Sounds like a funny thing to say considering I’m in that business. It’s just that I’m particular.

• I don’t want to be the guy holding the brush while you tell me where to paint. I want to be the guy painting something based on your stated goals and requirements.
• I can’t promise next day turnaround on every request. I can promise an organized process and reasonable time estimates.
• I can’t promise we’re the cheapest and I’m sure we are not. I can promise that we’re fair about our billing practices and usually go above and beyond what we bill.
• I can’t promise we’ll jump on every tech bandwagon. I can promise that we’re always testing new ideas and we’re open to new ideas.
• We won’t do everything you ask without question. We will always provide advice and guidance.

At the end of the day, we don’t want to deliver something we’re not proud of. eLocomotive isn’t here to turn the crank. Some people are looking for that. They need someone else.

Those that want to excel; that want advice; that are willing to take advice; They need us.

I was amused by this quote I saw on someone’s Woot comment:

“There are 10 types of people in the world, those who understand Binary and those who don’t!”

Since Convey Computers moved into the building, things have really started to get geekier. I did my part with the C++ refrigerator magnets but they really elevated things with the “Decaf” and “!Decaf” signs.

I may be working on a Saturdays but at least I’ve still got my sense of humor.

I was at the iPhone Tech Talk in Austin on Monday and left fairly impressed. Reading this post by Seth Godin reminded me of what I’ve been thinking all week. Much of the information was what I expected to hear but I learned 3-4 small things that make a huge difference in how I view the iphone and what I do with it.

It’s going to make a huge impact in mobile web applications. It’s not the big screen and the standards based browser that makes the iphone great (although they help). It’s these little enhancements that give my work new leverage. Now I’ve just got to decide what to move first.

This year seems to be about reshaping, retooling, and refocusing at eLocomotive. We’ve finally admitted to ourselves that we don’t want to do sub par projects. We aren’t going to work with customers who don’t want the same. You’d be surprised how many people want mediocrity. We’ve made major strides to improve operations and define our process. We’ve stopped acting like a startup and started acting like a small business.

Now it’s time to step on the throttle. A tough economy doesn’t change things for us. We always watch our expenses. We’re always selling because our team knows that solid performance is the best sales tool. Our changes are about our own growth and drive.

We don’t want to be mediocre and we don’t want to do it if it’s not going to be great. Now that these changes have started, we’re going to step it up.