Motivated by the popularity of games, designers of social systems sometimes adopt scoring and ranking systems simplistically, with counterproductive results. The easiest design mistake is to throw up a “leaderboard” ranking all participants by a single dimension. Tom Coates explains that this simply discourages most participants. “Competitive charts, particularly at scale, basically are disincentives! Why compete to be #134,555th best at something!” Jane McGonigal agrees: “Cumulative allplayer scoreboards/ranks/achievements are fail, should be stopped like blink tags ^_^
Cynically speaking, one could say that it is true to life to be cynical about it.
— Paul Tillich
It does not matter if you already have the talent to save your company among your current employees. If you do not have the vision, will, and power at the highest level, then that talent is almost certain to remain as wasted as it is frustrated
— Bill Buxton
The financial sector subtracts value from society.
— John Bogle
The main things which seem to me important on their own account, and not merely as means to other things, are knowledge, art, instinctive happiness, and relations of friendship or affection.
— Bertrand Russell
When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty; I think only about how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.
— Buckminster Fuller
There is one thing companies can do short of structuring themselves as sponges: they can stay small. If I’m right, then it really pays to keep a company as small as it can be at every stage. Particularly a technology company. Which means it’s doubly important to hire the best people. Mediocre hires hurt you twice: they get less done, but they also make you big, because you need more of them to solve a given problem.
— Paul Graham
