Mark is starting to write a bit more about BrainPark. Finally I’m a freedom fighter!

Oh, by the way, apparently I work for one of one of Canada’s hottest innovative startups. Is this considered bragging?

Back in my personus days before the dotcom blowup we built several online canadian pharmacies. I can’t recall all the names but I’m pretty sure they’re all dead now. Ali and his team at well have been working hard to fill that void and have pulled it off and then some.

Today Jonas and Ali announced that well.ca just landed the “largest investment the Maple Leaf Angels have made to date”. A big congratulations to Ali and his whole team. Our BrainPark crew has been lucky enough to share well.ca’s office space for the past few months and it’s been great getting to know them all. I’m just surprised to see they’re actually getting work done with all the damn fun they have there.

We’re after developers at BrainPark, description and more details here. We’re a startup operating in Guelph building primarily on a python based technology stack which I think offers some uniqueness. Experience with python is nice but not required. It’s all about you, skills can be learned. Feel free to contact me directly if you’re interested.

Just a quick thanks for everyone who came out last Wednesday, it was another great event. My quick poll says we had around 50 in attendance which is just about right. Keep an eye here or on our google group for DemoCampGuelph6 which will likely be sometime in July.

“When we change the way we communicate, we change society. The tools that a society uses to create and maintain itself are as central to human life as a hive is to bee life. Though the hive is not part of any individual bee, it is part of the colony, both shaped by and shaping the lives of its inhabitants. The hive is a social device, a piece of bee information technology that provides a platform, literally, for the communication and coordination that keeps the colony viable.”

That quote is from the first chapter of Clay Shirky’s book Here Comes Everybody. Let’s try some simple word replacement here…

“When we change the way we communicate, we change society. The tools that a society uses to create and maintain itself are as central to human life as BrainPark is to work life. Though BrainPark is not part of any individual person, it is part of the work environment, both shaped by and shaping the lives of its people. BrainPark is a social device, a piece of workplace information technology that provides a platform, literally, for the communication and coordination that keeps the organization viable.”

Hmm, not too bad. Ambitious yes…..Thanks Clay….

I just received a copy of Clay Shirky’s new book Here Comes Everybody. I love his subtitle “The Power of Organizing Without Organizations”. I can’t really comment on the book itself as I’ve barely read the first chapter.

To be honest I don’t have high hopes as I don’t typically enjoy these types of books. I did, however, really enjoy his post Situated Software so if that’s an indicator then maybe this will be a good read? I’ll get back to you….

Chris fired me this post by Mike Arrington a week or so ago.

“I routinely declare email bankruptcy and simply delete my entire inbox. But even so, I currently have 2,433 unread emails in my inbox. Plus another 721 in my Facebook inbox. and about thirty skype message windows open with unanswered messages. It goes without saying, of course, that my cell phone voicemail box is also full (I like the fact that new messages can’t be left there, so I have little incentive to clear it out).”

Mark Hurst referenced this post in a recent email as well and makes some great points about the psychology of email overload.

“One benefit of declaring email bankruptcy, I think, is the ‘proof’ that you’re plugged in and important. Surely if you have so much email that you can’t manage it, lots of people are asking for your time and attention! Work must be a constant adrenaline rush! Wow!”

We certainly need to be aware that some people actually derive feelings of importance from being utterly overloaded by email. Hopefully they are on the fringe and most of us are ready to get a hell of a lot more productive when it comes to inboxes. Mark makes a key point about how Arrington is dealing with this issue:

“But consider the outcome of this strategy. Arrington effectively has no email, since he’s liable to delete anything he receives without reading it first; and he has no voice mail, since he leaves his voice mail box in the full state. Here is a leader of Silicon Valley who is no longer able to use technology. Strange.”

Mark thens makes the point that throwing more technology may not be the solution:

“I agree that *some* new technology is needed, but it’s probably not a snazzy thing that Silicon Valley geeks would drool over. Whatever it is, Arrington really wants it”

While I agree for the most part, Mark does refer people to his technology by pointing them to gootodo which strikes me as contradictory. With our focus at brainpark, we view all this as symptoms that we hope bp will tackle and at least help with. As always, the solution may not be had by focusing entirely on the symptoms. We talk a lot about the promises that technology has failed miserably at. This includes effective communication, less duplication of work, etc all aimed at allowing you move up the heirarchy and do something fun or hang out with your family.

This is good, link from Mark Hurst.

In honour of the day, we’re having stew and guiness of course.

Cripes I have to celebrate today. Not doing so would be like Mark not taking Canada Day off.