businessphilosophy


What Shoveling Snow Taught Me About Making Great Mobile Apps

How shoveling snow this winter helped me contemplate what makes great software I live at the top of a steep and twisting driveway that quickly turns into what I’ve described to my team in Slack as “a snowy deathcoaster”. While spending a few hours trying to end my family’s snow-exile, my mind drifted to thoughts …

What Shoveling Snow Taught Me About Making Great Mobile Apps Read More »


How to Integrate Jobs-To-Be -Done and App Definition Statements into Your Mobile Strategy

  As a strategist I’ve written a lot about Jobs-To-Be-Done. So if you’re reading this post you already know that customers don’t want the drills – they want the holes in the walls. But understanding the value in Jobs-To-Be-Done and App Definition Statements (ADS) and implementing these critical elements into your Mobile App development process …

How to Integrate Jobs-To-Be -Done and App Definition Statements into Your Mobile Strategy Read More »


Microsoft’s Rigidity has Scarred Them

Microsoft is by any estimation a successful company and at a $380B market cap nobody would suggest otherwise. But over the past few years I’ve watched them go from an indomitable force to a company struggling to maintain its position. Why? Vanity Fair did an in-depth examination of the catastrophic effect of Steve Ballmer’s reign, …

Microsoft’s Rigidity has Scarred Them Read More »


The Fundamental Problem of Software: Translating Business Rules into Code

How Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) can help solve the fundamental problem of software.  Translating language – an example In true BDD fashion, let’s start with an example: Carlos is fluent in Spanish, but does not speak English. Mary is an English speaker who knows little to no Spanish. However, Carlos and Mary wish to communicate. What’s …

The Fundamental Problem of Software: Translating Business Rules into Code Read More »


How to Manage Your Agency’s Mobile App UX in an Agile Environment

More brands and agencies are moving towards Agile as they realize the power, speed and efficiency of this process. But how does a product owner manage UX in an iterative environment where scope isn’t fixed? In traditional Waterfall methodology, wireframes and comps are created, internally review, edited, reviewed again, presented to the client, feedback collected, …

How to Manage Your Agency’s Mobile App UX in an Agile Environment Read More »


Caveat Emptor: Why Most M&As Destroy Value

Between 2009-2013 Google, Inc made a staggering 69 acquisitions, Facebook 33, and lately Yahoo seems to acquiring companies (112 to date) faster than you can say Marissa Mayer. Most of these acquisitions center around mobile. But there’s a persistent belief in big business that mergers and acquisitions inherently destroy the value of the acquired company. …

Caveat Emptor: Why Most M&As Destroy Value Read More »


Three Things We Humans Are Terrible At And What It Means For Mobile App Development

Three pitfalls of self-delusion and how humility, flexibility, and knowledge can save your mobile app development project. 1. Multitasking The term “multitasking” came from my world of computer science. Doing multiple things at once can elusively make us feel as though we are multiplying our productivity, but the actual truth is pretty damning. While you …

Three Things We Humans Are Terrible At And What It Means For Mobile App Development Read More »


How CTOs and Managers Can Help Their Engineers be Great at Mobile App Development

Provide the best tools, carve out time to learn, and remove distractions and obstacles. There’s an adage that to earn a small fortune in the stock market you only need one thing: start with a large one. Similarly, if you want your engineers to do great work, it’s a good idea to hire great engineers. …

How CTOs and Managers Can Help Their Engineers be Great at Mobile App Development Read More »