Local software / tech pioneer and serial entrepreneur Dan Grigsby makes a compelling case about the depth and value of Minnesota’s contribution to the software industry. According to Dan, Minnesota has a quietly innovative and expert software development work force - with major players opening development offices here like Microsoft, Oracle, etc. Dan states that Minnesotans can get the work done for about half of what it costs on the coasts (I don’t know if it’s half, but I’d agree that there is probably a steep discount).

With the weaker dollar (and even without) does it make sense for coastal businesses to outsource software development to the Midwest? Is Minnesota ready to capitalize on this movement? Are we ready to support and assist software entrepreneurs and truly foster the software industry in MN?

No, we’re not. I have not been impressed with local associations or any state agency sponsored effort to promote our software industry.

If you look closely at where future innovation and good jobs will be had in the 21st century - you’ve got to bet on the Internet and software. Yet Minnesota does not have an organization dedicated soley to moving software ahead. This has got to change.

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Wonderfile works very much like your brain when it comes to retrieving information. Most people think – “Ahh let’s see, I need to find that file - I was working with Charlie on the Frederickson project, it was last summer, and we were using an Excel spreadsheet.” Most people don’t think in terms of a file location in some obscure path on their hard drive.

So I’ve learned the trick to making Wonderfile work well is to organize your libraries like you think. Neuroscience has shown us that the neocortex organizes around a seven level hierarchy. Certain brain areas then specialize for processing smaller and smaller chunks of the same kinds of information and store them in those areas for later retrieval.

Wonderfile is built around a three level hierarchy. With libraries set-up for certain areas in your life where the information will not typically overlap – the same kinds of information, like a library for your music, your designs, your research. Within that library you set-up categories, and then tags.

We figure if your brain needs seven levels – three levels ought to be enough to handle your files.

Ever since I got my iPhone, I’ve been drawn more frequently to YouTube, that glorious time suck. I suppose it’s because YouTube is now even easier for me to abuse than ever before, but the fact remains. I saw an interesting one over the weekend, the “hipster PDA” which is an organizational tool consisting of note cards, a pencil, and an alligator clip. The “hipster PDA shuffle” is the same, but with an iPod shuffle instead of the alligator clip (funny, right?)

Also over this last weekend I had a programming spurt of unprecedented effectiveness and productivity. All this, plus the normal course of my reading has led me think a lot harder about why I work the way I do, which is to say, why do I have such great and productive 60 hour spurts which last a few days and then return to normal efficiency? Or more importantly, how do I change my ways so my output doesn’t drop but the schedule is more predictable?

I’d like to think that I started to answer this question for myself over the weekend. See, my biggest problem is that when I hit a brick wall in the course of writing code, invariably I end up watching YouTube for three hours (if I’m good at programming I’m much better at watching YouTube). So this weekend, when the urge to watch the ‘tube hit, I managed to drag myself out of my chair and into the conference room, away from any computer, and refocus on planning and architecture. It worked amazingly. I did about two weeks worth of work in three days.
Anyways, working at the office with other people, I can’t always go to the conference room or pace the floor with my music blasting, so I’m going to need to find a more social method of working. Ideas?

Oh, by the way, I wrote this post from my iPhone.

So you’ve bought the iPhone. Now you have to inform everyone your number has changed.

Or do you?

Not if you have a Grand Central phone number. The new web-based service will allow you to sign up for one number that you keep for life. It’s a pretty sweet service and as of this writing, it’s free, unless you have a gajillion phone numbers to unite. Read the rest of this entry »

Having a cluttered desktop doesn’t just look unattractive, it seriously hampers your productivity. It always starts the same way: You receive an important email attachment and you think, “Hey, I’ll put this on my desktop so I can find it easily” or “I need to use this file right away–I will drop it on my desktop and file it away later.”

Twenty attachments, downloads, and new files later, your desktop is like a pig on roller skates: unwieldy and bloated. But don’t fear gentle readers, I have five tips to help you reclaim this valuable real estate and impress anyone who happens to glance at your screen.

Tip #1 - Pick A Nice Desktop Background
If you have a great image on your desktop, one that you actually want to look at, it provides a bit of subtle, subconscious motivation not to cover it up with file icons.
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After a considerable amount of thinking and experimentation, I have reached a powerful conclusion. Gone are the days of tracking my life in various applications spread across various medium–the tool I have settled on is the conventional legal pad. It’s about the size of my laptop and much thinner, so it can ride with it in the bag, it needs no power, I don’t look like a loser using it on the bus, and in manageable doses, it’s easy enough to search. The last time I tried this, I imposed rules about how to take notes, schedule tasks, and recall information, even going so far as to limit certain pen colors to certain functions. This time, anything goes, and it’s working great.

My aunt, an attorney in Nashville, keeps a paper calendar and task list after similar electronic organizational woes. She does an amusing pantomime of the lawyers that use PDAs who sit in court trying to find a date that will work for the next hearing.