To say we live in interesting times would be a vast understatement. Trying to keep up with the technological advances made is a job in itself. We are exposed to a huge amount of content, causing us to feel overwhelmed and frustrated; too much data can drag us back into the very same inertia we would be experiencing if there was absolutely nothing of interest going on.

We are at a pivotal point in history where we have an abundance of access to technology. Many of us are having trouble coming to terms with that. There is simply too much to do, an unlimited amount of potential. In a way, it can be easier to be forced down a narrow path than to figure out how to traverse down a huge boulevard. That is why we cannot be afraid to make mistakes and false starts as we refine our talents.

In computer science talk, technology has given us a large amount of edges per node (and this is greater than any point in our history), and our best choice to traverse down this exponentially large tree is do breadth first search with heuristics.

The learning process has changed on virtually every level and the old rules just don’t apply anymore. Rather than wait for someone to issue new rules, we need to plunge into our own era of experimentation and innovation and shape it for our own purposes of expression.

As easy and accessible as technology has made things, actual skill remains an achievement that can’t be bought or even given away. Social media has been known to drag people down to pits of trivia and irrelevance, wasting vast amounts of valuable time, potentially causing us to lose privacy and lose basic social skills. But social media can also be an invaluable resource if we /choose/ to use it in that way. Social media is a tool that has great potential, if it got people to think and to see results. People have tremendous potential power and most people don’t even realize it. This is precisely why governments in every country keep tight control over these new outlets, for example.

The abundance access to technology (and thus increased productivity) means as an individual, we are more empowered than ever – whether we work individually or in groups. As hackers, we generally like to explore our own interests and take our own paths. Writing from our own perspective is essential, but there is also strength in numbers. In groups, there are varieties of opinions and even disagreements, which, contrary to the belief of many, only serve to strengthen and help define the basic premise of the cause we are united on. In both cases, our skill and experience matters more than ever, as these technological tools can be leveraged to more devastating effects in their hands. The list of social media tools available today is huge, but the issue of skill and experience are just as relevant and vital as they’ve ever been.

Look forward to the explosion of creativity and productivity ahead in our new age.

Note: Contents in this post is inspired by 2600 The Hacker Quarterly Volume Thirty-One, Number Four, article title “Tools for a New Future”.

It’s Velocity Dinner May 29 2014 and the guest speaker is Michael Worry from Nuvation.
When he graduated from uWaterloo in ‘97, he and his cofounders moved to California to do a startup, which led to Nuvation. Today we have him as a guest speaker and he’ll talk about his startup experience. Here are some things I found interesting.

Flinch price

This negotiation strategy focuses on trying to get the most money for the seller. How it works is, as a seller, ideally you want to name a price that is so high that the buyer flinches at the thought of buying it at that price. The buyer needs that product — but at that price, it is painful to think about. Starting a sale like this maximizes the amount you can sell.

Decision made on information

Make decisions based on information. If there are no new information, do not change the decision.
Opinions are not information; but may lead to new information.

Crab bucket mentality

The story goes that if you put one crab in a bucket, it’ll attempt to climb out. But if you have two crabs, when one tries to climb out, the other would pull on its legs and try to prevent it from leaving.
This is analogous to one trying to do a startup — when you want to get somewhere, you’ll have people drag you back. I.e. your parents want the best for you and they want that to be a safe and secure route, which typically is a steady job for steady income.

Fundamentally different skills

Engineers, management, sales are different skills. Those who are good at being engineers may not be good at the others. Michael’s story is that when he initally wanted to scale, he naively promoted his three best engineers to become managers. This was a poor decision in hindsight.

CEO gets the blame

As ceo, when things are going well then my staff gets the credit. When things go poorly, it’s ceo fault.

Principles summarizing experiences that I have accumulated through pushing myself to be more effective and efficient on time management. These selected topics are by my personal experience and my attempts to manage time.

Principles of Effective Efficient Time Use

1. Hidden-cost nature of activities

Relaxing can be very costly. Take gaming, for example – gaming is enjoyable and fun. When we want to relax, we’d like to play a game. Sometimes you have things to do on-hand, and even still, you say to yourself “I could probably have time for an hour of game”. No! Incorrect. With things to do on-hand, it is important to finish those tasks on-hand before taking pleasure. This is the most hard to resist (but do try) because it involves self-discipline – which is a subject that humans are generally bad at enforcing against themselves. The hidden-cost of delaying what you need to do is because they accumulate and stack up. If you have the mindset of “this is only a little delay, I can afford it” every time something favorable to you comes up, you’re not enforcing effective efficient time use. Think of this as an investment – for every dollar you can invest early, the rate of return on that dollar is exponentially higher than if you were to take the same dollar and invest it later.

2. Scheduling tools are very important

The tool I’m talking about is a calender. Your mind is limited in what it can remember daily. You easily overestimate your own capabilities in what you remember to do. Fact is, we forget about things we wanted to do. The simple process of trying to recall what you were planning to do takes brain effort and can be avoided by spending 30-seconds to add things to your calender. It is counter-productive to have to recall and recollect what you wanted to do. This problem can be avoided through the use of a calendar, which means that as a corollary – if you don’t use a calendar, you not using your time effectively and efficiently.

3. Productivity Enhancements

We need exercise to be productive. This cannot be skipped. It is very important to have daily exercise, even if you think high doses of caffeine, energy drinks, and good amount of sleep can keep you alert and functional! In my experience, human body can focus better with exercise than not. Exercise increase metabolism and trains your body to effectively use and deliver oxygen. This is important because your brain uses over 20% of your body’s oxygen, despite taking a much more portion of it physically. You will feel more alert because of exercise and be more productive. You can keep alert and to the problem on hand better, and in that respect, be more productive (effective and efficient time use). This principle also helps with countering #1 – you need to view exercising itself as a form of relaxing. Then you are hitting two objectives at once, and win!

I’ve been on internship since September, and I’ve not had this feeling for a while. Not since when I was on vacation in August and finished reading the entire course materials for CS 458 Security! I was wondering how to get it back… reflecting back to my exam cramming days, where I’d be up till 3 or 4 am and in a trance, studying. I thought coffee/tea/energy drinks would help get this kind of concentration, but it doesn’t. This kind of concentration is rare, and magical. I think it stems from curiosity!
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