In geek circles, the hedonic treadmill is a powerful idea with strong roots. The essence of it is that as humans, we are physiologically designed to never be satisfied without…
Category: Articles
Full-length articles written by me.
There are no B players
“Only hire A players! Fire the B players!” “If you hire B players, then they will hire C players!” “Over time, the A players will get frustrated with the B…
Sam Altman and the Internet lynching problem
This story begins with Sam Altman’s article about sexism in technology, with its strong follow-up, a reminder to investors, by YC partner and cofounder Jessica Livingston. Both make the same…
Company culture: an open and shut model
There are nine and sixty ways of constructing tribal lays, And every single one of them is right! Rudyard Kipling, In the Neolithic Age How many ways can you categorise the…
You can’t hide from yourself
I got into a little Twitter debate the other day about whether it is possible to teach founders to build a good company culture. The answer, I believe, is more…
How to lose weight
This article presents just one method of losing weight. It’s worked very, very well for me. It doesn’t require an extreme diet, it doesn’t require much money (you’ll save money,…
How to nap
I am the kind of person who takes 30 minutes to an hour to fall asleep, most nights. Falling asleep is an ordeal for me (unless I’m completely exhausted). Don’t…
No best practices
I worked in Accenture for 4 years. For almost 2 of those years, my role was to be the QPI lead on my project. That stands for “Quality Process Improvement”…
iPad: an Apple for Mom
To much of the geek-sphere, the iPad is somewhat of a disappointment. It’s underwhelming – there’s nothing all that surprising in there, no “oh, and one more thing” to throw…
What problems does Google Wave solve?
[ Partial Portuguese translation ] There are countless pundits and other tech gurus describing Google Wave as a disappointment, lately. Most of that seems to come from the fact that…