#life

Surmera. Assetov.

Being Human; Doing Products; Hacking Life

Jul 14, 2014
1 min

מחשבות בעקבות הרצח של מוחמד אבו-חד׳יר, ינוח בשלום על משכבו, חלק שני מתוך שלושה

(לחלק הראשון) בשלב הזה, אנחנו מנסים למצוא הבדלים, מנסים להצטדק ולהסביר שלמרות שאנחנו קוראים קריאות מתלהמות, על גבול ההסתה, ולמרות שמאיתנו יצאו רוצחים שפלים - זה שונה. כי הם התחילו, ואנחנו רק המשכנו. ואצליהם, לא מגנים, או מגנים בשפה רפה, ואילו אצלינו מגנים מכל קצוות הקשת הפוליטית והדתית. אבל, אני מודה שלא נוח לי. לא נוח לי ״להסתתר״ אחרי הבדלים. הייתי רוצה להפוך את התחרות של ״מי יותר צדיק/רשע״ לעיסוק בעצמי. איך אני מגדיר בן-אנוש שהוא נזר הבריאה. לא מושלם, אבל מנסה היום להיות טו

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Jul 13, 2014
1 min

מחשבות בעקבות הרצח של מוחמד אבו-חד׳יר, ינוח בשלום על משכבו, חלק ראשון מתוך שלושה

אמרנו שאנחנו שונים. שהם כאלה, ואנחנו לא. שלא יעלה על הדעת שאצלינו מישהו יעשה דבר כזה. אז אמרנו. וכנראה שבכל זאת, ולמרות זאת, מישהו אצלינו עשה דבר כזה. ועכשיו, אנחנו מסבירים לעצמנו שזה שונה. שאומנם כנראה יהודי עשה את זה אבל מי שעשה את זה, הוא חולה נפש. שיהודי שחטף ורצח ערבי, על לא עוול בכפו, הוא חולה נפש. אז אקדים ואומר שני דברים: 1. אני משוכנע שכל מי שרוצח, יש לו פגם נפשי. 2. פגם נפשי כזה, אינו מהווה סיבה לפטור (או הקלה כלשהי) מהעונש החמור המרבי האפשרי. או במילים אחרות - I co

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We'd like to feature you on the Wix Blog...

Jul 1, 2014
2 min

We'd like to feature you on the Wix Blog...

What do you do at Wix? VP Product, with executive focus on Mobile Apps and mini-Editors (a-la Blog) What was the most "out of the box" (shoe salesman, window cleaner, drill sergeant, animal trainer, etc) job you've had? During the summer vacation (July) at the age of 10 (?), I delivered "breakfast groceries" to people's doorsteps before they wake up... I would wake up at 4am, get on a van, and travel amongst the rich-and-famous houses of a well-to-do neighborhood.I would ho

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May 14, 2014
1 min

Rule #3: Minimalism: Can’t Do Without It (?)

Minimalism: Can’t Do Without It (?) “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to remove.” (Antoine de Saint-Exupery 1900-1944) “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” (Albert Einstein 1879-1955) “The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection.” (George Orwell 1903-1950) While the first two rules are clearly good for life (and not only for product development), this one has strong

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Apr 23, 2014
1 min

Don't Do as I Do. Do as I Say! (Part 4 of 4)

* Don't Do as I Say. Do as I Do! Meaning, ignore my words. Follow my actions. I may not be practicing what I'm preaching, but I am doing the right thing. So I ask/implore to to do it too... Examples are harder to find, since this sounds counter-intuitive. But I'll give two justifications of the top of my head. Actions speak louder than Words... A picture is worth 1000 words. Your brain processes what you SEE me DO, faster than what your HEAR me SAY. So just ignore my word

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Apr 23, 2014
1 min

Don't Do as I Do. Do as I Say! (Part 3 of 4)

So what is the "correct" quote? Don't Do as I Do. Do as I Say! or is it: Don't Do as I Say. Do as I Do! I then realized that historically speaking, I don't "care" which is the correct quote. Both are good - they drive a different point. * Don't Do as I Do. Do as I Say! Meaning, don't look at me. Listen to me. I may be acting differently than the way I teach, and while I may have more-or-less valid reasons for doing so (creating a gap between my actions and my lessons), and wh

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Apr 21, 2014
1 min

Don't Do as I Do. Do as I Say! (Part 2 of at least 3, maybe more)

So, why the title of the post? Since I was thinking the users were telling me "Don't Do as I Do. Do as I Say!" Meaning, ignore the fact I'm criticizing you for the information you're sharing. Please, despite my criticism, give me more information... I may criticize you for it, but I really prefer this to no information at all... As this dilemma was keeping me busy, I thought of the quote: Don't Do as I Do. Do as I Say! or is it: Don't Do as I Say. Do as I Do! More on that, in

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Apr 10, 2014
1 min

Don't Do as I Do. Do as I Say! (Part 1 of at least 2, maybe 3)

As I was giving some thought to the Answers thread I've been discussing in the past, where the users continue asking for any information... And we're highly tempted to give it to them, despite the fact that we still don't have any Good News for them. The thing is, there a gnawing concern (choice of words - homage to Victor W., my mythological boss) that if we give them what they ask for (information, and not yet shipping date), this will just rekindle the flame, not help to c

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Mar 25, 2014
1 min

!והיום, פוסט בעברית

סיפור חיי (מבחינה מקצועית) בכמה מילים... אז האמת היא, שהתחלתי לעבוד בהייטק לפני שהתחלתי ללמוד. הייתה לי חצי שנה עד תחילת שנת הלימודים, ורציתי לחסוך כסף. חיפשתי עבודה בחנות ספרים - כי לא חשבתי שיש לי סיכוי למצוא עבודה בהייטק, אבל אמא שלי אמרה - תבדוק, מה יש לך להפסיד. השארתי קורות-חיים (מאוד דלילים כמובן) בכל החברות בסביבה, וכתוצאה מחוסר הבנת הנקרא (אני כתבתי שאני עומד להתחיל שנת לימודים ראשונה במחשבים - והם קראו שסיימתי שנת לימודים ראשונה), הוזמנתי לראיון... התחלתי כמשכפל תוכ

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Mar 24, 2014
1 min

Tor HaZahav 6 - The Neighbors

I believe we were apartment 11? Right next to us, we had the Eliyah family, of Lebanese origins. Lucy and Alber who had two (?) girls, and two boys - Mussa (being 4? years older than me) and Fredy (two years older than I was). There was also the Shenhav family, Naomi and (?), who had two children - Avigail, just-older than me, and Boaz - 2-3 years younger. But no doubt, my closest relationship was with the Tovi family, Sonya and Nahum. At the time, there were Yonatan z"l (a y

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Tor HaZahav 6 - the basic layout

Mar 23, 2014
1 min

Tor HaZahav 6 - the basic layout

My first memory is Gan Devorah (was that the Kindergarten's name? Or was it only the Ganenet's name?), which was to the south-west of our home in Tor HaZahav 6 street, in Hertzliyah, Israel. When I reminisce about Tor HaZahav, I remember a group of buildings, with a large lawn in between, where all kids of the 3 buildings would play. My parents at the time had a Citroen (?) - and surely later a Fiat 128 (which will forever be remembered as a piece of junk, costing us much mor

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Mar 20, 2014
1 min

Rule #7: Sh-t happens; Magic doesn't (Number 7???)

* Just as I thought my product philosophy was solid-rock, we had our Daily meeting. And in the meeting, we discussed a problem we found a couple of days earlier, and the status update was "the problem was solved. we don't know how, but it was solved". In return, we asked the person in charge to find out why the problem was solved, since Magic doesn't happen. If the problems was there, and then it wasn't - either something has changed (in which case we need to know what) or no

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Mar 19, 2014
1 min

What's hard about writing 100-words-a-day?

Well, now that I've exhausted Surmera, Assetov... ...and I still need to write 100 words a day. I can tell you one thing: it ain't easy. And yesterday I skipped my appointment, and I'm behind schedule and "owe" 100 words to the 100-words-a-day gods. I think I'm learning that the hard part is not the actual writing, but instead - finding the subject. I think I'll finally start on writing about my memories. Not sure the Blog is the best location to store them, and I'll need to

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Mar 18, 2014
1 min

Rule #6: The Walkthrough

Yesterday, we outlined the slide of rule #6... Today, lets talk about what it all means (though I hope it's quite self explanatory). My bullet-points mainly refer to how stupid it is to work in a committee, where everyone has an opinion, but no one has accountability or even responsibility. On the other hand, I more interested in the Team. Teams have Stakeholders while Committees have Placeholders. The team can support the individual members, and effectively achieve power-in-

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Mar 17, 2014
1 min

Rule #6: Teams are Good; Committees are Bad

Teams are Good; Committees are Bad “A committee is a life form with six or more legs and no brain.” (Lazarus Long 1912-?) “An elephant: A mouse built to government specifications.” (Lazarus Long 1912-?) “Always listen to experts. They’ll tell you what can’t be done, and why. Then do it.” (Lazarus Long 1912-?) “You are either part of the solution or part of the problem” (Eldridge Cleaver 1935-1998) “Individuals play the game; Teams beat the odds.” (US Navy SEAL Team quote) Any

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Mar 16, 2014
1 min

Rule #5: Bad News are Good; Black Holes are Bad.

Bad News are Good; Black Holes are Bad. Knowing the Cause can help us Improve Convert Gravity to Velocity Transparency “Secrecy is the beginning of Tyranny” (Lazarus Long 1912-?) As the team grows, whether internally or externally (more team members, or more customers), there's more and more information floating about. And sharing this information is valuable since information sharing creates relationships. And people have valuable conclusions to make of the information. Even

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Mar 15, 2014
1 min

Rule #4: Failure is Good

Failure is Good “Failure is Success if we learn from it.” (Malcolm Forbes 1919-1990) “Failure is Success iff we learn from it.” It's not that I believe that it's good to fail - I do believe that in an environment where you (aim to) recruit top-talent, and want the talent to be creative, it also means the talent must experiment, and experiments are bound to fail, at least sometimes. And the point is that - as a rule - it's fine to fail... As long as the talent learn from the m

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Mar 13, 2014
1 min

Rule #2: Claim Failure. Blame Success.

Claim Failure. Blame Success. “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.” (King Solomon -965 - -928) “The more credit you give away, the more will come back to you. The more you help others, the more they will want to help you.” (Brian Tracy 1944 - ) Well, theory here is simple. First, you better be committed for what you're doing. That means responsible for what you're doing. That means responsible for what your team delivers. IMO, this eval

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Mar 12, 2014
1 min

Rule #1: My Home vs. Our Playground

My Home vs. Our Playground “Them” is Bad; “Us” is Good “…in a family argument, if it turns out you are right – apologize at once!” (Lazarus Long 1912-?) “Us and Them… And after all, we're only ordinary men” (Roger Waters 1943-, Rick Wright 1943-) When you are part of a team (even if a one-person show), you may tend to become protective when other projects come too close for comfort. You may start to think of them as "messing up my home, and in MY home, people MUST play by MY

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Mar 11, 2014
1 min

The 6 Rules of Suremera, Assetov

My Home vs. Our Playground Claim Failure. Blame Success. Minimalism: Can’t Do Without It (?) Failure is Good Bad News are Good; Black Holes are Bad Teams are Good; Committees are Bad In a nutshell, this is my Product/Team/Life philosophy. Over the next couple of days, I'll be posting/expanding the specific slides and some verbiage (fancy word for words) about what I actually mean by every one of these bullet points. Fair warning: it's not rocket science. It's not earth-shatte

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