Status-Q

Ever feel the need for a new font or two? I’ve just discovered Abstract Fonts – a wonderful resource. How come I didn’t know about this before?

From John’s Observer column:

I can look at someone’s PC and generally infer from the pattern of folders and files on the disk when they first started using computers. The clue is that older users tend to have orderly filing habits. They also tend to cull old or temporary files, and are more wary of accepting large downloads. Why? Because when they first started using computers, disk space was scarce (and therefore expensive and precious); the same applied to connection bandwidth.

When I started at the Olivetti Research Lab back in 1996, the topic of ‘how many hours people actually worked’ came up in conversation one day.

“Here”, I was told, “you aren’t judged by the number of hours you work. You’re judged by what you produce.”

It was a very good philosophy, and I’ve tried to adopt it in more recent years with people who have worked for me. The hours were flexible, and the number of hours were also flexible. (The unspoken, but understood, corollary was that simply turning up at your desk each day for a certain amount of time wasn’t enough. You had to be productive, and people who weren’t would sometimes be encouraged to pursue their careers elsewhere.)

That was 10 years ago, and it’s much more common now. It’s a bit surprising, though, to see a company like Best Buy wholeheartedly endorsing this approach, as described in this BusinessWeek article. Excerpt:

The endeavor, called ROWE, for “results-only work environment,” seeks to demolish decades-old business dogma that equates physical presence with productivity. The goal at Best Buy is to judge performance on output instead of hours….

Since the program’s implementation, average voluntary turnover has fallen drastically…

Meanwhile, Best Buy notes that productivity is up an average 35% in departments that have switched to ROWE.

Thanks to Claes-Frederik for the link.

Tom Coates points out that we’re getting pretty close to two US dollars to the pound again. Better buy Christmas presents from Amazon.com rather than from Amazon.co.uk….

This is a great idea… readers in England please help out…

Postcodes are very handy things, for a whole variety of reasons. The databases which map them onto geographical coordinates are expensive, though – no use for those trying to put together something as a hobby or on a limited budget. Been there, done that.

So this site is trying to build the database as a community project, and they’re doing rather well. Give them a hand – it won’t take a minute. You just find a place a place you know on the map, click on it and enter the postcode – that’s it.

Of course, in this country, map data is even more expensive than postcode data, so they’re using out-of-copyright maps from the 1940s, which adds a certain charm…

Thanks to Tom Coates for the link