Q&A with Brian Suda

My name is Brian Suda, I am based in Reykjavik, Iceland where I wear many hats. I am a software developer by training, but most of my days are spent planning, in meetings and making sure loose-ends are all tied-up. I have a small company which does a lot of online surveys in the Education sector, which always proves to surprise. The results are used by private and governmental agencies to make big and small changes in the system. I also run a small company (optional.is) which is a consultancy and custom software development group. We focus on small, entrepreneurial companies and individuals to help them get on track and grow.

Hardware

On a daily basis I use my 13" Macbook Air, iPhone 4S and plenty of paper notebooks and post-it notes. My desk is pretty minimal and I try to avoid collecting too much stuff. I travel pretty light. So light sometimes, I forget cables, chargers and headphones, but always have a pen and some blank business cards.

Software

Since my world is software development, I tend to use TextMate for coding, IA Writer for writing and iTerm2 for all command line work. I am a big proponent of using the web over installing apps. I tend to use the Safari web browser for just about as much as I can.

Dream

Hm, I've always contemplated getting an even smaller laptop. The ability to pick-up and work from anywhere is probably the most important. Pushing more and more applications, tools and utilities online is important. It allows me to pick-up from just about any computer or service while on the go from a few different devices. If there was a way to streamline that even more, it would be great.

Inspiration

My inspiration comes from a variety of place. I guess it really depends on the topic. As we focus on individuals and entrepreneurs it is always interesting to look at airport bookstores. They are a strange mix of self-help, cheese romance novels and books about getting ahead professionally. These tend to focus on interesting topics, but sometimes in a horrible corporate style. We want to empower small teams and people, but in their own way. Not some top-down management style. Knowing what is selling allows us to see what the zeitgeist is when it comes to work.

I subscribe to over 1,000 RSS feeds and listen to lots of different podcasts. Inspiration comes from randomness. Lots of news passes by every day and there is always something that catches my interest. Sometimes you have to make time for that inspiration to find you. If all you do is work, work, work and never set aside some time to find  new things, you'll never move forward with new ideas.