Thoughts
Ideas that transform people, businesses, and industries
Deeply rooted in our organizational ethos is the celebration of authentic and unapologetic “thought.” We believe each member of our team brings with them a unique view of themselves, our clients, and of the world we live in. We make a point to not only articulate our individual experiences, senses, emotions, and actions internally, but to share them with you here.
Routing Irony
There's been quite a few articles recently about Huawei, the Chinese maker of networking and infrastructure hardware (think Cisco of the East), and its efforts to improve its image with US companies. In fact, one of their recent hires, a US based executive who...
How Projects Really Work
I found this cartoon the other day that I thought was pretty entertaining. I think everyone has at least felt like they were on a project like this (whether or not they really were). I had to break this cartoon up by cell otherwise it wouldn't fit in my page...
Can you hear me now?
Thank god for early adopters. If we were all late adopters every new technology would die in beta. I was reading an article the other day that said voice command technology, though by no means new, is finally now reaching a phase of practicality that makes the...
Yelling at Siri
I promised not to write any more Siri blogs, but I couldn't help one more. I just finished reading Michael deAgonia's excellent blog on how Siri has changed the way he works. I too find myself using the service more and more often.But I also noticed that I practically...
IE?? What the fox?
I noticed a link to this graphic today and to be honest, the fact that Chrome recently pushed past FireFox didn't surprise me as much as:Chrome usage grew by 5.5x in the last two years. I myself use Chrome on the Mac (courtesy of a client friend), so I know it's...
A quick note
Lisa (the co-founder of Thought Ensemble) and I often disagree on some of the academic concepts related to IT and its management. It's what makes working together fun.But I LOVE her recent post on a recent article on CIO Magazine. They wrote an article about...
Video Conferencing
One of my co-workers and I have been experimenting with new ways of using video conferencing for delivery (we've been using Facetime to "walk" each other into meetings even when we aren't local.) He just wrote an interesting analysis of some of the government's...
Another week with Siri
I continue to be fascinated (and frustrated) by Siri. It is amazing what she can do when all the conditions are right. And it is also amazing how frustrating it can be when she gets things wrong.I can dictate an email to someone while walking. I can...
The importance of Good GUI
In what seems like a long lost past, software application developers developed software applications with a focus on functionality and speed only. At the time, the resources for creating applications were far less great than they are now and in order to harness high...
The Bobs
Many years ago, I walked into a large conference room to work with a new client team that I had never met before. I had been hired by their boss to help them rethink their software development processes . . . and they would probably had preferred that I not be...
You, too, can be like an Apple store employee!
(No, I'm not getting commission from Square or Apple to write this! But I will shamelessly plug Reboot) I don't know about you, but one of my favorite things about the Apple store is that any employee can check you out from any place in the store, using their iPhone...
Video Conferencing Killed the Travel Star
When my radio alarm clock came on this morning to tell me it was time to wake up (yes, I still use a radio alarm clock) I briefly heard a report that the government will now start using videoconferencing in place of traveling to meet people (where applicable). Shortly...
Flash’s Death Spiral
Last year, I wrote a blog about Apple's design to exclude Flash from it's iOS plans and how this action would basically dictate Adobe's mobile development future. "Apple has leveled an early blow to Adobe's attempts to increase iPod/iPhone/iPad business...
Do the Bobs care?
Anyone whose career has drifted into the world of consulting/contracting has experienced being one of the Bobs. Maybe you weren't actually a "Bob", but there's an almost 100% chance, that just one person at your client perceives your presence to be as bad as the Bob...
Social networking within company walls is gaining steam
Ever since I became a regular Facebook user (about four years ago now), I have seen the potential for FB-like social networking tools to be used within corporate walls to connect knowledge workers. One of my first blogs after we started Thought Ensemble was on...
A couple of weeks with Siri
I had intended to sit down today and dictate this blog to Siri. Mostly just to see how well "she" would work as a transcription tool. But, unfortunately, I've had to start rebooting my phone. Siri has apparently lost her mind or become hard of hearing: Me: Siri, write...
Best Practices in Software Testing
1. TraceabilityWhat percentage of your application was tested on each release?What percentage of tests performed were passed vs. failed on each release?How many known issues exist in the software and what is their level of severity? What is assigned to each...
Tape it up
After watching this video, I'm reminded of my first Sony Walkman cassette player. Quite the advanced piece of electronics for it's time. I had no idea that Sony even made tapes still, but the news that they plan to stop making them permanently, and the fact that...
Laptop conversations at the carwash
I'm at the car wash and I just whipped out my MacBook Air to work on a presentation. A guy carrying his new iPad approached me and asked me about it. "Is that the new one?" "Do you love it?" And we got into a whole conversation about how great the flash...
Neuroscience suggests we really do love our iPhones
After all my Apple loving in my blog last week, my mom sent me this article. Neuroscience suggests that Apple's smartphone activates the part of the brain associated with feelings of love and compassion. No, I'm not planning to buy the iPhone 5. Yet.
A new (tangible) asset… customer information!
I just got an email message from the CEO of Barnes and Noble. Many of you probably got it too. Apparently, he bought my information from Borders during the auction of the assets in their recent bankruptcy!The email was very nice; he explained what had...