Life in Kyiv, Ukraine

Book review: I'm Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59 (kindle edition)

My personal rating 4 out of 5 stars (Amazon system).

It took me about 4 months to read this books with several timeouts, simultaneous reading of another books, and luck of inspirations to finish it. However during the last two chapters I have finally achieved the high level of immersion to feel this book.

The author, Douglas Edwards, a former journalist, who worked in Google from 1999 to 2005 wriiten light, filled with sympathy story about the early days of great technological company. You will not a lot of “hot” insights or success secrets, though it feels very sincere in my perception.

I particularly like the last chapter about post-IPO days and changed of philosophy among many employees. In fact I would like to read more about the transformation of Google from start-up culture to a corporation.

Here the things(facts) I found interesting throughout the book

1 The questions founders of Google used during the interviews : “"I am going to give you 5 minutes. When I come back, I want you to explain to me something complicated that I don't already know."

2 Everybody knows four P’s, five M’s. Here is the definition of three B’s from Edward – Buckets of Baffling Bullshit :)

3 TGIF – was a weekly Friday meeting, where Nooglers (new Googlers) introduced themselves and the founders shared the important news of the week.

4 Google made recruiting ads to technical keywords like “TLB shootdown” or “lock free synchronization”

5 About design of Google interface “Artur G. Clarke once postulated – any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”

6 “Guiding principles for Google brand strategy
-PR and word of mouth work better than ads
-Paid ads work against your brand. Focus on the joy of discovery
-We will grow faster getting current users to search more than by mass marketing
-All our promotions must include a way to measure success
-Product interaction is, and must remain, the primary branding experience
-User retention efforts should center on improving UI and user support

7 Ten things we found to be true – actually, you may find them here

8 “Underpromise and overdeliver. Became as important a mantra to us as Don’t be evil”

9 the definition of SWAGs in planning – “scientific wild-ass guesses” :)

10 in negotiations with AOL about ads “Alan knew how to deal with middle managers trying to score points at the last minute to impress their bosses. Fine, he replied, if you care that much about it, you call Dave Colburn (AOL biggest boss ) and have him call Eric Schmidt… Suddenly the language was no longer an issue “

11 “The founders weren't above bribing senior engineers to attend. Each December, Larry and Sergey "surprised" the staff by handing out a year-end thousand-dollar cash bonus at TGIF…By the end of next year amount of cash needed for the bonuses became unwieldy. Armored cars and shotgun-toting guards were needed to transport and watch over funds until they could be distributed”.

12 About innovations in recruiting “hey had realistic Google ID badges with pictures of real Google engineers on the front and coding challenges on the back to be solved and sent with résumés to our HR department”…” They had a billboard that was simply a mathematical equation followed by ".com." No logo or identification. Those who solved the equation and entered the solution as a web address would get another puzzle and ultimately a Google recruiting page”

13 Orkut story – how start-up mentality fights with established corporation and losses

14 APMM – associate product marketing manager.

15 Google made its IPO in manner "People should feel privileged to buy our stock"

Google has stated in its annual filing for 2004 that every one of its 3,021 employees, "except temporary employees and contractors, are also equity holders, with significant collective employee ownership"

16 About the world
“Why aren't all the signal lights synched to keep traffic flowing at optimum speed? Why, if I punch in my account number when I call customer service, do I have to give it to them again when I get a live person? These are all solvable problems.
 Smart people, motivated to make things better, can do almost anything. I feel lucky to have seen firsthand just how true that is “

17 And I have finally learned about M in CPM
“CPM: "Cost per thousand impressions"-a method of paying for online advertising in which advertisers pay a set rate to have their ads displayed a thousand times, regardless of whether anyone actually clicks on them. The M in CPM comes from the Latin word "mille," which means one thousand.”

Book review: I'm Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59 (kindle edition)

My personal rating 4 out of 5 stars (Amazon system).

It took me about 4 months to read this books with several timeouts, simultaneous reading of another books, and luck of inspirations to finish it. However during the last two chapters I have finally achieved the high level of immersion to feel this book.

The author, Douglas Edwards, a former journalist, who worked in Google from 1999 to 2005 wriiten light, filled with sympathy story about the early days of great technological company. You will not a lot of “hot” insights or success secrets, though it feels very sincere in my perception.

I particularly like the last chapter about post-IPO days and changed of philosophy among many employees. In fact I would like to read more about the transformation of Google from start-up culture to a corporation.

Here the things(facts) I found interesting throughout the book

1 The questions founders of Google used during the interviews : “"I am going to give you 5 minutes. When I come back, I want you to explain to me something complicated that I don't already know."

2 Everybody knows four P’s, five M’s. Here is the definition of three B’s from Edward – Buckets of Baffling Bullshit :)

3 TGIF – was a weekly Friday meeting, where Nooglers (new Googlers) introduced themselves and the founders shared the important news of the week.

4 Google made recruiting ads to technical keywords like “TLB shootdown” or “lock free synchronization”

5 About design of Google interface “Artur G. Clarke once postulated – any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”

6 “Guiding principles for Google brand strategy
-PR and word of mouth work better than ads
-Paid ads work against your brand. Focus on the joy of discovery
-We will grow faster getting current users to search more than by mass marketing
-All our promotions must include a way to measure success
-Product interaction is, and must remain, the primary branding experience
-User retention efforts should center on improving UI and user support

7 Ten things we found to be true – actually, you may find them here

8 “Underpromise and overdeliver. Became as important a mantra to us as Don’t be evil”

9 the definition of SWAGs in planning – “scientific wild-ass guesses” 

10 in negotiations with AOL about ads “Alan knew how to deal with middle managers trying to score points at the last minute to impress their bosses. Fine, he replied, if you care that much about it, you call Dave Colburn (AOL biggest boss ) and have him call Eric Schmidt… Suddenly the language was no longer an issue “

11 “The founders weren't above bribing senior engineers to attend. Each December, Larry and Sergey "surprised" the staff by handing out a year-end thousand-dollar cash bonus at TGIF…By the end of next year amount of cash needed for the bonuses became unwieldy. Armored cars and shotgun-toting guards were needed to transport and watch over funds until they could be distributed”.

12 About innovations in recruiting “hey had realistic Google ID badges with pictures of real Google engineers on the front and coding challenges on the back to be solved and sent with résumés to our HR department”…” They had a billboard that was simply a mathematical equation followed by ".com." No logo or identification. Those who solved the equation and entered the solution as a web address would get another puzzle and ultimately a Google recruiting page”

13 Orkut story – how start-up mentality fights with established corporation and losses

14 APMM – associate product marketing manager.

15 Google made its IPO in manner "People should feel privileged to buy our stock"

Google has stated in its annual filing for 2004 that every one of its 3,021 employees, "except temporary employees and contractors, are also equity holders, with significant collective employee ownership"

16 About the world
“Why aren't all the signal lights synched to keep traffic flowing at optimum speed? Why, if I punch in my account number when I call customer service, do I have to give it to them again when I get a live person? These are all solvable problems.
 Smart people, motivated to make things better, can do almost anything. I feel lucky to have seen firsthand just how true that is “

17 And I have finally learned about M in CPM
“CPM: "Cost per thousand impressions"-a method of paying for online advertising in which advertisers pay a set rate to have their ads displayed a thousand times, regardless of whether anyone actually clicks on them. The M in CPM comes from the Latin word "mille," which means one thousand.”

Book review: Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely

If asked about one single feeling about Dan Ariely's book "Predictably Irrational" – I would answer “SMOOTH EASY READING”. My personal star rating is 5 out of 5.

Now let's talk about content:

Beside stating that “Our irrational behaviors are neither random nor senseless—they are systematic and predictable. We all make the same types of mistakes over and over, because of the basic wiring of our brains. So wouldn't it make sense to modify standard economics and move away from naive psychology, which often fails the tests of reason, introspection, and—most important—empirical scrutiny?”

Everything else are examples, descriptions if the researches and tests. The most vivid and memorable extracts in mine point of view:

1 Relativity and usage of the “Decoy”

Economist's subscription. The choices were:

first group

1. Internet-only subscription for $59.

2. Print-only subscription for $125.(DECOY)

3. Print-and-Internet subscription for $125.

second group

1. Internet-only subscription for $59.

2 Print-and-Internet subscription for $125.

What could have possibly changed their minds? Nothing

rational, I assure you. It was the mere presence of the decoy

that sent 84 of them to the print-and-Internet option (and 16

to the Internet-only option). And the absence of the decoy

had them choosing differently, with 32 for print-and-Internet

and 68 for Internet-only.

 

2 Arbitrary coherence.

The basic idea of arbitrary coherence is this: although initial prices are "arbitrary," once those prices are established in our minds they will shape not only present prices but also future prices (this makes them "coherent").

3 Zero cost

Free shipping is a powerful sale tool. Make shipping 20 cents – dramatic sales decrease.

So YOU CAN maintain the status quo with a 20-cent fee (as in

the case of Amazon's shipping in France), or you can start a

stampede by offering something FREE! Think how powerful

that idea is! Zero is not just another discount. Zero is a different

place. The difference between two cents and one cent

is small. But the difference between one cent and zero is

huge!

4 The cost of social norms. Why We Are Happy to Do Things, but Not When We Are Paid to Do Them

An experiment with a late parents in day care center in Izrael

If you're a company, my advice is to remember that you can't have it both ways. You can't treat

your customers like family one moment and then treat them impersonally—or, even worse, as a nuisance or a competitor a moment later when this becomes more convenient or profitable. This is not how social relationships work. If you want a social relationship, go for it, but remember that you have to

maintain it under all circumstances.

5 Arousal

Ask most twentysomething male college students whether they would ever attempt unprotected sex and they will quickly recite chapter and verse about the risk of dreaded diseases and pregnancy. Ask them in any dispassionate circumstances—while they are doing homework or listening to a lecture—whether they'd enjoy being spanked, or enjoy sex in a threesome with another man, and they'll wince. No way, they'd tell you. Furthermore, they'd narrow their eyes at you and think, What kind of sicko are you anyhow, asking these questions in the first place? But it’s changes, when you ask them the same questions during sexual arousal.

6 Why We Overvalue What We Have the high price of ownership

We had a group of students all hungry for a basketball ticket before the lottery drawing; and then, bang—in an instant after the drawing, they were divided into two groups—ticket owners and non-ticket owners. It was an emotional chasm that was formed, between those who now imagined the glory of the game, and those who imagined what else they could buy with the price of the ticket. And it was an empirical chasm as well—the average selling price (about $2,400) was separated by a factor of about 14 from the average buyer's offer (about $175).

And just the names of some other chapters

Keeping Doors Open Why Options Distract Us from Our Main Objective

The Power of Price Why a 50-Cent Aspirin Can Do What a Penny Aspirin Can't

The Context of Our Character, Part I Why We Are Dishonest, and What We Can Do about It

 The Context of Our Character, Part II Why Dealing with Cash Makes Us More Honest

 

Chapters about cheating I enjoyed a lot. The most memorable moment from the book for me: if you want to lower cheating rate before the action – remind people about Ten Commandments or Ethics code valuable for them. 

Book review: Theodore Dreiser “Financier”

Using Amazon stars system I would give the book 3 stars out of 5.

For me, the representative of fast-moving generation of social networks and information terabytes,  “Financier” story flow felt way too slow. It had the only one peak at the moment of trial decision, which made my reading go into midnight. Beside that, well lots and lots of detailed descriptions of clothes, houses, roads, people I was unable to appreciate and understand (partly due to being non-native reader and old Englich I guess).

Frank Cowperwood is no dounts a strong character, which provokes controversy at some points. But at least he knows what he wants. And he is a true financier, if you treat the gamblers of the stocks markets by that name.

I had an interesting discussion with my friends about justifying Frank’s betrayal of the marriage and running with the younger lady. All the ladies in the discussion seemed to anger that Frank just pursued his right to love and be happy, since his wife was passive, and indifferent person. That, I assume, the difference between fiction and real life. By the way, I also agree that Frank’s decision to abandon marriage with Lilian seems normal the way things are dedcribed in the book.

What else ?

The politicians and relationships that manipulate public opinion are common all over the place. However, we found that Philadelphia of 19^th century is quite different from Ukraine of 21^st. The corruption is different, as in America despite manipulations the law is always the law. In Ukraine bribes overrule any law easily.

Finally, here are particular Dreiser thoughts, attitudes I liked

Unchanged to our days explanation of stock market players

A "bull," he learned, was one who bought in anticipation of a higher price to come; and if he was "loaded up" with a "line" of stocks he was said to be "long." He sold to "realize" his profit, or if his margins were exhausted he was "wiped out." A "bear" was one who sold stocks which most frequently he did not have, in anticipation of a lower price, at which he could buy and satisfy his previous sales. He was "short" when he had sold what he did not own, and he "covered" when he bought to satisfy his sales and to realize his profits or to protect himself against further loss in case prices advanced instead of declining. He was in a "corner" when he found that he could not buy in order to make good the stock he had borrowed for delivery and the return of which had been demanded. He was then obliged to settle practically at a price fixed by those to whom he and other "shorts" had sold.

About being true financier

Anything less than straight-out sales to realize quickly on assets, or buying to hold as an investment, was gambling pure and simple, and these men were gamblers. He was nothing more than a gambler's agent. It was not troubling him any just at this moment, but it was not at all a mystery now, what he was. As in the case of Waterman & Company, he sized up these men shrewdly, judging some to be weak, some foolish, some clever, some slow, but in the main all small-minded or deficient because they were agents, tools, or gamblers. A man, a real man, must never be an agent, a tool, or a gambler--acting for himself or for others--he must employ such. A real man--a financier--was never a tool. He used tools. He created. He led.

About types of love

The love of a mother for her children is dominant, leonine, selfish, and unselfish. It is concentric. The love of a husband for his wife, or of a lover for his sweetheart, is a sweet bond of agreement and exchange trade in a lovely contest. The love of a father for his son or daughter, where it is love at all, is a broad, generous, sad, contemplative giving without thought of return, a hail and farewell to a troubled traveler whom he would do much to guard, a balanced judgment of weakness and strength, with pity for failure and pride in achievement. It is a lovely, generous, philosophic blossom which rarely asks too much, and seeks only to give wisely and plentifully. "That my boy may succeed! That my daughter may be happy!"

About the essence of law

Law, if you had asked him, and he had accurately expressed himself, was a mist formed out of the moods and the mistakes of men, which befogged the sea of life and prevented plain sailing for the little commercial and social barques of men; it was a miasma of misinterpretation where the ills of life festered, and also a place where the accidentally wounded were ground between the upper and the nether millstones of force or chance; it was a strange, weird, interesting, and yet futile battle of wits where the ignorant and the incompetent and the shrewd and the angry and the weak were made pawns and shuttlecocks for men--lawyers,

About judges

He had no respect for judges--he knew too much about them. He knew how often they were sycophants, political climbers, political hacks, tools, time-servers, judicial door-mats lying before the financially and politically great and powerful who used them as such. Judges were fools, as were most other people in this dusty, shifty world. Pah! His inscrutable eyes took them all in and gave no sign. His only safety lay, he thought, in the magnificent subtley of his own brain, and nowhere else.

Honeweek: Day 6-7 Venice, The City of canals, bridges, masks

The one thing nobody doubts about Venice, Italy – it is absolutely unique place, the diamond on world’s heritage. The question is rather “ how many days should I (we) spend in Venice” instead of “visit or not to visit”.

I would create just two categories based on length of visit:

From 1,5 days to infinity: creative person looking for inspiration, all kinds of artists, rich people who want to spend extra money.

1-1,5 day: all the rest of humankind, including our young family.

It’s really nothing to do there after 1,5 days unless you want to spend extra money on expensive food&transport or visit some artistic sites.

Mine tip to tourists: you can’t really feel the atmosphere of the Venice at overcrowded San-Marko or the major tourist route from Ferrovia to San-Marko or even at Grand Canale. What we did is long walk all around small streets and corners of Venice, including Dorsoduro, Cannaregio, Santa-Croce and San-Polo, visiting small restaurants and looking at residential houses. By the way, a number of good seafood restaurants operate near Zatterie.

Gondola trip is seriously overpriced (80 EUR for 40 minutes), but vaporetto (water tram) is a nice and romantic way to move around

Dish of week: Spaghetti al nero, the traditional local Venecian cuisine.

We did not go to any of islands, as we wanted  to spend half a day in our Little Italy representative – Quatro D’Altino.  This cute small village is just 23 minutes by train from Venice.  Despite having a neat modern hotel  Hotel Airport Venic (LINK)  it represents the best houses of modern family living in Italy.

Check pictures from our Venice trip at Facebook.

 

Honeyweek: Day 1-5 in Rome, non-typical observations of the city

Except from making love on the honeymoon trip there are plenty of other things to do in Rome, Italy. 4 wonderful hot sunny days we spent in the “eternal city” let me feel relaxed and joyful atmosphere of living in Rome. 

Not being a particular fan of history and architecture and getting bored by all of the world’s churches I look more into Food and Lifestyle in Roma (as Italians call the city).  You may find all the general information in travel guides, here are just a few untypical and unique observations of mine:

In semifinals Small cars (SMART and Fiat) won their match against SUV’s and regular sedans  with 10:1, while in final they were defeated  by motorcycles  with tight 2:4 score.  (what a contrast to Kyiv Lexuses and Jeeps !!!). No matter of age, profession, sex lots and lots of people use motorbikes, wearing anything from dress to suite. Here is the typical transport picture of Roma

motorcycles

smart cars

Not only the modern and ancient architecture live in harmony in Roma, but they are accompanied by neat green plants and trees everywhere.  We particularly liked trees with blossoming flowers, to see something like that in the mid-September was like a miracle for us !

blossoming tree

The Cult of Delicious Food God is very strong, no doubts about that. Even I did not like dry and tasteless bread in the restaurants, but Caprese and Casta were always marvelous , without a correlation to restaurant price category.  Important to mention, however, that in search for food we were trying to step aside the tourist highways and walk into small streets.

no frozen food

eating at the streets

What is different from other cities – all restaurant and cafees operate as a small family business, we haven’t noticed any big chains of restaurants (not taking into account fast food of course).

Italians are known as big smokers, but what really strikes me – after finishing the cigarette the smoker immediately throws cigarette on the street. Everyday I saw a couple of such wrongdoing, as a result of this behavior there are quite a few butts everywhere. I guess the Italian government may consult to Singapore in tackling this problem.

Since a bottle of water costs  1-2 EUR (10 times  more than in Ukraine !) we were really pleased to discover many waterpipes with normal drinking water on the streets. Those are also used by me as a refreshing  mini-shower, considering the temperature as high as 35 Celsius sometimes.

free water in Rome

Rome is a world's capital of wonderful  fountains . No additional comments required, it was a pleasure to see them on those sunny days.

piazza Navona

Trevi

 

 

Book review: Jack Welch “Winning”.

Long time, being a student in university, I was fascinated by brand Jack Welch and one his books (what was it ? hm…).

10 years later, if I needed to describe “Winning” book in one word – I would select “DRY”.

Lots of things were repeated many times, it was very general and sometimes Welch played “Captain Obvious’”. How about this phrase “Create effective mechanisms - money, recognition and training - to motivate and retain”. As a matter of fact, I stopped at 76% of the book with the feeling of being bored.  (thanks to Kindle we know the numbers exactly now)

However I can’t say my reading time was wasted, as there were quite a few Walch’s quotes, attitudes, experiences I find useful for understanding any business. Here are mine favorites:

BEEING A LEADER

Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.

CANDOR – the biggest dirty little secret in business

In fact, I would call lack of candor the biggest dirty little secret in business. What a huge problem it is. Lack of candor basically blocks smart ideas, fast action, and good people contributing all the stuff they’ve got. It’s a killer. When you’ve got candor—and you’ll never completely get it, mind you—everything just operates faster and better.

GIVE HONEST FEEDBACK

In fact, I hear about that so often that I always end up asking audiences for a show of hands to the question. “How many of you have received an honest, straight-between-the-eyes feedback session in the last year, where you came out knowing exactly what you have to do to improve and where you stand in the organization?”

People do not say things as they are from childhood we taught to soften bad news

TRUST

What is trust? I could give you a dictionary definition, but you know it when you feel it. Trust happens when leaders are transparent, candid, and keep their word. It’s that simple.

HIRING

My immediate answer to this question is: don’t ever rely entirely on one meeting! No matter how pressed for time you are or how promising someone looks, make sure every candidate is interviewed by several people.

PROMOTION

Managers should not only talk to their employees about next career steps,but should elicit from them the names of the two or three people who they think could replace them should they be promoted.

Besides that, there were too general things, controversial statements (his famous 20-70-10 rule) and other unclear stuff.

Leaders (too general)

1. Leaders relentlessly upgrade their team, using every encounter as an opportunity to evaluate, coach, and build self-confidence. 2. Leaders make sure people not only see the vision, they live and breathe it. 3. Leaders get into everyone’s skin, exuding positive energy and optimism. 4. Leaders establish trust with candor, transparency, and credit. 5. Leaders have the courage to make unpopular decisions and gut calls. 6. Leaders probe and push with a curiosity that borders on skepticism, making sure their questions are answered with action. 7. Leaders inspire risk taking and learning by setting the example. 8. Leaders celebrate.

Differentiation in people (controversial)

Now let’s talk about the more controversial topic, differentiation among people. It’s a process that requires managers to assess their employees and separate them into three categories in terms of performance: top 20 percent, middle 70, and bottom 10. Then— and this is key—it requires managers to act on that distinction. I emphasize the word “act” because all managers naturally differentiate—in their heads. But very few make it real. When people differentiation is real, the top 20 percent of employees are showered with bonuses, stock options, praise, love, training, and a variety of rewards to their pocketbooks and souls. There can be no mistaking the stars at a company that differentiates. They are the best and are treated that way. The middle 70 percent are managed differently. This group of people is enormously valuable to any company; you simply cannot function without their skills, energy, and commitment.

Unclear stuff.

Jack Welch is a follower of “mission mantra” as I call it. He starts with mission, he says Artur Andersen and Enron failed because of change mission, etc.

Personally, the more I listen about mission, the more this feels like a really “overrated” term, which is too fluffy for practical implementation. I am not stating its non-existence, however it seems the mission is really inside, and usually it is formalized after the success. 

So how would you practically start business with a written mission statement? It seems nobody of “mission is extra important” protagonists does know “how”.

 

My conclusion about the book:

If you are an employee of traditional big corporation (GE, Procter&Gample, Excon but not Apple or Google) you might perceive “Winning” as a book of your type. All other readers might want to look for more exciting and useful reading experience.

 

what makes a good business ?

Probably the best definition I have ever heard from our strategic marketing class:

1 It solves customer problem or fulfills customer’s dream

2 It does it in an efficient way, so revenues exceed costs

3 It is sustainable (lasts in time)

 

Mind-blowing images from Adizes' son (Shoham)

Shoham, as his father, possesses a major strength of Adizes' family - ability to use analogies, while talking business. Here are some of them:

Democracy - good decision, poor implementation.

Dictatorship - implement effectively bad quality decisions.

 

Bottom line of successful organization: trust and respect

 

Cooking a dish of a good organization:

ingredients - people

recipes- processes

owen - structure

purpose of cooking - mission, vision

 

Too big of an elephant. Means "You can't change it". Start with the things you can control. (I thought about UA politics and Yanukovich). 

WORLD CUP BETS FINAL

As for Spain-Germany the winnings were good. However due to stupid technical mistake I lost some of mine money with bet over 1,5 goals. Anyway, the net income was fine.

Fixtures 07 July Germany v Spain / Over/Under 1.5 Goals / Under 1.5 Goals  Lay

2.64

4.00

Lost

(6.56)

Fixtures 07 July Germany v Spain / Over/Under 1.5 Goals / Under 1.5 Goals  Lay

2.52

6.00

Lost

(9.12)

Fixtures 07 July Germany v Spain / To Qualify / Spain  Back

1.91

33.00

Won

30.03

Fixtures 07 July Germany v Spain / Method of Victory / Spain Extra Time  Back

10.03

5.00

Lost

(5.00)

FINAL MATCH:

Draw in 90 minutes - 30 USD

Holland is champion - 20 USD

Also:

Uruguay will not lose to Germany in 90 minutes - 17 USD