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Dan Pink at Willow Leadership Summit 2010

Sat, 7 Aug 2010 15:32:41 -0500

Notes from WIllow Leadership Summit 2010 on Friday, August 6, 2010.

Dan Pink, author
Current book is Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us

Human motivation
we have a biological drive

Audience interaction:
Who is hungry?
Found audience member.
Found a volunteer to deliver a Power Bar:
If you deliver the bar, you get $10
Illustrated a biological drive and a “carrot-stick” reward drive.

We also have reward and punishment drive.

Third drive
We do things because they are meaningful

If this is not a motivation, what are you doing here?

This summit isn't about biological or reward, it's about meaning.

50 years of science on motivation
- 2-dimensional view in organizations
- Organizations attempt to suppress biological while increasing reward drives; it doesn’t work!

MIT reward study
- If job is mechanical skill, higher pay for higher reward worked.
- When job requires even some small amount of complexity, it doesn't work.

“Complicated, complex, conceptual, creative work.”

This is a “true fact.”
- Washington, DC term.

We are on a fundamentally wrong path.

Red Gate software example
- Typical compensation - commission
- Sales people gamed the system. The company and salespeople kept getting more and more complex
- CEO said, let's stop paying commission
- Idea was to raise salary and give profit sharing at end of year
- Leader asked 2 managers, each assumed the other wouldn't go for it

We have false assumptions...
- Humans are machines, semi sophisticated robots. It's not true
- Humans are blobs. "if I don't use carrots and sticks, they do nothing."
- Get rid of those 2 assumptions

Look at kids...
Kids are not passive and inert.

“Active and engaged” is “default setting” for humans.

3 key motivators
AMP
Autonomy. Mastery. Purpose.

Autonomy

Management
- Hamel. Management is a technology from the 1850s
- Management is a technology designed for compliance
- Autonomy for non-profits is great, especially when you don't have many carrots to give out

Autonomy over
Time. Team. Task.

Atlassian
- “FedEx days”
- You need to deliver something overnight. 1 day per year
- They have changed it to 20% time

Google does it now. Just about all the good ideas have come from 20% time
- what happens in 80%???
- Richard Ryan is current guru
- Scaffolding
- Not off/on, it's a dimmer

Try some level of 20% time via scaffolding

Mastery

Example. Playing the bassoon on the weekend
- Why would someone do it?
- Because it's fun
- Harvard study. Chart every day 1000s of people over time
- "Making progress" are times when people felt most motivated
- Making progress is inherently rewarding

Flow
We are most likely to have flow at work than in leisure

In order to achieve mastery, you need feedback.
- Annual performance review is not enough.
- Performance reviews are American Kabuki theatre
- We need at least personal monthly assessments

Purpose

When I look around, a page is turning.
Profit motives are a good thing, but not the only thing.
The purpose motive is rising.

When profits become unmoored from purpose, bad things happen.
- “let's raise by 4%”
- ...not very motivating

Don't believe that non-profits/education should work like businesses. Most businesses are not run very well.

Exercise:
Listen for pronouns: do leaders say “we” or “they” when talking about their organization?
- “We” organizations are high performing.
- “They” organizations are not

Can I change my organization today? Not really...
Can I change what I'm doing today? Yes.

Everything begins with a great conversation...

Terri Kelly at Willow Leadership Summit 2010

Sat, 7 Aug 2010 15:02:14 -0500

Notes from WIllow Leadership Summit 2010 on Friday, August 6, 2010.

Terri Kelly, CEO
WL Gore & Associates
Makers of GORE-TEX, a waterproof breathable fabric with 1000+ uses
Mother of 4 ages 5-14

Foundation and value more important than business model.

Organization os characterized by collaboration, task forces, teams, sense of urgency; entire company built around idea of small teams, cross functions, ownership.

What's different about Gore?
- Peer-based organization.
- Everyone’s job is to make everyone else successful.
- People more vested due to shared success and ownership.

On-demand hierarchy
- Decisions are made based on who has best info and knowledge
- Fixed hierarchies don’t get the best of the organization

Ladder vs lattice
- We are all connected by series of nodes
- Like structure of our materials

Everyone should be able to go right to source

We don't tell people what to do. They find and go to their own projects.
- Leaders don't tell people what to do necessarily
- Leaders work via influence

Not just leaders with passion and ownership, entire organization has it.

How do you get alignment?

Common foundation of values and beliefs
- belief in individual
- power of small teams
- we are all in the same boat. We do much more as a group
- we take a long-term view

Are we driving innovation?

I have an idea. How does my idea get money?

Job 1 is to convince others:
- How much passion do they have about their idea?
- Can you get others to believe in your idea?
- Peer review process. Allows peers to show success factors
- Teams look at process for impact
- People get rewarded via peer evaluation. Who is contributing most?

Everyone wants to be ranked high by their peers; rankings get paid accordingly.
- This prevents issue of people doing what they can do to make more money vs what they need to be doing for organization
- More coaches than leaders and bosses.

There is a also a role of personal sponsor. They help associate grow and develop in organization. Not the boss. It's so important that they don't want to leave it to their leader alone.

Sponsor accelerates company growth.

Size of facilities:
- They don't like plants to go over 200-250
- They goal is to divide and multiply, not grow into 1 huge place
- Too hard to build relationships of 1000+
- About 200 is best number
- Diminishing returns in collaboration with over 100-150

Fundamental beliefs are transferrable, but culture can be adapted. This is how it scales.

How do you protect culture at Gore?
- Hiring process
- Behavioral interviewing
- Leadership sets tome for values
- Everyone watches the leadership

Waterline principle (boating metaphor)
- Bill Gore hated manuals, but knew he needed to put things in place
- Never drill holes below the waterline because it could sink the ship. Do almost anything you want above the waterline
- Thus, every associate owns the enterprise

What makes a leader?
- They are only a leader if people want to follow them
- They earn respect every day
- They work for org, not a superior
- They need to gain followership
- Not seniority, popularity, title
- They are acknowledged by peers

Leaders spend a long time explaining selves and ideas, rationale. This is not wasted time.

So what does CEO do?
- Stay out of the way
- Gore’s cultural vales stay the same, but they adapt to today's world.
- Provide broad framework for entire organization.

In a survey, over 50% of associates believe they are a leader.

Associates, not employees

Everyone develops as they are being developed.

Billy Elliot, Take 4

Tue, 3 Aug 2010 23:55:21 -0500

So far I’ve seen three of the four Chicago Billy Elliots (They are Tommy Batchelor, Giuseppe Bausilio, Cesar Corrales, John Peter Viernes. I’ve seen J.P., Cesar, and Tommy; I’ve not seen Giuseppe). As of tonight’s performance, Tommy Batchelor has moved back to the top of my list, followed very closely by J.P. They are all excellent, but Tommy edged out J.P. with a particularly good vocal and dance performance tonight.

I’ll update again as soon as I see Giuseppe. For those who may be wondering, there is no established pattern or pre-announcement as to which Billy will be performing on any given show. Even the Billys will not tell when you ask them outside the stage door. They consider this “personal information,” a smart precaution on their part.

Shrek the Musical Review

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 20:13:32 -0500

Last night I saw the first national touring production of Shrek the Musical. The tour began in Chicago last week. Although I have only seen the first movie once, and a long time ago, what I remembered seemed to follow the plot of that film. As I've said many times before, I'm always in favor of any idea to get people to the theatre. This seemed like a good idea...a successful animated movie franchise brought to life in a musical theatre format. In general I was pleasantly surprised by this production.

The audience was full of families with kids of all ages, something I'd not seen in a while at the theatre. The show was quite geared to the family set with fairly tame language, several jokes involving flatulence and burping, memorable songs, very colorful characters (literally and figuratively), and a solid "be yourself" moral.

The characters were all very strong. My personal favorite was Fiona, the princess; the song I enjoyed most was the trio of the three Fionas at different ages. The trio was part of a particularly creative and well-written scene showing Fiona age from 7 to 27 while locked in her tower. She appears at three different ages and all three eventually sing together.

The Shrek character was a strong singer with a Scottish brogue that came and went, both when speaking and singing. Despite the fact that he was a human form of an animated ogre, his makeup, prosthetics, and fat suit were exceptionally well done. I'm not sure if it was the acting or the writing, but I remembered a bit more emotional performance in the movie.

Although sometimes a bit over the top, Donkey played the comic relief counterpoint to Shrek. He had a constant goofy smile and was full of energy. I felt somewhat sorry for the actor because his costume was very oddly shaped and he spent most of the show hopping about with front hoofs up. About halfway through I was hit with the unfortunate realization that his manner reminded me of a drag queen. That aside, the actor had a phenomenal voice and was mostly given opportunities to "belt it" gospel-style.

Another memorable stand-out was the role and character of The Dragon. The character was an enormous puppet performed by three actors in all black, one on facial expressions/mouth movement, another controlling the body midsection/wings, and one on the winding tail. The actress who voiced the part was accomplished in a Broadway/gospel style and made a "human" cameo during the post-curtain call party song.

Although the actor who played Lord Farquaad gave a respectable performance, the notable aspect of the role was that the character is four-foot tall, but played by a typical-height adult male on knee pads. No matter how talented this actor is, his mini-puppet legs will upstage him.

As an adaptation of an originally animated film, the show exceeded my expectations. There were a few in-jokes and references, but they do not go particularly deep. Overall, I'd recommend Shrek the Musical to anyone to see once. It's a very cleverly written show from both music and production standpoints that does not pretend to be anything except fun for all.

Highly Customized NIKEiD

Mon, 5 Jul 2010 13:15:49 -0500

I was introduced to NIKEiD a few years ago in Dan Pink’s book, A Whole New Mind. Pink used NIKEiD as an example of a business in the Age of Abundance where anyone can be a designer and have the ability to order a highly customized product from a myriad of choices. Ever since, I’ve been hoping to try out this service and actually order a product.

The NIKEiD site is quite fun. Choose a product, mostly shoes, and select from thousands of permutations of colors and styles and then save their designs in a virtual “locker.” I noticed several students this year wearing customized Nike shoes from this service. In the grade 5-6 building housing my office, these shoes are fairly easy to spot since they are usually exceptionally colorful.

Although shoes are not a possibility for me since Nikes are not known for wide sizes, I have still tried out many designs, including shoes of many colors. However, there are many customizable bags available, one with a laptop compartment. It’s official name is the Nike Patent iD Sport Shoulder Bag (Sport Commuter).

Rather than creating a Technicolor Dreambag, I instead used the design feature as a way to make a custom bag to match an existing product. Using the main color of metallic silver, some back accents, and a white logo color, I designed a bag that matches the coloration of Apple’s MacBook Pro line. The site lets you create a custom wallpaper featuring your design as well.

I’m expecting it in the next three weeks. I plan to review it after a few days of use.

UPDATE!

Just 3 days after I submitted, I got this email:

Hi Matt ,

We have started to build your custom product. We´ll send you an email when your order has been completed and shipped.
If you have multiple items in your order, it´s possible you will receive this email again as we may have started building some items before others.
Thank you,
--The NIKEiD Team
The email includes a picture and a repeat of the order info.

1 Bad App[le]

Fri, 2 Jul 2010 08:27:38 -0500

I just read Apple’s statement regarding signal strength bars and the iPhone 4. I have no reason to believe that the statement isn’t true...perhaps the iPhone 4 does, indeed, incorrectly calculate signal strength and display as many as 2 more bars to represent the actual signal strength.

However, I have 3 additional points to add based on my experience. I fully acknowledge that this might be unique to me.:

1. Issue 1: I was in line for the very first iPhone, upgraded to a 3G, and now own the iPhone 4. I have lived and worked in the same AT&T coverage area for the entire duration of the life of the iPhone product. Point 1: the reception of the iPhone 4G is far worse for me than the original iPhone and the iPhone 3G. I have experienced multiple (2 or more) dropped calls per day since I began using the iPhone 4 on its release date. This is in contrast to approximately 1 dropped call per week or less on either previous phone.
2. Issue 2: When I place the iPhone 4 in my hand without touching the sides, I see 1 to 5 bars (an average of 3 in most places I spend time such as my house or office). When I place the tip of my forefinger on the right antenna of the phone and the tip of my thumb on the bottom antenna, the initial number of bars drops at least 3 bars within 1 minute. In most cases, it drops to “No Service” (3 bars minus 3 bars = 0 bars). This occurs consistently no matter where I have done this test, regardless of initial signal strength. Point 2: I have observed that touching the iPhone by its metal casing drops the signal, usually resulting in “No Service” and dropped calls.
3. Issue 3: Adding Apple’s $29 “Bumper” case corrects the issue of watching the bars go down when I touch the metal part of phone. However, it has not improved reception or reduced dropped calls. I am neutral on the look of the case, but I believe it adds a negligible amount of extra protection. Point 3: Apple’s $29 Bumper case adds a very small amount of protection and changes the look and feel of the design, but does not significantly improve the phone functions of the iPhone 4.

I love the non-phone features of the iPhone 4, the Apps, the look of the phone, the feel of the phone, the speed of iOS 4, the camera and video, FaceTime, and much more. But right now it’s a bad phone. After a week, it has performed worse as a phone than all previous wireless phones I’ve ever owned, iPhone and others.

Again, I’m not questioning Apple’s press release. Its content is interesting, but not relevant to the issue of the iPhone 4 functioning as the worst phone I’ve ever owned.

The press release is clear that the update will only change the bars displayed and make the shorter bars taller. (I will refrain from commenting at this time on the bit about making the shorter bars taller.) My next decision will be whether or not I get the refund on the iPhone 4. It’s an interesting dilemma since I use the iPhone’s phone features far less than I use the sum of all its other features. If I spent more time using the iPhone 4 as a phone, the decision would be easy, but this is generally not the situation.

BOTTOM LINE:

I currently have 120 Apps on my iPhone. The problem App is called “Phone” and it (using 2 of Apple’s favorite modifiers) is surprisingly and stunningly flawed (perhaps even magically flawed). I decided not to return the iPhone 4 for 1 bad App, but I still hope that Apple and/or AT&T can just fix the issues that I clearly have. I don’t really care who is at fault at this point.

UPDATE:

The iOS 4.0.1 update increased the bar height by a few pixels and perhaps makes them more accurate at displaying the phone/data network signal, but dropped and static-y calls still persist.

iPhone 4 Hands On [sic]

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 22:24:43 -0500

Could you believe the throngs of crazy people standing in line for the iPhone 4 on Thursday (June 24)? Me neither. In fact, that’s precisely what I thought as I stood in line for my iPhone 4.

It was a day of surprises. The plan was to meet my friend and fellow Mac aficionado Sid at the Old Orchard Apple Store at 6:30 A.M. I was up at 5 A.M. to find that the carpeting in front of the closet containing my hot water heater had been soaked by a leaking tank. After several phone calls, a couple hours of moisture extraction, some wait time, and about $800, the problem had been [mostly] solved and I was off to the Apple Store before noon. Sadly, Sid had not only been there alone [OK...with 500 other people], but he had to leave the line early (after 4 hours) to go to his White Sox coaching gig.

By 11:30, my wait was approximately 5 hours. Why so long? For no good reason that I could gather. The store seemed to be taking in 10-15 customers every 15-20 minutes. Thus, the calculation worked out to roughly 200-300 people in line ahead of me. The in-store experience seemed quite unnecessary as they needed only to either match your new phone to your existing account or make a new account...both which I could have easily handled in iTunes as we all did for iPhone 1. Apple had apparently not manufactured enough iPhones for the demand since the alternatives to waiting were either to have pre-ordered a few weeks earlier (having it delivered), or waiting until sometime after July 15.

But like everyone who waits in an Apple Store line for a new Apple product, you get to know the people around you. My group consisted of:
- a recent college grad of the frat-boy persuasion who had landed a Bank of America job in the city who was there replacing his iPhone (original version with 4GB)
- an overly-excited-about-gadgets guy hoping to enter the trucking industry replacing his iPhone 3GS 16GB
- a recent Niles North High School grad receiving the iPhone as a graduation gift (his supportive mom kept checking his line progress since the phone was going on her account/credit card) replacing a Samsung side-keyboard phone
- a charter school special education teacher purchasing a phone for her husband (a Cisco trainer) who was in Germany replacing his iPhone 3GS (which she would inherit)
We all chatted amicably throughout the wait time. Coincidentally, our entire group made it into the store in the same wave. Apple had a FaceTime demo station set up as we waited to be assigned to our salesperson.

With phone in hand, but still No Service, I left feeling somewhat deflated and headed home for the inaugural sync. A restart was required for AT&T to finally kick in. After a shower (with my newly created hot water) the iPhone 4 was up and running. After a about an hour, I was off to community band rehearsal.

Since I’d felt badly about ditching Sid for my hot water crisis, I called him on the way to band to find out he was back in line after the Sox game. On the way home from the rehearsal at 9:30 P.M., he was STILL in line, so I joined him. The Apple Store had committed to staying open until all iPhone Reservations were fulfilled. By 10 P.M., the in-store wait was still 20 minutes. We left at about 10:30 P.M.

During the wait time in line, the rumors about reception issues began to surface. By holding the iPhone 4 in a way that includes touching the bottom-left corner of the phone, signal degradation had been reported. I can now attest that the rumors are true, at least for me. When I hold the iPhone in my “normal” way, the signal-strength bars reduce by 2 or 3 and the call is dropped. Of course, this is a problem that needs to be fixed and I’m hoping it can be fixed with a software update. Even though I frequently use my phone via in-car Bluetooth or on speaker, it’s just not practical to not be able to hold a phone...iPhone or not...in a natural way to talk on it. This issue is not just limited to talking, it also affects usability of web-connected Apps when on the 3G network; it’s even more awkward for me to hold the phone “properly” when using Apps.

At this point, I will wait before I log a review, hopeful for a legitimate fix (which I hope does not include the $29.00 “bumper” case). While I really like the new iOS 4 features, the interface speed and responsiveness, the FaceTime videochat feature (with other iPhone 4 users), the crisp display, and the look and feel of the phone, the fact that I can’t touch it naturally is a deal-breaker. My expectation for this touch-screen device to be able to touch it while I use it in a natural and comfortable way. At this time, the iPhone 4 is not performing adequately.

Ben Folds at the Vic Theater in Chicago

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 15:49:58 -0500

Ben Folds plays the Vic Theater in Chicago this week on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (April 19-21, 2010). I attended the Monday show with my friend Ed and his brother Jeff.

We arrived early enough to get close to the stage on the floor. The Vic floor has four tiered levels with rails, but no chairs; we selected stage right (the side of the piano where Ben sits) on the first raised tier which provides a straight-on view of Ben. (There is also a mezzanine above which offers seating.)

The opening act was Kate Miller-Heidke, an Australian singer with a voice I won't soon forget. She has a similarly quirky sensibility as Ben's which is apparent both through her audience interaction and lyrics/song structure. She was accompanied by guitarist/vocalist/husband Keir Nuttal and sometimes played piano herself. Kate is a classically trained vocalist; she belted operatic style a few times and to great effect. Please take a listen on iTunes, her Facebook song is priceless:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/curiouser/id359882334

Kate Miller-Heidke's Set List:
Our Song
Politics in Space
Dream/I Love You
Caught in the Crowd
Are You F*cking Kidding Me (aka Facebook Song)
Words

For Ben Folds, this was the first time I'd ever seen him live in the "Ben Folds and a piano" format. The show was very similar to the 2002 Ben Folds Live album: Ben Folds playing a slightly-out-of-tune Steinway Model D piano, with a few surprises tossed in for good measure.

He opened with an Elliot Smith cover of "Say Yes" that I'd never heard him perform. The cover was followed by the much stronger, and better-for-an-opening selection, "Annie Waits."

Highlights included:

- A long, Chicago-blues-style rendition of "Rock this B*tch" that Ben frequently acknowledged and apologized was "going nowhere." It ended with some very complex progressive jazz chords. He also pointed out that the Vic was the origin of this always-improvised, often-requested crowd favorite and a Vic version is included on 2002’s Ben Folds Live CD.
- I'd never heard “Hiroshima” live and was glad to finally hear it tonight.
- Kate Miller-Heidke and her guitarist joined Ben on stage for "You Don't Know Me." She somewhat followed Regina Spektor's vocal line, but did a great job of adding her own style to the improvised section at the end.
- For the fake version of "B*tch Went Nutz," he used a plastic maraca in his left hand which he shook in a rhythm that included beats on the mic stand while he played piano with his right hand and sang the rather complicated and rhythmic lyrics (of which there are many). It amazes me to see him do this.
- During "Steven's Last Night in Town's" instrumental break, a roadie ran onto the stage with a drum set floor tom-tom which Ben began playing, roadie and Ben walked across the stage playing, and Ben continued to play as the roadies ran the rest of the drum set out to the stage one piece at a time. When the set was assembled, Ben played a full-on drum set solo. To end the drum set section, a roadie walked him back to the piano drumming, Ben finished the song on the keyboard, and the drum set pieces were removed.
- He ended with "Army" with the audience providing the horn parts as customary.

After a long applause, he ended with three encores, the showtune-inspired "Morgan Davis," "Mess," and "Song for the Dumped." During his commentary, he told us that he would be workshopping a musical in the Fall. I hope it's true and that it gets to the stage...I'm there!

Ben Folds’s Set List:
Say Yes (Elliott Smith cover)
Annie Waits
Sentimental Guy
Effington
Time
Dog
Rock this B*tch (Ben mentioned that the live album version was from the Vic)
Hiroshima
Still Fighting It
You Don't Know Me (with Kate Miller-Heidke)
B*tch Went Nutz (the fake version)
Fired
Steven's Last Night in Town (with drum set solo)
Selfless, Cold, and Composed
Landed
Jackson Cannery
Tom and Mary
Zak and Sara
Rockin' the Suburbs
Army

Encores:
Morgan Davis
Mess
Song for the Dumped

Matt's 2-Week iPad Review

Sun, 18 Apr 2010 17:02:54 -0500

In an earlier post, I promised a review of the iPad after I had actual, first-hand experience using it. After two full weeks, I’m ready to share. Please feel free to Comment below or email me at mjfuller@me.com

First Impressions

When I removed the iPad from the box, held it, and used it for a few minutes, the first thing that struck me was its slightly heavier-than-expected weight. I have noticed that same reaction when I hand it to people for the first time, from kids to adults. It’s most definitely not too heavy, but the subliminal message it sent me was “I know you maybe thought I was a toy, but I’m a bit more serious than that.”

Bezel...What’s a Bezel??

First, the bezel is the “frame” around the touchscreen. (It can be pronounced both “BEE-zul” and “BEH-zul” and the term applies to the frame around any screen; the term is also used to define the rim that holds the glass on the front of a watch or compass.) On the iPad it measures about 0.875 inch (seven-eighths of an inch) all the way around the screen. More than one reviewer doesn’t like this “wide” bezel, but let me assure you, it’s quite necessary and a pretty important feature. When picking up or holding the iPad, the bezel provides the “dead space” where your may fingers hit, thus allowing you to not tap the screen.

The Shape of It

The shape of the iPad is brilliant. Because the edges flare to create a rounder, blunter edge, it makes it feel less thick than it is (in the middle). I first saw this design concept in the MacBook Air and really liked it there, but the iPad’s symmetry makes the design concept feel even better to me.

I’m also not bothered that the shape, or rather aspect ratio, of the iPad isn’t “HD.” I wonder if Apple has a patent on iLegalPad? I hope they never produce one, I like it 4:3 (1024 x 768).

The Case of the Case

I couldn’t decide on a case so I bought two. Perhaps more out of allegiance I bought the Apple case that makes the iPad look like an executive notebook. I also bought a simple, clear Belkin “skin” case that wraps around the body and adds a “lip” around the outer edge. I immediately added the Belkin case because I wanted to preserve my then-perceived functionality of the device (an always-on, always-available touch screen) while adding a bit of protection to the metal back and edges. The texture of the Belkin case is just about perfect for my taste: it’s rugged, rubberized, clear, and a bit thicker than I expected. The rubbery lip provides a bit of screen protection, too (when I slide it in my backpack-style computer bag or place it upside down on a table). The Apple case never left the box and it was exchanged at the Apple Store for the iPad-to-LCD projector cable and an iPad car charger (the older USB car chargers don’t deliver enough power to charge the iPad).

Fast and Fluid

Another early impression is that this thing is fast. I wanted to reserve judgement on that initial impression since I have experienced that my iPhone (and even iPod touch) seems to have become a bit more sluggish over time as I add Apps and do more with it. This is not the case after 2 weeks with the iPad. I’m no computer chip engineer, but I must surmise that Apple making its own custom chip has something to do with the speed. The interface “swiping” from screen to screen is very smooth; opening apps, animations, audio play, video play, responsiveness to button taps, drawing, gestures - pretty much everything I can think of - is fast and fluid.

Interface

When I first saw pictures of the icons on the main screens, they looked spaced too far apart. I am more used to this layout now and I understand the idea better, but bigger icons and slightly less space between the icons would be better. I’m guessing this is a resolution issue at this time: iPhone/iPod touch icons were designed to be very small and they look blurry when you blow them up. Over time, I hope for bigger, crisper icons and less gaps between them.

One odd interface issue that I’m still not used to is the location of many of the navigation (nav) elements in Apps. To go back to a previous screen, it isn’t always clear if you can swipe (drag your finger across the screen) to go back (or forward), if you need to look for a back button, or if you need to tap to bring up nav controls. The back button is usually easy to spot, but a cluttery screen can sometimes make finding it less than automatic. This issue is not a deal-breaker, but it requires a bit too much effort.

Similarly, I usually find the back buttons (and other nav buttons) too small. They seem to be the same exact size buttons as on the iPhone/iPod touch. In relative terms, they look too small on the iPad screen and sometimes it takes me more than one tap to make them function (especially when I’m walking/standing/on the treadmill). A relatively larger button (or a smarter button with the surrounding area clickable) would solve this.

Finally, I just don’t like the layout or design of the buttons in Mail, the email App. I don’t like them on the iPhone and I REALLY don’t like them on the iPad. They are in a bad location (top right corner), the icon buttons are too small, their designs don’t do a good job representing their functions, and they are too close together. The resulting floating “menu” buttons that appear (i.e., Reply, Forward) are OK and work great, but that upper-right location is too cramped right now. To my eye, the designs are tragic: they are needlessly monochromatic, the weird-looking trapezoid with an arrow pointing down (move to folder), the curved arrow (Reply, Forward) and the square with pencil (new message) are weak. They need to be bigger, maybe in color, and there is now plenty of room for more of them. And Apple...this job is already done: go to MobileMe Mail and use (or slightly adapt) those buttons. And in conclusion, the Cancel and Send buttons are also too small when typing a message. I should not need to tap a button more than once because it was so small I “missed” its target. This rant has concluded. Thank you.

Typing

Disclaimer: I am among the world’s worst typists. I have a complete disregard for the Home Row, I type with 2 or 3 fingers, I look at the keyboard, I type fast (approximately as fast as I think of words in my head), and I make typing mistakes. (I had a choice in high school: music theory or typing class.)

The iPad typing experience may as well have been designed specifically for me. All of the issues I share above are almost (I said almost) assets on the sideways, nearly-full-size iPad onscreen keyboard. Best of all, the predictive typing system is the same as on the iPhone/iPod touch: it’s not based just on spelling, it’s based on where your finger hit on the keyboard when entering the word and then makes the suggestion/correction on the fly with very few mistakes. Best of all, my style of bad typing and looking at the screen works well on the virtual, non-tactile keyboard. I am aware that the iPad can use an external docked or wireless Bluetooth keyboard, but those solutions seem rather pointless to me; I have no intention of carrying around all that stuff. I fully realize that I might have a different expectation than most, especially if you are an actual typist, and I look forward to reading your review...or add your Comments below.

On a side note...I have discovered that it’s very plausible to type using the sideways keyboard on the iPad while walking at up to 3.5 miles per hour on a treadmill. The typing style is one (or two) fingers. I have described the experience as “a bit like target practice,” but I still do it almost nightly. In about 20 minutes, I am able to catch up on 20-30 new messages.

WiFi vs 3G

This was a significant decision...get it on the first day with WiFi only; or wait for 3G, pay more, and pay monthly. The last two issues tipped the scale: I didn’t want to pay more and I definitely didn’t want another monthly bill. So far WiFi has not been an issue, neither from a technical standpoint (I have not experienced the issues reported by some), nor an access standpoint (most places I go have WiFi and the iPad still works fine without it). So far I’ve only been un-connected in a few restaurants and in my car (while parked, of course). But each time, the iPhone served as my Internet access in those locations.

Some Apps for This and That

While this is not an App review per se, I must comment on a few key Apps because Apps make the iPad experience what it is. Here are just a few words about a few of my App standouts:

Pages

I use Pages a few times daily. My favorite use is taking notes at meetings and writing short passages that will be used in larger works. For example, I started writing a School Board memo on the iPad, emailed to myself, and finished it on my laptop. I could have done it all on the iPad, but I needed the flexibility afforded by my MacBook Pro to finish it and send it out. I also wanted to use the proper District fonts (Book Antiqua and News Gothic), neither of which are available on the iPad. This is not a criticism of the iPad. I understand why there are limited fonts and I appreciated the ability to do the beginning of the project on the iPad when I was out of my office without my laptop.

Keynote

This was the first App I purchased because it’s one of my all-time favorite Apple Apps ever conceived. However, at this time, it is probably my least-used iPad App. The first thing I did in Keynote was to attempt to get an existing Keynote presentation onto my iPad. The only way to do this easily was to email it to myself. The problem is that my Keynote files are HUGE (most well over 50MB) and extremely customized in every way possible: design, fonts, complex builds/actions, tons of video (sometimes as backgrounds), graphics in many formats, and usually a few different transitions carefully chosen to help make a point. Keynote on the iPad just doesn’t do any of that well. In fact, my custom Keynotes looked awful and didn’t really work on the iPad. Instead, I need to create my next presentation from scratch on the iPad using iPad’s resources. Until that time, my opinion/review of Keynote for the iPad is very much postponed.

Numbers

This is a great iPad success story. I seldom open Numbers on my Mac (in favor of Excel) so I didn’t purchase Numbers in my first volley of iTunes iPad App purchases and never, ever planned to do so. Sometime during the first week, everything changed. Since I was using the iPad for collecting, formatting, and tracking short bursts of relevant information, I soon realized that I needed more than the tables I had been using in Pages. Thus, I downloaded Numbers and now I use it 4-6 times every day. My main purpose currently is that I am tracking my foods eaten/calories along with calories burned in workouts/time at the gym. Numbers is a perfect solution for this as well as other budgetary and data tracking needs that arise daily.

Kindle for iPad

I loved Kindle for iPhone. I read 6 complete books on my iPhone because I could read anytime, anywhere. I will continue to keep a Kindle book on my iPhone for in-between-time reading. But the iPad will be my new primary reading device. The iBooks App is cooler, but Kindle beat them to the punch and still offers more reading options (iPhone/iPod touch/iPad/Kindle for Mac) that I use. I’m halfway through a title on the iPad Kindle App and I have 2 more in queue. (And another book on iPhone for periodic sneak-reading.)

Videos/Netflix

(I’m referring to the Videos and Netflix Apps.) The iPad is simply the best way I have found so far to watch web-based video content. The Netflix App is a pleasure to use and yet another iPad success story...I can’t help but be impressed when something I already have (a Netflix subscription) suddenly has more flexibility and functionality for absolutely no additional cost to me. (The iPad does not have a video camera and does not capture videos. I include this comment because people tend to think it might. Maybe it will in a future version.)

Photos

(I’m referring to the Photos App.) The iPad is simply the best way I have found so far to look at the photos I’ve taken with my iPhone camera and digital camera. However, the Photos App is not the same as iPhoto on the Mac; Photos is just for viewing an already-organized photo library. (The iPad does not have a camera and does not take photos. I include this comment because people tend to think it might. Maybe it will in a future version.)

Overall

While I tried hard to suspend my preconceived notions and judge the iPad for what it is, rather than what I thought it might turn out to be, I still had a slight notion that the iPad would be more a “fun” device than a “work” device. My surprise is that it is very capable of both fun and work. And it makes the “work” stuff fun to do.

Rock Star

Even going on the third week the iPad elicits rock star-like attention. This eventually wears off, but these are opportunities to meet new people and talk about cool Apple stuff. At least daily someone approaches me and wants to talk about the iPad. My response has been to stop what I’m doing, press the Home button and hand it to them. I am having a great time watching reactions (the first reaction usually “why is this guy who I met 5 seconds ago handing me his iPad?”).

The truth is, I really want people to experience an iPad for real so the usually idiotic news headlines are buffered. I am so tired of hearing things like “I heard that iPad owners aren’t happy with their WiFi” or “I saw on the news that iPads are virtually useless because they don’t have Adobe Flash” or some other bogus issue that affects .003% of iPad users so 90 seconds of a news program could be filled with stock footage of people waiting in line on North Michigan Avenue and the anchor can relate silly, uninformed, half-truths so people can say to themselves, “I knew the iPad would never live up to all that hype.” And where did all that hype originate? On the same news program that talked continuously about the “revolutionary new device” for three weeks before the iPad’s release when they were reporting silly, uninformed, half-truths about what the iPad might be and how it would certainly change the world. It’s exhausting. People are smart enough to create a real opinion if given the right information.

So

The iPad is not a big iPhone/iPad touch.
The iPad is not a MacBook “lite.”
The iPad is not a scaled-down netbook.
The iPad is not a Apple-branded tablet computer.
The iPad is an iPad.
It’s a new class of device that does things in a way nothing has before it. The iPad has allowed me to do things I normally do in my professional and personal life in different ways and frankly, it’s fun to use. Because of its physical size, it’s more practical for me to carry anywhere. Because of its screen size, I can see and do things easily. Because of its connectivity, I can do things almost anywhere. Because of its speed, I can focus on whatever activity I’m doing with my mind generally off the device.

The iPad lets me be far more productive in more places than I ever thought possible and also provides for my entertainment/infotainment wants and needs.

Now that I am quite positive that this device is viable, I’m on to figuring out the best possible ways to use it with students, teachers, and administrators. I can’t wait to see where the iPad takes education!

www.apple.com/ipad

iPad Stand for 69¢

Sun, 18 Apr 2010 14:05:08 -0500

I love office supplies. About 3 years ago a Staples was built (according to Google Maps) 278 feet away from my front door. This is one of the reasons it’s difficult for me to move.

Anyway...

My blog browsing yesterday led me to an iPad user who discovered that a 69¢ business card holder works perfectly to hold an iPad for movie/photo viewing. As luck would have it, I had one in my office. I had retired its use when I acquired a more ostentatious Apple-logoed business card holder (photo below).

The design of the iPad-capable plastic holder is really simple and the width allows me to keep the iPad in its Belkin “skin” case. I think I bought it at Staples about 2 years ago for less than $1, but as of yesterday they no longer stocked them. Office Depot still has them (in store and online):
www.officedepot.com/a/products/886149/Office-Depot-Business-Card-Holder-Black
UPDATE: There is also a clear option available at Office Depot. In store, black is $1.39 and clear is on clearance at $1.01...I must admit I like clear even better as it’s nearly invisible.

It’s a perfect angle, but I’d not plan to do a great deal of touchscreen tapping...even though it’s quite sturdy and won’t easily fall over, there is a bit of flex as you tap.

Here are some more action shots:

The nice front overhang that doesn’t get in the way and still looks aesthetically pleasing.

Symmetrical simplicity. And it’s black or clear.

As Alton Brown would point out, the Apple business card holder is a uni-tasker. But I do like how the anodized aluminum and chrome matches the Apple vibe. If I remember correctly, it was around $12 and only available at the Apple Company Store in Cupertino, CA.
www.apple.com/companystore

So props to low-cost, no-name office supplies for propping up my iPad properly.