Tag: history
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🗂 Link: Why did we wait so long for the bicycle?
The key insight was to stop trying to build a mechanical carriage, and instead build something more like a mechanical horse. Source: Why did we wait so long for the bicycle?
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Link: A Brief History of Agile, Part 1: The Rise of Waterfall
Ultimately, Waterfall’s biggest failing is that it puts its trust in a system, not the people working on a product. Source: A Brief History of Agile, Part 1: The Rise of Waterfall
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Speed, Accuracy, and Flexibility, IBM circa 1920
The purpose of a sales force is to bring a company’s value proposition—its “deal”—to customers. That value proposition results in the development of a company’s “go-to-market” strategy, how it will implement that plan. Central to that activity can be a direct sales force, people who meet face-to-face with customers, a typical approach with complex and…
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🗂 The short history of global living conditions and why it matters that we know it
Things are getting much better. ourworldindata.org/a-history…
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Link: How to Keep a Zibaldone, the 14th Century’s Answer to Tumblr
Original source: How to Keep a Zibaldone, the 14th Century’s Answer to Tumblr
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Link: Below the surface, Amsterdam
Centuries of stuff found in the ground. Original source: Below the surface, Amsterdam
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Link: Adam Smith, Misanthrope
‘The feminist writer Katrine Marcal recently wrote a critique of modern economics under the title “Who Cooked Adam Smith’s Dinner?” A fair question; for most of Smith’s life the answer was his mother, who predeceased him by only six years.’ Original source: Adam Smith, Misanthrope
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Link: Gin Sling, Recipe and History
‘Gin sling. What a suggestive cocktail name. If it evokes the image of tossing back a drink, you’re not far from the truth, as it has been surmised that the gin sling drink stems from the German verb schlingen. This little story dates far back into American Cocktail History, as an article from the New…
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Karl Lagerfeld’s daily routine, circa 2012
Who doesn’t like a good what’s in bag/what I do each day post? I used to fax a lot, but people don’t have faxes anymore. In this routine, what’s remarkable is how much he avoids people, e.g.: I don’t go out that much because I’m always late, and I’m so busy and so pleased with…
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The decline of Novell
I’ve been reading up on Novell’s history. So far it’s got some fascinating twists and turns. Wikipedia sums up the turning point well: The inclusion of networking as a core system component in all mainstream PC operating systems after 1995 led to a steep decline in Novell’s market share. That is, once networking become “commoditized,”…
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Some things that are poor businesses
Doctors have obligations to their patients, teachers to their students, pastors to their congregations, curators to the public, and journalists to their readers—obligations that lie outside the realm of earnings, and are fundamentally different from the obligations that a business executive has to employees, partners, and investors. Historically, institutions like museums, hospitals, schools, and universities…
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That nasty tasting black stuff…that I’m drinking right now
The flavour might best be described as being a cross between medicine, crushed plants, and bitter mud. … The drink’s numerous medicinal claims came in handy during the American prohibition; as a medicine, Fernet Branca was still legal. –Fernet Branca
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Finished In Search of Stupidity
I finished reading In Search of Stupidity: Over 20 Years of High-Tech Marketing Disasters today during lunch. All in all, it was an excellent book, and I’d recommend it to anyone in the software bid’ness. It’s got: (1.) good history of the software world, and, (2.) a good catalog of stupid mistakes software firms have…
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