Scott Berkun's Blog, page 96
February 9, 2010
Book smarts vs. Street smarts
In a series of posts, called readers choice, I write on whatever topics people submit and vote for. If you dig this idea, let me know if the comments, and submit your ideas and votes.
This week's reader's choice post: Book Smarts vs. Street Smarts
Polarizing questions are silly since rarely in life do you have to make such exclusive choices. Often if you're clever, you can find ways to obtain both ends of any X or Y type dilemma. But for fun, I'll assume you've stolen my lunch money and ...
Obama, Palin and teleprompters
I saw on CNN today more about Sarah Palin's use of handwritten notes on the palm of her hand. This story is stupid and pointless. It's just as dumb as the people who criticize Obama for using teleprompters, while using telepromters themselves, which includes nearly every newscaster on every TV network (ironically, Sarah Palin criticized Obama on this too).
In speaking, the ends justify the means. The average speaker sucks. The average politician isn't much better. If using index cards, crib...
January 29, 2010
The future of UI – interview on CBC
The folks at CBC's Spark show interviewed me about the future of UI, and the boring post.
Good stuff on innovation, ui design, whether I'm a curmudgeon or not, the Ipad and more. ~10:00 long.
The future of UI interview or use the raw mp3 link
January 27, 2010
Should Americans get more vacation?
In a series of posts, called readers choice, I write on whatever topics people submit and vote for. If you dig this idea, let me know if the comments, and submit your ideas and votes.
This week's reader's choice post: What's the impact of 60 hour work weeks and only 2 weeks of vacation on American companies? (submitted by Lynn – thx!)
The running joke at any big corporation is the phrase 'work/life balance'. Anywhere that needs to make a special phrase like this is by definition a place ...
January 26, 2010
Twitter reconsidered
I wrote a post in June of 2009 called Calling Bullshit on Social Media. The goal of the post was to put twitter, and facebook, into an honest perspective, given all the hype and idiocy surrounding the phrase social media. It was picked up all over, as echo-chamber articles about social media often are, and has well over 100 comments and links to it.
In the six months since then my use of twitter has increased, warranting a follow up post.
I don't retract anything I said – but now I have more...
January 25, 2010
My talk at Google HQ, on Confessions
I wrote a few weeks ago about how my talk at Google about Confessions was the toughest room I'd had all year (with photos, and countermoves). The room was adjacent to a noisy cafeteria,at lunchtime, and an exposed busy hallway of folks on their way to and from the cafeteria: bad news all around.
Well, now you can see the video of the talk.
The Winchester job interview theory
Royal Winchester is a very smart guy. He also has a disturbing habit of thinking very well about things. He recently offered me this theory on interviews.
The theory goes as follows: Interviewing is mostly bullshit.
As the theory goes, most of us make instinctive judgments on factors we don't understand in the first five minutes, and spend the rest of the time, and the time discussing with other interviewers, back-filling logical reasons to support an intuitive response we're largely in denial ...
Woody Guthrie's new year's resolutions
I'm lazy with resolutions. I give myself until the end of January to sort out any exceptional goals for the year, and as I settled on mine I stumbled across this one.
Apparently Woody Guthrie, one of my heroes, had a different problem. He didn't seem to do too well with setting clear priorities. He lists 33 things for the year of 1942. Inspiring given the results, nevertheless.
Guthrie's new years resolutions (from the official site), 1942:
Work more and betterWork by a schedulewash teeth if...Woody Guthrie's new years resolutions
I'm lazy with resolutions. I give myself until the end of January to sort out any exceptional goals for the year, and as I settled on mine I stumbled across this one.
Apparently Woody Guthrie, one of my heroes, had a different problem. He didn't seem to do too well with setting clear priorities. He lists 33 things for the year of 1942. Inspiring given the results, nevertheless.
Guthrie's new years resolutions (from the official site), 1942:
Work more and betterWork by a schedulewash teeth if...January 21, 2010
Challenging Newton's Apple
Recently The Royal Society put their copy of the best evidence in the world about the fabled story of Newton watching an apple fall up on the web. NPR picked up the story here.
In my besteller, the Myths of Innovation, I spend a chapter exploring the failings of the story, and others like it, and how misused these tales often are.
But I have doubts this event ever took place. The book The Royal Society posted was titled Memoirs of Isaac Newton, written by his friend William Stukeley.
Here are...
