Blink, Blog Maverick and More

This week I finished reading Malcolm Gladwell's blink.  It is a quick read and full of fascinating data and curious examples of the power and limitations of snap judgments. Gladwell dissects the process he calls 'rapid cognition' and helps us understand what happens in these first 2 seconds and the implications (both very positive and at time fatal).

We all make snap judgments. We instantaneously suck in data about our surroundings or a situation and make quick assessments/conclusions.  Think about how this applies to end-users or customers interacting with business applications or services? Certainly that is why availability, usability, and performance are paramount. Blink, your customer just left your web site. Blink. What does this thing do? Blink.  Why is this taking so long?

A couple of other quick recommends:

I’ve been reading Mark Cuban’s blog from time to time lately.  Today’s post on Internet vs. Intranet is interesting, especially if you are interested in software as a service or application performance.

Secondly, this weekend I want to check out the 2007 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) as featured in BusinessWeek this week. (Oddly, the article is dated July 30, 2007 even though today is the 27^th.  They must date their online content to coincide with their print issues.)

Have a good weekend.