Whether or not you voted for President Obama, it can’t be said that he hasn’t made intelligent moves in bringing the US government fully into the information age. In fact, his first executive order that he ever signed created a new information portal on the web, Data.gov, to allow web users access to information made available by the Freedom of Information act. Accessing that before was difficult because of the bureaucratic hoops people had to jump through to get the data they sought. Coming fully online in 2009, Data.gov allows web users to access a range of information, such as who has visited the White House, and be able to represent that data using visual charts. This toolset makes it much easier for US citizens to hold their government accountable for its actions.
With the success of Data.gov behind him, Obama was able to forge ahead and be instrumental in forming the Open Government Partnership (OGP), a consortium of 46 countries that have agreed to create tools to enable governments around the globe to foster three things: transparency in government affairs, higher civic engagement, and a better level of accountability to help end corruption. A tall order that’s going to require more than a press conference with verbal commitments. Putting his money where his mouth is, Obama has ordered the source code behind Data.gov to become open source, allowing any government, organization, or person to download and use.
This is an important first step for people to regain control of their governments. To take a quote from V for Vendetta, “People should not be afraid of their government, government should be afraid of the people.” Information is a powerful weapon in making this happen, and much preferable to armed militias storming capital buildings because they have had enough tyranny in their lives. With foreign aid usually coming in the form of money or soldiers, Obama has displayed to the world a different policy than any of his predecessors. It seems he understands that for real change to come about in the world as demanded in demonstrations like the Occupy movement, throwing money at problems isn’t a solution.
Available now on GitHub, the Data.gov portal allows users to create charts like the one pictured above. It shows the number of visitors to the White House, where their destination was, and how many people were in the meeting. The search and display possibilities are literally endless, as you can add and subtract variables to manipulate how the data is output. The obvious problem, and one that Data.gov has been accused of, is that the data output is only as good as the quality of the data sets used to generate those reports. A lot of the information available is related to geospatial, causing critics to clamor for more relevant data. To improve the quality of the information, citizens can’t sit back and be happy with just a platform, they must continue to demand improvement and offer to help themselves. A key piece is the fact that the platform is built on Drupal, an opensource CMS. This allows anyone to develop special plug-ins and apps that will work with the data sets that are stored inside the software. By developing for the software used with their governments, citizens can keep tabs on what is going on.
The opening of the code for this portal should be seen as just the beginning of an information revolution. The struggle to get access has already been won, the fight now lies in making sure that the information that is fed to the public is accurate, complete, and unbiased.
Remember, remember the 20th of September 2011. The first day of the new information revolution.
It's December, and that means it's bonus, gift, and holiday-party time. So what's a business owner to do?
Before answering that question, it helps to ponder another: What do you want to communicate? Every end-of-year gesture says something different. A cash bonus might say, "Job well done." A gift: "Here's something we think you might like." And the holiday party, it's always seemed to me, says, "Look at all the money we are wasting that could have been better spent elsewhere."
For most of our 11 years here at 37signals, we've given employees cash bonuses. And why not? Everyone likes cash. But the message that cash bonuses convey always felt a bit empty to me. What's more, because our company has been growing consistently each year, those bonuses came to be expected. They stopped feeling special.
Last year, I decided to give a gift instead of cash. I thought about the best presents I had ever received. They were always those that I'd never buy myself and/or didn't even know existed. Once, it was a biography of Nikola Tesla. Another year, a friend gave me tickets to the opera. Each of these gifts expanded my horizons and introduced me to something new.
When I was thinking of what to give employees last year, I decided I wanted it to be something that few people knew even existed; something beautifully crafted and handmade; a one-of-a-kind and fundamentally special object. And I wanted it to be a tool.
That's because at 37signals, we make tools. Basecamp is a tool to help people collaborate on projects. Highrise helps users keep track of their business contacts and relationships. We make software but like to think of ourselves as craftspeople. We are every bit as obsessed with details, beauty, utility, and integrity as a master Japanese bladesmith who crafts samurai swords.
That's when it hit me: a sword.
OK, maybe a sword wasn't practical. But how about the most beautiful kitchen knife in the world? I remembered a video I had seen earlier that year about a fellow named Bob Kramer, a knifemaker in Olympia, Washington. Kramer's knives are custom made, one knife at a time, and are absolutely gorgeous. (Check them out yourself at kramerknives.com.) I decided to ask Bob to make each of our 20 employees an 8-inch chef's knife.
I believe that the quality of the products and tools that you use every day, both professionally and personally, can have a big impact on the quality of your own work and creativity. In other words, if you want to get better, surround yourself with better.
Kramer's knives, crafted from Damascus steel and a variety of hardwoods (we chose ironwood), are beyond better, which is exactly what I wanted for my employees. So I e-mailed Kramer, told him how much I admired his work, and ordered 20 knives. It took Bob a few months to fill the order, because each of our knives took three days to make, and Bob and his assistant are the only ones who make them.
But finally, right around Christmas, we delivered the knives to everyone. We also watched a video Bob had sent along in which he thanked us for the order and expressed how much he enjoyed making this particular set of knives.
Employees were thrilled, and so was I. I like to think that every time they chop an onion or mince a clove of garlic, they'll appreciate the craft and affection that went into making the tool. And with any luck, that craft, dedication to quality, and attention to detail will seep into other areas of their lives—both in the workplace and beyond. And that's way cooler than any holiday party I've ever been to.
Jason Fried is co-founder of 37signals, a Chicago-based software firm, and co-author of the book Rework.
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