Alan Williamson

  • “Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die” by Chip Heath, Dan Heath

    This book was recommended by my trusted colleague, Stefan Bauer, as a bit of light reading over the weekend.  Weighing in at only 291 pages, it was a book that proved very hard to put down once started. The authors take a look at what it takes to make ideas and messages resonate and stick Read Post ⇢

  • “Brick by Brick: How LEGO Rewrote the Rules of Innovation” by David Robertson

    We all know (and love?) the humble LEGO brick – that 4 pegged indestructible plastic cube, that come a nuclear attack, along with the the cockroach will be the only things that will survive.   I have always been intrigued in the history of this company and how it got a foot hold in the Read Post ⇢

  • “Sam Walton: Made In America” by Sam Walton

    I’ve recently finished a fascinating book on the history of Walmart, as told by its founder, Sam Walton.  Written in the last year before he died in 1992.  At that time Walmart was a $53billion turnover company, and for some context, if you had bought $100 shares at its initial IPO in the early 1970’s, Read Post ⇢

  • “Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think” by: Viktor Mayer-Schonberger, Kenneth Cukier

    This book was recommended to me by a colleague and after a few days it was read cover-2-cover and only now am I reflecting back on its message. First thing, the title is completely misleading.  Yes the authors talk a lot about “big data”, but that I feel misses the message of the book as Read Post ⇢

  • Yahoo ‘to buy Tumblr for $1.1bn’

    Yahoo’s board has approved a deal to buy New York-based blogging service Tumblr for $1.1bn (£725m), US media reports say. The acquisition is expected to be announced as early as Monday. Once more I have done it again; signed up for a service and in a matter of days learn it is to be acquired. Read Post ⇢

  • NetworkSolutions – is there any real point of them?

    I have been a loyal user of NetworkSolutions for near on 10 years. At my usage peak I had well over a 100 domains managed through them.  However, of late I have been slowly transferring blocks of them over to GoDaddy.  Why? Simple.  Their user interface is an abortion of Web2,0 magnitude.  Too many upsells, Read Post ⇢

  • Free Yourself from Conventional Thinking

    The first step is to consider the way you have always done business — and stop. Failing to do so not only prevents truly innovative thinking; it also ensures failure. An excellent piece on what it means to break away from the conventional wisdom and stop repeating the same tasks.   If your company tells Read Post ⇢

  • patrickborn: Fractured Prune Donuts #lancaster #donuts #powerrings Lancaster, PA 3 out of 5 on the donut scale One of our chaps brought in 3 boxes of wonderful doughnuts which is just the sort of thing you need to power through the mornings worth of meetings.   Development is not always cutting code. Read Post ⇢

  • Dying Careers and their alternatives

    http://education.yahoo.net/articles/careers_dead_by_2020.htm?kid=1LFZ5 Fascinating list this, particular when they advise that instead of going into semi-conductors you may want to look at Database Administration instead. Where is the relationship to semi-conductors?   You may as well said “Sheep Herding” – which incidentally is my own pipe-dream should this computer game finish. Dying Careers and their alternatives Read Post ⇢

the leg-end that is, Alan Williamson.

For over 20 years, I’ve shared my thoughts whenever the muse strikes. It’s unpredictable, honest, unedited, and occasionally witty. I’m living the best years of my life, working harder than ever, and enjoying every second.