Blog

  • Benevolent Dictators for Life

    Benevolent Dictators for Life

    Beginning of October two iconic figures of the open web had a discussion on the Rework podcast about open source software and the power their leaders exercise.

    David Heinemeier Hansson is the creator of the Ruby on Rails web development framework which is used by his own company Basecamp to build a project management and team communication software, as well as many others like GitHub, SoundCloud and Shopify.

    I’ve used Basecamp for a million projects over the last decade and a half. It’s beautiful software that has resisted every wrong trend and stayed true to the things that mattered most. Highly recommended.

    Tobi Lütke, CEO, Shopify

    One of the things David is least proud of, is being listed on the benevolent dictator for life Wikipedia page. He thinks that power can always be abused and therefore no single person should be trusted. He also has strong views about software monopolies and thinks if one single software has too big a marketshare, it will negatively impact diversity and innovation.

    In this episode of the podcast, David is joined by WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg who also happens to be on that benevolent dictator for life list. Matt’s company Automattic just raised $300 million at a $3 billion valuation from Salesforce Ventures. David posted this on his Twitter quoting Matt from a TechCrunch article:

    Matt replied to David’s tweet offering to discuss the pros and cons of outside funding and building for the long term, but although the episode is over an hour long, they never come around to discussing those pros and cons. David lashes out at both closed and open source software monopolies. Matt believes that even if WordPress will increase its market share from currently around 35% to e.g. 85%, there would still be enough diversity and innovation within the WordPress ecosystem, because the things that are being built on top of it are very diverse and innovative.

    He also says that getting to «85%» is not his main goal. If that would be the result, he thinks it would be good for the open web in general, though, in contrast to David.

    Highly recommended episode, although by his constant swearing David sort of undermines his own credibility. Matt’s always calm and friendly which makes it difficult to not see the advantages of a benevolant dictator for WordPress.

    Matt certainly yields a lot of power in the WordPress ecosystem, but he cannot be a dictator, because there’s a system of checks and balances in place which he also needs to respect.

    Which title do you think would best describe Matt’s position in the WordPress ecosystem?

  • The Power of the Mindset

    The Power of the Mindset

    I just got back from a family trip to lovely Brittany or as the French say, Bretagne – La Porte de l’Océan. We spent a week of occasional windsurfing and relaxing in walking distance of the Atlantic Ocean. For mid-August, the air and water temperature were way too cold, although I’ve been told that this is not unusual for the region. It was of course still amazing, bathing without wetsuit was not a real pleasure, though.

    Video Recap Paris and Brittany 2019

    Long road trips are perfect for listening to audio books, so I downloaded a book recommendation from Tobi Lütke and have to say that this is one of the best books I’ve ever read or listened to in my entire life. The kind of book you want to not read only once.

    If you manage people or are a parent (which is a form of managing people), drop everything and read Mindset.

    Guy Kawasaki

    Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck, in decades of research on achievement and success, has «discovered» a truly groundbreaking idea – the power of our mindset. 

    In her book Mindset: Changing the Way You Think to Fulfil Your Potential she explains why it’s not just our abilities and talent that bring us success but whether we approach them with a fixed or growth mindset. She makes clear why praising intelligence and ability doesn’t foster self-esteem and lead to accomplishment but may actually jeopardise success.

    With the right mindset, we can motivate our kids and help them to raise their grades be their most authentic selves as well as reach our own goals – personal and professional. She reveals what all great parents, teachers, CEOs and athletes already know: how a simple idea about the brain can create a love of learning and a resilience that is the basis of great accomplishment in every area.

    Will prove to be one of the most influential books ever about motivation.

    Po Bronson

    If you think you know what growth mindset is and haven’t read this book, you will not regret doing it. We all are sometimes in the fixed mindset and this book will help us understand how to be more conscious about it and apply a growth mindset to any situation in life.

  • The Oracle of Ottawa

    The Oracle of Ottawa

    I’ve been recommending podcasts on this blog every now and then and also mentioned the Tim Ferris› podcast almost 4 years ago. Last week I stumbled upon an amazing episode of The Tim Ferris Show with Shopify founder and CEO (Chief Executive Officer) Tobi Lütke.

    (mehr …)