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Why I’m a huge fan of the Kindle Touch

mikehking — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:40:58 +0000

Jason Calacanis blogged earlier this week about the Cult of Amazon Prime, and made some great points. I’m a huge fan of everything Amazon, including Prime and their Kindle e-reader devices. I made a list of why I’m a huge fan of the new Kindle Touch as it’s been a topic of discussion recently with several friends:

It’s a great break from the information overload technologies like iPhones and iPads (this is why I avoided the Kindle Fire)
You can preview the first chapter for free on most Kindle books
You can highlight phrases and sentences you like, and Amazon keeps them consolidated in a central place where you can review your highlights
You can carry your collection of books with you easily
It powers on instantly, is easy to read in most lighting conditions, and it’s lightweight
It’s an immersive, simple interface (see Greg Nudelman’s post about immersive interfaces)
You can email your Kindle PDF’s to read later
It has a simple model of showing your most recently read books at the top of a list (and you can make folders of books if you’re so inclined)

My favorite aspect though is that it makes it easy to read, which I appreciate.

Being Overwhelmed Wastes Energy

mikehking — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:34:25 +0000

The inaction and frustration that comes from feeling overwhelmed wastes energy and doesn’t shrink your growing todo list. That’s why making progress on the important action items is so key — it’s essential that you build some momentum, just take a bite-sized chunk out of your list instead of fearing the enormity of the list. I find it very satisfying to knock off some of the little actions to make the list seem less intimidating; but it’s important not to get stuck in the details — invest real time in the big, challenging projects on your list. And toss things off the list that aren’t important.

Agile Personal Productivity

mikehking — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 02:33:18 +0000

Time management is always tough, and lots of people have written some great things on the topic, such as David Allen’s Getting Things Done. A connection I made recently that I found fascinating was the intersection of agile software development practices (Ken Schwaber’s books Agile Project Management with Scrum is excellent, recommended to me by Derek Huether) and personal productivity. Agile concepts are based on trying to accelerate progress by relying on short sprints of productivity broken up by planning periods. This is the best approach I’ve found to management my own to-do list — by frequently assessing my top priorities, both short-term and long-term, and working in bursts to make appreciable progress towards them. It’s very similar to the productivity concept of putting the “big rocks” on the top of our priority list (see big rock explanation here). But it’s more than just focusing on the big stuff, it’s also essential to focus on frequently reassessing what’s the top priority, to avoid working on something that isn’t key anymore. It’s that key of working on what’s important, which can be hard when we want to close things out — something very tempting when you want to feel progress by removing things from your to-do list by closing something almost done when it’s not the most important thing, or just knocking out the easy things (this concept of closure seems to be especially relevant to men, see Men are like Waffles, Women are like Spaghetti).

So what I’ve been trying to do is:

Examine my priorities daily, to make sure I’m focused on the right things
Spend a little time (about an hour) knocking out the quick actions and delegating what should be delegated
Focus big, solid blocks of time on making progress on the biggest, most important, most time-sensitive things

Don’t go to a meeting empty-handed

mikehking — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 23:53:35 +0000

Meetings can be horrible, horrible events. My least favorite part is when a new work product (document, spreadsheet, website, etc.) needs to be created, and no one has taken the initiative to create the first draft. This first draft seems so overwhelming to create initially, sometimes because there’s a lack of clear vision or direction; sometimes because creating the first of something is daunting for fear of doing it wrong; and often because we’re lazy. However, there’s so much value in someone stepping up and making something – a shell, an outline, a sketch, a “scarecrow”; whatever you want to call it, to get the ball rolling. So next time you’re in a discussion with a vacuum of tangible content, grab a blank sheet of paper, an empty PowerPoint slide, or a whiteboard and make something.

There is a risk that the person with the initiative can unintentionally become the owner of the artifact. But owners are often (or at least should be) rewarded in organizations for stepping up and creating change instead of just talking about it.

Why I like Twitter

mikehking — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 03:26:43 +0000

Twitter gets a bad rap from people who don’t want to read what people ate for lunch. But there are some redeeming qualities for twitter for some people:

Twitter is a great way to get targeted news (I like to read about Silicon Valley startup companies, so I can quickly skim through my twitter feed and get news since I follow people in that community)
Twitter’s brevity means I get executive summaries, and I can quickly skim them looking for something I care about
Twitter is less stressful than blogs (Google Reader) because twitter doesn’t tell you how many posts you’ve missed, instead it’s a constantly updating stream (so I don’t feel obligated to read every post)
Twitter lets me access a community separate from facebook (most people I follow on twitter are professional relationships, often people I don’t know; instead of friends)

Note: I also like sending links I’d like to read later to readitlaterlist.com for future reading

Why we like “carpe diem”, but don’t live it

mikehking — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 21:56:27 +0000

After getting back from Peru a few weeks ago, and getting sucked back into the intense pace of my life here, I’ve tried to carve out time to reflect on the contrast of culture and life in Pucallpa, Peru and the suburbs of DC. While there are many relevant points to contrast here, what I’ve been reflecting on recently is the disconnect between what we admire and what we do.

Point 1: We admire people who take risks and focus on becoming great at one things (e.g. business leaders, athletes, artists)

Steve Jobs is cool. Michael Jordan is cool. Race car drivers are cool. These are people who followed their passions intensely, focusing their whole lives around something important to them. “Average” people look at them and admire them. People rarely admire people for their impressive work-life balance, or their ability to be decent at a long list of things. Instead we look for greatness in specific skills.

When I was in Peru, we met Victor, who ran The Refuge of Hope. Victor was one of those men that risked his career, his money — everything, on a passion he had to create an organization to support people with disabilities. That was a risky things, that took significant initiative. Coming back from Peru, everyone on my team was impressed with Victor. And yet, I continue to see myself struggle to find these areas of singular focus.

Todd Phillips talked about this concept on 21 Nov 2010.

Point 2: While we admire this trait, most people shy away from the boldness required to executive it — instead we avoid risk by becoming “well rounded”

It would seem intuitive that after admiring this singular focus, we would try to emulate it, but instead we try to live safe lives, avoiding the risks inherent in chasing greatness. That initiative to change is what self-help books, the new concepts of lifestyle design, Seth Godin’s The Dip, the idea of New Years’ Resolutions, and loads of other concepts revolve around. We want something, but we’re not willing to make a change. It’s hard, or it’s not “smart”, etc.

“Boys, you must strive to find your own voice. Because the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all. Thoreau said, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Don’t be resigned to that. Break out!”

- John Keating in Dead Poets Society

Point 3: To live this great life, we must live a life with decisiveness and a willingness to accept risk

I see so many data points in my life that connect to these theme. In reading Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Life, he hammers the point home of how so many people are wasting their lives. I watch movies like Dead Poets Society, and I am inspired by the simple, powerful message that Keating pulls out of great literature. I think of events like my uncle telling me that my indecisiveness in buying a camera changed my hobby from photography into camera shopping. All these points direct me back to the simple concept that I get one life to live and I don’t want to waste it. I don’t want to get to the end of my life and remember all the empty entertainment I enjoyed (watching sitcom after sitcom). I don’t want to get to the end of my life and reflect on the great 401k I created. I don’t want to continually defer life, thinking I’ll do things once life gets a little less busy — this is life right now, and I don’t want to let it pass me by.

I want to get to end of my life and realize I’ve done great things. I want to make an impact on people’s lives, make this world better, and magnify God’s name.

“They’re not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they’re destined for great things, just like many of you, their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? – - Carpe – - hear it? – - Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.”- John Keating, Dead Poets Society

Simplified Computing: Cars vs. Trucks

mikehking — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 03:43:19 +0000

Back in June of this year, Steve Jobs made a comment about the iPad and tablet computers and his vision of computing:

“PCs are going to be like trucks. Less people will need them… This transformation is going to make some people uneasy. The PC has taken us a long way.”

Cloud computing and web applications have transformed the computing experience to an almost entirely browser-based experience (email, web surfing, web applications, etc.). Based on that, current operating systems are overly complex for most users. I love the idea of a simpler OS, like iOS, for most users (like my parents) and reserving the complexity of current OS’s for advanced users (e.g. software developers, graphic artists, system administrators). Just like the cars and trucks simile, most people drive cars though there are uses for trucks — so while complex OS’s won’t go away, but they will become much less common (reminiscent of the Pareto principle).

Think how much easier troubleshooting computers will be with simpler OS’s, as opposed to the complexity inherent in OS’s like OS X and Windows 7. I look forward to laptops and tablets with simpler OS’s in the near future (because troubleshooting them for friends and family will involve much simpler processes, like asking them to press the only button on the front to go back to the menu (instead of remotely connecting to try to correct anti-virus software, drivers, or other issues).

While the closed nature of iOS is often frustrating, the approach does keep the system simpler than the fragmented environment that Android is becoming with multiple app stores (e.g. Verizon, Nook).

2010 WWP Run

mikehking — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 22:12:02 +0000

Last weekend my company co-sponsored the 4th annual Run for Wounded Warriors at Burke Lake Park. The event raised over $20,000 for Wounded Warrior Project, a great cause that supports wounded Veterans. The weather was great (much warmer than last year).

I’m glad so people came out to enjoy the fall weather and contribute to this noble cause.

You can see more pictures from the event here:

WWP Run Photos

Tools to build Web Apps without Coding

mikehking — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 02:27:39 +0000

I’m not even sure what you call it, but I’d like to find a open source or hosted (software as a service) service solution to allow me to create simple web applications, primarily related to simple database and workflow systems. There seem to be several services in this space, with a variety of positions in the market.

I’m excited to tinker with these and see what I can find that works well — any suggestions?

2010 Run for Wounded Warriors

mikehking — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 15:11:49 +0000

My company is co-sponsoring the 4th annual Run for Wounded Warriors on 3 Oct 2010 at Burke Lake Park in Fairfax Station, VA. Come out for a beautiful 4.7 miles run around Burke Lake, and support this great cause. Everybody will get a t-shirt and some great food on what I’m sure will be a beautiful Sunday morning.

Event Date/Time: Sunday, October 03, 2010, Check-in: 7:00 A.M., Run Starts: 8:00 A.M.
Event Location: Burke Lake Park, 7315 Ox Road, Fairfax Station, VA 22039
Registration: Online registration: $35, Race-day walk-up registration: $40
Get more information about the run at http://halfaker.com/news/wwp_run10.html