Need a job?
HaPpY ThUrSdAy!
Need a job?
Hi! I'm Mybrid Wonderful and perhaps I can help you invent work now that it is the end of the world as we know it. Pandemic help for the day.
I'm an inventor. Another way of saying that is I'm a software engineer. We invent algorithms to solve problems daily. This is why computer science is called an art. Imagination, baby.
So yesterday I was kicking around a couple of inventions for this time of pandemic.
Odds are if you need a job then making one of your own can be an option. If you need a job then this is what this essay is all about.
One challenge with these inventions is that I'm a software engineer. I don't have a problem finding a job. If all you have is a hammer then everything looks like a nail. My hammer is software engineering so my nail will always be to write an app for that. But, software engineers are not the community most affected by the pandemic. We work remote easily. We need inventions for the service people out of work.
I thought I'd walk you through my process because the process itself you may find useful.
First up is don't edit and write at the same time. Go with your stream of consciousness. This is why I did not just dismiss my initial ideas here. Just let it rip. I'm a writer and I get writer's block. The advice that worked best for me is not to mix editing and stream of consciousness. Just have at it. Everyone's first blush is probably a failure of an idea. The notion is to learn from your failures. You can't learn from your failures unless you fail. So fail, damn it.
My first blush then is to immediately think of an app like a phone app to help people queue. Or the Match.com app to match home owners with renters to help each other stay at home.
But that's not the point. The point is to get you a job. New market conditions make new jobs possible albeit disruption like with innovation or disruption like with pandemics. So what I got right is identifying new market opportunities. What I got wrong is that I can easily create myself a new job with each of those but that's not my concern. I already have one. My concern is to help you find a job and you are not a software engineer.
Well, if you are a software engineer get cracking on The Queue and The Rotation software!
You need a job and you are not a software engineer. Can we make The Queue and The Rotation service jobs that service people currently unemployed can do?
Well, next I have to go back to first principles.
Let's start with The Queue invention. The Queue takes a real world notion, the "take a number" red plastic dispenser and turns that into a social distancing phone app. That's the new market. What else do I know about queues? Well, I do have a graduate degree in computer science from UC Berkeley. I have queue education. People every day graduate with new PhDs from university solely on the topic of queuing. Queuing theory requires some the most advanced AI and mathematics humans have invented. Now, you may be thinking, "how does someone cutting in line require advanced mathematics to solve the problem?" And right you are. Just tell their ass to get back in line. But the deli counter number system is not so easy. What if someone is in the restroom and missed the call? How long do you wait until you ask them to take another number?
Computer scheduling for airlines is very complex. Probably some of the most complex math goes into the stock market queues for trades. People pay to get to the front of the line for their trades similar to how you can pay Disney to bypass the line at theme parks.
Okay, so queuing can appear naive like with the red dispenser and scale to complex with the stock market and airlines.
The question is can we find you a queuing job that matches your particular skill set? Well, for starters we need to define some baseline where if someone does not have that baseline expertise then this is not a job for them.
1. Technology savvy. Some app will definitely be used. If it is not a new one then perhaps email, texting, and other exiting technology can be used. This requires a significant tech awareness, like say an Uber drive. Pretty much the general public can be an Uber driver but if someone cannot use that level of app then they are disqualified.
2. Customer service. Can you handle angry people? People get angry no matter what the rules are. Someone will declare the rules are unfair. Let's put this in context of say your local grocery store. You don't want lines forming for social distancing. As the queue manager your job is to get people to the store and allow them into the store immediately. Well, how many people does the store allow at any given time? Fifty? Okay, let's go with fifty. How long is the average shopping time? Thirty minutes? Let's go with thirty minutes. So your job is to manage a list of fifty people per thirty minute time window. The store will alert you when to allow the next block in. So you have a block of fifty numbers that people can take. The question is can you hand out one per person or one per household and how do you tell? You are the customer service rep. What do you think? Well, currently stores are going with one cart per one person. So, perhaps one number per one phone call? People call you and take one number. That sucks. Then you have to track that phone number. Meh. That's too complicated. Some software with registered accounts might help here. But let's continue. How about just using an admonishment? You, the customer service rep, read a short admonishment that people must verbally agree to on the phone that numbers are one per person. Okay, that's better, it doesn't require tracking. If people violate the admonishment, oh well. So where are we? Oh yeah, so people call me as the service rep and I give them a number and a time window to show up. But what if they have to cancel? What if they have a two hour commute? I'm going with no cancellations. If people do not show up then take another number. Still, customers who miss an appointment are going to call and beg and plead to get to the head of the line? What policy should we have? That's your job, to handle the angry customer therefore it makes sense to give you the power to make exceptions. For example, what if someone with a long commute gets stuck in traffic and misses their window? They call you. Well, perhaps the best thing here to do is reserve 10% of the total fifty for such cases. This means only forty-five numbers per window are handed out. The remaining five numbers are held back in reserve for emergencies such as this or emergencies in general. Now we are flushing out a job as a customer service rep that requires human judgment and not solvable by computers. If more than the allotted five slots are needed then the final five need to be chosen. Finally, corporations will have policies that need promoting. You're job then that computers cannot do is public relations. You'll need to talk people down off the ledge and promote the company and its policies.
3. Organization skills. Issuing and tracking numbers like this requires a significant track record of being organized. People are going to call you for a number and a time window. Or perhaps they will email or text you. In any case you will have to keep things straight.
That's enough I think. This is an important part of inventing. You need to know when to learn to leave the design incomplete on the drawing board. There are many reasons for this. First, you need to get your idea accepted. Generally just a good approximation is good enough. We call this the smell test. What we have so far passes the smell test. The Queue as defined above specifies a customer service job that requires a human that relies on existing or perhaps new software applications.
So that's The Queue as an invention that requires a human for customer service.
Can we do the same thing for The Rotation? Sure.
Where to start? There already exist people who match renters with home buyers when a renter buys a house. They are called realtors. Can we leverage this? Perhaps. I recently bought a house and discovered that contact between the buyer and seller is not allowed. You can't personally speak to each other but must work through your realtor. I'm guessing this is because time has shown that keeping that parties at arms length is optimal buying conditions.
What about AirBnB? We are not renting someone's home but still what can we think about reusing? Well, how about reviews? I'm not really sure that applies here unless we are talking more than one payment for home owner and renter pair. Perhaps home owners become a long term backstop for renters who need to skip a payment. Then perhaps reviews on renters who act in good faith would be very important?
How do we manage this relationship if we are not going to just build Match.com. Remember we are inventing a job for people without computer skills, but rather with service skills. This suggests perhaps a Realtor type scenario where both sides of renter and home owner have an advocate and in general it can't be the same person. The Rotation then requires two agents, one for the rent donor and one for the renter. The agents represent their clients. The agent's reputation then is what is up for public review. If you are a renter agent and your renter clientele abuse the situation then reviews should be publicly available for your reputation and not those of the renters. Let's be clear. Home owners are donating money as with any charity. There is no quid-pro-quo. Home owners are not setting up some future AirBnB rental in compensation. Renter's abusing the charity are no different than the long storied history of charities robbing money. Your reputation as The Rotation agent is the product.
Good, so The Rotation then is a charity organization designed to match donors with recipients. The realtor relationship is such that there is no contact between donor and recipient. I give blood and my donations are anonymous, I don't know who gets my blood and they don't know me. Perhaps we should do that here.
Now I'm getting less confident. I think I'm on the right path but I also think I'm in over my head here. At this point I would not promote this as a smell test. Instead I would contact people I know in the Real Estate business or in charity and run this idea by them. I would try and get my smell test idea here shored up.
That's it. My ideas are ready for the next step.
I have what I mainly want of customer service job and not just a computer application.
Okay, I've come up with my new job inventions. One invention I think is ready for a smell test by the employer or business. The other inventionI feel needs some more work.
This is the invention process.
Now I sit back and look at both of them and I think to myself, you know these jobs are still not general enough. They require too much expertise. Perhaps then they are not so much job descriptions as they are small business descriptions. Perhaps a business can be started like with The Queue where people are hired to just answer phones and other people are hired to be account managers with the businesses using the service.
And so it goes. Could you do The Queue or The Rotation by yourself as a self-employed contractor? The Queue for sure. The Rotation requires a pool of agents as specified. However, this is just how I thought of The Rotation. Perhaps you have another approach that safeguards people's reputations and manages abuse.
People are generally good and yet there are always those who will game the system. Bear that in mind in any new invention in business. This is why sometimes we just ignore abuse like with the admonishment approach. Tracking is too expensive. If multiple people in a household take numbers with The Queue even after the admonishment, oh well. People are good in general and you can rely on that unless the consequences of people abusing the system are too risky.
Need a job? If so you are likely working in the service industry. I just laid out some new service jobs with business opportunities. I also walked through the inception phase of the invention process I use. Hopefully both of these have been useful. If you want to run things by me then feel free to send me email. I'm Mybrid Wonderful and my email address is my first name always and for this endeavor please send me email at Gmail.
Join an MGO today!
You can learn more about Irreni World Scale by visiting:
Cheers!
Benefit of cooperation replaces rule of law!
Freethinkers unite!
Freedom!
Party On!
Let's get cracking!
Voluntarily Reject Demagoguery!
Politics as Science!
Demand Irreni World Scale!
Anti-theism is feminism!
Think disruption!
Empathy for all!
Moral relativity: think it, breath it!
Prove it or lose it!
Conversations equal consensus!
Welcome to the 21st century!
Scale your empathy, scale the world!
Find your tribe!
Be sexy people!
The future is coming!
Innovate at a rapid pace!
Slow speed ahead!
Well come! and well met!
Need a job?
Hi! I'm Mybrid Wonderful and perhaps I can help you invent work now that it is the end of the world as we know it. Pandemic help for the day.
I'm an inventor. Another way of saying that is I'm a software engineer. We invent algorithms to solve problems daily. This is why computer science is called an art. Imagination, baby.
So yesterday I was kicking around a couple of inventions for this time of pandemic.
- The Queue: that "take a number", red plastic dispenser we are all familiar with at our local deli is The Queue. Only we make it a phone app to help Walmart, TJS and other stores to prevent lines.
- The Rotation: Home owners can skip mortgage payments, renters can't. Home owners are matched with renters where the home owner skips a payment in order to pay someone's rent. Perhaps this is Match.com for owners and renters?
Odds are if you need a job then making one of your own can be an option. If you need a job then this is what this essay is all about.
One challenge with these inventions is that I'm a software engineer. I don't have a problem finding a job. If all you have is a hammer then everything looks like a nail. My hammer is software engineering so my nail will always be to write an app for that. But, software engineers are not the community most affected by the pandemic. We work remote easily. We need inventions for the service people out of work.
I thought I'd walk you through my process because the process itself you may find useful.
First up is don't edit and write at the same time. Go with your stream of consciousness. This is why I did not just dismiss my initial ideas here. Just let it rip. I'm a writer and I get writer's block. The advice that worked best for me is not to mix editing and stream of consciousness. Just have at it. Everyone's first blush is probably a failure of an idea. The notion is to learn from your failures. You can't learn from your failures unless you fail. So fail, damn it.
My first blush then is to immediately think of an app like a phone app to help people queue. Or the Match.com app to match home owners with renters to help each other stay at home.
But that's not the point. The point is to get you a job. New market conditions make new jobs possible albeit disruption like with innovation or disruption like with pandemics. So what I got right is identifying new market opportunities. What I got wrong is that I can easily create myself a new job with each of those but that's not my concern. I already have one. My concern is to help you find a job and you are not a software engineer.
Well, if you are a software engineer get cracking on The Queue and The Rotation software!
You need a job and you are not a software engineer. Can we make The Queue and The Rotation service jobs that service people currently unemployed can do?
Well, next I have to go back to first principles.
Let's start with The Queue invention. The Queue takes a real world notion, the "take a number" red plastic dispenser and turns that into a social distancing phone app. That's the new market. What else do I know about queues? Well, I do have a graduate degree in computer science from UC Berkeley. I have queue education. People every day graduate with new PhDs from university solely on the topic of queuing. Queuing theory requires some the most advanced AI and mathematics humans have invented. Now, you may be thinking, "how does someone cutting in line require advanced mathematics to solve the problem?" And right you are. Just tell their ass to get back in line. But the deli counter number system is not so easy. What if someone is in the restroom and missed the call? How long do you wait until you ask them to take another number?
Computer scheduling for airlines is very complex. Probably some of the most complex math goes into the stock market queues for trades. People pay to get to the front of the line for their trades similar to how you can pay Disney to bypass the line at theme parks.
Okay, so queuing can appear naive like with the red dispenser and scale to complex with the stock market and airlines.
The question is can we find you a queuing job that matches your particular skill set? Well, for starters we need to define some baseline where if someone does not have that baseline expertise then this is not a job for them.
1. Technology savvy. Some app will definitely be used. If it is not a new one then perhaps email, texting, and other exiting technology can be used. This requires a significant tech awareness, like say an Uber drive. Pretty much the general public can be an Uber driver but if someone cannot use that level of app then they are disqualified.
2. Customer service. Can you handle angry people? People get angry no matter what the rules are. Someone will declare the rules are unfair. Let's put this in context of say your local grocery store. You don't want lines forming for social distancing. As the queue manager your job is to get people to the store and allow them into the store immediately. Well, how many people does the store allow at any given time? Fifty? Okay, let's go with fifty. How long is the average shopping time? Thirty minutes? Let's go with thirty minutes. So your job is to manage a list of fifty people per thirty minute time window. The store will alert you when to allow the next block in. So you have a block of fifty numbers that people can take. The question is can you hand out one per person or one per household and how do you tell? You are the customer service rep. What do you think? Well, currently stores are going with one cart per one person. So, perhaps one number per one phone call? People call you and take one number. That sucks. Then you have to track that phone number. Meh. That's too complicated. Some software with registered accounts might help here. But let's continue. How about just using an admonishment? You, the customer service rep, read a short admonishment that people must verbally agree to on the phone that numbers are one per person. Okay, that's better, it doesn't require tracking. If people violate the admonishment, oh well. So where are we? Oh yeah, so people call me as the service rep and I give them a number and a time window to show up. But what if they have to cancel? What if they have a two hour commute? I'm going with no cancellations. If people do not show up then take another number. Still, customers who miss an appointment are going to call and beg and plead to get to the head of the line? What policy should we have? That's your job, to handle the angry customer therefore it makes sense to give you the power to make exceptions. For example, what if someone with a long commute gets stuck in traffic and misses their window? They call you. Well, perhaps the best thing here to do is reserve 10% of the total fifty for such cases. This means only forty-five numbers per window are handed out. The remaining five numbers are held back in reserve for emergencies such as this or emergencies in general. Now we are flushing out a job as a customer service rep that requires human judgment and not solvable by computers. If more than the allotted five slots are needed then the final five need to be chosen. Finally, corporations will have policies that need promoting. You're job then that computers cannot do is public relations. You'll need to talk people down off the ledge and promote the company and its policies.
3. Organization skills. Issuing and tracking numbers like this requires a significant track record of being organized. People are going to call you for a number and a time window. Or perhaps they will email or text you. In any case you will have to keep things straight.
That's enough I think. This is an important part of inventing. You need to know when to learn to leave the design incomplete on the drawing board. There are many reasons for this. First, you need to get your idea accepted. Generally just a good approximation is good enough. We call this the smell test. What we have so far passes the smell test. The Queue as defined above specifies a customer service job that requires a human that relies on existing or perhaps new software applications.
So that's The Queue as an invention that requires a human for customer service.
Can we do the same thing for The Rotation? Sure.
Where to start? There already exist people who match renters with home buyers when a renter buys a house. They are called realtors. Can we leverage this? Perhaps. I recently bought a house and discovered that contact between the buyer and seller is not allowed. You can't personally speak to each other but must work through your realtor. I'm guessing this is because time has shown that keeping that parties at arms length is optimal buying conditions.
What about AirBnB? We are not renting someone's home but still what can we think about reusing? Well, how about reviews? I'm not really sure that applies here unless we are talking more than one payment for home owner and renter pair. Perhaps home owners become a long term backstop for renters who need to skip a payment. Then perhaps reviews on renters who act in good faith would be very important?
How do we manage this relationship if we are not going to just build Match.com. Remember we are inventing a job for people without computer skills, but rather with service skills. This suggests perhaps a Realtor type scenario where both sides of renter and home owner have an advocate and in general it can't be the same person. The Rotation then requires two agents, one for the rent donor and one for the renter. The agents represent their clients. The agent's reputation then is what is up for public review. If you are a renter agent and your renter clientele abuse the situation then reviews should be publicly available for your reputation and not those of the renters. Let's be clear. Home owners are donating money as with any charity. There is no quid-pro-quo. Home owners are not setting up some future AirBnB rental in compensation. Renter's abusing the charity are no different than the long storied history of charities robbing money. Your reputation as The Rotation agent is the product.
Good, so The Rotation then is a charity organization designed to match donors with recipients. The realtor relationship is such that there is no contact between donor and recipient. I give blood and my donations are anonymous, I don't know who gets my blood and they don't know me. Perhaps we should do that here.
Now I'm getting less confident. I think I'm on the right path but I also think I'm in over my head here. At this point I would not promote this as a smell test. Instead I would contact people I know in the Real Estate business or in charity and run this idea by them. I would try and get my smell test idea here shored up.
That's it. My ideas are ready for the next step.
I have what I mainly want of customer service job and not just a computer application.
Okay, I've come up with my new job inventions. One invention I think is ready for a smell test by the employer or business. The other inventionI feel needs some more work.
This is the invention process.
Now I sit back and look at both of them and I think to myself, you know these jobs are still not general enough. They require too much expertise. Perhaps then they are not so much job descriptions as they are small business descriptions. Perhaps a business can be started like with The Queue where people are hired to just answer phones and other people are hired to be account managers with the businesses using the service.
And so it goes. Could you do The Queue or The Rotation by yourself as a self-employed contractor? The Queue for sure. The Rotation requires a pool of agents as specified. However, this is just how I thought of The Rotation. Perhaps you have another approach that safeguards people's reputations and manages abuse.
People are generally good and yet there are always those who will game the system. Bear that in mind in any new invention in business. This is why sometimes we just ignore abuse like with the admonishment approach. Tracking is too expensive. If multiple people in a household take numbers with The Queue even after the admonishment, oh well. People are good in general and you can rely on that unless the consequences of people abusing the system are too risky.
Need a job? If so you are likely working in the service industry. I just laid out some new service jobs with business opportunities. I also walked through the inception phase of the invention process I use. Hopefully both of these have been useful. If you want to run things by me then feel free to send me email. I'm Mybrid Wonderful and my email address is my first name always and for this endeavor please send me email at Gmail.
Join an MGO today!
You can learn more about Irreni World Scale by visiting:
https://irreni.blogspot.com/p/join.html
Cheers!
Benefit of cooperation replaces rule of law!
Freethinkers unite!
Freedom!
Party On!
Let's get cracking!
Voluntarily Reject Demagoguery!
Politics as Science!
Demand Irreni World Scale!
Anti-theism is feminism!
Think disruption!
Empathy for all!
Moral relativity: think it, breath it!
Prove it or lose it!
Conversations equal consensus!
Welcome to the 21st century!
Scale your empathy, scale the world!
Find your tribe!
Be sexy people!
The future is coming!
Innovate at a rapid pace!
Slow speed ahead!
Well come! and well met!
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