Island in the Net by Khürt Williams
Technology and Photography Musings. Established circa 2000.
Amen brother!
Schneier on Security: What the Terrorists Want
The surest defense against terrorism is to refuse to be terrorized. Our job is to recognize that terrorism is just one of the risks we face, and not a particularly common one at that. And our job is to fight those politicians who use fear as an excuse to take away our liberties and promote security theater that wastes money and doesn't make us any safer.
Joel sometime surprises me with his post. I think his ideas on management as expressed here are excellent.
Joel on Software
The Identity Management Method
This item ran on the Joel on Software homepage on Thursday, August 10, 2006
When you’re trying to get a team all working in the same direction, we’ve
seen that Command and Control management and Econ 101 management both fail
pretty badly in high tech, knowledge- oriented teams.
That leaves a technique that I’m going to have to call The Identity Method.
The goal here is to manage by making people identify with the goals
you’re trying to achieve. That’s a lot trickier than the other methods, and it
requires some serious interpersonal skills to pull off. But if you do it
right, it works better than any other method.
The problem with Econ 101 management is that it subverts intrinsic
motivation. The Identity Method is a way to create intrinsic motivation.
Earlier this week the Senior Director of my department presented me, my boss and a colleague with a company award of distinction for our work in what they call "The Internet Sweep Project". The award included a monetary component! I think I see an Apple Cinema display or MacBook in my future. I am trying to decide between a MacBook (the MacBook Pro are too much for my needs) and an Apple Cinema Display. A 20" display would suit me just nicely. Currently I have a 17" Dell Trinitron that I purchased 5 years ago with a new Dell system. The resolution and quality are superb but...it is time I had something less buly on my desk. A 20" wide screen display would suit my programming needs (programmers like large wide displays). I took a look at the specifications for the MacBook and MacBook Pro and decided that the Pro is more laptop than I need. Someone at the office brought in a new 17" MacBook Pro. The notebook looks huge. I can not see myself lugging around something that large. A 13.3" screen seems small at first but I want something lightweight. The current Dell Inspiron my wife uses weighs as much as a small child. Of course I could add $200 and get both but...
