This post presents a simple method of estimating monthly payments on a loan. According to this is a traditional Persian method and still commonly used in Iran. A monthly payment amount is (princ...
https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2023/05/01/approximate-monthly-loan-payments/
This evening, after I got off a phone call discussing a project with a colleague, I thought “Huh, I guess you could call that project management.” I worked as a project manager earlier in my ...
https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2018/02/20/painless-project-management/
The debate between economists John Maynard Keynes and F. A. Hayek set to rap. Related post: The one thing to remember in economics The post Economics rap first appeared on John D. Cook .
The tragedy of the commons is the name economists use to describe the abuse of common property. For example, overfishing in international waters. Someone who owns a lake will not over fish his ow...
https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2009/11/20/tragedy-of-the-anti-commons/
“If you make $30 per hour, you should outsource everything you do that you could hire someone else to do for less than $30.” Rubbish. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard this advice. ...
https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2009/11/15/transaction-costs/
From A Bias for Action: The simple fact is that being busy is easier than not. Most managers cannot admit that a fragmented day is actually the laziest day, the day that requires the least ment...
Jeff Atwood gives a summary of Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering by Robert Glass on his blog. I was struck by point #14: The answer to a feasibility study is almost always “yes”. I ...
https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2008/03/27/feasibility-studies/
Innovation is not the same as invention. According to Peter Denning, An innovation is a transformation of practice in a community. It is not the same as the invention of a new idea or object. Th...
Popular business writers often say flat organizations are better than hierarchical organizations, and small businesses are better than big businesses. By “better” they usually mean more crea...
https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2008/03/21/whats-better-about-small-companies/
There’s a saying that clients can have good, fast, or cheap. Pick two, but then the third will be whatever it has to be based on the other two choices. You can have good and fast if you’re wi...
https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2008/03/10/good-fast-or-cheap-can-you-really-pick-two/
Interaction design guru Alan Cooper gave a presentation recently entitled An Insurgency of Quality. As part of his talk, he explains why programmers cannot be managed. Traditional management has ...
https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2008/02/17/why-programmers-cannot-be-managed/
Cyndi Mitchell in a talk from Rails Conf points out how “enterprise” in the phrase “enterprise software” has taken on the opposite of its customary meaning. If you call a person enterpr...
https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2008/02/14/enterprising-software/
Kevin Kelly has a post entitled Better than Free that lists eight things people will pay a premium for, even while closely related things are free or cheap: Immediacy Personalization Interpretati...
https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2008/02/12/how-to-avoid-being-outsourced-or-open-sourced/
Seth Godin has a post this morning about what he calls the three key marketing levers: fear, hope, and love. He concludes The easiest way to build a brand is to sell fear. The best way, though, ...
https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2008/02/04/faith-hope-love-and-marketing/
Seth Godin has an interesting blog post today called The problem with perfect. Companies with a reputation for perfect service are only remarkable when they disappoint. Being interesting is a mor...
https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2008/01/18/interesting-is-better-than-perfect/
Everything is supposedly growing exponentially. But when most people say “exponential,” they don’t mean what they say. They mean “fast.” Exponential growth can indeed be fast. Or it can...
https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2008/01/17/coping-with-exponential-growth/