Thursday, February 13, 2003

Tuesday, January 21, 2003    The Brand called Me Various management gurus, like Tom Peters, are talking about "The Brand called You". The idea is that the world and the job market are moving so quickly that you can no longer count on just getting a job and being safe from then on. Increasingly we are free agents who continuously need to market ourselves and forge new and changing commercial relationships, and to always create our own job. So, to that end, it is critical to be aware of what your brand is, what your selling points are, what your core competencies are, and to have your own rap, so you can quickly convey that to others. I also get to think about a workshop/program I did, called IBI - Income Builders International - which is a weeklong, very expensive, but rather effective program that in part helps you find what your own personal WOW is, and trains you to present your "thing" in a compelling way in 30 seconds. And all of that is good. I'd really like all of us to be really clear on what our THING is, our WOW, the thing we're here to do, and which we're passionate about. And I think something will click if we are also able to present it clearly and simply, as we then can forge economic relationships more easily. But now, my own problem is, unfortunately, that at this point I can't really tell you what my own core competency is. I am quite capable in several, rather diverse areas, but I can't tell you in 30 seconds what I do, without making you confused. The kind of stuff I usually would feel like putting on my business card would tend to make people look puzzled and ask "How on earth would you make money on that?". My current business card says "Linking the people who change the world". Sounds good, and I get a certain amount of admiration for that, but nobody's gonna hire me to actually do that. I'm a computer programmer, a skilled and experienced one. But that is not really what I want to be to the world. I'm getting too old for that, and I don't want to spend all day thinking about logical problems. I'm a personal counselor and the author of two manuals/books about counseling techniques, and I've seen a lot of success in that area. Yet I only see a couple of clients per week at this point, and it is not my main focus of attention. I used to be somebody people would come to to have things explained, to make complicated things simple. A philosopher who had the answer to just about anything, including the big questions of life. Nobody comes and asks me anything any longer, so I don't think that's it. I seem to have a certain knack for gathering people together, and inspiring people. But most of the time I don't know what to do with them once I've gathered or inspired them, and I'm not great at leading and delegating focused work. I'm obviously a writer, as one of the things that flows most easily would be to write something like this weblog here. I can probably do that in my sleep, even if the world is falling down around me. But I'm no good at writing other people's stuff. I can't write ordered articles on a schedule. There are more roles I have - networker, event organizer, actor, creative person, evolutionary agent, healer, solver of problems, diplomat, futurist, designer of new systems for people to organize in - but this could easily get long. And it doesn't really add up. I don't mind being multi-dimensional, but I'd still like to be able to be clear on what I am, and where my services are needed, and how I can present myself. So, please, if any of you happen to know, tell me what my brand is. 4:13:00 PM    trackback []     Articulate []

I think he means TaskVision, if it is the right URL. I want to take a look at Microsoft's TaskView example, but I am a little busy at the moment. Maybe I can come back to it in a week or two. My top priorities at the moment are: 1. Find a project I can land on; 2. Find projects for my teammates; 3. Try Nunit on my Business Rules Sandbox project.  [On The Mark] 12:01:56 PM    trackback []     Articulate []

Distributed .NET Newsletter. Early next week, I'll send out the first issue of my free "Distributed .NET Newsletter". This bi-weekly newsletter contains real world tips and tricks about .NET Remoting, Web Services and EnterpriseServices, and design guidance for distributed applications. You'll also find the occasional pointers to other free resources like white papers, patterns&practices documents or other great samples on the web. You can subscribe to the newsletter in HTML or plaintext format at http://www.ingorammer.com/contact/Newsletter.aspx. To all weblog writers, newsletter publishers and usergroup members: It would be really great if you could help me spread the word! This newsletter contains real world advice, is completely free and I promise to never give any email addresses to any third party. Ever. I hate spam as much as you do. [Ingo Rammer's DotNetCentric] 10:52:09 AM    trackback []     Articulate []

TaskVision: Web Deployed WinForms Sample. TaskVision is a full-featured WinForms sample that supports auto-updating over the web and online and offline functionality, as well as some other cool .NET stuff. It includes most of the source for the client and the server as well as a lengthly write-up on just what makes it cool. Worth checking out as an alternative to href-exes (TaskVision requires one install and auto-updates after that). Posted by Chris Sells on Wed, February 12, 2003 @ 10:45PM [sellsbrothers.com: Windows Developer News] 10:50:48 AM    trackback []     Articulate []

These blogs are really very good. I have been reading Willow's for a week or so now. If you are a BtVS fan you will most likely love these. BtVS Blogs. Just because this busted me up laughing (via Whedonesque): blogs by Buffy, Xander, Willow, Spike, Giles, Anya, Dawn, and even... [Backup Brain] 10:01:50 AM    trackback []     Articulate []

Use paper to make your blog faster.. Andy King's new book is out. Web Site Optimization. Not for normal bloggers. Site designers. HTML and CSS template designers. Javascript coders. Photoshoppers. Marketing folks. People who pay hosting bills (mediabloggers). People who care about the cost of servers, rackmounts, and webapp scalability. My traffic went up when I followed these principles. I need to do it again (darn it) so pages load fast on a dial-up and so my site feels fast enough to be interactive. I didn't know you could optimize CSS but it should have been obvious that you can optimize JavaScript. Dear CIO/CTO, optimize when things are quiet because you won't have time when things pick up.   By the author of one of the first news aggregators. [Phil Wolff: technology] 8:36:26 AM    trackback []     Articulate []