by david allan van nostrand | Nov 30, 2020 | Conformity, Fads, Misinformation traps
When the clerk at my grocery store asked if I found everything I was looking for, I said yes and she said “Awesome!” In the time it took her to scan my dozen items and take my payment, she said awesome seven more times. I don’t know about you, but I believe awesome...
by david allan van nostrand | Nov 23, 2020 | Using Information, Voodoo Statistics
Ask any American to name the first soft drink that comes to mind, and most say Coca-Cola. Ask Americans what company they think of first when they think about auto insurance, and you’ll get many different answers (Allstate, Farmer’s, Geico, Liberty Mutual,...
by david allan van nostrand | Nov 16, 2020 | Agile, Research
When people ask me if I’ve ever done agile research, they say “AGILE” as if it should be capitalized, underlined, and in italics. Their emphasis implies it is something quite new and mysterious. My response is to say I’ve been recommending agile...
by david allan van nostrand | Nov 9, 2020 | Veterans Day
If you enjoy this article, please do me a solid and send it along to the veterans you know, and if you don’t know any, to a couple of friends. When I joined the Air Force, I was sent to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio for basic training. What was boot...
by david allan van nostrand | Nov 2, 2020 | Misinformation traps, The iterative process
Wikipedia says the well-known phrase “Beam me up, Scotty,” was never said on television or in the movies. It did, however, become the title of James Doohan’s autobiography. Humphrey Bogart never said “Play it again, Sam,” Mark Twain never said “The coldest winter I...