Last week, we talked about thinking creatively to preempt failure. In this installment of "Sensible Strategy", we examine how failure can be snatched from the jaws of success by being too focused on the ends and not being mindful of the means. I have discovered three simple tests that can help stop bad ideas or broken processes dead in their tracks. This is the second of them.
Test 2 - Synthesize the Approach more
Categories:
Ditto Culture | IMHO
One of my earliest memories is standing on a street corner in the Mission district of San Francisco with my mom -- she’s handing out fliers and talking to passersby about the (first) Iraq War. Activism and working for social justice is in my blood. I’m filled with pride every time we launch a website or finish a project because I know how important our clients’ work is in bettering the world. more
Pop quiz: What do the resurrection of long-extinct species of dinosaurs and iPhone app development have in common?
Answer:
“[They] were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” - Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jurassic Park, 1993)
Okay, so a poorly conceived iPhone application won't (necessarily) go on a murderous rampage slaughtering extras and supporting actors, but like the failed theme park, it will end with you flushing large amounts of money down the proverbial toilet. more
Categories:
Cool Tech | IMHO | What We're Working On
Failure is a pretty scary proposition, especially in the context of project management. And yet, it doesn't have to be this all-consuming nightmare; it is a challenge that should be confronted head-on. According to famed political economist Douglass C. North, institutions lose their ability to lead strategically because they stop thinking creatively and instead become tied down to process, often because they are paralyzed by the fear of failure. more
Categories:
Ditto Culture | IMHO
The problem with most sorts of planning and organization, is that if they're not ingrained into you, at the first hint of a crisis, it all goes out the window. This is particularly true about the use of technology. As the technologist for disaster-driven nonprofits, I found that technology, for many nonprofits, is much like the umbrella, most needed when it rains suddenly, but somehow always left at home. more
Categories:
Organizing | Politics & Advocacy
If your facebook and twitter feed is anything like mine, you've run across "RSAnimate" videos more than once over the past few months.
Taken from lectures given at the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (let's stick with "RSA" for short!), our ears hear the standard lecture that we would get if we were in the room with the presenter, but our eyes are afforded a wonderful gift: sequential and overlapping illustrations of the topic at hand, synced up with the speech. more
Categories:
Cool Tech
Last night, Nicco and I attended the New Leaders Council's 40 Under 40 Leadership Award Ceremony here in Boston. more
Categories:
Conferences | Politics & Advocacy
In the age of information and technology where people are bombarded with choices and overloaded with visual stimulation, it's very important to to consider the age old theory- less is more when designing and planning your homepage. Many studies have been done to test the theory and one of my favorites is by psychologist, Sheena Iyengar at Colombia: more
Photo by Flickr user prometheusradio
Two weekends ago I was lucky enough to get to Detroit for the 2010 U.S. Social Forum. The USSF is a gathering place for more than ten thousand activists & organizers from all over the country to meet and learn from from each other - and attempt to chart a course forward for the many U.S. social movements represented there.
The USSF started as a result of the first World Social Forum in 2001, which was itself set up to be a counter-balance to the elite-centric World Economic Forum. 2010 was USSF's second incarnation (the first was in 2007 in Detroit).
Having been to both U.S. Social Forums, there are quite a few differences, though all pointing in a positive direction. Here are three: more
Categories:
Conferences | Organizing | Politics & Advocacy
The time has come, I'm buying an iPad. I am writing to tell the world of my transition in thought, from Luddite to Early Adopter.
I am perhaps the last person who owns a dumbphone. Yes, I have reveled in my un-wired-ness. I was the last person I know to get a cellular phone. In college, I developed for a Java class on a computer without internet. I have not owned a TV since I threw mine over the balcony in a symbolic (drunken) ritual at age nineteen. (We had to throw it off several times until we were satisfied.) more
Categories:
Cool Tech | Ditto Culture | Politics & Advocacy
This is where we Dittos write about what we're seeing, thinking, and doing. If you like what you see (or even if you don't), we're suckers for comments, so please don't be shy.
We joined the New Leaders Council in announcing the first EchoDitto New Media Award for the 40 Under 40 Awards.
This is a howto for wrapping a div around a few of your view fields (and not others). This is useful, for instance, for being able to group all one's content so that it floats left but does not float around an image. EDIT: This technique is a good intro to views templates, however, an easier way exists which seems a little hackish, but would work for many use cases. Thanks to Sr. or Sra. Anonymous.
