Curt Doolittle

Theme: Productivity

  • BRINSON: LIBERTARIAN. WEALTH MAGNET. Gary has been, through proxy, an investor i

    http://www.brinsonfoundation.org/whoweare/founder_statement.shtmlGARY BRINSON: LIBERTARIAN. WEALTH MAGNET.

    Gary has been, through proxy, an investor in one of my companies. A smart man from seattle who we all admire. If you read this biography, or read his book, you’ll love him too.

    BUT VIRTUE DOESN’T ROLL DOWNHILL

    Unfortunately, the fellow that works for him, and is on our board, is a dishonest lying thief who has systematically stolen from our shareholders. It is a blatant constructed effort to create conditions whereby any profits are directed not to shareholders equally, but to him alone.

    And I think, now that we have some clear evidence, it’s about time I did something about it. I couldn’t do it while CEO. But I can do it now.

    But I think Brinson beat me to it. From what I’ve just learned, he’s been released from his position.

    That’s good. Now all I have to do is prevent him from ever getting another one.

    Source date (UTC): 2013-10-07 06:14:00 UTC

  • (ON OUR PRODUCT) THE BUSINESS PRINCIPLE OF EMPLOYEE SOVEREIGNTY I’m working on b

    (ON OUR PRODUCT) THE BUSINESS PRINCIPLE OF EMPLOYEE SOVEREIGNTY

    I’m working on business rules today. And in reviewing competing products again, I’m still struck by the employee-as-liar-and-thief nature of most products. Now, I don’t make products for the lower half of society. The upper half wants its sovereignty.

    What does that mean?

    Basically, we each learn and function by different rules, but those rules describe a spectrum from those who need the MOST supervision and training-by-doing, to those who need the LEAS training-by-doing and supervision, to those who need NO supervision and engage entirely in INDEPENDENT problem solving. The first group has production responsibilities, and a short time horizon, and the last have profit, revenue or cost responsibilities and a long time horizon.

    Society is organized, because production is organized, by our ability to rapidly and independently adapt to changing circumstances, given abstract information in the form of prices. THis is why capitalism rewards those who ORGANIZE PRODUCTION not those who PRODUCE. Organization is difficult. Production can be replaced quickly and easily and has little or no differential value.

    We are building Oversing for those people who work in organization s where one of the rewards of working there is Sovereignty, sure. But we are trying to push sovereignty down into the organization as far as possible. Because EVERYONE wants to be sovereign if at all possible. And if you give the upper third sovereignty they will act as sovereign individuals on behalf of the organization (family, and team) rather than as exploited serfs.

    And I am intentionally leaving out features that deprive people of sovereignty. Because I don’t want customers, or users, who are not sovereign. Because it’s immoral in my view. It’s and immorality is bad business.

    It’s not only bad for society. It’s not only bad for the employee. It’s bad business.

    Happy, fulfilled, empowered people, make happy customers.

    it’s infectious.

    Source date (UTC): 2013-10-04 06:44:00 UTC

  • NOW WORLD’S NUMBER 1 OIL PRODUCER

    http://www.aei-ideas.org/2013/10/shale-revolution-saudi-america-was-the-worlds-no-1-petroleum-producer-in-june-for-the-8th-straight-month/AMERICA NOW WORLD’S NUMBER 1 OIL PRODUCER

    Source date (UTC): 2013-10-04 03:56:00 UTC

  • (OVER EDUCATED, UNDER EMPLOYED) About 1/4 to 1/3 of people are overeducated for

    http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2013/10/a_primer_on_mal.htmlMAL-EMPLOYMENT (OVER EDUCATED, UNDER EMPLOYED)

    About 1/4 to 1/3 of people are overeducated for their positions.(weighted toward the social sciences).

    But over-education only applies to College Level Occupations. Low and semi skilled workers are not sufficiently educated (as are germans because of their apprenticeship approach to education.)

    American society envisions that everyone can join the middle class; that education is not job preparation, but indoctrination in the cult of democracy. And that we are all capable of learning independently. All three of these assumptions are empirically and logically false.

    Source date (UTC): 2013-10-03 03:22:00 UTC

  • I LOVE MY COMPANY AND MY ‘GUYS’. They are making the most amazing product. At le

    I LOVE MY COMPANY AND MY ‘GUYS’.

    They are making the most amazing product. At least, to me it’s amazing. Sure, it’ll be a version one. WIth a scope this large it’ll obviously miss a few niche things. But the breadth of what we’re doing is just amazing. Everyone else has a ‘feature’ not a ‘product’ by comparison. And it’s just so fun to work on something that you WANT to use to run your business. And to do it better than everyone else does. And to KNOW it’s better than what everyone else does. It’s fulfilling. Rewarding.

    I’m probably crazy about it. And acting like an indulgent parent. But that’s OK. It’s really fun.

    I never built an accounting system before. I’ve always wanted to. I’ve wanted a system that gave me the information that I needed and not what I didn’t. Something that places higher priority on the management information necessary to run the business than financial accounting systems do. But underneath all the project management and resourcing stuff, it’s a couple of pretty basic ledgers and a general journal and a chart of accounts. You just can’t see or feel them. They’re invisible except to the external financial accounting system. The user has no idea.

    And, to top it off, Denis came up with a FREAKING BRILLIANT idea today. Kirill implemented it. Its… awesome. Brick by brick this thing starts to take shape. Everything is just a bit better than what everyone else does. Sometimes a lot better.

    Running a big company involves a lot of money and politics. Worse, the delay between action and results is painfully long. There are very few positive feedback loops. A big company is not satisfying. It’s just not as fun as running a ‘tribe’. And I’m really happy with my tribe. 🙂

    Hugs.

    Source date (UTC): 2013-10-02 18:53:00 UTC

  • WATCH: RESISTANCE TO SPENDING FROM 2010 People do not want to invest in infrastr

    http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/build-we-wont/KRUGMAN WATCH: RESISTANCE TO SPENDING FROM 2010

    People do not want to invest in infrastructure in the midst of a class war, even if it’s battles are conducted by policy rather than by violence. People do not have faith in the government. They cannot have faith in the government, because we have too disparate a set of interests.

    You’re approaching the problem from the wrong direction. There is no ‘We” any longer. The use of factions and class warfare to undermine the old class, race and cultural power base was successful.

    If people do not own their government, or feel that it represents them, then it is an external entity. They’re acting as if it is.

    There is no “We”.

    Source date (UTC): 2013-09-25 20:52:00 UTC

  • “Down on the street, I interpret a lot of what Krugman says, to mean “make it/ma

    “Down on the street, I interpret a lot of what Krugman says, to mean “make it/manufacture it/produce it it doesn’t matter if you can sell it for a profit or sell it at all, hell stash it in a warehouse until the aliens come, the idea of production is to transfer money to employees, not to sell things and make profit”. Shiit straight out of the old Soviet Union.”

    -George White

    Source date (UTC): 2013-09-25 13:14:00 UTC

  • JOBLESSNESS AND IPHONES 🙂

    JOBLESSNESS AND IPHONES 🙂

    Source date (UTC): 2013-09-13 09:11:00 UTC

  • IS OVER New book from Cowen

    http://www.amazon.com/dp/0525953736/ref=tsm_1_fb_lkAVERAGE IS OVER

    New book from Cowen

    Source date (UTC): 2013-09-12 15:39:00 UTC

  • ENTREPRENEUR LOVE FROM FORBES

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnchisholm/2013/09/10/as-entrepreneurs-keep-reminding-us-they-lied-to-us-in-econ-101/QUICKIE ENTREPRENEUR LOVE FROM FORBES

    Source date (UTC): 2013-09-10 22:54:00 UTC