ImDriving

imdriving

Here's a new problem, and a new set of jobs for humans, that will be caused as more and more Robotaxis show up (think of an Uber that works without a human in the car). What is the problem? Transportation behavior will change as we get more and more vehicles on the road with no humans inside. Something that's already happening in San Francisco, where you see many autonomous vehicles driving around with no humans inside from companies like Waymo, Zoox, and others. Expected are many others, including Tesla, and GM's Cruise which we hear will be back on the road later this year. The problem? Football stadiums, concerts, basketball stadiums, conferences, events like the Olympics, all will see radically different usage patterns. For instance, today, if you attend a football game, you park in one of dozens of parking lots around the stadium and you walk in, or take a shuttle to one of the entrances. This adds some "randomness" to the flow of crowds in and out and lets city officials who plan out traffic flows bring traffic to those parking lots with a few different routes. Even today it's often a mess with traffic taking an hour to get into many venues with large numbers of people but officials, and others, who work in these industries tell me autonomous vehicles will make traffic far worse. Why? Well, let's assume in five years you are in a Cybertruck taking your family to a football game and that by then the Cybertruck can drive with no humans in the car. Will you want your Cybertruck to take you to a far off parking lot and make you walk to the stadium? No. You'll want it to drop you off near the football stadium. And here's the rub: so will everyone else. Which means you'll have thousands of Waymos, Cruises, Teslas, all trying to get to the same drop-off point. This new human expectation will lead to traffic nightmares. Worse, I've been talking with executives at these kinds of venues and they say the coordination between sports teams, city officials/police, and ride-sharing companies is nearly non-existent.One told me they tried to get Uber and Lyft to come meet with them to design new traffic flows for their vehicles and they just don't get very little help or interest from the ride-sharing companies. One, who works with the 49ers, tells me city officials often put up signs for Uber/Lyft drivers that lead them into dead-end roads where they need to waste time turning around and figuring out where they need to go. Signage, cones, road closures, all could be done in a much better way around venues. And that's before you consider the humans. Often crowds of humans getting out of venues are drunk, don't follow traffic rules, and, sometimes, even turn riotous. Has the autonomous vehicle industry worked with venues to understand how traffic systems change around event venues? No, is the answer I keep hearing, and getting Waymo or Tesla interested in studying the problem together and designing new traffic facilities around big-crowd venues is difficult. Oh, it can happen. At Coachella, for instance, Uber built a huge parking lot with waiting areas for humans that were covered (it's hot often waiting for your ride to show up). Uber also built contextual systems to work with drivers around the Western United States to convince drivers to come to Palm Springs for a month and drive people around (Coachella is two weekends, where 150,000 people visit each weekend, followed by a country music festival that has slightly smaller crowds, but Uber, alone, brings thousands of cars to handle the crowds of people who want to use it to get to and from the venue). Along with the parking lot city officials block off lanes and have clear signs for Uber/Lyft/Taxis to use and have police at every intersection directing traffic and making sure things flow smoothly. Even with all that work it often takes one to three hours of standing in line to get a Taxi or an Uber out of the venue. Now imagine if thousands of people were arriving in autonomous vehicles. If the vehicles weren't programmed into where to go, and if Tesla doesn't have its own drop off and pickup lot things could get nasty, and fast. Last week at NVIDIA's big event my Tesla was programmed to pick up a friend at the Marriott. Problem was it took me down a route that is usually just fine, but during that event NVIDIA and city officials had the street in front of the conference center closed due to the large crowds that were attending that event. My Tesla didn't know about the closed street so it tried to take me down that closed street, figured it out too late, and then got stuck in traffic going on a detour around, wasting 15 minutes. Now 15 minutes doesn't seem like a big deal, but it is if I was driving an Uber passenger. Why? Well, first of all now I have a passenger who isn't happy with the navigation choices the car made, maybe giving me a lower score than I otherwise would get, but, worse, if I was picking up a passenger that person might see that I'm now 15 minutes away instead of two and decide to hop in a cab or cancel my ride. Wasted time, which means if I'm driving an Uber I don't get paid. There also is a difference between permanent venues, like a football stadium, which have the same problems every weekend (while football isn't being played these stadiums are often used for other things, like concerts) and music festivals that only happen one or two weekends a year, like Coachella. There aren't enough vehicles to support these temporary crowds so vehicles have to be moved into that area. There are dozens of such festivals all over the world, and that's counting just the ones with 50,000 attendees or more, like EDC in Vegas, Glastonbury in UK, etc. So, a company, like a Tesla, which is expected to have humanless vehicles driving in most Western Countries, would need to work with dozens of venues to setup drop off and pick up zones, and with local police to understand how to work with them so that they understand how to work with autonomous vehicles. Once in a while one of those will get stuck, for instance, maybe with a blown tire or an equipment malfunction, or, worse, an accident. At SXSW a drunk driver plowed through crowds of people one year, killing many, and causing a major first-responder response. In such a situation all the constituencies would need to work together to change traffic flows to make sure more vehicles aren't drawn to the area, or interfere with first responders. Is there a relationship lead between all these constituencies? I hear there is not, except in the best of cases. So, this leads to a new job for humans. AI's can't attend city council or meetings with police. AI's can't often figure out why all traffic has stopped. Once, at Half Moon Bay's pumpkin festival it started to rain. Everyone headed for their cars at the same time, but both Waze and Apple Maps continued to give incorrect data for an hour, both on recommendations for what street to head down, and on time it will take to get out of the area. These systems are built for normal traffic flows, and often can't understand that police have even reversed traffic, so that cars are going down the wrong way on a road. Which leads to the AI. Uber's founder, Travis Kalanick, told me his goal is to have one car near someone who is calling for a ride. That way the ride will arrive in less than five minutes and everyone is happy. Uber built a complex "traffic control system" that hooks drivers and passengers up together. That system usually works great, but when high-crowd events show up these systems often mislead drivers and passengers alike. Waymo is, so far, punting, and refuses to go near these events, and has a very small number of passengers today. Even if you live in San Francisco you can't just get a Waymo, you have to wait to be added to the system and they are adding new passengers slowly so that the whole system remains healthy and doesn't hit these large-crowd issues yet. That will change as they scale up the system to be in many more cities over the next few years and open up the system to everyone, not just a limited number of beta testers. So, to wrap it up, soon entrepreneurs, like Elon Musk, who is making plans for bringing its millions of vehicles online to do human-less driving, will need to do new AI modeling work for how cars should behave around high-crowd events, leading to new traffic-control systems to bring thousands of cars in and out of these venues, and will need teams of humans working with venues and cities to build new drop-off-areas for autonomous vehicles to drop off and pick up people. That is a human job, not one that an AI or robot can do. And a company that has aspirations for building a global network of autonomous vehicles, will need many such workers to work with local customs/officials/venues/teams/events. I see very little modeling work, although I saw MIT Media Lab doing some early work to understand how cities would change due to autonomous vehicles, and I don't see anyone in the AI/Autonomous Vehicle industry talking about research/work in this areas. (And yes, I do have a list of those people here on X: https://x.com/scobleizer/lists) I'm doing this post to try to spur industry interest in working on these issues and to connect people who may already be working on them. Are you positioned for these new jobs? If you are, these are fun things to work on and you might even get free tickets to go see concerts or football games for you and your family. I got taken to a Taylor Swift concert by an entrepreneur who built technology systems for the local stadium, so I know it's possible. :-) Technology solves old problems and causes new problems. Which is why I'm still on team human. AI's aren't good at figuring this stuff out and I don't see them getting good at figuring them out, either, for years. Sounds like a good job to have for a while. Here's a new problem, and a new set of jobs for humans, that will be caused as more and more Robotaxis show up (think of an Uber that works without a human in the car). What is the problem? Transportation behavior will change as we get more and more vehicles on the road with no humans inside. Something that's already happening in San Francisco, where you see many autonomous vehicles driving around with no humans inside from companies like Waymo, Zoox, and others. Expected are many others, including Tesla, and GM's Cruise which we hear will be back on the road later this year. The problem? Football stadiums, concerts, basketball stadiums, conferences, events like the Olympics, all will see radically different usage patterns. For instance, today, if you attend a football game, you park in one of dozens of parking lots around the stadium and you walk in, or take a shuttle to one of the entrances. This adds some "randomness" to the flow of crowds in and out and lets city officials who plan out traffic flows bring traffic to those parking lots with a few different routes. Even today it's often a mess with traffic taking an hour to get into many venues with large numbers of people but officials, and others, who work in these industries tell me autonomous vehicles will make traffic far worse. Why? Well, let's assume in five years you are in a Cybertruck taking your family to a football game and that by then the Cybertruck can drive with no humans in the car. Will you want your Cybertruck to take you to a far off parking lot and make you walk to the stadium? No. You'll want it to drop you off near the football stadium. And here's the rub: so will everyone else. Which means you'll have thousands of Waymos, Cruises, Teslas, all trying to get to the same drop-off point. This new human expectation will lead to traffic nightmares. Worse, I've been talking with executives at these kinds of venues and they say the coordination between sports teams, city officials/police, and ride-sharing companies is nearly non-existent.One told me they tried to get Uber and Lyft to come meet with them to design new traffic flows for their vehicles and they just don't get very little help or interest from the ride-sharing companies. One, who works with the 49ers, tells me city officials often put up signs for Uber/Lyft drivers that lead them into dead-end roads where they need to waste time turning around and figuring out where they need to go. Signage, cones, road closures, all could be done in a much better way around venues. And that's before you consider the humans. Often crowds of humans getting out of venues are drunk, don't follow traffic rules, and, sometimes, even turn riotous. Has the autonomous vehicle industry worked with venues to understand how traffic systems change around event venues? No, is the answer I keep hearing, and getting Waymo or Tesla interested in studying the problem together and designing new traffic facilities around big-crowd venues is difficult. Oh, it can happen. At Coachella, for instance, Uber built a huge parking lot with waiting areas for humans that were covered (it's hot often waiting for your ride to show up). Uber also built contextual systems to work with drivers around the Western United States to convince drivers to come to Palm Springs for a month and drive people around (Coachella is two weekends, where 150,000 people visit each weekend, followed by a country music festival that has slightly smaller crowds, but Uber, alone, brings thousands of cars to handle the crowds of people who want to use it to get to and from the venue). Along with the parking lot city officials block off lanes and have clear signs for Uber/Lyft/Taxis to use and have police at every intersection directing traffic and making sure things flow smoothly. Even with all that work it often takes one to three hours of standing in line to get a Taxi or an Uber out of the venue. Now imagine if thousands of people were arriving in autonomous vehicles. If the vehicles weren't programmed into where to go, and if Tesla doesn't have its own drop off and pickup lot things could get nasty, and fast. Last week at NVIDIA's big event my Tesla was programmed to pick up a friend at the Marriott. Problem was it took me down a route that is usually just fine, but during that event NVIDIA and city officials had the street in front of the conference center closed due to the large crowds that were attending that event. My Tesla didn't know about the closed street so it tried to take me down that closed street, figured it out too late, and then got stuck in traffic going on a detour around, wasting 15 minutes. Now 15 minutes doesn't seem like a big deal, but it is if I was driving an Uber passenger. Why? Well, first of all now I have a passenger who isn't happy with the navigation choices the car made, maybe giving me a lower score than I otherwise would get, but, worse, if I was picking up a passenger that person might see that I'm now 15 minutes away instead of two and decide to hop in a cab or cancel my ride. Wasted time, which means if I'm driving an Uber I don't get paid. There also is a difference between permanent venues, like a football stadium, which have the same problems every weekend (while football isn't being played these stadiums are often used for other things, like concerts) and music festivals that only happen one or two weekends a year, like Coachella. There aren't enough vehicles to support these temporary crowds so vehicles have to be moved into that area. There are dozens of such festivals all over the world, and that's counting just the ones with 50,000 attendees or more, like EDC in Vegas, Glastonbury in UK, etc. So, a company, like a Tesla, which is expected to have humanless vehicles driving in most Western Countries, would need to work with dozens of venues to setup drop off and pick up zones, and with local police to understand how to work with them so that they understand how to work with autonomous vehicles. Once in a while one of those will get stuck, for instance, maybe with a blown tire or an equipment malfunction, or, worse, an accident. At SXSW a drunk driver plowed through crowds of people one year, killing many, and causing a major first-responder response. In such a situation all the constituencies would need to work together to change traffic flows to make sure more vehicles aren't drawn to the area, or interfere with first responders. Is there a relationship lead between all these constituencies? I hear there is not, except in the best of cases. So, this leads to a new job for humans. AI's can't attend city council or meetings with police. AI's can't often figure out why all traffic has stopped. Once, at Half Moon Bay's pumpkin festival it started to rain. Everyone headed for their cars at the same time, but both Waze and Apple Maps continued to give incorrect data for an hour, both on recommendations for what street to head down, and on time it will take to get out of the area. These systems are built for normal traffic flows, and often can't understand that police have even reversed traffic, so that cars are going down the wrong way on a road. Which leads to the AI. Uber's founder, Travis Kalanick, told me his goal is to have one car near someone who is calling for a ride. That way the ride will arrive in less than five minutes and everyone is happy. Uber built a complex "traffic control system" that hooks drivers and passengers up together. That system usually works great, but when high-crowd events show up these systems often mislead drivers and passengers alike. Waymo is, so far, punting, and refuses to go near these events, and has a very small number of passengers today. Even if you live in San Francisco you can't just get a Waymo, you have to wait to be added to the system and they are adding new passengers slowly so that the whole system remains healthy and doesn't hit these large-crowd issues yet. That will change as they scale up the system to be in many more cities over the next few years and open up the system to everyone, not just a limited number of beta testers. So, to wrap it up, soon entrepreneurs, like Elon Musk, who is making plans for bringing its millions of vehicles online to do human-less driving, will need to do new AI modeling work for how cars should behave around high-crowd events, leading to new traffic-control systems to bring thousands of cars in and out of these venues, and will need teams of humans working with venues and cities to build new drop-off-areas for autonomous vehicles to drop off and pick up people. That is a human job, not one that an AI or robot can do. And a company that has aspirations for building a global network of autonomous vehicles, will need many such workers to work with local customs/officials/venues/teams/events. I see very little modeling work, although I saw MIT Media Lab doing some early work to understand how cities would change due to autonomous vehicles, and I don't see anyone in the AI/Autonomous Vehicle industry talking about research/work in this areas. (And yes, I do have a list of those people here on X: https://x.com/scobleizer/lists ) https://x.com/scobleizer/lists I'm doing this post to try to spur industry interest in working on these issues and to connect people who may already be working on them. Are you positioned for these new jobs? If you are, these are fun things to work on and you might even get free tickets to go see concerts or football games for you and your family. I got taken to a Taylor Swift concert by an entrepreneur who built technology systems for the local stadium, so I know it's possible. :-) Technology solves old problems and causes new problems. Which is why I'm still on team human. AI's aren't good at figuring this stuff out and I don't see them getting good at figuring them out, either, for years. Sounds like a good job to have for a while.

On The Drop Off and Pick Up Problem for Robotaxis at Crowded Events like Football Games and Concerts

ফুটবল গেমস এবং কনসার্টের মতো ভিড়পূর্ণ ইভেন্টগুলিতে রোবোটক্সির জন্য ড্রপ অফ এবং পিক আপ সমস্যা

Zum Bring- und Abholproblem für Robotertaxis bei überfüllten Veranstaltungen wie Fußballspielen und Konzerten

Πρόβλημα κατά την παράδοση και την παραλαβή για ρομποταξία σε πολυσύχναστες εκδηλώσεις όπως αγώνες ποδοσφαίρου και συναυλίες

Sobre el problema de dejar y recoger a los robotaxis en eventos multitudinarios como partidos de fútbol y conciertos

Բազմամարդ իրադարձությունների ժամանակ, ինչպիսիք են ֆուտբոլային խաղերը և համերգները, ռոբոտաշինգի խնդիրը թողնելու և վերցնելու մասին

Sul problema del ritiro e della consegna dei robotaxi durante eventi affollati come partite di calcio e concerti

サッカーの試合やコンサートなどの混雑したイベントでのロボタクシーの降車・乗車問題について

Robotaxis izlaišanas un uzņemšanas problēma pārpildītos pasākumos, piemēram, futbola spēlēs un koncertos

Problemă de livrare și ridicare pentru Robotaxis la evenimente aglomerate precum jocuri de fotbal și concerte

Dejinta oo u soo qaado dhibta Robotaxis ee Munaasabadaha dadka badan sida Ciyaaraha Kubadda Cagta iyo Riwaayadaha

Kwenye Kuacha na Kuchukua Tatizo kwa Roboteksi kwenye Matukio yenye Watu wengi kama vile Michezo ya Kandanda na Tamasha

Eka The Drop Off and Pick Up Problem for Robotaxis eka Swiendlakalo leswi Taleke ku fana na Mintlangu ya Bolo ya Milenge na Tikhonsati

A Leader's Guide to Data-Driven Success

There are any number of ways that the future can unfold money-wise. What’s for sure is that the way we understand now is changing. The biggest driver of change is that everything is moving digital. money There was a period in the early days of email when people treated inbox messages like you would messages you get on a fax machine. If you don’t remember this period, then you might not even know what a fax machine is. No matter. The basic point I’m driving at is that people use to get an email and then print it out to read it. Or they might even print the email and file it in a filing cabinet. Pre-mobile, the printing of digital artifacts, things like map directions, for example, were also regularly put to paper because how else would you know where you are going once you left your computer? That’s how it used to be. And, it’s funny thinking back to that period, that all of the printing of digital communications and search results, and online research felt completely normal. But really, that activity was a time of transition. It was a time of behavioral change, moving from the world of analog communications to the world of digital communications. As in the case of the map example, in the early days of the internet, there was a disconnect between the vision (like downloadable map directions) and the reality (how do you use them without printing once you leave your internet-hardwired machine?) We find ourselves in a similar situation with the movement toward digital money. On the one hand, there is tremendous innovation happening (like completely decentralized non-custodial digital assets and payment networks). On the other hand, there is still a lot to figure out — we still need the mobile equivalent of tech or the behavioral equivalent of not needing to compile paper files of emails — in order to fully realize the vision of open money. In that spirit, here are a handful of frameworks of how money and financial systems might evolve as all of the pieces come together for true step function change. These frameworks are based on a paper by called Four Visions For the Future of Digital Money. OliverWyman Forum Frameworks for how money will work in the future There are any number of ways that the future can unfold money-wise. What’s for sure is that the way we understand money now is changing. The biggest driver of change is that everything is moving digital. Our money system, which is essentially built on ledgers or analog networks controlled by governments and banks, is still very much based on very old architecture. Not that there’s anything wrong with old architecture. It’s just that we might not want old architecture handling critical transactions when better, more efficient alternatives exist. If you’ve ever had to wait 5-6 business days to get an ACH transfer, which is essentially sending money from one bank to another bank, then you know what I’m talking about. It can be equally as frustrating and even costly to send money across borders. The two main reasons why sending money between institutions or jurisdictions is cumbersome and costly are because the backends are not compatible (meaning the ledgers run by banks and payment companies take time to settle) and because of legal/regulatory reasons. Here are a few ideas of how the backend of money can/is changing: Private networks One potential outcome is that banks and other financial institutions see the capability and the utility of moving money to a blockchain-based, smart-contract-enforced, programmatic, and interoperable system that runs at the speed and scale of the internet. But for a lot of reasons ranging from overall security and controllable access, banks aren’t going to move to full non-custodial mode, or at least not fully. Instead, maybe they build private banking networks that try to have the best of both worlds in terms of the network effects of a global distributed ledger while also maintaining control by creating networks that require permission and controlled access. Digital central bank Central bank digital currencies (CBDC) are becoming a very real thing. The basic idea of a CBDC is that instead of a central bank issuing money through a treasury or some other branch of government and then using banks as a distribution model, central banks would be able to issue digital currencies directly to supported wallets and services. On one hand, this has the potential to increase the overall efficiency of central banking. It could also make money more accessible and monetary policy decisions based on actual money movement data because the system could be easily monitored and analyzed in real-time. The growing concerns about CBDCs is that moving money to a digital system that is controlled by a centralized government agency leads to privacy and security issues and has the potential to be used as a means of command and control. An app eat app world Another potential for the future of finance is that apps and services are designed and built to provide the ease and speed of access to digital products but can also interface with the traditional monetary and banking system on the backend. Inertia is already taking us in this direction. It makes sense for a lot of reasons, but the biggest is that the reliance on digital intermediaries doesn’t require a complete overhaul of infrastructure or revamping the central banks. We can probably most intuitively understand this model because we all already have experience navigating payment apps and other kinds of intermediary financial tools. The biggest issue or drawback to this system is that building a financial system on top of intermediaries that are themselves designed to create solutions to pain points or roadblocks just leads to more complexity, which most often results in increased costs and fees. Fully decentralized financial networks Instead of closed loops, intermediaries, or controlled access, fully decentralized money networks are built as public ledgers. The backend is supported by a system of distributed nodes that handle network operations and maintenance. And on the front end, users join the network and then are free to interact with one another without a layer in between (but also without amenities like customer support for account insurance). This system most aligns with the open money approach where layer one networks are built on and then other kinds of monetary or financial apps can be built on top, using a system of interoperable wallets, programs, and protocols. permissionless distributed ledgers If 2023 taught us anything, it’s that financial regulations exist for a reason. One big drawback to the fully decentralized model is that it is a regulatory headache. Likely, as on-chain analytics and reporting become more accessible and useable for regulators and watchdog groups, then some of the regulatory concerns become alleviated, opening more investment and innovation. The everything approach What we are seeing now in terms of new money innovation is the everything bagel approach. Maybe this works, and the diversification of different kinds of apps, services, and financial products all find their product market fit. This would mean that consumers would have options, but it might also create a system of fees and complexity. If we’ve learned anything from the internet, it’s that networks prefer consolidation over fragmentation. But then again, maybe that’s just an aging architecture, too. Also published . here

Evolution of Currency: Remembering When We Printed Emails and Implications for Money's Future

When the Mountain Shook

Your Work, Your Input, Your Output, and Your value Yes what you think we're about to talk about, is actually what we‘re about to talk about. As humans, we often find it difficult to rate our Work vis-a-vis Value, and why is that? It's because most times we're not sure if what we're doing is worth the value we're placing on it or vice versa. Confused? Okay, let's go step by step. Defining the terms: The term Work refers to your job, skill, career, craft, etc. The term Input refers to the energy you put into your Work to become a better version of what others are. The term Output refers to how you bring your work to the public eye, putting yourself in front of everyone ( this is what I do, this is how I do it, what are your thoughts? You like? Or nay? etc.) And last but not least Your Value, now, will be divided into two sub-sections; The Value you place on yourself: this could be monetary value, self-evaluation value, etc The Value others place on you: This happens during or after Your output, people see you and rate you and that rate determines the value others place on you. Now let's dig deeper, Everyone who wants to be successful has a particular work he/she has in mind to use as their path to success it could be one or more. When choosing this path, I would love to assume you knew the responsibilities that come with them and you were more than willing to carry on through thick and thin, if not why start at all, right? You saw this and decided wow I love this, I would love to do this, you either made this decision because you had a passion for that particular work and that passion drove you into wanting to make it a career and also, make money off it right? Or you decided because you saw people making money and being valued because of it and then you wanted these two things so much, you also resolved to take that path right? No don't worry it's not wrong, I'm driving toward something. One big truth you need to learn, unlearn and relearn is that PASSION is always the drive, it's your plug, it's what pushes you and nudges you, whispering into your ears during good and tough times that you have a goal and you're not yet there. Now, you might say, “I'm just doing this work not because I love it but because I have to cater to my basic needs.”  What do you need to survive Money, in other words, your drive for doing that work is the need to make money (your passion is money and it's driving you, it's the car and you're the passenger). Passion comes in different forms it might be your fascination for the work or your desire for money. Let's go further down the lane: Now your passion has driven you to take a profession whatever it might be, but I am sure you would agree with me when I say Passion alone will not veer you toward safety. Now you've started on this career path either as learning, a startup, a job, etc. And you're in for a long ride the bottle of water you need to keep you rejuvenated is dedication. you can be passionate about something and not be dedicated to it, HELLOOOOOO! You've started this journey and along the line you get thirsty, and suddenly you're tired, this does not mean you're weak, you're human and it's only natural to get strained. Dedication comes in here as your driver, if passion is a self-driving car that developed issues along the line, then dedication is a chauffeur that takes over the wheels veering you in the right direction and refusing to let the car get turned off in the middle of nowhere. With dedication in play, you're committing yourself to that purpose, swearing allegiance to see it to the end. With dedication, you go faster and better! Annette Sandberg said and I quote “Passion equals drive, drive equals dedication and enough dedication equals success”. We're almost at the bottom of the pot: Currently, passion and dedication have successfully taken you on a ride of pain and pleasure and you're ready to meet the world. If it was a job you're probably on the verge of a promotion and you need to show yourself to lots of high-ranking officials, if it's a startup, people are already coming in to see what you have to offer, and if it's a skill people want to test you and see if you'll be an epic fail or an epic success. Coming out to the world takes courage and more because everyone is ready to point a finger but everyone makes mistakes don't we all? At first, people point out errors, asking you why you did this and that, why they think this would have been better, asking you why you're trying a different technique, discouragement pours in and only a meager number of people are cheering you. Subsequently, you start feeling the weight of the words from outside and even you might start doubting yourself, it's at this point a lot of people change career paths but what will keep you going is consistency. Consistency brings you to the finish line, you learn and relearn, revitalizing the mind, flushing, and filling. And finally the bottom of the ocean: Value, value, value, self-evaluation you look back to where you started from and where you are right now, you measure your growth and your success. Deep down you know you’ve come a long way and you still have another mile to go, but right now you can easily put on your shoulder padded coats and walk among the best. You would meet people better than you are, of course, currently, it's your decision to not invoke the spirit of low self-esteem on yourself and tell yourself “You’re doing well” regularly. Having a bad or erroneous evaluation of oneself is inimical to one’s success. You cannot rise above your appraisal of yourself. The saying “People will address you the way you're dressed” I'd rephrase in this context “people will address you the way you address yourself”. But don't get me wrong if you address yourself as a CEO and you have no business, no start-up, no skill and you're not giving out any value, nobody would address you as one, those who will do that will do that in mockery. The value you place on yourself and the value you put out there is proportional to the value others will place on you too. Boosting your self-esteem is a good way of adding value to yourself because only then will you effortlessly show yourself to people with a proud smile on your face. In conclusion, ask yourself these: How much do you value yourself as a person? If you were to sell yourself to yourself how much would you be worth? If we were to do a test on a scale of one to ten what will be the score of your ‘personal’ self-worth? How would you score your intrinsic value? How much value are you putting out there to others? How many people have benefited from one or more things you put out there? Are you ready to start putting value out? Your self-value will either sell you as cheap or valuable. Therefore, I urge you to choose this day what you want to be, is it to be cheap or valuable? I have chosen. Lead Image. Also published here.

You, Work, Input, Output and Value; A Complex Relationship

We focus on trivia at the expense of more important issues. Why does this happen and what we can do about it? I once sat in a meeting and watched four of the most talented people I’ve ever worked with argue fiercely about a comma on slide 4. Said comma, my teammate declared, would imply a pause that would make our sentence clearer. But, another teammate swiftly countered, that a pause could just as easily sap the sentence of its momentum, thereby diminishing its potential to deliver the maximal effect to the reader. Around and around we went: for 10 minutes, then 15, then 20, until the meeting was nearly over and I realized this the meeting. was I remember being confused. The kind of confused where you attempt, with quiet desperation, to make eye contact with someone else in the room to confirm that yes, this is happening and no, you are not losing your grip on reality. I was newer to the team, but I couldn’t see how our comma placement would matter much. Maybe our stakeholders were really into grammar? This meeting has stayed with me, and ever since I’ve wondered why teams and organizations spend so much time and energy on trivial problems. The answer has to do with something called bike-shedding. Bike-shedding, or Parkinson’s Law of Triviality Imagine a board of directors meeting with the following agenda: A request to approve $30 million for a nuclear power plant A request to approve $250 for a bike shed The board is made up of average people, and they don’t know a lot about nuclear energy. Mike, the chairman, kicks off the meeting. “Ok, so first up: nuclear power. Anyone have any thoughts on this one?” Silence. Someone muffles a cough, and others busy themselves with their phones as if something very important has just come up. Finally, Susan peeps up. “$30 million sounds about right to me…” “That sounds good,” says Mike, relieved. “Unless anyone has any other thoughts, we’ll move on to the bike shed.” There is a sudden rustle of excitement. Everyone is eager to talk about the bike shed because, in contrast to nuclear reactors, everyone knows enough to have an opinion about the bike shed. The discussion turns out to be both spirited and lengthy because people have to say. Karen has strong opinions about whether the nails should come from Home Depot or Lowes and Mike swears by the contractor who helped him build a she-shed for his wife last spring. a lot This is Parkinson’s Law of Triviality, or bike-shedding, in practice. The law is attributed to British naval historian and author, Cyril Northcote Parkinson, famous for the eponymous , which states that work expands to fill the time allocated to it. The law of triviality is a lesser-known corollary of that law. It describes the tendency of organizations to focus on trivial issues at the expense of more complex issues. In other words, the less important something is, the more time is spent on it. Parkinson’s Law When a topic is beyond our understanding, like a nuclear power plant, we won’t even try to form an opinion. Instead, we assume that somebody has checked the details before it got this far. “We’ll trust the experts, right everyone? Now moving on: let’s talk about this shed…” When a topic is simple and easy to grasp, like a bike shed, we’ll tend to have an opinion on it and thus more to say about it. Even if we don’t, we’ll still say something so that: We don’t look stupid in front of our peers. After all, what kind of dope wouldn’t have anything to contribute to a conversation about a bike shed? It like we’re contributing. It’s an easy way to say “Look at me! I’m driving decision-making!” Alas, these same people always seem to go missing when the stakes are higher. looks The nuclear power plant vs. bike shed example is illustrative. It’s an extreme scenario unlikely to actually happen (hopefully), but maybe you can still relate. There is good news if your team or organization frequently descends into mind-numbing debates about trivial topics: you have options. What to do about it? I’ve experienced my fair share of bike-shedding over the years, and I’ve come up with a few ideas on how to respond that I hope will help you stay sane and productive. 1: Prevent bike-shedding with a clear purpose and objective Ensure that your meetings have a clearly defined purpose or desired outcome. This can be difficult, especially in a fast-paced work environment where it doesn’t feel like there is time to plan, but it’s worth it. A clear purpose is like an anchor that will keep the ship from drifting away into the abyss. Use it to refocus the group when the conversation strays into irrelevancy. 2: Fewer cooks in the kitchen generally leads to a better meal Big meetings tend to be huge wastes of time. Inevitably, everyone will want to contribute something, and unless everyone in the room has a well-informed opinion (the odds of this being the case are low in my experience), you will be at a high risk of bike-shedding. Be ruthless about limiting the size of the meeting. If folks in your organization are sensitive about having “visibility” into what was discussed, offer to share a readout or even a recording of the meeting. If a big meeting is unavoidable, do your best to share both the purpose and relevant information ahead of time to increase the chances that participants will have something of value to say. 3: Delegate trivial matters Just because the bike shed gets more time than it deserves doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be discussed at all. Try and identify trivial matters ahead of time and delegate them to individuals or smaller groups that are empowered to make decisions without the full group’s approval. 4: Be aware and pick your battles If you do find yourself in meetings about bike sheds (or commas) while more important issues go undiscussed, my advice would be not to engage more than you have to. Let others expend effort arguing about things that don’t matter. Protect your energy and mental health by resisting the temptation to participate just because everyone else is. Save your voice for moments when you can contribute meaningfully, or, as Teddy Roosevelt said: “speak softly and carry a big stick.” Also published here.

Why We Spend So Much Time at Work on Things that Don't Matter

A creative person is one, who enjoys, above all, the company of his own mind. Anything done well, from baking a souffle to putting together a winning stock portfolio is creative. Denise G. Shekerjian, Uncommon genius "The trick to creativity, if there is a single useful thing to say about is, is to identify your own peculiar talent and then settle down to work with it for a good long time. Everyone has an aptitude for something. The trick is to recognize it, to work with it… The problem is that the things you’re good at come naturally. And since most people are modest instead of arrogant sobs, what comes naturally you don’t see as a special skill. It’s just you. It’s what you’ve always done." In his fascinating book , shares fabulous insights into the lives of some of the most creative people. For example, wrote in the family sitting room, “subject to all kinds of casual interruptions”. Her sister Cassandra oversaw the running of the house, to the great relief of Jane. Daily Rituals Mason Currey Jane Austen , the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993, remarked: “I am not able to write regularly”. She worked a day job, an editor for Random House, taught university literature courses and raised her two sons as a single parent. Toni Morrison “It does seem hectic. But the important thing is that I don’t do anything else. I avoid the social life normally associated with publishing. I don’t go to cocktail parties, I don’t give or go to dinner parties. When I sit down to write I never brood. I have so many other things to do, with my children and teaching, that I can’t afford to brood. I brood, thinking of ideas, in the automobile when I’m driving to work or in the subway or when I’m mowing the lawn. By the time I get to the paper somethings’s there – I can produce.” Her writing hours varied across decades, working on her fiction in the evenings in the 1970s or ’80s and switching to the early morning hours in the ’90s. Like many other creatives presented in the book, she woke up every day at 5 am. wrote in lunch breaks, “taking advantage of this pure, blissful hour of freedom”. Nicholson Baker had a “schedule so regular it was practical Pavlovian and I loved it”. Francine Prose wrote only half an hour a day. “If you write half an hour a day, it makes for a lot of writing year by year. To be sure all day and every day you are waiting around to write that half an hour a day.” Gertrude Stein took writing as a task “which I performed in spells and bursts. I never had a definite place which was my room or where I retired to write. All I needed was a steady table and a typewriter. ” Agatha Christie Some artists made the time, some stole it when their schedule allowed it. Some practised deep work for the same constant number of hours, some did not stop until they hit their target of x words per day. Some woke up before their family and others wrote in the slivers of time, taking half-hours here and there. These people transformed their creative spark into a creative discipline. They made time to visit their own depths of thought. "Don’t wait for the muse…Your job is to make sure the muse knows where you’re going to be every day from nine ’til noon. Or seven ’til three. If he does know, I assure you that sooner or later he’ll start showing up." Stephen King, On Writing Your job is to make sure the muse knows where to find you. By applying mindfulness (deliberate single-tasking), consistency and deep meaning, epiphanies will find their way back home to us. Because what made us come alive was always there, beneath the skin. Ready to be shown, used, transformed. We owe it to ourselves to recognize and honour this talent. There are children to raise, jobs to work, bread to win, houses to build or keep, battles to fight, diseases to survive, people to become. A million little things outside. Just do not forget about the million little things inside. . Previously published on my blog

Find Your Creativity Muse Amidst the Noise of Life

It is pretty much obvious why Elon Musk named his company - Tesla, isn't it? But, did Elon Musk do his homework research on Nikola Tesla thoroughly? The truth is that Musk is " ." Now, I'm not going to go down this rabbit hole. Just for the record, what does it sound better to you? I'm driving a new Tesla model or I am thinking about getting myself one of those new Edisons? Yup, we're on the same page. Case solved. Moving on with my story. a bigger fan of Edison than Tesla But, I have to warn you right here. Here's something about Tesla you can't read or hear every day. Are you ready? Roll the Dice, and Don't Stop Until Your Mom Says So! Little did I know, just like any averagely informed person would agree, that this unparalleled genius had a serious gambling problem at one point in his life. Before he became one of the greatest investors in history Tesla liked to gamble a lot. After he had lost his father this problem escalated even further to such an extent that his studies were put on hold with a huge question mark over. So, what happened? Well, his mother saved him in quite an unusual way. You probably thought that Tesla's mother had to cry a river to talk him out of this unhealthy habit. Well, we were all wrong. Believe it or not, she strongly supported his son's gambling habit. Yes, this is true! At one point she sold all that she could possibly sell to provide Tesla with enough money to go on with gambling. Undoubtedly, this was a huge surprise for Tesla. He probably expected all kinds of reactions, but this wasn't one of them. So, he demanded an explanation from his mother, who seemed to be handling this unpleasant situation surprisingly calm. Tesla's mother said that she had no intention of influencing his decision to gamble. She was gladly giving away all of their family money. Actually, the sooner he spent all the money available, the sooner he would realize that he was on the wrong path. Go and enjoy yourself. The sooner you lose all we possess the better it will be. I know that you will get over it. What do you think happened? Well, Nikola Tesla finally realized that he was standing on the very edge of a cliff for quite some time. So, he was able to pull himself together and the rest is the modern age history, which began with his name. So, what is the moral of this story? Are You About to Fail? Put the Pedal to the Metal and Get Over or Under it! Well, if you have a problem, then escalate it to the absolute maximum. If you are about to fail, then put the pedal to the metal and speed up the process. Nikola Tesla could have gambled for years with no time left for brilliant inventions, if he had been fighting his vice one step forward two steps back. Instead, he simply had run through the problem as quickly and intensely as he could until he was able to reach its end. I used to smoke, but now I'm free of this unhealthy habit. How? Well, instead of smoking a pack a day, I decided that I should consume two and even three packs a day. What happened? After a couple of days, I was so sick of smoking that I decided that I will never light a cigarette in my life. So, here I'm and I haven't been smoking ever since. Now, I'm fully aware that this radical approach has some limitations. This definitely isn't a wise thing to do when you are trying to deal with other forms of health and addiction problems because they can end up bad for you before you reach the healing point. On the other side, you are free to apply this radical approach to the full extent of your line of business. For example, when a situation with my client isn't working as I expected, this is what I usually do. If it is going to be OK for both parties, then it's going to be OK all the time or for most of the time, we are to work together. If something is wrong, I don't have time for analysis. I just move on by intensifying the problems in our business relationship. So, either we will find a solution and overcome the problems or finish our working relationship as soon as possible. Again, I'm aware that when you put it this way, it looks like a too simplified solution you can't apply in all situations. Yet, just give it a thought. Put the pedal to the metal. What do you have to lose? If it's going to work out, then you will reach a solution much sooner than expected. Otherwise, if something was already doomed to fail better to end it now than tomorrow or a month from today. Right? When Musk Ain't Tweeting, Tesla Business Is Blooming and Stock Prices Are Skyrocketing Right now, Musk is taking a big gamble by . His Twitter "reputation" precedes him. Musk's Twitter vacation announcements have become a common thing. investing in a new Berlin factory I sure hope that he uses this time off wisely. Yeah, social media addiction is a new normal now. Musk may personally favor Edison, but the fact remains, he has more in common with Nikola Tesla than he knows or he's willing to admit. Both are gamblers and both are game-changers, aren't they?

What Can Tesla, the Company, Still Learn From Tesla, the Inventor?

Productive reading Lifehacks? So why we need Productive reading Lifehacks anyway? Well, we are living in interesting times, there is so much “Noise” around us 24/7, especially when it comes to the Internet and particularly the social media. But it doesn’t end there, because we have to deal with the notifications from Instant messaging apps, emails, calendar events, news, tech news, work related tasks, and of course personal life tasks as well… so how you can stay productive and still being able to keep up to date with everything? I believe that this simple Productivity Lifehack will help you to improve your life, save valuable time and improve your web experience! You know the problem, we are always bombarded with huge amount of data and information that captures our attention for short moments and we never have the time to focus on one particular thing at the time, for example reading long articles. We always want TL;DR content or short videos that are getting straight to the point, because we are always on the go with our mobile device. Seriously, think about it, how do you deal with your reading list? Do you really find the time to read all of the articles and web content you collect? But what if there was a way for you to keep working, or even driving, and still being able to “read” articles? actually you can! well not by reading, but by listening to your articles like an e-book, a podcast or a radio station.So there are many ways you can be productive and read articles without actually spending time in reading. It doesn’t matter if use , , , or other solutions, you can use this Lifehack now. pocket google keep OneNote My Productivity Lifehacks at work One of my favorite method is the “Text To Speech” that is built into the macOS (PC solution is in the next section), you can highlight a paragraph or the entire article and simply hit the Option (Alt) key combined with Esc key and wallah, your mac is reading for you! I have been doing this for years, and it helps me to save huge amount of time, that way I can keep up to date with everything I’m interested in, and still do my work while I’m at my office, or working from home. Just make sure you use headphones at your office, especially if you are sharing your office with your colleagues. Click on this icon to enable Firefox Read View If you are using , you can even switch to “ ” and you will get a dedicated Text To Speech reading capabilities, this is even more powerful because you will be able to control the reading speed, just like you can watch long lectures on YouTube in 1.5X / 2X speed and save some valuable time while you can still enjoy the lecture and understand everything. If that’s not enough, there are so many other languages in Firefox’s read view that you can choose from and let your Mac read you articles in other languages (In my case, Hebrew works fine, but English is a way better). Firefox Reader view On I usie the same method, thanks to Narrator (Text To Speech) that does the same thing! And there is even an app for Linux users called Gespeaker (I tried it on Ubuntu), it’s not perfect, but does the job… Windows Customize Firefox reader speed and languages My Productivity Lifehacks on the go So few years ago I had this idea to develop my own app that does exactly that on mobile devices. An application that reads your saved articles (and even more stuff and features that I wanted to built in), but I discovered that there are already apps for that, not exactly the same as the one I wanted to develop, but it does the job and makes me productive! As you know from my articles, I like multitasking, so instead of listening to the boring radio while I’m driving, my smartphone is the one who reads from my saved articles, that’s a great solution even if you are not driving, you can use this Productivity Lifehacks when you are using public transportation, for example, I like it when my phone reads for me while I’m sitting in a coffee shop or a restaurant, checking my Facebook feed and going through my emails, or even when I’m running outside (on the go!). So when I drive to work, instead of podcasts, I always listen to podcasts or to my saved articles, and that’s so cool when your smartphone reads to you an interesting article and saves you so much reading time, it feels like “To kill two birds with one stone” especially when you are in the middle of a traffic jam!So how do I do that? Well, on my smartphone I use , which is not perfect, but it does the work! It even lets you create “Playlists” of articles you want to listen later! There are some alternatives that you can too. @Voice Aloud Reader find for your iPhone It feels like magic when your phone reads from your saved articles A — in order to avoid ads, you can install an alternative app to YouTube, called NewPipe (from ) and listen to YouTube lectures and even while YouTube is running in the background, so even if you are using or Google Maps to navigate, you can still enjoy listening and learning new things any time you want! bonus F-Droid AppStore TED Talks Waze What about TL;DR Video? Well, if you don’t like reading articles, there are video alternatives! for example, my feed is always full with videos summarizing valuable information into a short and informative video clips. You can follow the popular content providers on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, my favorites are: , , , , and . TC Insider The Verge, VOX Gizmodo Seeker Daily Big Think And as I mentioned before, you can always watch great content on YouTube at 1.5X or even 2X speed. And if that’s not enough, there is an Israeli startup called with a brilliant solution that automatically creates premium videos from text content within seconds. Wibbitz So how do you keep up to date with the things you are interested in? comment below and let me know, you are more than welcome to share your Productivity Lifehacks with me… Originally published by Avi Barel at StartUX on November 4, 2016 If you enjoyed this, read my other articles: Open Design: Freeware tools for Designers iPhone Vs. MacBook Pro Your Smartphone vs. Your PC Apple, it’s time to merge iOS with macOS The differences between VR, AR & MR Apple is going to reinvent the modular computer Cross-Platform UX Guidelines (for Devs & Designers) UX Vs. Cyber-security — Where we draw the line? Design Thinking as a framework for Innovation Lifehacks for Productive reading! to find my article on Medium by below.And follow me on: , and Help others Clapping Twitter Medium , Facebook LinkedIn Follow StartUX page on Facebook for more TL;DR Tech & UX updates

Lifehacks to keep up with Tech News

We all have great ideas for how to make our community better. Sometimes all you need is to get that “yes” to take the next step. I know that asking for funding is the hardest thing for many reasons. I’ve struggled myself with gathering funds for the civic hackathon that I direct, as I ask for commitments from the local university, community partners, and corporate sponsors. So let me share with you 4 important lessons I’ve learned about getting funding for our social good, human impact projects. Know your why What is the REAL reason behind your ask? Anyone I talk to usually picks up on my crazy high energy and passion for a project because I not only believe in the impact that our collaborative work can have on the community, but I know how to break it down to all types of audiences. Brainstorm what your event is really about. Is about supporting a particular underserved audience like teaching youth to code or using technology to better the lives of those without access to technological devices? Whatever it is, you have to know who you’re trying to elevate and build your narrative starting with story. Our civic hackathon is first and foremost about our hackers and project champions, without them there would be no event. their I rehearse my “why” in the shower, when I’m driving, in front of the mirror, with my coworkers — basically until everyone is completely sick of hearing me practice. But I would rather share their stories properly and nail the narrative of our event then get tongue-twisted when I’m on the spot. It’s your responsibility to own this piece. If you’re feeling anxious about your public speaking, I’ve got another blog coming soon with some fun exercises that should help you up your game. Till then, rehearse and rehearse some more. Be honest I cannot lie convincingly. This is both a good and bad thing. It means I’m terrible at card games like Bullsh*t because I can’t lie well, but it also makes me a compelling speaker because I own my reality and truth. In every meeting, I have to be vulnerable and earnest while I share our story honestly, time and time again. “Our budget is X and it mostly consists of me trying to get some cool swag and food for our guests.” Some people feel uncomfortable getting in front of others and telling the honest truth, but there is wrong with honesty. In fact, I’ve found that the more honest I am in these conversations, the more folks actually want to help, regardless of who they are. nothing You’re not asking for millions of dollars, folks. You have to stand by your request for funds to run and support your civic hackathons. So be brave, channel your inner go-getter, and make the ask. It’s fine if the conversation gets awkward. Be honest and start with a statement like, “I’m feeling awkward about asking for this because it’s new to me, but I’m pushing myself to do this because I believe that this project can make a difference and I need your help.” Be direct I know that many folks have their own strategies, but I’m a no-mask-no-frills gal. “This is who I am and this is what I’m asking for.” I have found that if I put all my cards on the table I can get an answer pretty quickly. The questions I often ask myself during this process include, “ Does this organization or person truly care about our effort? If not, what matter to them?” does I understand that all of your cards can’t be laid out all of the time, but this is an approach I take to nearly everything in my life. Keep in mind that everything is negotiable, and that the true danger is in not asking for what you want. Now, being direct doesn’t mean going into a meeting yelling about how you need funds ASAP. What I mean by being direct is clearly spelling out your funding asks as well as any potential benefits or perks. Be clear in your materials so that your ask is as clear and direct as possible. Human-to-human The last thing I want to stress is that you’re not requesting funds from robots, so be sure to keep the conversation human-to-human. I take all my relationships seriously; we’re all just humans trying to make it through our own journeys on this floating orb in space, so let’s have fun while we’re working together. Take care to actively listen to the person (or group of people) sitting across from you. Listen to what they think about your ideas and how they feel like they can best help with your event. Sometimes what they offer isn’t what you expect. Maybe it’s a donation of napkins or milk and cookies. Accept what you can humbly and with grace, because every little bit helps. Also, don’t worry. With practice and consistency it will get easier and easier to make your asks (and ultimately secure funding) as people get to know you and your passion for your project. Good luck out there! There’s plenty to go around, so let’s help each other out. If you have more questions about the best way to approach a prospect, I can help out via Experimental Civics at experimentalcivics.io I can also help with an awesome design for your sponsorship materials, so let’s talk!

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