4 ms·

You guarantee request quality of service, not staffing levels, by using a per-request queue. Beginning with the person most likely to say yes desirably, send o

by patio11 15y ago

You guarantee request quality of service, not staffing levels, by using a per-request queue. Beginning with the person most likely to say yes desirably, send out SMSes saying "Exec! New job for you. If you want details reply in next 2 minutes.". If they reply, opportunistically lock job for 5 min while they read. If not, move onto next potential exec. Tune parameters as required until 90% of customers get called within 10 minutes. I totally get that your friend deals with the problems of flakey and unreliable people who are habitually not up to the task of working... but she doesn't deal with them like they were IP packets, does she? If she did, she wouldn't really be in the dog walking business anymore, but she'd also have potentially quite good reliability systemwide based on a network of high-failure components.

mikeryan 15y ago
There seems to be a disconnect on the points we're arguing here. Task scheduling and routing is (almost) the easy part or at least a pretty solvable equation - there's a whole range of operations and queue theory texts that can make a quick go of managing that. I'm more concerned with the human element. HR overhead, people making sure tasks are getting done well and in a timely manner. "but she doesn't deal with them like they were IP packets, does she?" - No she (he actually ;-) can't they're people.
- barry-cotter 15y ago
  "I'm more concerned with the human element. HR overhead, people making sure tasks are getting done well and in a timely manner. "but she doesn't deal with them like they were IP packets, does she?" - No she (he actually ;-) can't they're people." That's the point of Exec and of every we-can-disintermediate-this-or-make-it-massively-easier-by-using-IT-and-CS startup. They can treat people like IP packets. At some stage they'll have practically open hiring and most people will wash out fairly quickly but the ones who either excel or consistently fail to fuck up will just keep on getting tasks from Exec, the others won't.
justjimmy 15y ago
Think he's talking about the employee/customer relation and its logistics. Those sites mentioned are mere platforms or markets, it's up the both parties to find each other – they just make it easier by being the middelmen. Exec is actually representing the seller side, the service provider. Execs don't match sellers and buyers, they match buyers with Exec employees which, already mentioned, can open a new set of challenges than sites like Airbnb and 99designs. You definitely get more quality dealing with Exec's handpicked employees, but from what I see, there's alot of managing effort required from Exec unless they can (or have already) come up a way to answer it via algorithms.

by patio11 15y ago

mikeryan 15y ago

There seems to be a disconnect on the points we're arguing here. Task scheduling and routing is (almost) the easy part or at least a pretty solvable equation - there's a whole range of operations and queue theory texts that can make a quick go of managing that. I'm more concerned with the human element. HR overhead, people making sure tasks are getting done well and in a timely manner. "but she doesn't deal with them like they were IP packets, does she?" - No she (he actually ;-) can't they're people.

barry-cotter 15y ago
"I'm more concerned with the human element. HR overhead, people making sure tasks are getting done well and in a timely manner. "but she doesn't deal with them like they were IP packets, does she?" - No she (he actually ;-) can't they're people." That's the point of Exec and of every we-can-disintermediate-this-or-make-it-massively-easier-by-using-IT-and-CS startup. They can treat people like IP packets. At some stage they'll have practically open hiring and most people will wash out fairly quickly but the ones who either excel or consistently fail to fuck up will just keep on getting tasks from Exec, the others won't.

justjimmy 15y ago

Think he's talking about the employee/customer relation and its logistics. Those sites mentioned are mere platforms or markets, it's up the both parties to find each other – they just make it easier by being the middelmen. Exec is actually representing the seller side, the service provider. Execs don't match sellers and buyers, they match buyers with Exec employees which, already mentioned, can open a new set of challenges than sites like Airbnb and 99designs. You definitely get more quality dealing with Exec's handpicked employees, but from what I see, there's alot of managing effort required from Exec unless they can (or have already) come up a way to answer it via algorithms.