Monthly Archives: January 2013

An ideal tech company structure?

You have to have checks and balances, responsibilities and focus… I’ve worked in a number of tech companies in the last 32 years and I’ve noticed similarities and differences. Some of the differences are just that, differences but others actually … Continue reading

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Being a manager in a tech company

There have been thousands of books written on this topic, but oddly enough I don’t think very many managers read them. I have been lucky enough to avoid poor management for the most part. The companies that I have worked … Continue reading

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Is competition good?

In some of the companies where I have worked, I was constantly reminded that the competition would have spies in the form of marketing people. If I went to a trade show or customer site I had to be careful … Continue reading

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Traffic control and Linux

Every version of Linux ships with a process called “tc” that is short for “Traffic Control”. This process works with the Linux kernel to determine how data packets will be placed onto the local network. It contains queuing systems and … Continue reading

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Organic growth vs the brass ring approach

Most people know that there was a tech bubble and that it burst. People in the industry have actually marked and named the periods before and after the bubble as pre/post bubble. Pre-bubble all a person needed was a bit … Continue reading

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Are things just hard?

My motto in life is that if you are doing something and it is hard, then you are doing it wrong. I originally started thinking this way when I was figuring out guitar riffs. I would listen to the riff, … Continue reading

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What is business development?

In many of the tech companies there are individuals with “Business Development” in their title. The curious thing about the label is that the job is not very well defined. I would have to say that business development is like … Continue reading

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In a tech company, what is a product manager?

Product management is different things to different people. The position is key to the success or failure of a technology company but that said, the position is rarely defined the same way. One of the more successful companies that I … Continue reading

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What I learned on my New Years break…

Skype is everywhere and everyone knows how to use it. What does this mean? When I was young, my family and I would pile into the car on boxing day and drive from one relative’s house to the other. I … Continue reading

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