edo

So painful to read a fluffed up speech about standing together while firing 15% of workforce during a crisis. If you need to fire people, own it.

What made Google wave so great to you? (Even better than slack/Discord/Trello)?

Yes! But let's give the human coin a better name; how about calling it the Dollar? And while we're at it, we need to figure out a way how to make the exchange rate fluctuate less, so let's back it with some real world materials that we know are pretty stable in perceived value; how about gold? Oh, and for some tasks and jobs I'm pretty sure we will need bigger groups of people working together. These are more complex tasks/projects that sometimes require hundreds, maybe even thousands of people working in cohort. How about we call those groups startups, and corporations? But who will decide to start these groups when it is deemed necessary? Let's decide anyone can; and we name them founders. And because they will start these groups, they probably get to decide how many of the dollars which contributor in the group gets from customers right? Because who decides how these dollars get distributed among the group? Someone needs to do that right, at least until we get a sufficiently capable AI to determine qualitative value to the end user. And let's call these rights of distribution of these dollars stocks, like a kind of certificate to the future profits.

I'd rather he put his time into building and designing than rehearsing speeches.

Quit. Life's too short to spend it doing something you don't love.

This was the thing that got our team so annoyed that we decided to move away to a different tool (Clubhouse) which is much faster. Too bad, because Asana is quite an interesting and flexible tool, but the performance of Asana is just not acceptable.

I would like to argue that being a jerk even devalues the argument one is making. Because through being a jerk (which requires as much effort as bringing it in a more neutral way), one provides proof of subjective involvement. This subjective involvement detracts from your credibility as a source of reason.

Interface Designer @ Studyflow

We're an Amsterdam based educational startup.

Studyflow is a great place to work - together with designers and educational specialists we are rethinking what education means in a digital age.

Our mission is to build the most personal and motivating learning experience in the world. To fulfill this mission, we are looking for passionate people with the drive to contribute to something greater than themselves to join our top-notch team.

https://www.smore.com/wq6ps-wanted

Yes, this can in theory be achieved through quantum entanglement: http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/30/physicists-claim-reliabil...

Stop trying to focus. Just do, or don't.

It may sound as silly advice; but it's the honest truth. The very fact that you are thinking about focusing when you are trying to focus; precludes you from actually doing it.

It's counter intuitive: Sit behind the work to be done, and truly accept whatever happens. Accept the fact that you might be unfocused or distracted. It's a sign that you aren't ready to work. Don't resist. Just either do, or don't.

This is awesome, great work!

Immature response that only makes the designer seem unprofessional.

It's a perfect simulation; because it gives the user an ego of which the survival depends on the very existence of the universe. If there's a flaw; this ego will quickly try to find a reason why the flaw is not a bug but a feature. (God, etc.)

There are many limits to our universe; yet we explain them away, because if they were there; it would mean our ego's and bodies would be an illusion. Our ego doesn't like that.

Look very closely at the outer reaches of science, art and religion; and you will find cracks in this system. In buddhism, the discovery of these cracks is called nirvana, 'Moksha' in Hinduism, 'light being the fastest speed at which one can travel' in science; and the concept of 'Flow' in creative work. One can also refer to this as Egoic Death: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego_death

Poor choice of title considering the article you linked to doesn't contain anything resembling your words "Fck Middle Management. The article only states that management can 'often' (not always) be inefficient. Additionally; this is not really a guide to a better work life either. Did you link to the wrong blogpost?

Absolutes; like implying that all middle-management is bad, are generally incorrect. Things are never black or white. So when you paint an extreme, you are almost always guaranteed to be wrong. In this case; middle-management can be cumbersome or bureaucratic, but very often also can be helpful, important and necessary. I hope you aren't arguing that all middle-management worldwide is useless; because that would just be silly.

I'm making the effort to comment on this; because I'm increasingly noticing that contributors to Hacker News impose their own beliefs upon a link they submit. By making a title more sensational, you are also making it less nuanced. This doesn't do justice to the writer you promote, and is unfair to the readers at Hacker News.

Edit: rephrased. Edit 2: If you are the writer; disregard the last paragraph ;-)

I feel as though this list overly generalizes. Don't just blindly follow these; many of them can be proven to be wrong.

F* this.

Feedly must be having a party now. Kudos to them.

So sublte, yet so impactful on the 'feel' of the game. Really awesome.

What an awfully loud and hyperbolic post overstating the perils of startup-life. Yes it can be hard, but it can be fun also. The cursing seems to lose it's effect when used so excessively (it stops being funny after slide 2), and comes across as a childish ploy to get attention. Do not recommend.

Knowing why you do something, puts the soul in your work. Without it, it's just work. I refuse to believe life is simply a long grind of do-ing with an eventual not-doing as the reward. No. Love for your work, passion for what you do, is the thing that fathers beautiful things. It's the thing that makes great companies work. Heck, it's the thing that makes life work.

You list power, status or passion as possible why's. Which leads me to believe you misunderstand what true motivation really is. Wanting to create something beautiful for the sake of beauty, to contribute in a meaningful way, to add instead of substract. These are transcending human endeavours. Status, power, money; just side-effects to the medicin that is purpose.

Even you've had a reason for pushing yourself to create. Perhaps it was that in the back of your mind you believed that you deserved to live a better lifestyle. It's your vision of the future that moves you to act. The belief that things can be different, and that you are able to effect that difference. Having a why isn't important? Having a why is the goal.

I love this! Iron out the bugs and add https support, and you've totally got me as a user. I've been looking for something like this for a long time now.

edit: being able to import and sort through my old bookmarks would be awesome too ;-).

Beautiful.

Thank you for doing so. You've got heart.

Hi makeramen, thanks for your comment, glad it was fun to read.

I have been toying with the idea to write more publicly. If you'll follow me on twitter (http://twitter.com/edo) you will be the first to know when I do ;-).

Cheers!

You're right. I added a note to the original post:

note: I notice my writing could use some nuance. Painting an extreme is just a style of writing which helps bring across a point. Obviously there are things that are objectively less fun to do.

Silverbax, thanks for your comment.

What makes you really want to play a video game and dislike doing the dishes? Is it something objective about the thing to be done, or does it have to do with your mental framing of the task at hand? I feel it is the latter. A friend of mine reviews video games professionally, and he procrastinates on playing games. I think it's because he is told to play games. An authority figure is pushing him to do something and he rebels by putting off playing.

Pushing ourselves only leads to ourselves pushing back.

Cheers, Edo

Startup.com a great first-hand account of the rise and fall of your typical 1999 .com startup right before and during the dotcom bust

I think the real differentiator in your policy is not the acquiring of talent, but the giving of autonomy to employees (which is something that can be done without spending money).

If only Yahoo would give autonomy to their own (I bet also pretty talented engineers); it would go a long way to a better Yahoo.

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It's only the disclaimer that's in Dutch. The actual list of skills is below.