jetmissile » James

Strong Optical Illusion – Green

James — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 04:56:56 +0000

To check, use any graphics tool you like, that green and blue are actually the same color.

Content Templates to the Rescue

James — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 05:00:44 +0000

Content Templates to the Rescue: “As an industry, we’ve learned to plan our sites to achieve business goals and meet human needs while shipping on time and delivering compelling user experiences. Alas, despite all the sweat we pour into strategy sessions and GANTT charts, we still have to coax content out of our subject matter experts and get it onto every page of the site. This is where the strongest hearts grow frail, and even seasoned developers reach for Advil or something stronger. But help, in the form of content templates, is on the way. Seize the power.”

(Via A List Apart.)

Toxic People In The Workplace

James — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:02:42 +0000

A Toxic Paradox

My favorite part of this brilliant essay is that he goes someplace positive and surprising. Twist!

(Via Rands In Repose.)

Iran Election Crisis: 10 Incredible YouTube Videos

James — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 04:09:28 +0000

Iran Election Crisis: 10 Incredible YouTube Videos

Videos #8 and #9, just break your heart.

Via Mashable

Iranian Riot Policeman Captured by Protestors – Youtube

James — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 03:48:13 +0000

From the anonymous server hosted by the folks at Pirate Bay. Turns out as best as you can hope: Riot cop stops beating people and is given a bottle of water.

Via iran.whyweprotest.net

The planning fallacy

James — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:44:49 +0000

The planning fallacy: “
We blame bureaucracy for being wasteful and taking too long when things like the Denver International Airport or Boston’s Big Dig arrive years overdue and billions over budget. But it’s not just huge organizations and the government that mess up planning. Everyone does. It’s the ‘planning fallacy.’ We think we can plan, but we can’t.

Studies show it doesn’t matter whether you ask people for their realistic best guess or a hoped-for best case scenario. Either way, they give you the best case scenario. It’s true on a big scale and it’s true on a small scale too.

While I don’t agree w/all of the article, I do think it’s important to keep in the back of one’s mind that plans themselves have less value than a well oiled “planning process”, with feedback loops matched to the stakeholder or responsible party structure that should be clear at the beginning of every significant project. I believe one of the great strategists from WWII said “plans are useless, planning is priceless” (Eisenhower or Churchill?).

It’s also worth pointing out that while 37Signals regularly rants against planning up front, they do start w/a kernel of a direction, and document/communicate quite efficiently all along the way. So maybe rather than “don’t plan”, they should say “start with a simple idea, and document and communicate along the way”.

(Via Signal vs. Noise.)

Optical Illusion – Ames window

James — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:07:26 +0000

Keep your eyes on the stick to see what’s really going on:

Via Kottke

Mashup – The mother of all funk chords

James — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 19:13:36 +0000

7 more amazing mashups at his thru-you.com site:

More mashup Genius – Autotune

James — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:38:18 +0000

Werewolves

James — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 04:26:05 +0000

A List Apart: Articles: Managing Werewolves

Project Management and Workflow:

If I move a muscle, I’m dead. Jane, who I’m pretty sure is a Werewolf, is jumping from one player to the next, testing will and looking for weakness. She’s looking for a sign of guilt or discomfort and it’s not just her. The room is full of people looking for someone to lynch.

The game is Werewolf and I’m both exhilarated and terrified, which is odd because I’m paid to play a real-life version of this horrific game every day.