IMX Redesign, Rev 3

The study said that one of the reasons workers are so grumpy is because managers wrongly interpret why employees are so disgruntled. Some of the major reasons that workers cite for their unhappiness are: amount of workload, a lack of a chance for professional development, boring job tasks and insufficient recognition.

Meanwhile, managers mistakenly believe that employees' feelings about management and the future of the company were more important to job satisfaction than workers' personal goals. In fact, the opposite is true. The study also found that managers underestimate the importance of many factors contributing to workplace satisfaction, including career development opportunities, rewards, challenging tasks, and a sense of self-confidence.

When management hands down edicts that directly contradict the business model of the company and are obviously tailored to self preservation, at the expense of doing good work, I get pissed.

It's institutionalized. Companies create systems where by people get promoted based on how many people they manage, or by being connected to the right projects at the right time. That creates a system whereby individuals seek out the situations that will benefit them the best (we are after all, human) at the expense of others. Human nature gets leveraged by corporate ignorance of the real work being done by the coal shovelers, and this creates fear and loathing when you have no control over the process. The article cited mentions "self-confidence" as a factor, but for me, it's career control. I want to feel like the work I am doing is better preparing me for what is next in my career.

A Monkey in a Ball.
[ February 07, 2003 | Permalink | 5 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

AiAi Super Monkey Ball 2 for the Gamecube is one of the better games I've played recently, and most of that is due to the fact that it involves monkeys. Also, the controls in the game are perfect, easy to learn, and tough to master, making it a classic game. The cross marketing [see inset picture] is brilliant, even if the price was cut by 75%, and someone else bought the game figure and gave to me. She kept MiMi though. Heh.

Nintendo understands franchises. Sega does to, and so should all of you bloggers out there. There are too many blogs out there with the same basic UI that does nothing to differentiate the site in my mind. And with the volume of blog content pouring forth, differentiation is more important than ever. But don't take my word for it, I'm just very sensitive to branding and logos (being an Apple, Nikon and Nintendo fetishist).

Aggregation post processing.
[ February 07, 2003 | Permalink | 5 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

Does this solution solve this problem? Probably not, but it's fun to think of the possibilities surrounding NetNewsWire and the platform it's built on, OSX. It certainly seems that RSS 2.0, and insertion of comment elements will create a different (better?) way of surfing the blogosphere.

At times like this, I really wish I was a good Perl coder and AppleScript guru.

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Career Control is the key. [ February 07, 2003 \| Permalink \| 5 Comments \| 0 TrackBack \| TB URL ] C\|Net reports on worker dissatisfaction... The study said that one of the reasons workers are so grumpy is because managers wrongly interpret why employees are so disgruntled. Some of the major reasons that workers cite for their unhappiness are: amount of workload, a lack of a chance for professional development, boring job tasks and insufficient recognition. Meanwhile, managers mistakenly believe that employees' feelings about management and the future of the company were more important to job satisfaction than workers' personal goals. In fact, the opposite is true. The study also found that managers underestimate the importance of many factors contributing to workplace satisfaction, including career development opportunities, rewards, challenging tasks, and a sense of self-confidence. When management hands down edicts that directly contradict the business model of the company and are obviously tailored to self preservation, at the expense of doing good work, I get pissed. It's institutionalized. Companies create systems where by people get promoted based on how many people they manage, or by being connected to the right projects at the right time. That creates a system whereby individuals seek out the situations that will benefit them the best (we are after all, human) at the expense of others. Human nature gets leveraged by corporate ignorance of the real work being done by the coal shovelers, and this creates fear and loathing when you have no control over the process. The article cited mentions "self-confidence" as a factor, but for me, it's career control. I want to feel like the work I am doing is better preparing me for what is next in my career. A Monkey in a Ball. [ February 07, 2003 \| Permalink \| 5 Comments \| 0 TrackBack \| TB URL ] Super Monkey Ball 2 for the Gamecube is one of the better games I've played recently, and most of that is due to the fact that it involves monkeys. Also, the controls in the game are perfect, easy to learn, and tough to master, making it a classic game. The cross marketing [see inset picture] is brilliant, even if the price was cut by 75%, and someone else bought the game figure and gave to me. She kept MiMi though. Heh. Nintendo understands franchises. Sega does to, and so should all of you bloggers out there. There are too many blogs out there with the same basic UI that does nothing to differentiate the site in my mind. And with the volume of blog content pouring forth, differentiation is more important than ever. But don't take my word for it, I'm just very sensitive to branding and logos (being an Apple, Nikon and Nintendo fetishist). Aggregation post processing. [ February 07, 2003 \| Permalink \| 5 Comments \| 0 TrackBack \| TB URL ] Does this solution solve this problem? Probably not, but it's fun to think of the possibilities surrounding NetNewsWire and the platform it's built on, OSX. It certainly seems that RSS 2.0, and insertion of comment elements will create a different (better?) way of surfing the blogosphere. At times like this, I really wish I was a good Perl coder and AppleScript guru.