wiggity

As a San Antonio resident, tech industry worker, and optimist about the city's future tech relevance, this is sadly representative of the growing pains we have to overcome. NIMBY, sure, but also simple ignorance about how important this could be, and how some huge the returns could be on such small sacrifices.

Efforts to expand the city's tech scene [1, 2, 3] and a significant tech industry driven by notable employers [4, 5, 6, 7] are too often offset by middle-child syndrome among SA's TX peer cities, and misguided conservatism about preserving aspects of the city very few people would miss. Generally speaking, the city is sprawling and not particularly scenic, and I could name 50 eye-sores worse than a few equipment shelters.

There's no reason we couldn't eventually share in and augment Austin's cachet, both cultural and technological (we're already trending towards a south-Texas megalopolis), but we'll have to embrace our strengths and cast off some of these provincial weaknesses.

Crossing my fingers.

1. https://www.satechbloc.com/

2. http://buildsecfoundry.com/

3. http://geekdom.com/

4. https://www.usaa.com/

5. https://www.rackspace.com/

6. http://www.24af.af.mil/

7. https://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic-centers/texas/

We've been using the preview for a few weeks, and while it's nice to have an in-built option for lightweight planning, Planner still pretty rough around the edges.

It's missing features one might expect from something tied into 365 (of course subjective):

1. Weak outlook integration (e.g., can't send a card as a task, email, or calendar invite)

2. Weak sharepoint integration (e.g., can't browse for links to attachments). It supports onedrive, but just for the logged in user.

3. Limited (read: one) reporting or charting options. Maybe Gantts are a bridge too far, but there are many useful visualizations beyond who has outstanding tasks.

4. Can't move cards to new boards (just new buckets)

5. Can't clone/copy cards

And it's just plain buggy:

1. Many links aren't actually links, but rather click handlers on divs, breaking common UI like "right-click, open in new tab".

2. Icons and previews have busted caching behavior, whereby "correct" icons show for a while (sometimes seconds) before being replaced with old versions

3. Cards will duplicate or disappear while editing, usually fixed with a refresh

4. and cetera.

There's potential for new features leveraging the 365 ecosystem, but its as yet unrealized, and it has a long way to go before matching its most obvious competitors in polish (UI and code quality, not necessarily style).

I found Bret Victor's "What can a technologist do about climate change" (http://worrydream.com/ClimateChange/) a refreshingly action-oriented exploration of your question ("but what?"). Its interactivity and richness of presentation are icing on the cake.

Incidentally, one can imagine a parallel message of informed empowerment to address the dark sides of OP's UI "mind hijacks."

I worked with my organization's leadership development team for the past few years, here are two recommendations to get you started:

the leadership challenge by kouzes and posner (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008DM2MK8) - the canonical book on business leadership, well worth the investment. it's research-driven and full of case studies and examples; many MBA programs will teach an entire semester on this bad boy. not much to say here that isn't in the reviews.

it's okay to be the boss by bruce tulgan (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0061121363) - if the leadership challenge feels a little too high-brow or abstract ('transformational vs. transactional,' in leadership jargon), this little book can scratch the itch for tactical management tips. tulgan can seem a bit directive and simplistic at times, and his advice may not fit with every organizational culture, but he's a savvy student of organizational leadership, and a quick read.

leadership, especially in a remote environment, isn't trivial - congratulations on being willing to invest in this skill. best of luck.

this advice is pertinent even within excel, especially for those who rely on any of its summary features (pivot charts, data analysis, etc). essentially an illustration of the benefits of separating content from presentation.