Blog Posts About: personal

1000+ items.  That's what Google Reader told me I need to read to catch up with my RSS subscriptions.  It's intimidating.  My RSS feeds were mocking me. I could see them with sneaky voices "hee hee, you'll never read me, you don't have the time. ha ha."  The sad part is, they were right.

I stopped opening my RSS reader months ago.  It wasn't a concerted effort, I just didn't do it. What I found was that longer I stayed away, the easier it was to stay away.  Returns diminished with each passing day and at some point I gave up on reading anything via Google Reader.  Now, I'm happy to report that I'm back on the wagon (I think that's the right analogy).  My time away gave me some perspective on what I want to read and where I want to read it.

Culprit #1:  Twitter

I was trying to figure out a clever title for this post along the lines of "Twitter Killed the RSS Star", but it wouldn't work.  The sentiment works in my case however.  I have integrated Twitter into my life and I think that it became a surrogate for reading blogs.  Lots of people I follow share their blog posts on Twitter, I have found the relationships that are created to be more personal and it's all so lightweight. Watching Twitter updates gave me the feeling of connection, awareness and discussion that I love about blogs in an efficient and manageable package.  Before I knew it, Twitter had replaced reading RSS feeds.

Culprit #2 Subscribing to the Wrong People

Looking back, my RSS reader has been filled with people I felt I should be reading.  Let me repeat that - should be reading.  I think that's a problem. I felt like I needed to watch TechCrunch to stay on top of tech news. I felt like I needed to subscribe to experts in my field(s).  Sure, these subscriptions were educating me and raising my awareness, but I seriously question the cost/benefit.  Reading them felt like homework - and I don't like homework.

This all came to a head recently when our best friends (and former Seattle neighbors) came to town and stayed with us.  Within a little while, blogging came up and it turned out they had both posted a few entries in the run-up to the trip to Seattle.  I had no idea.  I had to tell them that I stopped reading blogs and I felt bad for not keeping up.  These people matter about a million times more than the people clogging up my RSS Reader and I had let the 1000+items-of-things-that-don't-matter scare me away.

What I Did

Like I've done before, I started over.  I opened up Google Reader, took a nice long look at the list and asked myself - does this matter to me?  Do I even know this person?  Will I be worse off without this content in my life?  No. No. No.  Nearly everything was wiped clean.

When I started adding feeds to fill the void, I did it with a filter.  My RSS reader isn't for news, it isn't for niche analysis, it isn't because I "should".  My RSS reader is now filled with subscriptions to sites that matter to me.  These posts are written by people I know and care about.  They make me feel like reading RSS is a treat - a few minutes spent being with an old friend.

It's only been a little while, but I think RSS may, once again,  become a strong contender for my passive time. Now I can miss a day of RSS reading, open the reader and have Google Reader tell me I have 10 posts to read.  That, I can do.

I wouldn't call it disappointment, but rather a dose of reality.  I spent the last week in Las Vegas at the Community 2.0 conference and with my family thereafter.  Coming back, I must say that the trip gave me some much-needed perspective. Let me explain.

We work from home.  We make videos, we put them on the Web, people watch them.  We track our views, our Technorati links, our mentions in Twitter, our blog comments. A good percentage of people we see in social situations in Seattle are aware of our work.  Most of the email we receive is about the videos and of course, it dominates our discussions at home.  This is all misleading and a bit unhealthy.

It's too easy to start making assumptions - assumptions about general awareness, about the number of people who really know what's happening in "our" online world.  Viewed from the comfort of our living room, bookmarked pages and social circles, the Web looks pretty small and awareness looks pretty big.  It's too easy to assume that people have heard about the tools and sites we use everyday.

But they haven't. In real terms, no one has. I look at Las Vegas as a cross section of the US.  At any moment there are people from every state and many countries.  They are the General Public in a lot of ways.  I sat back and asked myself - forgetting Common Craft - do these people know about Twitter?  Has Flickr become part of their world?  What about wikis, do they care?  Are they using RSS readers?  My completely anecdotal evidence says the answer is no.  In our own little online world, it's too easy to assume they do.

I'm writing this because I've caught myself assuming too much lately and I'm hoping for new perspectives.  While we spend so much time debating the merits of Twitter (for example), there is literally a world of people who are still perplexed by the basics of computers and the Web.

In terms of Common Craft, there is still so much work to be done and now the challenge seems even greater.  We can't assume that we've reached any sort of milestone.  The race is long and we've only taken the first few steps. 

Our challenge, you included, is to remember that our web-based world can become a deceptive echo chamber.  We may think we're creating awareness and change, but until our work, our ideas can get outside the chamber and impact people walking around Las Vegas, I fear that we're just talking to ourselves.

We're often asked how we got started with our videos.  Here's the story.

It all started with an online community.  It was the latter part of 1999 and I was working in a healthcare data company called HBSI (which was eventually merged into non-existence).  The customers were asking for a way to work together across hospitals.  So, a few of us started an email group on eGroups, which is now Yahoo Groups.  Through this experiment and the online community that grew out of it, I discovered my passion.

I met Sachi at work about this time.  On our very first weekend away together in 2000, we were walking by the shore in the San Juan Islands and I said "Sachi, I hope you don't mind hearing about this online community stuff, because it's all I'm going to talk about from now on." She was cool with it, as she is today.

About this time I read the Cluetrain Manifesto and this book added high octane fuel to the fire.  Over the next three years (1999-2003), I was the online community manager and it was my job to manage the community and convince people in my company that online communities are the future.  It wasn't an easy job, but I loved it to my core.  Even then, I needed ways to influence people about these new, transformative ideas.

After growing, designing and managing the community for 3 years, I quit to start Common Craft.  The name came from a focus on communication.  I've always thought that communication is the most Common Craft there is. In 2003, I became a blogger and independent consultant, helping companies understand and build strategies around online communities.

In this work, I confronted the same problems as I did as a community manager. The people with whom I worked were skeptical.  It was their job to make business decisions about the future.  In order to make sound decisions, they needed a basic understanding of the ideas and technologies that could impact that future. It was my job to help build that foundation of understanding.  At the time, there simply weren't materials that worked to explain things like wikis and RSS.

So, I wrote blog posts.  I would take something like wikis and write a post with the goal of giving my customers a way to see the concept without getting technical.  You'll recognize the story I wrote for the post "Wikis and the Perfect Camping Trip. " The blog posts worked pretty well and I always felt that I took to explanation easily.

Sachi and I had been saving and took 2006 off to travel.  Along the way, we decided to make Common Craft a two person company. We also fell in love with shooting video and putting it on You Tube for friends and family. Near the end of the trip, we considered how video could become part of Common Craft.  In thinking hard about our goals and skills, we decided that we could remake those explanatory blog posts into videos.

After we got home, I experimented with standing in front of a whiteboard.  It didn't work - I felt like I was just another talking head.  Then, Sachi had the idea of pointing the camera down onto the whiteboard on the floor and using hands and paper cut-outs to tell the story.

Within a few weeks we had created RSS in Plain English on the floor of an extra bedroom.  I remember telling Sachi, the night we put it online, that I think we could be on to something.  Over the next day, the video got a lot of attention, including our first appearance on the front page of Digg.  We were jumping out of our skin with excitement. People got it, and shared it!

Soon after we started planning our next video on Wikis.  We also discovered all sorts of ways to improve the videos - better lighting, sound, etc.  We solved problems as they needed to be solved.

Within a couple of months we added a "hire us" message on commoncraft.com and our first custom video clients were PR Web and Google Docs. For most of the past year, our business has been producing custom videos.

Of course, we've also continued to provide free videos on social media and other subjects via The Common Craft Show.  A common theme that we hear from fans is "I sent your video to my Mom/Boss/Peer/Friend/customer and they finally got it!" This is the best feedback we could hear.

These days we're seeing new opportunities.  Social Media is a huge, transformative trend.  There are droves of professionals working to influence businesses, students and executives to understand it - and we want to help. We also see other trends and subject matters that need better explanations. Whatever the subject, our goal will always be to make videos that explain, enlighten and hopefully bring about a smile.

It started with a tweet.  Eddie Codel described Boston's streets as "Kafkaesque."  I found it on Wikipedia (it means disorienting), along with a listing of other name-inspired words. One caught my eye: Machiavellianism. The first line of the Wikipedia entry:

Machiavellianism is the term that some social and personality psychologists use to describe a person's tendency to deceive and manipulate others for personal gain.
It comes from Nicollo Machiavelli, a Renaissance writer, diplomat, etc. known, in part, for principles of conduct that are marked by cunning, duplicity and bad faith. His most famous work is The Prince.

Upon a bit more investigation, I found that there is a personality test called a MACH-IV test that gauges a person's Machiavellianism.  Apparently there are "high machs" (likely to agree with Machiavelli) and "low machs" (unlikely to agree). Most people are in the middle (I'm a low mach).  Take the 20-question test here.

When I first read about all of this, I couldn't help but think about the spammers and blackhats of the web.  Aside from the trash that they produce, I'm fascinated by the people behind the spam.  Who are these people?  How did they get this way?  What motivates them outside of money? Do they know right from wrong? How can they justify their decisions?

Viewed with a Machiavellian lens, I see spammers a little differently. It makes me wonder if spammers are born vs. made. Perhaps this is the source of my fascination - that spammers aren't just unethical, but possibly a bit mental. An insightful article in Salon has this quote:

McHoskey's article argued that high Machs possess, to a greater or lesser degree, the qualities associated with classic psychopaths: a lack of remorse, pathological lying, glibness and superficial charm, a grandiose sense of self-worth.
Sound familiar? Here are a few interesting questions from the MACH IV test that is based on Machiavelli's "The Prince" (on an agree/disagree scale). How do you think a spammer responds compared to you?

5) It is safest to assume that all people have a vicious streak and it will come out when they are given a chance.
8) Generally speaking, people won't work hard unless they're forced to do so.
13) The biggest difference between most criminals and other people is that the criminals are stupid enough to get caught.
16) It is possible to be good in all respects.
9) All in all, it is better to be humble and honest than to be important and dishonest.

If nothing else, I can now start to incorporate this word into my day-to-day life.  Instead of obscenities, spam will now just make me say - oh how Machiavellian! Or, maybe it'll actually be - oh how $#@&ing Machiavellian!

I switched.  It happened about 2 weeks ago, I made a Macbook my primary computer for the first time.  We've had a Mac around the house for a while, but I've been loyal to my little Sony Vaio, which has been mostly flawless for about 2.5 years. It was a good one.

But alas, I wanted a Mac, and it has come to pass.

Along the way, I've been taking some stream-of-consciousness notes on my perceptions before doing any research. I'm using Leopard, btw. Here goes:

I'm still learning, but today was probably the first that I didn't reach for the crtl button to copy/paste something. 

The Dock is cool - I didn't realize how easy it was to manage. I was looking for menu to add and remove icons - then found out that you can just drag them to the trash or onto the Dock.

I want to use the desktop as a default place to drop random files, like I would on the PC - I wonder if it's a good place?

Why are there no Fav icons in the bookmark toolbar in Firefox?

I love the photos that come on the Mac desktops. Must keep updated.

I was lost for a while, not understanding the product menu at the top. I was looking for "preferences" in other menus - not Product Name, like iPhoto".

How can I close all the windows and have the application open at the same time? I know - it's a mac thing.

We've decided to get an Airport Extreme during this process.  We needed a new router and wanted to print wirelessly. In the end, it took many hours of experimentation, but we got both PCs and Macs on a secure network and printing wirelessly.  My lesson was to get each computer printing with a wire first, then go wireless.

I can open the Mac and it just starts.  No waiting around.  My PC would take forever.

Is Text Edit the same as Notepad - good for text files? I assume so.

Ahh, two-finger scrolling works quite well. I'm used to scrolling on the right side of the touchpad, but this is an easy transition.

I dig the magnetic power plug, but I don't like it's placement on the side.  I have the computer in my lap a lot, and it constantly comes unplugged when hitting my leg. I guess it may do the same from the back.

It's always bugged me that the "M" and "W" are the same key, turned upside down. It looks that way anyway - not sure why that catches my eye.

If I hit Capslock one more time I'm going to remove it.

I'm getting used to the Command (apple) button, but man why not just use ctrl? I think the ctrl button is much better placed for one handed copy/paste/undo, etc. On my keyboard, the "x" is directly above the Apple key. Hitting it makes me feel like I'm learning guitar.

The screen doesn't lean back as far as I'd like.

Why can't I apple + b to bold something in the browser?

How do I go up one folder? Solved - Jay taught me apple + up arrow.

What is this preview thing? I have Adobe Reader, why isn't it working? Oh, Preview was the default in Firefox.

Spaces seems cool. I'm using it to go between iTunes and FireFox.

We need to control the home stereo from our computers.  Turns out that Airport Express does it really well.  It was a pain to get started, but works like a champ.  We now have all computers sharing a single library that exists on an exrternal drive.

When I have two things open (like 2 browsers) I don't see an easy way to switch between then - they get lost behind each other (on the PC they are at the bottom of the screen). What am I missing?

Do I really have to eject usb devices?  It sounds like a problem that technology should solve for me.

Searching the computer works really really well.

I've kept the old computer on the network during the transition.  Since they're set up on the same network, it is easy to grab files.  Just today, I put away the old computer.

Much of our world happens in Google's cloud.  Docs, Calendar, Email, didn't have to move from one computer to another. That was so nice.

I know there are a lot of cool and useful mac tools out there, I wonder which I should get?

Oh, Skitch is such an amazing cool screen capture tool. Wow.

I've been tapping touchpads for years - and I've even enabled tapping on the Mac - but never use it. It's funny how quickly I've transitioned to the big thumb-button.

Overall, it's been less painful than I imagined - and I do love the Mac, honestly. It just works.  I'm sure I have a long way to go in terms of learning key combinations and shortcuts, but I'll get there in due time.

You might also see:

Thomas Hawk Buys A Mac

Life Hacker's Guide to Switching  

Please, do share what you have learned... 

What is the point where many projects get off track? We think it's when decision making becomes a burden.  Indecision, lack of ownership and unclear reasoning often means stasis and frustration.  Over the past year, and likely through traveling together, Sachi and I have evolved a system that helps us be productive without wasting time.  It's a system of ownership - of being personally accountable for the small decisions that contribute to the overall goal.
 
Early in the process, we talk a lot about the goal - the big ideas, the vision.  Then, we can see how our independent roles will contribute. For example,  Sachi (among other things) is our editor. From cutting the audio to stop-action to color correction, she owns it.  Once she starts the process, all the decisions are hers.  She can always ask for my thoughts, but my input is not required.  By the time I see something, it's mostly done and we can iterate from a big picture perspective.

The same is true for me with the art work. I own the process of storyboarding and creating the artwork. I conceive the scenes and how they all fit together. Only after the bulk of the creative work is done do we come back together to make decisions before production.  This way, I have a chance to own the vision of the video - a vision that may not be clear until all the pieces come together. I don't bother Sachi with the details - I own them.

We expect the same from our clients.  The best projects, the projects that stay on schedule and produce the best outcomes are the ones where the project leader on the client side owns the project. They have the ability to make decisions and be accountable for their outcomes.

The lesson here?  Ownership = efficiency, for us at least.  Ownership mean understanding the goal and having the confidence to make independent decisions that contribute to it.  It means not wasting time discussing every step along the way. It means getting work done quickly so that it can be evaluated as a whole. It means being accountable and ready to stand up for why we made the decisions we did.

Of course, this isn't to say we don't collaborate.  When I wrote about being a video making team, iteration was a big theme. When we do come together to review, and especially to shoot a video, everything is subject to change.  What we own are the chunks that make up the whole.