How are you going to make change happen and learn to enjoy it, relish it and want more of it?

I’m going to dress nicer for work, show up at the office earlier, do my best work and lead by example.  It is time to step it up.

I’m reading Made to Stick. The timing is excellent….

HT: my friend Carrie who shared it on Facebook

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm8NdNy4wOM

Sweat the small stuff: Rory Sutherland on TED.com

It doesn’t require leadership to think about solutions like this.  However, I do think good leaders do have tendencies to think like this.  That’s nothing scientific.  And, it doesn’t mean that if a leader does not think like this they are bad.  I just like to think of good qualities and strive towards those.

Kevin Bales: How to combat modern slavery

Are we truly free?

Twitter and retweets are nice, but discussion in a closed system among people who care about similar things and can hide certain “friends” makes for a better medium than other places.  It’s actually open communication and open discussion, inside of a closed system.

I’m all for transparency (appropriate transparency), which means that not everyone should be a friend of yours on your personal Facebook account.  It does mean that if you want to have an open Facebook page, then you should make a Facebook fan page and let anyone add you to that.  It’s totally impossible to be a “friend” with thousands of people.  That’s what acquaintances are.

I could be wrong and you may disagree.  However, look around at where comments get made and where web site traffic comes from.  Do some analytics.  Referrals come from Facebook, because people want to talk about things there, not totally out in the public.

What does this mean?

This means that you can have multiple content sources, but you need to think about how you want to make it easy for people to discuss.  Check out http://kevinrose.com and look at a post or two.  Sure he’s popular and blah, blah, blah… But, there are two links for every post.  One goes to retweet on Twitter.  And, one goes to share on Facebook.  Look at the numbers next to each.  Facebook “wins” because it is a closed system that allows for and encourages open discussion.  That’s not contradictory.  That brilliant!

UPDATE: Yup… more fodder… Bandwidth Isn’t Free, Distribution Isn’t Free, So Why Should Content Be Free? (via @mcuban)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

I kinda like the song.  I’d like it even more if it was praise about how well the airline handled the blunder.  Yeah, deal with mistakes (already).

This trip back was done with everything I own able to fit into my truck with the top carrier.  It was not really that tight of a fit.  That’s mostly because I don’t have very much stuff.  I love that (for me).  I know that most people (in America) chose not to be that simple.  However, for me, it has become a mantra of the past few years.

I think this mantra carries over into the tech world.  Simplicity rules.

As a technologist and consumer of various technology, I have watched a lot of gadgets and programs and computer systems.  I’ve watched as people design and build things.  I’ve watched as end users gobble up or reject things.  The one solid constant is that simplicity rules.  That doesn’t mean that there should not be advanced options.  It does mean that defaults should be secure and simple, not just fastest to completion and fastest to sell a product.

Part of our information overload is due to too many products that are not designed well and ‘simply’ put, have too much crap.  For me, I decide to simplify and not consume as much.  I decide to make a personal choice to have less.  That is not for everyone.  But, it is one idea to help the glut of unorganized chaos not have such a negative force in my life.

Now, my motives and thoughts are not always to be the most profitable.  I’ll give you that.  My motives are not always to get the biggest numbers of users.  I’ll give you that.  My motives are more often to make the best, to solve a problem or to fill a niche.  Designing systems and processes that have a smaller scope is a different complexity that designing for the masses.  (That’s something that I hope to learn a lot more about in the near future and in the coming years!)  For now, I’m commenting on some feelings and some observances, not on everything and not totally comprehensively.

When we put in a CD or DVD and want it to play, we push play.  When we leave the house and want to secure it, we lock the door.  When we want to go online to view something, we want it to just work and the Internet to just be there.  Yes, I do understand the work it takes to make technology be simple.  But, I think there are things that we’re doing wrong – like making devices and systems and processes with too many options.

This post speaks more to the point of what I’m trying to say here.  Computers shouldn’t make people feel like idiots

Here are a few quotes that I think we should take to heart and should make it into the new systems we build.

“People don’t know how to use computers. And not just stupid people. Millions of people. People who are adults. And that’s pretty damn lame.”

“For those of us surrounded by the minutiae of computers all day, it’s easy to forget there’s a world of people out there who just don’t get it. And it’s not their fault. It’s ours.”

“(Note: It’s not just about making a computer or an app more accessible for people who don’t get it. It’s also for people who do get it because this way is better.)”

“You can crank up the snow machine. You can set up the slalom course perfectly. You can shape all the moguls so they’re just right. But if people can’t ever get on the ski lift, there ain’t gonna be any race.”

In short, we need to cut features.  We need to eliminate designing for false target users when our audience is not “everyone” and we need ot make things that work for a real group of target users.

We need to shape the market and redefine the market and help the market by making simple things that just work.  We need to educate the market and facilitate growth by making things that people will use… We cannot just feed the market and expect that it will figure it out.  Many times it will not.  And, many times it will find another way – if we don’t adjust and make things to be simple.

When the consumer says, “I don’t get it.” that is our fault as designers.  It is not the consumer’s fault. We need to take responsibility as technologists and designers and developers and IT pros and builders of any kind.

Take note: Simplicity rules.

P.S.  It’s been a little bit since I’ve posted here.  There have been very few times like this, lasting longer than a month, even going all the way back to 2003 or 2004, when I started blogging.  And, when it has happened, it’s been due to a good reason, like I have a bad attitude or I’m burned out or I’m moving across the country or, or, or… The point is, that it’s a new year and a new season and, well, here I go again…  (Actually, I do have several other blogs where I did post.  So, it’s not like I have not been blogging.  It’s just on this particular blog that it’s been a little while.  Anyway…)

“A German computer engineer said Monday that he had deciphered and published the secret code used to encrypt most of the world’s digital mobile phone calls, saying it was his attempt to expose weaknesses in the security of global wireless systems.”

…hmmm… More perspective is in the full article.  However, it does make one think a little bit more.  Who is listening?  ;)