Some Reasons Why We Are Less Productive

This week's big news in technology is Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter. He has terrorized the staff quickly, made changes, instituted an 85-hour work week, and laid off half the team. I would love to talk more about this, but Musk already receives too much attention, and I firmly believe in denying trollish people the attention they desperately seek. I will wait for Elon to explain himself to a bankruptcy judge before commenting on his leadership style. Today, I want to concentrate on something which popped up during the week: the decline in productivity among the global workforce.  

The Washington Post featured headlines that productivity is down among U.S. workers. I wanted to dig a little deeper into the headline, and it is clear that a combination of factors is creating a perfect storm of low productivity. I will blame three main elements; inflation, fatigue, and poor leadership.  

It is no secret that inflation is driving plenty of angst in the economy. Supply-side problems and a tight labor market are making prices for gas, food, and rent a significant burden. Pay rates are not keeping up with the inflation rate, which means that as of November 2022, a person's wages can purchase six percent less than one year ago. It means that if you are earning a paycheck, your labor provides less money for you and your family. It creates a cycle of despair where you work each day and fall further behind in your commitments. It is no wonder that people are not working harder because they do not see any benefit from that effort. 

Next, I want to point to an article by Mary McNamara,  who correctly observes that American workers are tired. Fatigue is hallowing out the American workforce. COVID-19 tested American workers and businesses; in the aftermath, people lost their businesses, careers, and lives. Combined with the loss of life of over one million people in the United States, it creates a mourning situation where people must process the things lost during the last three years. Unfortunately, business does not take a break for anyone and relentlessly demands that we set our issues aside and get to work. It is why the World Health Organization has said that the pandemic created a 25% increase in depression and anxiety. Combine this emotional exhaustion with the daily cultural challenges of political polarization, climate change, and concerns about a recession triggered by rising interest rates. Most of us are not right emotionally to be at our best. You have a particular type of demotivation.  

I also suspect a final factor involved in the lack of productivity: the poor leadership of many people in the business today. It looks like plenty of incapable people in leadership roles are using their positions of authority to hurt others. The results show companies that could do no wrong in the past are now losing value with shareholders because their leadership will not face market realities. It also does not help when leaders behave like monarchs and treat their employees like peasants. Working for a bad leader is another factor hurting productivity because people hate working for a jerk.  

As an agile coach and consultant, I take these things seriously. Often, I feel like the kid who points out that the emperor is not wearing any clothes. Work should not be a source of alienation or drudgery. Instead, it is a vehicle for change, empowerment, and value if we allow it. It means recognizing the impact of inflation, fatigue, and poor leadership on the workforce. The entire global economy is counting on us. Once we have that recognition, it is time to take action and prevent it from falling further. 

Until next time.

Learning to Live with the White Whale

My white whale 

I have mentioned the most difficult thing about being a technologist is when you develop a sense of competence about your skills and career something comes along which forces you to start from scratch.  I have had to relearn how to write software four times in the last seventeen years.  My over-all skills have improved but I consider myself an intermediate programmer.  This is because I once thought I had mastered web application development with ASP.NET web forms.  To my surprise, MVC came along and I had to start over unlearning all the techniques from web forms and then using my knowledge in this strange world of MVC.  Slowly, I am learning basic competence in design patterns and test driven development.  This brings me to today’s topic which is my collaboration with Intuit and their Quickbooks Online service.

This began approximately six months ago when I met a potential client who said that they entered the same record into three different systems and then entered it into Quickbooks to invoice the client. I thought it was madness.  After sleeping on it, I decided that E₃ systems would prototype a web application which would reduce the number of times they have to enter data and automatically sync with Quickbooks.  I just did not know how to do it.

The web application was the easy part where I stumbled was the communicating with Quickbooks.  A quick search revealed a tremendous source of frustration.  The Intuit Sync Manager was being discontinued and according to chatter on the web it was hard to work with.  This forced me to turn to Intuit Quickbooks API.  I would be pushing JSON and XML to communicate with their API so that it could populate a version of Quickbooks Web service.  This is when I was transformed from a competent web developer to someone behaving like Captain Ahab from Herman Melvil’s “Moby Dick”.

After reading the documentation and struggling with getting the service up and running, I began to follow the directions on how to use the .NET SDK which Intuit was good enough to produce.  It did not work.  Worse when I tried to debug the application I received vague error messages which would not help me solve the problem.  I was so frustrated, I seriously considered hacking off my own leg.  Fortunately, some folks on twitter were listing to me rant and were able to provide direction.  In addition, they were understanding of my frustration and anger with how they designed their systems.

Thanks to the efforts of the Intuit twitter team, including Nimisha and Meg, they were able to talk me off the ledge put down my harpoon and get back to coding.  It was not easy and I was prickly at times but they did the job.  Now, E₃ systems and I are developing competence in working with Quickbooks online and the web-api.  This is bonus to our business and to the good folks at Intuit who want to spread the adoption of their cloud based service.  It looked shaky at first but E₃ systems is on its way to writing web applications of Intuit.  I still feel a bit like Ahab chasing my white whale but at least I know how to use these newfangled row boats provided by Intuit.  Thanks gang, look forward to working with you more in the future.

Until next time.

Expectations in a Age of Magic

Sometimes it is rocket science.

One of the funniest social criticism ever made came from comedian Louis CK.  In his discussion with late night host Conan O’Brien, he talks about how fantastic technology has become and no one is happy with it.  I am reminded of Arthur C. Clarke’s three laws of predicting the future the most famous being, “Any sufficiently advance technology is indistinguishable from magic.”  This week on the blog I wanted to discuss expectation setting and getting your business partners to have realistic expectations about technology.

I was thinking about this topic this week as I was watching the coverage of the Rosetta space probe and it placing a lander on the comet.  The technical achievement was astounding.  Over ten years and one and a half billion euros we not only got to see the surface of a comet but we actually landed an object the size of a consumer dishwasher on the surface.  What made this more satisfying was how the science press and the main stream media covered the event. Both seem to admit that success or failure, the European Space Agency’s did the best it could do and that whatever happened it was a big achievement.

Wryly, I joked on LinkedIn that I was looking forward to some of my business partners saying, “If we can land something on a comet why can’t we do X with the web site.”   My mild cynicism hit a nerve because people began to comment and tweet me saying they were expecting similar answers.  This is when it hit me.  Numerous people who work with technology really do not understand how that technology works.  They just take it for granted.  It really is “indistinguishable from magic.”  They can get the weather forecast in Toronto, schedule a truck to deliver products to the city and electronically communicate with Canadian customs to avoid the truck being stopped at the border.  They do it with technologies like the internet, EDI, and Java but they really do not understand how these technologies work.  They just take it for granted that they do.

This is when more knowledgeable people need to step in with expectations.  We understand the amount of work which needs to be done and the difficulty of the tasks.  We also understand that most technology problems in a contemporary business are not technology problems.  They are people problems which could be better solved by individuals working better together.  So when someone says, I would love to have “X” on the web site; ask the hard questions and find out if these improvements are necessary.  Ask about technical debt and why the organization tolerates it.

It is the responsibility of technical professionals to act like the engineers we were trained to be rather than magicians carefully guarding our secrets.  Business partners need to understand the trade-offs which are made every day to keep the organization running.  A new feature for the billing system or web site doesn't pop into existence from the mind of the business owner.  It requires work from developers and quality specialists.  It needs to be accepted by the business.  Finally, it has to be accepted by consumers.

This is not an easy road but it is certainly easier than landing a probe on a comet.

Until next time.

A Bootstrap World

Bootstrap makes us better.

You might have noticed some changes to the web site.  This week I pushed some changes into production and it reflects some of the newer technologies on the web.  We are now using MVC5 and Bootstrap web to provide a consistent experience for people using the website on a mobile device or web browser.  This week on the blog I want to talk about Bootstrap and how it fits in to our mission to provide web applications which work any time and any place.

I believe that I am a late adopter of Bootstrap.  The first open source version was released in 2011 and it became the most popular download in the GitHub development project in 2012.  I stumbled upon it in 2013 when I was about to change the careers.  Another developer had exposed me to it was some kind of revelation.  Now there was a way to build web sites which looked good on small browsers and that functioned well on full screens.  It was a revelation but it did not seem like something that would work with the Microsoft technologies I was working with.

This changed with the release of Visual Studio 2013 who used Bootstrap 3.0 as its default tool to manage the look and feel of web pages.  When I saw how easy it was to work with, I quickly became a convert.  Instead of noodling around with web pages and cascading style sheets, I had a built in tool to help build web applications which scaled from the mobile phone to the big screen.  It was also great that Microsoft included tools like LESS to create my own styles and to add tweaks to my layouts.

For you the consumer this is a big deal.  Now, you can rest assured that there is an industry standard way to make sure that your web site looks good on a small browser or on a giant screen.  In addition, your web applications will now work anywhere you have a connection to the web.  This gives you significant power managing your business processes because you can look up inventory on the phone, tablet or laptop with no major interruption of service.  This is the cloud based connectivity that we boast about.

All of us at E₃ systems are excited about this technology.  It is nice that the collective wisdom of the world wide web has embraced this approach and that just means that you the consumer now have an industry standard to measure progress against.  Contact us today and find out how we use Bootstrap to help you.

New technology is fun and using a new technology to solve a business problem is even more fun.  Bootstrap is one of those technologies which does both and you are going to see more of it as time passes. It is a bootstrap world and we are living in it.

Until next time.

What real entrepreneurs have on their phone.

Applications for the Entrepreneur on the go.

I love my local chamber of commerce.  I love them so much that each year I pay them dues and attend many of the functions they host.  This week there was a bit of a kerfuffle on social media when they posted an article from thenextweb.com about the top 13 mobile applications an entrepreneur should have on their smart phone.  Crestfallen, I replied, “May-be you should ask one of your members who writes mobile apps?” They replied saying that I should write something up so this week on the blog for my regular readers and members of the Joliet Chamber of Commerce here are some of the web application I can’t live without and I am an entrepreneur.

Esponce QR Code Reader – I am a big fan of QR codes and using them to have pieces of paper communicate with the internet.  Esponse QR code makes this as easy as taking a picture on your phone.  What makes Esponce so good is that in addition to reading QR codes you can create them on the fly from your phone.  Finally Esponce offers a tracking service and a history of all the codes you have scanned.  Download the application here.

Ubersocial Pro Twitter Client - If you are on the go staying on top of your Facebook and Twitter reputation can be a full time job.  Ubersocial makes using Twitter and Facebook is a snap. You can follow particular users or hashtags update both Facebook and Twitter with one touch from your phone and be instantly notified when someone talks about your organization.  There is a pro version with advertising and then Pro version for $4.99.  Ditch the ads and pay for the pro version, you can thank us later. Download it here. 

Google Keep - It is hard to take notes and save them electronically.  Google Keep is a simple introductory tool to save notes on your phone of tablet.  If you find a web page you want to read later you can share it with Keep to read later.  Grocery or to do lists can be set up with a click.  You can even set up reminders to send e-mails or text messages to do something.  Even if you lose your phone or tab let you can access your Keep notes via the web.  It is not the biggest or must fully feature note taking tool but for someone learning to take electronic notes it is a great start.  Find it here.

Kindle Book Reader – Entrepreneurs spend a great deal of time traveling.  Lugging around books and magazines can be a hassle.  The Kindle reader app allows you to have an entire newsstand and bookstore at your fingertips the next time you are on a long flight. The reader automatically hooks into Amazon.com’s website and you can get the latest best sellers with a swipe.  For people who love to read or need to keep up this is a must have.  Download your version here.

Google Drive - Being an entrepreneur means sales presentations, demonstrations, and lots of travel.  It would be nice if your spreadsheets, documents, and presentations could be accessed in one place.  Google Drive makes this a reality.  The Google drive behaves like a regular hard drive but instead of physically existing on your phone, tablet or PC it exists on Google's servers safe and secure.  So if you change a spreadsheet on your tablet when you view it on your phone or PC the changes are saved.  This is easier to use and safer than a thumb drive. Learn more here.

Songza – All work and no play make the life of an entrepreneur dull.  Songza is a music application which helps find music for any mood or moment.  Instead of playlists and stations being managed by computers, Songza employees human being to keep the music selections fresh so if your tastes range from early sixties jazz bebop to the latest hits you have your pick of quality commercial free music.  I especially like the Space Age Bachelor Pad channel playing lounge music from the Mad Men era of history and College Memories 1980 – 1989.  Try out Songza an you will not use another streaming music service.

As an entrepreneur those are the application I have to have on my smart phone.  At E₃ systems we also make mobile and web applications which might help you.  Our first application is called Sully and it is an inventory management system which can produce Bills of Lading, Invoices, and packing slips from your phone, tablet or PC.  We also have an application named Tony which helps you track the care and maintenance of item in your fleet of vehicles.  It also works on a phone, tablet and PC.  This system will help you stay on top of insurance risks and maintenance warranties with the swipe of a finger.  To learn more about E₃ systems and our products please click here.

Kerfuffles are a good thing and I hope this one helps you find the applications to make doing business easier.

Until next time.

Some Perspective about the Twitter IPO

Some thoughts about all the love Twitter is feeling.

The big news this week is the initial public offering of Twitter on the New York Stock exchange.  Every entrepreneur dreams of the moment when their hard work and effort pays off and they are swimming in stock options and cash.  It crosses my mind from time to time.  This week, I want to provide a little perspective to those wild fantasies that IPO’s create.

An IPO or huge success is as American as apple pie.  A person creates a product everyone wants and then receives a huge payday.  What most people do not see are the countless hours perfecting that product.  People do not see the sales calls ending in frustration.  Finally, it is difficult convey the loneliness and solitude it takes to build a good product.  It is always easier to show the big pay day rather than the long slog it took to get to that payday.  I am not looking for a big payday.  I would like to be able to have my own business but living like Tony Stark with my own computer assistant seems a little far-fetched for me.  

It should also be evident that all the frenzy regarding Twitter is more heat than light.  According to the filing with the SEC, Twitter is still struggling to generate advertising revenue. It is one of those products which people use but cannot seem to make money; sounds like a fishy investment to me.  This does not mean that Twitter will not figure it out but currently people look like they are investing in the promise of profits rather than actual profits.

This situation reminds me of the good-old days of the Dot.com bubble where any company with .com in its name created a gold rush on the stock market.  Companies with spurious business models and the ability to burn through cash lit up the stock market.  What these companies were, according to Rolling Stone writer Matt Taibbi, were falling watermelons where everyone made money until they hit the pavement.  Those forced to clean up the mess were individual investors.  It was a giddy and stupid time.  I am glad I lived through it because it flavored my approach to business for the better.  I still keep a Pets.com sock puppet to remind me of that era’s excess.

I got into business not for the wealth and fame but because I want to work for myself.  I want to help other business people make money and put people to work.  We think that our new Tony fleet management software is a great tool to provide risk management and regulatory compliance to small business.  We also think Sully 2.0 is the right tool to help your business manage inventory and bills of lading.  Contact us today and we will show you.

I am very happy for the owners and investors in Twitter’s IPO but I won’t be toasting them any time soon.  I will save that for my own big milestone when I can go professional.

Until next time.

Being a Jerk Does Not Make You a Better Programmer

Can you believe this A@@ Hole.
Image courtesy of Slate.com

It has been quite a week in the technology world.  The big news this week was the firing of Business Insider’s chief technical officer Pax Dickinson for a series of insensitive and sexist tweets.  As someone who has been fired, I really do not like to gloat at the misfortune of others.  I am going to make an exception for Mr. Dickinson.  This week on the blog I explain why people like Mr. Dickinson are a poison to the profession of software development and technology start-ups.

When I first joined this profession, it was male dominated.  Guys wrote code.  It was just the nature of the profession.  Diversity was usually based on experience and ethnic background as programmers from India, Asia, and the United States blended together to form development teams.  I remember quite vividly when the attacks on the world trade center took place that the developers at my firm closed ranks around the lone Muslim member of our development team because we did not want our co-workers hassling him.  People who code together tend to stick together.

As the years wore by it became obvious to me that we needed more women in the profession.  Homosexual slurs were used to describe code that wasn't acceptable.  Developers who couldn't take a joke were called “p#%&ys” and women who worked with us affectionately referred to the development work area as the “pig pen” for all the misogynistic behavior exhibited by the developers.  It was 2009 and I had finally realized that programming had far too much alpha male ignorance associated with it.

Around this time, I discovered the Chicago area application life-cycle management group.  It was led by a woman smart as a whip and tough enough not to take any grief in the profession.  It was also here that I met many women who were managing projects and in the trenches writing code.  To me it was a revelation, women not only could write software but they could teach and provide proper instruction to their fellow developers.  It was a breath of fresh air and it was at that point I realized that if I ever started my own company I wanted to encourage the participation of women in the world of technology.

Pax Dickinson fits into this discussion because he comes from the “brogrammer” school of development.  These individuals are nurtured in the world of game development and the start-up community.  They are defined by their arrogance, intelligence and total lack of an internal filter.  They are not afraid to call an algebra teacher stupid if they know the answer before teacher shows the work on the black board.  They take pride being the smartest person in the room and will make sure everyone knows they are the smartest person in the room.  As it was explained to me once, “a good programmer is smart and he is arrogant enough to make sure everyone knows it.”

Really Mr. Dickinson fits the definition of an asshole as outlined by Robert I. Sutton PhD in his book “The No Asshole Rule” which are people,  “…who consistently aim their venom at less powerful people and rarely, if ever, at more powerful people.”  Dickinson has made a career of making people who are not him feel like dirt.  Women who he thinks can’t code are beneath him.  Developers who don’t understand his mode of operation are worthless.  Heaven forbid you question his business practices or products because that will make you a target as well.

As Mr. Dickinson gained wealth and fame in the world of technology, it merely made a bad problem worse.  Business Insider should have known better than to hire this guy but when they did they gave him the ultimate license to be an asshole to his fellow man.  It is not surprise that he got himself in trouble and soiled the reputation of the organization which fired him.

I suppose that this is an object lesion then in the world of technology.  Sooner or later an asshole is going to get what is coming to him.  They can hide but sooner or later they are exposed as the cretins they are and they are cast aside because people do not want to do business with them.  I have always striven not to be an asshole in the technology world.  It is why I founded my company and why I am looking forward to hiring developers who are going to make a difference in my organization.  I don’t care about gender, ethnic origin or religion.  I just want to make sure they know C# and can code responsive layouts.

So while Mr. Dickinson is packing his desk and protesting his punishment, I am going to get on with the business of running my start-up and helping small and medium businesses work in the cloud.

Until next time.

Our New Website

Dude Nice looking website.

Rebuilding a web site is a big deal.  It is not undertaken lightly and usually includes a committee of people attempting to be creative.  I hate redesigning web sites because everyone seems to know how a web site should look but many people do not understand how to make it happen.  This leaves me confronted with power point slides and Photoshop graphics with marketing people telling me that it should look exactly like the file they sent me.  Thoughts about cross browser compatibility and how the site should look on a mobile phone seem like secondary considerations.  It was a website redesign which finally pushed me over the edge and convinced me that I should be an entrepreneur.

It has been almost a year since I formally founded E₃ systems.  When I did I had a clean and easy to understand website which leveraged the latest web technologies and looked good on all the major browsers.  I decided to ignore IE6 because Google and Yahoo decided to. I was pretty proud of it but I knew as we were reaching our one year anniversary we needed a refresh. 

I took inspiration from Microsoft's MSDN website.  The good folks at Redmond are getting ready for the fall release of Windows 8 and are slowly changing over their web sites to have a more metro look and feel.  I decided that I should do the same.  This biggest challenge was finding an easy way to create the tiles and icons used in a Metro layout.  Searching around Microsoft's blog network, I was pointed toward a company called Syncfusion and they had a tool which manufactured Metro style tiles.  Armed with this tool I began the site redesign. 

To avoid making the swap too jarring, I decided that I would only change the front page of the web site and keep the remaining pages in the same format with Metro style flourishes.  I also wanted to make sure that users of the web site had access to all of our social media venues including our YouTube channel.  I also wanted to see if I could leverage the grid 960 css frameworks.  It was like putting together a complicated puzzle which would better appeal to our customers. 

The results speak for themselves.  The landing page contains all the information which old landing page did.  The social media icons are not as distracting.  Users do not have to scroll through the page to digest all the content.  It also looks good on tablet computers and PC's. 

Look over our web site and let us know what you think.

Until next time.

Dealing with Darkness

How to you stare into the darkness?

Being an entrepreneur can give you huge moments of light and tremendous moments of darkness and despair.  Currently, I am in one of those moments of despair as I fill out grant paperwork, solicit customers, and try to grow the business.  Everything came to a crashing halt this week after a trade show; I was burned out and decided to take a few days off and unplug.

I left my mobile phone at home, took off in the car and didn’t answer email or twitter for almost three days.  It was very refreshing and gave me a chance to take stock in my life and try to put things in perspective.  I have dreams of being my own boss.  Those dreams are still real.  They just seem further away because I have not had the chance to concentrate on it full time.   I am going to try and focus this dream and try to make it a success.

We will be doing a website redesign, hire an additional sales person, and try to drum up our first client. Many people go into business for different reasons.  My main goal was to escape the insanity of corporate life.  I also want to be a different kind of business person someone with a product that works and who respects the community he works in.  It sounds like a fantasy but it is one I hold dearly.  Business can be a force for good in the community and I think I am just the kind of business person to do it. 

In that vein of thought, E₃ systems is participating in J.P.Morgan Chase’s Mission Small business program and we hope that you promote ushere accordingly.  We will also be reaching out for grants, aid and customers where we can get them.

I hope you will take some time to support us and grant us a little bit of light during our dark times. 

Until next time.

The Summer of E3

Looking forward to the Summer of E3.

I hope that everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend.  I also hope you took some time out on Monday to remember the people who sacrificed everything for this unofficial kick off to summer.  For E₃ systems, it is a chance for us to snag our first customers and start the process of growing our business.

I am going to take some time to visit some clients face to face.  We will also be prospecting our rolodex heavily.  Finally, we are going to participate in J.P. Morgan Chase's small business challenge.  We are closing in on our one year anniversary and I am pretty proud of what we have done so far.  First, we have constructed a cloud based inventory management system which is easy to use.  We have established a presence on social media like Facebook, Twitter and Google+.  Finally, we have started to embed into the community being known as the scrappy technology start up in Joliet. 

This is a good time to be an entrepreneur.  According to Logistics Management magazine, just under one third of supply chain companies are looking into using software as a service or cloud based computing.  In addition, these companies are looking to spend less than $100,000 to try and meet this need.  We are perfectly positioned to serve this market. 

Looking back to my summer vacations when I was in college, what strikes me about those periods was how I used the time to emotionally reset and focus on future goals.  This summer I am going to repeat that pattern as I emotionally recharge from the launch of Sully 2.0 and make a point of seeing some customers.  The change will do me some good and help drive some sales.  2012 is going to be the summer of E₃.  I look forward to sharing it with you.

Until next time.

Why Are You Not On the Cloud?

Junk your servers and enter the cloud.

I have been in business for six months.  In that time, I have networked relentlessly and done over 12 major revisions to the Sully® web service.  It also looks like we are close to our first customer.  We have a presence on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.  All this effort is exhausting considering I also work as a consultant during normal hours. 

Getting the word out is important for a small business.  This blog is just another example of that effort.  I hope you have found the content of this site helpful and informative.  This week Crain’s Chicago Business confirmed what I already know, businesses are saving money by switching to cloud based web services. 

The article clearly states how email, pay-roll and other services are moving to the cloud.  At E₃ Systems our specialty is inventory and logistics.  Instead of spending thousands of dollars a year on software, servers and employees to keep it all working; you can spend a few hundred to view your inventory in real time.  With Sully® you can view that information on the web via a laptop or tablet computer.  We have also created an optimized version to work on your smart phone.  We think it is a great deal. 

So if you want to save money, time and aggravation managing your inventory you need to ask yourself why you are not on the cloud and using our Sully® service.

Until next time.

The Lake Wobegon Company

A bad day at the ball park. 
Where does one find major league tallent?

One of the joys of being on Twitter, is that you stumble upon all sorts of interesting ideas.  Some of the most news worthy items comes from the Harvard Business Review.  This week two though provoking blogs were posted by Bill Taylor discussing talent inflation in the technology business.  In short CEO’s in SiliconValley will pay big bucks for the correct engineering talent. 

As Mark Zuckerberg said in the article snip:

"Someone who is exceptional in their role is not just a little better than someone who is pretty good," he argued when asked why he was willing to pay $47 million to acquire FriendFeed, a price that translated to about $4 million per employee. "They are 100 times better."

In other words, dad’s teach your kids SQL because they have a good chance to make as much money as a Major League closer. 

I am deeply conflicted about this.  I do not have Zuckerberg’s money.  I also am starting out from a very different place than he did.  As I grow my company, I need to hire good people because if I don’t it is going to affect the quality of my customer service and product.  So how do I find top performers without having to break the bank?  I don’t know the answer to that question but I do have clues. 

I will lean on my college’s Delta Mu Delta honor fraternity for business students.  When I was inducted as a graduate student I met a lot of sharp people who want to succeed.  I could use them.  They may not be the rock stars that Zuckerberg is chasing but they could grow into that role.  Also, I will be auditioning developers and leaning on my network of recruiters to help me find the right talent.  Again, I may not get rock stars but if I have a diverse team of programmers who work well together and are just as committed as I am, I think we can take over the world. 

Talent does matter but let us not get crazy.  My Chicago Cubs have spent lots of money over the last ten years and it still hasn’t broken there ugly tradition of losing.  I would rather have some misfits and malcontents with talent and something to prove that a roster of all stars any day.  I suppose that means I want a Lake Wobegonecompany where the weather is always nice and everyone is above average. 

I understand this is not realistic but one can always dream. 

Onward and upward.

Not a bad week.  The site is working and in staging.  I have my Facebook Page, my Twitter Account, and LinkedIn Page.  Not a bad way to go into a holiday weekend. 

Coming soon a discussion of logistics and cloud computing.

Have a safe and happy Memorial Day.