Adam Kalsey

This is the blog of Adam Kalsey. Unusual depth and complexity. Rich, full body with a hint of nutty earthiness.

Business in the front, REST in the back

23 Mar 2006

  • Nifty corners is a JavaScript and CSS method for building rounded corners, no images required. Rounded corners are a topic after my own heart.
  • Keep yourself focused with printable forms from Printable CEO.
  • Although tag clounds might be the new mullets, perhaps there’s a way to have just the front part where the business is.
  • Tagging has enterprise applications, too. Remind me sometime to tell you about some of the reasons why actual human-powered folksonomies might be less useful on the intranet than automatically-generated metadata.
  • Quicksilver advanced uses to make your friends envious of your godlike keyboard skillz.
  • Build nirvana can be achieved with continuous integration. Trust me. Your PHP projects can reach this goal using some Java build tools. Put these together with private workspaces for your developers and you’ll find smoother development in your future.
  • Developers know there’s a right way and a wrong way to branch and merge code in your SCM tool. The right way is however you do it. The wrong way is how everyone else does it. Find out more about everyone else’s way by reading up on Branching Patterns for Parallel Software Development.
  • Want to start a successful business? Measure something and help others make better business decisions. This is something FeedBurner understood early and others didn’t. Plus the article has a picture of a cool pinewood derby car.
  • I’m trying to wrap my head around the magical incantations that make up the REST authentication tutorial. Apache, mod_rewrite, perl, and a knowledge of HTTP authentication have combined to make a cookie-less authentication scheme.
  • And if you like REST (and who doesn’t?) and like PHP, Tonic looks like an interesting development framework. Everything’s a resource. If you’re more of a rail-ly guy but want to stick with your PHP, CodeIgniter might be of interest.
  • A while back Niall deconstructed the My Yahoo feed API. Keeping the tab open in my browser until I need it isn’t the most effective way to keep this around, so I’m selfishly posting it here.
  • Like many others, Paul Graham attempts to define Web 2.0. Paul makes it understandable to your dumb boss. If your boss is too stupid to get it, just tell him that it’s an upgrade.

Recently Written

Your OKR Cascade is Breaking Your Strategy
Aug 1: Most companies cascade OKRs down their org chart thinking it creates alignment. Instead, it fragments strategy and marginalizes supporting teams. Here's what works better than the waterfall approach.
Your Prioritization Problem Is a Strategy Problem
Jul 23: Most teams struggle with prioritization because they're trying to optimize for everything at once. The real problem isn't having too many options—it's not having a clear strategy to choose between them. Without strategy, every decision feels equally important. With strategy, most decisions become obvious.
Behind schedule
Jul 21: Your team is 6 weeks late and still missing features. The solution isn't working harder—it's accepting that your deadlines were fake all along. Ship what you have. Cut ruthlessly. Stop letting "one more day" turn into one more month.
VC’s Future Lies In Building Winners
Jun 21: AI and megafunds are about to kill the traditional venture model, forcing smaller VCs to stop hunting for hidden gems and start rolling up their sleeves to fix broken companies instead.
Should individual people have OKRs?
May 14: A good OKR describes and measures an outcome, but it can be challenging to create an outcome-focused OKR for an individual.
10 OKR traps and how to avoid them
May 8: I’ve helped lots of teams implement OKRs or fix a broken OKR process. Here are the 10 most common problems I see, and what to do instead.
AI is Smart, But Wisdom Requires Judgement
May 3: AI can process data at lightning speed, but wisdom comes from human judgment—picking the best imperfect option when facts alone don’t point the way.
Decoding Product Leadership Titles
Mar 18: Not all product leadership titles mean what they sound like. ‘Head of Product’ can mean anything from a senior PM to a true VP. Here’s how to tell the difference.

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