Comments for mindgraffiti http://www.mindgraffiti.net mindgraffiti - noun; musings on creative work, publicly posted. Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:05:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 Comment on Future Projects and the IS Team by What motivates you to excel? « mindgraffiti http://www.mindgraffiti.net/2008/04/15/future-projects-and-the-is-team/comment-page-1/#comment-5112 What motivates you to excel? « mindgraffiti Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:05:58 +0000 http://www.mindgraffiti.net/?p=169#comment-5112 [...] en masse to solving the Photo department's cataloging issues to building prototype web apps to campaigning for improved Angus Journal and Angus e-Classifieds [...] [...] en masse to solving the Photo department's cataloging issues to building prototype web apps to campaigning for improved Angus Journal and Angus e-Classifieds [...]

]]> Comment on The Photo Department Revisited by What motivates you to excel? » mindgraffiti http://www.mindgraffiti.net/2008/08/19/the-photo-department-revisited/comment-page-1/#comment-4508 What motivates you to excel? » mindgraffiti Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:01:25 +0000 http://www.mindgraffiti.net/?p=263#comment-4508 [...] have varied from posting the sale books online efficiently to improving our web sites en masse to solving the Photo department’s cataloging issues to building prototype web apps to campaigning for improved Angus Journal and Angus e-Classifieds [...] [...] have varied from posting the sale books online efficiently to improving our web sites en masse to solving the Photo department’s cataloging issues to building prototype web apps to campaigning for improved Angus Journal and Angus e-Classifieds [...]

]]> Comment on An Ideal Employer by Thuy Copeland http://www.mindgraffiti.net/2008/11/04/an-ideal-employer/comment-page-1/#comment-1044 Thuy Copeland Wed, 26 Nov 2008 18:51:34 +0000 http://www.mindgraffiti.net/?p=332#comment-1044 Edit: This conversation and a refined version of Rob's thoughts are available in <a href="http://robwilkerson.org/2008/11/06/an-employees-ideal-employer/" rel="nofollow">this post</a>. Edit: This conversation and a refined version of Rob’s thoughts are available in this post.

]]> Comment on An Ideal Employer by Thuy Copeland http://www.mindgraffiti.net/2008/11/04/an-ideal-employer/comment-page-1/#comment-1031 Thuy Copeland Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:26:46 +0000 http://www.mindgraffiti.net/?p=332#comment-1031 Hear hear! Those are reasonable demands. Have you been able to infect other supervisors with an attitude of reasonableness? Hear hear! Those are reasonable demands. Have you been able to infect other supervisors with an attitude of reasonableness?

]]> Comment on An Ideal Employer by robwilkerson http://www.mindgraffiti.net/2008/11/04/an-ideal-employer/comment-page-1/#comment-1030 robwilkerson Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:06:25 +0000 http://www.mindgraffiti.net/?p=332#comment-1030 Actually, I am a supervisor. I'm fortunate that my own supervisors have a similar focus on productivity. It's much easier to do my job when I don't have to fight to get them to recognize common sense. It works pretty well, I think. My guys have a lot of latitude to come and go, but they have to get their shit done and not abuse that latitude. Actually, I am a supervisor. I’m fortunate that my own supervisors have a similar focus on productivity. It’s much easier to do my job when I don’t have to fight to get them to recognize common sense.

It works pretty well, I think. My guys have a lot of latitude to come and go, but they have to get their shit done and not abuse that latitude.

]]> Comment on An Ideal Employer by Thuy Copeland http://www.mindgraffiti.net/2008/11/04/an-ideal-employer/comment-page-1/#comment-1029 Thuy Copeland Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:56:44 +0000 http://www.mindgraffiti.net/?p=332#comment-1029 I would be interested to see you become a supervisor. There are too few in management who understand how to treat their employees as human beings, let alone expecting them to act with personal responsibility. I think that in the end it comes down to trust. Most management types are unwilling to extend it, which in turn is detrimental to employee morale and performance. (Oh, and on a side note I apologize for misspelling your name in my post. Some days I forget to edit what I write.) I would be interested to see you become a supervisor. There are too few in management who understand how to treat their employees as human beings, let alone expecting them to act with personal responsibility. I think that in the end it comes down to trust. Most management types are unwilling to extend it, which in turn is detrimental to employee morale and performance.

(Oh, and on a side note I apologize for misspelling your name in my post. Some days I forget to edit what I write.)

]]> Comment on An Ideal Employer by robwilkerson http://www.mindgraffiti.net/2008/11/04/an-ideal-employer/comment-page-1/#comment-1028 robwilkerson Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:05:57 +0000 http://www.mindgraffiti.net/?p=332#comment-1028 I'm glad that this resonated with someone. Thanks for bringing it back to life. As I mentioned, it's something I've spent a lot of time thinking about. In my mind, this is really just common sense and basic consideration among adults. It shouldn't be that hard to comprehend or implement. I'm often shocked at the stupid stuff employers ask their people to do or put up with for absolutely no good reason. I’m glad that this resonated with someone. Thanks for bringing it back to life. As I mentioned, it’s something I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about.

In my mind, this is really just common sense and basic consideration among adults. It shouldn’t be that hard to comprehend or implement. I’m often shocked at the stupid stuff employers ask their people to do or put up with for absolutely no good reason.

]]> Comment on The Case of the Disappearing Product by Thuy Nguyen http://www.mindgraffiti.net/2008/05/06/the-case-of-the-disappearing-product/comment-page-1/#comment-706 Thuy Nguyen Wed, 07 May 2008 18:43:56 +0000 http://www.mindgraffiti.net/?p=186#comment-706 You have some good points. True, there are drawbacks to buying the software outright. I don't believe it's the answer for everyone and I forgot to consider the inconvenience and growing pains of migrating data (that <abbr title="Software as a Service">SAAS</abbr> does protect against). The main benefit of installed software comes into play if the company tanks because your content is not held hostage by the dying company. At that point, the worst that happens is using in-house help to do bug fixes and the software will not see upgrades in the future. I have no doubts that Flickr is complex but even when it evolves to the satisfaction of its users and/or engineers I don't foresee them porting the code as installed software in the future. (Although I wish they would.) You have some good points. True, there are drawbacks to buying the software outright. I don’t believe it’s the answer for everyone and I forgot to consider the inconvenience and growing pains of migrating data (that SAAS does protect against).

The main benefit of installed software comes into play if the company tanks because your content is not held hostage by the dying company. At that point, the worst that happens is using in-house help to do bug fixes and the software will not see upgrades in the future.

I have no doubts that Flickr is complex but even when it evolves to the satisfaction of its users and/or engineers I don’t foresee them porting the code as installed software in the future. (Although I wish they would.)

]]> Comment on The Case of the Disappearing Product by drumdance http://www.mindgraffiti.net/2008/05/06/the-case-of-the-disappearing-product/comment-page-1/#comment-705 drumdance Wed, 07 May 2008 16:32:25 +0000 http://www.mindgraffiti.net/?p=186#comment-705 Having done both SAAS and software, I can tell you that SAAS is much more cost-effective and bug-free. The QA process for software is so much more difficult, and releasing bug fixes is hellish. And the "what if they company tanks" problem still remains - most early stage software companies don't document their software well (both user docs and the code), so even if you had the code you would still be in for a fair amount of hurt if you ever want to fix a bug or migrate your data elsewhere. I'll bet Flickr is enormously complex under the covers, and likely configured idiosyncratically. Even some open source products with hundreds of developers working on them are difficult to install (*cough* SugarCRM), and they were designed from the get-go as installed software. Having done both SAAS and software, I can tell you that SAAS is much more cost-effective and bug-free. The QA process for software is so much more difficult, and releasing bug fixes is hellish. And the “what if they company tanks” problem still remains – most early stage software companies don’t document their software well (both user docs and the code), so even if you had the code you would still be in for a fair amount of hurt if you ever want to fix a bug or migrate your data elsewhere.

I’ll bet Flickr is enormously complex under the covers, and likely configured idiosyncratically. Even some open source products with hundreds of developers working on them are difficult to install (*cough* SugarCRM), and they were designed from the get-go as installed software.

]]> Comment on Jobs and Benefits by mindgraffiti » Blog Archive » Jobs and Benefits Revisited http://www.mindgraffiti.net/2006/12/18/jobs-and-benefits/comment-page-1/#comment-695 mindgraffiti » Blog Archive » Jobs and Benefits Revisited Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:15:53 +0000 http://www.mindgraffiti.net/2006/12/18/jobs-and-benefits/#comment-695 [...] I first started working here I was astounded by the range of benefits I received. Angus Productions Inc.’s benefits are getting restructured, bit by bit…not sure what [...] [...] I first started working here I was astounded by the range of benefits I received. Angus Productions Inc.’s benefits are getting restructured, bit by bit…not sure what [...]

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