Do low / no code tools mean the the demise of developers?

No. I think that low / no code tools will mostly be used at the front-end, by power end-users, for tasks such as creating custom reports and configuring menus.  The applications and back-end infrastructure will still depend on modern programming languages and experienced developers, because low/no code tools will not be fast enough and robust enough to scale and handle security.

© 2022 Praveen Puri

$1000 Photo By Any Other Name...

Today's Wall Street Journal had an article about how some professionals pay $1,000+ for professional headshots for bios and linkedIn.

It quoted one photographer who charges $1500: "I'm not a photographer per se. I consider myself a facial-conveyance strategist."

© 2022 Praveen Puri

Book Marketing Lessons from TikTok #BookTok

According to the NY Times, TikTok 's #BookTok has become a driving force for bestsellers, especially in the adult fiction category.

Here's the interesting part of the article:

"The most popular videos don’t generally offer information about the book’s author, the writing or even the plot, the way a traditional review does. Instead, readers speak plainly about the emotional journey a book will offer."

I think this is one of the key, general principles for marketing in today's Attention Scarcity Age.  It transcends the specificity of books and TikTok, and can be applied to any product/service, or platform.

People are overwhelmed and don't need more facts or information.  They want an emotional connection, and want to know the payoff from the book. 

Bias in AI?

AI itself isn't biased, since it doesn't really have consciousness and judgement. It just uses data. 

It goes without saying that we need to avoid feeding it biased data but, even accurate data can lead to conclusions we don't want. For example, if there aren't a lot of minority or women candidates in a certain tech field, the AI might conclude that it's an undesirable trait.

To counter that, we might actually have to add bias into the system. For example, pre-add weight for underrepresented groups in tech. I guess, sort of how bookmakers set odds so that all bets don't just go to the favored sports team.

© 2022 Praveen Puri

Arming Teachers?

I'm not saying it's the best way but, if a local government insists on arming teachers, I think they shouldn't do it haphazardly:

1. Choose a body, such as the state police, to design and run the program.

2. A small group of volunteers from teachers/staff are vetted and receive special training.

3. The state police are responsible for maintaining the guns, which are secured in certain locations of the school, along with a bright ID vest which identifies them to students and responding police.

4. At any time, some of the volunteers are "on call" and have keys.

© 2022 Praveen Puri

Unnecessary Tech: Digital License Plates

Example of an unnecessary tech product looking for a market:  Michigan has become the latest state to approve Reviver digital car plates.  

Today, you have simple metal plates. You pay a yearly fee and you get a yearly sticker to put on. Simple.

With this, you get a digital display that has toxic substances, uses power, you need to also pay a monthly subscription to the company, they can display messages, and you can be tracked. Not to mention, what if it gets hacked?

So, for an investment of time and money, you get an environmentally unfriendly, more complicated, security risk that duplicates the low tech you currently have. That's not Strategic Simplicity® .

© 2022 Praveen Puri

Bumble Bees are fish!

I saw an article in today's WSJ that, in CA, farmers sued to block bumble bees from being added to the state's endangered species list because it just covers "bird, mammal, fish, amphibia, or reptile."  

Well, the fish and game commission appealed and a state appeals court ruled that bumble bees qualify as "fish" under the CA legislation's legal definition of fish, which is very vague (basically, no backbone).  

You can't make this stuff up!

© 2022 Praveen Puri