Paying down technical debt…
After the update to wordpress 4.4 beta, activating a certain plugin caused wordpress to fail, delivering empty pages. After fixing that, I’m going back through to test a few things to be sure stuff is back to ok.
Indieweb Audit
At indiewebcamp, and my first step is to audit all the stuff I have and find the holes and any problems.
You are not your depression
Conversations on depression have been flowing around the tech community for the last few months. It’s important, and many people have written about their experiences. There is some wonderful, helpful, and deeply personal insights out there. This morning I found one that really hit me. Mike Monteiro is a Designer and runs Mule Design Studio in…
Fight to Make Your Product Great
In the mid-80’s I took my second tech job, at a company called Silicon Graphics, Inc. SGI, before it officially contracted its name to “SGI”, was a fantastic place to grow and learn. It was intense and focused, and my modest technical know-how in Unix, TCP/IP Networking, and Computer Hardware matched well as the company…
IIW, an Open Space Conference
IIW uses the Open Space Technology process for self-organizing the conference. The importance of all of this is often unclear to the newcomer, but people come around, as they come to understand that there rules generate a conference that works much like the hallways and bars in traditional conferences. The whole thing becomes a great swirling…
IIW XXI Begins
Internet Identity Workshop is my favorite conference. The topics covered, which span across Identity, Privacy, Community, and Security and more, continue to be relevant even after more than a decade. The “Open Spaces” format generates lively discussions across a range of topics, all created on the spot by the participants. It’s also a conference full…
To Make a Great Product, Be Present and Self-Aware
A key principle when thinking about a product is to understand, deeply, the needs of the user of the product. What job are they hiring it to do? Why – What are they trying to accomplish? But this is difficult – and not just because it takes long hours and many cycles of iterative improvement.…
Square Peg Ranch On TV
For the next few months, our work at Square Peg Ranch is featured on America’s Best Racing and Fox Sports. The first short video in the series was shown today during the horse racing coverage of the United Nations Stakes at Monmouth Park, NJ. Joell and I watched at a local pizza place with some…
The President interviewed by a comedian in a garage.
Marc Maron scored a real coup for his show WTF, with the President of the United States sitting down with him in his garage in Pasadena to have a very human and personal conversation with him. It’s an excellent listen.
A Quiet Sunday Morning
I was up early today. When the hounds wanted out at 5am, I decided I would get some coffee, write and think. It’s the beginning of a quiet and reflective Sunday morning that Joell and I have been planning for a few days. The last week has been difficult. It started close to our hearts,…