They say in a relationship there are three sides to every story. There is one person’s side, there is the other person’s side, and somewhere between them is the truth. Understanding this helps in life and in business, and getting reminders of it is, in my mind a good thing.

This was the biggest take-away for me from the book Cancer’s Spouse. It was written by very good friends of mine, Mark and Glenna Sanford. Glenna is an amazing person, and now is going on 5 years as a cancer survivor. The book chronicles the time from when she was first diagnosed to today, and all of the trials and tests that come with it. What is unique about the book is that each chapter is broken into two – Mark’s side, then Glenna’s side. Apparently the book wasn’t planned to be written that way from the beginning, but in the end it is a unique tale of a family’s journey.

In addition to the many sides of life, another great takeaway I got from this was keeping in mind there may be issues you are not aware of. This can be hard for many people, as emotions often come into play. In business, we tend to lose sight of this and overanalyze situations when things may not be going as planned, only to find out something else is going on. The fact that someone hasn’t returned a call, for example, could be due to a family emergency or a surprise visit from a friend.

I highly recommend people read this book, and it’s not just because I know the authors! For anyone who is or has gone through an illness personally or alongside someone close to them, it gives perspective over that trying time. If thus far you have been fortunate to not have gone through such an experience, the book can prepare you for it. Part of the proceeds from the book goes to cancer research, so another side is also enriched by the purchase of this book.

Book Take-Aways • Business • Diversions • (0) Comments • Permalink

The next likemind will be this Friday, July 20 in dozens of cities around the world. In Chicago, it will be at Intelligentsia Coffee,, 53 E. Randolph, at the corner of Wabash.

What is likemind? I call it a gathering of creative-minded people, from various disciplines. It's early in the morning, and only creative people would get up that early to have coffee and converse!

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There’s been a lot of talk in the media about mobile phone service, or cellular or wireless service as most Americans call it. As the rest of the world calls it mobile, and their service and phone offerings are superior to ours here in the States, I use the term mobile in hopes we catch up someday, but I digress.

First there’s the iPhone. I don’t have one and I don’t plan on getting anytime soon. No, I am not an anti-Apple crusader. I bought a Treo 680 less than a year ago and it is working great for me. Plus, iPhones only work on AT&T (oops, at&t) and I am a happy customer of T-Mobile, so I see no need to switch.

A couple of observations on the iPhone – nobody has called me on one yet, and when I went to the Apple store in Chicago last week to look at Apple TV, the clerk was ecstatic that I came in to look at something else.

Then there’s Sprint Nextel who “fired” over 1,000 customers who were apparently calling customer service repeatedly. My one question is simple – what were they asking? Was it how to use the phone, or billing questions, or what? As they tracked the number of calls I am sure they categorized them, and that information would certainly be of interest to more than just inquiring minds.

Every day decisions are made that ultimately impact the service offerings of a company or organization. Sometimes those changes are so small that they are not noticed until after time, when something comes to a head. Apple’s decision to go with one particular carrier has certainly led to many people changing service or wondering how to, as well as people figuring how to hack around it, though the impact on the masses is still small. Sprint Nextel’s decision has wider reach, and it will be interesting to see if or how they come forward with more information, or if other carriers follow them.

Business • Technology • (0) Comments • Permalink

I am not sure if the title of this post, Jakob Nielsen Doesn’t Like Blogs, is the most suitable. However after reading and re-reading his article about blogging vs. writing articles, it is my only logical conclusion as I don’t believe Nielsen convinced any informed blogger if they are wasting their time.

Dr. Jakob Nielsen is a world-renown usability expert, and you can read more on his background and career on his Web site, useit.com. For anyone like myself who has even the slightest inclination about the usability of the Web or software, you are familiar with Nielsen. And anyone who is familiar with Nielsen will probably have an opinion similar to my own of him – they generally agree with him, but every once in a while he comes out with something that they do not agree with or is not commercially viable. As many of us earn our living on the Internet, commercial viability is very relevant.

This morning I received Alertbox, his bi-weekly newsletter, and as I was having my first sips of coffee, I read with interest the topic of his latest article, Write Articles, Not Blog Postings. Right away I clicked on the link and read the article. Then I downed another cup of coffee and re-read it. I let the email sit in my inbox and now the end of the day, I read it again twice, and am sitting down to write this still with ambiguity.

The summary of the article reads, verbatim,

“To demonstrate world-class expertise, avoid quickly written, shallow postings. Instead, invest your time in thorough, value-added content that attracts paying customers.”

This made sense to me. In business, the ultimate goal is to make money. Some actions, or in this case writings, are directly tied to that. Others are not. A blog by the president of a company that gives a glimmer of transparency into their organization, and as a result help its reputation, is one that comes to mind.

However reading the article further, the line between thinking and blogging gets intertwined. To begin with, there is not a definition of a blog anywhere in the article or linked from it. I am curious what Nielsen defines as a blog. I can infer that he suggests that anything posted on a blog is not well thought out, as that is the direction he takes the article. Note that nowhere on useit.com is any reference to an RSS feed and there is no auto-discovery of a feed URL, so Nielsen himself does not blog. I was also taken aback by this line,

“This has been a very long article, stuffed with charts and statistical concepts -- like standard deviations and utility functions -- that I know most readers find difficult.”

I did not, and most of the people who read this post on The Hot Iron probably wouldn’t find it difficult either.

I have never been someone who believes in technology for technology’s sake. Of all of the clients I have, only two have blogs (I developed one of them) and I did not start my own blog until after I launched the one for my client. One of the goals for The Hot Iron was to give me a venue for sharing knowledge and writing. Should I just write white papers and articles and not blog posts? I don’t believe so, but then again, any answer would fit just me, and for any other client or perspective client, the decision to blog would depend on overall goals for their Internet presence, who their customers are and what their expectations would be. Making a broad stroke recommendation without this information doesn’t serve anyone well.

At a higher level, blogging is publishing content. What have made the concept popular are tools (e.g. WordPress, ExpressionEngine) that allow people to easily publish. People have published Web sites on various topics since they got their hands on the first browser and an HTML editor. However merely publishing content on a blog doesn’t mean that it is shallow or does not add value to you or your business or organization. Sure, with a blog you can share with your readers one sentence, one paragraph just one word - or even a whole article. As a publishing tool, blogs allow content to be transformed into email messages, or posted on a Web site that does not “look” like a blog.

Could Nielsen think that blogging is a threat to his own consultancy and this article is more self-serving than anything? I am sure like any “traditional” author he has been impacted by it. In the article he talks about his own sales lead-time. Part of this may be due to the fact that most people in the world don’t consciously think about usability. When they are struggling with navigating PeopleSoft or joyously playing their music on their iPod, usability may come to mind. Usability is, in my opinion, like the “green” movement, and if anything it has a better chance of going more mainstream. But if it does, it will more than likely come from people reading usability blogs than hundred-page reports.

Or maybe his article was intended to stir some controversy on blogs? If so, kudos Dr. N!

I still have the same amount of concern about the usability of my client’s and other Web sites. I will still refer to Nielsen’s writings and opinions on usability and will still agree to disagree with him on some points. I also recommend you, whoever you are, to subscribe to his newsletter. Make your own informed decisions, and like anything, doing something for the sake of simply doing it, especially when time can be better spent, is a waste. Hopefully reading this was not a waste for you, as it wasn’t for me to write it, even if for a blog.

Business • Technology • (2) Comments • Permalink

I didn’t set out to own my own business, and going back to college it was the furthest thing from my mind. Over the years I have met people who had their own businesses as their primary income, and where I admired them, I never saw it as something I could – or would do.

As many people who develop and design Internet solutions do, I always did some work on the side, whether it was a favor for a friend or organization to outright freelance work. As time went on, the people who I did this work for were demanding more from me, and wanted to expand their presence on the Internet.

It wasn’t until my wife and I decided to move to Chicago when I began to entertain the idea of going out on my own, or dare I even call it entrepreneurship at the time. Faced with the task of finding a job in the Windy City, I decided to create my own. And many of these people who I did freelance before are clients today, and were part of the catalyst for me starting Dunkirk Systems in the first place.

Do I think about this much? Actually, yes. When I talk to others who have struck out on their own, or even those who probably should blaze their own trail, I recount this story. Whatever you call it – entrepreneurship, the American Dream – I call it doing something that I enjoy, and I can’t think of a better thing to do to occupy my time.

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