Control doesn’t scale. That seems to me to say it all. Or, it at least says some of it.

Now, here are some of the people who came up with that phrase, some well before I did:

David Friedman (economics)
Steve Manning (technical writing)
Jonathan Feldman (remote application controls)
Curtis Yanko (CruiseControl, a build management tool)
Steven Riley (MAC-based access control)
Uwe Doering (a packet filter for access control)

I hereby claim that phrase in the name of Her Highness, Queen Generality.

[Tags: control aphorisms ]

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Some time in the early evening of February 11, I’ll be conducting a very special (as they say in the entertainment biz) Web of Ideas session about how the new business models for music are affecting music…by interviewing BradSucks, who will also favor us with some songs.

I’m a big fan of Brad’s, so I’m quite excited about this.

[Tags: bradsucks music ]

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The Harvard Business Review blog ConversationStarter asked a bunch of people what they think the issues for managers will be in 2008. Sean Silverthorne has compiled a list.

I wrote about the need to deal with a world in which customers, information and relationships have all scaled.

(Note to self: In 2008, try to use the phrase “got big” rather than “scale.”) [Tags: hbr 2008 business management ]

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Great op-ed by Tim O’Reilly, holding out the greed stick to the cellphone companies to induce them to open their networks.

[Tags: tim_oreilly open_networks wireless cellphones telcom net_neutrality ]

Stephen Baker has an excellent, provocative article on “cloud” computing, where “cloud” means gigaclusters like Google’s and not the great amorphous mashup of information known as the Internet.

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Alitalia lost my luggage. It happens. It’s been two days and they still haven’t delivered it. It happens.

But here’s what shouldn’t happen. When you’re at the airport registering the lostness of your luggage, the last step before they send you home to live in the clothes you arrived in is the Bestowing of the Toiletries. The little bag contains the cheapest possible bathroom utensils the airline can find: A toothbrush as rigorous as a cotton swab, a chunk of deodorant floating loose in its container, a razor blade fashioned from the sharp edge of a tuna can. But the last straw was the one piece of clothing included: A white undershirt on to which they’ve printed their logo. Not only does this render it useless if you happen to be wearing a shirt of any translucency, why do they think I want to advertise their business for them? What part of “I’m pissed off” don’t they understand?

Likewise, when you’re put on hold by a business, why would they think you’re in a mood to listen to their ads…especially if you’re put on hold while trying to get technical help? What are they thinking?

If you have an emotional IQ above than that of your average rattlesnake, you can figure out that marketing to customers when they’re pissed off at you requires apologies, extra care, patience, and humility, not happy jingles and cheery logos.

Grrrr…

[Tags: marketing business pissed_off ]

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On Wednesday at 6:30pm, I’m leading a discussion of whether leadership on the Web is different from leadership off the Web, especially business leadership. In fact, I’m gong to run through my 20 minute presentation for Le Web 3 on this topic. I’ve gotten pretty interested in the nature of the leadership of big collaborative projects, and I’m looking forward to a chance to have my inklings bashed around.

Plus, we serve pizza.

The session is open to all. It’s at the Berkman Center [map]. [Tags: berkman leadership]