When some of the hipper PMs on the Internet Explorer team started using a new “microblogging” service called Twitter in the spring of 2007, I just didn’t “get it.” Twitter mostly seemed to be a way to broadcast what you’d had for lunch, and with just 140 characters, you couldn’t even fit much more. AsContinue reading “Thoughts on Twitter”
Category Archives: storytelling
Cruising Alaska (Alaskan Brews Cruise)
I lived in the Seattle area for nearly 12 years, and one of my regrets is that I never took advantage of any of the Alaskan cruises that conveniently leave from Pier 91 a few miles out of downtown. Getting to Alaska from Austin is more of a hassle, but I figured I’d pair itContinue reading “Cruising Alaska (Alaskan Brews Cruise)”
Best Practice: Post-Mortems
I’ve written a bit about working at Google in the past. Google does a lot of things right, and other companies would benefit by following their example. At Google, one of the technical practices that I thought was both essential and very well done was the “post-mortem”– whenever they hit a significant problem, after puttingContinue reading “Best Practice: Post-Mortems”
End of Q2 Check-in
Back in January, I wrote about my New Years’ Resolutions. I’m now 177 days in, and things are continuing to go well. Health and Finance: A dry January. Exceeded. I went from 2 or 3 drinks a night six times a week to around 6 drinks per month, mostly while on vacations. Health: Track my weight andContinue reading “End of Q2 Check-in”
“Batteries-Included” vs “Bloated”
Fundamentals are invisible. Features are controversial. One of the few common complaints against Microsoft Edge is that “It’s bloated– there’s too much stuff in it!” A big philosophical question for designers of popular software concerns whether the product should include features that might not be useful for everyone or even a majority of users. ThereContinue reading ““Batteries-Included” vs “Bloated””
Thoughts on Impact
In this post, I talk a lot about Microsoft, but it’s not only applicable to Microsoft. It’s once again “Connect Season” at Microsoft, a biannual-ish period when Microsoft employees are tasked with filling out a document about their core priorities, key deliverables, and accomplishments over the past year, concluding with a look ahead to theirContinue reading “Thoughts on Impact”
End of Q1 Check-in
tl;dr: On track. Back in January, I wrote about my New Years’ Resolutions. I’m now 90 days in, and things are continuing to go well. Health and Finance: A dry January. Exceeded. I stopped drinking alcohol on any sort of regular basis; over spring break, I peaked at two drinks per day. Health: Track my weight andContinue reading “End of Q1 Check-in”
Mid-February Checkin
tl;dr: On track. Back in January, I wrote about my New Years’ Resolutions. I’m now 45 days in, and things are going pretty well. Health and Finance: A dry January. Dry January has turned into dry February. Beyond idle thoughts “What should I do right now? In the old days, I’d pour myself a drink”Continue reading “Mid-February Checkin”
Cruising Solo
For Christmas 2020, I was home alone. The highlight of my day was discovering that Jack in the Box was open. I enjoyed my Christmas cheeseburger dinner at a picnic table in a park down the street. Unexpectedly, my Christmas plans fell through for 2021, and I faced a repeat of 2020. But making JackContinue reading “Cruising Solo”
Celebrating Fifteen Years
While lately I’ve been endlessly streaming the latest news with horrified fascination, this morning my calendar unexpectedly popped up a reminder set over a year ago… Today is the fifteenth anniversary of my big-league blogging debut on the Internet Explorer Team’s blog. My first post there, “A HTTP Detective Story” remains one of my favorites.Continue reading “Celebrating Fifteen Years”
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