Author Archives: Skip Walter

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About Skip Walter

Retired software executive, ardent book reader. Enjoying slow travel, learning to cook, and searching for fine wine growing. Grandfather, husband, father, brother. Recorder of Seattle sunrises. Voting blue.đź’™

User Experience Research

Posted on December 17, 2011 by Skip Walter

One of the challenges for professionals who decide they want to change jobs is to demonstrate that they have competence in the new discipline through the capabilities they developed in their previous discipline. A year ago, my daughter decided that she … Continue reading →

Posted in Knowledge Management, social networking, User Experience, WUKID | Leave a comment

Amazon Fire

Posted on December 17, 2011 by Skip Walter

Great Price.  Overall, a disappointment. Over the years, I have bought every variant of the Amazon Kindle.  On the other hand, once the Kindle app was on the iPad I switched all my reading to the iPad and gave away … Continue reading →

Posted in Amazon Kindle, ebook, iPad | Leave a comment

Working in Teams – Part 2

Posted on December 17, 2011 by Skip Walter

While I was at Aldus (now Adobe), we worked with an organizational consultant (Bob Crosby) to improve our organizational effectiveness.  One of the better tools that Bob brought to the organization was the Ask and Tell process for transitioning between … Continue reading →

Posted in organizing, Working in teams | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Working in Teams – Part 1

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Skip Walter

Over the years of managing and teaching, we regularly have to form teams to get something done.  Most of the time we just do it, rather than being intentional about it. When I am at my best, I remember to … Continue reading →

Posted in Ask and Tell, organizing, Working in teams | 3 Comments

Kids Say the Darnedest Things

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Skip Walter

As I was writing a previous blog about Russ Ackoff, I remembered the many wonderful interactions I had with Russ. While we were working on the Idealized Design of the University, Russ and three of his graduate students came up … Continue reading →

Posted in Idealized Design, Russ Ackoff | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Russ Ackoff on An Idealized Design for a University

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Skip Walter

In 1986, while managing Digital Equipment Corporation’s ALL-IN-1 $1B per year office automation development efforts, a colleague sent me a copy of Russ Ackoff’s Creating the Corporate Future (1981).  To paraphrase Russ’s famous introductory lectures on how he came across … Continue reading →

Posted in Idealized Design, Russ Ackoff, University | Tagged , , , | 21 Comments

Lunch with Allen Shoup

Posted on February 4, 2010 by Skip Walter

One of the delights of the ZINO Society is brightening up a dreary, rainy January day with a great speaker, great food, and networking at an intimate KEYNotable luncheon.  Twelve of us gathered at the John Howie Steak restaurant in … Continue reading →

Posted in Learning, Wine | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Social Networking and Organizing

Posted on May 26, 2008 by Skip Walter

One of my favorite pundits on community, social networking and the Internet is Clay Shirky. He hasn’t been active in his blogs lately probably because he was writing this book. It is a quick read and captures in one place … Continue reading →

Posted in Clay Shirky, organizing, social networking | Leave a comment

Spiral Wine Cellars – The Journey Begins

Posted on January 9, 2008 by Skip Walter

My wife Jamie shouted down to me in my home office on a lazy Sunday morning “Skip, did you see the Sunday Seattle Times magazine section on the wine cellars?” “Nope. Sure didn’t. Why? Should I have?” I answered. “Take … Continue reading →

Posted in Wine | 5 Comments

Computing Utility – the Next Big Thing?

Posted on January 4, 2008 by Skip Walter

The recent cover article in Business Week about Google becoming the foremost computing utility reminded me of an article by David Warsh in the Boston Globe circa 1990 as he described research by Paul A. David, a Stanford Economist. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Big Data, Paul David | Leave a comment