Some of the clients I work with have a very collaborative culture. Decisions are always run past all interested parties and buy-in is required from everyone.

The people in charge set the general direction but not how to do it.

I prefer to work for (and with) companies that are like that because, well, my opinion counts! Having the people who know the work the best make the decisions makes the most sense. People appreciate the autonomy and the trust that management place in them.

• Why the world needs introverts – “Introverts living under the Extrovert Ideal are like women in a man’s world, discounted because of a trait that goes to the core of who they are.”
• Rubber Duck Problem Solving – Asking the question often gets you to the answer. I should know… nearly 20k reputation on Stack Overflow but less than a dozen questions asked!
• A TED speaker’s worst nightmare – This is brilliant.

• Pope merchandise – “The pope is visiting the UK soon, and the merchandise is already on sale, but it’s rubbish. This week’s challenge is to show the Vatican what they should be selling to mark the occasion. God will be delighted.” (via @bengoldacre)
• The Creativity Crisis – “The age-old belief that the arts have a special claim to creativity is unfounded.” It’s always bugged me when people refer to ’the creatives’ when talking about designers or artists. This is why! But back to the article… it’s interesting that you can “teach” or at least encourage creativity.

• On Apple suing HTC – Like many people, I just don’t see Apple’s actions here being very constructive. Seems like a waste of money and good will.
• Curiosity – “Curiosity is one of the most underrated phenomena in the world. It’s ironic that people aren’t more curious about curiosity. It’s a powerful thing.”

• News Corp to Offer Plaid Stamps! – “Giving Murdoch the benefit of the doubt, then, I’m guessing he simply doesn’t mean what he said. Perhaps he just wanted to sow a little confusion, get some publicity and maybe a concession or two from Google.”
• The night the Berlin Wall fell – “For me it was that rare occasion when a story was unqualified good news. After years watching the way communism was practised, I felt no need to mourn its collapse. Whatever came next had to be better.” Twenty years since the fall of the Berlin wall.
• OMG Ponies!!! (Aka Humanity: Epic Fail) – “The real world has failed us. It has concentrated on local simplicity, leading to global complexity. It’s easy to organise a meeting if everyone is in the same time zone – but once you get different continents involved, invariably people get confused. It’s easy to get writing to work uniformly left to right or uniformly right to left – but if you’ve got a mixture, it becomes really hard to keep track of. The diversity which makes humanity such an interesting species is the curse of computing.”

• Battle between ZX Spectrum and BBC Micro to be BBC4 comedy drama – This looks like it could be fun. I especially like some of the comments after the article. The Spectrum vs. Commode 64 [sic] debate still rages to this day…
• Materials: The HTC Hero’s Teflon Coating Makes the iPhone Feel Like Junk – iPhone 3G – One thing that’s holding me back from getting a 3GS is the plastic back. I much prefer the aluminium from the first gen model.
• The blue and the green – “Your eyes are not cameras faithfully taking pictures of absolute truth of all that surrounds you. They have filters, and your brain has to interpret the jangled mess it gets fed.” A very neat optical illusion.

• Confessions of an Introverted Traveller – “We introverts have a different style of travel, and I’m tired of hiding it.”
• Towel Day – Celebrating the life and work of Douglas Adams – Do you have your towel with you today?
• Jews: No Jesus, No Reason, Just Whining; They’re Motivated by Anger and Boohoo Victimhood – “Now… if I actually believed that, I’d be called every name in the book. And rightfully so. Those are ignorant, bigoted, hateful remarks. They’re also wildly stereotypical and extremely inaccurate. When Charlotte Allen says the exact same things about atheists, however, she gets published in the Los Angeles Times.”

• Coming to an ID Card Near You: Your DNA – “Can there be any doubt that the UK government will, at some point, try to add DNA to the other biometrics on the card?” Scary stuff.
• How to spot a hidden religious agenda – Apparently this article was pulled from the New Scientist website shortly after it was published which is a bid odd as there’s nothing scientifically objectionable.
• Tea really does taste better from your favourite cup – “Your daily brew tastes better from your favourite mug.”

• Ryanair’s New Emergency Instructions Could Be Real One Day – Funny. Though we probably shouldn’t give them ideas.
• Liberal Democrats – Freedom Bill 2009 – I didn’t hear about this first time around, but it sounds like a good idea. As one of the commenters noted, even if it doesn’t go anywhere it might make the Government justify why these laws are needed when there are perfectly good, less draconian one already in place.
• Among the Inept, Researchers Discover, Ignorance Is Bliss – “People who do things badly … are usually supremely confident of their abilities — more confident, in fact, than people who do things well.” I can’t actually remember how I stumbled across this link any more, but it makes fascinating reading. Does kind of make you a little paranoid, though.
• 10 Geeky Tricks for Getting Out of Bed in the Morning – I should probably read this more closely when I’m properly awake. I’m getting worse and worse at getting up in the morning…