Links tagged with “work”
-
Amazon unpacked - FT.com
From February 2013, on the poor-quality jobs Amazon is creating and the disappointment of many local people near their Rugeley warehouse. There is, though, something to be written about people disliking Amazon’s working conditions and fondly remembering… coal mining. (via Dan W)
-
A nation of slaves
Charlie Stross on the Conservatives’ target of “full employment”. I hate their (and Labour’s) “hardworking families” rhetoric as if work, any work at all, no matter how it’s achieved or what the alternatives might be, is an end in itself.
-
Managers are awesome / managers are cool when they’re part of your team
Although I’m up for new kinds of management/company structure, the GitHub/Valve thing of having an extremely flat organisation does make me wary. Not least for the kinds of people who only blossom when given support and shelter by those whose position it is to do that.
-
How Netflix Reinvented HR - Harvard Business Review
Interesting HR stuff that Netflix does differently: no set amounts of holiday, no rigid expenses policies (only “do what’s best for Netflix”), no bonuses, no vesting periods, etc. ie, being adult and sensible. (via Stellar)
-
Scott Adams on success
On why “follow your passion” is bad advice. I wish I could remember the tags I’ve used for this kind of thing before though.
-
Simple Team Performance Management - iDoneThis
Seems a nice idea: “Reply to an evening email reminder with what you did that day. The next day, get a digest with what everyone on the team got done.” I like email as an interface to things. (via @dotcode)
-
Let’s Be Ambitious, Adventurous and Unexpected: A Complaint About Digital Art and Entrepreneurialism
“Doing stuff for free gets in the way of being entrepreneurial. Asking people for their time is no different to asking for their money: it’s either fun or charity or a bit of both, but it’s no different to subsidy.”
-
Post-Work: A Guide for the Perplexed | Jacobin
More on basic income guarantees etc.
-
From the generalized resource curse to communism | An und für sich
I think the group I was in, in a class in Houston in 2000, proposed a guaranteed basic income like this for our imagined future society on Mars. (via @cshirky)
-
Implications
“Andreas Gursky allegedly makes ten pieces a year. Ansel Adams said twelve good photographs in a year was good production.”
-
What Your Culture Really Says - Pretty Little State Machine
“’…the company is managed with no hierarchy.’ What your culture might actually be saying is… Management decisions are siloed at the very top layers of management, kept so close to the chest they appear not to exist at all.” Very good. (via @mala)
-
On Being A Senior Engineer
A really good read. Could also be called “How to be a mature person to work with.” Or just “How to be a grown-up.”
-
Timpulse - Who Works With ‘Creative Coders?’
Handy and interesting. A “list of institutions—both EU and Stateside—that are using creative coding”. (via @RandomEtc)
-
Do you really want to be making this much money when you’re 50?
Conversely, on why programming is a good job to be doing, even when you’re 50+. (via @tomstuart)
-
Do You Really Want to be Doing This When You’re 50?
On what programming is really like. (Me? I’m not sure I do, not professionally, but I don’t know how to stop.)
-
Pin pages to the wall and examine them with binoculars
Lovely, like a mini, themed David Markson.
-
Towards a Socially Conscientiousness Lifestyle Design Movement | Beyond Growth
Not an appealing title, but quite a good 2010 post about whether solo “lifestyle businesses” are a good thing, for people or society.
-
Bring back the 40-hour work week - Salon.com
On why working more than 8 hours a day (or, really, 6 for knowledge workers) is not more productive. Tick. (via @tomcoates)
-
I work for a large multinational tech company, I regularly hire woman for 65% to 75% of what males make. I am sick of it, here is why it happens, and how you can avoid it. : TwoXChromosomes
One reason women are paid less than men, plus lots of tips on negotiating a better salary. (via @cshirky)
-
Watch a VC use my name to sell a con. | jwz
“Instead of that, I recommend that you do what you love because you love doing it. If that means long hours, fantastic. If that means leaving the office by 6pm every day for your underwater basket-weaving class, also fantastic.” (via @agpublic)
-
Freelance Rates Ascertaining Quotient, 2011 ~ @cole007
A calculator based on the aforementioned survey, that suggests what rate you should maybe be charging. It suggest my rate is about OK.
-
Freelance Rates Survey, 2011 | words from Cole Henley, @cole007
Results from a smallish, self-selecting, but still worthwhile UK-based survey of the rates charged by web freelancers. (via mildlydiverting)
-
Three different definitions of retirement and the resulting confusion Early Retirement Extreme: — when more time > more money
I’m not sure how accurate or generalisable this is, but I like the suggested generational distinctions between what “retirement” means.
-
Married and moving to Hollywood
I just like John August’s suggestions on how to maintain a good relationship if you both move somewhere because one of you has a new, all-consuming new job.
-
You Can’t Innovate Like Apple — Pragmatic Marketing
About how Apple designs products, but particularly for the bit about designing 10 very finished designs, and the brainstorm/production meetings. (via @paulpod)
-
Scaling startups
Chad Dickerson on how to grow while maintaining a startup culture. Hire well, IRC, deploy very frequently, experiment, love engineers, external transparency, embrace failure. (via Waxy)
-
FreelanceSwitch Hourly Rate Calculator
Helps you work out how much you need to charge to cover your expenses and desired profit. Although that doesn’t necessarily bear much relation to the market. (via Haddock)
-
IT Jobs Watch, Tracking the IT Contractor Job Market
Tracks rates offered for different categories of IT jobs in the UK (permanent as well as contract).
-
Legally required paid annual leave around the world, in days (05wwln.400.690.jpg)
Although some US states do have legal minimums apparently (via Haddock)
-
Netflix Reviews | Glassdoor.com
Comments from Netflix employees, a good counterpart to that impressive presentation about company culture that went round a few weeks ago. (via Haddock)
-
Netflix - Reference Guide on our Freedom & Responsibility Culture
Interesting readable presentation about Netflix’s culture. Although I haven’t worked in a company for years, I’m fascinated by this kind of thing. (via Kottke)
-
Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule
Seems so obvious now it’s been put into words. If I have a meeting in a morning or afternoon I know that half of the day will be a right-off for all other useful work. (via Daring Fireball)
-
Flickr: gruntzooki’s stuff tagged with perfectphrasesfordifficultsitautionsatwork
This looks like a manual for Pretend Office.
-
Find and Advertise Desk Space to Rent - Desk Space Genie
What it says. Useful.
-
Simple online time tracking, timesheet and reporting software: Harvest
I’ve never used any of these kinds of sites I post but they all sound interesting in a productivity porn kind of way. (via Haddock)
-
Scottberkun.com » #50 - Advice for new managers: pt. 1
A good couple of essays on being a manager. I find this stuff fascinating, although I’m not a manager.
-
Non-Hierarchical Management (Aaron Swartz’s Raw Thought)
(via Dotcode)
-
FreeAgent - Online accounting for freelancers and small businesses
Another online thing for freelance types, this one for accounting. Lots of UK-specific stuff.
-
Xero is the world’s easiest accounting system.
And one more for good measure. (via Haddock)
-
FreshBooks - Online Invoicing, Time Tracking and Expense Service
Looks interesting, for possible future use. (via Haddock)
-
Simple online time tracking, timesheet and reporting software: Harvest
What it says. Haven’t tried it. (via Haddock)
-
Billings 3 / journal / hicksdesign
Review of a Mac-based invoicing/time-keeping thing. (via Daring Fireball)
-
Toggl - Time tracking - that works.
Free thing for tracking time spent on different tasks. Hated being made to do this at one place I worked, but still might be handy for freelancing.
-
Blinksale | The easiest way to send invoices online
Nice looking online invoice recording and sending app. I’m not busy enough to need it right now, but maybe one day… (via Ben Hammersley)
-
Going Solo: Stowe Boyd - From The Far Side To The Dark Side: A Crash Course In Business Realities For Soloists. Strange Attractor: Picking out patterns in the chaos
A guide to freelancing. A lot that bears no relation to my experience, but I think I’ve been lucky at making a go of it without much planning (so far). Still interesting and worth a read.
-
Extenuating Circumstances – SXSW 2008: Creative Collaboration: Building Web Apps Together
Good notes on a SXSW panel. I wonder where I’d fit in, but also wonder why I’m doing all this theatre nonsense when reading stuff like this makes me so excited.
-
Death and Underachievement: A Guide to Happiness in Work | 43 Folders
Maybe my resolution should be “just be content”. But then I’d try too hard to achieve it.
-
PsyBlog: Why Career Planning Is Time Wasted
The group who chose their sandwiches for the week in advance “are significantly less happy with their choices than the group who chose their sandwiches on the day.” (via Haddock)
-
ScienceDirect - Journal of Vocational Behavior : The role of chance events in career decision making
“Chance events were reported as influencing the career decisions of 69.1% of the sample.” (via Haddock)
-
Top Small Workplaces 2007 - WSJ.com
Why fifteen small US companies are good places to work. (Haven’t got round to reading it yet though…) (via Kottke)
