Why Now?

When I interviewed at Netflix, one of the more interesting questions I got was a question Allison Hopkins asked me.  She asked me to tell her about a time I had made a decision and, later, with the benefit of hindsight, thought to myself "oh boy, I did the wrong thing there."

It was a struggle to come up with a good answer.  This was largely due to the fact that I've made a bunch of these sorts of decisions in my life.  I pride myself on not engaging in analysis paralysis and on taking quick, reasonable risks.  It's not always worked out the way I thought it would -- sometimes for the better (see my later post about Caffeinator), sometimes ... the other way. 

And today (5/16/2011) someone pointed out to me an article about a Chris Anderson talk, where I encountered the term Hawthorne Effect.  Suddenly, I was reminded of one of my most hilarious failures, and thought I'd take a moment to document it so it transcends its current status as one company's piece of oral history.

Hence this blog, and hence its name.