Our biggest barrier to change is not technology, but our entrenched way of thinking about a given circumstance.
This holds true even for me, as I am reminded of my early days as a programmer. We were cutting edge, my colleagues and I, building powerful applications that would—once installed on a user's personal computer—talk to centralized servers where a thoughtfully designed database waited to return requested data.
As I write this, my normally sharp vision is blurry and my fingers aren't dancing nimbly around the keyboard. The reason is quite simple: Two weeks ago, my wife and I welcomed a baby boy into our lives. One of the more aggravating side effects of having a newborn in the house, it turns out, is possessing a cure for insomnia—sheer exhaustion—that cannot be used.
Based on what I've seen and heard in any number of articles and podcasts recently, 2010 is shaping up to be the year of metrics. Metrics are a lens through which we gauge how we're doing. Perhaps the most fundamental metric is known as profit, or what's left after we subtract the cost of delivering our products and services from the revenue we collected.
I used to think "inspiration" was for people with no "imagination." I thought people who were inspired all the time were just too cool for school; you know the type—talking on a bluetooth headset while jogging to Jamba Juice at 5 a.m. So, I would say, let them have their inspiration, and I'll stick to going it alone, just me and my imagination.
Never being one to shy away from public controversy, the Washington Post has found itself again the center of attention, this time in online circles. The brouhaha? Their new—or belatedly published, at least—guidelines for social network involvement by staffers. The online community hasn't been very accepting, considering they are intended to cover personal use as well.
