Continual Improvement

My amateur status as a photographer has now been set, and I wasn’t even trying that hard. Here are the details of what happened with a few parting ideas on how to “get famous” via Flickr. To start, I was contacted by an online travel guide, asking for permission to publish one of my Flickr pics in their latest version on London. Here’s the link where the pic is published, which includes my name and a link to my Flickr pic. Granted, it’s nothing fancy, but it has become my most popular photo by over twofold. This is the 3rd request I’ve received to use my Flickr pics in other’s material over the past year or so, and while I’m far from famous, it’s been an unexpected upside to publishing my pics on the Internet.

Guidelines for a good Flickr presence:

• Always give photos tags, a title, and a description. A nature shot is good, but it’s 10X better when you know where and/or why it was taken.
• Make the good pics public, and keep the duplicates private. A few snapshots of your dog is good, but clicking through 100 speed shots can get tiresome.
• Post your best pics on your blog along with a post. This will give your post some nice spice while publicizing your pics.
• Add a Flickr “badge” to your Web site. This is a nice way for visitors to see random samplings.
• Use photo sets whenever possible. This allows photos to be grouped with one description, and a photo set can have a separate link.
• Turn on Flickr stats. This is a manual process, but it gives you an idea of what photos were more popular and when.

• Southwest to test Wi-Fi on planes
  “…will be the first U.S. carrier to test satellite-delivered broadband Internet access on multiple planes.” - Southwest rocks!!
  (tags: southwest wifi airline internet computer broadband)

• ‘Cleantech’ investments on rise in 2007 - Austin Business Journal:
  “For venture capital investors, the buzzword for 2008 is “cleantech.”"
  (tags: venture cleantech investment investors VC solar energy green)

• VentureLoop
  “VentureLoop connects you with venture-backed startup companies.”
  (tags: ventureloop startup startups venture jobsearch career company entrepreneurship)

• IBM Unveils Blue Cloud - What Data Would You Like to Crunch? - ReadWriteWeb
  “Is cloud computing set to become commoditized? That probably goes without saying.”
  (tags: cloud ibm google “cloud computing” amazon ec2 webservices)
• Startups to watch - Business 2.0
  Startups to watch: It’s getting crowded on the Web 2.0 frontier, but there are still some startups that truly stand out. Business 2.0 Magazine identifies the ones most likely to strike gold in 2007.
  (tags: business startup startups technology future entrepreneurship internet)

• 12 easy workout tips - Health.com
  These are great tips, and I can personally attest to using most of them.
  (tags: exercise fitness ideas Health workout tips Diet)

• Jing Project
  Share video and images via URLs on the Internet. The space is free.
  (tags: jing screencast screencapture video collaboration productivity e-learning Testing)
• Data And The Future Of The Web - Publishing 2.0
  “The future of the web will be determined by companies that can overcome people challenges — to bring EVERYONE’S data online, and make it useful. And it won’t be about locking up people’s data, but instead helping them be smart about the free flow
  (tags: socialnetworking privacy social web2.0)

Have you recently told someone on your team to do something? If so, there’s a good chance that some management training may be in your future. (Disclaimer: This blog post doesn’t just apply to software development.) We often hear that the command-and-control style of management is the “old way”, and removing roadblocks is the “agile way”. While this sounds like a good thing every time we hear it, there isn’t a quick and easy way to determine how to adjust. I often find that it’s difficult to take many of these self improvement suggestions and act on them, so I prefer internal triggers that can shape behavior in an ad hoc manner.

In this case, the key trigger is simple asking/telling someone to do something. What?! Our internal voices may find this proclamation to be borderline-insane as this is method by which we get almost everything done. But wait, there is a better way that creates self-empowering teams and removes the management dependence. The alternative approach, simple and elegant, involves explaining the expected result and trusting the teams to accomplish the resulting tasks. In some cases, the difference is a subtle change in the wording and intentions, and in others, there may be political reasons why specific commands are given. In the later, this is a trigger in itself that the political issues (often elephants in the room) should be tackled head-on instead of being obfuscated.

It’s true that since childhood none of us have liked being told what to do, and each of us wants to feel that we had some say in the planning. Using the method above solves both of these common psychological dilemmas. The bottom line is that if you can’t trust people on a team to know the intended result, there could be a problem with having the right people on the team or managing the team.

• A VC: Social Blogging
  Lengthy discussion about blogging and social networking. There are some interesting comments about the differences between the Japanese and the US.
  (tags: social networking blogging tumblr twitter)
• The First Year of Google Docs (& Spreadsheets)
  Google’s promotion of Google Docs… Getting rid of attachments in email - a lofty goal!!
  (tags: google docs attachment gmail)

A new Jyte poll…

Click on this link to vote, or click on the widget below, if visible.

• Mike Lunt - Agile Development — TalkBMC
  Podcast I did on Agile: Why is Agile so important and who’s doing it well?
  (tags: agile process waterfall metrics software podcast)
• Mike Lunt on ziki.com
  This is a very nice feed splicer. I was able to take multiple feeds and create a single home page where all comments, photos, and blog posts are combined.
  (tags: zike mikelunt feedsplice blog)

• “But this is so much work…” — TalkBMC
  My other blog… In this post, I talk about the importance of daily meetings across multiple teams and how our Agile demos serve many purposes.
  (tags: agile process scrum demo SOS software)

• Life and debt in suburbia
  There are more lessons in this article than you can shake a stick at.
  (tags: finance money psychology beat-the-jones)

• If you see it, you’ll eat it
  This is so true. The promotion of 100 calorie packs is just an example of mental disconnect that exists in American society. 100 calories is actually quite a lot if you consider most people only need ~1500 calories in a given day.
  (tags: Food diet habits health fitness)
• 5 nutritious habits of the planet’s healthiest countries
  I’m not sure leisurely dining would work in the US, but all of us can relate to feeling full when the main course arrives after eating an appetizer.
  (tags: health diet nutrition lifestyle food fitness)
• National Do Not Call Registry
  I was reading the Austin paper about the upcoming expiration for many numbers. I still have many years left on all of mine.
  (tags: donotcall phone privacy telemarketing government cell)

• Canvas Press : Organizing pictures
  CanvasPress published the blog entry I made on organizing pictures. Doak’s company continues to make progress.
  (tags: doak pictures canvaspress directory folder)