Bowen Dwelle

San Francisco native, founder & CEO of AdMonsters, kitesurfer

Upcoming

  • AdMonsters OPS Markets London
    Feb 07, 12 - Feb 12, 12
  • IAB Ecosystem 2012
    Feb 26, 12 - Feb 28, 12
Tripit

Updates

Facebook

Profile

Bowen Dwelle
Online Media | San Francisco Bay Area, US

Summary

I started AdMonsters in 1999 as a professional forum dedicated to online advertising operations and technology. AdMonsters is the global community of ad operations and technology leaders. Check us out at www.admonsters.com

In 2007, I co-founded another company which produces and markets CreditCovers™, a unique, patent pending consumer product. CreditCovers™ are "skins" for your credit, debit, ATM and other bank cards. Check 'em out at http://creditcovers.com/

I have also worked extensively as an independent consultant, primarily in the areas of online advertising technology and operations, technology and product strategy, and system and application architecture.

From 1998 until late 2001, I was Director of Advertising Technology for The Lycos Network and Senior Director for Technology Strategy for Terra Lycos. From 1996 to 1998, I was Director of Engineering for Wired Digital, leading the development of HotBot, at the time the highest-rated search engine on the Internet three years running. I began my career in software as a software developer, project manager, and application architect at Compuware in 1995.

Experience

  • Jul 1999 - Present
    Founder, CEO / AdMonsters

Additional Information

Websites:
AdMonsters, CreditCovers
LinkedIn

Posts

May 23, 12:35 PM
Basic Keyboard Navigation

Tip #3: Basic Keyboard Navigation

Many of the things we do on our computers involve opening and closing windows and filling in forms. Since we do them so often, you can work a lot more efficiently simply by speeding up these very basic actions. 

Open a new window

Almost every program will open a new window (for example, a new browser window, or a new Word document) with a single keyboard command. Just hold Control and hit N (for "New") on Windows or Command 
⌘ N on your Mac. 

Close a window

Many programs will close the current window (for example, a browser window, a Word document, an image, an Excel sheet) with a single keyboard command. Just hold Control and hit W (for "Window") on Windows or Command ⌘ W on your Mac. 

Filling in forms

It drives me crazy to see people use their mouse to fill in forms, or tab between fields only to use the mouse to hit "OK". You don't need to touch your mouse to fill in a form! 

To move between fields in a form, just hit the Tab key. To move back to the previous field, hit Shift-Tab. 
To submit a form, just hit Enter. This works for most but not all web sites, search boxes, and forms. 

That's it for today. Please, save yourself some time and stick to the keyboard for basic navigation. If you look back through my first three tips (including this one), you'll see that we haven't used the mouse at all yet!

Bowen Dwelle
@bdwelle

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

May 17, 01:07 PM
The best way to launch programs

This is the second in a series of PC/Mac/iOS productivity articles. My goal here is to present a bunch of simple tips that will pay off like compound interest – small investment, big payoff over time. 

Tip #2: The best way to launch programs

My first tip covered the most basic and most useful productivity tip of all time: the best way to switch programs on your PC, Mac, iPhone or iPad. Since we switch programs far more often than opening new ones, it made sense to start with that, but of course I do launch programs all the time, and when you think of web sites and searches as "launches," then I 'launch' things all the time. 

So, what's the best way to launch programs, web sites, and searches? 

To launch a program, web site, or a search, you do not need to touch your mouse or search through endless icons or menus. 

Windows

Basic: Hold the Windows key (the one with the little flag icon) and hit the R key (short for "Run"). Start typing the name of the program you want to launch. 

Advanced: Install Launchy. Configure it to fire up when you hold Alt and press Space. Start typing the name of the program you want to launch, and hit enter when you see it. 

Mac

Basic: Hold down the Command ⌘ key and hit the Space bar. This will pop up the little Spotlight search box. Start typing the name of the program you're looking for. 

Advanced: Install Alfred. Hold down the Option key and hit Space bar. This will pop up the Alfred search box – like Spotlight but better. Why? Because Alfred is faster, can do web searches with shortcuts, and a whole lot more. My favorite feature aside from the quick search & launch itself is Alfred's Web Searches.

iPhone / iPad / iOS

On iOS, I only really use one screen-full of apps very often. I do have a bunch of other apps installed but when I need them I usually just go find them visually by swiping through the screens. However, you can launch apps by name on iOS by swiping right to get to the magic 'hidden' search screen to the 'left' of the main home screen. Just swipe right and start typing. 

Stay tuned for more installments in this series – coming soon! 

Bowen Dwelle 
@bdwelle

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

May 16, 02:52 PM
The best way to switch programs

Hi everyone. I’m Bowen Dwelle, Founder and CEO of AdMonsters and a proud member of the San Francisco Chapter of the Entrepreneurs Organization.

I often describe myself as a software engineer who turned into a "social engineer". I moved from wrangling code to organizing communities, which is what AdMonsters is all about: live media (conferences) and online media for online advertising leaders. However, that's not what I'm going to talk about in this series.

What I am going to talk about goes back to my roots as a techie. I started my first company (selling D&D books & dice) at the age of 9 and I was a professional programmer at the age of ten (writing dBaseIII code), and like so many of us I’ve been using a computer ever since, often for many hours a day.

I hate wasting time, and I’m one of those people who are willing to take a few minutes to figure out how to save a few hours. I realize that many of us aren’t wired like that, and that computers are incredibly complicated – and it’s often really hard to figure out how to get something done in the first place, let alone get it done faster, or optimally. If you can, however, it's like compound interest – invest a little time, and reaps the rewards forever.
 
My goal with this series is simply to share with you some of my favorite shortcuts that save me tons of time every single day. Your computer is a tool to make you, the human, work better, not the other way around, and tools should save you time.
 
Are you one of those people that uses Google to get to gMail? Or Yahoo to get to Google?
• Many people do.
 
How do you switch from one open window to another?
• Some people hide windows. Some use minimize/maximize. Some use Spaces or virtual desktops. Many just drag windows around, looking for the one that they lost 'behind' the rest.
 
If you’re working with someone on a project, how do you collaborate?
• If you’re still emailing documents back and forth, there is a better way.
 
What’s the most common thing you do on your computer? Search? How many steps does it take you to Google something?
• If it takes more that three steps, or if you have to touch your mouse, there is a better way.
Tip #1: The best way to switch programs

Seriously, this is so basic, but many people I meet have been using their computers for YEARS and still don't know this very very basic shortcut.
To switch from one open program to another, you do not need to touch your mouse.
Windows
Hold down the Alt key with your thumb and hit the Tab key with your ring finger. A visual list of icons representing all the programs your PC is running will pop up. Keep the Alt key down and keep hitting Tab until you land on the one you want to switch to, then let both keys go, and the program you want will appear. Magic.

Mac
Hold down the Command ⌘ key with your thumb and hit the Tab key with your ring finger. A visual list of icons representing all the programs your Mac is running will pop up. Keep the Alt key down and keep hitting Tab until you land on the one you want to switch to, then let both keys go, and the program you want will appear. Magic.

iPhone / iPad
Double-tap the home button. A visual list of icons representing all the programs your iPhone/iPad is running will pop up. Tap the one you want and the program you want will appear. Magic. Extra tip: swipe the list of icons to see more, since they won't all be shown at once.
If you use your computer a lot, just this one tip will save you at least an hour over the next few months. What will you do with the extra time?
Stay tuned for more installments in this series – coming soon!

Bowen Dwelle
@bdwelle

 

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

January 18, 09:24 PM
Avoiding team decision deadlock

Working in a highly collaborative team is great, but team decision-making can sometimes get stalled waiting for feedback from everyone. Sometimes the team leader or business manager can un-stick things by executive decree, but that has problems of its own - namely that the business manager ends up being a bottleneck, and decision-making authority is moved upwards, away from individual contributors. 

Here's a best practice that I use with my teams so that everyone can own and act upon decisions. 

When you are a decision-maker and you need feedback before making a final decision, 

1) clearly state your INTENDED COURSE OF ACTION
 2) describe clearly WHAT KIND OF FEEDBACK you need
3) set a CLEAR DEADLINE for providing feedback, after which you will proceed if there are no protests
4) and, of course, state HOW you want the feedback provided (email, BaseCamp, Google Doc, whatever).

This way, you don't have to ask more than once (unless you feel it's justified), and you can proceed with a clear conscience once you reach your deadline. 

For example: 

Team,

I will be posting the following press release this Friday Jan 21, 2011. Please review by EOD Jan 19 and provide any feedback in the Google Doc by then. I need specific feedback on the language describing our new product, as well as our partnership with XYZ Co. I will be posting this PR on Friday with your feedback incorporated if I don't hear any major protests before then. 

Enjoy! 

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

February 05, 01:53 PM
Keyboards

In an effort to upgrade my desk and lessen the mysterious strain in my right wrist, I've been trying a bunch of different mice and keyboards lately. I'll go over the mouse situation elsewhere. 

Search around, and there is lots of passionate discussion about PC keyboards. Some people argue for the split ergo thing, some for the classic IBM thing, some for the minimalist thing, etc. I've tried several, although I've never gone the full distance with anything quite so radical as the "Bat". 


I started with: old Compaq IBM-clone full 101-key PC keyboard. This thing has great key action and a good layout, but it's very loud, and I think the long key travel was causing me some wrist strain. 


Then I tried a Microsoft "Comfort" keyboard -- too squishy. 


Very briefly, a Logitech Cordless Desktop -- a keyboard that looked like the flight deck on the Enterprise. Too complicated, and too finicky. 


Typematrix 2030. Awesome feel and very sleek looks. My girlfriend said "that keyboard looks cool." Although I agree with their rhetoric on the straight grid layout, but in practice it's difficult to get used to, and the lack of arrow and Home/End keys in the usual layout is really problematic for even an occiasional programmer, like me. 


After coming across the latest piece from Coding Horror, I decided to try yet another - the Mac Keyboard. 


The Mac Keyboard combines some of the nice features of the TypeMartrix -- clean looks, nice tactile feel with low key travel -- with a real arrow key and normal key layout, including standard arrow keys and Home/End cluster. A quick Google of "mac keyboard" windows  led me to the conclusion that I might want to remap the Command (Windows) and Option (Alt) keys. After trying it myself with KeyTweak and getting stuck with strange Alt-Tab behavior, I found this article which provides a Mac keyboard mapping for KeyTweak script that you can download and load directly in KT. This did the trick nicely. 

Now that I've used it for a day or two, I have to say that the Mac Keyboard is pretty awesome. While I agree with the idea of minimizing distance to the mouse for ergonomic reasons, which is why the TypeMatrix omits the numeric keypad and normal arrow cluster, in the end I agree with Jeff Atwood that "thou shall not mangle the Home Key Cluster", and that "a quality keyboard is one of the best (and cheapest) investments you can make in your career" -- not only for a programmer (which I'm not), but for anyone who spends a lot of time at the computer. 

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Blog (posterous)
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz