How to be a program manager – Joel on Software The exact form the functional specification takes may vary. All a functional specification has to do is explain how the program will behave. It doesn’t say anything about how the code will work internally. You start at the highest level: a vision statement, no more than one page explaining the gist of the new feature. Once that’s nailed down, you can develop storyboards… mockups of the screens showing the user’s progression through the application, with detailed notes showing how they work. For many types of functionality, especially UI-heavy functionality, once you have these storyboards, you’re done. (categories: programmingdesignprocessdevelopmentmanagementengineeringfunctionalspec )
Entrepreneurs – Don’t Be Afraid of GDP Growth Rate The list of companies started during periods of negative GDP Growth include Wang, TI, DEC, Fairchild, EDS, Compuserve, Intel, Atari, CA, Apple, Microsoft, Amdahl, Autodesk, Sun, Compaq, Cisco, 3Com, Genzyme, EMC, Amgen, Lotus, EA, Adobe, AOL, Dell, Cisco, and Network Appliance. I know the startup story of many of them and it includes single-mindedness of purpose, frugality/capital efficiency, and more sweat than equity. (categories: startupsentrepreneurshipeconomymotivation )
Play the Point, Not the Score Quote: "Play the point, not the score. Down 4-1? Doesn’t matter – play the point. Just had someone quit on you. Doesn’t matter, play the point. Fell short of plan for the month of January – doesn’t matter – play the point. Just had a big deal go off the rails? Doesn’t matter – play the point." (categories: businessinspirationmanagementsuccesspsychology )
Web Hooks Web hooks are simple HTTP callbacks. They’re nothing new, you may be familiar with the PayPal IPN feature. That’s a web hook. The idea is to have web applications let users register post-receive URLs for various events. This can be used as a lightweight alternative to XMPP for real-time push notifications, but also for integrating arbitrary web services. For the truly daring, you can use web hooks to create a plugin systems or platforms. (categories: httpwebhooksnotificationeventscallbackasynchronouspush )
Rands In Repose: A Signature Cadence Quote: "This conversational tone has a purpose. By sounding like a human, these small wording decisions push the technology out of the way to reveal what we really care about: the people." (categories: uxlanguageusabilitypeoplevoice )
Alex Payne | Life As A Series of Queues Quote: "My suspicion is that there’s a market in making each and every one of those queues smaller, if not making them disappear entirely." Bigger market: being able to prioritize across queues. (categories: dataproductivityqueueingqueue )