Tag Archives: complexity

Lessons on Competition from Mother Nature

Posted on May 30, 2017 by John Hunter

An interesting short article by Joel Barker with some ideas to think about, Surviving the Fittest: New Lessons on Competition from Mother Nature As a result of this emerging body of research, we now must reexamine our competitive paradigm and factor in the new information. It is now clear that ‘the fittest’ not only don’t win all the time, but are only a piece of the more complex system. This information can lead to new strategies for small companies and … Continue reading →

Posted in Competition, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Statistical Learning as the Ultimate Agile Development Tool by Peter Norvig

Posted on November 5, 2009 by John Hunter

Interesting lecture on Statistical Learning as the Ultimate Agile Development Tool by Peter Norvig. The webcast is likely to be of interest to a fairly small segment of readers of this blog. But for geeks it may be interesting. He looks at the advantages of machine learning versus hand programming every case (for example spelling correction). Google translate does a very good job (for computer based translation) based on machine learning. You can translate any of the pages on this … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Software Development, Statistics | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Pleasing Customers

Posted on March 10, 2008 by John Hunter

Why is 37signals so arrogant? by Don Norman The Brash Boys at 37signals Will Tell You: Keep it Simple, Stupid. Brash is an understatement. I was quoted in the article because of my article arguing that simplicity is highly overrated: the tasks that we do require tools that match the requirements, and these add complexity. … Yes, they are arrogant — and proud of it: “Arrogant is usually something you hurl at somebody as an insult,” Hansson said. “But when … Continue reading →

Posted in Competition, Creativity, Customer focus, Management, Psychology, quote, Software Development, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

If Tech Companies Made Sudoku

Posted on June 9, 2006 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Improvement A fun post as we head into the weekend: If Tech Companies Made Sudoku by Kathy Sierra Frankly, we’re a little baffled that your original design was so… simple. I’m sure we all recognize that our target market demands a much more media-rich, interactive, high-action experience. Love the whole grid thing, though. The graphic on the original post is great. You can also read about an attempt to focus IT differently: The Declaration of Interdependence [the broken … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Management Articles, Software Development | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments