Back of Mind

"

… I’ve always felt that a team of people doing something they really believe in is like when I was a young kid there was a widowed man that lived up the street. He was in his eighties. He was a little scary looking. And I got to know him a little bit. I think he may have paid me to mow his lawn or something.

And one day he said to me, “come on into my garage I want to show you something.” And he pulled out this dusty old rock tumbler. It was a motor and a coffee can and a little band between them. And he said, “come on with me.” We went out into the back and we got just some rocks. Some regular old ugly rocks. And we put them in the can with a little bit of liquid and little bit of grit powder, and we closed the can up and he turned this motor on and he said, “come back tomorrow.”

And this can was making a racket as the stones went around.

And I came back the next day, and we opened the can. And we took out these amazingly beautiful polished rocks. The same common stones that had gone in, through rubbing against each other like this (clapping his hands), creating a little bit of friction, creating a little bit of noise, had come out these beautiful polished rocks.

That’s always been in my mind my metaphor for a team working really hard on something they’re passionate about. It’s that through the team, through that group of incredibly talented people bumping up against each other, having arguments, having fights sometimes, making some noise, and working together they polish each other and they polish the ideas, and what comes out are these really beautiful stones.

"

— Steve Jobs - circa 1995 (via rageinrage)

(Source: CNN)

"

There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody.

You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear: you moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for; you hired workers the rest of us paid to educate; you were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did.

Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea? God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.

"

— Elizabeth Warren

9/11 & us

Take a moment to read the email below, sent late last night from Scott Heiferman, CEO of Meetup to his community. It’s no coincidence that a disproportionate number of great companies have people at their heads with an ability and desire to connect with employees and users, and a clear and compelling reason for being.  Needless to say, I like it, a lot.

I couldn’t find this online so I figured I’d toss it up here…kind of a reblog, for email.

“Fellow Meetuppers,

I don’t write to our whole community often, but this week is

special because it’s the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and many

people don’t know that Meetup is a 9/11 baby.

Let me tell you the Meetup story. I was living a couple miles

from the Twin Towers, and I was the kind of person who thought

local community doesn’t matter much if we’ve got the internet

and tv. The only time I thought about my neighbors was when I

hoped they wouldn’t bother me.

When the towers fell, I found myself talking to more neighbors

in the days after 9/11 than ever before. People said hello to

neighbors (next-door and across the city) who they’d normally

ignore. People were looking after each other, helping each

other, and meeting up with each other. You know, being

neighborly.

A lot of people were thinking that maybe 9/11 could bring

people together in a lasting way. So the idea for Meetup was

born: Could we use the internet to get off the internet — and

grow local communities?

We didn’t know if it would work. Most people thought it was a

crazy idea — especially because terrorism is designed to make

people distrust one another.

A small team came together, and we launched Meetup 9 months

after 9/11.

Today, almost 10 years and 10 million Meetuppers later, it’s

working. Every day, thousands of Meetups happen. Moms Meetups,

Small Business Meetups, Fitness Meetups… a wild variety of

100,000 Meetup Groups with not much in common — except one

thing.

Every Meetup starts with people simply saying hello to

neighbors. And what often happens next is still amazing to me.

They grow businesses and bands together, they teach and

motivate each other, they babysit each other’s kids and find

other ways to work together. They have fun and find solace

together. They make friends and form powerful community. It’s

powerful stuff.

It’s a wonderful revolution in local community, and it’s thanks

to everyone who shows up.

Meetups aren’t about 9/11, but they may not be happening if it

weren’t for 9/11.

9/11 didn’t make us too scared to go outside or talk to

strangers. 9/11 didn’t rip us apart. No, we’re building new

community together!!!!

The towers fell, but we rise up. And we’re just getting started

with these Meetups.

Scott Heiferman (on behalf of 80 people at Meetup HQ)

Co-Founder & CEO, Meetup

New York City

September 2011”

HANDSOME CODE: On Project Management →

handsomecode:

I had a conversation with Tyler about project management software the other day, because I invited him to start using Asana to start keeping track of features and ideas for our app.

Tyler was vehemently opposed to any kind of project management software.

Having used a number of tools…