Cheap Thoughts

Cheap thoughts.

There are 170 posts filed in Cheap Thoughts (this is page 7 of 17).

Cheap thoughts: performance reports

Daydreaming at a meeting last night, I realized that companies have it all wrong when they periodically gauge the performance of their employees. What they should be doing is asking their employees about the performance of the company. The shop-floor worker has a keen insight into what works and what doesn’t work, and her thoughts might not necessarily filter up to management. How can a process be improved? What causes slowdowns? What should the company be doing that it’s not? How can you as an employee be more successful?

Employees are valuable parts of the team and crucial to the company’s success. A smart business will do all it can to make that employee successful.

Cheap thoughts: sickness registry

One of my coworkers is out today, ill with what he thinks is a stomach virus. It made me think that an online registry may be useful in cases like this where one is too sick to work but not sick enough to deal with the hassle of seeing a doctor. An online registry may be able to show how a virus like this one spreads.

Cheap Thoughts: Kitchen timers

Why don’t kitchen timers count up as well as down? Isn’t that a valid use of a timer? What if I’m eyeballing something on the stove and I just want to know how long it’s been cooking. My only choice is to set the timer to some random time and do the math to figure out the time.

I would think it’d be a simple thing to make timers that count both ways. Maybe it’s just me.

Cheap Thoughts: The “Boss is Coming” screensaver

Yesterday’s Bluetooth screensaver idea gave me an idea of a great way to extend its functionality: the Boss Is Coming feature. Your laptop will automagically display a boring spreadsheet whenever your boss approaches. Then once she’s gone you can go back to playing QWOP.

BlueProximity is open source and thus changing it should be easy. Right now the user selects one device out of a list and triggers the screensaver (or other script) based on that device. A Boss Is Coming feature would require being able to trigger different scripts for different devices.

Ok, geeks. Get coding!

Update 1:24 PM: It looks like BlueProximity already supports multiple devices! Just select the “New” button next to the “Selected Configuration” box, select the desired device, and create your script.

It remains to be seen what happens when a device is selected which has not been paired with the laptop. I doubt one’s boss will let her mobile phone be paired without permission.

Cheap thoughts: The Good Samaritan policy

Whenever I start my next company (with actual employees this time) I’m going to create a policy for the employees: the Good Samaritan policy. This will excuse any employee from being late if that employee stopped to help someone who was stranded on the side of the road, helped anyone involved in an accident, or helped anyone else who needed assistance.

Too many times I’ve driven by a disabled vehicle and not stopped simply because it would make me late for work. Some things should be more important than punching a clock.

Cheap thoughts: dog park

I wonder if taking my dog to the dog park causes me to lose face with my dog. As the owner, I’m supposed to be the “pack leader,” as the Dog Whisperer would say. If Rocket is getting bullied by the other dogs at the dog park and I don’t do anything about it it may cause me to lose standing as a pack leader in his doggy head.

Still I guess the benefits of the dog park outweigh the drawbacks.