1. 12 months ago 

   In crappy times: Get better at writing the spec.

   So, maybe I will write a few posts on “crappy times”…not to be jumping on the bandwagon of complaining about how bad things are, but just in recognition that things are tough. Anything we can do to work smarter, faster, more efficiently, lets do it.

   I have become a huge fan of Joel Spolsky’s blog, “Joel On Software”.  It contains some of the best and most practical lessons for both coders and product managers who long to crank out better software.

   As a non-coding manager, I am often stuck in the middle of debates around often “agile” sounding methodologies that launch developers and designers immediately into building mode and more planning-heavy ones that cause you to stop and write some things down before you begin.

   Joel does a great job of helping you see the light on these issues. Punchline, you don’t have to measure 5x to cut once, but you do have to measure.

   If you are involved in the building of any web business, a web site, or a web-based product, his writings on the topic are invaluable. He even gives you a downloadable sample from one of their projects.  Great stuff.

I have done 5-10 start-ups depending on whether or not the really small and startupy ones count.

I spend a great deal of time wondering what I could do better, and always thinking, "If I was on some other startup's board, would I do this?"

So thus, I am dedicating my blog (for the time being) to thoughts along this path.

I run a visual search site called Viewzi, help shepherd an awesome "simple web-based invoicing" company called Blinksale, and a mysterious web hatchery called Doublewide Labs.

BC
email my initials at viewzi dot com
follow @txbc
214 580 2008

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