You can’t learn this from reading a book

Run out in front of successes and act like the band leader

If people are shooting at you, you must be doing something right

Let people know they are dealing with a winner

Be caught doing something right

Always keep an eye on your competition

Change is an iterative process; you must go backward to get momentum to move forward

Everything looks like a dot from the space shuttle

Don’t complain, don’t explain

If you only have a hammer, everything looks like a nail

Find your competition, then beat it

Do you know about life?  No, I haven’t taught it yet

Everyone should have at least one break-dance

Excuses don’t make results

You do the right thing because you do the right thing

If you think like me, we don’t need one of us

Surround yourself with good people

Use back to basics and common sense to validate otherwise technology just augers out in space with no business value

Nobody cares how hard it was for you to do

Anyone can write a book but it’s the organization of words that make a Pulitzer

Always go with the best

Don’t ever lose track of your core business

Bureaucrats can’t design systems

Make mistakes and be faster than everyone else at fixing them

It’s easier to make changes while the paint is still wet

Get out of the business of selling buggy whips

If a band is all playing from the same sheet music, it sounds better

Look at data like a crime scene, start from a point then grab all the surrounding data… rope off the general area so a detective can look for clues

People in the bleachers cannot call the plays

Looking for data is like looking at a passing train though a toilet tissue holder

Focus on content, put valuable data in a readable format

Build a story board.  The bigger the story board, the bigger the problem

Find what works, and be consistent

Creating systems is a creative process

Enjoy winning!

When you steal, steal from good neighborhoods

Estimates are based on how things were done in the past, if you’ve never done it, how can you estimate it

Build systems for the masses

Ask yourself, what makes this job tough?

Ask your customers, “what’s troubling you today?”

Don’t worry about details

Pinata theory:  Finding data is like being blindfolded and asked to swing at a pinata

The objective is to soar with eagles, not fly with turkeys

Looking at transactional data is like tearing up the map of Michigan into 1-inch squares and being asked to travel between point A and B

Systems cannot be created by committee

Go with the flow, look at what customers are already using successfully

Spend time with your real customers

If the gestation period of a system is over a year, you don’t want to be around when the sucker eventually comes out

There is no substitute for learning your customer’s job

If a customer spends time telling you about a problem, you better be prepared to solve it

Peephole, port hole, portal are all just little pieces of the big picture

Moving cosmic dust around is never the problem

Look at something and say, “How does this work?”

If you can’t explain it, it won’t work

If you have to explain it, won’t work

It’s all NBD – No Big Deal

If you wanted to get from Boston to San Francisco in the 1800’s your choices were wagon, boat or train, design for jets

JDI – Just Do It

Printed reports are DOA (Dead on Arrival)

Programing is like knitting… it’s just something to do with your hands while you think

Always keep an eye on what’s coming

There’s an analogy for every situation

Keep your focus and ignore distractions

Make a list of 10 things to get started

Kathy’s rule:  Everyone’s entitled to their own stupid opinion

Mike’s rule:  Everyone’s entitled to Mike’s opinion

You have to run with scissors once in awhile

“Tag and release back into the wild” …. Stay out of the box

God made only so many good heads and put hair on the rest