RailsConf Europe 2007 - DHH Keynote Video
Posted on September 23, 2007
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I was also able to get some of DHH’s keynote while I was sitting in the front. It is only the first 25min but he gives some highlights and insights into the future of Rails. This one will also be a bit shaky in the beginning but should stabilize.
I know that O’reilly professionally recorded the keynotes so I’m sure those will turn up eventually, I just can’t find them 
Update: GotThingsDone has the whole keynote up in three parts.
Tags: Berlin, Germany, Keynote, Rails, RailsConf Europe 2007 Berlin, Ruby, Ruby on Rails.
Posted on September 23, 2007
Filed Under Analytics, Art & Design, Books Reviews, Business, Design, Entertainment, Hosting, Marketing, Mobile Tech, Podcasts, Productivity, Quotes, Ranting, Ruby on Rails, SEO, Security, Startup, SugarStats, Tech, Travel, Web, WebDev
RailsConf Europe 2007 - Dave Thomas Keynote Video
Posted on September 23, 2007
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As I was sitting up toward the front I just happened to get a few small clips of vid for this keynote. Overall the keynote was great and he brought up very good points and insightful thoughts. Here is the first 5min of the talk. It’ll be a little shaky at first but then I was able to stabilize the camera on the arm chair. Sorry, its only 320×240. 
Tags: Berlin, Dave Thomas, Germany, Keynote, Rails, RailsConf Europe 2007 Berlin, Ruby, Ruby on Rails.
Posted on September 23, 2007
Filed Under Analytics, Art & Design, Books Reviews, Business, Daily Thoughts, Design, Entertainment, Hardware, Marketing, Mobile Tech, Podcasts, Productivity, Quotes, Ranting, Ruby on Rails, Startup, SugarStats, Tech, Travel, Web, WebDev
Good to Great by Jim Collins
Posted on September 22, 2007
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I recently was finally able to grab a copy of this classic and finish it. It is a great book but I kind of expected that. While there are many counterpoints to why the book isn’t so “Great”, I think overall there is much to learn from the information and examples even if they aren’t as literal as some may like. But hey, its all relative anyway. 
Collins and his team go through a very lengthy and in-depth study and comparison of various companies in order to find out what makes a company go from “Good to Great”. They come up with some pretty interesting results and concepts.
They have many metrics for comparison and judging the companies but what they mainly did was try to find the companies with consistent results, success and growth over at least 15 years and over the general market results. They then found as close to identical comparison companies who had similar size, revenue and circumstances but who were not to jump the chasm from Good to Great.
Companies studied which they considered great include Abbott, Circuit City, Fannie Mae, Gillette, Kimberly-Clark, Kroger, Nucor, Philip Morris, Pitney Bowes, Walgreens, Wells Fargo and a few more. Some of the traits they found in common in all the great companies compared to their “good comparison” companies were:
- Disciplined Leaders who aren’t self-serving
- Using Technology as a accelerator to success
- Not just hiring people, the the RIGHT people for the RIGHT positions
- Promoting a self-motivating, disciplined company culture
- Focusing on what they know they can be great at, they call this “The Hedgehog Concept”
- Being consistent in that focus and created goals based off them
- Having the discipline to look at the brutal facts and be honest with your company
Some of the points individually might seem like common sense but if you take them all and see how they harmonize together it starts to become clear.
So overall a great book, I recommend it though I’m sure many of you already have. Probably something to skim through every once in a while as well. 
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Posted on September 22, 2007
Filed Under Art & Design, Books Reviews, Business, Business Books, Daily Thoughts, Entertainment, General, Productivity, Quotes, Startup, Tech, Web
Crossing the Chasm
Posted on August 7, 2007
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I found this really great article on Read/Write/Web about Crossing the Chasm. It speaks about many different things including early adopters, VC, pushing a product/service into the mainstream and exactly what it takes.
“The reason that business people spend time trying to figure out how to bridge the gap is because the gap is what stands between them and a lot of money. Simply put, since early adopters represent a very small percentage of the population, the thinking is that you can’t build a business just by selling to them. To build a real business you need to cross the chasm.”
“Crossing the chasm is all about getting a technology widely adopted. The most difficult step is to win over the so called early majority of the mass market. This can only happen with the help of early adopters, who are instrumental since they are used as both examples and evangelists.”
Good stuff, take a read: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/rethinking_crossing_the_chasm.php
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Posted on August 7, 2007
Filed Under Books Reviews, Business, Daily Thoughts, Design, General, Marketing, Mobile Tech, Productivity, Quotes, Startup, Tech, Web
In-Depth Ruby on Rails and Django Comparison
Posted on May 5, 2007
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Vaporbase has a 15 part, very nice and very detailed post about the differences between Rails and Django. They compare the two frameworks on over 20 criteria and give some good things to think about when deciding to select one for your own project.
They evaluate in the following areas:
- Evaluating Web Development Frameworks: Rails and Django (part 1/15)
- Rails and Django – Project and Community (part 2/15)
- Rails and Django – Programming Language (part 3/15)
- Rails and Django – Framework Concept (part 4/15)
- Rails and Django – Installation / Directory Structure (part 5/15)
- Rails and Django – Database and Models (part 6/15)
- Rails and Django – Routing and Controllers (part 7/15)
- Rails and Django – Templates, Forms (part 8/15)
- Rails and Django – Data and User Administration (part 9/15)
- Rails and Django – AJAX (part 10/15)
- Rails and Django – Other Features (part 11/15)
- Rails and Django – Documentation (part 12/15)
- Rails and Django – User Extensions (part 13/15)
- Rails and Django – Development Cycle (part 14/15)
- Rails and Django – Conclusions (part 15/15)
Check it out here: Evaluating Web Development Frameworks: Rails and Django. I’m not experienced with Django, but from a Rails developers perspective, it is a good reflection of what I think in many areas. They even have it packaged in a printable PDF
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Posted on May 5, 2007
Filed Under Books Reviews, Business, Daily Thoughts, Design, Hosting, Mobile Tech, Productivity, Quotes, Ruby on Rails, Startup, Tech, Web
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