Jambo

Ok – this was really weird. I’m sitting in my dentist’s office, getting my teeth cleaned. Pretty mundane stuff… I pick up the 2 month old issue of People. 30 seconds later, I’m bored so I pull out my PDA, and start looking for some WiFi. I see a network called “PureDiscovery”. Weird – that’s my friend Dave Copps‘ company, which was on the other side of town, last I heard. I finish up my appointment (no cavities!) and I’m standing in the lobby, fumbling w/ my Blackberry looking for Dave’s number to see if he’s around, and in walks my friend, Adam Keys. It turns out Pure Discovery is not on the other side of town, its on the other side of the wall from my dentist, haha! Had a great conversation w/ Adam, Dave, and Dan – all by pure SSID wifi chance. All by Pure Discovery.

Technorati Tags: purediscovery, adamkeys, davecopps

On Sunday Dec. 25th, the New York Times ran an article about telecommuting. WorldatWork estimates that more than 26.1 million people work at least one day a month at home (from telecommuters to self-employed to contractors). Of the days that are spent not working in an office, it would be interesting to know how much of those days are spent in a WiFi hotspot like a coffee shop. With the introduction of WiFi, Starbucks and many other coffee shops have seen traditionally non-peak hours during the day become just as filled as some of their peak times. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that people miss that face-to-face interaction they get from working in an office as well as the need to get in a “work” frame of mind by stepping outside their home.

Mitchell Moss, a professor of urban policy at New York University, said that “In an era when so much of our communication is electronic, the value of a face-to-face meeting has actually intensified since the phone and email have become routine while a meeting reflects the importance of the person or topic. . . . . . . The reason Manhattan rents are as high as they are is because people want to be near people – there is an enormous productivity gain when people have access to people”.

The connection between high rental rates and the desire for people to be near people is interesting.

Question: What do sweatshirts, lapel pins, and conference bags have in common?

Answer: They enable self-organization.

Most group meetings are organized by someone – a meeting planner, a conference organizer, an alumni department – some type of organizer. Someone must schedule the meeting and then communicate to the group, and the people in the group must then plan to attend. A reliable (and necessary) process, but also inefficient. Centralized Organization.

But when you give the individual members a badge, they can find each other WITHOUT this centralized organization; without the meeting planner. They can SELF-ORGANIZE. It seems basic, and in fact it is. When you recognize someone with your college sweatshirt on, you tend to talk to them. A fellow Cardinals fan wearing the red ball-cap. A fellow colleague wearing the company lapel pin. These badges are tools to find people of common affinity, and they work very well. They enable decentralized organization.

Now, what if you could wear ALL of your badges at the same time? Hundreds of badges, wherever you go. Turn them on, turn them off. What if any member of your group could recognize you, even if you were in a large crowd, or separated by walls? Wireless badges, invisible badges, x-ray badges.

We think of ourselves as the wireless sweatshirt – an invisible beacon. Jambo is the invisible lapel pin. We don’t need no stinkin’ badges.

I’m always interested in how technology changes social behavior – in this case the technology is beer and chalk.

We went to dinner in San Francisco with my good friend Mike last night and then for a drink at his local, Finnigan’s, afterwards. I took this picture in the bathroom. (You might say I was influenced by the Guiness.)

Its a pretty interesting social experiment. What happens when you stick a chalkboard next to the urinal? You’ve now empowered the guys in the bar to post a message that is available to the other guys in the bar. Its a kind of low-tech Jambo tagline. I can think of hundreds of creative uses for this temporary, location-based messaging system. I wonder if there is another one in the women’s room? Interestingly, its also a kind, subtle way of the management saying “please don’t write on our walls”.

Last night at around 9pm EST on May 17th, in Orlando FL, something profoundly important happened. Two guys enjoyed a beer in a hotel bar.

These two guys (Mark H., and Olivier J.) had never met before. Both had arrived at the hotel after a long day of travel, before the start of the conference. Each was in their respective hotel room, checking email, about to head to bed. The reason they went down to the bar though, instead of opting for bed, was because they “saw” each other, fellow StarEAST attendees. They were 3 floors apart (Floor 15 & 18). If they would have been 11 floors apart, they would have been out of wifi range – no beer. But they were only 3 floors apart and Jambo found them, and introduced them. They each got a notification telling them that a StarEAST attendee was nearby and what they shared in common. The two exchanged messages, and decided to meet downstairs in the bar for a drink. Remarkable. A Jambo moment.

Cheers guys, you made my friggin’ day when I heard your story this morning. I only wish I would have been there to enjoy. That beer is the absolute essence of what we’re trying to build here. Face-to-Face.

Disclaimer/Warning: I was an anthropology major.

Here’s my (very basic) observation: Meeting complete strangers online has become a very natural part of our culture. Obvious? Yes. But if you really think about it, its pretty remarkable: friends, sales, dates, jobs – nowdays people just accept meeting online as a part of life. It wasn’t always that way.

Through most of the late 90’s it was very UN-cool to say you met someone online, and only fairly recently has that changed. Now its neither cool nor uncool, its an invisible fact of our lives.

However, way back in the dark, command-line pre-mosaic days, I was living in Buenos Aires, and I met one of my closest friends for the first time – via a UUCP asynchronous satellite link from Argentina to the US. During that early period, it was AMAZING to meet someone online.

Jambo is attempting to create that same feeling – a new way of meeting, and its an unknown right now whether it will be cool or uncool. We have to create a sense of intrigue and surprise. Who is going to be near me when I open my laptop? A Jambo Moment. If we can create that feeling and create some truly amazing connections, then my bet is that it’ll be considered cool to meet someone through Jambo, and (hopefully) then as it becomes more customary, we will disappear into the cultural fabric.

OK, the anthropology hat is off now!

I met with someone over lunch today who wanted to discuss how he could help with my local networking group for software testers. As I walked up to Abuelo’s, anticipating some good Tex-Mex, I had the same realization that I often have at the last minute when meeting someone at a public place. I had no idea what he looks like.

It’s actually a fairly easy problem to solve. As I walked up, I scanned for people who were by themselves. I saw a guy sitting on a bench outside. He looked bored, and didn’t glance up when I walked past. That was definitely not the guy. I went inside, and there was a guy sitting by himself across from the hostess stand. I looked at him and smiled, and his eyes lit up. I didn’t need to notice the fact that he was wearing a polo shirt with his company’s name on it, though that helped too. :-)

So if you’re more introverted than me, and find yourself worried about meeting up with someone you’ve never seen before, give this a try. Just scan the area looking for likely targets. Have an inquisitive but happy look on your face. You’ll come across someone who also just realized that they don’t know what you look like, and who is very relieved to find someone who is obviously trying to find them. It just took a “Hi, David?” to confirm I’d found the right person.

You can do this any time you’ve arranged to meet someone at a pre-arranged time and place, whether at a restaurant, a hotel during a conference, or in an office lobby.

And what if the person you approach isn’t the right one? You’ll both get a good laugh, then you both can get back to watching for your respective quarry.

Here we are with Wang Jian Shuo, who works for eBay in China. Jian Shuo was here for a few days in San Francisco and we were able to meet with him yesterday, and again for breakfast this morning.

Here’s a photo of us working in San Fran on the 43rd floor of the TransAmerica Tower with Andreas Weigend. Welcome Andreas!

Even though we all get the same 24 hours in a day, that day can be lived in a number of ways – which contributes to how fast (or slow) a day feels.

I recently attended a small wedding in Brazil, on an island called Buzios, near Rio de Janero – a beautiful little fishing village. After Day 2, I had adjusted to “Island Time” – sitting all day on a beach, eating lobster and drinking caipirinhas. It was interesting to contrast that with my return to “Startup Time”, which is a chaotic jumble – bouncing quickly between meetings, phone calls, and time in front of a computer screen. In terms of “feel”, the two are pretty much at opposite ends of the spectrum. It takes a day or so to either slow down or speed up, but life can be very enjoyable at either end!