Most people don't fully understand how difficult it is to write with your left hand, especially in school.
The first and most obvious problem is created by right-handed desks, forcing us lefties to reach across our bodies to write with no support for our arm. Now, granted, there are usually one or two desks in a classroom for left-handers, but with 8-10% of the population being lefties, that leaves a shortage of left-handed desks in every classroom in America.
The fact that the English language is written from left to right creates an even bigger disadvantage for left-handers though, because it forces us to push the pen across the page. This is in stark contrast to all those righties who get to effortlessly drag the pen across the page while resting their arm on that comfortable right-hander desk of yours.
Fortunately for us lefties though, we're inherently smarter than our right handed counterparts:
The first and most obvious problem is created by right-handed desks
I had a good laugh at your post thinking it was rather clever humor and was about to write something witty back about left handed shot glasses, nunchucks, and corkscrews, but then I Googled "left handed desk" just in case and.. crap, you're not kidding! What horrible bloody desks kids are subjected to in your country!
He was being dramatic when he said "every classroom in America." I never saw any serious deployment of asymmetric desks before college. Rather just a handful of them mixed in with a Frankenstein-like assortment of worn-out furniture spanning the 20th century. They were to be avoided.
The first and most obvious problem is created by right-handed desks, forcing us lefties to reach across our bodies to write with no support for our arm. Now, granted, there are usually one or two desks in a classroom for left-handers, but with 8-10% of the population being lefties, that leaves a shortage of left-handed desks in every classroom in America.
Umm, given 20-30 people in a class, that comes out to 2-3 left handed desks...
Your points are valid, as he or she forgot to mention the following:
In most classrooms, not a day goes by without the teacher requesting students rearrange their desks to work in groups together, and that's all it takes for the desks to be in a different order for the next class.
Even if left-handed desks never moved, there are no rules that left-handed desks are actually for left-handers only. As a classroom fills up, it's hard to tell which remaining desks are left-handed. It's also hard for right-handers to remember to look for the same, and end up sitting wherever they were about to, along with left-handers.
Left-handed desks are worthless when there are no policies about actually using them. And half-desks are worse than full-desks, anyway.
As a lefty, I hope that people don't read that website and think we're all melodramatic crybabies! Lots of things in life are a little bit harder when you're left handed, fortunately we were granted extra brains to help deal with it.
Three of the last four US presidents were left handed. Is that some kind of institutionalized discrimination against right-handed politicians?
Let me be the first to point out that this article is almost two years old. However, not two months after it was published, they received $27M from Accel Partners, and in the 18 months since additional funding, they have continued to expand and flourish.
Can you elaborate on Y Combinator's definition (or scale) of techie -> non-techie?
Is someone with a knowledge and understanding of the tech landscape and years of experience in the industry considered a techie...even if they're not hackers? Or does Hacker=Techie?
Another wildly successful example of simplicity dominating an industry can be found at Plenty of Fish, where they are doing the same thing to the online dating world.
"Today, according to the research firm Hitwise, his creation is the largest dating website in the U.S. and quite possibly the world. Its traffic is four times that of the dating pioneer Match, which has annual revenue of $350 million and a staff that numbers in the hundreds. Until 2007, Frind had a staff of exactly zero. Today, he employs just three customer service workers, who check for spam and delete nude images from the Plenty of Fish website while Frind handles everything else."
Another wildly successful example of "What We Can Learn From A Mess" can be found at Plenty of Fish, where they are doing the same thing in the online dating world.
"Today, according to the research firm Hitwise, his creation is the largest dating website in the U.S. and quite possibly the world. Its traffic is four times that of the dating pioneer Match, which has annual revenue of $350 million and a staff that numbers in the hundreds. Until 2007, Frind had a staff of exactly zero. Today, he employs just three customer service workers, who check for spam and delete nude images from the Plenty of Fish website while Frind handles everything else."
I find all of this very intriguing. Assuming that both Craigslist and PlentyOfFish are successful for the same underlying reasons, it's worth pointing out similarities between the two. Note that while I've been using Craigslist for years, I have very little real experience with PlentyOfFish, so feel free to correct any invalid assumptions I make:
1. Plain user interfaces. The choices of fonts and colors seems very personal, non-corporate. There's nothing sleek, modern, trendy, creative, or flashy about either of these sites. That's not to say they're particularly simple or efficient.
2. Unchanging user interfaces. When you go to Craigslist, at least, you can be sure to find the exact same site you were using one, two, three years ago. No surprises, no re-learning, and no feeling left-behind.
3. Initial focus on small community, growth through word of mouth. Craigslist had San Francisco, and PoF had Vancouver I believe? There's something to be said about making users feel like they are party of a small, exclusive community. (Look at the beginnings of Facebook.)
4. Content created almost entirely by users. Craigslist does little more than categorize users' posts, and PoF is, well, a dating site.
5. Open: you don't have to know someone or get them to accept a friend request in order to interact with them. Once again, these sites make connecting with others easy and direct. (Although the signup process at PoF is understandably more involved.) When I go to Craigslist Boston I really do feel like the site represents the entire community.
6. Pretty much free.
I'm sure I could add more, but the recurrent theme seems to be getting out of the way and keeping the focus on the people. Neither of these sites rely on revolutionary tools or features or algorithms, and neither seems particularly interested in impressing the tech community.
Another one to add to the list is CD Baby (www.cdbaby.com), a site owned and created almost entirely by Derek Sivers. He sold it for $22 million last year.
The Burrito Bowl with Black and Pinto Beans, Veggies, Chicken, Pico de Gallo and Corn Salsa. Skip the rice, cheese and sour cream and it's possibly the healthiest lunch you can get in a fast food or fast casual restaurant.
I recently read a book called "An Absolutely Outrageous Adventure" written by two travel mates who visited every WHO recognized country in the world in one year.
It was one of the worst books I've ever read because most of their experiences revolved around airport hopping from country to country.
Give me a month in any given country and I'll be satisfied. It takes that long just to settle in and learn enough culture not to look ignorant.
I will say that 30 days on a plane does increase your chances of joining the mile high club though...(I digress)
Top travel choices for next destination - Argentina, Thailand, Bolivia.
As a top performing - and top earning - sales person for many years in Fortune 500 tech hardware, software, and services businesses, I can attest to the fact that it's the company that usually creates their own problems, namely a coin-operated sales force. I found it laughable when company XYZ paid members of their sales team (including myself) 5X - even 10X - what they paid more experienced engineers, product developers and even executives.
When looking to add a new sales professional, be sure and keep an eye out for Norm's "Group Three" salespeople. They will add immeasurable value, insight and personal equity into your business for many years to come.
I agree, the "Group Three" people would be the best for us. Now it's just a matter of finding one. One thing that I had never thought about was sales people leaving and taking customers with them. That thought had just never entered my mind before. Great article, thanks for the link.
Many sales people will attempt to act as a middle man between their customers and the company they work for. The reason they do this is because the first questions most companies ask a potential sales hire is "who do you know?" or "what's your rolodex look like?"
When the only relationship of trust is between the sales person and customer, s/he is able to bring clients along with them to whatever new company they migrate to...and show immediate success with new employers in doing so.
By creating a relationship of trust between you and your sales team, you are able to break down barriers between the client, and create and more fruitful long term relationship among all parties involved.
The other question you should ask is "why do sales people leave in the first place?" Again, this gets back to the root of the problem, where most companies create their own coin-operated sales teams. "Today's records become tomorrow's quotas" is something that all top performing sales professionals are keenly aware of.
If a sales professional hits 2X of their quota two or three years in a row, and those record sales become next years quota, the resulting book of business is unsustainable in the long term. Because of that, most top sales professionals will stick around just as long as they are able to maximize their earning potential. When the inevitable "down" year comes around, it's time for them to reassess and start looking for a new opportunity.
By setting reasonable expecatations with your sales team year after year - by that I mean set a quota that provides a reasonable rate of return on your investment in their salary - you will no doubt create an environment that "Group Three" sales professionals want to be a part of. Good luck.
The first and most obvious problem is created by right-handed desks, forcing us lefties to reach across our bodies to write with no support for our arm. Now, granted, there are usually one or two desks in a classroom for left-handers, but with 8-10% of the population being lefties, that leaves a shortage of left-handed desks in every classroom in America.
The fact that the English language is written from left to right creates an even bigger disadvantage for left-handers though, because it forces us to push the pen across the page. This is in stark contrast to all those righties who get to effortlessly drag the pen across the page while resting their arm on that comfortable right-hander desk of yours.
Fortunately for us lefties though, we're inherently smarter than our right handed counterparts:
http://isittrue.msn.com/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=1319838...
Who's to argue with Einstein, Newton, Franklin and Picasso? :)