2014/09/14 第40期

这是来自著名风投Accel Partners的博客。 " A startup’s brand strategy and messaging should tailor to the core psychological needs, desires and behaviors of any given audience. If you remember nothing else, remember this: MARKETING ORGANIZATIONS MUST INCORPORATE HUMAN EMOTION IN ALL MARKETING PRACTICES, ACROSS ALL MARKETING CHANNELS. FOR STARTUPS, THIS IS EVEN MORE IMPORTANT AS THEY AIM TO BUILD EARLY ADOPTER LOYALTY AND A TRIBAL-MINDED COMMUNITY. " 讲的东西有点像前几天提到的Ev Williams说的： “The way i think about all technology now is that if you're creating something, your goal is to fulfill some human desire more easily, more conveniently.” 就是要抓住用户的七情六欲。

“Square’s nosebleed valuation has been based on the fact that the company would be more than an aggregator of payment fees for small merchants, typically a low-margin business. (The company lost $100 million last year.) ” “Square has done a lot of risky if-it-works-it’ll-be-amazing stuff,” says a person close to the company.”

“How do I create consistent content that I don’t get paid to do? I have a business to run.” 尽管每天我只推荐5篇个链接，但其实每天读的东西要比这个数量多。做这个事情看起来是很吃力不讨好的，因为很花时间（2~3小时一天）。用这个时间我可以加快自己手头其他project的进度。但长远来看，写湾区日报对个人的成长是很有帮助的 -- 强迫我每天思考一点，每天多读点东西，多学点非技术类的东西。把写的东西发表出来，让大家看，也算是一种监督作用吧。多谢大家捧场！

"While the evolution of life is towards complexity, the evolution of products on mobile is towards simplicity. The inevitable path of human interface with technology is always to reduce friction and enhance human decision making. We shall see more to come." 今年互联网趋势报告也说了，现在app的功能越来越单一。很少有那种50合一大礼包式的app了。facebook把messenger拆分成一个独立的app，骂声一片。但是，很快人们就会习惯的。

这是Edmond Lau写的。前面几期也有推荐过他的文章。 去年他来我们公司给talk，就是讲这个topic：what makes a good engineering culture。他总结了10条：

1. Optimize for iteration speed.
2. Push relentlessly toward automation. 去年在他的talk里，我第一次知道quora一天能部署代码50多次，当时叹为观止。
3. Build the right software abstractions.
4. Develop a focus on high code quality with code reviews. 很多时候我们写代码都是在模仿别人写的东西。如果公司里代码质量高了，新来的人就能模仿高质量的代码；如果代码一团糟，新来的人就只能模仿差代码，然后代码质量就越来越差。
5. Maintain a respectful work environment.
6. Build shared ownership of code.
7. Invest in automated testing.
8. Allot 20% time.
9. Build a culture of learning and continuous improvement. 这一点是关于勤写文档、勤办技术讲座的。好的工程师一般都很重视文档，而不好的工程师只注重写代码。好的文档可以为整个团队省去很多时间：如果招了新人，他们可以从读文档中去学很多东西，而不用专门安排其他工程师面对面地辅导。
10. Hire the best.

去小公司的一个好处是，你可以参与到定义公司工程师文化的过程中。比如你刚进去的时候，公司还没有把测试自动化，你就可以自己搭起来，变成这方面的专家；或者你刚进去的时候发现code base里有很多重复的代码，你就可以把那部分代码抽象出来，变成一个library。好的工程师文化中，公司里的每个人都会有很强的ownership，看到什么不完善的，都会主动花时间（晚上、周末、假日）去改善；当大部分人都这么有责任感了，新进来也会受到感染。