I have resolved to never again say that someone “Just doesn’t get it”. Saying someone “doesn’t get it” implies that you’ve decided that you won’t take the time (or any more time) to convince them of the merits of your position and thereby proving that it’s the superior one. If your take on things is indeed better then you should provide enough evidence to convince. This can sometimes be very difficult, especially when the person has a fixed view or the person lacks sufficient knowledge in the subject.

So, turning it on it’s head, no more “they don’t get it”. From now on it’s: “I haven’t explained it well enough yet.”

Crowd trust is the trust I place in the crowd that has gone before me and not been burned. For example: EULAs. I never read them fully, I trust someone before me has already read it and if there was something there that was so wrong the crowd would make a fuss and get it fixed. What do you think about this?

Greek TV is terrible. After a long day, when you just want to flop in front of the TV it’s a real shame that you are presented with total crap and more advertising than content. We used to buy the weekly TV guide, pick what we wanted to see and just watch it.

However, in Greece, no TV guide can be trusted. Greek TV stations will interrupt shows to shove advertising down your throat whenever they can manage to sell a spot to an advertiser. This means that when a TV guide says some show will start and end at certain times, it’s most often absolutely untrue because the ad’s have thrown the timing out by hours. Forget setting the VCR the tape will end before the show does. A PVR is better. Don’t ever risk sitting through a 1,5hr feature. It will take 4,5 hrs with the ad’s.

Too often, I find myself wasting my life in front of the TV while trying to enjoy a 1.5 hr feature. I have now completely stopped watching Greek TV and have moved onto Satellite TV. I use a great Open Source TV listings software called TVBrowser that will bring the latest Electronic Program Guide (EPG) to my desktop, allow me to set reminders, set recordings and much much more. It’s java based software and a little heavy on resources but the benefits it delivers are great.

Stop wasting your life in front of the TV – Be picky about what you consume, use a PVR and an EPG. Don’t let the channels feed you crap.

“The population of the world, currently six and a a half billion, is due to rise to nine billion by the middle of the century.

The developing world, by definition, aspires to western standards of living. Some economists suggest that nine billion people all consuming resources at peak developed world rates would be equivalent to a population of 72 billion consuming resources at current rates: this is not economically, environmentally or politically feasible.” from the residence sustainable development seminar to be held on 29 Feb 08. Follow proceedings during Live! coverage on the day via the website and U-Stream.

Measure everything Important – you’ll never know how fast or slow you are going without a speedometer. If you need to speedup to overtake or slow down to keep from crashing you need to know about it so remember metrics are everything. You need to be able to prove the value of something you are doing compared to something else someone might impose on you. Metrics are everything. Whether it’s time or cost or even a ratio of both. Measure it, date it and measure it again. Put these values in a matrix and use these matrices as your tools to sell your ideas.

More than a year ago I wrote a scathing blog entry about an ECDL test we underwent and how terribly run it was. Although ECDL Hellas were not the testing provider per se, I felt  they needed a mention.

Today, I had a chance to meet and talk with  group from ECDL Greece and the company running ECDL, Peoplecert. I must say I liked what I heard.

First, ECDL testing in English is now fully available in interactive format. This is something we fought for bitterly. We have yet to take an interactive test but we aim to during the next round of testing.

I’m still of the view that the interactive test presents a much better testing scenario given that there are very few points of failure in the testing system overall. This in stark contrast to the paper/diskette based method.

The company is now employing over 110 people 90 of which are IT gurus and they’ve expanded into other countries including China !

I’m impressed and hope you guys keep up the good work.

I haven’t posted in ages. The only reason being that I’ve been involved in an integration project that has been one constant nightmare for the most part of a year now. Well, it’s almost over thank goodness and I might be ready for the next one soon.

This is for you D.

Jay Adelson, CEO of Digg says: If your business idea fails, at least you will make the contacts and gained experience that will help you to make a success the second time round and unless you’re totally incompetent, you will still have enough trust from them to help you succeed.

Normally I like people coming into my office to visit. Except when I’m coding.

So here’s a nasty time saving tip – Get yourself the most uncomfortable visitors chair in the building.

A couple of months ago, I had a visitors chair similar to the one in the pic. One moring, The boss walks in, sits down, has his say. Chit-chat sets in. A couple of minutes into the mindless waste, he comments, “This must be the most uncomfortable chair in the building”.

So I explained the concept. “It’s designed to make you make your point, stand up and leave. Now let me get back to my code.”

He liked the productivity slant to my argument.

This is my office right now.

Tomorrow morning I will be moving to a new room.

I asked for a bigger office when the new room became available but I did warn the boss that if he gave me a bigger office, I would make a bigger mess.

Goodbye my little office, we’ve been the coolest human/room partnership for 7 years. I will miss you. You are well known for containing the coolest gadgets in the building. I have often been warned by security to lock your door for fear of any of our goodies going missing. What a sad day this is.

Promise, I’ll pop in every so often to say hello and I’ll to try keep it the new one clean for as long as possible.

This is not the first personal blog I’ve started. It will, however, be the last. So thanks to Theo, I now have a subdomain to call home. I plan to talk about Technology mostly but will also cover things I’m less experienced in such as life, business and all sorts of other stuff.

So ‘Hello World’