March 27, 2011 TCTJr Out In The Fringe

A Couple of Lessons – Responsibility For The Responsible

Hello all:

I trust this finds everyone well. We have all the usual worldwide things going on: disasters, wars etc and then in the valley we have huge funding events happening e.g. Color getting $41M. I was thinking ’bout some lessons lived and learned whilst reflecting on past lives and a couple of items came out of the “wet-ware” subconscious: 1) Do The Right Thing 2) Make Decisions Like Your Paycheck Is Irrelevant. (style note: after all these years of Mac programming and working at Apple I still use object style capitalization). Whilst these item do not appear to be tech worthy or money making – someone said I should teach a Tech Psychology 101 class.

Do The Right Thing

A very successful person in the tech industry who at this point I consider close to iconoclastic said, “Just Do The Right Thing.” I am not going to get into the metaphysical aspects of Right/Wrong here suffice to say what this person was making a comment on was have a clear conscience and do not be biased as to the correct technical and business decision. In the long run you will benefit and you can always look back and know that what you did as a technical professional was well and just. This was coming during a very complicated and involved several people with agendas. For those who are not in the tech industry you would be amazed at how emotional coders, architects and program directors are with respect to some of these decisions. Then I think that nowadays they are very close to rockstars so what not be emotional? That said when you have a difficult decision to make “Do The Right Thing.”

Make Decisions Like Your PayCheck Is Irrelevant

Once again someone well known in the industry was walking with me at a conference trade show and due to the level of their success and the amount of well tech power they possessed I used this time to ask questions. I asked them what is consistent in your success? Without missing a beat this person said, “Work like your paycheck doesn’t matter.” Of course your probably saying if this person is that successful they can afford it. Well dear readers they were not talking about money they were talking about reputation. Money is temporary. Reputation lasts a long time – possibly until the big sleep. It took me a while to truly get my head around this because well time is money and money is time. Yet the more I pondered this statement the more it made sense (and cents). Time went on and I started espousing some of these tenets. Eventually I came upon a situation where I knew one of my colleagues was going into a meeting that could change the face of I/O connectors (think USB and FireWire wars) and I told him say what you know and operate like you do not need a paycheck. He came out of the meeting and said you know I will always operate in that manner. It completely freed me from figuring out what to do in high pressure situations.

Responsibility For The Responsible!

First and foremost one thing I do wish is I could have met the person who espoused this statement. I actually came very close when I was in The Valley circa 93′. Yet that is a story for another time and place. The two previous items roll up into this tenets. For those that are changing the world via technology we have the power to create and destroy. For some this is the game because well they have made millions and billions, just as the artist who can create to destroy which is part of the art. Yet even though we create technologies that change the very social fabric of humanity we are still dealing with the human form on a daily basis (caveat emptor for better or worse) and as such we have decisions that will live with us. Conflict is a given. It is going to happen. Humans adore war. Many a people in the tech industry have destroyed many an art – books could be written on the amount of code and product that hit the trash and <delete>. Part and parcel of this is the aspect of doing what your told instead of being responsible and doing the right thing. Software is the most scalable industry period. There may never be another industry as scalable (smart grid maybe but not yet). The multi-cast nature of changing entire groups of people via one application or a widget is phenomenal not to mention the monetary reward. As I am fond of saying – Idea2Bank as fast as possible yet this comes with some aspect of Responsibility For The Responsible. There are those that can and those that cannot its a very stratifying industry.

At the end of the day do what you know – say what you think – create the software you know is true. Software only knows brutal honesty – either it works or it doesnt and you should be a reflection of that creation.

Until Then,

Go Big Or Go Home!

@jaxsoncreole

March 17, 2011 TCTJr General Discussion

Reprise Again – The First “T” of a StartUp

Recently Mark Suster presented a writeup at TechCrunch here: Whom Should You Hire? Of interest is the following extraction:

“ If you’re doing a great job at continually recruiting and if you have a company ready to hire several people, at some point when you have enough of a pipeline of talented people you need a way to separate them. I have a long-standing mantra, “attitude over aptitude.” This is assuming a raw minimum of MIPS in the candidate. They need to be seriously smart / talented in their field to make the minimum grade.

But within this “minimum acceptable talent level” you still have a wide variance of “employee types.” Let’s be honest – some uber talented people are PITAs. I never hire them. One bad apple spoils things for everybody.

You don’t see it coming. You figure, “sure, they’re a pain but they produce such high quality work I’m willing to put up with them.” Don’t. The last thing you need is some rat bastard fomenting trouble.

They’re the ones who are talking pop at cocktail parties when they’ve had one too many. They’re having private lunches with other employees talking about how they’ve lost faith in your vision.

When you hit internal moments of doubt you need the team members who say, “Guys, we can do this! We’re up against the ropes but we’re not down. Let’s dig in.” You need team members who do that when you’re NOT there.”

Truer words were never spoken. We haven’t really changed much in our habits via our short time of evolution here on Earth. Our survival instincts kick in and usually people freak out and do weird stuff. I could write tomes on the things I have seen people do within times of tech world crisisdom. There is an old adage “Do Not Panic and You Will Live.” Most panic and freak out – but those that adapt and hang in there usually win out. I wrote sometime ago about the The Three “T”s of a StartUp. I also wrote sometime ago about the companies bidding on talent way before Zuckerburg bid on twitter for teams: Revisiting The Three T’s. I then wrote about the obvious talent shortage and how how we are going to see a swarming affect of teams much like the days of clans in Quake: Mercanaries For Hire.

Yet even with the best of the best of the best. One thing still stands true: At some point the attitude does over shadow that compiler count.

Go Big Or Go Home.

@jaxsoncreole

February 19, 2011 TCTJr General Discussion

StartUp Documents and Agreements

Agreements. Yes you need them. In fact you need many types but you do not have to pay an arm and a leg to a lawyer for them. For some this will be rather pedantic yet I will add a nuance or two concerning these matters so maybe you will pick something up. Remember even experts should do the basics over and over just to keep sharp.

The reason I am writing about this seemingly pedantic and rather boring subject is that many companies and people take HUGE amounts of valuable time and money going over and over and over these documents. Yes you want to get the basics down but a startup SHOULD NEVER SPEND EXORBITANT MONIES AND TIME ON THESE DOCUMENTS. If your dealing with someone who is being overly difficult concerning getting all of the minutiae detailed up front and perfect – get rid of them and get someone else – unless they are writing a really big check! I have seen several companies spend two much time working on these documents when they are essentially free. TheFunded (http://www.thefunded.com/) has a great set of documents that were gifted by Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati. Don’t know who they are? Do some homework.

Here is a short list:

C-Corp Filing: Ok for some of you I can hear the groans or rebuttal. Yes YouTube was a special case of and LLC. Nowadays I am asked if companies are Del C Corp. So please get the 250.00 or so put 2000.00 in and create your 20M shares.
Non-Disclosure Agreement – basically says you wont tell the world everything about the latest NewCorp. A gentleman’s agreement if you will. I would cap it at 3 years which actually should be 1 year but hey just sign it and get talking.
Offer Letters: Do not make it overly complicated. State the basic work items of what you expect, meeting granularity, percentage equity stake, strike price based on current valuation, vesting schedule and retainer if any. For employees also list salary if applicable
“One Pager”: This discusses the company in a snapshot and allows you to quickly intro your company. Here is what you want in the one pager: Who are the Founders, Industry, Business, Accountants, Current Investors, Your Ask in Dollars, Use of funds, Number of Employees, Clients, Exit Strategy, Contact information, Summary of Company, Market, Products, Company Management, Board Members (list companies they worked for and advise) and your Logo with address
Convertible Note: This eases the pain of raising seed and angel funding. I am not going into the specifics here but suffice to say there are ways for debt financing and equity financing that can be clean no muss no fuss. Sign seal and get to coding.
CAP Table: This is who has what and at what price. Important for raises. It should be a very simple excel spreadsheet allowing you or others to put in raise amounts and compute dilution as well as percentages. This also lists founder, restricted and common stock issuance
Your Deck: The pitch deck. Know it love it and recite it in your sleep
Business Plan: What do those forecast look like and why are you going to take on Google, Apple, Microsoft and Facebook?
Stock Plan: This is usually referenced in the offer letters so at least have some version so the SEC wont freak out when you file your raise with them!

I have found that some people will try and get fancy with these documents because well honeslty they do not know any better and they want to appear smart. Please if your faced with any of these documents just say you dont know what such and such is and get an answer instead of negotiating around the points. Also just ask for what you want. Say I want to have 10% restricted shares that vest immediately upon me hitting such and such milestone. Especially if you’re a founder or a coder. You have the ideas and the coding ability so you control the show. I would recommend one item at the very least is ask for restricted stock for tax consequences. If you’re a founder you should have founders shares.

So main point is that the document are out there and you don’t have to spend a ton of money.

My other point is if you run into someone that wants to grind on these documents instead of working them out in concurrence with taking your Idea To The Bank then tell them you don’t have time and need to get someone who wants to start creating.

I would love to hear from others out there or any comments and questions.

Until Then,

GO BIG OR GO HOME!

January 31, 2011 TCTJr Direct Thoughts

The South Should Follow Suit

Well leave it up to the crew on the left coast to create something – well overwhelming. Muri Milner and Ron Conway are teaming together to offer EVERY Y-Combinator startup – 40 of them – all of them – investment money. Here are some of the terms

They haven’t even seen most of the startups yet. This is a bet on the quality of Y Combinator startups in general.

All of the new Y Combinator entrepreneurs gathered at Y Combinator headquarters in Mountain View California on Friday evening to hear about the offer, They weren’t told why they were supposed to be there, just that something important was happening. The SV Angel team was there in person. Milner joined from Europe by video conference.

The terms? $150,000 in convertible debt. With no cap and no discount. If you’re an investor you know exactly what that means and you just shuddered a little. Those aren’t terms that most angels can match.

Ok I can hear it now. Well they have had a head start they can afford it. Guess what I am tired of that parrot talk. You know what? There is some of the oldest and most money in the South and North for that matter. Let me change this – EAST COAST should follow suit. Yet they will not. its too compartmentalized over here on the “right coast”. Let me illustrate:

1. New York – Ad mafia folks. Good money but once again always looking for ad related tech.

2. Boston – if your across the river from MIT forget it.

3. Washington, DC. – contractor and skunkwerks

4. Atlanta, GA – trying to be the epicenter of the SE

and really that is about it. How do I know? Over the years I have probably been in direct contact with over 90 VCs ranging from so called seed to growth funding. Really the biggest and best investment I have seen lately come out of the right coast is from Brian O’Kelly’s shop AppNexus and rightfully so yet think about the magnitude of what Milner and Conway are going to create. I know for a fact and will not illustrate here that there is a ton of money on the right coast. Further there is a ton of money in the South. Couple that with our quality life and Charleston, SC could be an epicenter for technology. Yet a long time ago in a land faraway I was criticized for saying that the Seed money on the east coast is like Series A on the west coast as far as timelines.

I am worried that the left coast is going to come get all the talent on the right coast and especially in The South and call it INSHORING.

Maybe I’ll save that for another blog.

November 3, 2010 TCTJr Complete Stupidity

Words That Do Not Mean Anything Vol. #2

Well low and behold we have had input from the B L O G O S P H E R E (wherever the hell that is…) kinda like the great jukebox in the sky… I digress. Gotta focus get things accomplished. Busy is as Busy does you know… In any event we have a follow on, an incremental build if you will of the previous blog. See Words That Do Not Mean Anything from my previous blog. So had some input and little did I know that people are really pissed about this issue. They are fed up!. Yet they still fall into the same process and entrain into the local linguistics. Monkey See – Monkey Do… Without much ado about nothing here is the latest list…ah the collaborative nature of the open source world. A list of phrases and worlds that do not mean anything a.k.a. Words That Don’t Mean Anything Volume # 2.

Timely

tim·ing (t-i-mng)

n. The regulation of occurrence, pace, or coordination to achieve a desired effect, as in music, the theater, athletics, or mechanics.

This in most cases, means that you want something done immediately but cannot justify telling the person that you do not really feel like doing it so you turn it over to them and tell them you need it in a “timely” manner.

Swimingly

swim·ming·ly (swmng-lee)

adv. With great ease and success

It is my understanding that this term had deeper contextual meaning as well as historical meaning but for the life of me I could never hear myself saying, “Its going swimmingly”. If anyone has ever done any real swimming you will know why this is true.

Absolutely

ab·so·lute·ly (ahb-so-lute-lee)

adv. Definitely and completely; unquestionably.

An attempt at pseudo-passion when really you could care less. Then they completely forget about it after the meeting. Nice act. Keep up the good work..

Effective

ef·fec·tive (e-fktv)

adj. Having an intended or expected effect.

I am going to shift to some phrases that I have heard over the years. Yes I know this is supposed to be WORDS but I control the information.

Great, great, glad to hear it.

Scenario: Teleconference.

Person1: “Hey how are you?”

Person2: “Busy, really busy.”

Person1: “Great Great, glad to hear it.”

Person1 could care less. It could have been much like this:

Scenario: Teleconference.

Person1: “Hey how are you?”

Person2: “Just came back from your house with your wife.”

Person1: “Great Great, glad to hear it.”

Add some color for me

Decoded: I have no clue what is going on tell me exactly why I am even here and what to do…

It’s coming together

Decoded: I hope this thing ships or my ass is done for…

It Just Works

Come on people! THIS IS NOT A REQUIREMENT! OF COURSE THE THING SHOULD WORK!

Scenario: Requirements Meeting

Person1: “Well I have this idea about using Hive to speed up our data analysis.”

Person2: “Great, Great, glad to hear it. So whats one of the design requirements?”

Person1: “It should just work.”

So here we go…

I need to have these requirements finished in a timely manner such that it adds some color around an effective design so that the coding will proceed swimingly. One of the main requirements is that It Just Works. Think we can get it done? Absolutely! I think its coming together!

Until then,

Go Big Or Go Home.

October 18, 2010 TCTJr Complete Stupidity

Words That Do Not Mean Anything

Sometimes It Helps To Look At Ourselves

Over the last ten years or so, aside from the millions of acronyms that have been created, misused, and abused, there is this growing trend in using words that are what I call open ended – left to the receiver to decide the importance or lack there of. In fact these are now over-used and should be stamped out from and eviscerated from technical jargon and meetings. Here is a short list i would love the dear readers to send me some more:

Interesting

in·ter·est·ing (en-ter-es-sting)

def: adj: arousing curiosity or interest; holding or catching the attention.

A word that “sounds” intelligent. Is it? I contend people say it because they do not have any idea of what really to say or they are too scared to say what they are really thinking. Nowadays in this world of the information age, people get paid to think. They get paid for what they know which turns into what they do. Yet sitting there and saying “Interesting” doesn’t do me a damn thing other than waste mine and other people’s time. If you are going to say something – say it. Otherwise be quiet. Sorry your not holding my attention. Interesting isn’t it

Scenario

scen-ar-i-o [si-nair-ee-oh, -nahr-]

noun: a written outline of a movie, novel, or stage work giving details of the plot and individual scenes.

I LOVE this term. Note item #3 IMAGINED… well boy howdy there have been some imagined events. Strategic Scenarios sure do not materialize in money near term do they?. They are however extremely important for planning. That said SCENARIO is a term that is being used to mean “Well Really I want to sound like I know what I am doing but I don’t have a clue – really nor do I have any real ideas.”

Synergy

syn·er·gy (snr-j)

adjective: attributing to a subject something determined by observation rather than analysis of the nature of the subject and not resulting in self-contradiction if negated

Cooperation boys and girls! “Oh I see it as a Synergism between the two departments.” Decoded: I am going to take all of your projects and plans away.

“I see your investment synergistic to our needs.” Decoded: Please give us the money even it if means a low valuation with a 51% ownership!

Clarity

clar·i·ty (klr-t)

noun: the state of having a full, detailed, and orderly mental grasp of something

How many times have you heard this? “I just want to be CLEAR.” People also use the word transparent. This is like a human resource catch all term that basically means I have no idea why i said what i said and put the company at risk. In other uses in means I am trying to explain something that I do not understand.

Win-Win

win-win (wnwn)

adjective: advantageous or satisfactory to all parties involved

I mean really? Cmon’. There will always be a winner and a loser. Sorry you dont get a trophy, the contract or the bonus or venture capital money. See my blog on Social Darwinism and Software Development.

Woo Hoo!

Woo hoo is a common expression of joy, especially as arising from success or good fortune.

Instead of saying Hell Yea that was incredible people say it as a half assed attempt at enthusiasm in the workplace. They also use it at the end of a ski run in a very tight oppressed manner when they really want to yell.

Blog

A blog (a blend of the term web log) is a type of website or part of a website

Never have liked that word. Sounds like your vomiting. Then again most people just whine and say nothing of importance. Blogging about Blogging Blogs.

So here we go: I want to create an Scenario that is Interesting with Synergy that is Clear and creates a Win Win for everyone they can Blog about. Woo Hoo!

Until Then,

Go Big Or Go Home.

October 8, 2010 TCTJr Direct Thoughts|Out In The Fringe|Random_Thoughts

A D A P T I B I L I T Y !

Well low and below I was having some tea this morning and going through my thousands of RSS feeds and one of the survival method blogs wrote about the following subject matter:

Why Do People Fail To Adapt?

1. Not seeing what is happening. Sometimes folks just aren’t informed on what is going on. Hard to make logical conclusions and adapt to them if you don’t have the information.

2. Refusal to accept the new reality. Folks will just stick their heads in the sand and hope the problem goes away. Often this happens with a family who can’t afford to maintain their current lifestyle. They will try to borrow and juggle bills and try to hold onto the greased string as long as they possibly can. Like tearing off a band aid going slower makes it worse. Better to have a couple really rough months than a couple pretty rough years. Also there are those starving farmers in Africa. Ya know the ones you always see on the aids commercials? The ones who keep planting pathetic little gardens on their 1/2 of an acre farm in the Sudan where 9/10 years there is a drought that kills all the crops.

3. They limit their options. They refuse to try the kind of food that is available and starve instead. They refuse to move to find work. They hope old jobs will come back instead of focusing on retraining and finding new employment.

4. They give up – Adapting, at least in the context we are talking about, is usually unpleasant. Like any other human situation, there is a huge psychological factor. When something bad happens, I am not saying you shouldn’t be sad. Eat a carton of ice cream, or drink a half bottle of booze or whatever it is you do. Go to sleep, wake up and get the heck on with your life. It will eventually get better.

Wow. Say it aint so?! Lets do an item-by-item analysis here.

Item #1 Not Seeing what is happening.

Being aware and not being stupid. Ok this is almost a circular argument as solipsism is seeping in here. Really? Please make logical and rational decisions. Pretty obvious and appears to be a given if your building software. In many cases not being informed is another way of saying you do not have the background to process the information.

Item #2 Refusal to accept the new reality.

This is a big one. In many cases people cannot cope with vast changes in technology or any type of culture. I mentioned homeostasis in my last blog. Resistant to change. It is a conundrum of sorts. They want better yet they do not want to deal with a new reality or they have the inability to understand a new reality. This is occurring in the world of database technology. (thought I would throw in some software terms to make it tech based). It is hard when someone busts your whole reality of what you thought was possible. We no longer need huge co-locations to run companies. EC2 changed what is possible. People are still fighting it. Machines that learn? OMG they will take jobs away! It reminds me of the 1950s robot scare (not that I was around then I just read about it…)

Item #3 They Limit their options

Doesn’t this appear counterintuitive when you take it out of the context of life and death or not creating competitive software? Options! Choices! Menus! Features! Heck Sonic Burger makes a killing on menu features and options. So does Microsoft Office – something like 1739 features?

Item #4 They give up adapting.

If you just quit, you get what you deserve. This doesn’t mean keep doing the same thing over and over and over and over and expecting a different result – that is crazy. If you just quit and literally give up you deserve what you get. Go Home. Walk on home boy.

There is also a flip side to adaptation and that is knowing when to hold the line and not change to the latest bright shiny object or algorithm. This is also adaptation albeit using experience. Being Patient is an adaptive. Mr Alligatorinae pictured above is a great animal at being patient. Be Patient – Adapt – Emerge.

Until Then

Go Big Or Go Home.

Original site can be accessed here:

WHY DO PEOPLE FAIL TO ADAPT?

October 7, 2010 TCTJr Direct Thoughts|General Discussion

Social Darwinism and Software Development

I was having a discussion the other day with a couple of very smart humans. The discussion trended towards the aspect of performance which naturally led me to start joking about meetings called “Nurturing Others In The Work Environment” and “I’m Ok – Your OK”. A very bright software engineer, on my current team, commented the software speaks for itself, which got me around to the current installment. The software does speak for itself. In fact, elite software truly speaks for itself. Further software development is the ultimate survival of the fittest from an evolutionary standpoint. For those not familiar with this subject matter I cannot at this juncture give you cliff notes. Thus we are not nurturing others in the blogosphere. Mr Spencer who was a pretty smart feller was attributed to coining the phrase “Survival Of The Fittest”. Stanford is kind enough to give you a great rundown of the subject matter here. Concerning the taboo terminology of Social Darwinism, we can locate the Wikipedia definition as thus. Richard Hofstadter devoted an entire chapter of Social Darwinism in American Thought (1955) to Spencer, arguing that Spencer’s unfortunate vogue in late nineteenth-century America inspired Andrew Carnegie and William Graham Sumner’s visions of unbridled and unrepentant capitalism. For Hofstadter, Spencer was an “ultra-conservative” for whom the poor were so much unfit detritus. If you have not read Hofstadter’s book, you should. Once again it is outside the scope of this blog to review but it is one of the few tomes on the “taboo” subject of Social Darwinism. Also if you have a Facebook account there is a Social Darwinism fan page.

It is my belief that the world of Spencer and Hofstadster via the foundation of Darwin, can be seen in the world of software development. If you have ever worked on software that touched multiple millions of deployments to billions of feeds you know the importance of quality. You also know the importance of performance and accuracy. There is no arguing what happens when someone “breaks the build”. It is NOT OK – YOU ARE NOT OK. In fact you are probably going to get your ass called at 2:30 AM after you pulled a 3 day straight coding sprint to get up and fix it or else. Does this sound like nurturing others in the work environment? Hell No! You are costing people money!. It is a binary process. Its either on or its off and it better be ON! All systems go. I am not saying that we should seek complete perfection, elegance and bug free coding that is impossible if your going to make bank through software creation. He who ships first will win – if the quality is there. Yet if your grinding and someone is lagging they are left severely behind the pack and if you watch the discovery channel you know what happens when there are laggers in nature. It is not pretty.

This is a view from the inside. From the outside most only see the frisbees and imported beer and sitting there with Pantera playing on the headphones whilst sitting in front of a computing device. Easy huh? Think again. Real coders, data scientist, architects <<insert title de jour here>> literally have ice running in their veins when it comes to creating software – usually for money. As I wrote in other installments, I discussed extreme capitalism and mercenaries. Good, Better, Best. It is especially exacerbated when the best of the best make it look easy. The same for sports. Kelly Slater, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan these people make it look so easy. Aplomb comes to mind. I am fond of saying, ” To do a dangerous thing with style is the mark of a professional”.

Historically the software industry was a juxtaposition of the peace love and happiness stuff which is in direct conflict with what actually occurs within the world of software. Another interesting aspect to the software world that one must always be A D A P T I N G. Homeostasis is a death knell to software company. Microsoft missed the internet but sat down and decided to give away Internet Explorer. Apple was tanking and created colorful computers. Companies that continually evolve and change adapt to technology trends and market pressures – win. Antiquated static slow moving companies are akin to the diseased of a pack and will be taken down.

Dont let you or your company be the one that is taken down. Evolve. Change. Grow. Seek Power through great software. Innovation and Great Code speak volumes. Amplify those qualities.

Until Then,

Go Big Or Go Home!

September 10, 2010 TCTJr Direct Thoughts

In Memoriam – Steven Swenson March 13, 1967 – September 11, 2005

Today this blog is not about technology or ideas. Its a Memoriam.

Most will consider 9/11 as a remembrance of an atrocity that occurred within our nation. Some cried. Some died. Some cheered. Personally, I think 9/11 as it is commonly known within the vernacular and as “The Event”, was a pathetic display of religion and government gone awry.

That said over the years since September 11, 2005 – I remember it as the day my brother at arms died.

His name was Steven Swenson (a.k.a The Sven).

If you are familiar with OS9, OSX or Windows XP then you are familiar with this man’s works of art. Steven was an incredible software engineer. His design ethos as well as his ability to write solid code and adapt in the moment were world class. This year, in homage, I am going to discuss some little known facts and would be fiction depending on whom you talk to concerning some experiences. This is timely, as of late many people have been asking me about how it was to work at Apple, Microsoft, and The Valley in general. First, I will set the stage with some “Sven-isms” that he used to say or yell depending on the situation:

“Mediocrity Is Not An Option!”

“That is fucking stupid”

( Usually in response to someone’s question if anyone had any comments or feedback – complete with laughter.)

So with the “level set” a couple of vignettes:

Story #1

We are standing around at “The Evil Empire” and I asked Steven what he had going on with respect to a code base that we had just finished architecting. He said he had to check in some last minute changes and he was finished. Then his manager walked in and said that he has a bug in the code. The following discussion took place:

Sven: “OK, I’ll take a look at it now.” He told me to wait a minute.

Sven: “Oh boy I am a dumbfuck, OK its fixed.” (insert technical reason here)

Sven looking at his manager: “Ok its fixed now, it looks like that was the last bug in triage before RTM.”

Manager: “Your six weeks early with the (insert current code base here). What are you going to do now?”

Sven: “I am going to the gym with TCT.”

Manager: “Then what?”

Sven: “Stay out of here as long as I can.”

Beautiful really. Just beautiful.

Story #2

We are somewhere in Cupertino, CA hanging out at a certain Loop. We were working on an new operating system circa 1999. There was a discussion over how we were going to implement some real time Application Programmer Interfaces. There appeared to be a disconnect between the two technical lead / managers, the Sven being one of the two at odds. So we were sitting there arguing. He gets up and says:

“I am going to beat the shit out of you.”

I get in between them and he starts at the other lead manager.

I grab him and throw him outside the building.

He says, ” I am going to get a gun and kill that motherfucker.”

I punch him and he keeps yelling.

I hold him down and tell him I am going to knock him out if if he doesnt stop.

He said, “Ok but that guy is leading us down a path that will fail.”

I only can hope to find people who care about Quality as much as he did.

Story #3

One year for Xmas I gave my team a shirt that said, “100% Microsoft Free – FuckBillGates.com”

I gave these shirts to them before coming back from lunch at the Evil Empire.

I knew exactly what was going to happen. I dropped The Sven off somewhere around say building 31 and he proceeded to put the shirt on. He said he had to give design meetings the rest of the day. I responded that he might not want to do that. He said “Fuck them if they can’t take a joke.” I called later and inquired about the response. He said no one said anything that they were a bunch of pathetic followers.

I suppose if the shoe fits.

Think you have created some cool stuff? Think again. In that same vein this is how much Steven or ( The Sven ) hated computers:

PC Destruction Video

This was one of his favorite songs:

Pantera: Becoming

Here are the Lyrics to Sing Along with…

A long time ago I never knew myself. Then the memory
Of shame birthed its gift.
No more. The small one, the weak one, the frightened one.
Running from beatings, deflating. I’m becoming more
Than a man. More than you ever were. Driven and burning
To rise beyond Jesus.
I’m born again with snakes eyes
Becoming Godsize
I found my life was slipping through my hands. Perhaps
Through death my life won’t be so bad.
I can see you, can fuck you, inside of you. Staring through
Your eyes. Belittle your friends to serve me, to suck me,
To realize my saving grasp. I of suicide. I the unlord.
I’m born again with snakes eyes
Becoming Godsize

In retrospect, it might have been prescient. He probably would tell me to shut the fuck up. In addition to being a great computer scientist he was also a great waterman, knew martial arts and was in phenomenal shape. He was much better than most. He was elite and a Nihilist at the same time. He believed Schrödinger’s cat was dead and eviscerated, so to speak. He thought most were stupid and most were mediocre humans. There is also this misconception that people who make technology are dorks. Does this guy sound like a dork? Nowadays I see so many people wanting to be spoon fed. I can assure you that if the Sven were alive today he would feed you a bootjack or provide you with an island, a gun with one bullet and a case of rum. I’ll close with some words from a song by Blood Axis called Comrade:

To every sailor the gods have given a comrade
While one sleeps the other keeps watch on the bridge
When one doubts the other gives him his faith
When one falls the other discovers the oasis of ice for both of them

When my comrade loses faith I laugh confidently
When my comrade sleeps I keep watch for him
When my comrade falls I fight on for the both of us
Because to every sailor the gods have given a comrade
Hey!

If you loose heart, I’ll laugh joyfully
And if you sleep, I’ll keep watch for you
And if you fall, I’ll fight on for the both of us
Because to every warrior the gods have given a comrade
Hey!

If you fall I will discover the oasis of ice for both of us
Hey!

Hey!

I truly miss my comrade.

As we used to say “One day as a lion instead of a life as a sheep.”

Go Big Or Go Home!

ALL HAIL STEVEN SWENSON!

July 20, 2010 TCTJr General Discussion|Human-Performance|Out In The Fringe

Mercenaries For Hire

In my last post I discussed talent. Most companies buy companies either for a defensive move or for talent. Few and far between are the exemplar purchases for intellectual property. Although it is mandatory you have those ideas at least patent pending with some form of provisional application – yet i digress.

It has become very apparent to me we are heading into a talent shortage. Specifically in the areas of Data Science. It reminds me of the glory days of signal processing in the early to mid 90’s. We couldnt find people who knew how to code a (fast) Fast Fourier Transform let alone think about distributing that processing. I see Data Science related careers in that same situation. I also see the physical and soft sciences merging with the two as it pertains to gaining knowledge from the data. Need to find a lot of people and do not want to outsource it? Do not have the cash to make a company acquisition? Call in a team.

The above picture is of the good folks at Blackwater. Most people or companies do not like mercenaries. Why? Mercenaries are usually not very fun. Most people enjoy pithy campy fun. Mercenary teams are not the type of consultants you find in Office Space. On the contrary, these guys and gals know what they are doing – get in – get out and move on. They are expensive but will usually overhaul any situation. They have a huge amount of experience and are very calm under chaotic conditions. I am reminded that those who do a dangerous thing with style is a professional. I see a day when teams of Mad Max Mercenaries are plying their trade on Craig’s List or eBay. eBay is probably a better venue as then they can have a cover LLC and incorporate subdivisions as needed based upon specialty. Sound crazy? Maybe. Sounds like a possible Idea2Bank to me.

Until Then,

Go Big Or Go Home!