• Wednesday, 05/17/2023 ** 13:55 The rideshare / transportation service industry is messed up and governments need to stop trusting services that lie. Every company competing in the space is operating in a 'zero to lyft' market. Every customer wants all of the capabilities of the app they're most familiar with - and whether they use BlueBikes or CitiBikes, Uber or Lyft, X or Y, they're accustomed to very mature user interfaces and expect all of those features from a new product right away.

Small teams building in this space are then contractually required to build those features - they have to reproduce the work of a major player, but with much less time and with many fewer resources. Because everyone who operates in the space sees a clear target - 'we have to build from zero to Lyft' - they think they can do all of that and improve on the platform UX and customers expect that of them.

Companies in this space have to learn to disappoint in some ways, compromising on feature set instead of functional quality. The social problems that get them into the space to begin with - maintaining the bikes or scooters, improving the relationship the company has with the people who maintain the vehicles, and ensuring that all of the items are in good condition - are far more important than the technical issues that have to be solved. I'd advocate for eschewing the map at first - the app can open the default map app on the mobile device - in favor of focusing on perfecting all of the non-technical tools and ensuring that my small featureset works. Companies in this space reach for the technical issues - those seem easy to solve and measurable - but this is precisely why they shouldn't focus on them. Because these goals are so tangible, accomplishing them does not solve new problems; it just makes the companies less differentiable, in doing so both sacrificing vehicle operating quality and losing any sort of identity to begin with.

Sponsored by the failure of the Stockholm E-bike service. ** 14:19 Corporate identity merchandise

Do not require it. People have the right to choose their own clothing and express themselves the way they want - especially as employees of your company. The strength of a company is not in operating as an island; rather, it's in ** 16:58 Dad called a few hours ago. My grandfather died last night.

What business do I have being so far away from home? What does being here do for me? What does being here do for the people I care about?

I can't come up with a good enough answer.

Lunch today was spent discussing the merits of sustainability of company merchandise. I regret even contributing to the discussion and prolonging the meeting. I'd never use a t-shirt but ultimately the t-shirts don't matter. I wish I could have redirected that hour of life to helping reduce climate emissions. Be more judicious about what you invest your time and energy into. The time you have really matters.

What's the point of life if your time isn't spent caring about the people you love? In a perfect world, your work should care for them just as much as your time does.

I didn't know what questions to ask my grandfather - about growing up in Chicago as a Swedish immigrant, about how he met and felt about my grandfather, about their beautiful cabin in Wisconsin, about train engineering, about his life growing up - and I'm ashamed that I didn't try before this January - which was far too late. I'll never get back a second of the time I spent playing with fucking trading cards instead of doing things with family. I have no idea what game I was playing at the time or what activity I was doing on my DS or the family iPad or whatever the hell I was up to when at their Boise house. I can't remember that time at all, but I can absolutely remember not spending more time with them, learning about or learning from them.

I realized how useless the days I spent felt when I found out that Isaac died. I didn't change anything about the way I lived my life. I have to change now.