Categories
work

How Many Hours Should You Work at a Start-Up or Company?

Generally what I think about things is a different way than the majority. (Talk about a general statement, sheesh)  I haven’t decided if this is a good thing or a bad thing.  However, it’s nice to see that Valve agrees with my opinion that working overtime week after week is generally a bad thing.

Read this blurb from their employee handbook:

While people occasionally choose to push themselves to work some extra hours at times when something big is going out the door, for the most part working overtime for extended periods indicates a fundamental failure in planning or communication.If this happens at Valve, it’s a sign that something needs to be reevaluated and corrected. Ifyou’re looking around wondering why people aren’t in“crunch mode,” the answer’s pretty simple. The thing we work hardest at is hiring good people, so we want them to stick around and have a good balance between work and family and the rest of the important stuff in life.If you find yourself working long hours, or just generally feel like that balance is out of whack, be sure to raise the  issue with whomever you feel would help. Dina loves to force  people to take vacations, so you can make her your first stop

If you are staying at work until 6PM or later every day, then you are doing it wrong.  If your company culture is that working until 6PM or later is the accepted norm then you are doing it very wrong.  There is nothing wrong with having a life outside of work.  To those of you out there who enjoy working long hours every day, then more power to you.  However, I feel as though this far from the norm for the average person.

Go ahead and read Valve’s handbook. Assuming this link stays valid and they don’t track me down with their Spy class.

 

Categories
facebook rant

My Thoughts on Facebook Instagram Backlash

Before I get to my specific opinion, let me voice my opinion of the two companies as separate entities.  Facebook, by itself is a fine service for the average Joe.  I personally don’t use Facebook because I think it’s a waste of my time. Instagram is similar to Facebook, and it pretty much invented the sharing photos game in the mobile space.  They are also popular for their over-the-top styling of photos that makes anyone think they have talent.

So in summary, both services are fine but not for me.  Clearly Facebook is lacking in the mobile department and Instagram is meant for mobile with no desktop penetration.  Sounds like a good fit to me?  Facebook’s mobile app might turn into something pretty awesome after this.  Instagram are going to have a lot more users in their grasp and probably have a vision where they want to take the company.  Being acquired by Facebook was an offer they could not refuse and it’s shocking to see some of these comments:

 

 

And finally:

One of my personal favorites is a story entitled: “Apple should have acquired Instagram” saying:

I would more likely wanted Apple to acquire Instagram. Apple actually needed Instagram much more than Facebook and Google. With a few Apple’s failed attempts to go social(remember Ping), that could actually worked. Instagram has 29M iPhone users. Most of them are very engaged with the application. The combination of Photo Stream + Instagram could be super powerful. I can see myself using it(a lot). Also, by purchasing Instagram Apple could have keept it iOS-only. That would be much appreciated by current iPhone users and for some people might be a reason to switch to iPhone.

Yes, that’s just what we need.  Apple to acquire Instagram, convert it to a pay only app. Charge $2.99 for the iPhone version and $9.99 for the iPad enhanced version. Perhaps throw in a subscription in there someplace for cloud syncing.  Not to mention keep it iOS only because that sounds pretty exclusive and cool.

My brain might explode. . .