risks and mistakes

People who don't take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who take risks, generally make about two big mistakes a year.
-- Peter Drucker

This was our quote of the day yesterday at work. Serendipity that Mallory would pick one of my favorite quotes on the one year anniversary of my coming to work for the Rubicon Project.

I think I've made my share of mistakes over the past year -- mostly from not taking big enough chances not adapting and changing quickly enough. Something to think on during the coming year.

Welcome Aboard: Others Online

The Rubicon Project announced the acquisition of Others Online today. Welcome to the team guys! It's nice to finally be able to talk about my new coworkers.

Official announcement

With today’s acquisition of Others Online, Rubicon Project aims to provide its publisher customers a way to find the best data on audience segments from among all those data providers. Others Online, which apparently started out several years ago as a social network play, offers several audience data-related services—in particular an “affinity scoring” service that determines how strongly a person is interested in particular brands, products or topics.
-- Businessweek

Remembrance.

Mallory Portillo wrote:

In honor of the fallen (friends of the Rubicon family):
Todd Beamer
Scott Weingard
John Murray

It is often said that out of great hardship comes strength. Instead of letting the tragic day tear us apart as a country, we came together as a nation and mourned together, helped each other, and shared memories of the event and of the fallen. It is our saddest day but likely our proudest moment. We showed, as a united country, that freedom is a strength not a weakness and in the face of great tragedy we stop at nothing to come together and hatred cannot tear us apart.

Eight years later, we will all likely remember the exact moment when we saw the first plane hit the World Trade Center but more importantly this day will always be a time for us to reflect on what is so great about this nation and its people. Today in the LA office, we are having a pot luck to share food amongst friends and also raise money for a local non-profit. In the spirit of 9/11, please take a moment wherever you are to share with others (even if it’s just a smile on the street or an email to an friend).

To those who knew Todd, Scott and John, my condolences on the tragedy of your loss.

Thank you for sharing this act of Remembrance. None of us are alone in our grief, for we are all united. Let us hope that the legacy of this day will be of a united, strengthened people and a lasting day of Service.

This is my third anniversary back in California and it has felt so strange for this to be a "normal day" for so many people. A day of Remembering puts into stark relief the pettiness of our regular days and reminds me how lucky I am to be loved and living a wonderful life. Mallory, thank you for reminding us why the Rubicon Project is such a special place.

peace and love,
Andrew

"On a day when others sought to sap our confidence, let us renew our common purpose, let us remember how we came together as one nation, as one people, as Americans united, Such sense of purpose need not be a fleeting moment."
— President Obama, September 11, 2009.

First two weeks

I've been at the Rubicon Project for two weeks now.

Jumping back into the Start Up World is quite a trip. There are the pluses -- excited peers, interesting projects, free food & beer, freedom to improve process. And the minuses -- what process? code that has all been written in a hurry and extended in unexpected ways, and all the other problems that creep in when hurrying becomes rushing.

The first few weeks at a new job are a unique opportunity. As "the new guy" everything is new and strange. We get a lot of leeway to ask questions -- so ask lots of questions! Of course, we need to do some digging beforehand so we can understand the responses. Keep track of which processes or interfaces are confusing. Everyone else is used to them, warts and all, and will need your insight to smooth out the rough edges.

Meet as many people as you can. Ask them what they do and how it interacts with what you'll be doing. You'll be asking these people for favors soon enough! Use this relatively unstructured time to integrate professionally and socially into the new culture. Now is the time to build a solid base -- from here we will expand our area of competency and influence.

"Hi, I'm [your name], I'm new in [your department]" this is where you'd offer to shake hands If they didn't introduce themselves, follow with "What is your name?" If you've been introduced, but can't remember their name, be honest about it and apologize. "I know we've been introduced, but I can't recall your name. I apologize. What is your name?"

Follow with "Nice to meet you [their name]. [their name], What do you do and how does your department interact with mine?"

I'm glad I got the chance to start on a smallish project with a buddy. This gave me one person to pester instead of annoying the whole team. I was able to jump into the code and make my first SVN commit about a week in. The parts that were too large conceptually for me to figure out I was able to push back to my buddy. It's great to have a project that directly affects the product. I've seen plenty of new hires toiling away on an initial project that will be stand-alone -- this doesn't tie them into the main product and they're essentially still just the new guy when they're done.

Hey, don't kill yourself in the first weeks. Realize that you'll need extra down-time for all these new experiences to sink in. Let the new grooves form.

I'm really excited to be back around excited people. I've spent much of today (Saturday) reading through our code base and browsing software books for related patterns.