Just read an article via Slashdot on this thing called "Tab Warming" that the Mozilla team is testing for the Firefox Web Browser. I won't go into the details, but in essence what Tab Warming does is that it anticipates whether or not you'll click on a link, and if it does it "paints" the page... Continue Reading →
Doing the right thing poorly
I was halfway through reading the book Flying Without a Net by Thomas J. when I came across the following brilliant insight: in order to improve a particular skill, we have to first start by recognising that however we are performing that skill may not be the best way of doing so, and that to... Continue Reading →
The difficulties of doing “deep work”
These past two weeks I've been on leave, staying at home and being a dad to my 2-year-old son. He's got quite a standard schedule: the wife and I bring him out in the morning to let him "see the world", have breakfast, and/or visit the grandparents etc.; he comes back around noon, takes a... Continue Reading →
Feeling good about one’s work
I was just "thinking about things" when this thought came into my head: To feel good about one's work, there are two sides of validation: the internal and the external. External validation: somebody tells you, "you've done well. This is excellent!" Internal validation: you tell yourself, "you've done well; you'd set out to do something... Continue Reading →
Winning first place without ever being first
Or: what I learned from playing too much DiRT Rally (one of my favourite rally racing games.) So here's the context: I'm playing "career mode", in which I buy a car, hire a couple of engineers, and go out to race. In order to win the championship, I have to have the best time across... Continue Reading →
Please let me know if you have any questions
"Please let me know if you have any questions," wrote I in an email I was drafting. It has long been my signature email sign-off, but this time I was feeling a little reflective and reconsidered writing that line. What did it really mean? But try as I might I couldn't quite put my finger on... Continue Reading →
On Humility and Learning
I'm currently listening to Tim Ferris' podcast episode with Eric Ripert, chef and co-owner of Le Bernardin, one of New York's top restaurants. In one part of the episode Ripert talks about what he looks for in his hires (his cooks). Of the various things he mentioned, what he said about humility stood out most for... Continue Reading →
Be nice
It's not always easy, being nice. Especially when we're feeling anything but nice. But please, let's do the right thing and put in a little bit of emotional labour to check ourselves. Because if we don't, we may not get a second chance. (Had read too many badly written, caustic e-mails today. Though I wasn't on the... Continue Reading →
What’s Sales Reporting Governance got to do with Bribery?
I lead a Sales Operations team, and one of our objectives for this year is to establish a "sales reporting governance structure": to ensure that the right reports/tools get developed, with the right specifications, at the right time; and, perhaps most importantly, with the buy-in by the right people. Essentially this governance structure looks at controlling the reporting... Continue Reading →
On meritocracy, luck, and giving back
Kottke's post on meritocracy, a concept that I had in my younger days considered infallible, reminded me that even those of us who have worked hard and achieved so-called "success" have much to owe to "luck". Even the smartest, hardest working, most beautiful of us all, would likely have not fared well, had we been born... Continue Reading →
Donn, fragments 