Class goals from syllabus (1)
- Assess the extent to which the present wave of emerging workplace technologies differs from earlier ones.
- Describe theorized patterns of how new technologies shape and reshape the employment relationship and the workplace for specific social groups and apply these theories to emerging workplace technologies.
Class goals from syllabus (2)
- Identify potential points of conflict and change in workplace hierarchy given information about how a new technology is being used in a contemporary workplace.
- Prescribe policy responses aimed at mitigating the potentially deleterious impact of workplace technological change and articulate the potential unintended consequences of these policies.
My goals today
- Share moments from my work life
- Talk about how I see them linking to these class goals
- Isolate my experience from my opinion
- Sway you to be kind bosses, because the invisible hand is a mofo
Me
- Since like 2006, I cofounded or worked on several startups.
- Some were Software as a Service (SaaS) startups focusing on workflow automation or worker productivity or regulation compliance
- I'm not rich
- I've seen how software products alter people's lives, good and bad
Patterns in the beginning
- Sales pitch goes something like "this will make your least favorite part of your job go away, or at least make it less miserable"
- Early customers are small or weird and not satisfied by mainstream stuff (or they wouldn't talk to you) but they have the problem you're trying to solve
Patterns in the beginning (2)
- Lots of:
- Update the code
- ask "is it better now?"
- "Eat what you kill"
Patterns in the middle (1)
- Sales pitch is now "replace your high cost employees with our technology and low-cost employees"
- Customer is not a 40-seat license, but maybe 4000-seat license, and they'll pay more per seat, too
- But only if we integrate with their stuff
Patterns in the Middle (2)
- You took VC money and they want "hockey stick" growth.
"In the derogatory sense, a business started with the intention of becoming a startup, but which instead becomes a smaller business is often referred to as a lifestyle business by investors or other detractors."
Patterns in the Middle (3)
- Once you start selling to big customers, employee buy-in matters less
- New features driven by sales potential
- UX matters less
My main idea
- In economic terms, as firms grow, worker quality of life / job satisfaction often becomes an externality, sort of like pollution.
OnShift (1)
- Prototype in 2006: find somebody to work a shift by blasting texts to qualified and available employees
- $250k angel investment in 2007 meant my partner and I could quit day jobs
- By 2009, the software could plan / maintain / update / revise shift schedules for (theoretically) any workforce.
- Employees could trade shifts with each other, apply for open shifts, modify schedule, etc.
OnShift (2)
- Manager reports like
- "There's too many nurses tonight given the number of patients in beds"
- "You're under the state minimum staffing level on floor 3 next Wednesday"
- lists of people that clock in early or clock out late
OnShift (3)
- System would discourage before giving shifts to high-wage employees when lower-cost qualified employees were available
- System would recommend alternatives to granting overtime
- PE acquired OnShift in 2022
Relevance to y'all
- Big firms didn't care about letting their workers help plan the schedule.
- We needed the labor cost savings features to land the big customers.
SpotHero (1)
- "Why can't I list my driveway on a website for people that need a place to park for the night?" (quote from founder)
- Marketplace app for parking. Launched in Chicago. Allows you to reserve a parking spot in the future.
SpotHero (2)
- An early customer was a garage that shut down on Sundays because of perceived low demand
- We pre-paid for the attendants to be there and we sold parking tickets in advance on our site, gambling we could cover their costs.
Relevance
- At first, new technology boosted demand for attendants
- Later, parking lot attendants often were replaced
Complion (1)
- To run a drug or medical device trial, you keep paperwork like:
- patient consent, perhaps with regular renewals
- patients join and leave
- protocols used in the study may change
- verify credentials of clinicians and facilities
- 3-ring binders in hallway file cabinets
Complion (2)
- We interviewed clinical trial coordinators
- We built a "one size fits most" product
- Built-in checklists / guides / workflows / messaging simplified running trials
Relevancy to ILR (1)
- Clinical Coordinators can run more trials.
- Does that mean more work? higher wages? or layoffs?
- "One size fits most"
- We designed this system based on what we could get done quick, so we could sell it.
Relevancy to ILR (2)
- Message from Complion founder
"...a software industrial complex has changed how companies are run (usually for the worst like silos and constraining org chart structures, particularly due to enterprise software)"
Decision Desk (RIP) (1)
- Students applying to musical conservatories, art schools, and theater programs involves submitting samples of work (e.g., concert footage).
- Professors review their work, discuss, and decide on admitting them
- DecisionDesk was a software platform to replace a very messy and error-prone process, managed by overworked staff
Decision Desk (RIP) (2)
- After VC investment, DecisionDesk went after big state schools
- Every new customer came with so many new feature requests that it killed margins
- Customer churn increased, usually due to bugs in new features
- We couldn't raise more money and costs were way above revenue, so it shut down
Streamliner (1)
- The client is a liquidator in central Ohio
- Trucks drop off shipping containers daily
- Containers are loaded with returned / discontinued / clearance products
- Examples:
- Socks
- Wristwatches
- Sports merchandise
- Cookbooks
Streamliner (2)
Team member workflow
- Look up product online
- put the item in the appropriate box:
- expensive and small items get sold online
- some food goes to the retail discount store
- other food (like candy) gets sold online
- apparel goes to discount store
- More rules...
Streamliner (3)
- Software did pricing lookup and dispatch decisions ahead of time
- Same people got a lot more done
- Employee count went way down, but survivors liked the tool
SofaConcerts (1)
- Hire musicians to play at your house party
- matches musicians and venues
- Pandemic was devastating
- SofaConcerts handles payments and reviews
- Venues get 3 artists for every open spot
- Artists get more gigs (like by adding house party shows during tours)
SofaConcerts (2)
- "We've done a lot of work in our market to bring the idea of a 'Sofa Concert' or Living room show into the normal parlance..."
- "But it's becoming more common to think, for my birthday, I'm going to invite a musician for a private concert."
- "we make it easier for touring artists to visit smaller villages and towns."
- Longer analysis from CTO and co-founder Rob Heinen here
Bonus Content
Mythical Man Month
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month
"Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later"
"the possibility of measuring useful work in man-months is a myth"
Mythical Man Month, 1975
W. Edwards Deming (1)
"Fear invites wrong figures. Bearers of bad news fare badly. To keep his job, anyone may present to his boss only good news."
W. Edwards Deming, page 94, The New Economics
https://deming.org/where-there-is-fear-you-do-not-get-honest-figures/
W. Edwards Deming (2)
12a. Remove barriers that rob the hourly worker of his right to pride of workmanship…
12b. …This means, inter alia, abolishment of the annual or merit rating and of management by objective.
My main idea
- In economic terms, as firms grow bigger, worker quality of life / job satisfaction often becomes an externality, sort of like pollution.
Got a cool idea?
matt@216software.com
Let's destroy some jobs!