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I find the 'learn to see systems' skill to be one that brings me the most benefit. Being able to see not only how, but _why_ a system works the way it does, fr

I find the 'learn to see systems' skill to be one that brings me the most benefit. Being able to see not only how, but _why_ a system works the way it does, from not only a technical but business perspective is incredibly valuable. I have the most difficulty with the 'learn to see what others see' point. It can take me a long time to see why non-technical people have some of views they do (regarding tech, requirements, etc.) Usually this comes in the form of them ascribing more value to something then I do. For instance, uber - to me its an unlicensed taxi service. To others I know, its the best thing since sliced bread. Many of the 'Unicorns' spark this reaction from me. Which is probably why I'm not retired on a private island somewhere :-P

dasil003 6y ago
FWIW I often feel the same as you. But as an aside have you ever tried to get a cab outside Manhattan before Uber?
- mech422 6y ago
  I actually lived in Manhattan for years... My girlfriend at the time used to take a 'gypsy cab' from the Bronx to downtown everyday. Though, I admit when I lived in Staten Island it is was an issue. Thing is, companies are not servicing those areas because its not profitable. That makes me extremely leery of claims that gig drivers can make minimum wage ( or more) in those areas. I feel the drivers are basically subsidizing the ride companies profits. edit: which means, I ultimately feel these companies will go out of business.
  - chrisseaton 6y ago
    > I feel the drivers are basically subsidizing the ride companies profits. Since the ride companies don't make any profits... this cannot be a true statement.
    - mech422 6y ago
      LOL - true... But that felt like just rubbing it in :-P Also, they all seem to be trying to pivot to delivery and self-driving cars, so I guess they have doubts about profitability with the current setup.
  - leereeves 6y ago
    Aren't the investors still subsidizing the cost of the rides? It will be interesting to see how much those less profitable routes cost when Uber starts trying to monetize.
  - toast0 6y ago
    > Thing is, companies are not servicing those areas because its not profitable. That makes me extremely leery of claims that gig drivers can make minimum wage ( or more) in those areas. I feel the drivers are basically subsidizing the ride companies profits. Are licensed cabs not serving those areas because it's not profitable, or are they not serving those areas because other areas are more profitable and the licensing regime's medalion limits mean the more profitable areas won't be saturated with (licensed) taxis. Unlicensed taxis could mean less profitable, but still profitable realms are able to be serviced, because there are more taxis. It also makes it more possible to profit because the prices aren't fixed, and some of the costs of licensed cabs can be avoided (at possible peril). It does seem like mostly a scheme to subsidize rides (and vehicle leases) by investors, with little benefit for the drivers. I also am deeply suspect of the long term health of the current unlicensed taxi services; but there's certainly potential.
    - mech422 6y ago
      >>Are licensed cabs not serving those areas because it's not profitable, or are they not serving those areas because other areas are more profitable and the licensing regime's medallion limits mean the more profitable areas won't be saturated with (licensed) taxis. Personally, I'd vote for 'not profitable'. Not every place that lacks decent cab service is limited by medallions. I'd personally guess that most places lacking service are small towns and suburbs. In those cases, I don't think lack of medallions is an issue. Also, personal anecdata - I take Lyft about 5-10 times a month with the same stops each time. I have never gotten the same driver twice. This just makes it feel like a big ponzi scheme to me, with fresh drivers coming in as old drivers wise up and move on... TBF - I use doordash quite a lot also, and have the same experience with 'dashers' - never the same one twice.
giantg2 6y ago
"Many of the 'Unicorns' spark this reaction from me. Which is probably why I'm not retired on a private island somewhere :-P " Haha, me too.
- giantg2 6y ago
  Why's this being downvoted? I found the quote entertaining and highly relatable. Did I miss interpret and this guy is saying he is in fact rich?
  - mech422 6y ago
    I don't know... I'd agree the post gave me a chuckle..
neilkakkar 6y ago
Aside, but on similar lines: I have to keep reminding myself that everyone isn't like me. In my private talks with myself, I refer to this skill as modelling other people well: in effect, I'm trying to build models for different kinds of people. There's lots of different kinds, and a few broad types show up, explaining most of their (general / broad) actions. This is still very much a work in progress for myself too, but would be very interesting to see if I get somewhere substantial.
Aerroon 6y ago
>I have the most difficulty with the 'learn to see what others see' point. It can take me a long time to see why non-technical people have some of views they do One way I've thought about this is a difference in understanding patterns. Imagine that you can see a picture of a landscape. You can see the sun in the sky, rolling hills covered in grass, and a town in the distance. You can probably reproduce this picture. You might not be able to draw it well, or maybe at all, but you could at least describe it. Now imagine a picture of some English text. You can reproduce this rather accurately. Maybe even from memory. After that, imagine a picture of text in Dutch. You can reproduce it when you can see it, but you'll probably have difficulty recalling it. The patterns don't make as much sense, because you don't understand Dutch. Now, imagine an image of Japanese text. Reproducing it, even when it's right next to you, would be difficult. The patterns that make up the text don't make sense to you. You don't have enough experience with Japanese to even try to put pieces together to describe it to someone. You can forget about trying to memorize it. Now Think about people with different language backgrounds looking at these same images. They might be looking at the same thing, but they will see something different. People who aren't familiar with Japanese and Korean might not even be able to tell these two languages apart! They look very different, but with no experience they both look like squiggly gibberish. It comes down to a difference in experience with different patterns. This idea applies to basically everything in life. Be it understanding tech, playing sports, riding a bike, or playing video games. People's past experiences will influence what they can recognize and reproduce in those activities. If you want to experience this distance yourself then I recommend playing some video game where you can significantly improve at the game quickly. Something like Super Hexagon. At first, you'll fail. You'll fail within the first few seconds over and over. In minutes, however, you'll fail less and less. Soon, you can go a whole minute without failing. You do this on a few different occasions and suddenly, it's difficult for you to understand how you couldn't do this right from the start. After all, the game is quite simple! It just wasn't simple for you at the time. It's not just a difference in preferences.

dasil003 6y ago

FWIW I often feel the same as you. But as an aside have you ever tried to get a cab outside Manhattan before Uber?

mech422 6y ago
I actually lived in Manhattan for years... My girlfriend at the time used to take a 'gypsy cab' from the Bronx to downtown everyday. Though, I admit when I lived in Staten Island it is was an issue. Thing is, companies are not servicing those areas because its not profitable. That makes me extremely leery of claims that gig drivers can make minimum wage ( or more) in those areas. I feel the drivers are basically subsidizing the ride companies profits. edit: which means, I ultimately feel these companies will go out of business.
- chrisseaton 6y ago
  > I feel the drivers are basically subsidizing the ride companies profits. Since the ride companies don't make any profits... this cannot be a true statement.
  - mech422 6y ago
    LOL - true... But that felt like just rubbing it in :-P Also, they all seem to be trying to pivot to delivery and self-driving cars, so I guess they have doubts about profitability with the current setup.
- leereeves 6y ago
  Aren't the investors still subsidizing the cost of the rides? It will be interesting to see how much those less profitable routes cost when Uber starts trying to monetize.
- toast0 6y ago
  > Thing is, companies are not servicing those areas because its not profitable. That makes me extremely leery of claims that gig drivers can make minimum wage ( or more) in those areas. I feel the drivers are basically subsidizing the ride companies profits. Are licensed cabs not serving those areas because it's not profitable, or are they not serving those areas because other areas are more profitable and the licensing regime's medalion limits mean the more profitable areas won't be saturated with (licensed) taxis. Unlicensed taxis could mean less profitable, but still profitable realms are able to be serviced, because there are more taxis. It also makes it more possible to profit because the prices aren't fixed, and some of the costs of licensed cabs can be avoided (at possible peril). It does seem like mostly a scheme to subsidize rides (and vehicle leases) by investors, with little benefit for the drivers. I also am deeply suspect of the long term health of the current unlicensed taxi services; but there's certainly potential.
  - mech422 6y ago
    >>Are licensed cabs not serving those areas because it's not profitable, or are they not serving those areas because other areas are more profitable and the licensing regime's medallion limits mean the more profitable areas won't be saturated with (licensed) taxis. Personally, I'd vote for 'not profitable'. Not every place that lacks decent cab service is limited by medallions. I'd personally guess that most places lacking service are small towns and suburbs. In those cases, I don't think lack of medallions is an issue. Also, personal anecdata - I take Lyft about 5-10 times a month with the same stops each time. I have never gotten the same driver twice. This just makes it feel like a big ponzi scheme to me, with fresh drivers coming in as old drivers wise up and move on... TBF - I use doordash quite a lot also, and have the same experience with 'dashers' - never the same one twice.

giantg2 6y ago

"Many of the 'Unicorns' spark this reaction from me. Which is probably why I'm not retired on a private island somewhere :-P " Haha, me too.

giantg2 6y ago
Why's this being downvoted? I found the quote entertaining and highly relatable. Did I miss interpret and this guy is saying he is in fact rich?
- mech422 6y ago
  I don't know... I'd agree the post gave me a chuckle..

neilkakkar 6y ago

Aside, but on similar lines: I have to keep reminding myself that everyone isn't like me. In my private talks with myself, I refer to this skill as modelling other people well: in effect, I'm trying to build models for different kinds of people. There's lots of different kinds, and a few broad types show up, explaining most of their (general / broad) actions. This is still very much a work in progress for myself too, but would be very interesting to see if I get somewhere substantial.

Aerroon 6y ago

>I have the most difficulty with the 'learn to see what others see' point. It can take me a long time to see why non-technical people have some of views they do One way I've thought about this is a difference in understanding patterns. Imagine that you can see a picture of a landscape. You can see the sun in the sky, rolling hills covered in grass, and a town in the distance. You can probably reproduce this picture. You might not be able to draw it well, or maybe at all, but you could at least describe it. Now imagine a picture of some English text. You can reproduce this rather accurately. Maybe even from memory. After that, imagine a picture of text in Dutch. You can reproduce it when you can see it, but you'll probably have difficulty recalling it. The patterns don't make as much sense, because you don't understand Dutch. Now, imagine an image of Japanese text. Reproducing it, even when it's right next to you, would be difficult. The patterns that make up the text don't make sense to you. You don't have enough experience with Japanese to even try to put pieces together to describe it to someone. You can forget about trying to memorize it. Now Think about people with different language backgrounds looking at these same images. They might be looking at the same thing, but they will see something different. People who aren't familiar with Japanese and Korean might not even be able to tell these two languages apart! They look very different, but with no experience they both look like squiggly gibberish. It comes down to a difference in experience with different patterns. This idea applies to basically everything in life. Be it understanding tech, playing sports, riding a bike, or playing video games. People's past experiences will influence what they can recognize and reproduce in those activities. If you want to experience this distance yourself then I recommend playing some video game where you can significantly improve at the game quickly. Something like Super Hexagon. At first, you'll fail. You'll fail within the first few seconds over and over. In minutes, however, you'll fail less and less. Soon, you can go a whole minute without failing. You do this on a few different occasions and suddenly, it's difficult for you to understand how you couldn't do this right from the start. After all, the game is quite simple! It just wasn't simple for you at the time. It's not just a difference in preferences.