Turing’d:

We have this long list of tasks and occupations that we humans believe only humans can do. Used to be things like using tools, language, painting, playing chess. Now, one by one they get Turing’d. A computer beats them. Does it better.

So far we’ve can check off arithmetic, spelling, flying planes, playing chess, wiring chips, scheduling  tasks, welding, etc. All have been Turing’d.

[Via: The Technium]

At the end, Kevin wonders to the audience what else has been Turing’d (i.e. given over to computers because they are better than we are). I’d like to add Marketing to the list of fields and disciplines that have been Turing’d.

Most of us in the online marketing sphere are well past the idea of marketing on instinct. The medium lends itself quite handily to automation and marketing to algorithms.

The direct marketing world is slowly giving itself over to the same idea. Not that they haven’t been using computers and models for years. In fact, direct marketers are some of the most disciplined adherents to deep testing methods that tweak and adjust the smallest minutiae.

Still, this isn’t quite the same thing as giving it over to the computer entirely. To build models that run without human intervention and sort the massive data sets into personalized (and quantified) offers that are proven to be more effective.

It’s coming, folks. Actually, the best companies are already doing it.

The Ultimate Unit Test Failure:

But when it comes time to marshal the solution to the problems, we find ourselves slamming into this kind of Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man of software development.

[Via: Coding Horror]

Are you the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man of your dev team? Make sure to check out the recommended title too: Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think.

You can find out more about Steve Krug on his website – sensible.com [natch].

Here’s a quote from the book:

It’s always interesting to watch Web designers and developers observe their first usability test. The first time they see a user click on something completely inappropriate, they’re surprised. (For instance, when the user ignores a nice big fat “Software” button in the navigation bar, saying something like, “Well, I’m looking for software, so I guess I’d click here on ‘Cheap Stuff’ because cheap is always good.”) The user may even find what he’s looking for eventually, but by then the people watching don’t know whether to be happy or not.

The second time it happens, they’re yelling “Just click on ‘Software’!” The third time, you can see them thinking: “Why are we even bothering?”

Why?

Here’s something for you to think about…

In 10 Years, Marketing Will Be Taught In Engineering School:

Technology is removing all friction from the marketplace. Marketing will really be about figuring out how to most quickly and effectively tap the feelings of the market for the benefit of the product. This will go from a process that currently takes months or years, to one that happens in hours and days. All messaging and product feature sets will be rapidly optimized using the next generation of marketing techniques and technologies.

[Via: Why does everything suck?]

I have no doubt that Hank Williams is right.

Though heavy on the tech side of things, I’ve floated around between IT and Marketing for most of my career. However, it’s been awhile since so many books about marketing to algorithms have hit the shelves. Search is obviously the big reason and that makes me happy. I’m happy because search actually works and is quantifiable as opposed to the personalization craze circa 1998-2001.

The change is here and it is real.

From the streets of Zürich…

Until you see a Smart in person, you really can’t grasp how tiny it really is, especially when you see it parked on the street next to regular cars. SUVs were far and few in between when I was in Europe last. The majority of cars were about the size of today’s Honda civic (or my own 97 Accord). And even then, the Smart looked like a toy!

I’m sure there is something about the efficiency of a car like the Smart, so small and tidy, that makes it appeal to programmers. I really can’t explain my own obsession with this little car beyond that idea of compact necessity. I had a similar yen for the Mini, but it couldn’t quite compete with the plucky spirit of the Smart. (though the Mini is a really fun car to drive)

According to the Smart USA site, you can reserve a Smart for just $99. MSRP on the base model is just $11.5K and for $2K more you can upgrade to the “Passion” model which gives you a bit more doodads.

So when hiring someone into my team, I make sure everyone gets a chance to interview or speak with the candidate. I take the opinions of team members very seriously. After all, they will be counting on this person to take control of their role and deliver.

Hiring good people isn’t difficult when you realize the impact of the wrong hire. Rather, when your goal is building a strong team, you’ll find that the more work you put into the hiring process the better things will turn out in the long run.

Jeff Attwood hits the nail on the head…

No Matter What They Tell You, It’s a People Problem:

It may sound trivial to focus on the people you work with over more tangible things like, say, the actual work, or the particular technology you’re using to do that work. But it isn’t. The people you choose to work with are the most accurate predictor of job satisfaction I’ve ever found. And job satisfaction, based on my work experience to date, correlates perfectly with success. I have never seen a happy, healthy, gelled, socially functional software development team fail. It’s a shame such teams are so rare.

[Via: Coding Horror]

That said, I thought his additional commentary at the end was particularly insightful (see below)…

Billy Martin’s Technique for Managing his Manager:

Someone suggested that the ability to quit your job is a luxury. I don’t like to use that word, because it suggests that the job itself is a luxury. It is possible that the pay cheque is a luxury, but for people who are engaged in their careers, the job is a necessity because their self-actualization depends on doing a good job. When you put it that way, the question becomes whether people have the luxury of remaining in a job where they don’t feel good about themselves and what they do.

[Via: raganwald]

The 3 Levels of Programmers: Good, Lazy, and Bad:

most of us will never join the upper echelon of programmers who’ve built widely used and successful toolkits. I’m pretty sure I never will, as I am lazy by nature. I’m always reaching for open-source tools to accomplish my projects.

[Via: Guy Davis]

For a full list of features, check out Marc-André’s blog, but I really dig hearing about what he learned in the process of using the tool himself:

I learned new tricks, refactored some poor and ugly code in my apps and shared what I knew at the same time. It’s the best learning tool ever, but mostly it’s the best place to brag about your skills and have fun while doing what we love: coding!

I just found this wonderful little post from Eric Sink about managing the little quirks that happen in business and muses on the idea that exception handling might be the answer…

Exception Handling in Running a Business:

I think one of the toughest parts of running a business is dealing with all the exceptions.  These things never get much attention at the genesis of a company.  We write our business plan and we try to figure out how we’re going to handle everything from customer issues to staffing issues to bugs to parking.  But then life hands us a diversity of circumstances we never expected.

[Via: Eric.Weblog()]

Now, I have a people of all stripes on my team: marketing, merchandising, creative, content, analysis, and of course tech. Yet, as my background is tech, I tend to handle most of what I do as if I were just running a rather eccentric software group. This probably drives people a little batty at times, but in general it’s fun and we’re highly productive.

So, how do you run a business with exception handling?

When making a decision, try to determine the following:

• Can the effects be contained?
• Can the decision be reversed?
• What is the potential impact of the situation? (large/small)

Most people would put the impact at the top of the list. I have it as #3 because if you can contain the risk and/or reverse it, you might be in a good spot to go after the “big game”.

In E-Commerce, you can usually say YES to #1 and #2 which automatically means that you’ve lessened the risk for #3. This is the heart of multivariate testing and segmentation. Try a few little things, measure the impact, roll it out to the larger audience.

But as Eric points out, managing people can also give you opportunities for exception handling. Here is one of his examples:

One of your staff needs to have surgery but they’ve used up all their leave days.

This might easily be “one of your staff would like to work at home but your company has a policy against that” or something similar. Again, I usually fall back on the three questions above and find that it’s easy to contain a situation like this and that a one-off decision of this nature can be viewed as a “test” and therefore you can always reverse yourself after the fact.

I realize this all sounds good in theory. In reality, explaining exceptions to people can be difficult because they often look like arbitrary decisions. The only advice I have here is try to be consistent and clear, make sure that people understand your thought process (where you can obviously – confidentiality and all that).

Frameworks Round-Up: When To Use, How To Choose?:

Software frameworks provide developers with powerful tools to develop more flexible and less error-prone applications in a more effective way. Software frameworks often help expedite the development process by providing necessary functionality “out of the box”. Such things include user/role management, data access, caching, and much more. These frameworks aid in helping you focus on the more important details of design and even project management by alleviating the need to reinvent the wheel for common development needs.

[Thanks!: Smashing Magazine]