How To Build Something People Want?

The real question is not “how to build” something. There are enough technology experts around us who can build stuff. Capital, technology, processes and standards are only secondary to good product design. The real question then, is “what to build”, or “what to build”…

6 Ideas Off My Chest

For the past few months I’ve been sitting on some ideas (for Web applications) that I’ve scribbled here & there. I’m working on a few (not listed here) in my spare time, but realistically I won’t be able to work on all…

Skewed By Consensus

The other day I was browsing through the list of world’s most popular goals on 43 Things, when I came across something one might call a “true lie”. Apparently, 25271 people want to “Fall in love” and on average it takes them 9 years…

Why Writing Software Is Like Engineering

How would you classify writing software? Is it science (as in computer science), a form of art (as in code is poetry or prose) or an engineering discipline? Terence Parr, a professor of computer science at the University of San Francisco, recently wrote about why writing software is not like…

The Lean Wizard of Oz

Recently I read about the yet unbuilt 2011 Ford Fiesta that attracted more than a thousand online pre-orders within the first 6 days of the launch of its reservation program. It made me wonder not only about the marketing hype associated with such campaigns, but also about the fact that…

Things I Learnt This Year

Another year has nearly come to an end. A new decade is set to begin. It’s amazing how time just whisks away. What’s also amazing is how much we can learn about ourself in time just by paying a little more attention to that sound in…

Void Sound Of A Void Monk

I’ve been relaxing and trying to make the most of my holidays for the past few days. It’s amazing how much you can get done when in the right frame of mind. While doing some coding in my spare time lately, I’ve had a…

We Lift On Three

At one of the company stand-ups I attended recently, the topic of discussion was ‘Good Communication’. As simple and ordinary it may sound, it did make me think about an interesting hypothesis. Research tells us that only 7% of all communication is impacted by the content or the…