rare bird

I've also read this book, and thought it a very worthwhile read. I would say buy the book, or borrow it from the library. Hamlet's right, it shouldn't be news, but to a lot of people it still is, especially the details, and concerning those outside the technology sector. We all know how insulated CEO's can be from facts on the ground. If you're rich enough, you don't care about being outsourced. And if your CFO tells you it will cut costs, you just do it. (Our President equally doesn't seem to be affected by facts when they inconvenience him. He should be slapped with a fish, too, but that's a different matter.) Friedman's anecdotes serve to reinforce his point. There's a big difference between reading about outsourcing and insourcing in newspapers, and reading details from a full-length book. Friedman's facts can't be argued with – only a fool would try. Globalization is happening. It affects your life. It is i

I don't like it when people talk in the bathroom. Especially when managers do it. If there are any managers out there reading this, please stop doing it. This is much more of a temptation for men than for women, for obvious reasons. It's seen as a way of catching up or touching base. Or else just a fear of silence. But it only serves to embarass, I think, and nothing constructive can come out of it, ultimately.

I finally finished reading The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman . His basic premise is that technology and free trade have allowed domestic companies and developing nations to compete on a previously unknown scale. There isn't a lot to disagree with about his opinion, and there are some interesting anecdotes about how Mexico is outsourcing to India and India is outsourcing to Sri Lanka. Overall, though, the first 400 pages of the book are a complete review of what I thought was common knowledge. You mean IT is being outsourced to India? China is churning out computer science graduates ten times faster than the U.S you say? This shouldn't be news. If this book really is "a must read for today's CEO", as a friend of mine says, then those CEOs should be slapped with a fish for being hopelessly out of the loop. Throughout the book, I felt that Friedman failed to find a single voice of dissension. Everyone he interviewed agreed with him wholeheartedly. I can't b

The follow up to Mary Poppendieck's Lean Software Development is available online as a review copy. The original book led to a lot of changes in the agile software community. I find myself giving the book to both developers and managers. In my opinion, it is still the must read book about the software development process. Plus, it is good to see ex-3M employees make a mark in the world. Each chapter is a seperate .pdf file... I like to print them out double sided and make one big binder.

Pity the Gelth. I felt like a Gelth this morning, thanks to my nearly six-month old daughter, who woke up at 1:30 AM last night. And I thought she had settled on a schedule already. Silly me. BTW, this link has nothing to do with "The Unquiet Dead," the episode featuring the Gelth, but it is what you get if you Google "pity the gelth" and it is a fun Dr. Who acecdote of kids reviewing how scary the program is. The kids refer to the Gelth, though it's in a different episode.

A story about a Minnesota WWII pilot that reminds me of the song by James Taylor.

This sci-fi television series forms some of my (and VM's) fondest childhood and teenagerhood memories. It disappeared in 1989. It has been re-generated :) so if you're clueless about it, Wikipedia gives you ample chance to catch up.

Sometimes popular myths about a famous figure—such as the legend that St. Patrick drove the snakes from Ireland—can obscure that person's real accomplishments. In honor of St. Patrick's Day, The Teaching Company is proud to present Professor William R. Cook in a lecture that provides historical context and background to the biography of this 4th-century Christian saint.

So Google may use MSFT technology (.net) to present a word-processor (to compete with Word). Either that's inexplicably bizarre, or it shows just how inter-dependent the technosphere has become.

I know it's lame to just link to what other blogs are saying, but sometimes the content is so compelling that I have to do it. I especially like how Frank points out that it's not the case that the western system is entirely bad and the Asian system is entirely good; rather, each are good at different stages of the game. I've always been interested in education as a subject - now that I have a daughter, it jumps to the top of my concerns. Let me also say while I'm here that the bloggers at Microsoft are producing some of the most nteresting stuff out there, and it's not at all about standing on a particular soapbox. MSFT employees are genuinely interested in all facets of work and life, and have interesting things to say.