Who knew auto-fill could be so dangerous?

You start entering a name or email address in the “to” field, and auto-fill completes the rest for you. But in your haste, before you even check if the correct “Spock” is chosen from the auto-fill list, you’ve tabbed down to the subject line and are on your way to sending the email.

Shortly thereafter, Dr. Spock the child-rearing guru is calling to ask why you sent him blueprints for a starship, and you sheepishly have to explain that those files were meant for a Vulcan’s eyes only.

Thankfully, I am not in the habit of sending love letters or lewd jokes via email, or I might be hiding in the server room pretending I didn’t exist. Still, auto-fill is a hazard for those who must regularly send potentially sensitive materials. It behooves us all to make sure we are actually sending our email to the intended recipient.

On the other hand, predictive text software on mobile phones now rewards those who leave an incorrect word unchanged. Presumably out of laziness, texters intentionally don’t correct mis-predicted words. Yes, suddenly it’s cool to get your mords wixed up.

Predictive Text Gives Birth to “Textonyms”

Here’s an example: You mean to write “home,” so you punch the corresponding numbers “4663″ on your cell. The predictive text feature thinks you meant “good,” but you leave it as is and continue your message. According to some sources, avid texters will still know exactly what you mean. They’re called textonyms.

I’m not sure I quite believe the apparent popularity of these textonyms. This article cites the use of the word “carnage” when the word “barmaid” was intended. I mean, really — who uses the term “barmaid” while texting? But who knows, maybe there are merely some very poetic texters out there.

Technology has really spoiled us.

I recently did a round of interviews on behalf of a client who is looking to take on signifcant web projects in 2008. It was different than the interviews we do at ArcStone - we’re large enough to have relatively fixed roles in the programming / development department (if not for the operational / sales side - but that’s another post). Our client needed someone who could not only do the web development, but also help them take their idea from 50,000 foot concept to specificaitons that non-technical staff could understand.

We posted for the job on Craigslist and Careerbuilder and narrowed it done to four candidates. The experience underscored for me how important the analytical aspect of web development is. I cut two of the interviews short with this question, “If we came to you with a high level outline for a web application, what would your next step be?”

There are a lot of correct answers - write user stories, refine the specifications with a detailed project plan, do wireframes, create work flow diagrams, etc. - but two of these “experienced” candidates totally blew the answers, hemming and hawing. Aye carumba - what are they teaching the kids these days?

When choosing a web developer, find out what their approach is when they plan a project. Make sure it will work for your organization and hold them to it - if they don’t do the planning, kill the project - you will be happier and more successful with someone else.

Birth is a messy operation. The creative process is messy. A software application that is gonna scale better not be messy.

Giving birth to a new software application puts you in the very zen-like place of being both messy / not messy.

Does anyone hear the sound of one hand clapping?

ArcStone is in the final pangs of the Wonderfile birth process. We have our first paying Wonderfile customers - yeah! We have a number of consulting projects that leverage Wonderfile’s SOA (Service Oriented Architecture - in plain English: using web services to access Wonderfile functionality from any web site). And we find ourselves in the unique position of having developed a really useful tool - a fantastic, shiny Swiss army knife for tagging and file management.

We love it, we understand it - the tool works for us - but we’re finding that those who jump into Wonderfile just don’t get it.

I have come to realize, that most of our clients aren’t ready for Wonderfile as a general tool. They just don’t have the time or inclination to fully grok it - there’s no way there gonna buy it.

I know that our customers (and people in general) will buy a solution to a specific problem. People will visit Google and look for solutions to ease their pain / scratch that itch.

What is more likely to happen? Xavier has to manage leases for his company - keeping track of all the docs, expirations, etc. He goes to Google - does he search on “file management keyword search tagging reminders” or “lease management systems”? My money is on “lease management systems” - he has an itch that needs scratching in specific terms, not general. The more specific we can be with Wonderfile driven apps and Wonderfile marketing - the more successful we’ll be.

That’s our charter and the next round of work for us - tailoring Wonderfile and marketing it to solve specific problems in specific markets.

The product development folks call this “development to commercialization” - I call it ArcStone’s biggest marketing challenge for 2008.

Wonderfile driven apps - coming soon to a web site near you.

I take comfort in the fact that even sites like Digg have occasional issues. It reminds me that everyone is fallible, and puts my mistakes into perspective. Maybe I have a broken link on my site, but hey, at least my site isn’t Digg.

If you act quickly you too can enjoy this once in a lifetime opportunity. Go to Digg, click the upcoming button, click the “cloud view” link, then click the “switch to story view” link.

I had the pleasure of hearing a talk by Jillian Perez recently. The subject was “thinking wrong”, a thought process that forces the mind out of cookie-cutter style problem solving and unlocks your creative potential.

Surprising, Innovative, And Down Right Brilliant Solutions
Although Jillian discussed thinking wrong mostly in the terms of graphic design, the techniques can be applied to many situations. Most projects tackled at work or home will require a problem solving thought process. When this process is gone about the “wrong” way, it can yield surprising, innovative, and down right brilliant solutions.

Keep reading for more insight on thinking wrong and my personal take on thinking wrong techniques.

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