Stronico

Non paywalled link https://archive.is/g7HNV

I can just give the logins to someone else. My current setup is a workable, optimal, but not clean solution to the problem.

I've got it down to 45 minutes a month, including a phone call to the venue.

All of those can be done on meetup - but then we would lose a lot of people who are not, and will not be on Meetup.

The email list is probably the single most important part of the tech stack actually.

I run a discussion group that meets once a month - our tech stack is 1. A blog running WordPress that I use to announce meetings 2. A meetup.com account (free tier) that has the same information as the blog 3. A MailChimp account (free tier) where I send notices about the meetups 4. A very active Slack group (free tier) where I announce meetups and we have entended discussions. Discord would probably work just as well.

I've never used Facebook for anything, but the above four tools work very well for us.

It's important not to overthink this - You're a specialist at being you, more specifically you have a bundle of skills, some of which will be useful to people with both problems and money. All you can really do is to isolate those skills, give them a name, and offer that as a service.

Based on your original description - you are an expert in "back office" skills.

1. Care about technical matters and show that you care about technical matters - if you're selling something technical it's good to have complicated opinions on technical matters

2. Someone who is difficult in good times will be a monster in bad times

3. Repeating the words of other's back to them is eerily effective

4. Every client is in the middle of some sort of political drama, you will be some minor part of that drama - this is normal and not that meaningful

Risk is independent of prior events, habits are not - I think that was what the anthropologist story is about

Maybe I've just gotten better at what I follow/comment on, but the mood feels like it's gotten a bit better over the past few years, more tolerant, more heterdox, less shrill, more interesting, less combative, less "performative", etc. Not perfect, but improving over a few years ago. It does feel like the average age of the commenter has increased though.

I've done a fair amount of that - some mistakes I've made -

1. Not getting money up front

2. Extending credit

3. Open ended meetings

4. Being insufficiently explicit about what is being delivered

5. Working on a handshake (seldom a problem with big clients actually) - get them to sign something

6. Not actually meeting in person at least once

7. Not being clear on who owns the code/technology (if you're going to do more or less the same thing for the person across the street then make sure to let the client know that they are getting a license (or something similar))

8. Scheduling meetings in their downtime, but your worktime

9. Not having a template, or even an idea of what a good referral would look like

10. Having a specified finish line - much more important for the smaller client than the larger ones IME

Many things can be said but you will experience an emotional range like you've never felt before - the lows are really low and the highs are really high - plus a lot of your life will no longer be within your control, which always adds a bit of adventure to things.

It can be nice in big cities too, maybe a little harder, but still pretty easy - all you have to do is remove social media and the clickbait/outrage web and life becomes pretty normal.

Things I know I will need in the next month get scanned and sent to Notion - Tax Docs go to a folder on my desk

Everything else I place in a large pile on the side of my desk - once it looks like it's going to fall over I go through everything, throw out what looks useless and put the rest in a separate pile. Every once in a while I scan the separate pile documents to OneNote and shred them. It's worked surprisingly well for the past 15 years or so.

Nice catch actually

I've always found the "You can accomplish Task A by using Method B, but Method C is way easier and better in the long run" quite helpful, and rarely on stack overflow

Go for the bedrock with "Knowledge and Decisions"

A column or collection of random quotes will never adequately summarize a thinker - however his books "Knowledge and Decisions" and "A Conflict of Visions" both rank as masterpieces.

The categories were made for man, not man for the categories (as a wise man once said). If you can improve your lot without hurting someone else you should do it. The name of the problem doesn't matter if you have a solution available.

More production per worker - due to automation and other efficiency improvements.

The book Never Enough by Judith Grisel is a good addition this field, and probably this book.

Short version - your body longs to be at equilibrium/homeostasis and drugs (alcohol, stimulants, opiates, etc) upset that equilibrium, so your body attempts to return you to your previous state.

There is no free lunch, and a high will be accompanied by a low. The lows come in numerous and surprising forms.

The book is significantly better than my description.

I've found "How centralized is decision making in the company?" to be illuminating. The specific answer doesn't matter, but it probably hasn't been asked before and the answerer will have to think about the answer. If they give an easy, enthusiastic answer, that is a good sign - if they give a slow convoluted corporate speak answer that is a bad sign.

Valid - but building a crappy first machine is a great way to learn how to build a better second machine.

I've always wondered if I was the only one on HN interested in cnc machines

I read a print version of the NYT recently and the feeling I got was quite different than the web version - mostly in that what was being pushed on you was "news", not opinion. Almost all of it could be described as "These People Did This Thing In This Place". It was great actually, dispassionate and informative. The editorials were packed away somewhere in the back, not worth looking for. A very different experience than the web version.

Essential Craftsman has some great videos on this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40qxyX6HpvI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy5wRgNOIkE

Gell-Mann Amnesia

In a speech in 2002, Crichton coined the term Gell-Mann amnesia effect. He used this term to describe the phenomenon of experts believing news articles on topics outside of their fields of expertise, even after acknowledging that articles written in the same publication that are within the experts' fields of expertise are error-ridden and full of misunderstanding. He explains the irony of the term, saying it came about "because I once discussed it with Murray Gell-Mann, and by dropping a famous name I imply greater importance to myself, and to the effect, than it would otherwise have

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speeches_by_Michael_Crichton

Asking someone else to take a risk is a very good insight.

1. Setting aside a "20% day" to develop infrastructure - I went through a slow period about 15 years ago where I had the option of doing this without meaningful tradeoffs and I built some software that I still use to this day. It's tempting to call this a learning, or reading day but I've found that I lose focus if I have a full day to do that - if you decide that you will spend 8 consecutive hours building a personal infrastructure tool (what ever that winds up being) you will have something to show for it at the end of the day - and therefore you will do it again. Those sort of things build upon each other nicely. Tooling/infrastucture is a marathon.

2. Set aside 30-60 minutes a day for learning, however you define it - for me it's PluralSight and Anki - that is usually how I start my day. Having it on the calendar, without many options to choose from makes it very efficient. Learning should be in sprints.

3. Set aside some amount of money every month for tools and capital purchases - targeted savings accounts are perfect for this - having the money in an account targeted for this purpose instead of a general account prevents a lot of money anxiety and allows you to do a better cost-benefit analysis.

My daughter's main health c are provider has something called "My Health" which is okay - I presume the doctor's have a better system. Something that maintains it on a timeline would be wonderful (that's how I remember it anyway). I guess a better question is - is that something that anyone would pay for? Or maintain?

I currently just scan everything into onenote, which works, but is suboptimal.

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. Not really about leadership per se, but it helps you get out of your own way which allows a lot of other good things room to happen.