Yesterday (when I started writing this) was New Year Adam — coined we believe by our friend Brooxie Crews Keary. Because Adam came before Eve, don’cha know. Brooxie used to have “Christmas Adam” parties on the 23rd, and since then…
Built to Last
I can’t begin to tell you when I became a Craftsman. I can tell you that it’s been a long road. I think it started when we bought our first house, built in 1922. In no time, you find yourself…
Move the Battlefield
Like any good business school student of the 80s/90s, I read all the classic works to explain how to get ahead. I’m sure many of you remember the Gordon Gekko line from the movie Wall Street that in some ways…
Sharpening one’s Edge
“Not Invented Here.” This is a popular corporate syndrome that was often mentioned as part of Microsoft’s organizational culture back in the late 90s/early 2000s. Being that it was org culture, it kept popping up in different ways. For example,…
Lost Horizons of Tech
Last week I was talking to someone about the sad realities of not having access to good backups. The example I talked about was the famous “NotPetya” attack on the worldwide shipping firm, Maersk. It’s fascinating reading (WIRED wrote a…
Hanging on the Telephone
It’s a fact: you run a business, you need a phone. And once you grow to the point where it’s more than just you, you need a phone system. It’s no secret that all the original telcos (Ma Bell and…
Don’t tell the parents…
Counting backward, I realized that I’ve been using my tech skills to support nonprofits off and on for the last 15 years. That’s this time around * Since separating from the Tulsa Area United Way I’ve been doing some consulting…
Hiding in Plain Sight
A colleague and I were chatting (okay…texting) this week about recruitment issues, and I was reminded of one of our challenges back in the Dot Com Era in Seattle. I was Director of IT during the mid-to-late 90s at a…
The Post Office gets Smart
July 9, 2019 I’ve written a lot about my enthusiasm for smart homes. My two WiFi-enabled smart thermostats, the sensor that alerts me via App when my garage door goes up or down, etc. But the US Postal Service has…
Quality Hires
Lots going on lately — at the office we’ve been working on replacing staff vacancies, retool with new positions, etc. I’ve also been cleaning out and consolidating boxes, which means I find notes and documents from previous gigs. One folder…