Jan 20

Twitter is About… Oh Just Stop It.

raves, web 3 Comments »

There are a great many Twitter Super-Experts on the young web service who have it all figured out. They tend to interrupt conversations or take it upon themselves to right the wrongs here and there of those uneducated fools who would dare to Tweet something that is, just quite simply, unacceptable for Twitter.

Not wanting to miss out on the Grand Epiphany that is Twitter I searched the great web temple archives for the phrase, “Twitter is about” and “Twitter is all about” in the hope that I too would Get It. But the search resulted in many tweets that went something like, “I’m just trying to figure out what twitter is about.” Not very useful to us: the unwashed.

So I decided to do a search on “Twitter is not about”, thinking if one could only seek out what a thing is not then, by deduction, he shall know what a thing is. Holmes would be proud.

That search uncovered, according to the Twitter Sages, what Twitter is NOT about:

  • Twitter is not about selling stuff
  • Twitter is not about the individual
  • Twitter is not about Edgar Allan Poe
  • Twitter is not about being followed and not following back
  • Twitter is not about automatic updates
  • Twitter is not about paying for Twitter
  • Twitter is not about purposeful, systematic Tweets
  • Twitter is not about spam
  • Twitter is not about AllTop

Ok, so now we know what Twitter is not about. Not very satisfying, really. It doesn’t tell us a thing about what Twitter is about. Where oh where can one find the light?!

However, hidden deeply within the Tweets I studies were a few cryptic hints that might help us unravel this great mystery. Here they are for your perusal. See if you can deduce anything from them. Note, they are written in purely raw form. I chose not to try and interpret thus polluting the awesome wisdom within:

  • CON-VER-SA-TION!
  • POOL OF MINDS
  • the peeeepooolllllll!!!!!

Now, as I ponder these clues hoping that my mind would produce that delicious fruit known as Understanding, it has occured to me that the Sages of Twitter are trying to say something. Let me take a stab at just what it might be:

Twitter is about people, not technology. It’s about communication with your fellow human, not marketing at them. It’s about the great social blah blah blah… 

Oh just stop it!

How can a one year old technology website have spawned so many pontificators, social media mavens, and Internet Marketing Experts; all of them vying to explain to us just what this nascent technology “is all about?”

One thing is for sure, Twitter had better be about making a profit for its stakeholders, and soon, or Twitter will be about a great experiment that didn’t work.

Dec 22

But they said Agile was Paradise

code, raves No Comments »

A wise man once concluded that there is no such thing as a free lunch. He was right, of course. Agile methodologies have promised programmers that they can build big software without big planning-up-front.

If Agile isn’t promising success without planning then what is it promising? If you can’t answer that then welcome to Earth.

Why is this a problem? Because Agile is selling a promise to developers that must be fulfilled by architects and designers.

Yes, the Agile practices of 2-week timeframe’s, daily stand-up meetings, pair programming, etc, depend on the simple fact that SOMEONE is keeping a clear vision of the end product in mind.

That sounds like BDUF (big design up front). Someone has to do it. It’s not the developer’s responsibility, it’s the architect’s.

So successful Agile development requires an architect to succeed.

A techtalk video of Hubert Smits, the Agile Guy, inspired this post.

May 29

Stop receiving paper bills?

raves No Comments »

Sooo, should I guess the phone bill?stopreceivingpaper

May 12

Why Firefox Wins

raves, spiffy No Comments »

The browser should be invisible. 

Browser software, as the centerpiece of the Internet experience, must be constantly updated with the latest bug fixes and security patches. So updating the browser is a central part of the Internet experience.

The makers of Firefox get this.

I have been using several of the major browsers lately to test unreleased web apps. Most of the concern in the websphere is over web standards, CSS support, and the like. But there’s a bigger problem: how much “attention” I have to give to upgrading browsers.

Attention is absolutely precious. So every time an application interrupts me with a question it could have figured out on its own, I run the risk of losing focus and productivity. Like web popups, this is a huge annoyance.

Again, the folks who make Firefox understand this. Rather than annoy you with inane questions and endless “Next…” buttons, it just asks a single question at runtime: “There’s a new version of Firefox. Do you want to upgrade now or later?”. You choose and it basically says, “You got it!” and goes away. Next thing you know, you’re browser is upgraded. No fuss.

This philosophy has gone into every area of Firefox: “The browser should be invisible.”

And this philosophy is why Firefox wins.

Firefox should be on iPhone. Firefox should have been on Palm before it died. Firefox should be on Windows Mobile.

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