∞
Let's practice together
Where I sit writing this email, today is Friday. So tomorrow the weekend starts. Do you already have plans for the weekend? Perhaps we’ll go to the lake, because it’s scorching hot in Europe these days. But I will also continue with my “Automation project: Factory 0.1”.
∞
The bullshit web and our responsibility
My home computer in 1998 had a 56K modem connected to our telephone line; we were allowed a maximum of thirty minutes of computer usage a day, because my parents — quite reasonably — did not want to have their telephone shut off for an evening at a time. I remember webpages loading slowly: ten to twenty seconds for a basic news article.
∞
When do you know enough?
“When did you reach the point where you didn’t need to read another research report, didn’t need to absorb another scouting analysis, didn’t need to stop by the bookstore… because it simply wasn’t useful or efficient to learn another thing about your field?”
This question was posed by Seth Godin. Seth is big in marketing and entrepreneurship. Perhaps you already know him.
This question is a deep one.
∞
Professionalism
This morning I was visiting the hospital with my pregnant wife. She’s in the 39th week and over the course of the weekend we had some concerns regarding the health of the baby. So we went to the hospital to have everything checked. They made a CTG for the heart and vital signs of the baby.
∞
The 4-day workweek
In this enlightening article from the New York Times, Charlotte Graham-McLay reports about a company from New Zealand that tried something out. They switched all their employees to work only 32 hours per week instead of the regular 40 hours. All of them still received the same salary for 40 hours though. What they found was that their productivity increased and the employees got the same amount or work done. Sometimes even more.
To reach this level of productivity, they reduced meeting times, didn’t leave early or took longer breaks.
∞
Sorry to say, but you’ve been hacked
Please excuse this email’s subject line. Did you receive an email like that before? As I wrote a few days ago, I did.
∞
Things happen for a reason
I am currently reading a very interesting book: “Principles” by Ray Dalio
It was recommended to me by several sources, most notably by Sebastian Marshall. Sebastian focuses a lot on personal improvement in his work. I value his ideas and ideas very much. So it made sense to me to follow his recommendation to read this book.
∞
Software development on construction sites
A few days ago, a friend told me about the construction site that is located right outside the window of his living room. He was, understandably, complaining about the construction workers starting their shifts at seven in the morning. They make all kinds of noises and it’s costing him his nerves.
∞
Did you just click the link?
perhaps you remember one of my last newsletters, back when I wrote them from the 5minutenpause.com domain. I told you that I switched the content format to plain text and that I do not track click and open rates anymore. Well I do again.