Thursday, April 14, 2011

State of the AnotherSocialEconomy Initiative

When my partner Steven and I started our startup adventure a few years ago, our main goal was to demonstrate our ability to convert an idea into a live project. As we used our experience to build a viable product, we knew it would add value to our resume.

Over the months, the project evolved slowly:
  • The core idea is: help the consumers who look for a specific product to find the retailer who has it in stock, and help retailers to connect with consumers online and drive them in-store. Our moto: the missing link between shopping online and buying offline.
  • The proof-of-concept was made of screenshots, live Twitter accounts, and a piece of Python code connecting those accounts together. This material allowed us to be among the semi-finalist companies of TechCrunch50 in 2009!
  • The first implementation of the engine connected consumers and retailers, each of them interacting with the system with direct messages (DMs), sent  from their own Twitter account. At that time, the tool was named Twetailer.
  • Later, we figured out Twitter was too geeky and we added a connector to accept and generate e-mails. Since then, the engine has a XMPP (instant messaging) connector, another one for Facebook, and a plan for VOIP (with Twilio).
  • At one point, we were approached to start an experiment for golfers: usually avid golfers have to spend a lot of time on the phone to get three buddies to play with and to book a tee-time. In two months, we created ezToff.com, developed an embeddable widget to ease the creation of a tee-off request, and developed a Web console for the golf course staff. The experiment was shut down because of a lack of traction...
  • Recently, we started another experiment in the used car market, under the name AnotherSocialEconomy. Our market researches found that the average time to buy a used car is six weeks in Quebec. Typically, consumers start on the Web, grab listings, and call dealerships one after the other. In the Montreal area, there are 300,000 pre-owned cars bought per month: ⅓ from dealerships, ⅓ from wholesalers, and ⅓ from individuals. Dealerships control 45% of the market value.
  • So far, this experiment has been a partial success: we get demands from consumers and forward proposals from used car sales people. We helped our first customer finding a car in only two weeks! But, as the dealership staff is not used to new technologies (sic), we manage the service for them and it's very time consuming...
What's next?

We are very happy with consumers trusting us. We work hard to continue to improve their experience, on our landing pages and in our communication by e-mail. The priority is to have them qualifying more their demands upfront.

Our focus right now is more on the retailer-side, in order to have sales people in the dealerships interacting with the system by e-mail too. If around 80% of them agree to work with us to serve our users, we have to prepare the proposal details and to reach them out for approval. For the business to scale, they should prepare and post the proposals themselves.

For now, we need more data to determine trends. This is a prerequisite for used car dealers to adopt our methodology. It is also possible that will lead to another pivot.

Lessons learned?

The first one is an obvious one now: nobody can be as committed as the founders! Since I left the company Compuware to become a full time entrepreneur, Steven and I have met many people we expected to work/partner with: a technology company CEO, a former manufacture owner and now real estate agent, a UX designer, a few VCs, a marketer, two successful startup founders, etc. If we sometimes got excellent feedback, none joined us.

The second one is related to the product development: two techies are not enough to make a great product! They can talk about their product at length, but they don't know how to convince decision makers. They need the help of a marketing genius!

Another one is related to the importance of the contact network. If you don't know the right people, very few will listen to you. Having a large address book or friends with deep pockets definitively helps a lot.

And the last one: developing a tool for the general public is difficult! Following the Lean Startup process can really help. Check Ash Maurya's blog, for example.

Technologies learned?

I continue to find Google App Engine an awesome environment. The recent addition of the Channel API which allows the back-end logic to push asynchronous notifications into Web consoles really improves the user experience. On the maintenance side, I appreciate the Java Remote API which simplifies the development of maintenance and data extraction tasks.

Web console side, I've started upgrading the code to Dojo 1.6 and its new HTML5 compliant syntax. I don't use the AMD loader yet, but I'm waiting for the one coming with 1.7. I have recently started to use Selenium 2 for my smoke tests and I really like it!

Mobile side, I wish to have more spare time to update my Android application for ezToff and to benefit from the Android Cloud To Device Messaging (C2DM) API. But I'm also thinking of building application with the awesome dojox.mobile.

To develop our customer base in the used car experiment, we have created two AdWords campaigns: one for each language, both in the Montreal area. Using AdWords and optimizing the campaigns was very instructive. There are many concepts to master: long tail, auto bid, average CPC, conversion rate, landing page quality score, etc. I know understand why so many people choose to become an AdWords certified partner ;)

    Thursday, January 6, 2011

    Wrapping up 2010, preparing 2011

    2010 Summary

    2010 was an interesting year for me professionally. Inspired by similar lists online, I present what I did (or can remember at least):
    1. Left Compuware and joined my partner Steven at Milstein and Associates inc. end-of-January, to focus 150% of my time on AnotherSocialEconomy (formely known as Twetailer).
    2. Adapted the Amazon Flexible Payment Service (FPS) library to the App Engine environment—freely available on github.
    3. Refactored the communication layer to be able to send details e-mails to customers, in addition to short ones sent over Twitter and Instant Messaging services.
    4. Built the first Web consoles for Golf players and Golf courses staff, based on Dojo and using the freshly delivered REST API—check ezToff.com.
    5. Built the first Android application for Golf players using their GPS & Address book to ease the tee-off booking process with AnotherSocialEconomy—freely available on github.
    6. Helped preparing pitches to Golf Canada representatives and to Golf staff members and owners.
    7. Developed the AnotherSocialEconomy widget, ready to be embedded in participant websites and loading the AnotherSocialEconomy wizard on demand
    8. Reviewed the book Google App Engine Java and GWT Application Development.
    9. Continued to develop my open-sourced library offering tools for globalizable generic resource bundles (TMX)—on github too.
    10. Developed a prototype of a Facebook application.
    11. Augmented the AnotherSocialEconomy engine to support the used car dealers: buyers don't buy immediately, but collect car information and offers for a while before committing with one dealer => the engine work flow has been adapted to support this slower path of interaction.
    12. Attended presentations to few car dealerlship owners.
    13. Attended meetings with various mentors and potential investors.
    14. Attended meetings of Montreal NewTech, Android Montreal, Augmented Reality Montreal communities

    I’m pretty happy with what I have done so far and am looking forward to doing even more.

    New technologies

    It was also fun to play around some hot new technologies:
    • Ubuntu 10.04 and 10.10
    • Android 2.2 and push mechanism on my HTC Desire
    • App Engine 1.4.0 and channel api
    • Node.js and WebSockets

    2011 Goals and Plans

    2011 is going to be critical for AnotherSocialEconomy. The application runs and passed usability tests. The focus point is now on the business development!
    1. Concentrate on one domain (used car market) and get a significant traffic in the Montreal area.
    2. Gather customer feedback (consumer looking for second hand cars and used car dealers), tune the system, and increase traffic. Repeat until 100% satisfaction ;)
    3. Once the system is proven by the traffic and testimonies, involve investors and/or partners to 1) expand the business to other areas or 2) to target another domain or 3) both expand geographically and vertically.
    4. Develop data mining tools for retailers.
    5. Develop domain oriented interfaces for consumers (Web/HTML5 for tablets and PC, native apps for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry).
    6. Add more communication channels (like voice messages with Twilio, for example).
    7. Offer my services as Software Architect & Developer consultant on designing & developing highly scalable and highly available applications on Google App Engine and mobile applications on Android.
    A+, Dom

    Friday, December 3, 2010

    Reviewed book 'Google App Engine Java and GWT Application Development' is out!

    I know that's a pity not to post more regularly! It's just I'm too busy with the developments for AnotherSocialEconomy.com ;)

    Here is a little news for Google App Engine developers:
    Over the summer, I've been asked to review the draft of the book Google App Engine Java and GWT Application Development. Even with my experience, I learn few techniques, like with the object relationships (chapter 5). A very good book for beginners/intermediates, and still an interesting book for experts.


    Enjoy!
    A+, Dom

    Note: I've no incentive to sell the book, just the pleasure to share a good reference ;)

    Monday, September 20, 2010

    Securing accounts on the Web

    Situation

    Few days ago, my partner Steven got his Google account compromised for a short period of time:
    • Tweet #1 at 8:52 PM on Sept. 9: Just received 2 calls from friends wondering if I'm being held at a London hotel. FYI, I'm not.
    • Tweet #2 at 12:23 AM on Sept. 10: Re: Being held in London. My Google account password was changed by an IP address in Nigeria. I've got it back now but with no Contacts.
    • Tweet #3: at 3:04 PM on Sept. 10: Re Stuck in London: I thought I had everything under control last night but needed http://bit.ly/czgYdg Google Security Breach help to fix.
    The thieves used his account to send a scam to few of his friends asking for money because he was supposedly blocked in London without resources.

    If Steven's password was not very strong, there's no chance it has been discovered after only few attempts. At no time, Google reported that attempts to log into his account were conducted from computers with IP addresses in Liberia! Steven saw the first warning only when he recovered the access!

    Encountered risk

    The goal of these thieves was limited to getting money as soon as possible. So they reached out few of Steven's contacts, ones he contacts only occasionally, and they asked for a money to be transferred by Western Union. As they kept the control of his account, they would have been able to get the transaction MTCN (money transfer control number) via his inbox. Western Union maintains a page listing the Common Scams.

    Others could have decided to change his password, to just spy his incoming message stream (these ones enabled the POP3 and IMAP accesses), to ask for password reset when Steven is not online, and then to steal his identity in many online services.

    Because Steven reacted promptly and because his contacts detected the scam, the thieves did not get any benefit from this operation. They are probably trying to get someone else now, maybe someone from his contact list.

    How to reduce the exposure

    The first protection consists in defining strong passwords. A lot of services offer information about how to produce strong passwords. I would recommend this Microsoft site Strong Passwords | Microsoft Security—I'm confident that they don't provide the online password checker to enhance a grey dictionary ;)

    The second protection would be to use a unique and strong password per account. This is probably the most difficult part! I may use probably 20 to 30 online services, some I use regularly, others I use very rarely. There's no way I can remember so many strong passwords...

    My solution: Keepass + DropBox
    • Keepass is an open source password manager. The tool has been ported on many platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, Android, etc.—Full list on the download page.
    • DropBox (link with my referral id ;) is an online file sharing system that, thanks to a program installed on each computer/mobile in your network, maintains in sync the corresponding set of files. DropBox is a nice companion to Keepass as it duplicates your password database transparently, reducing the risk to loose the passwords if the original computer is lost.

    The combination of the password generator and Keepass secure edit controls makes the tool especially useful:
    • It's easy to generate a strong passwords (remember: 16 characters or plus ;)
    • You don't have to remember them as a simple Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V allows to copy securely them in your browser! (the computer clipboard is automatically flushed after few seconds.)
    In final, I just have one very strong password (30+ characters) to remember and to change periodically.

    Known limitations

    Some sites ask users to give a secret answer for a series of predefined questions. If you look at the Apple page below, you'll see that some questions might weaken users more than offering a protection... These days, it's pretty simple to find the responses online!

    List of predefined security questions on Apple.com website

    Many sites only accepts alphanumerical characters only or don't accept passwords over 20 characters. Oddly enough, most of the bank websites I use prevent too long and too complex passwords! I guess they have other tools to detect intrusions...

    List of predefined security questions on Apple.com website

    Last minute update

    Today, Google announced on its Online Security blog that they will offer a Two-Step Authentication mechanism to log into Google services. This One-Time Password authentication is simpler than distributing a one-time password generator, as Amazon does for example, while providing a still strong security enhancement.

    I hope it helps.
    A+, Dom

    Tuesday, September 14, 2010

    Dilbert: Social Media age

    I cannot resist to re-post this strip!


    Dilbert.com


    Are such attitudes only due to managers that need to keep a straight control over their reports in order to seamlessly justify their position? I already covered that aspect in my blog post Manager Attitude back in Dec. 2008. I then stated that the situation would be smoother is such managers could fully assume their facilitator role...

    These days, I think it's more related to the difference in each person's cognitive age!

    In the traditional chronological order, you could become a manager because you knew the company internal mechanics, the management dynamic, and its long term vision. People finger-pointing the Generation Y (see my post Work around the general laziness, for example) have good reasons to ask new employees to first acquire good experiences before giving them rewards and responsibilities.

    However, with the emergence of multi-stream platforms, young people have a tremendous possibilities to learn so much in short periods of time and to overpass older ones. My involvement in edu.cyn.in proved this statement many times: kids are much more prolific at producing online content and sharing with their peers than their own teachers!

    On the other end of the spectrum, a lot of retired people who don't have to compete again to maintain their social rank, have gain the possibility to become relevant again by being more connected with younger crowds, more socially involved.

    This Dilbert strip illustrates a direct confrontation of the socially aged person and the just chronologically aged one!

    I hope you like it too.
    A+, Dom

    Monday, September 6, 2010

    Update business-side

    It's been a long time since my last post. The summer went by so quickly. With my partner Steven Milstein, we have focused on building a generic tool for golfers and golf courses. This post summarizes the latest developments.

    The product name

    The product name Twetailer is now AnotherSocialEconomy.com. Twetailer was chosen when Twitter started to become mainstream and was made of a combination of Twitter and Retailer. The project Dretailer (more in a future post) was name from Android and Retailer, and we thought about having a variation per connector type.

    AnotherSocialEconomy.com is better because it really illustrates that our offer is about a business platform in a global economy, with social networks involved, in a new way of connecting people—and it is not tinted by any service du jour. More information on Steven's blog post The Twouble with Twetailer.

    ezToff.com: a dedicated implementation

    AnotherSocialEconomy.com provides a generic multi-channel communication engine, conveying messages among consumers and retailers according to the given location and some search criteria. Whenever we explained what's the product is about, potential consumers understood but were blocked when it was time to formulate one of their needs... We knew then we needed to offer a very simple interface where users can post demands without thinking twice about it!

    At one point, we met Marc Bienstock who offered to help us building such an interface for golfers! According to Marc:
    • When a golfer has a chance to play (because his wife gave him the permission ;), he usually calls his buddies to find three of them who are free too.
    • Then he has to call a golf courses to book a round at the agreed on time, maybe with one or many pull carts, one or two golf carts, etc.
    • If the booking goes well, he calls his buddies to give them the golf course coordinates.
    • If it does not work, he calls another club or calls his buddies with the time of the available rounds.
    • Way too many phone calls to be able to spend a minimum of $200 for 4 players!
    • On the golf course-side, they have to deal with so many phone calls; some of them have a system queuing calls up to 50!
    • Average time spent on the phone per caller is too long, and many are useless because they cannot screen them.
    • When a round stays free, it's an average of $200 lost.
    So end-of-July, we launched ezToff.com which allows:
    1. One golfer can submit a request for a tee-off from one central place and it will be broadcasted to all participating golf courses around the given location. The golfer can specify the e-mail addresses of his buddies so they'll be cc'ed for all exchanged messages.
    2. Golf courses are provided a Web console which displays all requests posted in their area. According to their schedule, they can propose rounds—the price per round and the total cost should be documented. Golf courses don't have to watch the console indefinitely as ezToff.com can notify them by e-mail, SMS or tweet.
    3. Proposals are sent back to request initiator by e-mail (his buddies receive a copy if he gave their e-mail addresses). At this step, the golfer can wait for more proposals to come. If he wants to book it, a simple link in the e-mail will generate a response to be sent by e-mail to ezToff.com.
    With ezToff.com, golfers can get tee-off proposals with just few clicks. Golf courses get all demands electronically and can focus on the ones they can propose a round to (others are simply declined). Buddies of the golfers are notified at each step of the process automatically. No more infinite phone calls ;)

    We interviewed many golfers and they confirmed the golfer's pain. With some visits to golf courses, we've confirmed the courses' pain too. The difficulty we have is that we're not sales people and it's hard to close a deal with golf courses... Knowing that the season is almost finished here, that our business model is probably too expensive for the golf courses, that we need good marketing materials, we're going to tune the offer and be ready for the 2011 season.

    The AnotherSocialEconomy.com reseller and influencer programs

    The ezToff.com project has been beneficial for us on many points:
    • With the widget, we have another way to reach consumers: influencers (bloggers, Facebook groups, associations' site, for example) can embed it into their webpages.
    • If dedicated Web consoles are available to golfers and golf courses, all operations can be done with e-mails, which is the most pervasive communication tool.
    • The original messages produced by the engine were short to accommodate the Twitter limitation of 140 characters per message. These ones were cryptic to too many people. The variation of these messages for e-mail are now much friendlier and contains links ready to forward the readers' response.
    • We'll simplify the pricing model thanks to the received feedback.
    But the most significant development is the offer of the influencer program:
    • Each influencer will receive 25% of the revenues generated by consumers confirming demands posted with their copies of the widget.
    • An influencer can propose one or many widgets anywhere on the Web he reaches his/her community.
    • We'll work with influencers to customize the widgets for his/her community.
    In parallel, we developed the reseller program to share 25% of the revenues generated by retailers proposing goods or services with AnotherSocialEconomy.com.

    It's possible that some well organized enterprises will be their own reseller (cut of 25%) and will drive requests with their copies of the widget (another cut of 25%) but that's fine. We'll make some money if they make some, and they'll have a good discount if they help driving more traffic (which means more business to them).

    Next steps

    On business side, Steven and I are looking for resellers that will help to bring ezToff.com to the next level. We are also trying to develop another domain specific implementation, another skin on the top of the AnotherSocialEconomy.com engine.

    On the technical side, if everything works perfectly for the ezToff.com users, I need to document the widget usage and the REST API used by the Web consoles. I need also to enable the Facebook connector for influencers to communicate on this platform as they can do on Twitter. There's also the Android application (project dretailer mentioned above) to update to benefit from the Android Cloud to Device Messaging (c2dm) mechanism and then to push notifications asynchronously. Still a lot to do but no road block ;)

    A+, Dom

    Monday, July 19, 2010

    How to resize VirtualBox disk images?

    -- Update on May 8, 2012 --

    Having to resize an image again, I looked at the VirtualBox documentation before following the CloneVDI route a second time. And I was pleasantly surprised that the version 4.1 of VBoxManage accepts a parameter --resize to the command modifyhd!

    The process can be done in a matter of minutes:
    1. Stop the hosted system (Win7 in my case).
    2. Run the following command in the folder of your VDI file
         VBoxManage modifyhd <name>.vdi --resize <size-in-mb>
    3. Start the virtual machine.
    4. Open the disk manager tool (Use the Menu Windows, type disk man in the search box, and select 'Create and format hard disk partitions').
    5. You should see your drive with the initial partition(s) and new free space.
    6. Click on the partition to extend and choose the command 'Extend Volume' in the contextual menu.
    7. And voilĂ .
    No need to copy the VDI on the host machine. Very fast and robust process.
    'Extend Volume' option in the contextual menu.


    -- Original post on July 19, 2010 --

    Quick post to share a wonderful VirtualBox companion: CloneVDI!

    Almost two months ago, I switched from Windows XP to GNU/Linux with Ubuntu 10.04 distribution. Everything goes very well and I do not regret the move.

    In my day-to-day job, as the architect/developer/tester of the Twetailer project, engine and of many of its clients, I still need to run programs on the Windows OS, especially the series of Internet Explorer 7 & 8 (IE 6 is killed, isn't it?).

    To verify my test suites for Internet Explorer, I rely on VirtualBox running the initial Windows XP release. Because the disk size requirement for the initial version is low, I stupidly created a small  4 GB disk image! Then it required hours to load and install the service packs 2 & 3, plus IE 8, plus the latest .Net framework, plus the security updates. Be careful: 4 GB is way too small to store the system, the virtual memory page file, and the additional stock coming with the service packs and others!

    Few days after the initial setup, I was facing the "Not enough space available" warning :-( Instead of wasting another set of hours in a re-installation, I googled virtualbox increase vdi size, and the first article I found was from the VirtualBox forums. I thought it was a good sign and I started reading... but I became quickly disappointed because the given explanations required many tricks and time to setup too. Then I jumped to the last pages (page 6 to be precise) to read:
    ...

    The new way:
    Run the CloneVDI tool. Enter name of source VDI and desired disk size into dialog box. Click "Proceed" button. Expect to spend maybe 5 minutes for a typical VDI, longer of course with big drives.

    The CloneVDI tool has existed since mid September 2009. It was created specifically so as to remove the need to recommend an embarassingly complicated rigmarole for performing what should have been a simple task. So, in late May 2010 it is quite disheartening to see people still joining the site in order to provide uninformed endorsement of the obsolete procedure.
    The post was from Don Milne, alias mpack, the creator of the CloneVDI tool.

    Then I loaded CloneVDI from the referenced post, installed Wine with the Ubuntu Software Center, ran CloneVDI, selected my initial image, specified a new name and a new size (now 10 GB), and all the magic transformation occurred in less than 1 minute!

    CloneVDI pane: clone an virtual image with an increased size in just a few clicks!

    Warning: It seems the cloning only works up to the first snapshot, as my clone did not get the snapshots. This was not a issue for me but be careful on your side because it might be necessary to merge the snapshots. As the cloning is very fast, producing a new image per snapshot should work-around the issue.

    Anyway, I wholeheartedly recommend CloneVDI when it's time to allocate more disk space to a VirtualBox machine!

    A+, Dom

    Monday, June 7, 2010

    The joy of Ubuntu

    Few decades ago, most of my work was done on a SUN hardware running Solaris. The Université de Rennes I, France, was providing the Internet access and Mosaic, followed few times later by Netscape, was my favorite browser. At that time, I was preparing a PhD and most of the online discussions were conducted in newsgroups and emails.

    One week ago, I definitively switched the OS of my Thinkpad T61 from Windows XP to Ubuntu Lucid Lynx (10.04). In some ways, the Ubuntu environment is not that different from the Solaris I used to work on. For example, I was very pleased to use again an efficient Virtual Desktop system and to benefit from the native Compose key mechanism that allows me to type any crazy sequences producing foreign characters.

    Having been pushed on the Microsoft side by my various employers, it seems I forgot all the good sides of the Unix environments. Microsoft marketing has been very brilliant: as many others, I accepted the PC environment limitations! Do you remember the "cooperative multitasking" of Windows 3.1? Do you remember that changing a registry key transformed your Windows NT Workstation in a much capable Windows NT Server? Do you remember that Windows 7 is really the first shiny interface with transparency and gadgets? (Sorry: Vis-what? I don't know ;)

    To be honest, let's recognize that the Unix environments did not progress much. On the open source side, the Linux distributions provide a very fragmented offer. The success of some shiny distributions like Knoppix and Ubuntu is fairly recent.

    As a geek, I would say that the most impressive feature in these distributions is the 3D rendering engine Compiz and its Cube plugin! It's just amazing.





    When I decided to switch to Ubuntu, I wondered if I would lose some features. So far, all have their counterpart for the Linux environment, sometimes with many additional benefits. I did not have to even install Wine, the Windows emulator! Here are the tools that were important to me and I carried over:
    • Dropbox: has Linux/MacOS/Windows distributions.
    • Keepass: had to convert the database to 1.x format and now use KeepassX which has Linux/MacOS/Windows distributions.
    • Aptana/Android SDK/App Engine SDK: equivalent Java packages.
    • Firefox/Chrome/Add-ons: have Linux/MacOS/Windows distributions.
    • Skype (for VOIP calls and screen shares)...
    • OpenOffice.
    • VirtualBox.
    • git.

    I am so impressed with the system that I've also switched my old Toshiba M40 (one P4 core and a NVidia card) and now my kids have an easy access to many free games and educational tools!

    A+, Dom

    Friday, May 28, 2010

    What motivates us?

    One year and half ago, I wrote the blog post Career Advice '08. The key idea was about encouraging people to develop their own expertise to be successful in their career. Don't wait for your management to give you something exciting, do it yourself!

    Two weeks ago, I wrote another blog post Work around the general laziness. In some ways, I reported on my disappointment of not seeing enough autonomous experts, and that entrepreneurs have to compose with variously skilled teams.

    I finished my second expose by mentioning the Twetailer's work-for-attribution offer. I explained that many people liked the concept and that few of them have committed to deliver something with their own schedule. Each one at its own pace builds an extended skill set.

    What are the commonalities between the contributors?
    • They have a regular job so the money is not an issue.
    • They are performers and have a high level of satisfaction.
    I was such a contributor when I started working with Steven, before jumping on the entrepreneur-side to help developing the business from the inside.

    I had not really identified the sources of my motivation until I saw Dan Pink's illustration of "What motivates us", for a talk given by the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (theRSA.org).
    The three factors that lead to performance and personal satisfaction:
    • Autonomy
    • Mastery
    • Purpose.





    I strongly encourage you to look at that video, part for the fun of viewing Dan Pink in action, part for the delivered message. I encourage you also to share your experience as a comment below ;)

    A+, Dom

    Tuesday, May 18, 2010

    Work around the general laziness ;)

    This blog entry is primarily inspired by a rant from Jason Calacanis, during the episode #47 of This Week in Startups (full show, or directly starting near 5:20). During that show, Jason goes against the Generation Y people who are usually lazy and want everything before actually delivering...

    Another source of inspiration is Mark Suster, the co-host of This Week in VentureCapital, with a series of posts culminating with The Long-Term Value of Loyalty.

    What's their point-of-view?

    Jason is mostly focusing on a group of people, a group that has been educated with a different mindset from his own one. Gen-Y people have more concerns about ecology in general, for example, they are used to getting free or cheap digital goods, and many of them live with their parents longer than before...

    If I can agree on the fact that many Gen-Y people seem lazier than the the Gen-X or the baby boomers at the same age, I think the key differentiators is their relationship with money: the Gen-Y people think they need less money, so they don't work that hard to get always more!

    In his first post of the series, Mark pinpoints job hoppers, employees who can resign anytime, without much respect for their commitment or for the situation of the company. If Mark readjusts the context in the second post by writing that “quitting a job because it's a mess is OK”, Mark still thinks that being “loyal” is important and everyone should stay loyal for long term benefits...

    I can agree with Mark that working with such individuals is risky, that developing a business with not-so-loyal people is tough. However, I think that building a business with people from different mindsets and backgrounds is more valuable. To me, diversity, if you can manage it, is more important than loyalty!

    Is laziness a syndrome limited to Generation Y?

    Before becoming an entrepreneur, I was an employee like many others. In France, I worked for a very small company and then for a multinational corporation before immigrating to Canada. My first job here was for a medium Montreal company which was later bought by Oracle. I quitted Oracle to go with IBM Rational, which I quitted to go with Compuware. In addition to my professional life, I've been involved in many non governmental organizations.

    Along my life, I've always been curious, interested in learning new subjects, debating around them, and trying to implement the best ideas, especially when I'm passionate. I've been lucky to team up with great people (note that I learned a lot too from the failed partnerships) and I've gotten excellent mentors. When I write “lucky”, I mean “I worked hard to consider myself as lucky.”

    All in all, I can honestly say I haven't seen a lot of people working very hard at work, not that they are lazy, just that they have different priorities, different motivations. Although I've already proposed many times to be a mentor, to give lunch-n-learn talks, to organize specific trainings, etc., -on my own time, for the only benefit of the recipient- only few people have followed.

    I've observed the “good enough” attitude with any types of people: old or young, men or women, immigrants or native country, Europeans or Americans, etc. In Western countries, we don't have to fight for a shelter or to find food, so the sense of urgency is blunted. Why would people with already enough (enough money, enough responsibilities, enough social involvement, etc.) go for more?

    Maybe the Gen-Y people are worse than the others,because their “good enough” level is lower than before. IMHO, they are just like the common crowd, just normal people in our modern world.

    How to deal with the general laziness?

    As mentioned before, I think the diversity is important. Trying to stay in closed vacuum with the elite can help a bit, but not for a long time. The key point is to compose teams with top elements and less skilled ones. The newbies can learn from the experienced people and more help around them will reduce the “single point of failure” risk.

    For sure, you cannot reward the in-learning people as you do reward the top team members. As I explain to my kids, there's a consequence to everything! If you work hard, if your help is valuable, if you go beyond your tasks, the system should reward you accordingly. If it does not come immediately, it should be clear that it will come eventually if everything goes well. If the hard workers don't get a tangible ROI, I think it's normal to expect them to slow down or to quit... (to expect them slowing down ?)

    To me, the key factor in a successful project is the commitment of the participants. It's not that important that this intern has a lower velocity than an experienced engineer because we can plan accordingly. What's more important is that you trust that he's going to deliver as expected, or if he has some troubles that he's going to report them as soon as possible.

    In the case of software developers evolving in an Agile environment, measuring their work progress is not really an issue. If the team is correctly equipped, everyone is accountable. In the peripheral teams (product managers, marketing, sales representatives, etc.), commitments are more difficult to get, and the more sources of non-productivity there are, the fewer chances of success you get.

    A real case, please!

    My partner Steven and I have developed the concept of work for attribution. Because we're a startup, we cannot offer salaries in exchange to work. However, we offer to attribute back the work to the ones who have delivered it. Immediately, contributors can use our environment as a lab to test and develop new ideas. We have a working product and it's up to them to adapt it, to make it better.

    If our projects are successful, if we can cash them at one point, the contributors will be part of the success and then we'll try to reward them. If a big player wants to acquire us, top contributors will be probably part of the deal.

    So far, many people have liked the concept and a few of them have committed to deliver something specific. Some of them are Gen-Y people, some are immigrants, and everyone work at different rates. If I can rely on people I trust, on people who are going to deliver what they have committed to, whoever they are, it's very cool!

    A+, Dom