This seems to be my ‘theme de mois’ at present. Perhaps it has come from a realisation that it is very easy in web development to include a few extras and people miss the actual value of them.
A challenge while managing and building web applications, and sites, is to ensure everything is in the specification upfront so there are no extra charges, or included freebies (gold plating). So far, in the last 12 years of this, I have found that to be near impossible to be 100% correct, if the project is large and complex.
I am starting to use the above phrase more and more in presentations, and during developments, to make sure that everyone realises, time still equals money even on the web. Also many people don’t realise the physical cost of hosting and bandwidth in Australia (don’t get me start on that one or Sol). There is a feeling that because open source exists, and you can access freeware and many code snippets, that everything on the web can be done for nothing.
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When we moved into our new office just over a year ago, we were busting the seams on our old space and needed more.
At the time it felt like we would need more and more space to keep up. A year later, we have hit our maximum and have such a good space, I figured it was about time we made better use of it.
We have already got 1 complimentary business (marketing firm ‘Nutshell Marketing‘) sub leasing / sharing some space and the communal business facilities.
Watching the blogosphere and seeing all the press about Coworking and its development overseas and slowly here, it seems about time we did something a bit more proactive about making the best of the space.
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Do people actually care out there?
Are we all so busy that pride, focus, detail don’t matter any more? I know i have better days than others at taking care of the important details but the more places I look the more I see less attention to detail not more.
Is that what good - no I mean - really fantastic - service is? Just attention to detail? Is that what a good product is - something that has good attention to details and focus.
We are in the business of software, and it’s many intangibles, so I know how hard it can be to really make something fool proof, perfect and the best. In online speak there can’t be any perfect tool or product because as soon as our latest widget is released someone out there in cyber space has already hacked up a better product or widget.
But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try or care to do the best? Of course we should - we must!
What’s my point… well back on the road again the last few weeks and here is my summary of some of the things that ireckon could / should be different (in my mind anyway):
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Been traveling again this week. And it always amazes me when you are waiting for your bags how crazy we all are and completely self interested, which ultimately leads to the most inefficient system I have seen.
Basically the turntable of bags is getting ready to roll the bags around and everyone pushes right up to it to try and get to their bag.
Facts: There is not enough room for everyone to get in the front. Bags come out randomly and don’t care if you are pushed to the front. People not at the front push in front of people leaving room to let others through to get their bags and block that route.
Of course there are probably a number of psychological theories about this which are probably very relevant. To me it just smacks of the me first type mentality that shows up in our current society from time to time. That in itself is not so bad people do have to look after their own interests, but in instances like this the process offers no benefits to anyone.
Solution: Yellow line 1 metre back from turntable (like US international ones), and half a dozen corridors so people seeing their bag coming can walk in get it and walk out. Hmm we could do this ourselves if we could just naturally find a way to collaborate on it without people having to have a “hughsie loses it” moment. I guess though that is why the Americans paint the lines - they figured out we won’t do it on our own so we need to be herded, despite the best intentions of positive thoughts.
Me i would just like to be able to get to my bag on its turn around the table without a squeeze-fest. Much easier to carry it on the plane i guess.
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Having recently returned from a 3 week international business trip it always feels great to be back home.
I know everyone says this, well most do, and for each person home is quite different. For me Australia is my home, even though not my birth country. I have lived and traveled through many countries in the world, and in some places I find it hard to see why people rush to get back there when there appear to be many problems or issues in that country.
I guess it is easy to be critical looking in from outside, and in my opinion, it is easy for us in Australia to criticize other countries. Heck we have huge land area, small population, limited exposure to some of the crowding issues that affect many countries and cities.
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