Blog
Boomers retiring along with their knowledge/experience
In a recent thread on an enterprise resource planning(ERP) discussion group this topic was brought up as an area of concern. If the baby boomers are retiring in droves, and taking critical business knowledge with them, what will happen? A few folks chimed in with supporting concern, but I think this is another point that supports part of a larger, positive, and inevitable shift in business software. One person mentioned that ERP capabilities are like NASCAR, in that the ERP performance can exceed the driver's capabilities, and you need both good drivers and good ERP systems to win the race. I
Read MoreOrganically grown car guys/gals
We want to avoid turning Vanagon people into car hobbyists organically. That's the hard way. Eventually we all learn that as the car hobby depth increases, it actually turns into more down time and less travelling, for a painfully long period of learning the hard way. Worse, it wastes a lot of money. It doesn't mean you won't reach the point where it can go the other way again, but many people can't bridge that gap and abandon the whole idea of the vanagon if the failures are frequent or large enough in cost. The phenomenon of cars being worked on until they're totaled (like in an accident, an
Optimal torque curve for a Vanagon
Someone recentaly asked this question on the Samba, and I replied with the following. It reflects my philosophy on building vanagons: I’ve seen several charts showing power bands but what would be optimal? The westy is heavy and bad uphill. Good question. First you have to define "optimal". It will be subjective. For many on this board, optimal will simply mean "most" which is literally self-destructive and very costly to embrace as a philosophy. My answer would be: You should shoot for as little torque as you can stand to drive with if your top priority is to use/travel with the van and
You’re a system integrator
Trust me it’s true. Print up some new business cards. You’re already a systems integrator. When you think “systems integrator” you might imagine a techie, but look in the mirror. If you’re a techie your imagination got it right. Life is a loose organization of people, information, and things zipping in and out of, and around us. You’re a systems integrator because everything is part of some system and you have already woven a system specific to you, by integrating parts of disparate systems. So why don’t we always see everything as a system since everything is part of one? The likely answer is
The Pareto principle, cars, computers, and EMTs
I can't remember when I didn't feel the need to understand how things worked. I'm not sure whether the dominant drive to understand was out of sheer curiosity, or need. Like usual it's probably a combination of things. Computers came first. I had access to my first Wang "computer" when I was 8 or 9 via my Mom that worked at Wang labs. I even remember playing with desktop scanning capabilities in 1983 at her office. I think that was all part of Fred Wang's vaporware announcement that was part of the end for them. My first PC was shortly thereafter, an NEC that my Dad's friend who worked for the
Never let school interfere with your education
That twain quote was something of a mantra for me. I always felt that schools somehow missed the point. Perhaps more than deeply rooted moral opposition, it was my general disinterest in the things I was required to learn. Use it or lose it was the more general educational philosophy I embraced. If I was never going to need to know something I shouldn't need to learn it. Of course it never occurred to me that I couldn't possibly know what I would actually need later on, but I was pretty sure that cursive, hot cross buns on the recorder, and dissecting frogs were all a bit of wasted effort. As
Engineered Independence
In trying to capture what exactly it is that makes our philosophy unique, I considered all of the attributes that we hold close. Systems thinking, modular design, simplicity, and documentation are all important pieces of the puzzle that make who we are, how we operate, and what we produce different. The end goal of all these things that is uniquely Bostig is independence, carefully engineered. Independence in parts sourcing, independence in maintenance, independence of information from us or others by providing good and complete information. This ultimately produces true independence for the c
Autumn leaves, and raking reluctance
This was it. This was going to work. At least that's what I told myself as I looked down at my creation. A big green plastic rake with a cinder block strapped to the back and clothesline worked into a harness. This plow-like rake was going to save me frustration and having to rake leaves in the yard the old fashioned way. I would simply traverse the yard pulling it behind me, and then after a few minutes of back and forth, I would collect the end piles and be done with my chore. Simple, easy, fast. When you're nine or ten and your mom gives you a chore to handle there are always several approa