Author: Johannes Ernst

  • With 160 Employees, How Many Locations Should You Have?

    Interview with the CEO of Gitlab. Totally worthwhile watching. Answer: 160. My homework: reading their company handbook.

  • Upgrading Democracy — Reflections on Today’s Unconference in Palo Alto

    Does anybody still think that today’s “democracy” doesn’t need substantial improvements? Hardly… but it’s difficult to figure out just what we need to improve and how. So I was heartened to see the announcement of an unconference (my favorite form of conference) in Palo Alto on the subject of “Upgrading Democracy”. It took place earlier…

  • What does Steve Bannon want?

    Steve Bannon, right-hand man of Donald, and likely the brains of the outfit, is on the record for stating his goal as: I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment. Everything that has happened in the past few months is completely consistent with this goal. But: what exactly does he…

  • Stop. Reboot. A New Beginning.

    I almost closed this blog today, January 1, 2017. Upon2020.com had been intended as an optimistic outlook into a beautiful, technology-enabled future. Instead, 7 years after I started this blog, we are sliding further and further into a scary, technology-enabled dystopia. How could I continue? Civil liberties are under assault everywhere. Constitutional rights have come…

  • About Values and this Election

    My friend Ben Werdmuller wrote a piece about the values that drive his vote in this election. I don’t get to vote (because I’m an alien, a legal one, but just an alien). However, he inspired me to write down my own values. They are quite short: We got to take care of our kids.…