Tretakoff Musings
Thursday, October 04, 2007
I'm Not Dead
It only looks that way. Work has been brutal, but the end is nigh: I have hired two new staff members, and one has already started. With trips to Chicago and NY coming up, the extra help could not have come at a better time. I've also been logging a lot of biking and other fun exercise, so blogging (and calls to my mother, father and friends) have suffered. I've been reduced to Facebook status updates and occasional snippets...but hopefully, I'll be back in a regular publishing groove soon.
I owe a big post on Plaxo, as they worked through my issues to get me fully working. And man, is it sweet. Look for it shortly. I also need to point out the best PC deals ever in the Dell Outlet; top of the line PC's for under $400. Plus my recent solution for podcasts on the Treo, syncing with iTunes. And that's not mentioning my recent transition to Skype. And finally, a review of Madden 08 on the Wii: the results will surprise you.
For now, I leave you with an image of the coolest steampunk PC mod ever, courtesy of Brass Goggles. Look for the above posts soon!
I owe a big post on Plaxo, as they worked through my issues to get me fully working. And man, is it sweet. Look for it shortly. I also need to point out the best PC deals ever in the Dell Outlet; top of the line PC's for under $400. Plus my recent solution for podcasts on the Treo, syncing with iTunes. And that's not mentioning my recent transition to Skype. And finally, a review of Madden 08 on the Wii: the results will surprise you.
For now, I leave you with an image of the coolest steampunk PC mod ever, courtesy of Brass Goggles. Look for the above posts soon!Labels: blogs, Facebook, games, lifehacks, Madden, Plaxo, steampunk, VOIP, Wii, work
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Flip Side of Corporate: NeoBedouins
If the Google corporate culture is one end of the spectrum, the ever-improving SFGate.com has a perspective on the other end: the "neo-nomad," or "Bedouins:" those that prefer to work out of a coffee shop. Seems unlikely? Add in WiFi (nearly a requirement for San Francisco), an atmosphere designed for small groups to be able to be together, some funky music, and power, and you've got an incubator for small companies and innovators.
While I definitely prefer the comfort and focus of an office, I tend to make use of these while I am on the road. My favorite is Caribou Coffee: free WiFi that you need to renew every hour; makes you buy more coffee. Lodge-like atmosphere. BIG chairs, friendly staff. However, the idea of doing my work at one of these places is...bizarre. Now add in San Francisco's funky culture and passionate commitment to loud music. How the heck can you work?
Suffice it to say, it's not for everyone, but it's a very interesting insight into a world unlike my own. Bonus: check out this GREAT Slideshow with voiceover from the article. This combination of newspaper with NPR-like immersion is exactly what I wanted to see after reading the article. Gives you a sense of the actual people and atmosphere in the article. Kudos to SFGate for this feature.
If the Google corporate culture is one end of the spectrum, the ever-improving SFGate.com has a perspective on the other end: the "neo-nomad," or "Bedouins:" those that prefer to work out of a coffee shop. Seems unlikely? Add in WiFi (nearly a requirement for San Francisco), an atmosphere designed for small groups to be able to be together, some funky music, and power, and you've got an incubator for small companies and innovators.While I definitely prefer the comfort and focus of an office, I tend to make use of these while I am on the road. My favorite is Caribou Coffee: free WiFi that you need to renew every hour; makes you buy more coffee. Lodge-like atmosphere. BIG chairs, friendly staff. However, the idea of doing my work at one of these places is...bizarre. Now add in San Francisco's funky culture and passionate commitment to loud music. How the heck can you work?
Suffice it to say, it's not for everyone, but it's a very interesting insight into a world unlike my own. Bonus: check out this GREAT Slideshow with voiceover from the article. This combination of newspaper with NPR-like immersion is exactly what I wanted to see after reading the article. Gives you a sense of the actual people and atmosphere in the article. Kudos to SFGate for this feature.
Transit, by Google
What do you do when you need employees in a competitive environment, and stock options and salary are really not enough to distinguish you? Well, after you add free gourmet meals, onsite oil changes and car washes, and other lifestyle perks, you look at what the pain points for the Silicon Valley worker are: commuting. And then? If you're Google, you start a luxury bus line.
Yes, the Goog is now one of the largest transit system operators in the Bay Area. This New York Times article describes what transit is like, Google style:
WiFi, pets, bikes and comfort? Zero environmental impact? FREE? This is living. The article goes on, later, to describe that similar efforts are done by Cisco and Yahoo. In San Francisco, I see the Williams Sonoma luxury coaches delivering workers to BART or the Ferry, from their HQ by Ghirardelli Square every day.
Now, why not take this one step further? Let companies bid on the right to operate public transit? Essentially, privatize it: companies would get the benefit of always having their employees have easy access to work, while being required to still serve areas that are lower income and no direct benefit to them. How to convince them of the latter? Let them install ads, and realize income. Hell, with WiFi on the buses, you could even have touchscreens, and do pay per click ads. I think Google and Yahoo know something about this!
Of course, San Francisco has another approach: make transit free. A bold social experiment, if you combined it with privatized lines like Google's, you just might have a winner.
What do you do when you need employees in a competitive environment, and stock options and salary are really not enough to distinguish you? Well, after you add free gourmet meals, onsite oil changes and car washes, and other lifestyle perks, you look at what the pain points for the Silicon Valley worker are: commuting. And then? If you're Google, you start a luxury bus line.Yes, the Goog is now one of the largest transit system operators in the Bay Area. This New York Times article describes what transit is like, Google style:
"The company now ferries about 1,200 employees to and from Google daily — nearly one-fourth of its local work force — aboard 32 shuttle buses equipped with comfortable leather seats and wireless Internet access. Bicycles are allowed on exterior racks, and dogs on forward seats, or on their owners’ laps if the buses run full.
Riders can sign up to receive alerts on their computers and cellphones when buses run late. They also get to burnish their green credentials, not just for ditching their cars, but because all Google shuttles run on biodiesel. Oh, and the shuttles are free."
WiFi, pets, bikes and comfort? Zero environmental impact? FREE? This is living. The article goes on, later, to describe that similar efforts are done by Cisco and Yahoo. In San Francisco, I see the Williams Sonoma luxury coaches delivering workers to BART or the Ferry, from their HQ by Ghirardelli Square every day.
Now, why not take this one step further? Let companies bid on the right to operate public transit? Essentially, privatize it: companies would get the benefit of always having their employees have easy access to work, while being required to still serve areas that are lower income and no direct benefit to them. How to convince them of the latter? Let them install ads, and realize income. Hell, with WiFi on the buses, you could even have touchscreens, and do pay per click ads. I think Google and Yahoo know something about this!
Of course, San Francisco has another approach: make transit free. A bold social experiment, if you combined it with privatized lines like Google's, you just might have a winner.
Monday, February 26, 2007
The Workaholic Burnout Culture
Hello. My name is Josh. And I am a workaholic.
Those words have been uttered by me since I was 13 years old. I preferred work over school, work over relationships, and work over fun. At 13, I was working, literally, 80 hours a week in the summers. In college, I had not one, not two, but three jobs, simultaneously. In retrospect, it seems fated that I would be drawn to Silicon Valley, where we have made an art form of transforming our social lives into our work lives...and feeling content with it.
It never used to be this way. Sure we had the distorted view of the nuclear family, replete with images of "Leave It To Beaver" bliss. But remember the influx of happy hours, which fortified the men (since that was who was primarily working) for their familial obligations? As time went one, the happy hours went away, and the Blackberry took its place.
The ultimate distortion of this came when I worked for Inktomi. Great company, great people. The culture was summed up in one phrase: "Work Hard, Play Hard." And the line between the two was obliterated. Yes, the dotcom culture made money an object of the past: we were free to buy anything we wanted, so we molded our work around what we found as fun. And y'know what? It worked. That is, it worked...until the bubble burst, and the party was over.
Now, we have all somehow convinced ourselves that it's ok for work to blend with home. If you don't check your emails constantly, you are perceived to be slacking. Worse, the concept of not checking your emails at least once every 10 minutes is considered...alien. Why would you want to be out of touch for that long?
I say this as a workholic. It's not a proud badge of puritanical fortitude. It's an illness. I'm not talking about the occasional late night to get a project done. I'm talking about the sacrificing of the quality of our lives for the bizarre concept that we need to work harder. Well, I am not alone. Jay has a list of tips for how to leave work at work, and, while I have been trying some of them, I confess I need to do a lot more.
Unless you're Buddhist, remember: we all have one turn on this ride. The quality of our lives is determined not by how much we work, but how much we enjoy those lives. I'm Josh, and I am a workaholic. But today I came home, and did not check email from work. That's one day sober, and tomorrow is another day. I won't always stay on that wagon, but I'm passionate enough to know I can throw myself 100% into my work...and let it stay there.
Let's all learn from Jay.
Those words have been uttered by me since I was 13 years old. I preferred work over school, work over relationships, and work over fun. At 13, I was working, literally, 80 hours a week in the summers. In college, I had not one, not two, but three jobs, simultaneously. In retrospect, it seems fated that I would be drawn to Silicon Valley, where we have made an art form of transforming our social lives into our work lives...and feeling content with it.
It never used to be this way. Sure we had the distorted view of the nuclear family, replete with images of "Leave It To Beaver" bliss. But remember the influx of happy hours, which fortified the men (since that was who was primarily working) for their familial obligations? As time went one, the happy hours went away, and the Blackberry took its place. The ultimate distortion of this came when I worked for Inktomi. Great company, great people. The culture was summed up in one phrase: "Work Hard, Play Hard." And the line between the two was obliterated. Yes, the dotcom culture made money an object of the past: we were free to buy anything we wanted, so we molded our work around what we found as fun. And y'know what? It worked. That is, it worked...until the bubble burst, and the party was over.
Now, we have all somehow convinced ourselves that it's ok for work to blend with home. If you don't check your emails constantly, you are perceived to be slacking. Worse, the concept of not checking your emails at least once every 10 minutes is considered...alien. Why would you want to be out of touch for that long?
I say this as a workholic. It's not a proud badge of puritanical fortitude. It's an illness. I'm not talking about the occasional late night to get a project done. I'm talking about the sacrificing of the quality of our lives for the bizarre concept that we need to work harder. Well, I am not alone. Jay has a list of tips for how to leave work at work, and, while I have been trying some of them, I confess I need to do a lot more.
Unless you're Buddhist, remember: we all have one turn on this ride. The quality of our lives is determined not by how much we work, but how much we enjoy those lives. I'm Josh, and I am a workaholic. But today I came home, and did not check email from work. That's one day sober, and tomorrow is another day. I won't always stay on that wagon, but I'm passionate enough to know I can throw myself 100% into my work...and let it stay there.
Let's all learn from Jay.
