Varud

Here is a post on the morning session of the NY Times Open.  Janet Robinson, the NY Times President (?) gave the opening based on getting people to remember both the heritage of the paper (Pulitzers) and the future by leveraging the creativity of the developer world to make the content better: interactivity, global comment/feedback, openness.

Derek Gottfrid, Sr. Software Architect, talked about really getting this whole thing working.  They want their APIs to be mashable (in fact, hooking into Mashable), and to get that data out there.

Now, for the main event.  The big man is out, Tim O’Reilly.  He’s wearing the standard cargo pants – black this time.  His first point is that companies and organizations have to breed innovation by having conferences, bringing people together, etc…  Here are his points:

1. Harnessing Collective Intelligence – Wikipedia of course – but there’s more to it.  Digg is another obvious one.  The heart is still Google.  Google simply does a great job with PageRank.  PageRank introduced aggregated social analysis with link network density.  Links matter!  And they still do.  Wesabe gives tips on personal finance based on aggregate data that the credit card companies had for years.  

2. Real Time is critical – Just to go back to Google, they are fast and time sensitive.  Wal Mart is a great example of accomplishing this time with real time data modeling that allows for better inventory/pricing management.  On the Obama call lists, if it was found that somebody had voted, they were taken off the get out the vote list in real time.

3. Network effect allows companies to stay ahead if they can harness their network.  What assets do you have in your network?  What are people telling you that is just being dropped on the floor?  Does the accumulated history help in any way?  And …. don’t forget to make it faster.

4. Social Networking is a breakthrough – namely with the social graph from Facebook.  For NYTimes though, they have a slice that they’re working with.  They are writing “All the news that is fit to print”.  The Times has a long history of interacting with readers through the opinion section.  For instance, on NY Times People, nobody really uses it.  Twitter and FB should be integrated – that’s what the users want.

5. Programming as Journalism – USASpending.gov which is really a clone of FedSpending.org.  This is programmer driven reportage.  Programmers really need to be leveraged for story creation.  StimulusWatch.org is another site that really shows how the money is being spent.  InSTEDD.org is also another example of reporting by programmer.  GVFI.org also.

6. Instrumenting the world: Keyboards are not the ideal input for collaboration.  Cameras, motion sensors, GPS, etc…

7. Internet as Platform.  The goal of becoming a platform is not to get everybody onto your controlled network.  You have to link to the context of the news.  O’Reilly Radar uses mouseover previews that allow people to see context rather than clicking off a page.  Google Maps is the model where Google is following the hacks.  Partners and random hackers may create new features before you do.

O’Reilly’s main piont is that we’re on a road, we don’t know where we’ll end up.  We have to keep gas in the tank but it’s also important not to just make the trip into a tour of gas stations.  Think of what you do, and make it happen.

Recently, I’ve been helping a seed-level company find somebody to be their head of technology.  This is a company that’s been around for over a year, has revenue, and has 3 full time employees and 2-3 part time people.

Because the CEO isn’t a tech person, there’s a slight difference with his decision making versus mine.  Luckily, I can understand a programmer’s work output and judge it objectively.  Unfortunately, for non-tech people, that is not possible.  So, he found a part time CTO, let that person make an app with some contract workers, and is now in the situation of trying to move beyond that situation by having somebody full time in the same office.  It’s a great growth step and everybody is in favor (including the CTO who understands that his location and time commitment aren’t ideal for the next year).

Here are my requirements for somebody in this position.  All people considering such a hire, even in the beginning, should consider these needs:

• Somebody who can stand his/her own with you and any existing tech person (i.e. has enough experience that you two won’t doubt his/her decisions).
• Somebody who can program a web 2.0 language (PHP, Django, Ruby on Rails, Javascript)
• Somebody who lives in the current web 2.0 world so he/she can tell you about trends and make intelligent decisions.
• Somebody who can communicate effectively.
• Somebody who has managed at least 2 other people before – but preferably not more than 8.
• Somebody who is trustworthy and responsible.

Do not, I repeat, do not, hire somebody who doesn’t meet 5 of these 6 criteria.  Did I say that clearly?  Do not, I repeat, do not, hire somebody who doesn’t meet 5 of these 6 criteria.  Ideally, meet all the requirements.  Obviously, the second to last requirement is geared towards a small startup with less than $1MM and looking to create an Internet software company.

Another important issue is education and credentials.  The person should have a B.S. degree in something with some sort of computer science course work.  If you went to a top school and think you are stuck with, or can get away with, somebody who didn’t go to a similar calibre school, you’re just putting yourself in a poor position.  The head of technology is probably the most important person in the company in addition to the CEO and the sales/marketing lead.  If that person is not your peer, or the peer of your younger self, you won’t respect them – and that will take you nowhere.

Ok, I had to get this on the site.  Cornify is the best thing since sliced bread.  This is the hot micromeme of the month …

[UPDATE] Checking it out at Twitter is really interesting. I think Clay Shirky was the first to really get it out there 2 days ago. It’s fun to see something this simply happy to make a move in the community. It’s also cool that it starts with a pony

Ok, it’s official.  At least as far as New York is concerned, it’s a Depression – yes, with a capital ‘D’.  Let me count – 1, 2, 3 people I can think of off the top of my head no longer have a job.

The first one worked at Goldman Sachs and CSFB doing Mortgage Backed Securities – I guess that was a foregone conclusion

The second was doing journeyman architecture for a financial company.  He loves architecture but he’d really do any job that requires a brain and gives him a reliable paycheck.

Now that I think of it, I know an actual architect who lost his job as well.

Oh, and the third person is a Senior Windows Systems Administrator.  That’s a skill that should still be in demand even in this environment – although he was just laid off with zero severance.

If anybody needs one of these people – send me a line.