used to think more-or-less the same thing: antiviruses are unneeded resource hogs...
until I connected my laptop to the network at school.
I didn't notice anything strange until a month later when I reinstalled WinXP (was doing it regularly for speed).
My mistake was that I installed Winamp and other software from kits on a shared folder (full access for everybody) on my laptop, before installing the AV.
That's when all hell broke loose: the kits were injected by some virus and got activated only when were run
tl;dr: Thing is even "power-users" can get it wrong. Is it really worth it risk so much, for so little?
PS: referring here strictly to platforms that need AVs
I really miss the "mark as unread" contextual button, but even without it FeedDemon is by far the best RSS reader I have. (The premium version is worth the money).
Also, lately I see a lot of great lessons from "lone wolfs" like Nick (FeedDemon), Marco (Instapaper) and Mark (Pinboard).
> More generally, a technical product understanding just helps in communication. If the tech lead makes the decision to refactor the code, which leads to delays affecting the business, it's good to know why.
That's great! I'm interested mainly in these kind of benefits. Besides communication, how does it help your relationship with customers/team/partners?
If you work in a small team, especially a startup, knowing what’s going on and how your product works is valuable also to a non-technical business co-founder
Couldn't agree more! (especially for product people)
Can you give more specific details about how it helps you/the team? (no sarcasm here, I'm genuinely interested to understand this form the marketers' perspective)
1). any business will start to decline at some point, including you(rs). So cost cutting is a proven solution. You are not buying a business, you deliver a service
2). the whole point of hiring subcontractors is to reduce risk (in my opinion). You are an expert they want&get when they need, probably with some strict clauses.
3). agree that the request is pretty left-handed
Secondly, about negotiations:
Everybody likes to feel special or more exactly that they "won" something. Why not make them happy by giving them a 2-3% (negotiate) and ask for this a contact-commitment of minimum 20/30/50 hours/month. That way you also minimize your risk of looking for work.
If you do have too much work however, then you have the upper-hand in negotiations. Play it now!
No pun intended but finding out how to "do the business" after I already created it doesn't really bring much value. The article itself is called "10 Tips for Moving From Programmer to Entrepreneur" (i.e. how to do it, not what to do after)
Several points are hit here (some I said in a previous comment):
- get to know the customer (build MVP ...), see what they want, make a product not a Software Design masterpiece
- prioritize correctly (and oftentimes - especially after you built the product - the biz is more valuable)
Anyway, my experience is that even if one knows this theoretically, he will get it after the practical experience. Good luck building!
I think he is referring here to setting the priorities straight: focus on growing the business and what people want/appreciate; code only the most important part (the entrepreneur himself)
Also, this reminds me of the "nail it, then scale it" approach. Don't focus on scalability when you don't have customers.
By far, the best actionable resource I used. Google search for answers/explanations & theory