What I Learned at Summify Before Twitter Swooped Down and Snatched Up My Team

http://robincampbell.ca/lessons-learned/what-i-learned-at-summify-before-twitter-swooped-down-and-snatched-up-my-team/

by domino • 14 years ago

40 7 14 years ago

robincampbell.ca

ashishg• 14 years ago

Interesting title. I thought it was going to be about the Twitter snatching!

Nonetheless, great lessons around communication / teamwork.

richardlblair• 14 years ago

"Try it, track it, fix it. Now you know if it does or doesn’t work and you can move on – next."

It seems that a lot of people have performance anxiety, and find it very difficult to just "do" what they need to "do". In my opinion people need to learn that it's okay to be wrong. All that matters is that you are moving forward.

Great article and congrats on the exit.

robincampbell2• 14 years ago

It's funny how hard taking action can be for some people who aren't used to it. It really is the hacker way, but it's so foreign to many others. Hackers are great company :)

bobbles2• 14 years ago

"Perhaps it’s because they’re engineers – who they told tend me, tend to have low energy – but I’d argue that 90% of people would not be as composed as these two, albeit, like ducks, they were paddling under the surface like maniacs. "

Really hard to parse this sentence the first time around, 'who they told tend me, tend to' ??

bobbles2• 14 years ago

Also like to note that the following rules:

* if you don’t know what you’re supposed to do, or don’t understand something, ask.

* if you’re not able to complete your task by the deadline, for whatever reason, tell the team now, not later, and adjust as necessary.

* if you need help, get some.

should be drilled into every new starter at every company, startup or not. Unfortunately I've worked at a few companies where even graduate level employees are worried about asking questions, or get hostile answers from the older guys that seem bitter about new people coming in.

robincampbell2• 14 years ago

Thanks for catching that bobbles - fixed :)

I couldn't agree more about the value of drilling in the guidelines. Lucky for me the luxury of working with the Summify boys was their egoless-ness - ideas won on merit

wyclif• 14 years ago

I love Summify, probably one of my fave startups. Sad to hear they got talent acquisitioned, but happy for them. I still look forward to my daily Summify in the morning while I'm having coffee or tea. I got a whole bunch of friends using it through word-of-mouth. I really hope Twitter doesn't mess up the core functionality.

What I Learned at Summify Before Twitter Swooped Down and Snatched Up My Team

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