A Product Management Conference in Cleveland? Who’d a Thought.

A Product Management Conference in Cleveland? Who’d a Thought.

Why would you attend a product management conference, when your time might be better spent learning technical skills or studying some new open source project? Well, the short answer is because there are aspects of product management in almost all jobs now. With the cloud and service based thinking, we all have to think about

Explaining Race Conditions to Non Programmers

Explaining Race Conditions to Non Programmers

A few weeks ago, I was down in Columbus at a coffee shop. This place happened to have a bathroom which needed a key to use. I went to the counter to ask for the key because mother nature called, but the key was nowhere to be found. Somebody was already in the bathroom and

The Willpower it Takes to Be Homeless

The Willpower it Takes to Be Homeless

Often, I think we are desensitized to how difficult it is to be homeless – to have very little control over our day to day life. We take for granted that we get to pick what shirt to wear, when to take a shower, when to have our first cup of coffee. Recently, this became

The Many Versions of You – Comparing Yourself to Others in a Healthier Way

The Many Versions of You – Comparing Yourself to Others in a Healthier Way

“Should you compare yourself to others when attempting self improvement?” That’s what we debated this morning at the local coffee shop. It started because a young guy said, “I try not to compare myself to other people” – his intention was to imply that you are somehow a better person if you don’t. It was

Body Hacking – Most Business Travelers Are Body Builders, They Just Don’t Know it

Body Hacking – Most Business Travelers Are Body Builders, They Just Don’t Know it

If you are a road warrior, you have probably never thought of yourself as a body builder. But, if you have ever wanted loose weight, you probably are body builder and just don’t know it. For a long, long time, I hated the idea. I loathed it . Eventually, I I learned to embrace it

Body Hacking – While Being a Road Warrior

Body Hacking – While Being a Road Warrior

I recently read Road Warriors – Healthy Tips for Staying ‘On Plan’ by Steve Katasi and thought it was really good. We have developed a lot of the same strategies. I wanted to point people towards it and add a few additions: 1.1: Snacks: there are a TON of good options for protein bars, and

Netflix – Technology Wizards or Good Content?

I love the content they produce like Orange is the New Black, Narcos, Stranger Things, and House of Cards. But, remember back to before Netflix produced this content? They were struggling with subscribers, under attack from cable companies, and their future looked very, very uncertain. So, how did they turn the ship around? They started

Wisdom in Primates – The Four Branches

Wisdom in Primates – The Four Branches

Have you ever looked over at someone and seen them doing some fairly impressive physical or mental feat? You might say to yourself, wow, I don’t know if I can do that? The other day, I was taking a yoga class, and I noticed a new student next to me bending all the way down

The Tiger and The Bonsai

The Tiger and The Bonsai

Your body has two ways that it can move. Like a tiger and like a bonsai plant. Tigers move quickly, striking their prey. Bonsai plants move slowly, over time, growing towards the Sun. Humans do both. We run, jump, try new things, sing, and play music we already know. We enact these movements from instinct and

Three Unexpected Benefits of Losing 35 lbs

Three Unexpected Benefits of Losing 35 lbs

About a year and a half ago, I started on a journey to loose 35 pounds. When I started, like many people, I just had this nagging feeling that I needed to loose some weight and do more for my health. I had no idea how far this would go to changing my life forever.