Not so middle management. talking about management structures in companies. some interesting ideas.

Hadoop: When grownups do open source | The Register. that’s probably the best thing i’ve ever read about programming.

Tim Ferriss interview | Derek Sivers. the guy from CD Baby talk to the “4 hour Work week” guy about working more effectively and such.

The Google black hole - Slate Magazine. it is unfortunate what’s happened to so many startups bought by google.

YouTube - SAS - The Best Company in the World - Part 1. 60 Minutes report from a couple years ago. via josh.

Rethink: Don’t hire a team, form a rock band!. pete on “hiring”.

Railscasts - Selenium. i should try adding this to a project just to see if i find real value with it.

Rethink: Tyler Rooney has joined Unspace. i guess that makes it official. pete, who is a mad photographer, took the photo on the streets of portland.

Pirate’s Booty - Los Angeles Magazine. what it’s like to play jack sparrow at disneyland. what an odd job.

Pixar’s Brad Bird on Fostering Innovation - GigaOM. nice summary of how they manage creativity and morale at pixar.

Never have a limit on your income | Derek Sivers. solid advice from the founder of CD Baby about having “while you sleep” sources of income.

Standing versus Sitting - (37signals). on using a stand-up desk. i know a bunch of managers at amazon who have stand-up desks but they’re rarely at their desks.

seattle, toronto, amazon, unspace

Looking at feedburner trends over the last few months it looks like there’s about 30 people who read awardtour five days a week. I highly suspect that I personally know every single one of these people. I also suspect that this won’t be news to any of them as it’s been in the works for a very long time…

I’m leaving Amazon in May and Seattle in June. I’ll be driving my 2000 VW Golf across the USofA and should be arriving at my final destination, Toronto, sometime during the second week of June. Soon after that, you’ll be able to find me at the offices of Unspace near Queen & Spadina. I met the guys from Unspace at Railsconf last year and I’m quite honored that they asked me to join their ranks. I suspect this is when I start asking everyone I meet “Hey, do you need a kickass Ruby on Rails consultant for your cool project?” or exclaim “What do you mean you’re not going to RubyFringe? Are you out of your mind?”

“But Tyler, don’t you love Seattle and enjoy working at Amazon? Have you lost your mind?”

‘Tis true. I am quite fond of Seattle and Amazon, excluding my brutal first year, has been great. But as you might also know, I’ve been dating my lovely girlfriend (who’s still in Toronto) for the last 3 years. Three years of phone calls and flights is more than enough for me. That said, I’m so excited to be moving back to Toronto (more so than Jessie Spano on caffeine pills).

Seattle people, I have no idea when the going away party will be. Toronto people, would asking for a parade upon my return be out of line?

That’s all for now.

Oh, I also suspect this is when Ram comments “Fuck ya! Toronto rules! What took you so long?”

Coroflot - Design Jobs & Portfolios. some nice portfolios.

The Accidental Environmentalists “A chronic problem with employee retention led this pragmatic client to building green.” crade to cradle mentioned people leaving and returning to work for Herman Miller because of nice their facilities are.

Secrets of Pixar’s inner circle - Los Angeles Times “‘Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!’ director Jimmy Hayward had to leave Pixar to get his shot behind the camera”.


YouTube - Interview with Ricardo Semler. interesting stuff about education, the modern work environment, and how to look at a career.

Stealth Job Site NotchUp Makes Companies Pay To Interview You. that’s right, pay you to interview with them. google and facebook are on the private beta.

Home-Office Life and Its Discontents - New York Times. i’ve heard some people here in seattle say those communal offices can be really hit or miss.

Declutter Your Desk. organize all your gadgets and wires under your desk.