I don’t really have time for this tonight, but I kind of have to rant.

While it wasn’t unexpected, I’m still kind of annoyed–well, ticked, really–about the Northwest/Delta merger, both for rational and irrational reasons. While the Atlanta and Detroit hubs are likely safe from any service cuts, there’s definitely a potential for service reductions at MSP. While it’s unlikely MSP will lose its hub status, a reduction in overall flights, especially direct flights, seems likely regardless of whatever PR is currently being spewed from either company. It wouldn’t be surprising for us to see a cut in international flights as well, with more emphasis being put in the Detroit and Atlanta hubs for those kinds of services.

The fact that we can fly direct pretty much anywhere in the United States is one of the great privileges of living in the Twin Cities, and without that we’re one step closer to being the proverbial cold Omaha. (Or St. Louis after the TWA/AA merger, for that matter.) And, really, if NWA has to merge with someone, couldn’t they go with an airline that at least knows a little about customer service? Continental, perhaps? Nooo, we have to get stuck with Detla.

I’m still a bit ticked about my last Delta experience, which included disabled airplanes, parts being flown to the Twin Cities from Atlanta, a late arrival for a connection in Cincinnati, zero help from staff in finding alternate flights, a connection from hell at Hartsfield and a skanky, stick-floored Delta-booked hotel room in Tennessee. Delta fucked over my trip in enough ways that I decided to take a ten-year break from them, about five of which are still remaining, but it looks like I may soon have no choice.

That said, I can’t by any means say that my history with Northwest has been pleasant. Decrepit planes, poor customer service, comparatively high prices… I don’t think I’ve had a single NWA trip in the past decade that didn’t have some element of stupidity attached to it. We all know Northwest is one disheveled mess of an airline, but you know what? It’s our mess of an airline, that weird, slightly psychotic member of our Minnesota family we still care about even though it hasn’t been nice to us in a long, long time. Northwest has been here since the 1920s, and now we’re faced with the prospect of our “hometown airline” being based in… Atlanta.

Since I seem to be in the “irrational reason” category now, so you know what else? Delta’s airplanes are ugly. UGLY. Seriously, NO WHITE AIRPLANES. Yes, NWA discarded one of aviation’s greatest logos with the newest design, but overall the look of their planes still kicks Delta’s Wonderbread ass.

So, in whole, less service, more transfers, and uglier airplanes. Lose, lose, lose.

I just did something over my lunch break that I haven’t done since the spring semester started: I read the newspaper.

Had it dawned on me that taking two compressed courses at the same time would be the functional equivalent of taking three full-time courses for the months I’d be in school, I wouldn’t have been stupid enough to do it. But I did, and it was a mess.

It’s kind of difficult to describe how utterly exhausted I am, both mentally and physically. I knew two courses would be a lot of work, especially considering how busy the first few months of the year tend to be at my job, but I was still taken aback by what I got myself involved in. My accounting class in particular was extremely difficult for me, and many weeks I found myself putting in 25-30 hours a week in an effort to keep up. (My Operations class, which I generally found very interesting and happened to be very relevant to my job, definitely suffered as a result.) I tried to tough it out, though, figuring it was a learning experience, it would only be one semester, and I’d know better and stagger my classes in the future. It wasn’t until the last few weeks that it dawned on me that failure–and I mean “fail” quite literally here–was an actual possibility.

98% of my life over the past two months can be divided into one of three categories: Work, school, and, coming in at a distant third, sleep. I barely saw my son the past six weeks; if I was home while he was awake, I was probably studying, and as a result missed so, so much. I kind of feel like I abdicated my responsibilities as a parent, dumping way more than was fair on Lisa. My phone broke, and I basically had to ignore that as I didn’t have time to get it fixed. (It’s still broken.) My body is a case of deferred maintenance: Over the past two months I’ve canceled doctor and dentist appointments, and skipped an orthodontics adjustment and an eye exam, all in an effort to save an hour here or there. For all practical purpose, I haven’t exercised since early February.

And what did it get me? Practically nothing. Even if I do pass my Accounting course–and, again, that’s a very big “if”–I learned very little. My retention for these two courses has been remarkably small. Last semester, when I took only one course in an effort to ease my way back into academia, I had time between my courses and homework to actually think about what I was learning, and how I could apply it to my job, or what I could share with others. And you know what? That was great. I also had time to be with my family, spend the weekends with my wife and son, give appropriate attention to work, and, you know, relax now and then. Last semester, I was reading books that had nothing to do with my class or my job. On the weekends I’d spend my regular hours tearing through the New York Times, watching a movie with Lisa, or going with her and our son for a stroll around the mega mall. My class was adding to my life, not controlling it.

No such luck this semester. Again, I don’t know why I didn’t just drop a class. Maybe that would’ve seemed like giving up, or like failure, but in retrospect it would’ve been an incredibly reasonable thing to do.

Final exams were last week. I don’t feel particularly confident about my closing performance in either one of my classes, but there’s not really anything I can do about that now other than sit around and wait for my grades. Even if I do pass, I’ll likely be on academic probation. Academic probation! I feel like a bad joke.

~ ~ ~

Early March was when things really started to go off the rails. My yearly pilgrimage to SXSW played a part: The second accounting midterm (the class had two) was scheduled for the day I’d be returning from Austin. Knowing I’d be wiped out upon my return, I asked to reschedule my exam, and ended up taking it the morning I’d be heading for Austin, five days before everyone else in the class. Tactically that would’ve made sense if I had control over my work life and wasn’t sick, but I had neither. I’m not going to delve into details about my job, but I will say the first quarter of 2008 was uniquely demanding in ways I haven’t seen at my place of employment in many years. And worse, I was on the trailing edges of the flu that first ran through our household in mid-February. I bombed the exam, in the process making a good grade in the final absolutely critical.

I don’t think I made it. In preparation for the accounting final, I went so far as to take off a couple half days at work when, really, I had no time to be taking half-days. Worse, I got sick with whatever new crappy thing was floating around the office, and as such ended up taking a total of two exams when I would’ve been better off in bed.

I don’t know why I didn’t drop my courses while I still had the option to do so. What was I thinking?

~ ~ ~

I know I’m being extremely unfair to myself with this, but I just feel really dumb. I know a lot of people consider me a reasonably smart person, but I often don’t feel that way about myself–confidently, at least–and with this semester I kind of feel like I’ve finally unequivocally exposed myself for the fucking idiot that I am. Completely overboarding, I know–and, trust me, it’ll pass–but that’s how I feel right now.

I know how my brain works, so a bit of a prediction: If I fail accounting, I’ll take it as proof of my own stupidity. If I somehow manage to pass, I won’t give myself credit for it, and instead will chalk it up to luck.

Well, life is generally kicking my ass these days, so I’m going to take some time off from this blog…  And anything else nonessential.  I hope to resurface mid-April.

Happy spring.

Well, I’m finally getting back to normal after SXSW.  There’s still a stack of people to contact, photos to upload, and a report out to do at work, but other than that, the concerns are the familiar:   Baby, schoolwork and workwork.

In other news, I missed my baby’s first two teeth.  They arrived while I was in Austin.

In other baby news, he apparently loves techno.  Or, at least, he loved techno at Urban Outfitters today.

Yes, we still shop at Urban Outfitters.  No, we’re not 12.

Not much else to report.   I’m still coughing.

So, I’m back home, tired, overwhelmed, coughing, buried in work, full of ideas and… already looking forward to going back to Austin next year.

Quick thought before turning in for the night:  Sarah Lacy should do a panel next year on when crowds attack…  And there should be a live Twitter/Meebo feed up on the walls during the panel.

Well, I didn’t think it would be a proper SXSW without Bruce Sterling, but the Futurists’ Sandbox “panel” may have made up for it.  What a huge WTF.  I can’t really describe what I just sat through.

Noted: Datapoints.

Bonewald (MuniWireless) / Ante / MacKinnon / Vos

(This turned out to be a difficult presentation to track. Maybe I’m tired.)

Ante: U.S. is largest market for broadband access, but we’re lagging behind in many ways.

Vos: Cost of municipal wifi underestimated in most cases.

MacKinnon: Created a model in Austin where every node had to find a way to cover its own cost. (Resistant to disaster or political crisis.) As a result if one goes bankrupt, the rest will be OK.

Bonewald: It’s not a technology problem, it’s a business model problem.

Q: Can you describe a model in another country, and can what can we steal from them?

Vos: Proposal in EU government to open up broadband to other companies… Structural separation. Different companies providing service and infrastructure.

MacKinnon: Montreal, Berlin (mesh networking), Barcelona. Spain has a nationalized phone system that hasn’t trenched the rural areas. Responded by basically building a giant wireless LAN.

Bonewald: Getting people addicted to using wifi is a key component to getting a network going.

Q from Audience: What about partnering with YellowPages business?

MacKinnon: Great idea. Good to go after local weekly, ad-supported ads as well. Compelling value proposition to say “we’ll also run your ad on hotspots all over the city.”

Q: Structural separation sounds like the way to go. Is there any serious supporters for that in the United States.

Vos: The moment a politician breathes the word “structural separation,” they stop getting money from the telcoms.

Q: What didn’t work in Philly? In Mountain View, Google provides wifi, so can you speak to that.

Vos: Earthlink decided to get out of muni wifi. Philly also had a lot cost overruns.

MacKinnon: If any wifi network has the chance to use ads to support itself, one run by Google is it. Austin’s ad rate is $200 per month (that’s $1 per hot spot)… And Austin has the largest network like it in the nation.

Maestracci (Groove Mobile) / Jenson (Mobile UI Manager, Google) / Kaushansky (Tellme, Microsoft) / Ryan / Outlaw (Avenue A | Razorfish)lifeafteriphone.ning.com

Kaushansky: Saying “mobile” doesn’t cut it anymore. Is the person walking? Driving? Is it noisy?

Outlaw: Sees iPhone as the beginning of an age of disruptive mobility. Traditional user experience deliverables are rapidly becoming extinct. Lack of standards in mobile will require hands-on experimentation.

Q: What do you love and not love about iPhone?

Maestracci: Multitouch was a breakthough in usability. But simple tasks like making calls, SMS, are somewhat challenging.

Jenson: Audacity of design… No menus or scroll-bars. But you can’t do the web in your pocket… But Apple keeps pushing that. You don’t want to read the NYT on these things.

Kaushansky: Impressed by visual voicemail. But coming from the voice world, why does it take five clicks to make a phone call? Why can’t I just say “call mom?”

Outlaw: A historic benchmark in mobile user experience. Myth was cell phones needed to be complicated to use. Apple broke that. Wonder if having hardware and software inseparable is going to be along term problem… Looking back, Windows won the desktop because you could extend it.

Jenson: Enabling much of the desktop. But what’s best on mobile? iPhone may reinvent itself as a new Blackberry. But because its so popular you may be able to fund stupid stuff…

Q: Who else is taking design seriously in mobile?

Maestracci: Sony Erricson is trying to push the envelope in a traditional way. Things you have to look at… Minimum clicks. SE is paying attention to that, opposite of the iPhone.

Kaushansky: In the past voice didn’t take advantage of screens, and screens didn’t take advantage of voice. But we’re starting to see that.

Q: How would you define a good user experience on screen?

Outlaw: What iPhone did well is strip phone down to core, essential features. Many phones have way more features than actually needed. Users will willing to pay more money and have fewer features to have those features work well. Interesting contenders include the Sidekick, which may be too big, but has a great keyboard and a great messaging machine. PSP slim with Skype could be interesting, as well as Skype phone in dev in UK.

Jenson: iPhone has gone too far in some ways. Worst SMS app ever, especially if you come from somewhere like Europe where its used all the time. Those feature limits have impacts. Makes him wonder if we need to have pain points to achieve minimalism.

Kaushansky: iPhone is great for entertainment, but its not a great device for communication. Sidekick is better for that. You have to ask, what’s the main goal of the device? Who’s going to be using it? It’s not one device for all, its what kind of person is going to be using it… And then build and design accordingly.

Q: Open access.

Maestracci: Android and iPhone SDK will open things up. Very positive development. Main problem is that today carriers control distribution channel.

Kaushansky: UI developers have to think about context when testing — How do you test voice sync when driving your Ford down the road.

Jenson: Right now the phone is a consumer of information… But it will become more of a producer of information.

Q: What would be your killer app?

Outlaw: Help me find my luggage — luggage search when in airport.

Kaushansky: Move my data wherever I am so I can access it. In my phone, steering wheel, etc.

Jenson: Infinite battery, infinite bandwidth. (Laughter from audience.)

Maestracci: Likes Kaushansky’s idea.

Q from Audience: People love their iPhones… And no one wants to criticize them. Will that make us take a step back?

(Not much of a response to this.)

Kaushansky: It’s moving up design as a discussion at the executive level. That’s probably a good thing.

Q from Audience: What kind of negative impact will iPhone have on SMS? Will it reduce usage of SMS overall.

Jenson: Hard to say. Apple’s trying hard to fix it. Uncomfortable saying it’ll impact the entire industry.

Q from Audience: Curious what you think about stylus inputs? iPhone is pretty good, but some time a stylus would be nice. What about things like drawing and sketching?

Jenson: As an option, sure. It gives you a much richer, granular experience, but it makes you feel extra geeky. And what happens when you lose the damn thing? That said, not a fan of the iPhone keyboard.

Outlaw: iPhone killers will have an opportunity to look at how people interact with devices, and what’s best. Keyboards, etc.

Q from Audience:  Are we going to start seeing sites optimized for iPhones at the expense of other mobile sites.  (Which could make the iPhone more ubiquitous.)

Jenson:  iPhone is raising standard, but it would be an interesting logic to lock other users out.

Bryan Mason & Sarah B. Nelson (both of Adaptive Path)

(Based tips upon conversations with organizations ranging from Neo Futurists to restaurant kitchen work to Avenue Q.)

1. Cross-Train the Entire Team. People can specialize in different areas, but give them experience in all. Like Neo Futurists get people who can write, direct, act, do tech, manual labor, etc. People can slip easily from one role to another. “If someone gets hit by a bus they can still do a show Friday night.” Also makes group more cohesive, as people gain empathy for one another.
2. Rotate Creative Leadership.
3. Actively Turn the Corner. Point between divergence–creative and open thinking–to convergence–work towards production. It’s a problem when you have people in one phase who think they’re in another. “What if” is as bad in convergence as is “we can’t do that” during divergent part.
4. Know Your Roles. Important in convergence phase. Everyone should know exactly what they’re doing once a poject has turned the corner. Everyone in a kitchen may love to talk about food, but when in service everyone has one exact thing that they’re doing–and depending on everyone else doing the same.
5. Practice, Practice, Practice. Not just about improving individual skills but performance as an entire unit. It’s important to bring in new people at the right time — don’t bring new people into the kitchen on a Saturday night. Internal projects and R&D can be good opportunities to do that.
6. Make Your Mission Explicit to the Whole Team. If all team members don’t understand what you’re trying to do, chance of success are very low. There is a problem with people not understanding each other… You must make things explicity, but you also need to make them actionable.
7. Killing Your Darlings. Remove anything that doesn’t advance you towards the goal, including anything that you love. A systemic, reliable and respectful way of doing this is necessary. Ave. Q says “we’ll put that song in our TV show”, even though there wasn’t one, or a chef can say to an underling “when you open your restaurant you can put that on your menu.”
8. Leadership is a Service. It’s a support positon for the creatives.
9. Generate Projects Around the Group’s Creative Interests. Make sure you find things you’re engaged in, because if you’re not its going to cost you one way or another.
10. Remember Your Audience.
11. Celebrate Failure. It’s a necessary bi-product of the creative process. Make sure everyone knows that failure is OK… And when a project is over, make sure everyone can talk about it (like in a post-mortem) even if the overall project went really well. You learn more from the failures than the successes. Allow people to be constructive… Not “you screwed this up” but “this could have been done better.” Encourages people to take risks and be inventive. Without failure, you’re doomed to repeat the same things.

~ ~ ~

Audience comment: People to be cross-trained, but its important to only have one role when the project is rolling. People should know their roles, and not have to do everything.

Q: How can people who are not in management roles bring some of these ideas to their organization. A: Start like minds where you work and start converting. Also, if you’re in a creative environment that doesn’t let you throw up ideas, a good idea would be to quit.

Q: We don’t provide time to do throw-away work without thinking. A: May be better to build that play time into the regular work and development. Allow repeated throws at a real problem, rather than on working on something that will only be thrown away.