Chad Clark's Open Journal : 2007-10-26

1) Who cares about adding value?

I read Chad Fowler's "My Job Went to India" in 2006 my review read:

  The subtitle of this book is "52 Ways to Save Your Job".
  
  There are a number of good ideas to "save your job" in this book.
  The suggestions include things like learning the business that your
  company is involved in and paying attention to newer technologies.
  
  The big idea is to understanding that a programmer is not hired to
  write code.  Instead a people are hired because they contribute to
  the business.
  
  An interesting story is when the author saw people cutting lawns in
  India with a pair of scissors because human time is worth so little
  compared to the cost of buying a machine.

The book has many worthwhile suggestions and I recommend reading it.  If a
Computer Science department required book reports this is one I would want
students to read.

This week I asked someone about one of his larger customers' businesses.
He didn't know what they do.  He knows they require email and web service
and he provides it.

I found it interesting he doesn't care to know even a bit more.  Maybe they
provide something he or someone he knows could use.

He doesn't care.  He specifically doesn't care if his customer stays in
business.  That is a big claim to make.

I would rather have my customers do well both because it helps me and
because I actually want to contribute to success.

I read somewhere the claim that it is okay 90% of companies fold because
while they are running money is changing hands so the economy is running.

It almost sounds like the economy is a machine that runs with only 10% of
the energy not lost to entropy.