Lately I wanted to buy a heart-rate monitor online, so I enterd Polar’s website. Polar has dozens of models, so I had hard times choosing the right one for me. The difference between each one of them was sometimes one feature or two. It took me a lot of time, but eventually I decided and ordered. A few days after I read about the paradox of choice, and found out that apparently I’m an exceptional customer: most people would give up in such multiple-choice condition, or decide badly (I didn’t choose badly since I’m already satisfied with the product). The reason for this behavior is the analysis paralysis effect: paralysis that is caused by overdose of information.
Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category
Using mind mapping software in project management and system analysis
Published by March 1st, 2007 in Uncategorized. 1 CommentA mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks or other items linked to and arranged radially around a central key word or idea. It is used to generate, visualize, structure and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, and decision making (wikipedia’s definition).
I use mind mapping software for 2 main needs in software development management: when I gather requirements from the customer and for use cases descriptions. The software I use is Mindmanager, but recenly I found that there are some reasonable open-source alternatives in the market.
Most of my customers describe me their business needs or problems, and sometimes they even have a general vision of a solution. When it comes to the “bits and bytes” of their requirements, they start to “think” with me: modules, features and fields are added and cancelled in this process. New insights that we have lead to changes. In the past, I used pencil and paper for this process. Now I use mind mapping software to do it. It allows me copying, cutting and pasting. In addition, it gives me and the customer a good perspective on the system as a whole. We know at any given point what parts are still missing in the solution. I manage BPM processes, so I developed a “checklist” map template for BPM systems requirements gathering, that I fill-in with the customer.
The second usage of mind mapping tool is while defining use cases, in the functional design phase. Same here, I have developed a template map for a use case. After I fill it in, I publish it to the intranet, and let the customer comment on it.
Google’s stock and investors expectations
Published by February 1st, 2007 in Uncategorized. 0 CommentsOn your investment course’ day-one they tell you that stock price reflects the investors expectations for future yields. More than that means that the stock is overvalued. Some investment theoreticians/ gurus will claim that in the long-run this thesis is always true. Google’s stock behaves exceptionally in this context: investors seems to expect the firm to exceed analysts’ estimations. So can we say the stock is overvalued ? What will happen if the company stops to surprise us ??
Wikipedia and the objectiveness definition
Published by January 24th, 2007 in Uncategorized. 0 CommentsWhat I like the most about Wikipedia is that it does not pretend to be objective. New terms are defined through consensus and are initiated and written by the users. In many cases, the symposium yields rich and up-to-date results. In other cases it does not. Popular or controversial terms receive better attention, and a healthy discussion is constantly maintained over their definitions. In these cases, there’s high probabilty that the result will be well balanced. Wikipedia has many sub-wikis, among them “Wikibooks“. Here’s a quotation from the book “relationships, the authors of the essay mentioned all their resources:
“Churches are good for meeting marriage partners (8%), and poor for meeting short-term sex partners (1%). (This contradicts another dating advice book, which says that women in church singles clubs want sex “like bunnies”. This may apply only to certain churches. (The book didn’t specify where to find the best sects.)”
I think the quotation demonstrates the objectiveness issue. Nevertheless, some people percieve information on the web as true, regardless of many important criteria. Research has confirmed it. Microsoft apparently sees it as a serious business, so it offered a blogger money in returns for editing one of wikipedia’s articles. Microsoft’s spokesman said that Wikipedia forced the company’s hand by refusing to correct information Microsoft says is inaccurate, after Wikipedia’s editors refused to approve an article editing initiated by Microsoft’s people.
