Unreadable . . . unbelievably bad. Ironically, for a book about innovation, the concepts are trite and the prose consists of one lazy cliche after another. Watch — I’m going to open the book to a random page and list the cliches: “secret sauce,” “blow the doors off,” “boil the ocean,” “where the action is,” “ivory tower,” “marching instructions.” The book is an insult to the intelligence of anyone who might conceivably want to read it. Read more →
Author Archive: Paul Epps
Embedding YouTube Videos in Valid Web Pages
One thing I learned from this post is that YouTube’s recommended method for embedding videos in web pages will prevent your page from validating: The <embed> element is Netscape’s method of embedding plugins and players in web pages. It’s not part of the XHTML specification. If you care about this kind of thing, you can use the markup below instead. It’s simpler, it validates, and it works (I tested it) in IE, Firefox, Safari and Opera. Read more →
USC Ranked as a ‘Dream College’
In more evidence of the growing popularity of USC’s undergraduate programs, the university recently was ranked in the top 10 “dream colleges” based on a Princeton Review survey of college applicants. — USC News FIGHT ON! Read more →
Out in the Streets – The Shangri-Las
California Enacts a Cell Phone Law
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed legislation that prohibits the use of handheld mobile phones while driving in the state. Effective July 1, 2008, the legislation prohibits drivers from using a wireless telephone while operating a motor vehicle unless the driver uses a hands-free device. Drivers who violate the law will face a base fine of $20 for a first offense and $50 for each subsequent offense. I can’t talk on my cell phone while I’m driving? What a dopey law! Can I still eat a chili dog while I’m driving? Can I drink a beverage? Can I try to find my favorite song on the CD player? Can I perform any number of activities that require the use of at least one hand and are at least as distracting as a phone call? Has anyone else noticed that we have too many laws? And that every new one takes… Read more →
It Isn’t a Thing You Do
Agile development isn’t a thing you do, it’s an attitude, it’s a set of personal values about responding to the real world, being open to the information that is there and being willing to do something about it. — Kent Beck Read more →
Cat and Dog Photos on Flickr
Originally uploaded by DevonTT. Originally uploaded by mvidarus. Read more →
That’s What You Think
My son’s on spring break this week. Today he spent the day with a friend volunteering at the local Boys and Girls Club. “I was watching kids for seven-and-a-half hours!” he says. I say, “I’ve been watching a kid for 15 years.” “Yeah, well, I’m a lot easier.” Read more →
My Wife’s Philosophy
You win some, you lose some, but I prefer to win them all. Read more →
A Couple of Tips on Bad Parenting
1. Give your son a fashionable name like Tanner, Braden or Travis. You can handicap a child for life with a goofy name. You can give him a sorry start from which he’ll never recover. By the way, you know what’s a good name? Paul. Paul is a name that’s stood the test of time. It dates back to the Bible . . . Tanner is not even a name. Braden is not a name. Travis is a name, but it’s a hillbilly name, like Zeke. If you’re tempted to name your boy Travis, go ahead and name him Zeke. 2. Use up your moral authority on things of no importance. I was in Subway this afternoon and heard a man telling his kids, “No soda. You’ve had too much soda lately.” It turns out by soda, he meant cola, because he let the kids fill up their drinks with… Read more →
The Agile Elevator Speech
You begin by stating that agile is basically three things: a set of engineering best practices that allow for rapid delivery of high-quality software, a project management process that encourages frequent inspection and adaptation, and a leadership philosophy that encourages team work and accountability. You go on to say that success in today’s economy requires us to respond quickly to changing market conditions. Agile processes allow our teams to meet the changing demands of their customers while creating environments where top developers want to work. — Agile Chronicles: “The Agile Elevator Speech” Read more →
Gathering Requirements
The most common verb associated with requirements is “gather.” Yet most requirements that end up fulfilled in a system aren’t gathered. Yes, I know, there are always a few requirements that are so obvious in a new system that you can “gather” them from stakeholders, but gathering implies that the requirements are already out there, fully formed and fully understood, and ready for harvest. It just doesn’t work that way. No stakeholder ever says to an analyst, “Requirements? Why, yes, I have eleven requirements. Eight are functional, one is a usability requirement, and the other two are operational requirements. Are you collecting constraints now, as well? I have three of those. Please sit down, and I will elucidate perfectly clearly on each and every one in turn.” Most requirements are discovered–or invented. Many are transformed or compromised along the way. Most stakeholders don’t consider the underlying requirements of their work;… Read more →
Honor Roll
My son made the honor roll his first semester in high school. I’m very proud of him. He’s in a competitive (translation: high percentage of Asian kids) high school and he’s taking honors classes, where every kid thinks they should get an A but there aren’t enough A’s to go around. An email went out to parents listing the Honor Roll kids. There are a lot of kids on the Honor Roll at this school. They should send out a list of the kids who didn’t make the Honor Roll. It wouldn’t be much longer and it would teach the kids a good lesson: Work hard or be humiliated. Another idea: Only kids taking honors classes would be eligible for the Honor Roll. All other kids would be eligible for the “Honor” (insert finger-quotes here) Roll. Read more →
EppsNet Labs: Glider
Here’s a really simple gliding tabs demo using glider.js, which is downloadable here. As you can see from the really simple code below, you could do something pretty nice with this without too much extra effort. Glider is dependent on the Prototype and Scriptaculous libraries, both of which are included in the glider download, as is the required stylesheet. Read more →
Breakfast at EppsNet
“The breakfast was overheated,” my son says to his mom. The boy is 14 years old. I say, “Thanks, Mr. Old-Enough-To-Fix-His-Own-Breakfast-But-Still-Lets-Others-Do-It-Then-Criticizes-Them.” “It was constructive criticism,” he says. Read more →
Early Shift at Starbucks
I walked into Starbucks at 5:30 this morning, ordered a drink . . . the Starbucks guy asked my name and wrote it on the cup, despite the fact that I was the only customer in the store. Whether that would be considered a training success or failure depends on whether Starbucks trains its people to always ask for the customer’s name, or to use situational judgment. I was hoping the barista would call my name when the drink was ready so I could do a comical “who, me?” take, but she just set it on the counter . . . Read more →
Guarantees vs. Commitments
A thought exercise: “How long will it take you to get to work tomorrow? Can you guarantee it? To give us a guarantee, you’d probably put a buffer on your answer first. I guarantee a team working to put together software for the next two weeks is engaged in something a lot less well understood than a daily commute. We can put in a buffer – promise less – to give you a guarantee, or we can work from our estimates and do our best.” — William Wake Read more →
Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?
Have you seen this program? My son clicked it on last weekend. The host asked a woman if she knew what a right triangle was. “Yes,” she said. “The triangle on the right.” I had to leave the room immediately. I felt like I was losing IQ points just watching it . . . Read more →
Obvious
Headline from OCFamily.com: TEEN PREGNANCY: What Parents Can Do to Prevent It Don’t have sex with teenagers? Read more →
Career Advice for the Deluded
If you don’t have something that is overwhelmingly important to do, then you probably don’t have anything that you’d absolutely rather be doing than getting up and going to work every day. So just start doing that. In any field. And stop deluding yourself that you have so many interests that you can’t choose. Really what you have is no clear interest and only a bunch of things you would consider if you had nothing to do. — Penelope Trunk, “Steps to figuring out your next career move” Read more →