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Some Details of My Personal Infrastructure

blog.stephenwolfram.com

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Re: Some Details of My Personal Infrastructure

#281

Post by martin_a »

ianai wrote: post #267
jessriedel wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But commenters are taking evidence of how this guy runs his business as evidence that that method is effective. Shouldn't there be comments pointing out if this isn't effective?

Not really. It will always be easy to look at something from the outside and point out all the ways it should or can’t work or could work better. The systems and people involved are usually much more complicated. The world also owes itself more compassion. “Thousand foot” criticism lacks compassion.

> It will always be easy to look at something from the outside and point out all the ways it should or can’t work or could work better.

People pay me to do exactly that. Come in with a fresh, unbiased view on things, look at how stuff works and what could be improved.

It's not about telling people that everything they've done before is BS but if there are things that are not working well, just tell them.

Re: Some Details of My Personal Infrastructure

#282

Post by copperx »

seanp2k2 wrote: post #229
kilroy123 wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've worked remote for the past 4 years so I think I can weigh in on this. If there are meetings in person you really need to have a good conference call phone, preferably with an external mic. Like this: https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/images/i/000/016/072/origi... For things like screen sharing, the conference room must have a very solid connection as screen sharing typically uses a lot of bandwidth. For the remo…

If you want what they use in places like the Senate and other Big Boy meetings, get a Shure MX418D/C and a real external audio interface with phantom power. I use mine for gaming, and while it's totally overkill, it's a purpose-made professional quality desktop voice mic. They're tanks and will last 20 years. You can buy replacement parts for them. They're also on eBay for ~$120 if you keep an eye out. Pair that mic…

> You won't be able to hear the difference over a conference call.

The difference between the microphones is stunning, I thought I was not going to be able to tell the difference, but the Neumann is extremely more, should I say, articulate? the Rode sounds "stiff." But nobody is going to be singing over a conference call, true.

Re: Some Details of My Personal Infrastructure

#283

Post by laumars »

jessriedel wrote: post #250
juskrey wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love such comments. The guy has a multimillion dollar private business which is at the same time his hobby and a dream, and does it in the way he likes. And someone comes and says his meetings can be more efficient..

But commenters are taking evidence of how this guy runs his business as evidence that that method is effective. Shouldn't there be comments pointing out if this isn't effective?

It's easy to look at a something in isolation and assume you are qualified to cast judgement on where it can be improved but often a decision might have both a negative consequence and also a much further reaching positive consequences too. The sort of people who like to judge things in isolation miss those kinds of complexities.

This kind of arm-chair critic seems to be on the rise on HN as well. People making short, sharp judgements based off very little evidence yet they still feel justified as an expert by their self assessment.

Re: Some Details of My Personal Infrastructure

#284

Post by stickdogg »

juskrey wrote: post #220
kevinventullo wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be honest, the conference call linked lower in the thread has increased my skepticism for remote work. Another commenter pointed out how much smoother everything would have gone if everyone had been in the same room.

I love such comments. The guy has a multimillion dollar private business which is at the same time his hobby and a dream, and does it in the way he likes. And someone comes and says his meetings can be more efficient..

I can't add anything to that comment except: , I know that's right.

Re: Some Details of My Personal Infrastructure

#285

Post by copperx »

agumonkey wrote: post #132
noir_lord wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny how people are so different. My desk has to have exactly, 1 keyboard, 1 mouse, 1 A4 5mm graph paper pad and that's it. I used to struggle to work on a slightly cluttered desk but these days it has to be basically empty. In terms of paperwork, it goes behind me on shelves sorted by "Important, will need soon, Important, will need later, Not important" everything else goes in the bin. Periodically I rip the pads…

Younger I loved having all my shit around me on my desk. It was hyper natural and hyper efficient. Nowadays ... nope. It feels a bit like reading your own undocumented one night epic project .. with age you just love a bit of structure and cleanliness

Same here. Brain shrinkage is real; one can't deal with so much disorganization as one gets older.

Re: Some Details of My Personal Infrastructure

#286

Post by ttonkytonk »

juskrey wrote: post #220
kevinventullo wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be honest, the conference call linked lower in the thread has increased my skepticism for remote work. Another commenter pointed out how much smoother everything would have gone if everyone had been in the same room.

I love such comments. The guy has a multimillion dollar private business which is at the same time his hobby and a dream, and does it in the way he likes. And someone comes and says his meetings can be more efficient..

Well there's always a trade-off, isn't there?

Re: Some Details of My Personal Infrastructure

#287

Post by FabHK »

seanp2k2 wrote: post #215
sidcool wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tend to agree. Unless there are genuine reasons to work permanently remote, an face to face interaction is always better. I also worry about the loneliness aspect of remote work. For all its downsides, the Office provides a real life socially active environment. It's pleasant to have people around, and to have water cooler conversations, or share a coffee with an employee from a totally different department. It's f…

I feel like some people get a lot out of it, and others not so much. As in, if someone has the type of personality where they work best with lots of "heads-down" time on projects (and frankly many of the best engineers I know are like this), give them that space to do their best work without being interrupted by That One Person Who Always Comes Over to Chat. Most offices and even most orgs / teams have THAT DUDE. If…

For what it's worth, I seem to recall reading that the most effective engineers are not necessarily the ones that (heads down) create the best solutions for some specific challenges, but those that know who is the best person to ask about (or task with) a specific problem. So, the Dude might be contributing quite a bit.

Re: Some Details of My Personal Infrastructure

#288

Post by mhd »

nevi-me wrote: post #193

Stephen mentions that his mouse is on the left because he's left-handed. I'm left-handed, and I don't think I've ever seen someone put the mouse on the left. How much difference would it make to accuracy, or does the other hand eventually learn to compensate?

I'm right handed, and after experiencing some starting RSI issues, I've switched my workplace mouse to the left. I'm using a cheap upright mouse. At home it's right-handed, with a three-button IBM/Lenovo mouse (no scroll wheel).

Helped my issues a lot, and I haven't experienced a major difference between UI navigation or even light image manipulation between the two setups. Then again, I'm not a twitch gamer or visual artist, so you might call that an "ambisinister" setup.

Only having to move my left arm 10cm at work to get from keyboard to mouse is a nice added benefit, although you'd get the same for a dextrous arrangement if you wouldn't use a full size keyboard.

Re: Some Details of My Personal Infrastructure

#289

Post by copperx »

duado wrote: post #238
ranie93 wrote: post #22

Through the article I found he livestreams many of his meetings on Twitch! This is particularly candid moment I happen to find: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGjvFyRk_4I&feature=youtu.be... edit: I wasn't aware of the negative opinions regarding his ego, but from listening to this meeting I can say they aren't unsubstantiated!

This is crazy. He is the CEO of an 800 person company and the people talking to him sound like they are completely unprepared for the conversation. Of course the third argument needs to be fucking documented! Their response should have been "yes, this is a clear bad, we'll fix the documentation by tomorrow's meeting." Not just sit silently on the call while the CEO has to go do it themselves.

The people there sound like I did on my thesis progress reports after I had been out drinking with friends. As much as I was ready to hate on Wolfram given his reputation, he's completely justified about his complaints, and he's being professional about it.

I see nothing "toxic" about this conversation, as others have mentioned. He is completely focused on the work; there are no personal attacks. The main interlocutor sounds like he is taking things personally.

Re: Some Details of My Personal Infrastructure

#290

Post by FabHK »

noir_lord wrote: post #42
vortico wrote: post #6

How cow, this guy is the world's most organized person. I operate in the exact opposite way. The more disorganized, temporary, inconvenient, and cluttered my workspace is, the more I can ignore the outside world and focus on the abstract problem at hand.

Funny how people are so different. My desk has to have exactly, 1 keyboard, 1 mouse, 1 A4 5mm graph paper pad and that's it. I used to struggle to work on a slightly cluttered desk but these days it has to be basically empty. In terms of paperwork, it goes behind me on shelves sorted by "Important, will need soon, Important, will need later, Not important" everything else goes in the bin. Periodically I rip the pads…

That reminds me of when I attended a "Getting Things Done" ((C) (R) (TM)) seminar, sponsored by work. The speaker spent hours explaining how to organise the to-do-lists and calendars and how to label tasks (can be done on the road, calls, can be done offline, importance vs urgency, ...) and how to prioritise them, a really elaborate system, the whole shebang. And it results in the one task you should be doing right now.

He presented it, looked content, and invited questions, when someone asked, "ok, suppose now I know what I should be doing now. But what happens if I just don't feel like it? What then?". The presenter was dumbfounded, seemed confused, and had basically no answer (that I remember).

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