If you have been thinking of migrating to an online service or cloud product, then now may be the time to do so with the new flexibility of the Next Generation web interface.

Segment your users into organizational units
Have multiple departments or office locations? Now you can classify your users as members of different organizational units.

Give users the right tools
You can turn applications on or off at the unit level, so you can have different settings for different sets of users.

Manage multiple domains in one control panel
Are your users associated with different domains? Now you can manage everything from a unified control panel.

We primarily use web applications and web software for running our business. Not every product or service publicly offered is right for your organization. As a small company, we use and develop our own web applications for our (or clients’) specific needs. Custom software will continue to be coveted over any off the shelf product.

It’s always a cost-benefit question; what’s your demand?

.CO domains

The .CO once was for Columbia, but now can be interpreted as “COmpany, COrporation, COmmercial, COmmunity, COmmerce, COllaboration, COntent, or COnnection”. This makes it a valuable addition to your .COM, .NET or .ORG domain.

Domain names are the real estate of the web and it is important to secure these names/properties to protect your name or brand. Web development and Internet marketing professionals are intimately familiar with how valuable domain names can help with search engine (SEO/SEM) results. Contact your web designer or guru to see if a .CO domain is right for you.

We have added CTSC.co to our list of web domains.

The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.

The same is true for any business. What has focus or is neglected? What behaviors are exhibited? There are many studies and even shows on non-verbal communication.

My greatest strength as a consultant is to be ignorant and ask a few questions.

Sometimes, you have to explicitly ask what the missing pieces are. When talking with a client, whether for web design or business strategy, I always try to finish with, “What haven’t I asked about?” I am usually rewarded with a key piece of the puzzle that the organization is hiring me to solve.

photo credit INTVGene
Related: Work Smart, Focus, & Fail Well

If you think like an engineer (or cartoonist), then you may enjoy this thought by Scott Adams:

Its not an accident that the recent leaders of China have been trained engineers. They’ve done a great job in an immensely complicated situation. Engineers are trained to deal with complexity.

I wonder if we should start requiring in our leaders a background that shows they can deal with complexity. Lawyers and engineers have that training. I assume that doctors and economists have what it takes. Ironically, a degree in political science alone is probably a red flag that a person might not be suited for the complexities of holding office. Taking it a step further, if your elected representative majored in English, hes probably relying on reflex, polls, superstition or bribery to make his decisions. Good luck with that.

From my academic days, I remember observing graduate classrooms with more international students (from China, India, Russia, Turkey) than US students. Most undergraduate engineering drop-outs went into business.

Our politicians control the vector of our area, state and country. Do they have the experience and skills needed to solve our complex, modern issues?



Fern and Lorenz image credits.

This is not a software or web technology post, but a salutary productivity/passion excerpt worth a read.

Thing is, regardless of the passions (or goals or values or priorities or whatever) that we hope to protect or defend, we’d all do well to remember that it is still ultimately OUR passion that’s at stake.

That means we’re the only one responsible for seeing that its functional components survive and adapt in a world in which each one of us has just north of zero control.

If we embrace the fact that no one can or should ever care about the health of our passions as much as we do, the practical decisions that help ensure Our Good Thing stays alive can become as “simple” as a handful of proven patterns—work hard, stay awake, fail well, hang with smart people, shed bullshit, say “maybe,” focus on action, and always always commit yourself to a bracing daily mixture of all the courage, honesty, and information you need to do something awesome—discover whatever it’ll take to keep your nose on the side of the ocean where the fresh air lives. This is huge.

• Change your settings so that email from you has a name, your name.
• Change your settings so that when you reply to a note, the note you’re replying to is included below what you write (this is called quoting).
• Don’t hit reply all. Just don’t.
• Email lives forever, is easy to spread and can easily show up in discovery for a lawsuit.
• Use a professional signature, with your direct contact information. Please don’t ask me to save a tree by not printing your email. It doesn’t work, it just annoys the trees.

Now

Send yourself some email at a friend’s computer. Read it. Are the fonts too big or too small? Does it look like a standard email? If it doesn’t look like a standard, does this deviation help you or hurt you? Sometimes, fitting in makes sense, no?

If you are unsure about any of the above, contact your friendly enginerd or web technologist to assist you.

More on personal email etiquette

Authenticating different accounts on various sites creates complacent conduct. Solutions such as OpenID, reduce the number of username/passwords that you have to recall. Unfortunately, not every site utilizes a third party identity login. First, let this be a reminder to update your passwords throughout your systems.

Bruce Schneier has a good summary, so I will highlight his and Becky Waring articles.

• DO use a password manager.
• DO change passwords frequently. I change mine every six months or whenever I sign in to a site I haven’t visited in long time. Don’t reuse old passwords. Password managers can assign expiration dates to your passwords and remind you when the passwords are about to expire.
• DO keep your passwords secret. Putting them into a file on your computer, e-mailing them to others, or writing them on a piece of paper in your desk is tantamount to giving them away. If you must allow someone else access to an account, create a temporary password just for them and then change it back immediately afterward.

Passwords can be applied to the entry of many systems. While at a hotel, if the cleaning staff are in my room with the door propped open, I appreciate it when the staff make me put the keycard into the room door to verify my right to the room. Things are getting better as a result of technology, and the social awareness and education of aberrant tactics. (I still am surprised at the number of merchants that will read the back of my credit card which says “REQUEST ID”, look up at me, and never ask for my license.) Thank others for challenging your access.

Other technologies and methods such as picture and icon passwords are an alternative to remembering text characters. (The icon set is also useful for CAPTCHAs.) More details on picture passwords available on PDF. Biometric devices are also constantly getting better; they are an excellent secondary authentication factor. Pressure and angle sensitive pens and signature pads to detect forgeries are another interesting idea to follow. Until these alternatives become robust, we are stuck with text passwords.

If you know someone that has difficulty coming up with a valid password, refer them to one of the online password generators.

Hugh has been promoting open conversations and social objects before the term existed.  The object now has become the conversation nucleus:

Conversations that happen around the object are more interesting than the actual object itself.

My office, although not a cube, proudly displays several pieces from Hugh, including these three:

Reminding us to get out and solve the social issues with technology.

A framed print in my office.  It speaks to developers and project managers who cannot be held back by the fear of their project, software or idea.

A classic gray art piece.

Hugh is a grenade himself. I’ve written this post as a result of his contributions to our conversations that we have with our clients.

Green products and services:

incorporates smart design, technology, construction and maintenance elements to significantly lessen the negative impact of … the environment and improve the health of the people #

Can IT and/or software be green? The green IT we see touted is about the reduced energy consumption (i.e. of a data center) related to power management and heading/cooling systems. Green technology is a trend in saving money, doing more with less, while using less paper.

How are our services, products or software green? They are fast, lean and simple to use with little maintenance. Ping us if you want to improve the feng shui, your health, or alter the color of your software interface (we’ll turn your dashboard whatever frog green shade you wish).

Of course, if you don’t like green and want your software designed in midnight blue or carbon gray, we will do that as well. And unlike those solar-powered flashlights (that may leave you in the dark), our software solutions are elegant and effective.

Be sure to review our expanded services:

• Information Services
• Information Technology
• Web and Information Engineering
• Web Development and Web Design
• Web Programming and Web Strategy
• Business Consulting