Posted by Max Dunn
Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:26:58 GMT | no comments
The other day, I was talking to my friend Bill Keller about the best way to hire people. He mentioned that it was important to have a defined company culture and to hire people that fit in with that culture. I thought this was a good idea. We also agreed that the normal process of interviewing people across a desk was almost worthless and only proved whether people had interviewing skills, but not whether they had the necessary job skills.
Another thing we agreed on was that most people will only hire people that are not as good as they are. Generally this is a self confidence issue because people worry that the person they hire could take over their job.
I certainly have fallen into this, in particular in a job a had right before I graduated from college. I had to hire a programmer to continue my work while I went home to fulfill a summer obligation. I was very conscious to hire someone that was good, but not too good so that I would have a job when I got back!
So if this is how most people behave, what happens when you allow a large group of people to decide who to hire? You end up with someone that is less capable than everyone making the decision!
So while it is good to involve other people in the hiring process and get their feedback, the worst thing to do when hiring someone is to do it based on the consensus of a group.
Posted in Random Thoughts
Posted by Max Dunn
Tue, 01 Apr 2008 22:30:28 GMT | no comments
The Surfline report said this morning about 38th Street:
Pretty much flat this morning
and about Pleasure Point
Maybe you could get up on a longboard but its pretty desperate.
Well Mark and I went anyways and were rewarded with a fantastic day of surf. For the first 40 minutes, we were the only two out at 38th Street. Then a few other people came, but it never got crowded. The waves weren’t big, lots of 2 and 3 foot waves, but they had nice shape and Mark and I caught a ton of waves and had a great time practicing walking on the board. The water was still a little cold, but the sun was out and the weather was nice and warm. I am not sure if Surfline meant this as an April’s Fool joke, but the bad report sure kept away the crowds and made it a fantastabulous day for us!
Posted in Random Thoughts
Posted by Max Dunn
Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:48:20 GMT | 1 comment
It is amazing how distorted a story can be when you hear only rumors about it. For instance, it was my impression that the recent trouble in Tibet was caused by the Chinese cracking down on the Tibetans, and this was also the impression of several people I talked to. But then I read “Trashing the Beijing Road” in the March 22nd, 2008 edition of The Economist and got quite a different picture.
It turns out that it wasn’t the Chinese security forces that started the trouble – the Tibetans started rioting after hearing rumors that the police beat a couple of Buddhist monks. The Tibetans smashed into non-Tibetans shops, pulling merchandise from the stores and lighting it on fire. Many Han Chinese were quick to flee, otherwise the death toll might have been much higher than the 13 people the government reported were killed by rioters, mostly in fires. Shops owned by Tibetans were marked with traditional white scarves – almost every other one was wrecked. During the night, fire trucks were sent in, backed by armored personnel carriers with riot police, to put out the biggest fires. But the police did not immediately move into the alleys where rioting continued for a second day.
Overall, the efforts of the security forces appeared relatively measured. Rather than going in with guns blazing, which was the tactic used in the last outbreak of anti-Chinese unrest in Lhasa in 1989, they chose to let the rioters vent their anger, then gradually go in several days later. The government’s decision not to declare martial law showed its concern about the Olympics, since the Olympic flame is due to arrive in Lhasa on June 20th.
While the rioting was started by the Tibetans, the Chinese government is not completely blameless. The surge of spending in Tibet and the region’s high growth rate has been seen as benefitting mostly the Han Chinese. Tibetans also resent the hardline tactics of Tibet’s party chief – a Han – who is seen as harassing the Tibetans and stepping up the official criticism of the Dalai Lama. Nonetheless, whether or not it was true the the monks were beaten, it was the Tibetans that started the riots and the security forces that showed restraint.
So here is an example where the real facts of a story were quite different from the initial impression. We should all keep this in mind when hearing rumors and wait for the full story before making any judgments.
Posted in Random Thoughts
Posted by Max Dunn
Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:13:40 GMT | 2 comments
Previously we looked at Cupertino Union School District (CUSD) teacher’s compensation. What about salary raises? Over the last 7 years, the CUSD teachers have received a cumulative raise of 38%:
- 2006-2007 8.39% increase in salary
- 2005-2006 5.00% increase in salary
- 2004-2005 3.07% increase in salary
- 2003-2004 0% (district funding was cut mid-year 1.2% during this year)
- 2002-2003 2.04% increase in salary
- 2001-2002 3.87% increase in salary
- 2000-2001 11.02% increase in salary
Reference: Negotiation Questions from the Community II
Posted in Random Thoughts
Posted by Max Dunn
Thu, 13 Mar 2008 15:02:17 GMT | no comments
Most people assume that teachers make very little money. In some parts of the country, this is very true. However, in the Cupertino Union School District in California (CUSD), teachers are paid some of the highest salaries in the country.
For instance, a first year teacher starts at $51,071 per year. After 7 years, they can make $62,321. After 15 years, it jumps to $80,836. (These last two salary brackets require additional semester units be completed.)
What about work hours? Their contract requires teachers to work 6.75 hours per day (7.25 hours with a 30 minute lunch) for 187 day s a year. However, teachers will often spend more time preparing lesson plans, having parent conferences, coaching a team or working on a school play. So let’s assume most teachers work a 40-hour week. But teachers only work for 187 days a years, less than the average of 225 days that most Americans work.
This means that teachers work about 20% less days. Factoring this into their salary gives the equivalent (using the figures above) of about $61,000, $74,000 and $97,000 respectively.
Reference: CUSD Teacher Salary
Posted in Random Thoughts
Posted by Max Dunn
Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:08:56 GMT | 1 comment
Even while we continue to work on and define what Web 2.0 really is, many people have started to ask what is next; what is Web 3.0? Here is the answer: Web 3.0 is when all the Web 2.0 applications can start working together.
Read more...
Posted in Random Thoughts
Posted by Max Dunn
Tue, 12 Feb 2008 20:42:38 GMT | 1 comment
I was having breakfast with my friend Bill Hyatt the other day, and we were talking about how important it is for startup businesses to have a very narrow focus, but also to be flexible about new opportunities. Bill called this “Ready, Fire, Aim”, which I found amusing.
However, this reminded me of the first business I started, Micro System Designs. I started this business with the idea that it would be cool to write software to backup a hard drive onto floppy disks using a disk auto-loader, because it was such a pain to have to keep changing the disks by hand when backing up a hard drive. I developed the software and got a little bit of interest, so then I needed to duplicate the disks. At that time, the duplication software that worked with an auto-loader cost around $500 and there was no way that I was paying that, so I wrote a duplication program myself.
It then turned out that my backup program wasn’t doing very well, but there was a lot of interest in my duplication program. Voila! I changed directions and had a successful business.
So I do believe that a startup should have a very narrow focus but be willing to change it when a better opportunity presents itself – just like Ready, Fire, Aim.
Posted in Random Thoughts
Posted by Max Dunn
Tue, 12 Feb 2008 20:32:09 GMT | 2 comments
I should ride my bike more. It is good exercise and saves the environment. However, I don’t like to ride my bike on everyday errands.
I was reminded of this today when I got new tires for our car. Like usual, I threw my bike in the back and rode home after dropping off the car. It isn’t far, about 2.5 miles, but I was hot and sweaty when I got home. I was smart this time and brought a piece of string to wrap around my pant leg. Usually I forget this and wind up getting chain oil on my pant leg.
When the car was ready, I rode back to the shop to pick it up, and I was a bit tired.
So it certainly worked out fine to ride my bike, but it isn’t something that I would normally do. Also, for the same reasons, I don’t think we can expect many Americans to forgo their cars and start doing a lot more bike riding either. Good thing I have my electric scooter to scoot around on!
Posted in Random Thoughts, Electric Vehicles, Global Warming, Peak Oil
Posted by Max Dunn
Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:37:42 GMT | 2 comments
I had my first bout of chronic fatigue in 1983. Back then, it was thought to be Ebstein Barr virus and I had to drop out of school for 6 months to get back to the point where I could function. Since then, I have continued battling my chronic fatigue and found something that has allowed me to control it – Vitamin C.
If I take 1000 mg of timed release Vitamin C sometime before going to bed (9 pm seems to work well) and then wake up at 2 am and take another, I can get a good night’s sleep. Otherwise, I usually wake up at 3 or 4 am and can’t go back to sleep for at least 2 hours and then will be exhausted the next day.
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Posted in Random Thoughts
Posted by Max Dunn
Thu, 07 Feb 2008 00:34:04 GMT | 3 comments
When my kids ask if they are too fat or too thin, I tell them not to worry about their body shape or size. Instead, I tell them to eat healthy, get plenty of exercise and sleep, and let their body do whatever their body does.
Posted in Random Thoughts