Jacob Gordon

It’s been almost a year since TreeHugger Radio ended. I hosted and produced this podcast for quite a few years and had a great experience doing it. This morning I got an email from a anthropologist who was an avid listener. Forgive me, but I can’t resist reposting it:

Hi Jacob,

I just had the chance to listen (belatedly) to the final episode of your treehugger radio show. Although my listening habits have been altered by travel over the past year or so, I have by and large been a regular listener to your show, and caught almost every one of your episodes.

Allow me to sincerely compliment you on both your preparation for the interviews and the excellent way you conduct the exchanges, allowing the perspective and passion of each person to come through without interference.

I like that you put together the final show with excepts from some of the most eloquent thinkers and speakers on these challenges. I particularly value Wade Davis’ culturally comparative perspective on all of this (I’m undoubtedly biased though, since I am an anthropologist myself).

I wish you all the best in your future projects and thanks once again for putting together such a unique and inspiring collection of interviews.

Keeping a Work Journal

I went from being a journalist to being on a small tech startup team. One of the things I love about my job now is all the learning I have to do: new skills, new tools, new material, new people. But one technique I’ve carried over from my days as a writer is… writing. When I started working for Artiphon I started taking notes on what was going on. Logical, of course. It evolved into a system where I keep a daily log of what’s going on at the company, dating each entry at the start of each day (I use Google docs and mark each entry with the comment feature, so it stands out in the right-hand margin). I write while I’m on the phone, while I’m researching a project, and I often use it to write through a tangly issue. Not everyone’s process works this way, but for me, when I’m working on a thorny issue or just need to create some mental clarity, I write it out.

It could sound like: “okay, so we need to be tracking customer interest in this specific feature–what are top ways we can do this?”

It sometimes feels like having a conversation with myself, which can work wonders. This method also means I can go back on Friday and review the week. This gives me a sense of what I’ve actually done (things move so fast that I sometimes forget), and provides a sense of continuity in the overall direction of the company. Of course this journal is private, and I can voice concerns, fears, and my own mental chatter without worry of anyone else’s judgement.

If other people use a similar technique, I’d love to hear about it. There are certainly ways this process could be made more powerful, and I’d love to learn.

I’m happy to say that I’m now working out of General Assembly. As Artiphon’s New York presence, I’m very honored to be part of this thriving startup community. Come by and visit. And if you haven’t taken a class or workshop at GA, wtf?