Ever since I lost my Quicken data on my PC, I’ve been searching for a viable financial planning alternative on my Mac. I started with Mint.com, a free financial planning tool in the “cloud”, which offers some fun new features like bill pay reminders and overspending...

“But I don’t wanna be put in a box!”, he exclaimed. “He” could have been a colleague, a client, a guy I’m dating … I’ve heard it from all of them. But yet these same people want to be understood, they want to be loved and respected for their unique attributes, they...

Just this week, I've had four people email me looking to fill IT related positions, mostly in consulting. Several have remarked that the market is getting tighter, it is harder to find good people now than last year. And I know fewer people looking. Based on what I...

I’m not usually one to get very involved in local or state politics, but this proposed House Bill 1192 is an exception. If you haven’t heard about it, you can read more here. Basically, it is a huge new tax on software that will affect our technology community and...

This week I flew to Michigan to kick-off a new project. We had eleven executives from seven different locations across North America. Only one lived and worked in Michigan. During a fun dinner conversation about how technologies like Yammer and IM are changing...

Thanks to several long vacations, quite a few work flights where I’ve managed to avoid on board wi-fi, and my awesome new book club (which is so serious we must read the books to attend and get kicked out if we miss too many), I’ve had the pleasure of reading some...

One of the fun things about having a blog is that I get to vent. So if you don’t want to hear about my various customer service debacles, skip this blog or skip to the last couple paragraphs…I’ve been wondering for the last few weeks why XM’s auto calling program...

This is a great little piece: "Magic Quadrant Lawsuit: Would You Jump Off a Bridge If Gartner Says So?" putting Gartner, the analyst firm, in perspective. Thomas Wallgum compares following Gartner with following the in crowd in high school. His overall point is valid,...

One of my business partner Jim’s favorite soapboxes is that most strategies don’t really say anything. And he’s right. I could go on about business strategies in their own right, but I’ll start with the problems with most IT strategic objectives since that’s where we...

Geek Squad just called. They can recover the Quicken file off my old PC for only $519. I can probably buy a new PC for that, which I guess I will have to do, along with another copy of Quicken, if I want to get back up and running. If you haven’t read previous blogs...

I'm on a flight from Dallas to Philadelphia right now. Yes, right now. I'm typing this from the plane using American's new gogo internet service since the Admirals Club gave me a free pass. I know this has been around for a little while on certain planes, but this is...

If I utter the words “I love dropbox” one more time today, my coworkers may fire me, so I’m going to blog about it instead. Actually, I think I’d like to rank my top 5 life enhancing technologies, with a new #5 entering the picture… think ala sound of music … “these...

I was pondering with one of my colleagues today the question of “how much turnover is good?”, after meeting with an organization that believed the long tenure of their entire staff helped certain processes run smoother. “Some” turnover is good. Companies who brag...

I’m leaving on vacation tomorrow for over a week and nothing is planned. I’ve been working so much I haven’t had a chance to even think about where we are staying or what we are doing. So far I’ve made it as far as Dallas and I’m starting to look into hotels once I...

I’m not usually one to write rave product reviews, but I can’t help myself. We’ve been using DropBox to share files at Thought Ensemble for the last couple weeks and this simple solution has addressed a big need for our company. Before one of my friends told me about...

To all my fellow service providers, I think you will get a kick out of this video. I've watched it three times in the last few days and it continues to make me laugh. To all our Thought Ensemble clients, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for NOT behaving...