Creative – Rob Fahrni

Dave Winer: “Why, as a creative person, did I have to become a corporate executive? That was a mistake. Good software, like anything creative, is made by people who focus on product, not business. Managing a company, raising money, dealing with crises of all kinds, took me away from the thing I do best, and love, which is create.”

This is a common mistake made at a lot of software companies. You take a great software developer and reward him, or her, by making them a manager. Sure there are still problems to solve but one of your best resources will now spend time solving problems not related to technology. They’ll have to deal with people problems and a lot of the time they’re no equipped to do that.

If a techie is completely happy building product, let them build product, if they have a desire to become a manager give them a shot, but don’t be too surprised if they come back at some point and ask to go back to coding. It happens.

The Atlantic: “In many ways, however, the golden age of the coffeehouse workday is now, as any barista can attest. Over the last decade, I’ve done a fair amount of work in traditional offices, where I am least efficient, various apartments, where I tend to work longer and more productive hours, and a string of coffee shops, the places where I’ve turned out the most usable words per working minute.”

I’ve only done this a few times. Starbucks didn’t really do it for me. The one I was in didn’t have a nice comfy spot to sit. I did, however, had great success adding new features to RxCalc while sitting in Cappella Coffee House when we lived in Exeter. They had a nice squishy couch to sit on, and just enough background noise to make it the perfect setting.

Speaking of perfect settings. Are you in the Fresno area? There’s a new co-working shop called The Hashtag you should visit if you’re after that coffee house feel and would like to be around other creatives.

Want to know what it looks like? Go check it out.