This week’s round-up of what we’ve seen or heard at the intersection of #technology, #business, #design and #organisation, and thought was interesting.
📚 Reading
👀 Seeing Like an Algorithm—Eugene Wei:
TikTok’s application design allows its algorithm to “see” all the detail it needs to perform its matchmaking job efficiently and accurately … A new model for getting the most leverage from machine learning algorithms in the design of applications and services.
Algorithm-friendly product design and the network effects of creativity. Link
🎰 How Amazon Automated Work and Put Its People to Better Use—HBR:
The purpose was not to eliminate jobs but to automate tasks so that the company could reassign people to build new products — to do more with the people on staff, rather than doing the same with fewer people.
If algorithms indeed get to “see”, it’s people that will point them to new vistas. Link
👑 Mark in the Middle—The Verge:
In 2020, Facebook would be roiled by a global pandemic, internal protests over racial injustice, a deeply polarizing election, and the ongoing threat of multiple state and federal investigations into antitrust and privacy. But on the morning of July 16th, Mark Zuckerberg found his workforce asking for something else: their missing office snacks.
Based on leaks this may be, but Mark Zuckerberg comes out looking rather thoughtful and aware of the bigger (and it is big) picture. Seeing like a monarch, almost. Link
🎧 Listening
👀 TikTok & Beyond: The Algorithm Question, The Future of Product. Another round of Eugene Wei on TikTok and creativity network effects. Link
⚖️ How to think strategically. Strategy as a personal skill (actually, 20 microskills). A different kind of strategy (for a different age). Link
📬 Suggestions?
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This week’s photo is by Clayton Cardinalli on Unsplash.