++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tech change at work talk ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Class goals from syllabus ========================= 1. Assess the extent to which the present wave of emerging workplace technologies differs from earlier ones. 2. Describe theorized patterns of how new technologies shape and reshape the employment relationship and the workplace for specific social groups and apply these theories to emerging workplace technologies. 3. Identify potential points of conflict and change in workplace hierarchy given information about how a new technology is being used in a contemporary workplace. 4. Prescribe policy responses aimed at mitigating the potentially deleterious impact of workplace technological change and articulate the potential unintended consequences of these policies. My goals today ============== * Share moments from my work life * Talk about how I see them linking to these class goals * Isolate my experience from my opinion * Sway you to be kind bosses, because the invisible hand is a mofo Me == * Since like 2006, I cofounded or worked on several startups. * Some were Software as a Service (SaaS) startups focusing on workflow automation or worker productivity or regulation compliance * I'm not rich * I've seen how software products alter people's lives, good and bad Patterns in B2B SaaS software at the beginning ============================================== * Sales pitch goes something like "this will make your least favorite part of your job go away, or at least make it less miserable" * Early customers are small and in weird niches and not satisfied by mainstream stuff (or they wouldn't talk to you) but they have the problem you're trying to solve * Lots of: * Update the code * ask "does it work better now?" * "Eat what you kill" Patterns in the middle part 1 ============================= * Your small customers got you introductions to big customers * Big customers mostly care about profits (boost revenue or cut costs) * Sales pitch is now more like "replace your high cost employees with our technology and low-cost, lower-skilled workers." * OR "You need this product to comply with regulations" * Sales process takes longer and means big revenue. * Customer is not a single 40-seat license, but maybe 4000-seat license, and they'll pay more per seat, too, if we integrate with their stuff. Patterns in the Middle part 2 ============================= * You took VC money and they want "hockey stick" growth. "In the derogatory sense, a business started with the intention of becoming a startup, but which instead becomes a smaller business is often referred to as a lifestyle business by investors or other detractors." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifestyle_business * Once you start selling to big customers, employee buy-in matters less * New features don't get much UX scrutiny My main idea ============ * In economic terms, worker quality of life / job satisfaction often becomes an externality, sort of like pollution, as firms grow. * Software tools reflect this and exacerbate this OnShift ======= * Prototype in 2006: find somebody to work a shift by blasting texts to qualified and available employees * $250k angel investment in 2007 meant my partner and I could quit day jobs * By 2009, the software could plan / maintain / update / revise shift schedules for (theoretically) any workforce. * Employees could trade shifts with each other, apply for open shifts, modify schedule, etc. * Managers got reports like * "There's too many nurses tonight given the number of patients in beds" * "You're under the state minimum staffing level on floor 3 next Wednesday" * lists of people that clock in early or clock out late * System would discourage before giving shifts to high-wage employees when lower-cost qualified employees were available * System would recommend alternatives to granting overtime * PE acquired OnShift in 2022 Relevance to y'all ------------------ * Big firms didn't care about letting their workers help plan the schedule. * We needed the labor cost savings features to land the big customers. SpotHero ======== * "Why can't I list my driveway on a website for people that need a place to park for the night?" (quote from founder) * Marketplace app for parking. Launched in Chicago. Allows you to reserve a parking spot in the future. * B2B on the parking garage owner side, B2C on the driver side * An early customer was a garage that shut down on Sundays because of perceived low demand * We pre-paid for the attendants to be there and we sold parking tickets in advance on our site, gambling we could cover their costs. Relevance --------- * At first, new technology boosted demand for attendants * Later, parking lot attendants often were replaced Complion ======== * To run a drug or medical device trial, you have to keep a lot of paperwork, like: * tracking patient consent, perhaps with regular renewals * patients join and leave * protocols used in the study may change * verify credentials of clinicians and facilities * As of 2014, many drug trials used literal 3-ring binders in hallway file cabinets to track studies * Or maybe a network drive had scanned-in PDFs * We interviewed as many clinical trial coordinators as we could to learn how they did their job * We built a "one size fits most" product with built-in checklists / guides / workflows / messaging to run a drug trial * Product became "the way to run drug trials" at a lot of hospitals * PE acquired Complion, combined competing products into one product, laid off everyone, shipped dev and support jobs overseas * Complion was started partially with public money (so was OnShift) Relevancy to ILR ---------------- * Clinical Coordinators could now run vastly more trials. Does that mean higher wages or layoffs? * We created a single workflow and since it was so much better in some ways, people adopted it. * There are people hired since their lab adopted the product. Those people think that Complion is somehow the official way to run drug trials. * But we designed this system based on what we could get done quick, so we could sell it. * Founder of Complion sent me this recently: "...a software industrial complex has changed how companies are run (usually for the worst like silos and constraining org chart structures, particularly due to enterprise software)" Decision Desk (RIP) =================== * Students applying to musical conservatories, art schools, and theater programs involves submitting samples of work (e.g., concert footage). * Professors review their work, discuss, and decide on admitting them * DecisionDesk was a software platform to replace a very messy and error-prone process, managed by overworked staff * After VC investment, DecisionDesk went after new new markets * Every new customer came with so many new feature requests that it killed margins * Customer churn increased, usually due to bugs in new features * We couldn't raise more money and costs were way above revenue, so it shut down Streamliner =========== * The client is a liquidator in central Ohio. He also owns several discount stores in Ohio and that he stocks with liquidated goods. * He gets shipments of returned, discontinued, or clearance goods from big retailers at about 10% to 30% of the retail price. * The old analog process of unpacking a truck looked like: * grab an item * Find a UPC on the box * scan it and look up price, other details * put the item in the appropriate box: * expensive and small items get sold online * some food goes to the retail discount store * other food (like candy) gets sold online * apparel goes to discount store * My software did the pricing lookup and dispatch ahead of time, before the workers arrived, so when somebody scanned a UPC, I could immediately say "put this in box C" * Breaking down a shipping container became much faster. * The warehouse staff shrunk quickly because the same people got a lot more done. * The owner made a lot more money SofaConcerts ============ * SofaConcerts is a marketplace app that connects musicians and venues. * Use the app to hire musicians to play a concert in your house that you watch from your sofa. * Pandemic was devastating * SofaConcerts processes the payments, holds money in escrow, so musicians get paid (big problem). * Venues get about 3 artists applying for every open calendar spot * Artists have to apply to about 30 venues to get a gig. Sounds bad but musicians love finding more opportunities to play. The bottleneck is on the venue side. The whole concept is to grow cultural demand for live music, so that's the thrust of their marketing. Relevance to ILR ---------------- * Musicians are the original gig workers, depending on venues to book them * App finds unused capital for workers (like a sofa at a house is good enough for a gig) Bonus Content ============= Got a cool idea? ---------------- Matt Wilson matt@216software.com Message from SofaConcerts Technical CoFounder and CTO Rob Heinen ---------------------------------------------------------------- Reasons why SofaConcerts, as a tech platform is cool. 1. Supports smaller / local musicians with more gigs. Generally, smaller artists only make money when they tour or play shows (there's not any money from streaming or record sales). Artists can generally go on tour every so often, and even then, you need to be a certain size to fill a room. We fill a niche to bring artists more shows and generally shows they wouldn't normally get (maybe a superfan would you invite you to play their birthday party, but it is every unlikely before our marketing work, that you would be asked to play birthdays or living rooms consistently). 2. With prepayment, we make sure artists get paid out. We also have a framework in place so that if the show gets cancelled or the artist gets sick, that both sides of the transaction are protected. If you're having a wedding and a band drops out last minute, we're actively searching for a replacement. If you're a band and a host has to cancel, you still get paid for the concert if it's within a certain time range. 3. Listening audiences -- our musicians are appreciative as the SofaConcert / Living Room concert atmosphere is not like a bar or a club show. People are there to experience the intimate show. Without sounding too much like a marketer, these small attentive audiences can really create magical moments (we get a lot of reviews that mention goosebumps). For musicians, this seems to be the best type of audience (but I imagine can also be nervewracking, since everyone is attentive). 4. We've done a lot of work in our market to bring the idea of a 'Sofa Concert' or Living room show into the normal parlance. That is House Shows / Living room shows have always been there in the DIY / punk scene and people with friends in bands have probably had them play a birthday or an outdoor event. But it's becoming more common (we see this also in competitor analysis where they use words like SofaConcert and Wohnzimmer konzert) to think, for my birthday, I'm going to invite a musician for a private concert. Obviously, there are other companies as well that have helped normalize this (Sofar Sounds for instance, bring smaller musicians to unique spaces), but our model is gennerally the best for the artist. 5. Culture in smaller towns -- we make it easier for touring artists to visit smaller villages and towns. They might have an event series, or a local music lover with a barn or big backyard. When they're on SofaConcerts, they can be found by touring artists -- so you might have someone from Ann Arbor touring for the summer and meeting a bunch of locals. They generally provide food and accomodation and are excited to have someone there. It supports a different touring model (most of the time the listeners aren't fans of the band per se, but fans of live music). Either way, these can be very fulfilling shows for both sides, and promote cultural exchange. Mythical Man Month ------------------ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month "Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later" "the possibility of measuring useful work in man-months is a myth" Mythical Man Month, 1975 However, fundamentally, the only lever managers have to deal with a late project is to add more people. W. Edwards Deming ----------------- "Fear invites wrong figures. Bearers of bad news fare badly. To keep his job, anyone may present to his boss only good news." W. Edwards Deming, page 94, The New Economics https://deming.org/where-there-is-fear-you-do-not-get-honest-figures/ "Remove barriers that stand between the hourly worker and his right to pride of workmanship." My main idea ============ * In economic terms, worker quality of life / job satisfaction often becomes an externality, sort of like pollution, as firms grow.