Thoughts In Grey

Project Management Nazis

Got the following email this morning from the Project Management Institute. For those who don't know, PMI is an organization of project managers, though in recent years, it's become clear to me that the focus of the organization has shifted toward extracting as much money as possible from project managers by offering a more and more elaborate scheme of certifications and sub-certifications most of which seem fairly irrelevant to 90+% of businesses, including the vast bulk of those who don't do government business and aren't subject to ridiculous government acquisition rules. (It is no mystery to me that PMI is Washington based and the most heavy users of their stuff tend to be in the defense establishment. You know, those people who always deliver 10 years late and 5x over budget but claim the program was successful because the changes were approved along the way...)

But I digress.

PMI has a new brand. Unlike most normal organizations, they can't just say, "we have a new branding statement" or even "we have a new slogan." PMI has instead developed a new "branding standard." That makes it sound much more official. Left to these guys, my cat would need to follow a "daily tongue-based coat self-cleansing and beautification standard." That would make the regular licking of her backside seem so much more important. So much for using clear simple language and avoiding jargon with this group. 

Apparently, this new "brand standard" states that as a member I am supposedly: "Precise and creative. Organized and passionate. Disciplined with urgency."

Not only that, but they seem to feel that a nice little exercise in nazi-style conformity is called for. I am supposed to "engage in this leading community of more than a half a million: by posting to my social media site the following:

I am precise and creative, organized and passionate. As a PMI affiliate, I make project management indispensable for business results.

I just bought an iPod nano -- the old one

My reason is actually simple. While the new iPod nano looks really nice and the touch-screen capability certainly cool, it lacks something I often want: tactile feel.

This is something that Apple has ignored in their rush towards touch-screen everything. For example, those of us who type seriously -- even just for email -- want to be able to feel the keyboard without having to look at it. Yes, even on a tablet-type device.

Those of us who use iPods in our cars want to be able to do basic stuff without looking at a graphics-intensive screen and taking our eyes off the road. This is one of the reasons I'm still using my 2nd generation nano even while I also have much of the same music on my iPhone. True, I still need to look at the nano screen to do some things, but for basics like advancing to the next track, being able to touch the clickwheel without looking at it is a major advantage.

Apple would probably reply that the new Shuffle does that nicely, and that's partially true. But the Shuffle is a pretty limiting device. It has only 2GB of capacity and no facility for docking it to my stereo, or for that matter even hooking it up to my car stereo (which has a USB port), let alone a "line out" connection for my stereo at home, all of which are places where I may at times want to hook it up.

My old 8GB nano is getting a bit long in the tooth and battery life isn't what it once was. I decided it's time to get a 16GB nano (previous version) to keep me going for a few more years. Eventually maybe I'll learn to control my iPod through the steering wheel-based car stereo controls, which I know is an option, but for now I'll still have my trusty clickwheel to run things without taking my eyes off the road.