organization from within. Evils of PowerPoint How does PowerPoint rot an organization? I have seen the same presentati...

I've been a want to be writer since I was a child. Over the past 15 years, I've written four novels, published two of them by myself, and contemplated writing many more. However I am also a tools nomad. That means that I'm rarely satisfied with the tool that I have in my hand, and I'm always looking for an alternative. As a result of t...

I am perfectly happy with the state of my career. I'm where I am needed and wanted, and have an opportunity to serve my customers in a way I find rewarding. That does not mean I do not compare my expertise and experience against current vacancies in the job market. It is my personal skill 360, seeing if there are gaps that I need to fi...

• Admit mistakes and shortcomings • Deliver results • Disagree and commit • Obsess over customers • Rely on work ethic • Show empathy • Recruit and develop the best • Sweat the details • Think and communicate clearly • Unite around the mission -- Ben In tenebris solus sto