tig.log - Part 4

Broken Windows – Right Idea, Bad Analogy

July 10, 2020 by tig

It is well understood that no product is perfect and small issues will always exist. Without an ongoing mechanism to fix those issues, not only do they not get fixed, they pile up. Having a clear … Read more

Kindel’s 3rd Law

July 23, 2024March 30, 2020 by tig

Kindel’s 3rd Law – Amazon will enter every existing business, channel, and market. If said business, channel, or market doesn’t already exist, Amazon will try to invent it. Tig Kindel – 2019 See also: Kindel’s Law … Read more

Smart Home + PC = Better Working from Home

March 25, 2020 by tig

Since the dawn of time I’ve considered the PC (and related devices like Macs, printers, etc…) to be part of my smart home. For some reason, most traditional smart home offerings have treated PCs et.al. as … Read more

Mechanisms

October 7, 2026March 6, 2020 by tig

Mechanisms are complete processes built around a tool, owned by a leader that gets adopted broadly and regularly inspected and improved to ensure things get done, not because everyone has good intentions, but because the mechanism’s elements structurally force the desired behavior. “Good intentions never … Read more

winprint 2.0

October 7, 2026February 21, 2020 by tig

Ever since I started programming on an Apple ][+ in 1981, I’ve had a thing for printing. My earliest apps focused on printing and my first money-making endeavor was “Tapes”, which printed casette tape ‘J-cards’ for … Read more

Path To Green

October 7, 2026February 16, 2020 by tig

A Path To Green (PTG) is a clear, crisp, and complete statement describing a team’s plan for getting a project or task from red or yellow status to green. Organizations that routinely deliver results on time hold … Read more

Tenets

August 20, 2026February 10, 2020 by tig

Tenets are a few carefully articulated guiding principles for any endeavor. They act as a guide to align on a vision and simplify decision-making. Tenets are the written-down rules that distinguish good behavior from behavior that … Read more

Work Backwards From The Customer

April 9, 2025February 4, 2020 by tig

At the 1996 Microsoft Professional Developer Conference (PDC) I stood up in front of 8,000 customers and announced what I’d been working on for the previous two years: the Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM). On stage, in front of … Read more

MCE Controller V2 Released

January 30, 2021October 8, 2019 by tig

I spent some time the last few weekends hacking on a product I first developed in 2004: MCE Controller. MCE Controller lets you control a Windows Home Theater PC (or any PC) over the network. It runs … Read more

Have Specific Conversations, not General Conversations

February 5, 2020August 9, 2019 by tig

If you are discussing a topic with colleagues, it’s almost always better to have a specific conversation instead of a general conversation. General Conversation Specific Conversation “We need to figure out how to scrub all open … Read more

Kindel’s 2nd Law

July 24, 2022July 30, 2019 by tig

Kindel’s 2nd Law – Companies with subscription-based business models eventually behave in ways hostile to their customers. Charlie Kindel – July 2019 Once a company gets addicted to annuity-based revenue, all it can do is focus … Read more

Taxonomy and Lexicon

November 1, 2025July 3, 2019 by tig

How many times have you been in a heated discussion only to find out that the two sides were talking past each other because they were reading from two different dictionaries? I bet you can also … Read more

One-Way and Two-Way Doors

November 1, 2025June 27, 2019 by tig

Effective decision-making starts with understanding; in the long-term, very, very few things actually matter. The vast majority of the decisions made day-to-day are either minutia or easily reversible and can be made quickly. However, a small number … Read more

Mental Models

October 7, 2026June 22, 2019 by tig

A secret to clear thinking and decision-making is to learn, invent, and adopt mental models. You’ve probably noticed effective leaders can frame complex ideas simply. They’ll lead conversations like this: “Well, I think there are three … Read more

Lead Without Authority

May 15, 2022June 11, 2019 by tig

There are two forms of influence in the world: Influence by authority Influence without authority When a ‘boss’ (a manager or someone with a big title) attempts to influence change or drive action using only their … Read more

Focusing on users is not Customer Obsession

February 1, 2021May 30, 2019 by tig

https://www.flickr.com/photos/findrehabcenters

Let’s talk Customer Obsession and how it is different than user obsession. My definitions: Customer: An individual (or entity) that pays you, directly or indirectly, for value you provide. User: An individual that is forced to use something … Read more