At some point, we solidified the layout of a calculator. If we change it too much, we diminish value rather than add to it. It might be time to recognize that we have solved some software problems, and the reason why all this stuff gets redesigned repeatedly is simply because companies don’t know what to do if these things have been solved already. How many designers, engineers, product managers, and even executives are merely trying to justify their jobs?

Nothing Left to Solve

In my examples, the individuals were all doing from a young age as opposed to merely attending school. And while they may not have wanted to work, the work was nonetheless something that they, their families, and society felt was useful, purposeful, and appreciated. In a sense, they had useful childhoods.

School is Not Enough - by Simon Sarris

But this isn’t great advice for someone like me. For those of us with ADHD (or ADHD-like traits), the challenge isn't choosing the important over the urgent - our brains naturally gravitate toward novel, high-upside activities. The real challenge lies in managing the accumulating costs of neglected maintenance tasks and, more importantly, the reputational consequences of this pattern.

ADHD and Managing Your Reputation - by Vaishnav Sunil

If people can't recognize these basic stan tactics when they appear in pop culture contexts, such as a Twitter thread claiming "I'm 17 and AFRAID of Sabrina Carpenter," how will they ever recognize the same strategies when political actors use them to influence elections, policy debates, or global narratives? 

We need to start recognizing stan psyops - by Taylor Lorenz

One time I pitched the following idea to help manage the lifecycle of policies and procedures:

Create a git repository Write the policy in Markdown Changes to the policies are merge requests Policy approvers approve the merge requests That's it Writing Markdown doesn't require anything more elaborate than fucking Notepad. The GitLab instance was already there. It was just a matter of learning 3 git commands, if that. This was deemed too complicated, so they went with a Confluence add-on that was about $50,000 per year and did basically the equivalent of a Shields.io badge.

It's Who You Know

The best diagnosis for exception handling I can think of is to wait on line at the post office. If you’ve ever done that, you know the thought of “doesn’t anyone just want to mail a package” comes to mind. As it turns out the entire flow at the post office (or DMV or tax office) is about exception handling. No amount of software is going to get you out of there because it is piecing together a bunch of inputs and outputs that are outside the bounds of a system.

222. Automating Processes with Software is HARD

At the core of Musk’s vision for the Boring Company and autonomously driven robotaxis is the notion of “individualized mass transit.” In 2017, he told Wired he hated mass transit. “It’s a pain in the ass,” he said, claiming no one likes buses or trains because there’s full of “a bunch of random strangers” that could include serial killers — a rich person’s delusion if I’ve ever heard one. Instead, he claimed everyone would prefer individualized transport, refusing to accept that individualized instead of collective mobility is at the root of what he hates so much about modern transportation: all that traffic.

Elon Musk’s Cybercab recycles a decade of broken promises

I've known for a long time that I can't change things here. But in this moment, I realize that the organization values things that I don't value, and it's as simple as that. I could pretend to be neutral and say that my values aren't better, but you know what, my values are better. Having tested code is better. Having comprehensible logs is better. I'm wasting their money sitting around until December, which is unethical. I'm disrespecting myself waiting two more months for a measly Christmas break payout, which is unwise. I've even degraded team morale because I've convinced some of the engineers that things should be better, but not management, so now some of the engineers are upset.

Get Me Out Of Data Hell — Ludicity

“While we’re not perhaps guardian angels,” Rubenstein said, “we are providing a social service, and that social service is making companies more efficient.” The authors highlight the essential problem with this fetish for “efficiency.” Industries that serve a social function require excess capacity, so that they can continue to provide care when demand surges or an employee calls in sick; nursing homes have to be properly and conscientiously staffed. Cut everything derided as “fat” and you will eventually cut to the bone.

Book Review: ‘Plunder,’ by Brendan Ballou; ‘These Are the Plunderers,’ by Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner - The New York Times

Some suppliers will have a part in an aircraft they certified in like 1990 and they’re not going to touch it, because why would they? No one’s going to compete,” Mali said. “The aircraft is in service for 30 to 50 years, so they’re just bringing in money every year, making the same thing.

Palmer Luckey tried to crush aeronautics startup Salient Motion. But Anduril backer a16z invested.