Get Real: Have an Enemy

I’ve been enjoying Getting Real, the book by 37signals (creator of the very cool Basecamp).  The book, which is available online, is ostensibly about best practices in software development.  However, I think its lessons can be applied to other situations, like… life.  For example, they suggest having an enemy.  When building Basecamp, 37signals decided that their app would be the anti-Microsoft Project.  MS Project was the enemy.  MS Project would be the opposite of the beast that is Project.

Who’s your enemy?  How does having an enemy motivate you?  When starting a project, do you think to yourself, “I’ll show them!”

Blogs in Government

The blogging revolution has reached government agencies. I think this about makes it mainstream. Pretty soon, even your grandmother will have a blog. Government webmasters (full disclosure: I’m one of them) have put together a really helpful page on the benefits and challenges of government blogging and what to consider before you pick up the keyboard. Bonus: some example government blogs and the Weather Service’s blogging policy. Policy? This is the government after all

Web Workers: Some Bathrobes, Some Not

In this charming post by Anne Zelenka, she gives thanks for being able to work in her bathrobe. Web workers don’t need to worry about dressing up or even leaving the home. But what about us web workers who have to bother with showering, putting on pants and trudging into the cube farms? It’s ironic that most in the web field have do their work in a fixed physical location, putting in “face time” with coworkers and trying (futilely) to appear interested during lengthy meetings. It’s so, well, 20th century, that most who build and maintain web sites have to report to an office every day. I’ll give thanks when the work practices of today catch up to the reality of web work. Until then, you’ll find me in my cube.