People, Process, Product, Customer, and how people fit in organizations
My best work has been in places that are process-customer, but I've done well in process-product as well. I have not done well in people-dominated...
In praise of simple tools
I write using Emacs and LaTeX. I'll grudgingly copy and paste to other formats because the organization demands it but I do better work with...
Broadly vs. Locally-useful skills
Early on, I programmed on mainframes in COBOL... I'm sure I could do it again. But I'd be tossing away some highly valuable, broadly-applicable and...
How I got hired at AWS
Being yourself matters as much as anything.
And be nice to the airline staff. They can really make or break your life....
What the fuck are you doing there?
"Hey man. You're not gonna believe this, but I'm calling from Frankfurt..."
"What the FUCK are you doing there?"
It was a pretty good question....
Lessons from the top of a snowy hill
Things are rather treacherous out there. In my neighborhood, we have new-fallen (unplowed) snow, on top of wet (now frozen) fallen, partly-decayed, slippery leaves that...