Review: Let's Get Real or Let's Not Play: The Demise of 20th Century Selling & the Advent of Helping Clients Succeed

Let's Get Real or Let's Not Play: The Demise of 20th Century Selling & the Advent of Helping Clients Succeed by Mahan Khalsa

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A book on consultative sales for services. The main messages of the book are good: start with the intent of selling, leave your ego behind, focus on relationships, don't be afraid to go for "No".

However, as most of U.S. books of such kind, it builds up a fancy methodology and attaches a catchy title (I think the title of the book is quite unfortunate) to some essentially simple truths.

Review: First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Probably the best management book I have read. Its message is quite simple but powerful: treat everyone individually. Great managers find individual talents and focus on giving an opportunity to develop these talents - they don't waste time on trying to fix weaknesses. Great managers "let people be more of what they are".

The fact that the book is based on many years of research data add to the credibility of this powerful message - and distinguishes it from many other self-help business books with catchy titles.

Impressions from Copenhagen and East England

I have recently had a chance to visit Copenhagen (Denmark) and three cities in the East England (Norwich, Cambridge and Hatfield).

Copenhagen: as the last time I was there, I was most impressed by how much of a paradise for cyclists this city is. Bicycles and cars co-exist very well. Thanks to the fact that so many people ride bicycles every day, there is less digestion, less noise pollution and less traffic jams in the city - a true win-win situation (also for the car drivers who get quicker to where they have to).

Copenhagen | CC Deniss R. Ojastu 2013

With its vast park areas, interesting modern architecture, appealing culture and well functioning business environment, Copenhagen is definitely one of the cities I could imagine myself living for a longer period.

Copenhagen | CC Deniss R. Ojastu 2013

East England: as could be expected from the UK, the weather was mostly cloudy with the light rain showers time-to-time. Nevertheless, it was great to visit three different smaller towns in the UK. Not a big fan of large cities like London, I was enjoying walking down the medieval streets of Norwich and Cambridge.

Norwich | CC Deniss R. Ojastu 2013

Extremely polite Englishmen, beautiful English language, centuries-old buildings of the University of Cambridge - as well as some interesting professional insights I've got from this trip - those are perhaps the highlights of my second visit to England.

Part of the main building of the University of Cambridge  | CC Deniss R. Ojastu 2013

Some day, I would like to visit more of the historical English towns - travelling around the country and staying in the different classical hotels like this time.

Review: Smashing UX Design: Foundations for Designing Online User Experiences

Smashing UX Design: Foundations for Designing Online User Experiences by Andrew Maier

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It is a well-structured book which goes step-by-step through all the major techniques for designing a good user experience for the Web sites. I picked up several interesting methods on working with clients and on designing different parts of the Web experience (navigation, forms, search etc). I very much agree with the general philosophy the book is conveying as well.

On the other hand, it could have been shorter - many things seem rather trivial and, at times, repetitive. The chapters have too many sub-chapters with the same structure. In addition, the book focuses pretty much on solely designing Web shops - there could have been more variety in the examples and (a lot to wish from UX book perhaps) anything on designing Web experience for professional users (corporate interfaces).

Participating in "Teeme ära 2013"

I am...

...a proud participant of the country-wide day "Teeme ära 2013" ("Let's Do It" 2013) which took place yesterday. I was one of around 32.000 people all around Estonia who contributed on a voluntary basis to cleaning their communities from garbage and litter.

My wife and me have helped to clean up  the small beach (Kalarand) next to the community we live in Tallinn. The sunny day and the emotional support of dozens of other volunteers (including many kids) - that helped to make us feel really good about what we did :)

Cleaning Kalarand 04/05/2013 | Courtesy of http://telliskiviselts.info

Review: Entrepreneurship: Successfully Launching New Ventures

Entrepreneurship: Successfully Launching New Ventures by Bruce R. Barringer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Among three different university textbooks on entrepreneurship that I read this one is definitely the best one. I use it most in my teaching tenure. Clear structure and language, logical build-up of chapters and topics, good illustrating case studies and examples of real companies.

It's pity that it is still very much US-focused, although being an international edition.

Sangar - a good customer experience

In general, I don't like shopping. And especially shopping for clothes. But recently I had one very good experience with buying a shirt. I ordered a tailor-made shirt from Sangar, an Estonian company.

Reasonable price, very good service (not an obvious thing in Estonia) and - most importantly - very good result. Now I have got a shirt made by Estonian masters within three weeks from ordering which totally suits me (it is often hard to find well-sitting clothes for a rather tall and rather thin guy like me).

I hope companies like Sangar will develop and grow internationally more and more. Maybe in the the future it will get to the same level where Eton and Stenströms are now?

Review: Specification by Example: How Successful Teams Deliver the Right Software

Specification by Example: How Successful Teams Deliver the Right Software by Gojko Adzic

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A book on how to create and deliver software which is (a) quality; (b) what is needed; (c) not more than needed. One way to achieve that is needs and requirements specification together with clients. In addition, using different examples illustrating what software is supposed to do.

Capturing needs, not scripts - that is probably one of the most important messages from the book.

All in all, there are very good ideas and practices presented (many of them are still ahead of their time), albeit in somewhat preaching mode. Sometimes, the book becomes repetitive - and quotes from different teams often do not add additional value. I would also like to have read more concrete examples - on both requirements as well as the programming code itself. Otherwise, recommended to software analysts, developers and IT managers interested in (improving) software quality.