Find the Actual Question
In life and in software development, what is the actual need behind what you’re doing? Are you asking the right questions?
In life and in software development, what is the actual need behind what you’re doing? Are you asking the right questions?
Keeping users’ needs in mind, rather than coming in with our own ideas and assumptions, results in better tech and better outcomes.
Our World Cup API is back for 2018, scraping soccer match data to feed to apps, websites, and integrations around the world.
Software for Good is officially in a new space and entering a new phase of our company. We invite you to embrace change with us and see what’s next.
As spring (eventually) comes to Minnesota, we’ll be moving to a new home! Software for Good is joining fellow public benefit corporations and social entrepreneurs in the brand-new Finnegans House space in east downtown Minneapolis, sharing space with Impact Hub MSP and the Finnovation Lab incubator. The new development is home to Finnegans’ brewery and … Continued
Sometimes we make commitments to things — people, projects, good habits, new thought patterns or styles of relating, and somewhere down the line it becomes much harder than we expected. We no longer have the belief that we can do this thing, yet we have the commitment. It’s easy to want to hide, procrastinate, focus on … Continued
Sometimes, we end up put on the spot to deliver something that we didn’t know we needed to deliver or quite how to deliver it. There’s an urge to run away, or procrastinate, or just plain say no. This week when those unexpected questions or requests come at you, improvise! Instead of panicking, take a … Continued
Throughout history, printed documents often included blank pages near the end with “This page intentionally left blank.” There are many reasons why early publishers maintained this practice. For some, this empty space provided test takers a place to take notes. For others, it created a even page numbered document that could more easily be printed. … Continued
The degree of accuracy with which scientists can predict when, and precisely where, a total solar eclipse will occur is amazing to me. After many years of using the scientific method, testing hypothesis, proving (or not) and learning, they’ve revealed many of the once mysteries of the universe are quite easily explained phenomena. I also … Continued
Technology moves fast. As technologists, we constantly push ourselves beyond our comfort zones to stay up on the latest tech thing. It’s not an easy task, but we are happy to do it because we know the extra effort will make us, and our work, better. As humans, however, we often find ourselves reluctant to move … Continued
Welcoming the stranger. It’s a topic and commandment found in nearly every faith tradition—including the Abrahamic traditions of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. (We don’t often talk about our faith on this blog, but I’m proud to say we’re a diverse bunch at Software for Good, from staunch atheists to deeply reflective Christians). Historically, the United … Continued
This week, I’m calling to attention a terrifying and very specific form of abuse called gaslighting. Adopted from the title of the 1938 play Gas Light, gaslighting describes psychological abuse where a victim is manipulated into doubting their own memory or perception of an event—often leading them to question their own sanity. Wikipedia has this to say: Sociopaths … Continued
There is a moment that I think everyone has shared, though it’s not often spoken of in our day-to-day work. There is a moment that can come, sometimes quite unexpectedly, when one is radically honest. (Not brutally honest, for true honesty has nothing to do with brutality, but only to do with vulnerability.) It can … Continued