• Senseless Regulations

    I rarely complain about regulations. I know that many, if not most of them are really for the best. We know what happens when there isn’t any oversight at all. But once in a while, I have a real WTF moment. RoHS, or Reduction of Hazardous Substanc…

  • Bad UI of the week: VMWare’s “my.vmware.com”

    Continuing on the theme of bad UI, this week’s hall of shame goes to VMWare. Sad, because they used to “get it”, or so it seemed to me. Background: I have long been a VMWare user. I have (purchased) a license for Workstation and Fusion, the deskto…

  • Secure communications

    So, I have recently taken a new job (it is a kick ass place to work too), and have moved. In the process of buying a house, a lot of sensitive infomation is exchanged. Particularly around the documentation required for a home loan. Email has becom…

  • Things that drive a “car guy” crazy

    I am a tech head, and I do have a thing for cars. I drive a pretty sweet Honda S2000, and I have ridden performance motorcycles for most of my life. So I know a thing or two about a well running car. This morning, while walking my dogs, I walked b…

  • UX, an example of lousy design and usability

    While I am no longer in a realm that has to integrate with MFP (multi-function peripherals), I now use them more than ever. For the record, I am talking about the upper end HP office printer/scanner/facsimile machines. The ones that integrate with…

  • Using the wrong tool – Excel

    Few things make me scratch my head more than people who insist upon using lousy tools way outside their envelope. Case in point: Product Requirements Document done in Excel. While there are a few positives, like easy to prioritize, and re-order li…

  • White trash hotels

    I recently took a new job, a couple hours from my home. While we are house hunting and preparing to move, I have been staying at a budget hotel (I have to pay for it, so it is really cheap). This has been going on for about 8 weeks, and it works w…

  • Product Owner barely being ready with backlog to start planning?

    Just curious if I am unique. I am the Director of Product Management, and have a staff of 6. I am the product manager for our main product line (about 80% of our business), and I play the Product Owner. Today was planning sessions, and as usual, I…

  • Some tasks really can’t be done Agile

    Sunday morning here, and I am working on my backlog in preparation for iteration planning tomorrow. One of the major tasks is that a recent architecture change (that was SUPER for performance) heinously breaks our old model of licensing. By old, I…

  • eBooks – Sony Reader & possibly the BEST SciFi novel of all time

    I am a prodigious reader. Have been since early in my High School years. Science Fiction is my chosen escape. I have read most of the genre’s and deeply into some of the authors. Heinlein, Asimov, Jordan, Pohl, Haldeman, and many many more. There …