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# This Week - Jun 12, 2015
- URL: https://www.drewshannon.net/this-week-2015-06-12/
- Published: 2015-06-12T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T03:10:02.000Z
- Author: Drew Shannon
- Tags: link, andrew bosworth, boz, daring fireball, david infante, jason hirschhorn, john gruber, lindsey kaufman, mashable, medium, redef, sarah agudo, this week, washington post, #import-blog-backlog-2026-09-13

> The tidbit that stood out to me regarding Recode is that they had 44 full-time employees — plus a few contractors. That’s not lean and mean. The advantage the internet provides to new publishers is that there’s so little overhead. You can go really far with a really small talented team. 44 employees sounds like Recode was trying to go head-to-head with the Wall Street Journal on the business/tech beat. Rather than start small and grow big organically, they wanted to start big. And so to start big they took on investors, and next thing you know, they had to sell.  
>  
> — [The Big News Sites Still Rule (John Gruber for Daring Fireball)](http://daringfireball.net/linked/2015/05/28/lefsetz-news?ref=drewshannon.net)

> Yes, I ended up getting the car and the home. I’ve bought hundreds of pairs of sneakers that put Quincy Smith’s collection to shame. I’ve traveled to all sorts of great places. I love buying stuff for my nieces and nephew. I’ve pretended to be an angel investor… And yes, of course, I’ve donated to causes (I’m not totally selfish)… mostly having to do with education (see [www.cfy.org](http://www.cfy.org/?ref=drewshannon.net)). But these are the 2 things I remember most.  
>  
> — [You Sold Your Company, What Did You Buy First? Here’s What I Did. (Jason Hirschhorn for REDEF)](http://redef.com/item/53b9435374b1325f4e9280ad?curator=MediaREDEF&ref=drewshannon.net)

> I don’t think I was ever outright mean to anyone. I was just callously indifferent and on a long enough timeline that is indistinguishable from being mean. In a cruel twist of irony I thought that was what it meant to be professional.  
>  
> — [Be Kind (Andrew Bosworth for Boz)](http://boz.com/articles/be-kind.html?ref=drewshannon.net)

> The New Yorker, in a review of research on this nouveau workplace design, determined that the benefits in building camaraderie simply mask the negative effects on work performance. While employees feel like they’re part of a laid-back, innovative enterprise, the environment ultimately damages workers’ attention spans, productivity, creative thinking, and satisfaction. Furthermore, a sense of privacy boosts job performance, while the opposite can cause feelings of helplessness.  
>  
> — [Google got it wrong. The open-office trend is destroying the workplace. (Lindsey Kaufman for Washington Post)](http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/12/30/google-got-it-wrong-the-open-office-trend-is-destroying-the-workplace/?ref=drewshannon.net)

> I’m into commencement addresses lately. They’re a weird genre at which dark, tortured souls seem to unexpectedly excel. Maybe there’s something about asking them to be light but heady; to indulge in scaring grads without immobilizing them with the futility of it all; to elegantly handle the fact that a graduation speech is both an honor and awkwardly off-brand for the type of person worth having.  
>  
> — [I’m into commencement addresses lately. (Sarah Agudo for Medium)](https://medium.com/message/i-m-into-commencement-addresses-lately-they-re-a-weird-genre-at-which-dark-tortured-souls-seem-to-ff3fd55ff40?ref=drewshannon.net)