"When everybody zigs, zag," says Marty Neumeier in this fresh view of brand strategy. ZAG follows the ultra-clear "whiteboard overview" style of the author’s first book, THE BRAND GAP, but drills deeper into the question of how brands can harness the power of differentiation. The author argues that in an extremely cluttered marketplace, traditional differentiation is no longer enough—today companies need “radical differentiation” to create lasting value for their shareholders and customers. In an entertaining 3-hour read you’ll learn:- why me-too brands are doomed to fail- how to "read" customer feedback on new products and messages- the 17 steps for designing “difference” into your brand- how to turn your brand’s “onliness” into a “trueline” to drive synergy- the secrets of naming products, services, and companies- the four deadly dangers faced by brand portfolios- how to “stretch” your brand without breaking it- how to succeed at all three stages of the competition cycleFrom the back cover:In an age of me-too products and instant communications, keeping up with the competition is no longer a winning strategy. Today you have to out-position, out-maneuver, and out-design the competition. The new rule? When everybody zigs, zag. In his first book, THE BRAND GAP, Neumeier showed companies how to bridge the distance between business strategy and design. In ZAG, he illustrates the number-one strategy of high-performance brands—radical differentiation.ZAG is an AIGA Design Press book, published under Peachpit's New Riders imprint in partnership with AIGA. For a quick peek inside ZAG, go to www.zagbook.com.

"The computer world is like an intellectual Wild West, in which you can shoot anyone you wish with your ideas, if you're willing to risk the consequences. " --from Hackers&Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age, by Paul Graham We are living in the computer age, in a world increasingly designed and engineered by computer programmers and software designers, by people who call themselves hackers. Who are these people, what motivates them, and why should you care? Consider these facts: Everything around us is turning into computers. Your typewriter is gone, replaced by a computer. Your phone has turned into a computer. So has your camera. Soon your TV will. Your car was not only designed on computers, but has more processing power in it than a room-sized mainframe did in 1970. Letters, encyclopedias, newspapers, and even your local store are being replaced by the Internet. Hackers&Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age, by Paul Graham, explains this world and the motivations of the people who occupy it. In clear, thoughtful prose that draws on illuminating historical examples, Graham takes readers on an unflinching exploration into what he calls "an intellectual Wild West." The ideas discussed in this book will have a powerful and lasting impact on how we think, how we work, how we develop technology, and how we live. Topics include the importance of beauty in software design, how to make wealth, heresy and free speech, the programming language renaissance, the open-source movement, digital design, internet startups, and more.

Launch your career in construction management with this one-of-a-kind bookThe construction management industry is expected to increase employment by 16 percent over the next decade. This second edition of a bestselling introduction to construction management walks you through each stage of the construction management process.Written from the constructor's perspective, this book will familiarize you with all the construction management fundamentals and how Building Information Modeling (BIM) is impacting the construction management profession.Covers interoperability of technology advances in the construction industryExplains how BIM is challenging the traditional approach to project delivery and how this affects the constructor's roleElaborates each stage of the design and construction process and the tasks associated with each of themShows step-by-step how to estimate project costs, administer contracts, manage job site and construction operations, plan and schedule a project, monitor project performance, manage project quality and safety, and assess project risksProvides review questions at the end of each chapter to help enforce understandingThe tried-and-true project management principles presented in this book will help ensure you a successful start to your career.

Business Architecture is a disciplined approach to creating and maintaining business models that enhance enterprise accountabilities and improve decision-making. Business Architecture's value proposition, unlike other disciplines, is to increase organizational effectiveness by mapping and modeling the business to the organization's business vision and strategic goals. The book is an introduction to this burgeoning new field. It explains what Business Architecture is, what a good, sustainable one should include, and explains how to implement a business architecture practically within the reader's environment. Extensive examples and case studies are included to clarify points and demonstrate clearly to the reader how they too can begin to build business architecture within their organization.

Without careful planning, organizations often do not survive major interruptions in the operation of their business. The "Disaster Recovery Handbook" gives readers proven processes and techniques to develop a disaster recovery plan and protect their organization in the face of extraordinary circumstances. Featuring a CD-ROM with templates for a project plan, contact database, risk assessment scoresheets, and more, the book gives detailed instructions for assembling a recovery team, building an interim plan, setting up an emergency operations center and recovering vital records.

Your complete guide to building your information technology career in any economy   The IT Career Builder’s Toolkit  features market-focused skills and proven methods you can use to jump-start and advance your career. While other books cover just the mechanics of preparing your résumé, writing a cover letter, and interviewing, this book provides all that plus additional insight from IT career development expert, Matt Moran, to help you plan and create a rewarding IT career over the long term.   The toolkit approach allows you to use this book to suit your unique needs: Are you new to the IT field? Benefit by reading the book cover to cover. Just need to fine-tune your IT career? Choose a topic and dive in. Understand and prepare for the various and changing factors that affect your career in both positive and negative ways. Learn how to Present the value of your technical skills in the job market Position yourself as the primary commodity of your career Remove the guesswork out of job searches Highlight on-the-job skills and gain meaningful professional exposure  The companion CD-ROM includes career management tools such as résumé and cover letter templates, forms to track important contacts, and self-assessment tools. Start or further your consulting career with sample proposals, opportunity tracking forms, and a time-tracking and billing database. Financial tools, including budget and cash-flow summary worksheets, help you gain financial well-being. Use the Value-Added Technologist presentation to gain a clear understanding of the career-building process and how to use the toolkit to build a dynamic career.   Most of all, have fun! Every year, people advance along the path to career stardom. Let Matt help you to be one of them through his career philosophy “Do not accept mediocrity as a career objective–demand more of yourself.”   “I want you to see the [toolkit] techniques as one more set of skills to adopt in your overall career development program. They are skills, just like your technical skills, that you will use daily during your career. Just as you adopt new technical skills, use the toolkit to define those soft skills that you must learn and put to use. The result will be a more well-rounded and complete professional skill-set.” ~ Matthew Moran, from the Introduction   Companion CD-ROM The CD-ROM contains valuable tools, forms, spreadsheets, and documents that work with the Toolkit to help you master key areas of your career development.    

A collection of interviews that probe the minds of 20 of the most notable programmers. They highlight the forces, events and the personality traits that influenced today's software movers and shakers - how they approach design, is it a talent?, and how they see the future. Among the interviewees are Andy Hertzfield (Macintosh Operating System), John Warnock (Postscript) and C. Wayne Ratcliff (dBASE).

Under today’s shortened fiscal horizons and contracted time-to-market schedules, traditional approaches to capacity planning are seen by management as inflating production schedules. In the face of relentless pressure to get things done faster, this book facilitates rapid forecasting of capacity requirements, based on opportunistic use of available performance data and tools so that management insight is expanded but production schedules are not. The book introduces such concepts as an iterative cycle of improvement called "The Wheel of Capacity Planning," and Virtual Load Testing, which provides a highly cost-effective method for assessing application scalability.

As a techie, you're a special breed, with special challenges facing you in the job search. Your competition is smart, tech-savvy, and highly resourceful. Expectations among employers are higher. Your competition will run you over if you're not up to the challenge. Land the Tech Job You Love gives you the background, the skills, and the hard-won wisdom to bypass the mistakes of those who don't prepare. You might not think you need this book. Conventional Wisdom has it that finding a job is simple: send some resumes, go on some interviews, and take the offer that sounds best. But that's only the start. You've got the background and skills to work the Web and other resources that the general job seeker doesn't. This book shows you how to take advantage of those skills or be left behind by competing techies who do. It all starts with an examination of you, your strengths, and where you want your career to take you. Without a roadmap, you'll wind up in any old job. Life's too short to spend in a job that you don't love. From there, you'll see how to find the job you want that fits you and the employer, using your technical and web savvy to find the hidden jobs that never make it into the classifieds or Monster. "Marketing" is not a dirty word, and you'll learn how to present yourself, your skills, and your background in the way that shows the hiring company that you're the right person for the job. Create a resume that tosses out conventional wisdom, write cover letters that sell your background, and assemble a portfolio of work that will wow the interviewer. Social networking has been the darling of the Web in the past few years, but it's no substitute for the sort of personal interaction that makes relationships that help in future careers. As one manager said, "One recommendation is worth a million resumes." This book shows you how to make and maintain the connections that will drive your future career moves.Land the Tech Job You Love pulls no punches and lays out the details for what gets you an interview, and gets you hired in a job in the technical world that makes you happy.

This valuable resource focuses on what professional wedding photographers need to do to stay competitive and continue winning new assignments, despite an array of challenges. Though wedding budgets are often subject to cuts, photographers will learn how to finesse their operations, improve their marketing, and convert client contacts into reliable job streams. By running a lean business with few excess costs, this step-by-step guide lays out how wedding photographers can draw attention to their studio, generate demand, and create a brand that complements and promotes their unique vision. Included are tips for improving search-engine optimization, marketing, pricing, packaging, and contracts to enable aspiring and experienced professionals alike to follow their passions to success.