Technologies
Email as a collaboration tool
We've regularly wrestled with the question of email vs. a specialty application (forum, project-management, or file-sharing software, etc.) to handle some particular need. And the fact is, most users keep turning to email. Often that feels frustrating. Well, Slashdot has an article and discussion thread that really illuminates the issues for me. I have to say, I'll never dismiss email quite so quickly ever again.
Best Practices
Dutch Rijks Museum Interface
Not only do I love a new Mac Dashboard widget I've installed from the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam, I especially love their site interface. It's always tricky to show great art online, without losing either an overall view or the fine details of a piece. But I think they've done the trick with a really fluid, intuitive interface. Here's a sample page, for The Battle of Livorno, a pen painting by William van de Velde the Elder.
{Read on.}Concepts
Milestones
Another thought gleaned from listening to NASA engineers talk about the shuttle program on August 9, after Discovery safely landed. In emphasizing that the shuttle is a "test flight" program, they commented that the project is "milestone-driven." I take it that's as opposed to schedule-driven. What are the key differences between how milestone- and schedule-driven projects are handled? And how do you know when one or the other is an appropriate approach?
Concepts
Just Barely Possible
In a post-landing press conference following the successful mission of the space shuttle Discovery, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin was challenged by a British journalist to explain how the American people could have confidence that disaster wouldn't strike the shuttle program in the future. His answer was much more interesting than the question.
{Read on.}Best Practices
Simple File Browsing
Courtesy of the blog at TextDrive, I've learned of a stunningly simple little PHP-based file browser application: fileNice by Andy Beaumont. I've seen a couple of demos, but someone should install this (which sounds comically simple) and comment here about how it goes.
