“1. Our business is change; 2. We’re on offense. All the time…” (Thanks Noah Brier!)

“Its process of creation stirred controversy in the blogosphere. Last week, the first issue of BusinessWeek’s Inside Innovation appeared to the world. Here are my thoughts as I read it.”

“Paul Graham recently wrote a couple of thought-provoking essays on the social and economic conditions that are most conducive to the formation of startup companies, How to Be Silicon Valley and Why Startups Condense in America.”

“What if Google was so brilliantly twisted that they’re using Writely and Spreadsheet and Calendar and massive numbers of new hires as flares to distract Microsoft (and others)? Shoot up a flare (Spreadsheet) and scare Microsoft into paying even more attention to new attacks from new directions. The flares serve one purpose: to redirect competitors’ energy away from focusing on search/ads, which are Google’s core competency (and primary revenue source). Hey look over here!!! Is Google the best slight of hand magician around? Is the ‘Google Office’ just a head fake?”

“Back in February, I asked the question ‘Who is the worst person you worked for?’ If you print out the responses in a smallish font, you end up with 27 pages full of some of the worst possible management situations. I’ve read those 27 pages several times and it’s now time to turn the tables and get inside the heads of these horrible managers to figure out what makes them tick. Before I start, I’ve got one ground rule. You can’t be actively hating your manager when you read this.”

“TimeSnapper is an Automatic Screenshot Journal. It runs in the background of your computer, taking screenshots of your desktop every few seconds all week long.”

“Feel free to add your own notes and commentary!”

“Shopify is an application that we host which allows you to setup an online store to sell your goods. You can accept credit card payments, track and respond to orders — all the perks of a physical store without the hassle.”

“According to the November 2004 issue of Fast Company, ‘last year, 5,301 books claiming to be about business were published.’ This is about 14 books per day! This is overwhelming and no doubt that most of us cannot handle such a crowd. Let’s assume nevertheless that, despite the sheer size of new publications, you have been able to identify a few books that meet your interests. Now the question is: How should you read them?”

“Convert photos of whiteboards and documents into searchable PDF files.”

“Even if you buy into all of this (and you should, the respected IT industry analyst firm Gartner thinks that all revenue generating lines of business should have a Web 2.0 architecture by 2008), extrapolating this into concrete techniques can be difficult. And so along the ways of my other popular lists of how to apply Web 2.0, here is a short list of ways to apply Web 2.0 to building fuller, richer customer relationships…”

“Ok, maybe ‘interrogate’ is a little strong. Ask questions. Ask questions! Not just the obvious ones, but probing questions about what’s going on in your and his world. Among the simplest and most revealing questions to ask: How am I doing? What should I be doing differently? What’s going on in your (the boss’s) world right now? Your boss probably has interesting thoughts already formulated about all of these things but will not even think to share unless asked.”

“In my experience, projects must; actively involve all the group members, have excellent communication and access to project information, have a shared desired outcome, have specific dates for completion of tasks, and have all the required tools (when needed) in order to finish. If there is no enthusiasm in the group, your project is dead or doomed to be incredibly dull and tedious.”