Month: March 2016

March 9, 2016

Greg Thomas

Thirty Day Trials

A lot of software, especially that within the cloud, is offered to developers on a 30 day trial basis.  It is really such an antiquated model that harkens back to the days of demoware and freeware.  After 30 days it stops working and you need to buy (or reset your clock or something). Go do whatever you want… for 30 days… then start paying us. It’s a tough model because with everything else on your plate do you really have the time to learn everything and anything on that topic? Doubtful. I’ve had trials for software up to 90 days

March 8, 2016

Greg Thomas

The Whiner

It’s been a long time since I’ve written about what you could call the “Rogues Gallery” of Software Development Teams. We have the Nitpicker, the Backbencher and the Doomsayer but today we are introducing the legend themselves – the Whiner. It’s super easy to know who Whiner is… Whine about the requirements Whine about the codereview Whine about the unit tests Whine about the QA Plan Whine about the deployment taking too long Whine about the servers being too slow We all whine about this, that or the other thing from time to time.  Some days you have absolutely had enough and

March 7, 2016

Greg Thomas

The Startup Investment

I’m not a startup expert by no means.  I’ve tried a few things, inside and outside of companies, on my own and with others, fully committed and partial at best. Everyone loves the idea of starting something new – it’s akin to throwing out the old and just going with it – no restrictions or constraints around you – just you and your ideas.  It really is akin to that moment in Braveheart where Mel Gibson’s character yells out the immortal line “FREEEEEDDDOOOOMMM” as he is being disembowelled at the end.  (Side note: I used to have that voice clip

March 4, 2016

Greg Thomas

My iPhone and Maslow

A couple of days ago, I checked into my hotel, I’d been on the road all morning and my phone had been drained.  It was down to 25% battery life which is a literal translation to “I will leave you within the hour.“ I was hungry and wanted to eat, so I plugged my phone in and I seriously stared at if for the next 30 seconds and contemplated – “Do I go to lunch without my phone?  What if an email comes in and I miss it?  What if there is a text and I don’t get it?” How

March 3, 2016

Greg Thomas

The Open Letter Myth

I love these cycles of Open Letters going round and round – for awhile there is nothing and then we start seeing them all over the place – then they die down again. I think at one point, perhaps when published in a newspaper there was an intent to advocate on behalf of a set of people, but the myth of what it accomplishes has decreased significantly. The myth is – I write this letter, I put out these ideas no one else is thinking, I publicly attack this one person, everyone rallies to me and I become a popular

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