Behzod Sirjani

There needs to be a rebellion against #vc and #bigtech like #google #microsoft #openai #github and #ycombinator. Their model of business is to extract all the value and leave creators with the husk.  Look to nonprofits, bootstrapped and public benefit.

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[Professional Knowledge Engagement] Design as Creative Life In Jan 2023, I wrote a short note titled [CALL] Design as Creative Life. The subtitle of the note is "Designers' Subjective Experience and Project Engagement". The post initiated the  “Design as Creative Life” project. I used the following frameworks and tools for this project: The Creative Life Curation Framework https://lnkd.in/gaevF6Gi The “Kind of Project Engagement” Framework https://lnkd.in/ga4V-bsj The Thematic Journey Map https://lnkd.in/gsEyThGm This is a collaborative project. I need your help! We need at least 10 designers to share their real-life experiences with design projects. If you are a Designer, you are welcome to join the project and become a storyteller. The project is your stage for telling your creative life stories. You are expected to write your stories with many details such as your personal feeling, change of ideas, details of each iteration, arguments between you and others, etc. You are welcome to share supporting documents such as drafts, diagrams, notes, pictures, videos, etc. [CALL] Design as Creative Life https://lnkd.in/gnjRv5_B George Aye's story is a great example of the "Design as Creative Life" project. cc: George Aye: thank you for sharing your story! 5/26/2024 Oliver Ding Founder of CALL (Creative Action Learning Lab) https://lnkd.in/gB5vtBH6

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We know meditation changes the brain, makes us less reactive, more compassionate, and allows us to deal with life challenges with more resiliency. Yet it's still extra clarifying to see the outcomes of this RWE study of 20,000 Headspace members. Using Headspace works. #mentalhealth #wellbeing

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Join us tomorrow to hear Lisa Orr talk about navigating your next career move as a senior product manager, and me talking about the "mirage" of AI hallucinations. When artificial intelligence (AI) outputs don’t match our shared reality, people have been saying it’s "hallucinating." But hallucination makes it sound like AI is conscious and distracts from the part we humans play in generating synthetic meaning. Do words matter? Learn why we should all change how we talk about AI to promote better understanding in a future world with the ✨sparkling intelligence✨ of AI.

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What a difference a dozen years make! In 2012, we created and launched the White House Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) program. We could barely imagine at that time the extent and rapidity of the progress that was about to occur in machine learning and related fields. But we believed deeply that having a pathway for getting technologists into high-impact public service mattered. Yesterday, as part of President Biden's AI Talent Surge, the US Government announced a new PIF cohort consisting exclusively of leading AI experts to help ensure that eight key departments -- Justice, State, OMB, DoD, and more -- responsibly develop and use AI tools in order to effectively achieve their missions on behalf of the American people. Just as every organization became a tech organization in recent decades, so too will they need to graft AI onto their DNA in order to meet the rising expectations of the public. I'm heartened that these AI PIFs answered the call and will now use their diverse backgrounds and invaluable experiences in data, systems design, governance, equity, and security to make sure that AI works for everyone. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/ebwXZxmi #AI #ML #DigitalGov #TechForGood #USA

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🚀 How does a product-led organization like Tacit Edge scale? It's all about leveraging our incredible network of founders who turn challenges into opportunities! 🔍 Here are some of the "problem-tunities" Renee and I are tackling: 1️⃣ Social Media Handoff: After crafting our social content and learning the ropes, how do we pass the baton to someone who can elevate our game? 2️⃣ Weekend Workload: How can we reduce the weekend hours spent on back-office tasks and content creation that spill over from the week? 3️⃣ Vacation Balance: How can one founder take a break without overburdening the other? 4️⃣ Operational Efficiency: How do we escape routine tasks that detract from revenue-generating activities, allowing us to do more with less? 🌐 Our product was built for scale, and utilized worldwide in versatile ways, ensuring we deliver efficiently every single day. Renee and I were born for that work, so that has never been a hindrance to our growth. But operationalizing with a great product is a problem-tunity we need to hire for. 🌟 As we stretch beyond our comfort zone, we're excited to welcome Billy James to the team! Just two weeks in, and Billy is already transforming how we manage our social media, I have a line of site to free Saturdays!!! 🎉 2024 has been monumental, and it's only April! A huge shout-out to Virtual Gurus for quickly connecting us with top-notch talent, and to my founder bestie Bobbie Racette for helping write Tacit's story in vibrant, colours with your incredible product!! Here's to solving problems creatively and scaling smartly in a way that works for our business! #ProductLedGrowth #StartupLife #TeamExpansion #OperationalExcellence #ThankYouVirtualGurus #TacitEdge

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I recently sat down with Michael Batko, CEO at Startmate and Founder of Puddle Pod for Episode 11 of Insane Ambition. Startmate has invested in 230+ startups, much of it under Michael's leadership, and now has $3.5b in value across its portfolio companies. In this episode, we discussed: - Michael's journey from consulting, then living in the Amazon rainforest, to leading Australia's biggest startup accelerator - The future of Australia's startup ecosystem - The labour government's very stupid plan to make it harder for people to qualify as sophisticated investors (now thankfully shelved) - Startmate City! Startmate's plan to build Australia's first startup city. Probably the most ambitious idea I've ever heard from a startup accelerator. - The balance between visionary thinking and traditional startup advice (think Elon Musk's plan to colonise Mars, vs Y Combinator's problem/customer obsession) - "The Courage to Be Disliked", and its influence on Michael's approach to life and business. Links in the description below 👇

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ANNIVERSARY OF CIVIL RIGHTS ACT: Today is the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. It’s also a couple of days away from my sisters 60th birthday if we don’t realize what’s happening right before our eyes in real time, we will be headed back to the era of Jim Crow. I continue to stand with the Fearless Fund as they fight against these lawsuits. Economic justice should be something that every American cares about not just Black Americans. I started using my voice when the lawsuit first happened and I continue to use my voice in different ways, not always loud and publicly, but in rooms and in conversations that are looking to make real change. On this anniversary date, I ask each of you to look around and see if you’re part of the problem or if you are the problem. Change happens when we’re all committed to breaking down historic barriers. Quote from the article: “Other venture capital funds are exploring ways to mitigate the risks of running diversity-focused programs, investors say. After consulting her lawyer and limited partners, Shila Nieves Burney, a general partner at Zane Venture Fund, another Atlanta-based venture capital fund, decided to hold her ground and leave intact her fund’s website description of supporting diverse and inclusive founders. Burney, an outspoken voice in the community of Black female investors, organized a petition to start a campaign to rally support for the Fearless Fund last year. She and co-organizers gathered dozens of VC investors, most of them Black women, to strategize on how to help fight back on the legal challenge by conservative activist Blum. But the efforts stalled last year due to a lack of funding, she said. While her own fund continues to back diverse teams, Burney fears there will be fewer capital available for Black founders and that corporate backers will shy away due to reputational risks. “If Fearless Fund is not able to raise their next fund, that creates a huge gap in the ecosystem. When there's an attack on Black VCs, who's going to fill that gap?” said Burney.” #investor #dei #equity #inclusion #economicjustice #civilrights Reuters #atlanta #funding #founders #blackfounders #venturecapital #corporateDEI #corporations #southeast #womenofcolor

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Here's an act of democracy we can all practice today: Listen to someone you disagree with. Practice genuine curiosity. When our most public leaders can't hold a nuanced conversation about the most critical issues, but instead turn to bashing -- what does that mean to our workplace? It means a lot. Every day, the message that the other side is dangerous is reinforced and reinforced - which means when we have someone from a different department coming to us with a nuance that isn't easy for us (like your product spec won't work, or your sales message should be updated, etc etc), we each have to consciously choose NOT to follow the default of our culture, and instead make space for curiosity, for valuing the other person even if we think they're wrong, for considering more information than we currently have. I invite you to try that today. It's the hardest work you'll do, and it will also lead to the most innovation, creativity, success, and enjoyable relationships.

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I'm excited to share this enlightening conversation with Jerry Colonna, founder of Reboot.IO and author of "REBOOT" and "REUNION." We dig into journaling, what it means to be a "good man," and the practice of self-integration. Check it out here: https://bit.ly/4bcpPF5

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👀 Great read by The Mandarin journalist Julian Bajkowski about the Productivity Commission’s new research findings that $5B+ a year could be saved by better integrating digital technology into everyday practice, not to mention easing pressures on our heaving healthcare system. Bajkowski touches on the “adroit” defence of data silos by the medical profession. It is true that software vendors (primary and hospital focussed) all have their own way of doing things which frustrates the health information exchange and #interoperability. We've had first hand experience of this, having worked with pretty much every healthcare application available in Australia and New Zealand over the last decade - our Mantel Group health technologists have seen it all, the good, bad, and ugly. Alleviating this “clunky interoperability” as the Financial Review’s government editor Tom Burton calls it, doesn’t need to turn into a turf war, or dissolve into a case of picking winners. You don't want to back one horse in the acceleration of digital health. What you want is common standards. That’s what enables health information exchange. It also allows #innovation and #interoperability, both of which are vital to the sector’s sustainability. The Productivity Commission report refers to “sharpening incentives for software providers to make [health information exchange] more seamless” to encourage #interoperability. Countries like Singapore and the United States are well on the path to doing this effectively - some approaches use a regulatory stick, others are private enterprise lead. Both head in the same direction - a direction Australia will have to follow to transition to value-based models being adopted abroad, which reimburse providers for quality interventions as opposed to activity-based measures. An important consideration for the NSW Government's Special Commission of Inquiry into Healthcare Funding led by Richard Beasley SC for its work is to have longevity. 👉 Read Mantel Group’s submission on #interoperability in healthcare here: https://lnkd.in/g5zhMUnr 👉Read the Productivity Commission’s Leveraging digital technology in healthcare research report here: https://lnkd.in/gsjHgQHQ 👉Read Tom Burton's AFR story here (behind paywall): https://lnkd.in/g3-99xHj Paul Caon Mark Gillard Andrew Wayland Linda Connolly Samantha Scott

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Our friend Julio Mario Ottino recently published a thought-provoking essay called "Amazing Possibilities Ahead: But beware the hidden dangers of prediction without understanding." We interviewed Julio on the podcast about his book, The Nexus, in June 2022 and that has led to a continuing friendship. Julio has started publishing on his own site and we're enjoying reading more of his work. A brief quote from this essay: "It used to be that predictions depended on understanding. For the last two centuries or so, that has been the unstated foundation of most advances in technology. But we should recall, as well, that for hundreds of years, we were designing systems that worked well without having the scientific bases to understand their functioning. But the advent of A.I. represents a seismic shift in enabling prediction without understanding. A.I. can make accurate predictions and achieve remarkable results without necessarily grasping the underlying reasons or mechanisms. On one hand, this could be a boon. An age of prediction free from understanding. On the other, our lack of understanding could mean we lose control of the outputs altogether." #ai #artificialintelligence #generativeai #airesearch #complexity #chatgpt #complexchange #changemanagement #futureofwork #artificiality #mindforourminds

On July 9th, I’ll be talking to Dalia El-Shimy, Director of UX Research at Wise, about her approach to turning customer interviews into conversations. Dalia argues that turning a rigid Q&A style interview into a human dialogue helps interview participants to open up. This is a prerequisite to gaining deeper insights. We’ll explore how to prepare discussion guides in dialogue form or techniques to run the user session as a conversation. If you are a seasoned researcher, it’s a great opportunity to immerse yourself in the craft of user interviews. If you are new to research, use this session to lay solid foundations for your interviewing skills. Attendance is limited to 100 people. Reserve your seat now; the link is in the first comment. 👇

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A few coffee thoughts as I begin to connect dots + process all that I’m learning at Center for Cultural Humility at UC Berkeley with this intersection of UX, finance and trauma: 🧠 How many of us hold our breath, see spikes in heart rate (fight or flight) or show other bio markers of anxiety when reading (or receiving alerts about) complex financial info? 🧠 How many of us avoid banking altogether due to a past negative experience (on the spectrum from a one-time overdraft, into the betrayals of fraud, or systematic issues in poverty, eviction, immigration, and bankruptcy)? 🧠 How do we (as content strategists and UX designers) balance full transparency with empathy (biiiig focus on reassurance and help outlets) with ethics and compliance standards? There’s so much to dig into, test, learn and unpack. I promise to keep pulling on this thread…there’s something here! 🧵 #ux #trauma #finance

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Google did such an amazing job yesterday that I feel badly for them, it felt like OpenAI stole most of their thunder the day prior. We are fascinated with the emerging new tech that feels magical! And I think OpenAI just stole some of the magic by going first this week. So with that here are eight of the impressive but not so magical releases yesterday. 👨‍💻 Project Astra: This is Google's new AI Assistant which is powered by Gemini and has both vision and voice. The demos were super impressive, albeit we didn't see a demo of the emotion components that OpenAI showed which I think is the bigger leap in understanding. 👩‍💻 Veo: Google's new text to video creation tool, this is similar to Sora from OpenAI although it did appear Veo creates videos longer than Sora but we won't really know till both of them release to the public. 👨‍💻 AI native in search: This was coming and had to come. Google has known it needed to quickly update search and they did. This is Google's bread and butter and know they spend a ton of energy on this. 👩‍💻 Imagen 3: This an upgrade to their text to image generation, not able to be tested yet. 👨‍💻 Google Workspace: This is the competitor to Microsoft Co-Pilot and was a super impressive demo on how you can search all of your emails, documents, etc. It will be $20 a month and will include Gemini Pro 1.5. If you are a heavy Google user it is worth it. It has some pretty cool automations built in. 👩‍💻 Gemini 1.5: While this model has been talked about for a while they upped the context window to 2 million tokens which is approximately 1.5 million words. This is a huge leap in the amount of information the model can process in one setting. For context all of the Harry Potter books combined only have a little over 1 million words. And GPT-4 has a context window of 32K tokens on chat and 128k tokens on the API. More importantly Google's CEO made the obvious statement that everyone is chasing an infinite context window. 👩‍💻 Google Agents: Similar to the GPT store we will see Google Agents coming along with a Gemini App directly on your phone. Allowing developers to build on top of the established Gemini Assistant. 👨‍💻 : The next Pixel phone will have a nano multimodal LLM built in. This will make AI engagements much quicker as many tasks will be native. Expect Apple to do the same thing in September. What was your favorite thing Google released yesterday? Or do you feel I missed something? Let me know down in the comments 👇 #TechNews #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #Google #OpenAI #ProjectAstra #Veo #AIAssistants #AIinSearch #Imagen3 #GoogleWorkspace #Gemini #GoogleAgents #PixelPhone #EmergingTech #Innovation #TechReleases

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This substack explores the episodic project-based approach to public sector IT deployments, and suggests that a product development approach would be an improvement. Can funding environments and agency leaders support a product development approach?

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What we're reading. "Community-based participatory-research through co-design: supporting collaboration from all sides of disability." This academic paper outlines the benefits of a participatory approach to co-design, including ethical considerations and long-term value for participants.

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Disclaimer; I consider myself a curator ;-). If I read him correctly, Matt Klein is arguing that curators are not better than algorithms. Even though multiple voices are pushing for curation instead of algos, both have problems and both provide a skewed vision. Thus he says, people should focus on their own taste, their own opinions. Fair enough. My very self-interested opinion is that people should pay more attention to curators than algos. The former might have been influenced by biases, business needs or simply wanting more attention, but you are still listening/reading a distinct voice which you’ve picked, one hopes, for its perspective. The latter usually provide an averaging out, a lowest common denominator. Doesn’t mean it’s bad, but it’s definitely something you need to be aware of. Klein also says that “it’s belittling to presume consumers are required to be told what to like.” In my experience that’s not at all how readers view my curation, they weren’t convinced by anyone that they needed to be told anything, they found someone who could help them save time and step out of what they found elsewhere. In the end, it’s not algorithms vs human curators and it’s not being told vs developing your own taste, it’s two types of tools. The algorithmic one covers a huge range and proposes some version of the average, the human provides a point of view. I use both and form my own opinions and tastes. #curation #ai #algorithms https://lnkd.in/eadi6aCn

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Should we prioritize people, or tech innovation in our large-scale development projects? The strategy's slowly shifting to people. And that’s exactly how California Forever CEO Jan Sramek wins over skeptics like Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway. Not bad. “There’s a lot of baggage that tech has created in building new cities that, unfortunately, we are at the receiving end of”, explains Sramek. So smart cities and tech libertarian network states aren't the focus here. Quite the contrary. He calls the project (in this context) “really, really boring.” The focus: ∙ More housing ∙ Walkable cities ∙ Affordable by design* ∙ Improving the country for residents *(housing prices to start at $400k) I recently covered California Forever, dubbing it a future ‘Tech Utopia’ given its massive Silicon Valley backing. So it’s exciting to see Sramek's positioning and skillful handling of the grilling. Is the era of the smart city over due to its 'baggage'? Time will tell. More on California Forever and other visionaries designing new cities from scratch here: https://lnkd.in/e9-i386q Full interview: https://lnkd.in/eMnT8QhU #futureofcities #urbandevelopment

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