Farming

Farm Free Dictionary


1. A tract of land cultivated for the purpose of agricultural production.


v. farmed, farm·ing, farms
1. To cultivate or produce a crop on.


Phrasal Verb:
farm out
1. To send (work, for example) from a central point to be done elsewhere.


In a recent article in Forbes it talks about removing the Cubicle.  It is very surprising to me, that many organisations still use cubicles.
They (the companies) no doubtingly spend a huge amount of money on training, get a ways, and other ideas to stimulate communication and creativity, and yet, once back in the office, puts people back in pens as if they battery hens.
People respond better to natural light, and openness, this isn't rocket science (unless your from North Korea)

Fact vs Fiction

As a person, I normally dismiss anything, unless it can be backed up fact.  My wife can contest to this, as she is someone who reads the horoscope, and I, the science pages.
So, as I was just catching up on some news, I came across this.
It is to defend against Mary Shelley, and her hour of creation of Frankenstein.  I have to say, I do like it when science backs something up.
In the article is a link to another backed up piece of writing, one to Chaucer, and how science, yet again has proved that he could have been writing about about one of the earth's highest tides.
This is all well and good, until;

    Chaucer was known to have visited France several times in the 1360s and 1370s and must have been familiar with Brittany's dramatic tides. He was born in 1340 or early 1341 and as a grown man, the scientists argue, he would have certainly checked his horoscope.

Now, my point on this, is that, shouldn't scientists also check for facts?  Unless, theoretically, men certainly checked their horoscopes?

Maybe I should ask my wife to look up into the heavens for the answer. 

Call for ‘German approach’ to manufacturing - FT.com

Call for ‘German approach’ to manufacturing - FT.com:

Lets bring Manufacturing home.

As more and more countries move away from off-shoring, the UK needs to more to encourage home grown businesses.

Innovation comes from the producer - not from the customer.

So, it is with sad news that Steve Jobs has handed in his notice.

He is an exceptional leader and manager.

We wish all the best with his days on the board.

Shooting over to a colleague of mines' blog.  

In it, he writes about under and over audited clauses.

Always, an excellent read.

Time for Change

Well, last was exceedingly busy, hence the lack of posts on the blog.
This year, as with any other year, I shall try and maintain one, but I don't want it to be like diary, nor probably do I have the time to keep and frequent one too.  Yet, I shall try.


So, why post now?  Well, I've recently came across 2 great websites, that I think you should have a look at.

1. www.bleeko.com this is an excellent alternative, and probably smarter in terms of searching for what you want than some of it's bigger competitors.  It lets you search for exactly what you want.
2. www.quora.com is, as they say "A continually improving collection of questions and answers created, edited, and organized by everyone who uses it." 

So, that's it for my first post this year, let us all do something different this year, and build upon the quality of your corner stone.

How would you feel

About a company that has signs like this all over the place.

Now, I don't know about you, but I start to have doubts about their ability to do things right.

Okay, one could argue that it's not an English company, no, but the company is an International one, and has many 'foreign' managers in place.

I maybe pedantic but I feel that if a small error like this gets over looked, then what else is going wrong?

I've heard an argument that it's another companies responsibility to manage the facilities, (which is a foreign company) but ultimately, someone at this company must have responsibility with this company, and that responsibility isn't being taken seriously.

Quality starts everywhere, and everyone should have the responsibility in doing it's part.  For the good of the company, and for the it's customers

Tech Cars and Software

An excellent article to start the day off this morning, courtesy of The Economist.


It is well known that some software manufacturers release products full of errors but as the above article shows, they actually accept a low standard as the norm.

"Microsoft, for instance, reckons to find 10-20 defects per 1,000 lines of code during its in-house testing, and to whittle that down to 0.5 per 1,000 lines by the time the software is released to the public"


Still that represents a significant proportion of errors.
What (doesn't) surprise me though, is that companies such as this, still think it's okay to send out sub standard product, and that we the consumers have to accept it and have to pay full price for it.


I really do hope that other companies don't take this point of view.