Five years ago, the iPhone didn’t exist. It wasn’t a need in your life. You were able to live perfectly without it. And now that it does exist, all of that is true. It’s Apple’s marketing that has worked on us, and we’re fools for it. The same, of course, is true of all other technology and sleek consumerist products. It’s just that Apple is better at it than most.
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轉換崗位以後，工作很忙，每兩三天就要做一次Deployment，忘記了要放年假。不夠一個星期就到新一年，到行政部查詢，發現還有六天半的年假沒有放，也就是說扣除公眾假期，就算下星期整個星期放假，都還剩下三天半的假期。留言COO詢問是否可把剩餘的年假在一月補回，結果很快收到回覆，就是不可以。不過回答的不是她本人，而是命屬下轉告，也沒有詢問我提出的理由。
對此，我不感滿意，原因不是申請不獲批准(因為忘記請假，自己也有責任)，而是其一：沒有詢問理由便拒絕；其二：我禮貌問你，你找個沒有禮貌的嘍囉回覆我，不是尊重別人的行為。公司不是千人大企業，無需事事以高姿態處理。對此，我亦作出以下回應：
作為一位成熟的員工，一般不應該用極端方式處理問題。但看到公司在各方面都失去理性，管理輕重不分、同事公然在會議室打開門批鬥另一些同事、銷售同事的嬰孩早產多月，情況危殆，CEO依然只以傷害性言辭“關心”銷售情況，實在不得不以非常規的方式去帶動一點反思。這樣的情景，實在不應該出現在一家需要儘早團結力量脫離困境的公司…
公司要賺錢，最基本是客戶樂意付錢。不高興的員工不會盡力服務你的客戶，客戶也不會在沒有盡力的員工處得到好的服務。三天半的假期和規矩重要，還是賺錢生存下去重要，由高層自行思考。
下班前，速速寫了一段肺腑之言予COO，她看明白多少我不知道。但我一天留在公司一天都會說應該說的話，尤其是那些出於愛心的誠實話：
Dear {COO},
Thank you for processing my request and {someone} has told me about your decision. Am perfectly happy with that but would appreciate more flexible arrangement in the future.
I remember the old days when the company was more flexible, more energetic, more connectedness, less criticisms, less gossips, and less bureaucratic. Just a few years ago, when work schedule was tight, you asked me to postpone a few days of ALs to the next year. I said “Yes” with no doubt. I cannot remember whether I could finally take the the extra leaves the next year (seems not), but the good memory of “working together” remains...
Recently, I've been reading the book Delivering Happiness (by CEO of Zappos.com, Tony Heish) which talks about how Zappos, a company that started up in the same year as us, can rise from a small potato to a multi-billion-dollars-profit business by fostering its core values - to make customer and employee happy. They have had a difficult time when cash was not enough and everyone would have to sacrifice to save up the company.
Difficult time has finally passed and what Tony experienced was making people inside and outside of the company happy, even in expense of rules and control, is the key to the company's survival. At his most difficult time, he requested his colleagues to write up both the goods and bads about the company and their comments were to be published to the public, unedited. While you may want to project a good image of the company to outsiders, Tony wrote,
Would you be comfortable printing everything your employees, customers, and partners have to say about your culture? If not, what would it take for you to get there? (P139)
The problem when someone feels burned out, bored, unchallenged, or stifled by their work is not the job itself but rather the environment and playground rules given to them to do the job at hand. (P171)
We are heading towards 2012 and it is my wish that the company can manage to retain elements that make it a happy place to work in, as it WAS in the past.
Best wishes,
Claudio
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日本是一個整理學非常發達的國家，每年出版有關整理的書籍不計其數。國內也有很多整理顧問(Seiri Consultant)，幫助客人收拾房間或教授整理的方法。
正在閱讀一位年輕整理顧問近藤麻理惠的書(人生がときめく片付けの魔法)，她對整理提出全新的看法。經過十多年來的研究，她發現整理最重要的並不是技術，而是心態和認知。
整理，不外乎是“丟東西”和把東西“放回原位”兩個簡單動作而已。沒辦法整理好，不是因為不懂做動作，而是因為東西太多，東西太多的原因是
所以要學會整理，就要
在香港和大中華地區，好像沒有整理顧問這個工作，估計認真研究如何整理的人不多。不過，定下理想（判斷基準）和審視庫存（知道自己有什麽、沒有什麽？哪些付諸實現、哪些虎頭蛇尾？)兩項原則，的確有助我們擺脫對物質太多、選擇太多，但卻找不著方向的困境。新一年又要到了，這一年你要往哪裡去？要到那個地方，哪些裝備是你需要的、哪些負擔是你需要捨棄的呢？
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