Best job description ever: “I travel around the world, eat a lot of shit, and basically do whatever the fuck I want.” Anthony Bourdain
Future work
Do platforms work?. Coasian theory identifies 3 advantages to the corporation:
resourcing: it’s less expensive to find and recruit people with the right skills and knowledge from inside the company than to look for them externally every time you want something done.
transacting: managing processes and resources - it’s less of an administrative burden to have teams in-house than to keep an eye on multiple external contractors.
contracting: every time work takes place within a company, the rules and conditions are implied in the employment contract, not negotiated afresh each time.
By reducing these three costs, Coase claimed, corporations are the optimal structures for increasing economic activity. This article suggests platforms/communication technology renders these less of an advantage.
Talent effects, inequality, and the mythical man month
Don’t work so hard
The illusion of competence and the impact of luck.
The quitting economy Hayek and neoliberalism; Increase sharholder value; Me Inc.; no loyalty;
Darwin was a slacker and you should be too So if there is so much evidence that shorter hours, naps, walks improve efficiency, why hasn’t some forward looking company offered these as benefits? Shouldn’t said company be able to attract and retain top talent? Personally I am much more productive working two 3 hour shifts with a lunch/nap in between. Try that in today’s corporate setting.
Asceticism of the wage cuck “The underlying bureaucratic key is the ability to deal with boredom… If you are immune to boredom, there is literally nothing you cannot accomplish.” David Foster Wallace
Trickle-down workaholism in startups
Happy Ambition: Striving for Success, Avoiding Status Cocaine, and Prioritizing Happiness
Who screwed the American worker?
You really don’t need to work so much.
Chicago: the semi-elite city If I want to live in NH does that mean I am not ambitious?
The happy state The decommodification of work as a path to societal happiness.
Tyler Cowen: Why don’t we work less and have more sex?
The Sliding Scale of Bullshit Jobs
First, Let’s Get Rid of All the Bosses A radical experiment at Zappos to end the office workplace as we know it. Self organization chaos at Zappos. Amazing the tyranny CEOs can wreak over their servants.
Find your purpose
Miscellaneous
Team building doesn’t work.
Intermittant interactions provide the best solutions.