Author Dwayne Melancon is always on the lookout for new things to learn. An ecclectic collection of postings on personal productivity, travel, good books, gadgets, leadership & management, and many other things.
Here's a friend of mine who used to live up here in Beaverton, Oregon and moved back down to Louisiana last year. They're just outside of Baton Rouge, and have "refugees" from Katrina staying in their house. Interesting commentary, and you can see from his posts that there is a lot of false rumors and hype floating around along with the real stories.
Check it out: http://prairiekatrina.blogspot.com/
Read MoreAre you working too much? Check out "You know you're working too much when..." at Mind Unbound. It's funny, even if it's in a sort of "too close for comfort" sort of way...
I've been blogshot at "Sho()ot my Blog" - this is a fun experiment by Renaud (aka Reno) in Belgium. Go check it out.
While I was off enjoying the great outdoors last week, the ever-industrious Rajesh Setty (see my review of his book "Beyond Code") was busy working with his team to launch a fantastic resource for all of us.
It's a web site called Suggestica, and it has a noble purpose. In their words:
Suggestica aims to bring the best suggestions (books, audio, video etc.) from the "Trusted Authorities" in their disciplines. Our goal is to create a new kind of web with less clutter and less noise. We are starting with books but will soon expand to other categories.
As I've come to know Raj over the past few months, I've developed a tremendous appreciation for his giving spirit, and his willingness to share what he learns. This site (and its companion blog, Suggestica Notes) are prime examples of this. Go have a look.
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I was catching up on things over at the Mind Unbound business blog and found a thought-provoking post on "Not-so-human Resources." The post deals with the mechanization of the Human Resources function in a lot of companies, in the name of efficiency.
This rings true for me. In my past, I spent a lot of time working with HR as I built my teams. Getting their input, helping them "grok" what I wanted my team to feel like, and so forth. The HR folks provided lots of value in hiring and coaching. They also helped talk me through difficult situations. I'm lucky enough to work in a small company now, where I get a lot of this kind of assistance, but in large companies that is harder and harder to come by.
In my last "big" company experience, our company grew to the point where HR was one local person who basically dealt with coordinating insurance forms, paperwork associated with hiring and firing, and proofreading personnel reviews. They didn't feel like a partner any more - just an information desk.
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