Author Archive: Paul Epps

Not Exactly Romeo and Juliet

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A Facebook friend asks to me to vote for her friends Riq and Chantelle to win their dream wedding. Clicking through on this invitation, I learn that Chantelle is a teacher and Riq is a “tattoo’r.” From the provided photo, I’d say they’re both in their mid to late 20s. The reason they can’t afford to pay for their own wedding? They have five kids. I post a comment: they already have five kids?!?! Response: Previous marriages no judging! Just vote 🙂 Then this follow-up comment from someone I don’t know: By the way that was excellent advise [sic], we should indeed never prejudge, because people who prejudge only assume things and don’t get the facts straight. OK, this guy needs to get his shit together and calm down. I’m not “prejudging” anybody; I’m evaluating people’s mental stability (or lack thereof) based on their accumulated number of kids, spouses and… Read more →

Your genuine action will explain itself, and will explain your other genuine actions. Your conformity explains nothing. The force of character is cumulative. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

What Can You Stop Doing?

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All of us have a tendency to take on additional work, lose focus, and feel overloaded — whether we work in the C-suite, at a desk, or on a shop floor. The key is not to repeat that pattern by adding more work. Instead, take an inventory of everything you’re trying to do, pick out the few things that will make the most difference (to your job, your career, or your life), and put everything else at the bottom of the pile or eliminate it altogether. Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize — and you may find that you’ll get more done by doing less. — Ron Ashkenas, “When Managing Complexity, Less is More,” Harvard Business Review Read more →

How to Be Liked by a Lot of People

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Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you; spend a lot of time with them and it will change your life. — Amy Poehler, Harvard commencement 2011 Great advice from Amy Poehler, whoever she is. (A little research turns up the fact that she’s been in TV shows and movies with Tina Fey.) Thank god my kid isn’t going to Harvard! Do you have any idea what it costs to send a kid to an Ivy League university?! After which you get as a commencement speaker, not Tina Fey — which would be merely terrible, because at least people have heard of her — but Tina Fey’s sidekick. I’m reminded of the story of the SpongeBob and James D. Watson bobbleheads. SpongeBob has almost 23 million Likes on Facebook. Amy Poehler is giving commencement speeches at Harvard. James D. Watson is alive but unknown, not invited to commencements,… Read more →

Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

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It is essential not to profess to know, or seem to know, or accept that someone else knows, that which is unknown. Almost without exception, the things that end up coming back to haunt you are things you pretended to understand but didn’t early on. At virtually every stage of even the most successful software projects, there are large numbers of very important things that are unknown. It is acceptable, even mandatory, to clearly articulate your ignorance, so that no one misunderstands the corporate state of unknowingness. If you do not disseminate this “lucid ignorance,” disaster will surely befall you. Human nature is such that we dislike not knowing things that are important to our well being. Since there is so much we don’t know in a software project, the nearly universal tendency among developers and their managers is to gloss over or even deny altogether the extent of their… Read more →

It’s not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It’s because we dare not venture that they are difficult. — Seneca

Motherf-ing Cats

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My son comes back from watching African Cats for “field hours” . . . “How was the movie?” I ask. “Pretty good. Samuel L. Jackson was narrating it.” “He was? Did he say ‘Get these motherf-ing cats off this motherf-ing plain’?” “No.” “‘Plain’ — get it? A flat expanse of land?” Read more →

Aside

Is today National Make a Left Turn Into Oncoming Traffic Day? Because I saw a lot of that on the way in this morning . . .

Field Hours

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It has come to my attention that Northwood High kids can get “field hours” for Environmental Science by visiting zoos and watching movies at the Spectrum. How lame is that? Shouldn’t they have to rescue a seagull or something? Read more →

Voice-Activated Copiers

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We just got new copiers at the office. They have 900 features, which makes it hard for people to figure out how to access the one feature they really want, i.e., making a copy. My office is close to one of the copy rooms, so when I hear someone in there struggling with the new copier, I go in and tell them it’s voice-activated. “Just say your name and the number of copies you want.” “Jodi Smith. Two copies.” Nothing happens. “I don’t think you’re authorized to make copies. Get Debbie down here and have her try it.” Update: We had training classes today on how to use the copiers. I’m dating myself here but I can actually remember when it was possible to operate a copier without a training class. Read more →

Loved or Feared

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Most of what Machiavelli said made sense, but certain things stick out wrong — like when he offers the wisdom that it’s better to be feared than loved, it kind of makes you wonder if Machiavelli was thinking big. I know what he meant, but sometimes in life, someone who is loved can inspire more fear than Machiavelli ever dreamed of. — Bob Dylan, Chronicles Read more →

Aside

I’m dating myself here, but I can actually remember when it was possible to operate a copier without taking a training class.

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