Photo by BENCE BOROS on Unsplash
- Why Google employees are donating to Warren and Sanders — presidential candidates who want to break up Google
In interviews with Recode, Google employees (mostly engineers who work on everything from Android to virtual reality) who donated to Sanders and Warren said that breaking up Google could help consumers and spur more tech innovation by allowing for more competition from upstarts. Some even said they thought regulation could force Google itself to return to its startup roots, recreating the bootstrapped work culture that they say enabled the company’s initial success. (Google executives don’t exactly agree.)
Their support for candidates who are critical of Big Tech seems to reflect a broader movement among corporate tech employees who have begun demanding more ethical behavior and policies from their companies. In the past year, many tech employees, particularly at Google, have organized and protested against their own employers over concerns related to sexual harassment policies and controversial defense contracts with the US and foreign governments. In candidates like Warren and Sanders, these employees find an outside voice who similarly views major technology companies’ growing and unprecedented power with a critical lens. And for the first time, companies like Google have become major talking points in the presidential campaign.
- Don’t stop creating for yourself – #LevelUp
I really enjoy Peter and I thought this video is a great cross over between career and creative. I am certainly looking for a creative spark (I don’t want to come off like a talking head). - Having trouble delegating? These 3 questions can help
“You can say something, but it’s not always what the other person hears,” she says. “Asking this question ensures that what you intend for someone to do is what they understand they need to do.”
Repeating information is standard operating procedure in mission critical jobs. “An air traffic controller gives a pilot instructions, and the pilot has to repeat it back to ensure they got it correctly,” she says. “You can use the same thing in the workplace.”
To avoid feeling robotic or untrusting, Brownlee suggests putting it this way: “I know I threw a lot at you, and I know this has a lot of moving parts. To ensure I didn’t confuse you, would you mind repeating back what you heard?”
“If they tell you something that is not quite right, you’ll be so glad you can course correct,” she says.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90386012/having-trouble-delegating-these-3-questions-can-help
- As tech changes homelessness, libraries roll with the punches
Libraries were always sources of education, but that has become more pronounced recently as they’ve shifted from being the ones that store information to those that provide free and open access to it. With the combination of how that information is used and who needs these services, this involves a transformation not just of purpose but of architecture: Becoming a place where people come and stay rather than a place people visit.
That transformation doesn’t come equally easily to all libraries or branches. It may be that a small, underfunded library happens to be near a shelter or bus station and attracts more of the homeless than it can serve, and indeed more than intend to use the library for its “intended” purpose. Though these facilities were designed to provide short-term refuge for any and all, they’re generally not equipped or staffed to handle the volume or types of people who find their way in and stay sometimes from open to close.
https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/31/as-tech-changes-homelessness-libraries-roll-with-the-punches/