Banff, Canada

Dem Pilafian

San Francisco Bay Area

I'm a software product manager. In my free time, I contribute to the Snap Backup open source project, blog at techdem, and work on my tree garden.

Pilafian Bio

Master of Engineering, Computer Science, University of Colorado (masters project: web based, object-oriented workflow system written in Java).
Bachelor of Science, Computer Science, Arizona State University.
Past Sr. Product Manager at Model N, Product Manager at Open Terracotta, Product Manager at Selectica, Mentor at TogetherSoft, Product Manager at Calico Commerce, Marketing Engineer at Rational Software, and Software Engineer at Honeywell.
Panel Expert at Epicentric Summit and Technology Crossroads conferences.
Speaker on "Metric-Driven Refactoring", Silicon Valley Java Users Group
Speaker on "Software Remodeling", Worldwide WebSphere User Group, Phoenix
Co-author of "MD-11 Aircraft Alerting Function", Scientific Honeyweller.
First Aid and CPR instructor, American Red Cross. Special Citation for Exceptional Volunteer Service, American Red Cross. Past member Advisory Council, Boulder County Branch of the American Red Cross. Past Disaster Action Team captain, American Red Cross.

Web Sites and Pages I Developed

DSI, PERFECT, Bare Bones, Mac Java!, Switcher, Color, Hello World, BayAreaForObama.com, SF4Obama.com, Real Estate, Horizon Pictures, Ski Movie, Wilson, Mr. Swick, and Pilafian Web.

How to Reach Me...

Personal

Dem Pilafian
Box 21
San Carlos, CA 94070 USA

phone

650/315-3500
email

dem* (pilafian.com)
web

www.pilafian.com/dem

^* To prevent spam, these e-mail addresses are listed separate from their domain. Append the domain to the e-mail name to create the full e-mail address.

Messages and Comments

Dem's Rules

In the Pursuit of Productivity...

• 3 keys to working better with other people: Listen, Listen, Listen •
• Artificial deadlines impose unnecessary inefficiencies •
• A good software engineer can write quality code more quickly than hack code •
• Document and comment software thoroughly -- not verbosely •
• Effective teams communicate well, but work is still done by individuals •
• Even in a serious business, a sense of humor can be profitable •
• Get the basic sales pitch down solid first, then customize •
• Great people have strong egos, not big egos •
• If you can't get the UI right, close up shop •
• If you don't like it, change it •
• If you are not sure why you are doing it, why are you doing it? •
• If you are not happy with it, will your customers be happy with it? •
• If it is not concise, it's wrong •
• Irreplaceable means unpromotable •
• Keep working groups small -- avoid death by committee •
• Knowledge of who to ask is no less powerful than firsthand knowledge •
• Mentoring is the exponential use of knowledge •
• No matter how compelling the technology, it cannot be sold with an uncompelling story •
• One should not talk in meetings just to hear his or her own voice •
• Quality is driven by an obsession to detail •
• Results trump effort -- reward accordingly •
• Simplicity is quality •
• Repeatable, lightweight processes are the expressways of quality •
• The Grand Illusion: It takes more time to code good software than bad software •
• Judge employees by their results not how many hours they work •
• Judge employees by how well they make their co-workers look not how well they make themselves look •
• Judge employees by how may problems they prevent not how many they solve  •