Blog
Groups and Customer Pull
Bostig manufactures in small batches or groups. Because the marketplace and Bostig itself are so small in scale, we try to make it a point to not carry inventory of kits either. This makes changes to the kit itself faster/easier and has contributed to the success and quality of the system. In addition, because cashflow is extremely important in small businesses, we try not to tie up cash in inventory. It is better used for ongoing R&D etc. Instead of the traditional customer push model that you are used to in larger or mainstream markets, we use customer pull. Customer push is what most pe
Read MoreUser-centric design in Business Software
In another thread on the ERP forum I'm on, this comment was made in response to a post about building a web based ERP system: “~ at the end of the day an ERP is about data, control, and reporting - sometimes at the cost of not having the most beautiful user interface. In my opinion, designing for the user is great, but you should design based on how people spend the bulk of their time.” While it's true that where people spend the bulk of the their time is a great point of concern. It is rather one dimensional to place the importance of attention in design into an area given only ti
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
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
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