Outside Look

The Curse of Knowledge

I really enjoy stories about people who bring a completely outside perspective to what appears to be an intractable problem (and thus the name of the blog and consulting service). One of the things that I notice time and again, even in myself, is the 'curse of knowledge' - the tendency to lock in to a myopic view of a problem or industry, and stop looking for solutions outside the traditional box. It takes some effort and purposeful attention to get out of this view. I hate the phrase, but we...

Use Case for Decoupled Debit Cards

There has been a fair bit of buzz around decoupled debit products (here is a good write up with many good links from Digital Money Forum). I just haven't been able to figure out why people would take the time to get one. The points are a nice idea, but most people get those with a credit card, and more banks are beginning to offer points and rewards with their check cards. The user experience doesn't seem any different (I don't have one yet), it is a point of sale card that you use like any othe...

BarCamping

It's not what you think - not a bunch of people hanging around a bar, not is it going camping with lots of booze. BarCamps are informal conferences, without an agenda, loosely organized, and incredibly cool. For me, BarCamp Bank SF was my first BarCamp experience, and this is a little bit about that experience for those who haven't attended one. Since this was my first time, I didn't know what to expect beyond what I'd read on the BarCamp wiki and some blogs. At first blush, it seems that it ...