Inspiration — @javisantana

I'm cofounder of Tinybird, a product to build realtime data products. These are the quotes that inspire me.

Neglecting opportunities #

Most of us have this natural tendency to overly obsess over the outcome—the promotion or the beach body or the big sale—and to neglect the joy of the journey, thereby undermining our ability to actually make it across the finish line. What this means is that we may have to pay extra close attention to whether we’re neglecting opportunities to make the current phase of our journey more rewarding.

I think a lot about this lately. Some things in the journey of a startup are stressful and hard (layoffs, people leaving, not performing at the level other expect). It’s a cliché, I know, but that doesn’t mean it’s less true.

Lewis Kallow in this every.to article

You don't learn, then start #

“You don’t learn, then start. You start, then learn” - Sahil Lavingia, founder of Gumroad

I’m amazed by how many people don’t use this way of learning.

Owning your own internet space #

I’ve always been a firm believer in owning your own internet space, and I continued to do that by blogging

Vicky Boykis

Websites seem to be less and less important as everybody is just looking at 10 second videos all the time. I love having my space, with my name on it, where I talk about what I like, with my own design and shape.

Trust yourself #

We were (and still are not) a company that operates that way. I knew it then, but I lacked the confidence to trust myself. Worse, I listened to people who didn’t know what they’re talking about

David Cramer, founder of sentry, talking about hiring.

I’ve seen and done this several times, even knowing I needed to do something different I ended up doing the “right” (average) thing, I followed the fucking recipe.

it’s always better to trust your gut, even it’s not the best solution because you will be pushing and working hard for it. Most of times that’s the right thing

WERK96 911 dash #

I just fell in love with this dashboard. I’m a huge fan of car dashboards, specially old ones, before all the digital and touch screens era.

These days we don’t need to make a lot of decisions about what data to show, it’s a programable screen, we can change it. And I’m not just talking about cars, it’s everything, there are companies building BI tools, making millions of dollars a year out of this. If you have a analog-like dashboard, you need to make good decisions about what to show, what’s important. You don’t have the the pixel freedom luxury, you have some lights, guages, numbers and buttons, that’s it. Sometimes I think about creating a hardware dashboard for my own company, what would I show? what’s the thing I can’t miss?

Take a look to the video showcasing all the car (a Porsche 991 996)

We need to decide is which information is the most valuable and put our best equipment there #

We are now at the start of the computer industry, an industry that will be the largest in the United States. The Model T’s of the computer industry are here, and people are beginning to use them. I am very much afraid we will make the same mistakes over again.

We will buy beautiful pieces of hardware and software and totally neglect the underlying force, the total flow of information through any organization, activity, or company.

We should now be looking at the information flow, and then selecting the equipment that will best implement that flow. To do this, the very first thing we need to decide is which information is the most valuable and put our best equipment there.

– Grace Hopper in this fantastic talk

Influence #

there’s just too much influence out there from other sources there’s too much information available which is taking over that creativity and that inventiveness. It’s a frustration for me when i see some young designers you’ve got to invent something new, the stuff you’re seeing on the internet has already been done you’ve got to do something new

• Julian Thomson on Car Design Podcast

Instant Fun #

Our product philosophy is “everything should be instant fun”

Teenage engineering

Barefoot Navigation #

I’m enthusiastic about barefoot navigation, but far from dogmatic. Being in awe of the natural world does not preclude me from admiring the accomplishments of science. Satellite navigation systems are the only practical application of Einstein’s theories of relativity; they work because the clocks in satellites tick faster than the clock in your receiver by 38 microseconds a day… Think about that. In its day, Charles Babbage’s concept of the mechanical computer for calculating navigation tables was equally impressive but sat-nav actually works and has become universal Nor am I a vegan-style purist: I lose no sleep over the notion that a Cessna 340 landing in the distance creates a horizon event, which hints at a course-to-steer for landfall. It does not have to be a blue-footed booby nest-bound to feed the fledglings.

Barefoot navigation, Jack Lagan

(I don’t think the 38 microseconds thing is true, but the point is still valid)

In And Out #

Jay Leno visiting a company that just restores old car dashboards

I like people who specialize in stuff like my favourite hamburguer place is in-and-out because all they sell are hamburguers, no burritos, no chicken sandwiches […]

Jay Leno’s Garage.

Kind of feel the same but I have to ackonwlege it comes with a certain level of discomfort when you don’t have that small detail that makes your life easier. I guess is the price you pay for quality.

Still Not Comfortable #

TG: How quickly after you finished this car did you realize that you were going to be comfortable restoring cars for other people?

RD: I’m still not comfortable restoring cars for other people [laughs] so the idea of this being an enterprise that was part of some kind of grand plan back then is ridiculous. The enormous responsibility in transforming these cars for customers is something that still keeps us honest every day.

• Interview to Singer Vehicle Design

El Exito #

El exito

Reír mucho y a menudo; ganarse el respeto de las personas inteligentes y el aprecio de los niños; merecer el elogio de los críticos sinceros y mostrarse tolerante con las traiciones de los falsos amigos; saber apreciar la belleza y hallar lo mejor en el prójimo; dejar un mondo algo mejor, bien sea por medio de un hijo sano, de un rincón de jardín o d euna conditión socual redimida; saber que al menos una vida ha alentado más libremente gracias a la nuestra: eso es haber triunfado

• Ralph Waldo Emerson

Engineering #

Two quotes from this video where they guy tries to understand why Porsche entusiast love them so much:

Engineering is the process of balancing requirements

They are engineered systems not just engineered parts assembled into a system

• The problem with Porsche

The Air They Breathe #

a lot of companies race because is good fit the brand, porsche races because is the air they breathe

• Faster, Farther

New Vs Improved #

And that was FW14 in a nutshell. As I say, very much an evolution of the Leyton House car in many respects but using the experience and resources of a team that, under Patrick’s guidance, was much more developed and structured than we had achieved at Leyton House. It was also the first example of a philosophy I’ve since tried to continue with throughout my career: if you can come up with a decent concept then develop it year after year until either the regulations change or you realise that it was the wrong route. That, for me, is the most fruitful way to work.

Conversely, you do see cars where there seems to be no continuity. The shape is different from the year before, and different again the year after. The team is confused and doesn’t properly understand the car. A good example of that was the 2011 McLaren, which was a decent car. Then they changed it completely for 2012. It went okay but nothing spectacular. But instead of trying to work out how to develop it, they changed it again the following year, and got completely lost.

To me it looked as though, with the 2012 car, they had simply tried to be different but not necessarily for good engineering reasons. Then, for 2013, they just tried to copy various features from along the pit lane: the front end of a Red Bull mated to the middle of a Renault to the back of a Ferrari- a camel. Needless to say, it ran badly. The problem was that they kept changing it without every fully understanding what they actually had. Darwin was not wrong. Evolution is often the key once the spark of a good direction has been set.

• From the book “How to build a car”

Building Cathedrals #

Three stone cutters were asked about their jobs.

First said he was paid to cut stones…

Second one replied that he used special techniques in a exceptional way […]

The third stone cutters just smiled and said: “I build cathedrals”

• From the book Maverick

Creativity Inc Quotes #

Part I: Getting Started

THERE IS NOTHING quite like ignorance combined with a driving need to succeed to force rapid learning.

— Chapter 3: A Defining Goal > Page 43

One morning in June, an overtired artist drove to work with his infant child strapped into the backseat, intending to deliver the baby to day care on the way. Some time later, after he’d been at work for a few hours, his wife (also a Pixar employee) happened to ask him how drop- off had gone— which is when he realized that he’d left their child in the car in the broiling Pixar parking lot. They rushed out to find the baby unconscious and poured cold water over him immediately. Thankfully, the child was okay, but the trauma of this moment— the what- could- have- been— was imprinted deeply on my brain. Asking this much of our people, even when they wanted to give it, was not acceptable. I had expected the road to be rough, but I had to admit that we were coming apart. By the time the film was complete, a full third of the staff would have some kind of repetitive stress injury.

— Chapter 4: Establishing Pixar’s Identity > Page 71

The takeaway here is worth repeating: Getting the team right is the necessary precursor to getting the ideas right. It is easy to say you want talented people, and you do, but the way those people interact with one another is the real key. Even the smartest people can form an ineffective team if they are mismatched.

— Chapter 4: Establishing Pixar’s Identity > Page 72

There is an important principle here that may seem obvious, yet— in my experience— is not obvious at all. Getting the right people and the right chemistry is more important than getting the right idea.

— Chapter 4: Establishing Pixar’s Identity > Page 72

Ideas come from people. Therefore, people are more important than ideas.

— Chapter 4: Establishing Pixar’s Identity > Page 73

time, John coined a new phrase: “Quality is the best business plan.”

— Chapter 4: Establishing Pixar’s Identity > Page 79

Part II: Protecting the New

simple: Experiments are fact- finding missions that, over time, inch scientists toward greater understanding.

— Chapter 6: Fear and Failure > Page 110

Creating art or developing new products in a for- profit context is complicated and expensive.

— Chapter 6: Fear and Failure > Page 111

When it comes to creative endeavors, the concept of zero failures is worse than useless. It is counterproductive.

— Chapter 6: Fear and Failure > Page 112

Fears About Yourself #

fears about yourself prevent you from doing your best work, fears about your reception by others prevent you from doing your own work

Art & Fear book

Lotus #

Speaking about designing Lotus Elise:

Lotus never used to take cars back in transporting, always drove them. And quite rightly, you can learn so much about the car just driving it. It was always said you have got to pretend you are a customer… we were really trying to develop a car

• Developing the Lotus Elise with Dave Minter

Important Topic #

If you get people together for a meeting about how important a topic is you know that you’ve failed

• Richard Cook at Velocity 2013 talk

18 Months To Build The Greatest Xyz #

If you knew you had 18 months to build the world’s greatest XYZ, and you could hire a world-class team of scientists and engineers to build it, what kind of facility would you set up?

From this essay speaking about what’s the best place to innovate. Another questions come to my mind: who would you hire? what questions would you ask? how would be your plan?

Best Advice On How To Do Art #

The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pound of pots rated an “A”, forty pounds a “B”, and so on. Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot — albeit a perfect one — to get an “A”. Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work - and learning from their mistakes — the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.

Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking

Datomic #

I find really interesting when people don’t do things in the standard way. A few weeks ago someone asked to the founder of RoamResearch (I product is getting some attention) what their tech stack was. He answered “Clojure, Datomic” which is not the tyipical web stack.

Anyway, I didn’t hear about Datomit before so after taking a look to their website I got interested (as always) in “how it works”.

I found this talk which is really interesting, specially because you realize that every single database should work like that but likely hardware 30 years ago was not perfomant enough to do that.

Aesthetics Is Free Marketing #

Aesthetics is free marketing

Ken Wong, The Art of Monument Valley

Miyamoto #

The interesting thing about interactive media is that it allows the players to engage with a problem, conjure a solution, try out that solution, and then experience the results. Then they can go back to the thinking stage and start to plan out their next move. This process of trial and error builds the interactive world in their minds. This is the true canvas on which we design—not the screen. That’s something I always keep in mind when designing games.

Miyamoto in The New Yorker

Picaso #

When art critics get together they talk about form and structure and meaning. When artists get together they talk about where you can buy cheap turpentine.

• Picasso

Mathematics Is An Art #

Mathematics is an art, and art should be taught by working artists, or if not, at least by people who appreciate the art form and can recognize it when they see it. It is not necessary that you learn music from a professional composer, but would you want yourself or your child to be taught by someone who doesn’t even play an instrument, and has never listened to a piece of music in their lives? Would you accept as an art teacher someone who has never picked up a pencil or stepped foot in a museum?

By Paul Lockhart read in Bret Victor thoughts on teaching

The Fremen #

If you want to know how to work with new or limited resources, find a population that’s used to not having many alternatives. Find someone who has already optimized for the reality you’re about to enter and learn from them.

The Fremen are the (possibly) fictional natives of the desert planet of Arrakis, who live with very little water.