If you haven’t heard about it yet: Percolate is my new must-read daily digest. It’s set up to send a daily email to me after going through all my various sources (friends) and finding what is most important and talked about. The digest is cool but the website is even more slick. Plus, Noah is pretty good at this internet stuff so just realize it’s bound to be great. Click here for a super secret invitation to get in before anyone else.
Category Archives: Internet
Congrats to the team over at Untappd for launching their native iPhone and Android apps last week. I’ve been beta testing for a bit and this is a much improved experience over the mobile browser experience. It’s much faster, allows photo uploads, and has a handy “notifications” center. If you like beer and haven’t heard of Untappd, these guys have become the de facto standard for “checking in” to your drinks. It’s been really fun to explore new tastes and discover what types I like.
I’m headed to Portland (Maine aka “real Portland”) this week for what I believe will be the underrated technology (and beer!) conference of the year. Kudos to Steve et al for pulling together what I’m sure will be a great time. We have a big “todo” list but Let me know if there’s anything worth seeing out there.
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Denver Post prints partial quote, Councilwoman provides full context via blog
3 Replies
I just love that my councilwoman, Judy Montero, has her own blog (on WordPress). Not only that, but she can respond to an article published in the Denver Post which printed only part of her prepared statement that lacks the full context of her response. Not that the news hasn’t been doing this “fit the quote so it fits our story” game forever, but now the public can easily see the other side.
Here’s what the Denver Post printed on in their story describing medical marijuana grow sites in Denver:
Councilwoman Judy Montero, who represents north and central Denver, went a step further, suggesting that the presence of grows in some areas might need to be re-evaluated as those areas look to redevelop.
“I don’t see the uses of medical marijuana grow facilities being consistent with our land- use visions for the future of these communities,” she wrote in a prepared statement. Such a clash has already occurred in Montero’s district…
This statement only suggests she’s against the grow sites (negative) then the article goes on to conclude that the sites are very much friends of the community (contrary to her point).
Stepping back, if you read the full statement it may paint a fuller picture of her thoughts on the future of the community (excluded text is highlighted):
The grow facilities you see on the ground today are a reality of today’s economic climate and obsolete land use policies of the past. Unfortunately, I don’t see the uses of medical marijuana grow facilities being consistent with our land use visions for the future of these communities – visions that include new parks, affordable housing options, retail, and other amenities that are the foundation of a sustainable neighborhood. So if market conditions start to change, I am not confident that grow facilities will still be considered an appropriate use as these areas start to transform themselves with exciting redevelopment opportunities.
I’m happy to see the internet is able to help balance the discussion and remove some of the power that the media has to form public opinion in their own views. Check out the comments on the article to see how individuals specifically ask what Montero’s vision includes…
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As soon as I saw Facebook’s new “Ticker” (a.k.a. Facebook within Facebook) I wondered if Facebook was smart enough to “surface” the right stories to me. MG Siegler at TechCrunch:
But while all the competitors were busy making that button, Facebook was busy making the button obsolete. Today’s Open Graph changes represent a world where the button isn’t needed. Sure, it will continue to exist for certain types of content. But it will be more like an on/off switch.
Once I saw the long term plan (with the new Timeline), it became clear that the Ticker is the new Beacon. Facebook is told about everything you do. Then between a mix of curation (updating my Timeline) and algorithm (Facebook determining what is important) the stream of updates within Facebook will become meaningful again.
Or, at least, thats the hope.
Foster the People – Pumped Up Kicks (Violin Cover by Nick Kwas)
Nick, shut up and take my money. Everyone else, listen to the original song by Foster the People then check out this awesome cover.
My Facebook List “Internet Celebs” is going to make “un-Friending and Subscribing” a very efficient process.
I’m adding “Email Deleting” to my Linkedin skills just to see if people are still paying attention over there.
I *am* getting pretty good at it, though…
Put This On, Episode 7: Personal Style
My favorite web series is [Put This On](http://putthison.com) hosted by Jesse Thorn and Adam Lisagor. In the final installment of Season 1, Sandy imparts the wise quip: “Every day put on one piece of clothing that says something about who you are…” (I won’t spoil the punchline),
Guys: go check out all episodes and if you enjoy them you should support the kickstarter project so we can have a Season 2. If you don’t, well, *you’re* the reason we can’t have nice things…
Estimate acceleration: the law of doubling estimates
Estimation is not a science, it is mostly guessing (hopefully based on prior experiences). In fact, a lot of web development is bespoke and and APIs change on a weekly basis.
Because of this, I’ve noticed that the process of estimation is handed off to various stakeholders which, in order to factor in estimation risks, inflates numbers at each level (which is okay).
In many cases an estimate originates with the folks expected to design and do the work: the Developer.
From there, its communicated to someone higher up who will spot check this for budgeting purposes: the Manager.
The estimate is then communicated (no matter the medium) to the folks responsible for the project: the Client.
This typically is elevated to someone higher up who owns the project success, budget, etc.: the Bosses.
An finally, if outsiders are to be affected (a website redesign, a new feature), some advanced communication is typically provided to: the Public.
At each step, someone is hearing a number (dollars, hours, months) and sometimes recalculating before they turn around and tell the next stakeholder. If I, the Client, hear the feature will be done “this week”, I will tell my Boss “next week” in case something (inevitably) comes up, changes are required, someone gets sick, a hurricane hits, etc.
This is not necessarily a symptom of mismanagement but an understanding that internal expectations are usually best-case. Hopefully the recipient’s experience has shown that “things happen” and any project may may have blind spots or unexpected events. Therefore, each person may turn around and double what they were just told. Some may see this as under-promising and over-delivering; I call it being realistic and conservative.
If you follow the flow from Developer to Public, you should realize that a “1 month” project set to complete in January should probably be communicated in the press release as a March launch. This may seem crazy or unreasonable to the uninitiated…
It’s much easier to have hard conversations about budgets or timelines early on (we are being intentionally conservative) than in the middle of a project (we didn’t expect this feature requiring this much work) or at the end when something isn’t quite done. This forces all kinds of pressure on everyone at each aforementioned level.
TL;DR: Estimates should accelerate at each level, from Developer up through Bosses because a bit of the “unexpected” needs to be factored in.