Apperceptions

Malcolm Gladwell on IT Conversations

More about "Blink".  You can find a recent 20 minute interview with Malcolm Gladwell on ITConversations about the book.  You can also find an earlier related interview from late last year.  Now stick that in your pod!

Do The Right Thing

Seth's Blog points to a wonderful post by Joe Taylor about slow cooking that I wish lots of people I know would read.  I can hear Ossie Davis as Da Mayor telling Mookie "Doctor, always try to do the right thing!" 

So often, I see companies adding poorly thought out features to a product in order to chase some newly recognized opportunity that will supposedly catapult the product to a wild success overnight.  Oops, now I hear Zappa.

I'm reading Malcolm Gladwell's new book "Blink".  One of the main points that the book advocates is "decisions made very quickly can be every bit as good as decisions made cautiously and deliberately".  This is interesting in light of the most recent C-SPAN Library of Congress discussion with David Levy, where there seemed to be a consensus amongst the discussion panel that there was a need today for time for greater reflection in the ever increasing pace of the modern world. 

These days, we want to (have to?) move at Internet speeds, but often this just results in half-baked ideas thrown against the wall to see what sticks.  Many development strategies suggest continuously making small improvements.   Like any good cook, we need to be able to plan ahead, deal with sudden flare-ups and, all the while, keep slowly stirring the sauce until everything is ready to be served to our guests.