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More reading, “Little Green Book of Getting Your Way”

Like “Cut to the Chase“, the “Little Green Book of Getting Your Way: How to Speak, Write, Present, Persuade, Influence, and Sell Your Point of View to Others (Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Books)“ was a quick read; Unfortunately, it wasn’t as engaging for me.

I’ve seen some of Gitomer’s books before, so I knew they had a “sales” angle to them, but somehow I expected this one to be a bit more about negotiating then selling. My mistake.

The lessons:

• Be passionate about what you’re selling
• Add value — be interested in solving people’s problems, not selling them a solution
• Be funny
• Be entertaining
• Be confident
• Be persistent
• Write a lot

All good lessons, and good things to practice; But there wasn’t enough substance for me to recommend the book.

Finished reading “Cut to the Chase”

I picked up “Cut to the Chase: and 99 Other Rules to Liberate Yourself and Gain Back the Gift of Time“ on the recommendation of Personal MBA reading list. It’s a quick read, containing 100 short (< 2 page) tips on professional behaviors that reduce wasted time.

In the spirit of cutting to the chase, I’ll summarize with a few bullet points:

Pros:

• A quick read
• The short chapters make it easy to pick up when you have a few minutes
• The lessons are good, and tend to reflect the habits of effective senior management
• Feels like the kind of book you could pick up once a quarter to glance over the Table of Contents as a reminder to focus on what’s important
• If you’re new to the professional world, reading this will definitely give you an insight into the type of behavior you’re likely to encounter when interacting with senior management; And it should help you prepare for the type of communication styles expected of you

Cons:

• If you’ve been in business for while, you probably should know this stuff already
• If you’re new to the professional world, you may have fewer opportunities to practice this stuff (though better to get started now then not know how to manage your time when you are tasked with greater responsibilities)
• Depending on your work environment, the lessons may be a little too “harsh” — ie., these are techniques for efficient time management, not for making friends

Overall, my reaction is positive. There were certainly a few lessons in there that I look forward to applying to my working style.

Finished reading “10 Days to Faster Reading”

When the Personal MBA manifesto came out back in 2005 (see The Personal MBA: Mastering Business Without Spending a Fortune for the original), I read through the list, jotted down a couple book ideas, but mostly just left it at that. Lately, however, I’ve been reading more business books, and I thought I’d give the list another look.

The idea of a Personal MBA has grown momentum, and the list of books has been kept fresh. This time around, I pulled out maybe half-a-dozen that sounded interesting; But before diving in, I took the recommendation to brush up on my reading techniques using “10 Days to Faster Reading.”

Before starting the book (and perhaps still now), I would have described my reading style as slow, steady, and thorough. I read to comprehend, debate, understand, and work the material into my world view. That’s also a fancy way of saying that I’m not the quickest reader, but that I pay attention. That said, I’m always interested in learning something new and boosting my productivity.

My mindset going into “10 Days to Faster Reading” was open, interested, willing to learn, but somewhat skeptical that it would work for me. My assumption about speed reading was that it focused more on skimming then on deep engagement. Fortunately, the book changed my view a bit.

One of the biggest takeaways for me, was the idea that when we’re young, and learning how to read, we’re taught to slowly go through each word at a time because we’re still building our vocabularies and teaching our eyes how to parse written text. Unfortunately, as we get older, our education systems tend not to re-visit reading skills in a manner more suited to our growing ability to process words. This is why adults can boost their reading speed — they have the ability to process text at a rate faster then we normally use, if you can teach your eyes how to do it.

Each chapter in the book contains lessons and timed reading exercises. With stopwatch in hand, I tracked my progress. Here’s my results: (Note that each chapter often had you applying a different technique, so progress wasn’t meant to be linear)

My times definitely improved, though comprehension suffered as the pace increased. Interestingly though, two things came out of this:

1. If 70% comprehension is good enough (ie., if all I need is to get the gist of something), it’s possible to really crank the speed up.
2. Familiarity with the subject matter makes a huge difference. (Which is why previewing and skimming before reading can make a big difference.)

I still need more practice, but at least now I know what to work on, and I have a handful of techniques to experiment with. So far, I’ve found the best application to be with Newspaper and magazine articles, along with online news where I just need the general story.

Overall, I’d say that the potential boost in reading productivity was worth the $9 book price and the time it took to read it.

For more:

• Speed Reading (on Wikipedia)
• Can a “Personal MBA” Match the Real McCoy? (on Business Week)

Netflix shows the world how not to treat your customers by dropping Profiles — Updated: Change of plans

Like many other Netflix customers, I received the “Important News Regarding Netflix Profiles” email this week stating that Netflix “will be eliminating Profiles, the feature that allowed you to set up separate DVD Queues under one account, effective September 1, 2008.” Upon reading it, the claim sounded so absurd that I assumed it was phishing/spam. Seriously.

Sadly, the news started showing up with quotes and claims that the statement may actually be true. “Netflix Eliminating Account Profiles” (on hackingnetflix.com) claims that “Netflix spokesperson Steve Swasey said that the decision to eliminate Profiles is a ‘final decision.’”

Here’s the kicker though; The now famous email ends with, “While it may be disappointing to see Profiles go away, this change will help us continue to improve the Netflix website for all our customers.” Really? How so?

For those not familiar with Netflix Profiles, the feature was somewhat unique. Instead of having a single persona per account, Netflix Profiles allowed a single account (ie., household) to setup multiple profiles (ie., husband, wife, kids, pets, etc.), so that each profile could manage their own rental queue. It also allowed the main account holder (ie. the parents) to review the other profile’s queue (ie., the kids) and set limitations, like whether the profiles were allowed to rent R-rated movies. The feature was amazingly helpful in eliminating arguments about who controlled the rental queue.

Removing features from a product can be a tough decision for any Product Manager. Features that are rarely used are easy to toss aside; But (market differentiating) features that customers love should never be thrown out without helping the customers replace or replicate the same benefit in another manner. In this case, Netflix dropped a much-loved feature, but left their customers without an alternative (other then opening more Netflix accounts, which isn’t a likely reaction for irritated customers.)

For more:

• Netflix Eliminating Profiles: Tells Us We Don’t Own Our Data

[Update: 2008-06-30] Complaining works! Netflix just announced that they are keeping Profiles:

You spoke, and we listened. We are keeping Profiles. Thank you for all the calls and emails telling us how important Profiles are.

We are sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused. We hope the next time you hear from us we will delight, and not disappoint, you.

Links from May 27th through June 18th

Links from May 27th through June 18th:

• Scientists find bugs that eat waste and excrete petrol -
• reddit – Trac - reddit source code
• Finally, the alternative fix for IE6’s memory leak is available - Using a try…finally block to address IE6 memory leaks
• The Natural Gardener: Organic Gardening Headquarters - Local (Austin, TX) organic gardening shop. Haven't been, but looks interesting.

A few more books…

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a reading list. Here’s a few more books I’ve read recently that are worth mentioning:

Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science — A fantastic overview of the field of Economics. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book (and how much I want to find another one like it!) Thanks D’Arcy!

The World Is Flat — A lengthy read on globalization, global markets (and global opportunities.)

Halting State — An enjoyable Sci-Fi I picked up after a review on Boing Boing. Starts with a bank robbery in an MMORPG…

Spook Country — Sort of a sequel to William Gibson’s “Pattern Recognition” (at least, there are some character and plot overlaps.) Like Pattern Recognition, it’s not cyberpunk; But it’s a fun read.

DMZ Vol. 1: On the Ground and DMZ Vol. 2: Body of a Journalist — I got these graphic novels for Christmas and read them both in one (long) sitting. I enjoyed the experience, but not so much to order the next couple in the series.

Stealing the Network: How to Own a Shadow — The third (or forth, depending on how you look at it) installment of the series. It’s on par with the rest of the series — enjoyable, but not stellar. The tech is a little more simple this time around… and the whole story is essentially a setup for the next book.

Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment — A fairly small book with a nice message — mastering a discipline takes time and a willingness to enjoy the journey.

Finding the Center Within: The Healing Way of Mindfulness Meditation — I’ve flipped through a number of books on meditation, but this one has a nice way of applying it to modern lifestyles and explaining how to use meditation and self-centering throughout your day (not just via the stereotypical meditative pose.)

The Black Widow’s Guide to Killer Pool: Become the Player to Beat — The first book on playing pool that I ever read. It’s got some nice stories, and some nice lessons on getting your head in the game, but it’s definitely beginner-focused (which was what I needed when I read it.)

Byrne’s New Standard Book of Pool and Billiards — A key read in bumping my pool skills from beginner to intermediate. I learned A LOT from this book, but it’s technical and primarily filled with diagrams and explanations. This isn’t a quick read — you study each page to grasp the subtleties of each shot.

Come, Let Us to Billiards Away — Out of print and hard to find. Completely wrecked my game while explaining aspects of speed, stroke, and ball control in ways that no one else seems to tell. While the two billiards books above take the approach of a “pro” telling you how to play, this book is told from the perspective of a retired hustler opening his bag of tricks. And boy does he have some unique ways of seeing the game. The chapter on bank- and kick-shots was worth the price of admission. I’d be happy to shake Jack White’s hand and thank him for writing this book.

Cooking Curries — The Half Price Books near me had a bunch of these on sale the last time I went in. I’ve cooked about a half-dozen of the recipes in it, and I’ve enjoyed all of them. Great pictures as well.

The Wisdom of Crowds — A thought-provoking read that sparked the crowd-sourcing movement.

Finished my compost bins

I finally finished my compost bins over the weekend. I decided to build a triple-bin (turning bin) system, each approximately one cubic meter (3′x3′x3′.)

The bins are constructed entirely of cedar (renewable, weather resistant, and generally termite resistant), using cedar fence panels and 2×4s. The lids are made from cedar 2×2 deck-railing slats, covered in a square, wire mesh (to keep the birds and squirrels out.) The bins are held together with cedar-rated Deck Mate screws, which I had left-over from another project. (It’s pointless to use nice, weather resistant wood if you’re just going to join it with cheap, rust-prone fasteners. Spend the extra money on rust-free nails/screws/staples so you don’t end up with rust stains running from every joint.)

For those new to three-bin compost systems, here’s how they work:

1. New compost materials are put into the bin on the left. (You can still turn materials in this bin like normal.)
2. Part-way through the composting process, you shovel-out the materials in the left bin and move them into the center bin. (This provides opportunity to fully flip/aerate the pile.)
3. When done, shovel the center bin’s pile into the right bin. The right bin stores ready-to-use compost.
4. Once you have a cycle going, you can have a new pile starting, while still having a steady stream of available compost.

It’s hard to tell in the picture above (by design), but the front of each bin opens for easy access. The doors are held on with a simple gate latch:

The screen lids lay on top of each bin, resting on simple guides made from exposed screws. The mesh is attached using staples:

Using cedar raised the materials cost a bit, but the extra durability should be worth it in the long run. All said and done, the materials were a bit over $100 for the whole unit (which is still significantly cheaper then buying a pre-made bin this size.)

For more on composting, see:

• Building Bins and Boxes for Yard Waste Compost
• How to Make Compost, a Composting Guide
• Composting on Wikipedia
• How to Compost on wikihow
• Composting Practices
• Compost on Wikipedia
• Container composting on Wikipedia
• Flickr pictures tagged with compost and compostbin

Links from May 15th through May 19th

Links from May 15th through May 19th:

• Linux.com :: What can you do with a second Ethernet port? - Nice tips on bonding / bridging multiple network interfaces.
• Urwid - Console UI library for Python that's a bit more high-level then using curses directly.
• hackety org » Some Chrome For Pjs - XUL chrome for processing.js that mimics the processing.org UI
• Google Doctype - Google Code - Web development reference